Napoleonic Project - part 6 - British Infantry Battalions

Good Afternoon All

As promised in my last two posts I am delighted to reveal the British Infantry Battalions - 12 in total. Of these I can lay claim to painting 11 of them in the past five weeks.

Part 5 can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/napoleonic-project-part-5.html

These are all based on Warbases movement trays - 4 men to a tray. Each man is based on a 25mm steel washer. The battalions are all 24 men strong (ie six bases) - the left and right trays are painted as the flank companies - grenadiers with white plumes and light companies with green plumes. Typically each of my battalions has two standard bearers, a drummer, a seargent major with Pike and an officer. In some of the units I have a sapper figure.

The figures a mix of Perry, Warlord and Victrix. They all work really well but if I had any complaint the Victrix heads are too small. The fact that these arrived already assembled meant I stuck with the heads attached otherwise I'd be inclined to have swapped them.

Most of the flags came from the box sets themselves.

Just to prove they are all painted a couple of big pictures

Interesting you can see 288 figures in this picture - when lined out in a two rank posiition this stretches to over 3 metres.

Given a regular battalion had anything from 600 to 1000 men that would make a small battalion stretch over 6 metres on the gaming table !


And onto the regiments themselves - don't worry I am not going to show everyone !

The Grenadier Guards (1st Regiment of Foot Guards)

The Royal Welsh Fusileers

£rd East Kent Regiment - The Buffs

29th Regiment of Foot (Worcestershire)

45th Regiment (Sherwood Forresters)

14th Regiment (East Essex)

95th Regiment (The Rifles)

The Gordon Highlanders

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Painting Tartan...urggh !

The Black Watch - These guys wore red plumes through out the regiment - as you can see the tartan is very feint

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So that's it on the British Infantry (for the moment) - There is still the Allied Portugal Brigade to paint and of course all those French Men.

For the moment I am turning my attention to the cavalry...More on this very soon

part 7 can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/napoleonic-project-part-7-french-guns.html

Napoleonic Project part 5

OK so I promised you shots of the British Infantry but still have not finished them - trying to source flags cheap and will probably make my own using internet piccies.

Part 4 can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/napoleonic-project-part-4.html

However I have finished off my first French Unit - a rather wonderful set from Perry - their French Dragoons. Each box comes with 13 riders and eight infantry figures. I had not appreciated the French Dragoons still fought on foot.

Mine have been painted with the rather fetching pink facings

The cavalry unit of 12 figures looks super imposing

Four of them have been given red plumes to denote they are members of the elite squadron and I figured one of these should carry the regiment's Eagle

You will have noticed that the cavalry mounts are all different colours - I figured being a dragoon unit it wouldn't matter too much BUT the trumpeter has been given a grey mount and is wearing the Imperial regulated colours rather than the reverse facings. The Officer has been mounted on a round base so he could become a Brigade commander if needed.

Whilst finishing off these Dragoons I used the opportunity to finish the basing of the first British Cavalry regiment - a rather splendid unit of light Dragoons

More soon....

Part 6 can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/napoleonic-project-part-6-british.html

Napoleonic Project part 4

Good Evening Folks

I figured it was about time I provided an update on where I was with my 'not a skirmish Napoleonic project'

When I left you last (see link here) I had decided to go all in on building both French and British armies for the Peninsular War. The good news is that I have finished painting and basing 12 British Battalions (each of them 24 figures strong - that's 288 figures) - I just need to find some suitable flags and finish off the movement trays...so photos of these will be on their way soon.

However  whilst painting that lot of infantry I broke the monotony of painting white trousers, straps, and shoulder tassels by cracking on with the British command units and their artillery.

Apologies for the quality of photos - they are still not as sharp as I would like them to be...


Of course we should start with the boss himself - Arthur Wellesley - The Duke of Wellington

He is having a chat with an infantry colonel and is based on a 10cm circular base from Warbases - given we are most likely playing Black Powder with these figures I have decided Generals will be on 10cm bases, Divisional Commanders on 8cm bases and Brigade Commanders on 6cm bases.

All these figures are from either Perry or Warlord Games

So here we have a Divisional commander base - two riders on an 8cm base

No w the guy in the top hat and umbrella is Picton talking to an aide. In the back on a white horse is a Brigade commander

The mounted figure is from Perry - he's a Highland Officer. Added to hios base and on a spare are figures from the Victrix Highlander box set. I have completed two Highland regiments - the Black Watch and the Gordons. Having finished these I have sworn never ever to paint tartan again! - my feeble attempts at getting the cloth right will be seen when I publish my infantry photos

The final set at the moment - more Brigade commanders - there are some cavalry commanders to come ;-)

Onto the Artillery - first up are two batteries of Royal Horse Artillery. These guys are wearing the Tarleton Helmets and to distinguish them from the foot batteries there are four crew men to a gun. 

One battery is from Warlord - the other Foundry. Both acquired on the cheap through ebay and the Lead Adventure Forum

If funds permit I'll be buying limber teams for these

As far as the foot guns are concerned I have painted up four guns - each has five crew members. These are principally Victrix figures with some other British infantry units cannibalised to look like gunners. 

All the guns are based on 8cm x 12 cm bases - perhaps somewhat large for a gun battery but they at least don't look too crowded or squashed.

That's it for the moment but as you can see the project is in full swing...

until next time...

part 5 can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/napoleonic-project-part-5.html

Wilsons Creek - An ACW Battle

If truth be told the American Civil War is not a period in history that I am particularly interested in. I have tried to analyse why this might be the case but I continually fall short of a comprehensive and valid reason. From a wargamers perspective I do feel it is a little sterile – volumes of infantry marching into one another and doing their very best to wrestle control of the battlefield. As a precursor to the Great War of 1914 (another period I find little favour with) it was a massive tragedy in human cost but did redefine the world we know today. Why am I rambling on…?

Well on Monday night my good friend John offered to run a game in the shed (using his excellent figures and terrain) and who was I to refuse? To be honest it was a relief that another of the shed wars gaming group was willing to ‘host’ the evenings event. Knowing that Mark (my regular gaming chum in the Shed) is particularly obsessed with this period I could certainly count on his support for such an event. Our foursome was made up with the redoubtable Rolf still sporting his shorts in this particularly cold spell of weather.

John had decided that we would refight the engagement of Wilson’s Creek. This was an historic battle set in the early part of the war in the western theatre with both sides were relatively inexperienced and indeed some of the rebels arrived at the battle without guns or ammo.

We used Black Powder rules as set out in the Glory Hallelujah supplement recently released by Warlord Games. All the figures are 15mm (apologies don’t know the manufacturers)

Of course I had to raise the Union and Confederate Flags on my flagpole. Not to sure what the neighbour's think about seeing the banned Southern Cross

The following photos tell the story as the game unfolded

The battlefield with the Union to the left of the picture

The Confederate brigades advance on their right flank...

Union troops await in the Orchard

A gun battery moves up onto the hill that dominated the battlefield

The Rebels advance to the creek

A single Union battalion looks on

The Union right flank moves up then sits there for most of the game - the officers just cant issue their orders

The Confederates push up on their right flank

First Fire on the Union left flank as the rebels push forward

The creek is crossed and the rebels surge forward

Furious fighting erupts along the line

The Union trap is sprung as a hidden brigade on the confederate right flank emerges from the trees to give battle

Rebel horse circle round the rear of the Federal troops to be chased by the Unions own cavalry

More Union batteries on the hill - they proved rather ineffective

Its still quiet on the Union left flank as both forces struggle to engage

Meanwhile the Reberls are forcing the Unions left flank...two battalions are pushed back into the orchard

A firefight between the two cavalry skirmishers in the fields leave no winners

The Union surprise attack pushes forward but rebel reinforcements are ion their way

Battle breaks out across the table

Rebel forces advance on their left wing forcing back the Union troops

The rebels have almost broken the centre - one last push

The push is successful...

Rebel skirmishers advance on the guns on the hill

The Union line is starting to waver

The Union is broken - a victory for the rebels...

A big thank you to John for a great game....

More soon