Henry Ireton's Regiment of Horse

With the recent addition of a regiment of foote (see Aldrich's Regiment of Foote) for the ECW project, motivation remained high to push on to another unit.  Since a number of Empress Miniatures cavalry have lingered in The Lead Pile for awhile (only two and a half years by my count!), these horsemen seemed a reasonable target.  

These nine horsemen muster out as Henry Ireton's Horse in buffcoats and lobster pot helmets.  The sculpting on both man and horse is superb.  The horses actually look like horses to me.  Perhaps the best horses I have seen in 28mm. The troopers are very good as well although detailing is not as raised and as easy to paint as in other figures.  Still, the results are terrific.  If I need to expand the cavalry arm of this project, Empress Miniatures is certainly high on the list.   

Enough infantry figures remain in The Lead Pile to muster out two more regiments.  I will set a goal of getting at least one of those regiments into the painting queue in 2019. 

Cavalry Refit: KGL Heavy Dragoons

Time for the KGL cavalry contingents in the project to receive their new recruits and refitting.  After bringing in one new trooper each, the 1st and 2nd KGL Heavy Dragoons are ready for service.  Figures are Front Rank.

This refitting and reorganization exercise is turning out to be a relatively painless activity.  Painting one additional trooper per unit and rebasing takes time but not a task to be dreaded at all.  With the addition of one new trooper and a new basing scheme, I feel like an entirely new unit has been built.  I prefer the look of nine figure cavalry BMUs over eight figure BMUs.  I am pleased I forged ahead with this task.

National Gallery of Art

Battle Scene - Phillip Wouwerman

With a son living in the other Washington (D.C., that is), our occasional travels to the Capitol always include visits to the Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery. 

A regular stop, not to be missed by me, is the National Gallery of Art.  Upon every visit, the same selection of works always catches my attention.  Sometimes, I stumble upon these familiar works as I roam the massive museum.  Other times, I seek them out and try to recall in which wing of the Gallery these works are kept.  Some of my favorite works follow:

David's Napoleon

Haarlem Civic Guard - Frans Hals

Andies Stilte as Standard Bearer - Verspronck

Vincenzo Cappello - Titian

Meeting of David and Abigail - Rubens

Zenobia Queen of Palmyra

Rialto Bridge, Venice - Guardi

Fortress Konigstein - Belotti

The National Gallery of Art is a national treasure and should be included in any visit to the Washington D.C..

Cavalry Refit: British Heavy Dragoons

Another pair of cavalry units make it out of refit and reorg.  Each unit received one additional recruit and a rebasing exercise from four stands of two figures each to three stands of three figures each.  This time two British heavy dragoons units make it off the workbench.  The two units are the 3rd Dragoon Guards and the 4th Dragoon Guards.  Two fine British cavalry regiments.  Figures are Front Rank.

What remains in the cavalry refit and reorganization?  Waiting their turn at the recruitment center are two KGL cavalry units, two French hussar units, and a unit of Vistula Legion lancers.

Regret to Inform You...Google+ is Dead

Well, we knew it was coming.  The data breach coupled with low usage put the final nail in the Google+ coffin.  Today I officially received an email from Google stating,

You've received this email because you have a consumer (personal) Google+ account or you manage a Google+ page.

In December 2018, we announced our decision to shut down Google+ for consumers in April 2019 due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers' expectations. We want to thank you for being part of Google+ and provide next steps, including how to download your photos and other content.

On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted. You can download and save your content, just make sure to do so before April. Note that photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.

 and,

If you've used Google+ for comments on your own or other sites, this feature will be removed from Blogger by February 4th and other sites by March 7th. All your Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted starting April 2, 2019. Learn more

What does this mean for blogging in general and the Palouse Wargaming Journal in particular?   

Since I did not use Google+ for blogging (well, at least I don't think I did), impact should be small.  One ramification of the demise of Google+ is that any comments created with Google+ (your own blog or another's blog) will be deleted.  Yikes!  How many Followers have left comments on PWJ using Google+?  I guess I will find out soon enough.  The second fall out regards photo storage.  If photos are stored on Google+, those are scheduled for deletion too. My.  It is hard to determine exactly where my photos are stored.  I hope all photos are stored on Blogger or Google.

Hebrew/Israelite Infantry

Back to the Biblicals!  With a late fall push of putting more troops into the field for the Assyrian Wars project, one last unit remains to add to the project before my attention diverts to other projects.  This time, a dozen Hebrew/Israelite infantry march off the painting desk to join the growing pile of units for this project.  Figures are Newline Designs.  Sculpting is a bit more rounded in nature than Foundry but still quite good sculpting.  I plan to use these as additions to either Assyrian or Egyptian armies.  

I have more 28mm figures on the painting desk to work through before turning my attention back to 18mm projects.  Early research on an OB for Trebbia 1799 shows that more Russians will be needed for the battle.  Russians needed will consist primarily of fielding more combined grenadier battalions.  Seems Suvorov brought a good many of the combined formations with him to Switzerland and Italy.  Three such battalions will be under work soon.  A resupply from Eureka will be needed before any more battalion can be thrust into the painting queue.  Before those hit the painting queue, more early French in bicornes as well as one more battalion of Polish Legion will see activity at the painting desk.  I have yet to assess the cavalry needed for Trebbia.

Battle of Telamon, 225 BC with TtS!

With the Society of Ancients (SoA) planning the Battle of Telamon for its 2019 Battle Day, my interest was piqued.  It might be fun to stage this battle and compare our groups' results with the other participants.  Even without the advantage of having SoA's Slingshot describing the battle yet in-hand, Scott jumped at the chance to field his Romans and Gauls in a test of To the Strongest!.  Scott quickly rebased his troops and set upon creating an Order of Battle and layout for the game.

On game day, we arrived to see the battle laid out with scenario and OB presented.  The table showed a large Gallic force surrounded on three sides by Romans with a low hill and woods hindering the only avenue of escape.  The Gauls were trapped!  Look at the beautiful brushwork on Scott's Gauls.  Wonderful check and plaid patterns.  The Gauls comprised two forces.  I commanded the van while Scott took command of the rear.     

The Gauls

Gallic van

The Roman commands were divided between Austin's northern blocking force and Kevin's southern blocking force.  The Roman cavalry and light infantry harassing the Gallic rear were split between the two Roman generals. 

Regulus' command on the north

As the battle begins, the Gauls are slow to shake out from their columns.  The van under my command was particularly challenged to turn anything over that was not an ace for the first few turns.  The exception to this lethargy was the cavalry in the van.  They head off to take the high ground before Regulus' northern force could gain a foothold.  The Romans waste little in harassing the rear column.  Roman cavalry attempts to outflank the Gallic column before it can deploy.

Roman cavalry envelope the Gallic rear

Roman cavalry attack!

The Gallic cavalry in the van reach the hillock first.  The Romans counter with hastati but are driven off by the Gallic horsemen.  As the Northern and Southern Roman pincers begin to close on the Gauls, the Gallic van finally snaps into action.

Gauls begin to scatter in all directions

Gauls turn to face their enemy

The Gallic cavalry in the front tease the approaching Romans but withdraw to safety before the Roman heavy infantry can close.  As Regulus' infantry chases the Gallic cavalry off the hill, they expose their flank.  The Gallic cavalry turn and strike as the Gallic van closes.  One legion is destroyed and a second badly mauled. 

Romans expose a flank while the Gauls expose even more.

Gauls close

The Gallic rear column has not been idle.  Splitting their force, all opposing Roman cavalry are chased off.  Hastati fall to the Gauls.  With the Roman cavalry in the Gallic rear now showing signs of wavering, the Gallic warbands press on.  These cavalry are scattered to both north and south.  In the pursuit, Regulus' camp is taken. 

Gauls pressuring the Romans

Back to the action in the van.  The Gaestatae warband facing the south and buying time while Regulus' northern force is pressured, is hit in front and flank.  Miraculously the Gaestatae hold. 

Gaestatae hit front and flank repel their attackers

While the Gaestatae are keeping the southern Roman army at bay, the warbands and cavalry attack Regulus.  One Gallic cavalry unit crashes into part of a legion from the flank, destroying it.

Gallic cavalry overruns a Roman legion

Two more Roman units succumb to the ferocity of the Gauls.  One unit is lost in tough hand-to-hand combat; the other overrun by cavalry.  The Roman armies have reached their break point.  The battle is over.  A Gallic victory! 

The final clash

Based on my limited reading of the historical accounts of the battle, goig into gthe game, I figured the Gauls had not much of a chance.  the actual outcome was a big surprise to me.  The Gauls showed tremendous power against the two Roman armies and defeated one in detail before the other could close.  The Gallic cavalry cut through several legions while the Gallic warbands repulsed the Roman cavalry.  The northern Roman blocking army lost four out of his five units in battle.  The Gallic cavalry, alone, scattered three of those units.  Decisive!  For the Gauls, it was a fun and decisive day.  The path home to the north lays open for the Gallic warbands.  We look forward to fighting Telamon again and I am energized to get some Gauls into the painting queue. 

The battle was fought on Sunday.  On Thursday, SoA's Slingshot 322 with the Telamon Battle Pack arrived in the post.  I look forward to reading the material and applying this new information to our next battle of Telamon.  It looks like a good issue.  Several more Telamon battles await!