Stories of lancers

After my call with John on Sunday I had gone looking for Zvezda lancers in my collection that are 'unallocated'. I had a number put aside to become a mixture of 3e éclaireurs, ten figures, from which I have removed the aiglets, plus another 12 figures that I had envisaged using as a mixture of the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e chevau-légers lanciers (including the seventh squadron which came from the previous 3e chevau-légers lanciers) and also the Young Guard squadron of the 2e chevau-légers lanciers. I had a piece of paper with the figures with a vague note to self about which were gonna be which. Huh? What was I on about, I thought.

One of the lovely pictures of the 3rd Polish lancers by Charmy

This lead me down a path that I had trodden previously, looking at info. in my books until I opened my 'ultimate' army list for the Battle of Leipzig. Ah, it all became clear. Four to be the Young Guard squadron of the 2e, eight as the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e, including that of the previous 3e (still in their original uniform) and a tip to self to 'make up the numbers for the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e with figures of the 3e éclaireurs'.

So, no drama, to 'nick' four of them to make a larger unit of Berg lancers and simply use more of the ten allocated as 3e éclaireurs to represent the 4th to 7th squadrons of the 1e chevau-légers lanciers at Leipzig (in 1813).

3rd lancers of the Guard

My little trek down the path already trod was not a waste—one always finds out more, particularly when information has only been skimmed before. This time, I read the description of the 'ill-fated' 3e chevau-légers lanciers from Jouineau and Mongin's "The Imperial Guard of the First Empire 2. Mounted Troops". It is a most interesting tale that I discovered has a few different versions in different books.

Above and below: two more plates from Charmy illustrating the lovely 3e chevau-légers lanciers.

I vaguely recalled the paragraph in the second volume of the Funckens' "Arms and Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars", those gorgeous tomes that had excited my imagination in my nascent days of wargaming when I could only dream of painting the sorts of units that I have painted and am painting now.

3é régiment

Formed in Lithuania on 12th September 1812 and had a brief existence... It was nearly completely destroyed at Slonim (Russia) and its colonel, general Konapka, hero of the 1st regiment during the war in Spain, was wounded and made prisoner. (p. 44)

 Charmy's brief description is similar.

It was formed in Lithuania at Wilna, ten squadrons of two companies each. Commander: general Konapka. It was part of the Grande armée in the Russian campaign and was destroyed by the Russians at Slamina on the 18th October 1812. Those who remained were transferred to the 1st Regiment of the Polish Lancers of the Guard on 11th April 1813. (p. 126)

As is Pigeard's.

On the 19th October 1812, the two squadrons commanded by their colonel were surprised in their cantonment at Slonim in Lithuania by a corps of Russian partisans [his term] under general Czaplicz. Despite a valiant defence, all who were not killed were made prisoner. (p. 116)

Lachouque gave us more information.

[July] The Emperor took advantage of the Poles' good will to create a third regiment of light-horse in the Guard. It was recruited from members of Polish landowning families who could ride and provide their own equipment. It was uniformed like the 1st with yellow buttons and lace instead of white. General Konopka was appointed colonel in chief and put in charge of organizing it (p. 232). [October] Farther south Bessières and 1,400 of Colbert's light horse camped near Voronovo on the Kaluga road to wait for General Konopka's 3rd lancers (p. 242). The newest regiment of lancers would never join Colbert's brigade. General Konopka and the first two squadrons had been surprised at Slonim on the road to Minsk by a large body of Cossacks. 'They defended themselves valiantly and lost sixteen officers and many men before they were finally beaten. All who escaped with their lives were made prisoner.' Nothing was left of the regiment but a small depot at Grodno (p. 249).

The account in Jouineau and Mongin, which had sent me looking for other versions, provide the greatest detail.

The regiment was put on a war footing on 12 September 1812 and immediately left Warsaw for Russia. It headed for Minsk to join the Grande Armée on 5 October of the same year. [...] A fortnight later, on 1 October in vaudeville-style circumstances where smugness rivalled with sheer incompetence, the regiment allowed itself to be surprised in the town of Slonim by the Russians. The town was not even on the regiment's route. The wife of the General Konopka, the regiment's commanding officer, and wives of the other officers lived in the town. The regiment deviated from its route and, forgetting to send out scouts and not setting up a "grand garde", the headquarters and several other companies allowed themselves to be encircled by the Russians who were billeted only ten miles from the town. General Konopka and most of the lancers (i.e. the commanding officer, 13 officers and 235 troopers) were captured after a brief struggle. (p. 162)

I thought this would interest John too, so sent him a photo of the page from Jouineau and Mongin.

"Interesting", he replied.

"The danger of a quickie before heading to the front...," I said.

"Hope Clausewitz put that in his book," he quipped.

I cracked up!

"It's in Sun Tzu ain't it?"

"Hope so," John replied.

"Or was that Harry Hoo?" 

Uffindell is even more damning of Konopka and his fellow officers, which he provides as an example of 'neglect of duty'.

One of the most notorious cases of neglect of duty by an Imperial Guard officer was the destruction of the newly raised 3e Chevau-légers lanciers at Slonim in Lithuania in October 1812. The regiment's commander, Général de brigade Jan Konopka, had been instructed to join the Grande Armée, which had reached Moscow, but he ignored intelligence that his route was threatened by a corps from a secondary Russian force, the Army of the Danube. He belatedly left Slonim early one morning after being alerted to the Russian approach, but was pursued and defeated. His wife and two other women managed to escape by crossing the river on a raft, but Konopka himself was wounded and then captured, along with 250 of his men. A Russian general, Louis-Alexandre, Count Langeron alleged [my italics]:

General Konopka didn't have an advanced post or a vedette on any road and our army was only twenty verstes [thirteen miles] from him. Such lack of foresight in an officer who had much experience of war in the French army is inexplicable and led to suspicions that having squandered the funds allocated for the formation of the regiment, he had found no other way of settling his accounts than to get himself captured... We sent back to their families the young men who were earmarked for the honour of guarding Napoleon. (pp. 208–209)

Plate from Jouineau & Mongin, showing the 3e chevau-légers lanciers with facings of a crimson colour.

Epilogue

What of General Konopka? A quick look on the inter-web provided versions of the same information.

After being released from prison in 1814 he was offered the command of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of Congress Poland but he declined. Exhausted by wounds, prison, and fatigue he died the same year in Warsaw. (Wikipedia)

Lancers of Berg

I came then to reading/re-reading about the Berg lancers. This unit had a confusing existence; originally as lancers (1807–08), then as chasseurs (1808–09) and finally as lancers (1809–1812 & 1812–1813). At one time there were two regiments, differently equipped in Spain and Russia, then a combined regiment again, greatly reduced early in the 1813 campaign, built up again during the armistice, progressively reduced at Peterswalde in late August, then at Leipzig and Hanau, the remnants were disarmed, save for chef d'escadron comte von Goldstein, a naturalise Frenchman, and a few troopers who were transferred to the 27th chasseurs à cheval (Pigeard, pp. 363–366).

With all of these changes in organisation, the uniforms are confusing in the extreme and I wanted to check that the one I had settled on was 'correct'.

Initially, they had a white kurtka with pink facings, trousers and czapka; although Jouineau and Mongin state,

Although this "Polish-style" uniform was well and truly drawn by Baron Lejeune, nobody can today confirm whether it was ever really worn. (p. 164)

As Hourtouille stated,

We have tried to be objective, but the way this regiment was dispersed, the numerous campaigns it took part in and the constant changes of uniform, makes it difficult to combine different sources into a coherent whole. (p. 116).

The most accepted version of the uniform in 1813 is a green kurtka, faced pink, with green trousers with pink stripes (grey on campaign) and sheepskin shabraque with pink tooth edging (possibly green for the second regiment in Russia). Interestingly, this is how they are shown in Funcken (often maligned for inaccuracies).

The Berg lancers in Funcken, élite company.

There is a more glorious, full dress version that was produced in one of Knötel's plates (and reproduced beautifully by Jack Girbal in "Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars"). That's the one for me. Taking full advantage of the saddlecloths that come with Zvezda's Polish lancer figures that I used.

Girbal's painting in "Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars"; a mixed-bag of some of the variations in the uniform of the Berg lancers. The second figure from the left (front) is the one based on Knötel that I followed when I painted the first 12 figures of Berg lancers for our game of Bautzen back in 2013.

A version of the Knötel's plate shown in Jouineau and Mongin. I prefer Girbal's version with that slight purple tinge to the border of the shabraque.

I will need to add some details to the trumpeter's uniform, which was based on Imperial livery. I'll use the bottom right figure in this plate from Jouineau and Mongin, which is derived from Girbal's above (but with the fancy shabraque)!

Some imprimatur, should I need any for a wargame unit, which is only and always representation, comes from Pigeard.

On the 10th August [1813] the lancers paraded in full uniform at Dresden for the revue. They assisted at the battle of Dresden but were not engaged. (p. 366)

Good enough for me!

My Berg lancers with the extra four figs 'nicked' from the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e chevau-légers, based and undercoated to be painted at the same time as the others are spruced up.

References consulted

Charmy, G (2003) Splendeur des Uniformes de Napoleon: La Garde Imperiale à Cheval. Tome 3. Editions Charles Herissey, Rennes, France. 251 pp.

Funcken, L and Funcken, F (1969) L'uniforme et les armes des soldats du premier Empire Tome 2 : De la garde impériale aux troupes alliées, suédoises, autrichiennes et russes. Tome 2. Casterman, Tournai, Belgique. 157 pp.

Hourtoulle, F-G, Girbal, J and Courcelle, P (2004) Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars. Translated by A McKay. Histoire & Collections, Paris, France. 208 pp.

Jouineau, A and Mongin, J-M (2018) The Imperial Guard of the First Empire 2. Mounted Troops. Volume 2. Éditions Heimdal, St Martin-des-Entrées, Bayeux, France. 176 pp.

Lachouque, H and Brown, ASK (1978) The Anatomy of Glory. Arms and Armour Press, London, England. 564 pp.

Pigeard, A (2005) La Garde impériale : 1804-1815. Editions Tallandier, Paris, France. 484 pp.

Uffindell, A (2007) Napoleon's Immortals: The Imperial Guard and its Battles, 1804–1815. Spellmount Limited, Stroud, Gloucestershire. 363 pp.

Freebie with a twist

A few weeks ago they asked on the Hat forum if anyone would be interested in painting some test figures of their soon-to-be-released late Russian infantry. I was keen but, knowing that I am a slow painter, wondered whether I'd be able to keep my end of the bargain. Then I thought "I have more time to dedicate to hobby stuff than previously, plus a bit of pressure to paint some specific figs would not hurt," so I put my hand up.

To my joyful surprise, I received an email almost immediately, asking for my address. I pointed out that I live in Oz, so would understand if they did not want to post them that far. No problem with that.

On Friday I had a card in our PO box telling me that there was a package to be collected and it was them.

The package included a sprue each of Russian infantry marching and 'in action', plus one each of the also soon-to-be released American War of Independence (AWI) British cavalry and artillery.

I washed the sprues on Friday evening, then prep'd the figures yesterday, gluing on the back packs, removing tiny bits of flash, before sticking them onto bases and undercoating them.

I'm gonna paint the AWI figures as troops of the (French) revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, so a bit of modification was required and some exchange of horses and cannon from amongst my spares. More on these once they are completed.

Painting will begin this afternoon. The 'twist'—the moral obligation that I feel to get on and paint them—is a good 'problem' to have and part of the joy of it all.

December plans

Further excitement yesterday. I am planning to catch up with the fellas from the Serpentine Group in mid December, a combined trip to see the speedway in Albany and then we'll have a two-day game at John's. He and Steve have been having some ripper sessions, which Steve has reported on the group's blog.

The added excitement came c/- a text from John out of the blue yesterday arvo':

"How would you go mustering this contingent for the forthcoming engagement?"

It sent me into a bit of a spin, to be frank. I wasn't expecting that! This took me through a few emotions: can I, can't I, how long until 13th December, what do I have?

I (metaphorically) dived into one of my cupboards to have a look at my Poles. I have the necessary figures, easily, except for the 20 'christmas crackers' (Krakus); I have 18. I could use two figures of the Polish-Italian Legion uhlans to make up the numbers. I'd check with John. Trouble is most of the figures need finishing touches—the 'dreaded' last 10%. Why not use this as a great reason/impetus do that last 10% and bring 'em, finally, to completion?

Can I 'trust' myself to come through? My past failures concern me, but 'don't let past failures be a guide to future performance', hey? I have more time to dedicate than ever before, so why not accept the challenge? Last week I completed a good sub-set of the 1/700 Japanese ships for Pearl Harbor, so my plan was already to stop building and to paint said ships and the figs that I have on the go. 

'Cept I already have the added 'pressure' to paint the figures from the test sprues from Hat. This is an important caveat. C'mon you wuss. There are 36 figures in all in this lot. Surely I can finish them in two weeks? That'd give me three weeks to do the finishing touches to the Poles.

Challenge accepted (and accepted that it is mainly in my head)!

Two of my trays of Polish (Duchy of Warsaw) cavalry, all 'good enough' and clear what  they represent, but all needing some finishing touches.

The third tray, plus some of the artillery at right.

The full tray of artillery, with undercoated 2nd infantry, plus the last tray containing limbers, Polish-Italian Legion uhlans and generals.

John, as ever, the great, encouraging friend said,

"Plenty. Bring the caisson and limber team... I'm hoping to do the beautiful 20:1 figure ratio and that "In the Grand Manner" look. 18 Chrissy crackers will do nicely! Add finishing touches as you please!"

Later he added,

"You wouldn't by any chance have 16 Berg lancers, would you?"

Oh my goodness. I have 12 and could make up the numbers with Westphalian chevau-legers or, more likely, ‘chocolate eclairs’ (1e éclaireurs, the Young Guard ones with the lance).

"I have 12."

We'd gone past the usefulness of texts. Time to talk.

That conversation took my excitement up a notch or two. How good is this gonna be? A section of Leipzig, I did not ask him which specific bit, but we will be somewhere in the south of that huge battlefield. The 'Grand Manner' style involves battalions as regiments, cavalry regiment(s) as brigades, so in reality his usual kinda figure scale, but with the smoke and mirrors of BIG units at 1:20 scale for the specific unit that they are painted to represent. Hence the 16 Berg lancers.

I did some more delving into my figures after our chat. I can do better than 12. Another four, unpainted Zvezda lancer figs won't be too much of a stretch.

So, in the course of three days I have gone from Plan A of finish off the figures that I have been painting and paint the 1/700 ships that I have built, to Plan B of paint the Hat test figures as well as, to Plan C of finish off the Polish cavalry, generals and artillery as well as, to Plan D of finish off the Berg lancers as well as.

If only everyone could have such wonderful 'problems', contentment would abound!

Great Wargaming Survey 2025

 

Jonathan over at Palouse Wargaming Journal alerted me that the 2025 edition of this questionnaire is now open. I am a serial 'data point' and have completed it again. It's a bit of fun to do and Jon does some excellent analyses that he presents on his blog.

I doubt that anyone who reads this blog does not read his, but the link to the questionnaire is here, just in case!

Battles of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras (2): Cybèle v Minerva, 4 January 1792

We are in the northern Indian Ocean, west of India for the second battle of the revolutionary and Napoleonic era.

Cybèle and Minerva (closest to camera) 'cruising together'.

This action, historically a non-action, was a follow-up from the previous Battle of Tellicherry and occurred during the Third Mysore War as part of the on-going 'phony war' between Britain and France.

James' and Troude's histories, written later in the century, provide slightly different accounts.

James states “It appears, however, that the Cybele and Resolue afterwards got under way and put to sea, attended by the Minerva and Phoenix; who cruised with them several days, and also brought to some vessels under French colours without interruption. M. Saint-Felix subsequently despatched the Resolue on another service; and Commodore Cornwallis did the same with the Phoenix. The Minerva and Cybele were thus left cruising together; but, although the two commodores kept each other’s company for some days, we hear of no further altercation between them.”

Troude reports “On 4th January 1792, the frigate Cybèle mounted by the chief of division Saint-Félix, was met by night by the English frigate Minerva, commanded by Commodore Comwallis, who fired a cannon shot. This superior officer pretended to have been mistaken and gave as an excuse that, in the position of the English opposite Typpo Saïb, he should visit all the ships he encountered.”

So, either 'no altercation' or a single, ranging shot that caused some ructions but did not develop into a more serious exchange. Does not seem to be much of an action for a wargame.

I decided that it would be good to include it as a ship-to-ship duel, to the 'death'. That'd make more of a game and get me/us in the swing for re-fighting later ship-to-ship actions that occurred once the nations were actually at war.

James' and Troude's descriptions provide three important pieces of information: the names of the ships and captains (flags of both fleets), they were running parallel and that it was night. There is no distance listed for visibility at night in the rules, so we decided to use the option 'light and fog' which is 300 mm and 600 mm for gun flashes.

Julian and Stephen made the significant trek over and up respectively to join me for this small game—"the most fun that you'll have with just two ships" as I sold it to Stephen. He took the rôle of Cornwallis on the Minerva, Julian of Saint-Félix aboard Cybèle. Julian and I worked through the rules, as necessary.

Minerva wore to starboard to intercept Cybèle.

(The cloth that I used for this game is a deep blue. For some reason my phone's camera made it grey. A good 'mistake' under the circumstances of a night action!)

Cybèle ahead, increasing the gap between the two. 

The run and pursuit continued, with the ships criss-crossing.

Cybèle reduced sail, and Minerva gained some 'ground' (sea?).

Would Minerva ever catch up?

The ships crossed paths once more.

Minerva was closing in and sailing significantly faster (thanks to Cybèle's deliberate slowing).

(Note the blue cloth) Minerva unleashed her port broadside of double shot at point blank range, killing 18 of Cybèle's crew and disabling three of her starboard broadsides. What could Cybèle do in reply? Nothing. Julian had forgotten to load the starboard broadside! "I was focussed on my strategy and forgot the tactics." he admitted.

We play 'for keeps', but not for sheep stations, so Stephen said, "C'mon, no captain would have left that broadside unloaded." But Julian was adamant and happy, As 'umpire' (of sorts), I thought that we should leave it too. "Part of the game."

Minerva sailed on, pleased with the result.

Attempting another criss-cross, Minerva was surprised when Cybèle ran into her, fouling the two ships.

This was the strategy that Julian was focussed on. Cornwallis sent a boarding party across to Cybèle, whose crew stood by to defend.

An intense mêlée raged on the decks of Cybèle as the ships drifted. It looked like 'Tellicherry all over again' as the English got on board and captured the upper deck. But more and more of the French crew joined the fight (aided by Julian's dice being impeccable and of the right magnitude at every stage), so the boarders were driven back to the ship's edge and then back to Minerva all together.

It had been an intense struggle. The crew of Cybèle was reduce by 70 men, including Saint-Félix himself. Minerva's lost 124 marines and sailors.

With Saint-Félix dead, the French second in command had no desire to try to capture Minerva. For his part, Cornwallis was content to see the ships cut away from one another. The official reports would tell that 'no further altercation occurred', although that which did was significantly more in this parallel, miniature universe.

It was a fantastic day, a fine game and a wonderful gathering of three friends with the same interest (obsession). I did not move a ship and I had an absolute ball. The fellas enjoyed themselves.

- Stephen reported that "I've never had so much fun from so few figures."

- Julian that "It was a blast!"

As readers of this blog know, I don't do speaking in code so will take them both at their words!

About the game

Rules: Action Under Sail, second edition 1977

Nominal scale (none is given in the rules): turns represent ~1.5 minutes, ground scale 1/3000 (1 mm to 3 m)

Ships: 1/3000 scale Navwar (Minerva) and stratch-built (Cybèle)

That's it for things nautical for a while. I/we move to Saint Domingue for the next action in this "ultimate 'Napoleonic' world series".

I originally had action no. 3 as the Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets which occurred on 22nd March 1792, but reading Dubois and Garrigus' excellent "Slave Revolution in the Caribbean 1789–1804" revealed a description from the Philadelphia General Advertiser of October–November 1791 of a significant action at one of Gallifet's plantations on 20th September 1791. The other book by Dubois "Avengers of the New World" (finally) arrived at our PO box yesterday, so I'll collect it today. I'm hoping that there might be more detail of the attack on the (former) slave's barricade on 20/9/91. There may well be other, early actions that I will include.

Regardless, whether from 20/9/91 or an earlier action, it will be action no. 3 and it will be some time before it makes it to the table. I have zero figures painted, in fact, I have only washed the ones that I have earmarked and am still considering which figs I'll use to represent the régiments du Haut du Cap and Petite Anse.

Whether I do this at lightning speed and manage late April, or the more likely target of May-June (or even later), is of no matter. I am fortunate to be 'booked' for games at John's and Julian's for two week's time and the 1st April (no joke), respectively.

Games, painting, reading/research. I continue to be one happy little vegemite!

References

James, W (1902) The naval history of Great Britain : from the declaration of war by France in 1793, to the accession of George IV. Vol. I. First Published 1822. Macmillan and Co. Limited, London. p. 132.

Troude, O (1867) Batailles navales de la France. Tome Second. Challamel Ainé, Paris. pp. 268–270.

Project 64: paint like it's ya day job

I was thinking about this as I was walking along the beach at Dongara last weekend.

'See, I have made a start already'*.

Now with red bits done, plus a bit more white on about half of them.

(*Julian and I were joking the other day about comparing ourselves to David Essex's artilleryman character in Jeff Wayne's version of "War of the Worlds").

Like most people, I assume, I have generally fitted in hobby activities when time and motivation allowed. Painting being a sub-set of this. Now that I have the opportunity to commit more time to it I want to have a bit of structure so that I don't waste the opportunity. Setting up 'painting time' seems a logical way to do this.

How much time could I reasonably commit? How can I set boundaries to 'control myself' with the hobby obsession and ensure that I get on with other things that I want and need to do? Or, the corollary, make sure that I make some hobby time and don't have weeks of 'drought' on the hobby front? I settled on trying to 'schedule' a couple of hours in the late afternoon.

I then did some calculations.

I should be able to do this for a minimum of three days a week. Of course, this will not happen for 52 weeks of a year. We regularly get heat waves in summer when the paint dries before you can get it on the figure. On the other side, while our winters are mild compared with what northern hemisphere bloggers experience, there are days, especially cold mornings or evenings/nights when I don't feel like going to my shed. Let's take off four weeks each for these. Leaves 44. I want this to be a minimum calculation, so round down to 40.

That's 6 x 40 = 240 hours. Bringing it back to the working analogy, it equates to six weeks of five days of eight hours each. Six solid working weeks of painting. Not something that I'd like to do, but sounds like a significant block of time, especially as a minimum estimate.

This is specifically for painting. I am not considering reading, planning, compiling orders of battle, games, figure prep., ...looking at other's blogs!

Of course, plans, like budgets, are always wrong, but the thinking involved in developing them is important to focus attention and realise limitations. This is no exception.

Last week was a case in point. We were still away in Dongara on Monday, so I was able to have some longer painting sessions than I would generally allow myself at home (aside from when I have and will do 'binge painting' to complete something). Still, forgetting Monday, it went reasonably to plan/budget. I managed about 3–4 hours over Wednesday and Thursday, none on Friday and Saturday, but 'treated myself' to a couple of two-hour sessions yesterday. So, a bit more than the minimum target of six hours per week.

Ah, but I like to consider that the week begins on Sunday, so last week was either under target, if I exclude the 'bonus' time while in Dongara, or heaps over target if I do. Nothing like confusing one's self with one's own propaganda!

We'll see what (the rest of) this week brings...

These figs are the most advanced, with red, white and blue done. I aim to get the others to this stage (at least) this week, which will leave the significant additions of brown, black (silver and bronze/gold), followed by details (buttons and so on) and touch-ups.

Project 64: progress with French infantry of the revolutionary period

I set up a temporary painting desk on the small table in our room and have been happily progressing with painting these early French infantry that have been waiting so long to be completed.

Temporary painting desk.

I had not realised when I packed it that this container that I brought to hold my wash water (which formerly contained cotton buds) had three small air holes in the bottom. I employed an empty ice coffee carton for the job.

More of the major colours (red, white, blue) added to the figures at right. Before we head home tomorrow, I'd like to finish the red on all of the figures and perhaps some white and/or blue on some of them.

It is so enjoyable to paint some French infantry again, which I have not done for ages. Even more so to work on my revised painting technique (modified Mitch method) and even more-erer to be getting these figures painted!

Along with these works of fiction, i.e. French circa 1796 that are gonna see service from 1792–1805-6, I also painted a single figure based on the best of history.

A representation of Napoleon as he lead the famous cavalry charge at Waterloo, as depicted so brilliantly in that historically accurate biopic directed by Sir R.S.

In case you missed it, or simply to bring back the enjoyment all over again, here are some stills from the film.

You'll recall how Sir R.S. so vividly recreated this historic moment.

Napoleon ordered an advance against the British infantry, that had been defending in square against French cuirassiers. The wily British deployed into line as the cuirassiers retreated in disorder towards the French lines, past their Emperor seated calmly on horse back in front of his deployed line of infantry. Napoleon ordered the infantry line to advance. They took casualties from the volleys of the British line. The Emperor ordered the cavalry to advance and personally lead them in a charge in support of the infantry. From his command position behind the entrenchments on the ridge, Wellington calmly ordered 'cavalry will advance', sending the Life and Horse Guards into the fray. It was a hotly contest mêlée, but then, the Prussians arrived, on the British left (west) flank, to tip the balance of the battle.

Such brilliant cinematography. Such an accurate representation of the battle.

Strangely, there is not a figure of Napoleon leading a cavalry charge, certainly not in 1/72. Still, the sculptors and figure manufacturers were not there, so what would you expect? I improvised a conversion using one of the Mameluks from the Hat set.

Another photo taken under natural light, from a different side.

A photo taken under the painting lamp, showing my attempt to represent the pose from the third of the stills above.

This time at wargamer's distance, on the balcony of our room , looking at the Indian Ocean, a small section of the 3 500 km of coastline and near-continuous beach that we have in Western Australia.

 

I decided to make my figure of N leading the charge at Waterloo, rather than the other, celebrated occasion when he lead the charge at Borodino. On that occasion he even donned his former uniform as a republican general, no doubt to produce an added morale effect for the troops. In fact, some of them followed suit, which I am sure put the hee-bee jee-bees up the Russians! Perhaps I should do a figure in this uniform to use in earlier games featuring Napoleon as a general? This won't be until 1796, so there is a bit of time, if I decide to do so.

For now, some stills from the bio-pic will have to suffice.

I am happy with my amateur representation of the Emperor in one of his finest moments; another of my 21 Napoleons, now probably up to 23, that I have in progress and planned. It'll be a beaut figure to use later this month when I head to John's for a game using General d'Armée. He'll be fitting for the 'magic' that is c-in-c commands, especially glory!

Enacting Project 64

(Image from Clipart Library)

[Warning: the following is wordy and self-indulgent]

The idea of a Project 64 came into my head while I was thinking about doing this post. There is no such thing, of course.

There could perhaps be a Project 15, 'cause it began to formulate about 15 years ago as a dream that I have been working towards since. Or perhaps Project 60, since I expected to be able to make significant progress from that age—fortunately I have been able to remove the 'impediment' of full-time work a bit earlier.

I refer, of course, to what several readers of this blog termed 'an ambitious project'. Yeah, I know, "Sure James," snigger, snigger, knowing smile and wink, "as if you are gonna be able to do *that*." Well, you can wipe the smirks off ya faces, 'cause as long as I am able to put sh!t up on this blog, it's gonna be a going concern! 😜😀😂

All jokes (and joking rudeness) aside though, I wondered that myself. Several times.

For years I worked on the easy, first step; acquiring resources, mainly figures but also reference material for the background and details of actions and orders of battle. In more recent years I have spent a lot of time on orders of battle, especially for the largest actions of each campaign. This 'informed' step one as it lead to a few 'needs' to fill gaps.

That was all great, but progress on the most time consuming bit, painting the figures, was haphazard and slow. I was lead from one campaign to another campaign by my own butterfly behaviour and as I joined games with others and thought, "Yeah, I'll do up some/most/all of my figures for that." The result is that I have loads of figures that are 50–75% there, more that are prep'd only—and more that are merely sorted into drawers and boxes. I have posted several times about how I am gonna approach it and how I am working on this or that load of figures. Hmmmm.... Was this after all, a stupid pipe dream that is difficult enough for a well-directed wargamer to achieve, but nigh on impossible for one easily distracted, like me?

This has changed, quite suddenly in the past few months; thanks to a few, small ships, and three people. Firstly, Julian. It was because of him wanting to try out "It's Warm Work" (which left both of us cold) that I looked at my 1/3000 ships and said to myself, "I should finish them one day." They were an example of what I mentioned above. I bought the first of them in 2004, half painted the French ones, then put them aside. I got them out occasionally, looked at them and put them away again, saying "one day". After the game with Julian I got them out and said, "B#gger it, let's just get on and assemble and paint them ALL." This was not an easy process, but I made myself stick to it. It even expanded when I thought about getting some more ships. Here we bring in the second and third 'influencers': Tim, who mentioned to Julian about the Forged in Battle ships (the latter duly passing on his suggestion to me) and then Keith who said to me, "What are you waiting for, just buy them!"

Completely those 1/3000 ships has me determined, 'focussed' and gettin' right into it. Hang on, I am lying to myself again; those ships are not all completely finished! Ah yes, but finalising the frigates for the game last Sunday showed me that they can be. The larger Navwar ships will be easier to work with, the Forged in Battle ships are easier still and I will be able to finalise the ships that I need ahead of games in the chronology. See, got you. (This is not a case of me kidding myself.)

The other development that has me excited, focussed and driven was working out how to make progress with the over-arching, 'ambitious project'. I had previously thought of a few approaches to try. I have considered doing the lot from sometime in the French Revolution, or perhaps picking a few key campaigns/battles so as to work from the beginning, middle and backwards 'all at once', more recently it was to focus on the 'Napoleonic' era, starting from 1796. Here's where those ships come in again.

Having enough ships to do it, I have already decided to attempt all of the naval actions from 1791. This is not a big challenge. I may not get enough time to get through them all, but will have enough ships completely-completed, in short order, to do so. A couple of weeks ago I thought, "Perhaps I should combine land and sea actions to mix up the games a bit and to help with the chronology?" I looked at including a selected few of the battles of the earlier revolutionary wars. Leafing through Digby Smith's "Napoleonic Wars Data Book", which is a great place to start to get an overview of most of the actions of a campaign, I saw battles of the Kosciusko Uprising (for which I already have some Russian figures in Potemkin uniform—albeit prep'd only :), but with others ear-marked for Polish regulars and scythemen), the War in the Vendée (which I had not considered before) and the Haitian Revolution (ditto). So, I thought, "D@mn it, let's go for the lot, from 1791–1815, on land and sea!"

This will provide a focus for figures to paint (be it finishing off some part-done or starting some of the collected 'resources' from scratch) and will bring in various campaigns/eras that I have wanted to do. I will slowly build armies that can be re-used in later years, building 'capacity: such as early Russians (Potemkin, post-1796 and, eventually, 1805), early Austrians in kasket (for early Revolution to 1800), early Prussians (I'm happy to use the 1806 uniform from 1792), early Spanish (suitable out to 1809) and so on. Furthermore, I can structure my reading around the campaigns/wars as they occur. No wonder I have been so excited these past few weeks!

With the ships 'under control', it is time to move to terrestrial forces. We are off soon for a few days by the coast. We have made the same trip for the last few years, enjoy the location and don't do a lot while we are there, so it is an ideal time to get some figures painted! I have duly packed up 236 early French infantry that have been 'screaming' to be finished for ages now.

Box 1. Prior to today, I had not touched these figures since I applied my basing material to them in January 2022. Today I added white to the figures of regular infantry (ex-Royal army).

Box 2. Also with white painted on the few figures in the white uniform of previous regular infantry.

Having painted the former regulars, I decided to paint a few of the figures that will be in the uniforms of the revolution (and beyond). In these photos they have had the main colours applied (apart from black). It was my first go at painting a flag of this era. This one is for the 75eme demi-brigade de ligne (aka 75e ligne) from 1796, Army of Italy, which is the focus for these figures—but they will end up in other theatres, campaigns and countries as well!.

Painting these few has given me more confidence.

It's also time to read up on the background to these early campaigns. I have two books to take with me.

This one about the French Revolution and Europe:

I picked it up sometime in the 1990s. Not read it yet(!), so it's a good way to refresh myself and to learn more about the French Revolution. I've not read about the revolution (apart from bios of Napoleon) since school. It will be interesting to see whether Saint Domingue gets a mention.

I know next to nothing about the revolt of the slaves (and others) in Saint Domingue—the Haitian Revolution—so ordered this book by Dubois and Garrigus when I decided on this path.

Dubois is one of the main scholars of the Haitian Revolution (and Caribbean history more broadly). This book is written as an introduction for university students. It has a brief introduction to the revolution and contains translations of 45 primary sources. I have read 21 of the 38 pages of the introduction. I am only up to 1794 but already know so much more than I did from skimming info. on the web (unsurprisingly). I have read a couple of the primary sources and they are fantastic sources of detail, events and attitudes.

I have a second, more detailed book by Dubois on the way.

This one is far more detailed about the background, course and effects of the revolution. I am hoping that it may arrived tomorrow before we leave, but it does not look likely.

I am on a path that two wargame-bloggers have trod recently. Stuart S of Dust Tears & Dice and Ray Roussell of Don't throw a 1. I follow both of their excellent blogs and will look to their entries about the Haitian Revolution for inspiration, particularly regarding figures and painting, as well as terrain, but I will not be trying to emulate the detail and beauty of what these fellas did in either respect!

Once I have finished Hampson's book, I will read another that I bought second hand in the '90s.

That will do for general background. I can then get into the detail via the histories of Thiers, Jomini and Phipps, as well as some more contemporary work.

So much wonderful enjoyment and edumication to be had!