Putting Down Mutiny, 1813

Happy well-belated New Year! First post of 2017.

Today was a long awaited return to gaming, and indeed to Napoleonics, using Black Powder rules and scenarios from Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames.  It was a chance for me to use my newly-based French brigade- 144 figures.

 

 

These weren't painted by me, of course; this are the ones that were  a club purchase some years ago now from Mabuhay painting service in the Philippines.

They won't win any prizes, but they do the job; very acceptable wargames-quality painting that looks good en masse.  After Achilles went back to Greece- taking all his beautifully painted Perry Miniatures French with him- we needed Frenchmen.  Getting them through Mabuhay allowed us to get painted figures on the table fast so that we could get back down to some seriously fun gaming. These are quite the battle-hardened veterans now.

When I first received them, I touched them up a bit (brighter colours on the pom-poms), I gave them some GMB flags, and then put them on some Litko bases and textured the bases with sand.  A lot of work on my part (and extra expense in terms of the bases and the flags), which earned me the privilege of having them on pretty much a permanent loan.  We have gamed with them in this state for some years now, but it always bugged me that I had never gotten around to actually painting and flocking the bases.

On Saturday I finally bit the bullet, sat down and did the whole bunch in one fell swoop, after first carrying out some minor repairs and retouching battle damage where I thought it was worth it.   Normally I don't mind doing basing, but I've never done a whole brigade's worth in one sitting; not the most exciting of tasks.

Still, l think it was worth it; they look so much better now, as they match the gaming mats and the rest of my own army.

Now for the scenario, and some pictures from the game. 

*****

 

It's late 1813, and treacherous- and ungrateful- Confederation of the Rhine troops (devious Italians/untrustworthy Bavarians/some disaffected and unpatriotic Poles) have risen in opportunistic revolt against the benevolent and righteous rule of the revered Emperor Napoleon. 

Like the rats they are, they have imprisoned the French garrison in the town of Anhauser-Busch in an attempt to defect, with all their arms and equipment, to the approaching- and increasingly successful- Allied armies. Of course, the justifiably outraged French have sworn vengeance, and are trying to stop them.

It may surprise you to learn that I commanded the French.

We haven't gotten together for a good game of BP for a while, so we were rusty. My table isn't huge, so in the interests of space and playability we thought it best to keep it small- the OHWG scenarios are ideal for this. Each side provided a maximum of six units: 3-2-1; three infantry, two cavalry, one gun battery; or 4-1-1; four infantry, one cavalry, one battery; or 5-0-1; five infantry, no cavalry, one battery. Maximum one skirmish unit. 

Gaming in the (less than) Grand Manner, but no less entertaining for it. 

Given the table size, we played using 3/4 movement rates, and command values of eight. Worked well last time, when we managed to get two games in during the day.

The French were the defenders in the triple line defense scenario #26 from OHWG, a scenario based on the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814 (War of 1812). The attacking player has to cross a river and advance down the length of the table to seize a hill on the other side. Easier than it sounds; the defenders are outnumbered, and although they have some advantage in defending in depth, they are crap troops.

My friend Matt and I had played this one last year, but using Anglo-Saxons and Vikings; then the Vikings cleaned the Anglo-Saxon clock. A very challenging scenario for the defender- in fact, almost impossible for the defenders to win given even a moderately aggressive attacker.

My French had no cavalry, as I went with just infantry and a battery of artillery. But my infantry were all barrel-scrapings; ill-equipped Marie-Louise teenage conscripts, fifth-battalion dregs, impressed National Guard, provisional route battalions and other such raw Eurotrash. Whatever could be swept up throughout the rear areas by the French commander in a desperate effort to prevent the breakout of the Confederation troops. 

They couldn't be activated until the enemy came within 12", and were subject to the untested rule: their stamina wouldn't be revealed until they took their first casualty, at which point they have to roll a D6 to see how steadfast they were (or weren't).

The Italian/ Bavarian turncoats were all regular, with three units of infantry, one 8pdr battery, a regiment of Polish Lancers, and rifle-armed Jägers.

As we were using Black Powder rules rather than the ones in OHWG, this time I gave the French a bit more mobility than in the scenario as written, to account for the effect of long-ranged artillery and rifle fire (otherwise the attacker could just stand out of muskets range and blast each battalion in turn to oblivion with their Jägers and artillery). 

But despite this, this time round the (rebellious) Confederation troops couldn't even establish themselves across the river; in fact we drove them back over the bridge, which by the end of the battle was choked with their dead and wounded. We suffered one unit pushed back after having being charged by the lancers, but despite being frighteningly over it's breakpoint, it survived. Basically we got off with just a few scrapes and bruises. 

One of my units never even had to move from its initial position, being very (un)engaged throughout the whole battle. They just stood leaning on their muskets and watching all the fun from the top of the hill that was supposed to be the attackers' objective.

Giovanni and Sada have never been the most aggressive of players, bless their hearts, and between them managed to throw away a unit of Polish lancers early in the game. To be fair, they could have benefited from a bit better luck with their command rolls. But it worked both ways.

Piccies, in no particular order. Just some eye-candy.

HaT Bavarians

Initial setup- before we added the roads!

The French commander, threatening the lads with some personal GBH if they don't come through...

 

With roads!

Victrix Italians;  Lt. Topol on the right wishes he was a rich man...

A dreaded disorder flag.  This was to be a constant companion to this particular French battalion throughout the game.

Polish Vistula Lancers.  Prince August figures, cast and painted by Giovanni.  And very nice they turned out, too- I love that simple, but crisply painted, toy soldier style.

"Form Square!!!"

These two battalions went toe-to-toe for some three turns; the Bavarians blinked first, but both regiments hemorrhaged profusely.

 

All the Confederation units have been forced back over the river; "Vive la France!!!"

Great fun- and a rare French victory! It was good having another Black Powder game, and we are thinking of putting on a big game sometime during the summer, schedules permitting.

Now, back to work on my cuirassiers.

Marching to the Sound of the Guns...

As I may have (not-so-subtly) alluded to in a previous post, the French have been getting tired of having sand kicked in their faces by patent-leather Wellington boots.  

The general consensus was that reinforcements were necessary for the French cause, and in an effort to get at least a degree in parity in painted units between the allies and the French, the West Tokyo Wargamers (Napoleonic branch) decided to pool together and purchase a painted French brigade from Mabuhay Miniature Painting Service in the Philippines.

The deal with the club was that those of us gaming Napoleonics would each share part of of the cost, with a good portion being paid for by club earnings over the past year.  In order to keep down the cost, I would be doing the basing, and additionally I would supply and add the flags.  

Although it will be residing here at Chez Stavka, the brigade is, and will remain, a club possession.  Should for any reason I move on, it will continue its service in Tokyo with the West Tokyo Wargamers, and my stewardship of the lads will pass to someone else.

Fons over at Mabuhay was great to deal with, and within little over a week of placing the order, I had the box in my hot little hands- four, 36-figure French line infantry battalions!  Amazing turn around time, and I am extremely satisfied with our choice.

Fortunately(?) their arrival coincided with my wife and I both being home and recuperating from a bad case of what the doctor said was a bacterial infection, Pertussis.  At first I had thought this was the name of some Hittite king or other, but it turns out being better known as... Whooping Cough.  

Being highly contagious (not to mention unpleasant), it meant house quarantine for me for a week.  On the plus side, once I got over the worse of the fever and coughing, this gave me a lot of time to get down to work on the figures!

The miniatures themselves were very well packed, two boxes each carefully placed in a foam-lined cardboard box.  

Each miniature was attached by double-sided tape to the floor of the smaller boxes, and the boxes were filled with tiny, very light Styrofoam balls to stop the figures being knocked about.  

Fortunately, Fons puts a big label on the boxes cautioning that a vacuum cleaner should be on standby, which was a really good idea when I came to open them! 

The stuff really does get everywhere.  But what counts is that there were absolutely no damaged figures.

Once the loose packing was removed, I just gently twisted each figure off the sticky tape, and glued them on to the Litko stands I had waiting for them.  I did this one company (stand) at a time, which kept things orderly and myself sane.

Painted using Vallejo paints over a black undercoat, Mabuhay stresses that their figures are painted for the wargames table, and are meant to be viewed at that distance.  Nevertheless, the painting was very creditable for "wargames quality" miniatures, with lines being crisply painted and no slopping over.   Uniforms were painted a nice, dark blue that will go with our existing collections.

The only thing I did was to touch up the highlight the red and yellow pompoms of the elite companies. These colours were a little "lost", having been applied in one coat over black.  I wanted them to stand out a little more, and it was little effort just to go over them again with a stronger hue.

The metalwork on the muskets was a little too  'silvery' for my taste, so I also decided to give them a wash using a mix of matt varnish with a bit of black paint.

But that was just me being my usual anal self.  As is, the miniatures would be perfectly okay on the tabletop without the extra bother.

Of course the flags edges have since been touched up!

The GBM flags are a bit big for the plastic staffs that come with the Perry figures, so I had to trim them around the poles.  At this stage of the wars there was only one imperial eagle per regiment, so I also clipped off the eagle's wings on the standards for the 2nd and 3rd battalions, carving and filing the resulting lumps down into spear points as was appropriate.  The benefits of working with plastics!

Litko bases.  I gave each side a coat of varnish to protect them from Tokyo's humidity.

Here is the brigade as it looks so far, flags finished and bases ready for texturing, painting, and flocking. 

 

I also realized that these fellows will need a brigade commander.  Fortunately I already had a few Front Rank figures- a general and aide- to spare, so today I prepped them for painting.  

We've a game scheduled for July 15th, and these boys will be seeing the elephant then.  So it looks like some serious Black Powder action on the horizon!