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!