"Les pinceaux de la guerre" - La Bricole painting competition

Robert of "Serrez la Rangs", who also doubles as Olsuviev, Despotic Chastiser of the Serfs and Grand High Poobah of Forum Discipline and President of the Russian Army's IXth Corp Karaoke Appreciation Society (or moderator of the la Bricole forum) has hit upon the idea of a painting competition for January/February. The votes are in and the subject for the competition is "Bog Standard" (otherwise known as line units) and "Militia" (exactly what you'd expect!).

I've put my hand up to participate, but now face a quandry of what to paint. I'm stuck between Italians, of whom I've been hankering to paint some for a while (especially as I have a ton of surplus French figures!), and Wurttembergers, of which I've bought the HaT set recently and look forward to painting as the 1st non-Peninsular War army in my collection.

What should I paint, dear readers? Italians or Wurttembergers? (leave comments, or vote in the poll!)

Wagram Command & Artillery WIP

More command figures for Wagram, this time divisional generals. To add a bit of variation, I've indulged in a bit of head swapping. The figures are from Italeri's French Imperial Command set and there's also a couple of figures from Waterloo 1815's Napoleonic Command set.

Also pictured is the first ADC mounted on his steed, ready for basing and varnishing.

Italeri figure with HaT chasseur head. This figure would probably suit a Chef de Batallion or Colonel, or at most a brigade general, but I decided on the conversion to add a little variation.

Waterloo 1815 Nassau general with Italeri head-swap to create another French general

Another Waterloo 1815 figure, again probably better suited to a regimental or brigade command

Original, unconverted, Italeri figure. Same pose as the 1st figure.

Another original, unconverted, Italeri figure.

The poor, brave, wounded ADC and his trusty steed.

My Wagram command also includes a couple of batteries of horse guns and a few more foot batteries. Below is my beginnings of the horse batteries using Italeri's French horse guns set with head conversions using Zvezda heads again.The original figures are wearing colpacks which suggests Guard artillery rather than line. I've done the head swaps to try to indicate line artillery, although they do still seem rather dandified wearing tight breeches and pelisses.

Book Review - True Soldier Gentlemen

A bit of fiction on the Rosbif bedside table. That's a first! (Actually, the last book I read was also fiction - the latest by Russian author, Boris Akunin, but as it doesn't fall within the purview of this blog, I didn't review it. Highly recommended, though!)

Adrian Goldsworthy is better known for his non-fiction histories of the Roman Empire. This is his first venture into fiction and I found I enjoyed it a lot, despite some minor reservations.

Historical fiction set in the armies of the Napoleonic period has left me cold after trying to read the Sharpe series (can any character be so 2 dimensionally heroic, while all other British officers are incompetent fops and Frenchmen impossibly evil?). I enjoyed Allan Mallinson's Hervey books, but they mainly took place in the period immediately after the Napoleonic Wars. Then of course, there are all the naval novels like Hornblower and the Aubrey/Maturin series and all their imitators, which I've enjoyed immensely. But the army-based novels of the period that I have enjoyed have been few.

The book is written in 2 parts; the first concentrates on the officers of the fictional 106th (Glamorganshire) Regiment of Foot in their preparation for war during the period immediately before the expedition to the Iberian Peninsula, while the second takes place in Portugal where the characters find out what they're made of as they enter battle for the first time.

A lot of the book is spent establishing characters and the world they live in, with a lot of descriptions of training and barracks life. There is a brief interlude of Austen-ish manners and feminine charm with the introduction of the Captain's wife and daughter, and the establishment of rivalries and enmities that drive the narrative and look like continuing in further volumes of the series.

The battle scenes are described with brutal honesty, with the descriptions of waiting for a French artillery volley particularly gripping. The way the author describes the battles runs the gamut from the macro- to the micro-view; from the generals on both sides down to the British subaltern characters. I'm not sure if this works very well, as I'm never very happy when real life personalities are given the fictional treatment, but that's my personal taste.

The weakest part of the story, in my view, was the minor plot line of a vicious Russian (yes, Russian!)officer, who was out to regain his fortune that he'd gambled away in St. Petersburg, by snatching a treasure hoard that he'd found out about from the Portuguese whore with the heart of gold whom the British subalterns had sworn to protect and to reclaim the treasure for. The Russian was supposedly the Tsar's liaison between the French army and the Russian fleet, but did precious little except twirl his moustache and torture Portuguese. That he got his come-uppance so quickly left me thinking that surely there could have been a better plot device than him.

The strength of the book is the description of the world of the British Army subaltern and the battles they fought in, rather than characterisation. Hopefully the following volumes of the series will have more character development with the surviving characters becoming more rounded and believable figures and the plot a little more credible. Possibly the sheer number of characters in this book led to the dilution of characterisation. The next installment is called Beat the Drums Slowly and is set during the Retreat to Corunna. The main characters seem to be the newly minted Ensign Williams, who has risen from being a gentleman volunteer to subaltern in the aftermath of the Battles of Rolica and Vimiero, and his love interest, the Major's (previously Captain's) daughter, Jane McAndrews.

I'll be coming back for the next installment, so stay tuned for the review. Hopefully it'll be in Rosbif's Christmas stocking this year!

Oh, the silliness starts!

In response to my last post regarding the French advantage in command and control, namely we have 4 messengers to the Austrian 1, Archduke Charles (aka John R.) sent me this response by email:

"Dear Beefy Boy,

I do like the messengers shown on your blog. My snipers will be given pictures of them for recognition. So thank you.
However, dear Froggy player. I would like to point out about our special messenger.We have 1 but he is VERY quick and uses sound communiques. See the picture attached."

WTF???

I responded thus:

"Sacre bleu et zut alor, Sir!

I knew that your empire included some barely civilised specimens of humanity, especially on your eastern borders, but recruiting half-naked, blue skinned savages is quite beyond the pale!

I see no shafts for the horses to pull the very odd carriage he is standing on.  Could it perhaps be a stationary platform that is wheeled into position and then left  for the duration of battle, for the savage to send his drum messages over the heads of your army? If so, sir, consider him a prime target of our artillery!

Your servant etc.etc.

Msr.le Rosbif et Jean le Frog"

(apologies to my eastern European readers; I was not actually comparing you to Smurfs! :-D)

French ADCs

Just a few things left for the January Wagram 1809 game. I need to paint up a few more command stands and several more artillery batteries, both horse and foot.

Part of the game is the need for messengers to relay orders. The French have a much more efficient Command and Control system than the Austrians, so we get 4 messengers per commander, whereas the Austrians get only 1.

So far I have painted up only the messengers, using Italeri figures from the French Imperial Command set with head conversions using the wounded head and the shako rondeau from Lancier Bleu and the shako with cords and plumes from the artillery train figure from the Zvezda foot artillery pack.

French v. Austrians again

John R. reckons he can write my AARs himself; "If only I'd done...", "I should have done...", "I didn't spot..." etc. etc. Funny b*stard!

Unfortunately he's right, though: Last Saturday's game at the Croydon venue turned out to be exactly this sort of game! Robin and I took on Jim's Austrians with our respective French forces at the 1:120 scale, but Robin's arithmetic let him down leaving him with the niggling feeling he'd short changed himself. Events were to prove that he was probably correct!

Robin went ahead like only he knows how; bull-at-a-gate frontal charge, while I tried to organise my forces and thoughts before committing myself. This caution and over-thinking led to my downfall, however. Robin's initial attack proved successful in that he pushed back the centre and left flank, providing me with the opportunity to launch my hard-core legere and Italian Grenadier Guardsmen at the Austrian line adjacent to Robin's attack. The combination of the Austrians having friends retiring and the high morale of my division resulted in that Austrian line being forced back, too. Things looked up for the French at this moment, but the fact that our success resulted in only Pyrrhic victories and neither Robin or I had reserves placed to exploit our initial success led to our downfall as Jim went on the counter-attack. I had placed all my reserves on the right flank as I was worried about his cavalry which was faced only by my light cavalry and horse guns, which were outclassed by the quality of horse-flesh and the number of guns available to the Austrians. Consequently I had nothing left in the tank to exploit my initial success. Robin's miscalculation of his forces now bit him in the bum as he faced the same problem.

The inevitable counter-charge came and Robin's forces were devastated, unable to stem the wall of white that collapsed on top of him. I was left with the option of pulling back my elites, charging on to try to capitalise on my gains, or fire on the flank of the nearest exposed Austrian unit while protecting the flank. This is where John R. and his "what I should have done..." comes in. Instead of whole-heartedly adopting any of the 3 options outlined above, I decided on adopting the last 2; charging and firing on the Austrian flank.

Initially, turning 90 degrees and firing into the flank of the nearest Austrian column resulted in successfully forcing it to retreat, but the charge by the remaining 2 French units just didn't have enough ooomph (that technical wargaming term) behind it, and with all Robin's troops fleeing from their flank, I needed a very good roll of the die to succeed. I didn't get it. My best units were forced into retreat. The succesful unit that had turned to fire in the flank of the nearest Austrian column was in turn charged on the flank by a Landwehr regiment that sent it hustling backwards to join its fellows in ignominious retreat

Next turn I tried a charge by another brigade on the right flank with 2 line units in column joined by a legere regiment in l'ordre mixte. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at judging distances and the line only just didn't make the distance, while the 2 flanking columns did. Of course, this was part of Jim's line that had the greatest concentration of artillery, as well, so the combination of the failed charge plus the losses incurred on the way in, combined with another appalling die roll caused the 2 columns to turn tail and run.

Meanwhile, I had bottled up Jim's cavalry with a combined arms defense of cavalry, artillery and infantry that would cause him severe discomfort if he unwisely launched a charge with his superior hussars. Into this scenario he sent a tiny unit of Jaegers to stir the pot. I was unwilling to charge them as they advanced in closed column, as that would most likely cause a counter charge too far away from my carefully positioned supports. The artillery was too distant to do anything effective to stop this threat, so inevitably, my chasseurs were pushed back by this pesky unit of jaegers. Incidentally, as the chasseurs' right flank was protected by the edge of the world (or table-top at least) they were in constant danger of being accidentally knocked into the void. Sure enough, the elite squadron figure ended up on the floor unknown to me, until I heard the sickening crunch when I trod on it! Oh, the humanity! (A little glue and reapplication of flock and he's good as new.)

I was a sucker for punishment and sent in my reserves after all the retreating and retiring units had rallied. Again the dice failed me in the most cruel manner imaginable; the pre-melee morale test resulted in me rolling a 1 and Jim a 6 and, guess what?, my units failed and ran before I came into contact with the enemy!

By this stage Quinny entered the field with the Imperial Guard to get a taste of glory.(He's our Boney for the upcoming Wagram game in January, so he gets to play with the supermen!). Like a hot knife through butter, his Horse Grenadiers and Chasseurs a Pied cut a swathe through the Austrian line. By that time it was all over anyway with a moral victory to Jim, as Robin and I tried and failed to penetrate his Cordon Blanc

Chasseurs on the right flank

My divisions at their starting point

My left flank unit and Robin's forces beyond them.

Jim's wall of white

Timid landwehr!

French 1st move

En avant, mes amis!

Chasseurs reviewed by the general

Italian Guard Grenadiers

Robin's brave chaps on the advance

My right flank securing the line

The weight of numbers in the centre. More reserves should have been pushed to the left. 20/20 hindsight!

My elite division advancing in the centre with Robin's forces to the left

Robin goes in...

...and pushes Jim back!

My elites form up into column for the impending charge.

Meanwhile, further to the right, l'ordre mixte takes shape

The view from the flank showing my numerous reserves.

The reserve not able to bring its weight to bear where needed!

Robin's cavlary charge the guns in support of his infantry, but thery were beaten back!

Pesky jaegers on the march with the elite figure before his untimely demise.

The jaegers eventually got close enough to force the chasseurs to retire after giving them a close range volley.

Robin's second thrust at the Hungarian brigade. His high-water mark!

My elite division charging the central line in support of Robin's success.

Success!

My division a la ordre mixte tries to emulate the others, but the line falls short and the columns get whacked on the approach!

Run away!

Hmmm; what shall we do with this useless bunch, Jean-Claude?

The legere in line await the invetible pounding they're about to receive.

Could have been worse: they were only forced to retire.

The reserve advances to shield the recovering units

The closed column supporting the horse guns on the right flank and holding the whole line from the threat of Jim's cavalry in the distance.

Desicisions, decisions. What to do next?

Why are we waiting...

...ooohhh, why are we waii-ti-ing?!

Jim's gun's drop back and fire into Robin's flank...

...while his infantry charge to their front, sending Robin's troops fleeing!

Run awaaaay!!

My succesful heavy mob with their associated disorders

The crisis point where my left flank is suddenly in the air; I fatefully decide to have a bit both ways by firing in the flank (successfully) of 1 Austrian regiment, sending it scurrying ...

...then charging the remaining 2 regiments (unsuccessfully)

Run awaaay!!

The landwehr can't believe their luck and kick me while I'm down...

...which results in that regiment being pushed back to join the rest of the line (plus disorders)!

La Garde enters the fray!

"La Garde meurt mais ne se rend pas!"

The chasseurs recover and move forward to support my final advance...

...which duly goes in...

...but fate...

...spits in my eye!

Run awaaaayyy!!

Time for Jim's cavalry to charge!

This time I roll nearly perfectly...

...and it's Jim's turn to roll crap! Why couldn't we have done this earlier?!

Quinny's Guard Chasseurs steam in...

...crushing everything in their path!