Monday, December 30, 2019

SYW Command

While building the OBs for Kunersdorf, I discovered that despite the huge armies amassed between Jake's Russians and my Prussians, troop totals fell short.  Although I thought I had fielded plenty of command stands, the Prussians still required two more to fill out all of the commands.  Similarly, the Russians found themselves one command short.  On the infantry front, Jake's already massive Russian army came up eight infantry regiments short.  
To alleviate the Russian infantry shortage, I pressed six Russian regiments of mine into service and two Austrian infantry regiments.  Perhaps a few more Russian musketeer units ought to be pushed into the painting queue?  For the command stands, I painted three command stands the week prior to the game.  These commands stands are on display today.  Figures are Eureka Miniatures.

As for the battle of Kunersdorf, itself, the opening session of the battle saw the completion of about three hours of game time.  While the Russian Muhlberg position teeters on the verge of collapse, the Russians have abandoned their earthworks near Juhlberg and are advancing upon Prussian positions near Kunersdorf.  The first play may very well end in an historical outcome.  If the Muhlberg falls, the Prussians will likely be positioned in a very similar situation to the high water mark of the historical Prussian attacks.  This situation is not conducive to a Prussian victory.  Casualties have been especially heavy to the cavalry arm of both armies.  More details on the replay once photos and notes are organized. 

53 comments:

  1. Nice to see the extra command stands, I have been holding off in 10 mm as a treat when a bit more core has been completed. Looking forward to the battle report🙂

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    1. Command stands tend to come later for me too. In this case, I thought I had plenty already in place. Not quite!

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  2. Nice character to the faces comes through, lovely proportions, especially the horse. Sounds like the HoW rules are working well for you.

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    1. Thanks, Norm! These particular Eureka figures are nice sculpts, for sure. The Minwax stain helps to bring up the facial features. As for HoW, it works well for me.

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  3. Lovely command stands and look forward to reading more details of the action, as well as the 'photos of the game.

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    1. Thank you, Steve! I hope to find time to draft an account of the first part of the battle soon. I find it often much easier to set at the painting table for a painting session than to work on crafting a battle report.

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  4. The commanders are painted to your usual high standard. I presume this was a rush job to get them on to the tabletop.

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    1. Thank you very much, Peter! Yeah, this trio was a last minute rush once I discovered I needed more command and the scheduled game loomed overhead.

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  5. Great detail on the personalities and very much like the round bases.

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    1. Much appreciated, Darren!

      Your recent WWII battle reports have me itching to get my WWII collections out on the table after many years of laying idel.

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  6. Painting command is always a treat - yours turned out wonderfully.

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  7. Great looking command stands Jonathan. I love how you used different hussar regiments for the ADCs to help identify commanders.

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    1. Thanks! When the officers look the same, a distinctive ADC helps identify a commander in the heat of battle. Do you know how often a commander takes command of another's troops accidentally? Often!

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    2. Been there done that, so I make each command stand distinctive

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  8. Looking good those are beautiful miniatures with a lovely paintjob. Seriously looking forward to the battlereport. It will be just what the doctor ordered as i embark upon my own SYW project!

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    1. Thank you, Steve! If my reports can provide a little motivation, that is a pleasing outcome.

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  9. Lovely work on these and I look forwards to reading the after action reports.

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  10. Command stands are often an outlier in my experience. Good to see that you caught it ahead of time--nice use of hussars in these (good choice!). Looking forward to the battle report.

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    1. Command stands are almost certainly the last items painted in one of my projects. Well, I suppose limbers trail command stands in the painting hierarchy.

      Glad you approve of the use of hussars as ADCs. I have a few extra so why not put them to work, right?

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  11. There are not many commanders! Great job!
    8)

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  12. Lovely command stands. One of the other traps I have fallen into in our Napoleonic games, apart from getting their commands confused, is forgetting to move them. Very frustrating when you find they are half a meter behind where they should be and the troops suffer under morale rolls, so I have learned that a mental checklist at the end of every move is the only way to avoid this pitfall.

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    1. Thanks, Lawrence! With most of the rulesets I use having rigid command spans, commanders only get left behind once or twice before players pay the price for inattentiveness. An OUT OF COMMAND marker placed on the offending formation is a great reminder to move commanders. The guys I game with are good at reminding one to move the generals up. Even with that, commanders sometimes end up within command span and trying to command the wrong formation.

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  13. Lovely looking commanders!

    Can't wait to read the battle report too!

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  14. Great work on those stands Jonathan. Looking forward to your Kunersdorf AAR.

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  15. Troops need leaders or else who knows what mischief they’ll get into? Nice job. 😀
    Also looking forward to the scenario write up.

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    1. Thanks, Stew! Even with plenty of leaders my troops still cause mischief.

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  16. Love these stands with their colorful husar aides. I have in mind to do Wagram again in a year or two. The last time, some of the troops came from other guys. With that no longer likely, more rench and Austrians will likely roll out over the next year or two.... and I just primed a bevy of French and especially Austrian commanders!

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    1. Thanks, Peter! I look forward to following your Wagram project. I have one Old Glory Austrian infantry battalion I painted years ago as a test. If you want it, let me know.

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    2. Thanks for the offer, Jon. I will keep them in mind as the madness continues!

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  17. Always nice to see the commanders, a fine bunch.

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  18. Lovely toys Jonathan...
    I don’t think you can ever have too many command figures... they are so much fun to paint...
    I definitely need to add more to my collection.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks, Aly! I wonder if one can EVER have too many figures in general?

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  19. Great looking command stands! You can never have too many!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Iain! I have trouble ever having too many of anything...

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  20. Great looking command figures Jonathan and totally agree, there is no such thing as "enough" toy soldiers! Happy New Year from the first place to see it in the world. 2020 is already 9 hours old here!

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    1. Thanks, Keith! Happy New Year to you! 2020 is still 12 hours away in the western USA.

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  21. Yikes, 42 comments! How do you do it? I would be lucky to get 1 or 2 comments for such a post.

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    1. I'm a friendly guy???

      Thanks for the visit, Jim, and Happy New Year!

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  22. Very nice, colourfull figurines. Perfect for that time of the year. ;-)

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  23. Nice looking work. I guess I didn't need to add that general afterall.

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    1. Thank you! I will retire mine and you can put yours in his place.

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