Flagging French Cavalry

One of the early decisions made when I sat down to plan a French army was what to do about cavalry standard bearers.  Do I order one standard bearer for every unit I plan to field, some of the units, or none?  Since I had no French cavalry flags at the ready, the decision was to include standard bearers for perhaps half of the units.  Standard bearers with no flag look a bit forlorn.  I should know.  Most of my SYW cavalry have no banners waving in the breeze.  Armed with that decision, I sat down to make up the Christmas order to Eureka Miniatures.  As I type out these words, memories of poring over the pages of the Christmas catalog and making lists come rushing back.  Oh the joy!  Not much difference with the exception that fifty years have passed since those formative days.

Anyway, having recently completed the first tranche of French cavalry units to field for Bassignana (up to seven units now), David (Not by Appointment blog) asked if some French cavalry flags would interest me.  Of course, they would!  Having seemingly kept a watchful eye on the mustering out of my French cavalry on the blog, I received an email with the standard for one of my recently released units.  After an exchange of emails, another flag for one of my units appeared.  And another.  And another.  David was creating these little masterpieces at a rate unsustainable to my painting throughput.  I may have more French cavalry banners than I do painted cavalry units; or unpainted ones!  This is especially true since not all of my painted cavalry units field a standard bearer.

In talking with David, one of his concerns is the small size of the cavalry banners.  He much prefers seeing the large flags of the infantry regiments.  Yes, cavalry banners are much smaller than their foot colleagues by design.  This concern is pronounced with flags for 15mm figures when compared to 25/28mm figures.  With Eureka cavalry, this is even more pronounced.  Many of the Eureka cavalry have short standards.  No space on the pole to attach a larger flag without replacing the pole.

Would much of the detail put into a cavalry banner be lost to the eye when printing and when displayed upon the gaming table?  Judge for yourself on four of the newly flagged cavalry units.

David's artistry in his flag work is still on display even in these small cavalry flags.  The banners provide a splash of color to the cavalry unit and help identify the command stand at a glance. 

Brilliant work, David, and thank you!  Now, I need to go off and make a new Wish List for Eureka Miniatures and include more cavalry standard bearers among the unit orders. 

More SYW French and Out on the Bike

Work at the painting desk continues on my SYW French "bender."  Inspired by both a number of interesting looking WAS scenarios on the Honours of War forum and David's flags, the painting queue shows no sign of easing up yet.  Following these two battalions, I expect to see another pair of French infantry regiments and French artillery hitting the painting desk next.  After those batteries muster out then time for some French cavalry, I think. 

Out from the painting desk today are two more French battalions.  This time we see Regiments Condè and Rohan Montbazon.  Each 23-figure battalion has 22 Old Glory infantrymen led by a Eureka mounted officer. 

Regiment Condè

Regiment Rohan Montbazon

This week sees a light schedule on the gaming front.  Only one F2F game planned for Saturday.  Back by popular demand, my 6mm ancients will see action again at the Battle of Caralis using Commands & Colors Ancients in a rematch. 

I did manage to replay the Combat of Moys, solo, this week.  The results ended up much like the first battle (see Combat of Moys) with the Austrian juggernaut stomping Winterfeldt's precariously placed Corps.  Taking a page from Norm's recent manifesto, I played the game for the joy of the game, itself.  No photos and no chronicling of the events.  I lined up the troops and set-to rolling dice and not taking names.  Well, I will relay that the Jackelsberg held out a little longer for me than in Game #1 but not much longer.  The Prussians, again, could not get reinforcements up to the redoubt before it was lost for good.  

With two playings of Moys in the books and results the same, I propose that the historical outcome of battle was the most likely.  Winterfeldt simply cannot counter the overwhelming superiority of the Austrian Army.  Could the Prussians see a tactical victory?  Yes, it is possible but Prussian losses were high (again!) in Game #2.  With that question answered, time to clear the table and move on to other battles.  I hear the distant call of more SYW battles.

What is coming up on the gaming table?  Well, there are rumblings of a return to playtesting Rein-bow Warrior on the plains of the Levant.  At least one more playtest is formulating in anticipation of seeing the game return to the Tuesday UK remote group in the near future.

Also on tap is an anniversary battle of Mollwitz.  Mollwitz has seen action on my table before so this will be familiar ground.  I expect a new cast of players, though.  Mollwitz is smaller and more open than Moys so the battle may lend itself more readily to group games.

On the cycling front, finally, weather on the Palouse has warmed enough to detach the bike from the indoor trainer and return for an outside ride.  It has been a long winter and it was very good to get outside in the cool air to once again dodge potholes and cars out on the open road.  There remains plenty of grit and debris on the roadways until the spring sweeping of the streets begins.  Spring is a hazardous time brought about by road conditions and the need for motor traffic to acclimatize to seeing cyclists back out on the road.

Below is a sampling of shots from a recent outing.  Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a fine cycling season.  Besides, I have some winter weight to shed.  A 31-mile roundtrip is a good start...

 Until next time.

Irish Regiment Lally

Having been following many of the War of Austrian Succession scenarios and battle reports on the Honours or War forum and watching David create a series of handsome flags for the Swiss, Irish, and French battalions for the SYW/WAS at Not by Appointment blog, my willpower finally broke.

While I fielded three battalions of Swiss line infantry regiments as a "test" of 18mm Blue Moon SYW figures a number of years ago (eight years from looking at the painting log!), I never expanded the project to include the French.  I was content with primarily fielding Prussian and Austrian armies.  Until recently, that is.

Swiss battalions in French service

Off the painting desk today is a battalion from Irish Infantry Regiment Lally.  While the regiment saw service in India during the SYW, it was active in Flanders during the WAS.  Infantry figures are Blue Moon French led by a Eureka mounted officer.  Flags are Not by Appointment designs. 

With an Old Glory Army card in hand, expect an expansion of the French army to get underway using Blue Moon figures.  I have not decided if I prefer the Blue Moon figures over the "old" Old Glory 15mm SYW figures.  The Old Glory Russian infantry are superb.  I expect the French to be equally nice.  I should order a few Old Glory packs (from 19th Century Miniatures) to confirm.  Until then, I have an Old Glory Army card burning a hole in my pocket.  Two more Irish regiments are in work.  After those muster out, my attention will turn to fielding French infantry, proper.  I imagine thoughts of Hanoverians will be materializing before long.  As with the Prussian and Austrian armies, expect cavalry to be sourced from Eureka Miniatures.  Just what I need, an expansion to an existing project.  With my Hittite expansion nearing completion, a new project seems reasonable.  Right?