AB French Ligne Infantry in Bicorne

After seeing few new recruits for the 1799 project muster off the desk since mid-summer and with thoughts of gaming Montebello in my head, painting returns to the 1799 project.  Off the painting desk, this time, are 26 18mm AB figures to muster two battalions.  

Having examined Orders of Battle for the Battle of Montebello in 1800, I found Austrian light infantry and grenz were needed.  So, what do I put into the painting queue?  Two battalions of French Ligne infantry destined for the 100th Demi-Brigade (regiment).  Yeah, I know.

While I could have pulled Austrian grenz and light infantry from my 1809 Napoleonic project, I really wanted to field the early light infantry and grenz.  A bit picky but I did want the earlier uniform representation and AB figures.  Anyway, one can always use more French ligne, right?  I thought so. 

With the 1800 battle of Montebello delayed until I can field the missing links, progress is being made on the 1859 version of the battle.  The terrain has been placed to cover the scope of both the 1800 and 1859 battles.  While both battles included the town of Montebello, the 1800 battle featured Montebello as a western French objective and the 1859 battle featured Montebello as an eastern French objective.  The battlefield expansion to include both battles, opens up the scope of each.  Possibly confusing now but all will be made more clear when the battlefield is displayed.  

For now, back to the painting desk.  A few units are in queue and awaiting their turn in the photo booth too.   

28mm ACW Project Brigade Review

Here is my little Federal brigade comprising three foot regiments, four gun sections, and more than its fair share of commanders.  The brigade is ready for action!

Infantry and one command stand are Sash & Saber.  Guns, crew and two command stands are Old Glory.  Left in The Lead Pile are a handful of infantry, not enough to field a fourth regiment, and an Old Glory Federal camp scene.  The latter was picked up as an Old Glory Army Card bonus from several years ago.  To paraphrase Walter Brennan, "One of these days I'm gonna climb that mountain."  The Lead Mountain, that is.

Four Federal gun sections

140th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment

10th New York National Zouaves

114th Pennsylvania Rgt Collis' Zouaves

10th NY National Zouaves

The third regiment in my 28mm Federal brigade marches off from the painting desk.  That regiment is the 10th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment or the National Guard Zouaves.

Figures are the last of the Sash & Saber Zouaves I picked up years ago.  While the sculpting is generally quite good on Sash & Saber figures, I found many of these Zouaves to have a number of misshapen faces.  No matter, from eye to table distance these ugly mugs will not be noticed.

With their colorful and flamboyant uniform, these recruits will brighten up the typically dreary ACW battlefield.  Having two Zouave regiments in my brigade, they may not find glory on the battlefield but will look smart trying!

With three infantry regiments and four guns in the brigade, I think it time to pull all of the troops out for a parade review.  That parade review will be coming up soon. 

Assyrian Chariot #3 Rehab

Chariot #3 of nine goes in for a bit of rework.  Like chariots #1 and #2 before, yoke needed to be removed and flipped and one wheel needed reaffixing.  Riders needed to be resituated in their cab.Finally, some minor paint touch-ups before staining and mounting on a new base.

As I work through each of the chariots, visions of fielding these machines on the gaming table are becoming more frequent.  Spread out onto the desk are Army Lists to help in solidifying a force to build.  With enough chariots to field four Impetvs-sized BMUs of two chariots each, these four chariot elements are sufficient to complete two armies under Basic Impetvs. 

Three down, six to go.  Oh, and an order to Foundry is off in a call for reinforcements.

Basic Impetvs 2.0 - In Time for Christmas

The release of Basic Impetvs 2.0 has been announced.  Pre-ordering is underway.  With my pre-order placed, I received an email confirmation from Lorenzo.  All is good!  BI2.0 will be available in hardcopy and pdf.  While original BI was free, BI2.0 is not.  The good news is that the pdf price is a modest $4.99 and will be available through Wargames Vault.  Shipping for the hardcopy will be in about two weeks and delivery before Christmas.

I have been looking forward to the new release of the excellent "Basic" Impetvs for a long time.  Will EVADE make it into BI2.0?  Will a unit's Impetvs Bonus remain intact until the unit has dropped below 1/2 VBU as in Baroque?  Will we see the introduction of separate commanders?  I hope so!  Having not played BI in long time, I have forgotten what else I had on my inclusion Wish List.

Details of this release can be found at the Basic Impetvs Homepage.

28mm ACW Federal Guns

As the year draws to a close, pushing a few units into the painting queue to reach a project milestone is often considered.  Such is the situation with my very limited scope 28mm ACW project.  Several years ago, a few regimental packs of Sash & Saber figures along with a quartet of Old Glory Federal guns and crew were purchased.  The goal was to build a small brigade-sized force to throw into battle in one of Scott's ACW games.  Even though Scott has a large collection, I always enjoy being able to contribute figures for the table.  Will I be able to keep the project at a token force?  I think so. 

The first step towards that goal was to field the 114th Pennsylvania Regiment (see: Collis' Zouaves) about a year ago.  The second regiment mustered was the 140th NY Volunteer Infantry Regiment (see: 140th NY) this past summer.  Today, four Federal guns and crew are called up for service. 

One more infantry regiment remains to deploy to complete the brigade.  Despite the progressive rarity of Zouave units as the war wore on, the third regiment will be a second Zouave regiment.  Perhaps a bit anachronistic but I am drawn to the colorful Zouave uniform.  That Zouave regiment will be mustering out shortly.

Assyrian Chariot #2 Rehab

On to the next in a long line of planned Assyrian chariot refurbishments.  Having tackled the first of nine recently, the plan is to forge ahead to refurbish and rebase the remaining eight chariots.

Chariot #2 on the work desk required wheels to be reattached and the yoke to be removed and repositioned.  With a few touch-ups, a Minwax stain and a new, smaller base, this war cart is ready for action.

Having finally overcome the inertia to rehabilitating these models, thoughts are turning towards building two Basic Impetvs forces for a small game.  While the Foundry figures are excellent (the nine chariots are all Wargames Foundry), Newline Designs is getting consideration for building out the foot troops.  Especially with a Christmas sale in progress, Newline represents a very good value.

Two down; seven to go.

Parade Review - Great Game Project

After having recently completed the last of the Russian Cossacks in The Lead Pile and with the number of storage boxes piling up for the 28mm Great Game project, this morning figures were pulled from their boxes and set up for a parade review.  As figures are painting and quickly stored away, it is easy to lose focus on the status of a project.  

This was not the only motivator for the parade.  Over dinner, we began discussing the next game to tackle.  While the debut of my Russians and Natives was planned but aborted in November, Kevin suggested we try again for a December start.  Sounds good to me!  

Kevin will be hosting the game and rumors abound of a great terrain building project going on in Kevin's workshop.  He makes handsome and intricate terrain pieces so I look forward to seeing what he developed for us to fight over.  My hope is that the Russians are not obligated to attack a strong fortress until they have been tested in open combat first.

To help Kevin plan the engagement, below are what the Russians are capable of fielding:

• 3 x Russian Infantry Battalions
• 1 x Russian Hussar Regiment
• 2 x Russian Cossack Regiments
• 1 x Russian Lancer Regiment
• 2 x Russian Cossack guns
• 1 x Sikh Cavalry Regiment
• 1 x Afghan Irregular Cavalry Regiment
• 3 x Native guns
• 4 x Sikh Infantry Battalions

That is quite a sizable force!  Of course, not all must see battle but the OB is laid out for consideration.  Perhaps by December one more Russian Infantry battalion can be mustered?  Maybe a Native Emir can be found to provide a local liaison?  Figures are all Wargames Foundry.

Prussians for the APW/FPW?

In one on my more recent resupplies from Lancashire Games, a battle pack of Prussian infantry from the mid-19th Century ranges found its way into the shopping cart.  Ordered was the advancing pack as a sample of the Prussian figures.  With 60 rank and file figures per Battle Pack, several commands set were added into the cart as well.  Enough figures to field three or four infantry battalions.  When the package arrived, close inspection revealed excellent sculpting on these Prussians.   

Am I branching out from the 1859 conflict to creep into the Austro-Prussian or Franco-Prussians wars?  Perhaps. Expansion into the other two conflicts would likely remain in the future since the 1859 project still has room to grow and many other projects vie for my painting time.  When I do expand, the Austrians, Italians, and French can all do double duty in another theater.  Economy!

The Prussians are a joy to paint.  Simple uniforms that paint very quickly.  I imagine being able to field a brigade of Germans quite rapidly for a small demonstration game.  These sixteen foot soldiers mustered off the painting desk in rapid fashion.  Then, Prussians were always good at quick mobilization.  So rapidly mustered, they had no time to obtain their flag.  Search is on for a suitable flag. 

Once more progress is made on the 1859 front, thoughts will certainly return to fielding more Prussians. 

French Chasseurs d'Afrique - 1859

With thoughts of getting the 1859 project onto the gaming table coming to the fore, painting returns to that project even if only momentarily.  Off the painting desk are nine Old Glory French Chasseurs d'Afrique.  The French deployed three Chasseurs d'Afrique regiments in the Northern Italian campaign and I now can field all three regiments.  Having only nine figures remaining in The Lead Pile, only three squadrons of the 3rd Cd'A Regiment will be mustered at present.

While I have been very pleased with Old Glory's FPW/FAW range of 15mm infantry, as noted in previous posts, I am not so enamored with their cavalry.  Overall, the sculpts are good but the swords are too thin and are not likely to hold up to the rigors of campaigning.  Nevertheless, as new recruits, these troopers will be welcomed into the growing French force.

An earlier post mentioned the Battles of Montebello as a possible candidate to use for getting both the 1799 and 1859 projects out onto the gaming table.  After a little research, Montebello would make an interesting exercise for working through both battles.  Looking at OBs, the 1800 Montebello will require a few more units to be fielded unless I want to use some existing figures from my "main" Napoleonic project.  The plan for the 1799/1800 project was to build up forces from all combatants using primarily AB figures.  With that still a goal, Austrian light infantry need to get into the painting queue before the 1800 version of Montebello can be undertaken.

In the meantime, figures are present for the 1859 battle and work has begun on researching the scenario.  Laying out a map is one of the first steps.  A preliminary layout is being set up now.  More details on that later.

Finally, the Great Game planned for Saturday was cancelled due to scheduling challenges but Scott and I met at Kevin's for a half day of Commands & Colors: Ancients and lunch.  The Battle of Zama was refought four times using my 6mm collection with Hannibal and Scipio splitting the decisions two games apiece.  Great games, great lunch, and great camaraderie; a great day!  The Great Game game will be rescheduled to later this fall.  This delay provides additional time to field another Russian infantry battalion.   

Assyrian Chariot Rehab

When I pulled the box of Assyrian chariots off the shelf in contemplation of beginning the rehabilitation process, I was shocked (shocked I say), to look up when I purchased these figures.  I bought these over three years ago and the nine chariots have been sitting in box, untouched ever since.

To refresh my memory, a quick search in the blog archive showed that these were purchased near the end of 2013 (see: Overcome by Temptation).  As noted then, the package arrived with contents in various stages of destruction.  Some chariots were even missing parts!  I suppose the state of the figures dampened my drive to get them ready for the gaming table.  Of course getting these onto the gaming table is a very long term proposition since I have no other Assyrian figures for this period.  

State of the models upon arrival

State of models upon arrival

Pulling one of the nine models from the box for closer examination, I decided to tackle the rehabilitation on one model to see what work lies ahead.  Looking at the model, it appeared the yoke was affixed upside down.  For the models having the yoke still in place, all were mounted in the same fashion and all were upside down.

First thing to do was soak the base in water to loosen the glue.  After a soak, the figures could be removed from the base easily.  Next, the yoke was pulled off and reattached to the chariot tongue properly.  Both wheels needed to be reattached and then all pieces received a treatment with Minwax stain after a little touch-up painting.

After drying, a coat of Dullcote was applied and then the models were rebased on a 60mm x 80mm base.  After basing, another coat of Dullcote was applied.  The final result is what is seen here.  Nice looking model.  Only eight more to go.  Of course, continuing on with this project suggests a need to start gathering foot troops to accompany these chariots.  That, of course, would necessitate an opponent.  Ah, this is a slippery slope.