New kids on the block.

Last May, browsing e-bay, I found the following offer for these Heroics&Ros 6mm well-painted and based miniatures:

5 Stands of French Regiment # 21 St. Charmond

5 Stands of French Regiment #119 Royal Deux Points (Awesome Flags on this one)

3 Stands of French Regiment #47 Corp Royal Artillerie

3 Stands of Grenadiers de France

5 Stands of French Artillery

5 Stands of French Horse (2 Red Coats, 2 Blue 1 White)

3 Stands of French Royal Nassau Hussars

2 Stands of French Bercheny (These are OLDER paint jobs...nice but not as impressive as the others)

1 French Army/Corp Commander (Based on Prince de Soubise with actual family crest standard bearer)

9 Stands of Hanoverian Infantry

6 Stands of Heavy Hanoverian Cavalry (Garde du Corp, Grenadiers a Cheval and Zepelin)

5 Stands of Austrian Szechenyi Hussars

2 Stands of Luckner Hussars 

3 Stands of "Experimental" Bases, when I was toying with one base one battalion rule set, 1 base each of 

Austrian Infantry - IR 13 Mercy, Imperial Infantry - Kurmainz Waldstein/Gudenus Regt. - Minucci Bavarian Infantry.

I won the auction and after a couple of week I received the package. Here the content waiting to be mustered in my collection: 

There are enough "rank and file" to muster various regiments. As ever, I need only to add some battalion guns and mounted officers, plus some "odds and sods" to complete my standard of 20 soldiers per regiment plus officers, nco, flags etc…

So, after a long pause, I took again brushes and paints and started to rebasing my purchase.

First of all I looked at the three stand who the previous owner called "experimental". Indeed the whole lot seems to be based for something like "Age of Eagles". These three bases are "battalion-like" and their dimension was close to that of V&B stands.

The Imperial regiment was the Reichsarmee Kurmainz (Waldstein/Gudenus) regiment. It needed only the addition of a battalion gun with three gunners, a mounted officer and a private, since there were only 19 of them. I opted to add a lonely grenadier with its brown austrian type fur hat; I took the flags from here. 

Since I have enough Austrian regiments, I drafted the Austrian Regiment Mercy into another Imperial regiment: I choose the Salzburg Regiment with red facings. This time I had to repaint facings and gaiters (off-white gaiters in place of black) and to fulfill the ranks with three more privates. The usual complement of battalion guns and mounted officer was finally added to bring also this regiment to my "schematis" for V&B full bases regiments.

Since I didn't found the flag anywhere, I drawn them with Apple Works and printed on an ink-jet using the informations given in Pengel& Hurt and a little bit of imagination: indeed those given therein are the only informations available for a regiments which disappeared into the obscurity at the end of XVIIIth century.

Finally, since I have no plans to start with a Bavarian Army, the Regiment Minucci was modified to obtain the Reichsarmee Kurbayern Regiment, formed with 2 battalions from Pechmann (straw facings) and 1 from Holstein (red facings). Here a delightful depiction of a grenadier from the Holstein battalion (source: Gallica)

Again some repainting and filling the voids with a couple of privates and grenadiers. The flags and all the relevant informations were taken straight from Kronoskaf. 

Next post I'll show the result.

Hellana 2012

Back after some very busy times: in the meantime I didn't remained idle anyway: for instance, on April, 1st I went to HELLANA 2012, one of the most important wargaming convention in Italy. The convention is held yearly in the small city of Agliana, close to Pistoia in Tuscany and I have many friends between the members of the local club, the "Gruppo Ludico Aglianese" which organizes the convention.

I spent some time browsing in the "bring and buy" stand and chatting with the fellow wargamers at the demonstration tables. In the end I bought only a book, albeit a rare one:

this book is a very complete and careful account of the whole Lonato-Castiglione campaign based on previously unpublished austrian sources: so bad that of the many planned titles in the Helmet Feldzug Series it remained the only one published. A must for each wargamer interested in the first napoleonic campaign and for everyone who likes the battles at the twilight of the Age of Reason.

Since I was accompained by my 13 y.o. son, I spent the bulk of my tiny budget to buy LOTR miniatures, painted and unpainted, as well as Games Workshop Rules and paints, brushes foliage, static grass and so on…

Here a closer look at some of the games played: the one I liked most was Ramilles 1706 in 6mm by the Club "I Tre Moschettieri" from Florence using the "A la Guerre" rules by the "Luridoteca" from Latina:

two of the French generals, without their whigs:

The battle of Mehr 1758 in 28 mm (Age of Reason rules) by the Wargame Club "Giuseppe Garibaldi" from Genova:

The battle of Punta Stilo (1940) by the BigFire Wargame Club from La Spezia with their rules "Admiral". The models are the Wizard collectable "Axis and Allies-War at Sea" in 1:1850:

Back to the Lace wars with the battle of Aschaffenburg (1743) in 6mm by the"Luridoteca"with their own rules "A la Guerre": 

at the table I met my old friend Luigi, with its very XVIIIth century "silhouette":

and the rule designer Gualtiero in the process of taking a picture of me when I was taking a picture of him: I nailed him!

Among the other games there was a nice 10mm medieval game by the CAWE (Club Amici del Wargame Esagonato=Friends of the hexed war-game) from Bologna (they indeed produce hexes, both raw and textured):

This is an ancient battle staged by the AFBIS of Florence (note the ever-present bald-headed French generals):

Two WW2 games for Rapid Fire (Narwa and Bastogne) and the defense of the Seelowe Heights, 1945 by the "Gruppo Ludico Aglianese":

Finally, an overview  of the convention-hall (a gym indeed) with some stands:

At dinner I had a very nice time with Giuseppe Rava (the one leaning on the table in the top picture), the author of the french Vae Victis magazine cover images and owner of Testudo, in front of a florentine steak and many glasses of Chianti: in the end it was a very nice day spent with some good friends and a lot of nicely-painted minis. Already waiting for the next year convention, were I hope to bring a table for the battle of Torgau with my 6mm!

And now something of completely different....

Long absent for manifold reasons, just an appetizer. Never told you about my 20mm plastic napoleonics?

French Carabiniers, before 1810, Strelets.

Scheremetjev Command and more on the scenario

The last group of Russian to apper on the battlefield was formed by two "divisions" from the Scheremetiev command: the Renne division comprised of:

the Vladimirski dragoon regiment, raised in Moscow 1706 as Zhdanov's. At Holowczi was under the command of prince P. Meschervsky; 

the Ingermalandski regiment in its yellow coat, raised in St. Petersburg 1703 from selected men of various regiments as Field Marshal Menshikov's: it had the same salary and privileges of Guard Regiments.

The second group was under the command of Maj. Gen. D'Albion:

Pskovski regiment, raised in Moscow 1700 through conscription as Col. Gulitz's regiment. Changed its name in 1708;

Astrakhanski regiment, raised in Moscow 1700 as Col. Gordon's.

Going back to the scenario, it needs a map (click to enlarge):

where the square are one foot wide, and deployment, special rules and victory conditions stuff:

Initial Russian Deployment:

Scheremetjev's Wing: Schere's Battery: Unlimbered in the defences at the point S.

Repnin's Wing: All units are disordered at the start of the game: the infantry is deployed behind the entrenchements. Repnin's Artilley is deployed, unlimbered, in the small village in front of the Russian line.

Goltz's Wing: Ifland's Command is deployed, dismounted at the point IF.

Initial Swedish Deployment:

Initial Attack Force: Anywhere in the square containing Staroje Selo.

Russian Reinforcements:

Russian reinforcements do not arrive automatically. Starting from the second turn the Russian player rolls a D6 in the Command phase: on a modified score of 8 the reinforcements enter at the prescribed point:

Dice Modifiers:

+1 for each turn after the second turn;

-2 if rolling for Goltz's Wing;

-3 if rolling for Scheremetev Wing.

Goltz's Wing:  Goltz DC and Heinske's Command enter on a modified die-roll of 8 at the point RR; Von Hessen Darmstadt's Command enters the following turn at the point RR.

Scheremetjev's Wing: Vladimirski Dragoon Regiment enters on a modified die-roll of 8 anywhere between the redoubt at the point S and the wood at its right. Renne command enters the following turn from the same point. Scheremetev AC and D’Albion command enters the turn following the Renne enter from the same point.

Swedish Reinforcements:

Each turn starting with the first turn a reinforcement group arrives on table at point SR in the following order:

First turn: Sparre DC and his command enter at the point SR;

Second turn: Renskiold CC, Guard Dragoon, Guard Horse/I and Drabants &Guard Horse/II enter at the point SR;

Third turn: Creutz DC with the remaining cavalry enter at the point SR.

Victory Conditions

Basically the Swedish must rout the Russians out of their position. Thus, each player earns 1 victory point for command exhausted and 2 victory point for command routed.  If the Swedish total minus the Russian total is:

-lesser than 2 – Swedish defeats

-between 2 and 4 – Drawn

-between 5 and 7 -  Swedish minor victory

-bigger than 7 – Swedish major victory.

The conditions are indeed a bit hard for the Swedish player, which is clearly commited to an all-out attack.

Swedish Flags, GNW (updated)

Some swedish flags I drawn for my troops. They do not pretend to be commercial masterpieces, but only "wargame-quality" items. They must be reduced about 40% to match with Zvedza and Strelets 20 mm.

Dalcarian Regiment

Vastermalands Regiment

Narke-Varmalands Regiment (not present at Holowczin)

By the way, this a picture of my Narke-Varmalands: it is interesting because is a mix of Strelets (right) and Mars (left). The flag is a previous more "flat" version.

Vastgota Regiment (not present at Holowczin)

Uppland Regiment 

Livgardet 

More Russian, albeit in different era and scale...

This is the beginning of the "Zorndorf Project", the SYW Russian Army in 6mm for Volley and Bayonet. The IR 39 Nevskii, from the Prince Galitzin division:

More to follow....

Russian Cavalry

Long time absent but still fighting! It was a very busy summer, with a lot of unforecasted  events: both my research interests, my job as consultant, the broken wrist of my son (at a boy-scout summer camp, of course) and the extended family troubles all requested my full attention.

Now that the holidays are finally finished, we can go back to the relative safety of the ordinary life. Back to the “Project Holowczin”, it is the time of the Russian cavalry corps under Von Der Goltz which was divided into three groups: the first group under the command of Von Ifland, was comprised of the Pskovsky, Tverskoy and Belozersky Dragoon:

Pskovsky: raised in Moscow 1701 as Novikov’s.

Tverskoy: raised in Moscow 1702, from conscript and volunteers.

Belozersky: raised in Moscow, 1703 as Prince Schakovski’s, disbanded 1711.

All these regiments were dismounted when the swedish attack erupted: I painted a group of  generic dismounted dragoons to represent them as well as any other russian dismounted dragoon I need for the game:

The second group under the command of  Heinske was comprised of the Sankt Peterburgski, Azovski and Ryazanski regiments:

St. Peterburgski: raised in Moscow 1701 as Poluektov’s.

Azovski: raised in Moscow, 1706 from conscripts and disbanded units as Ivanov’s.

Ryazanski: raised in Smolensk 1705 as Goring from lesser nobility and men from three other regiments.

The last group was under the command of the Prince Von Hessen-Darmstatd and was formed by the Astrakhanski, Troitski, Novgorodski and Nishegorodski Dragoon regiments:

  

Astrakhanski: raised in Moscow, 1701 as Prince Lvov’s.

Troitski: raised in Moscow, 1701 as Kropotov’s. The grenadier caps are an artistic license. Indeed, since no informations are recorded if they were supplied with tricorne/karpus/grenadier cap, I choose to represent the outfit with the grenadier caps for "fun".

Novgorodski : raised in Moscow, 1701 as Prince Meschersky’s.

Nishegorodski: there were no informations at all on the uniforms , hence I replaced this regiment with the Jarovslavski dragoon (raised 1706 as Prince Volkonski’s from men of lower Volga and ukrainian cities) which, in 1706/09 were credited with a “blue grenadier cap with red lining”.

I searched for more informations or portraits of the Russian commanders. The only reference I was able to find (with no portrait) was to a Prince Friederich von Hessen-Darmstadt, son of the Landgrave Louis VI, born 1677, killed in battle 1708. There is a portrait of his older brother Philip, Imperial Field-Marshal (1671-1736) which ended his career as Governor of Mantua: