Last Post of 2020

 

I had ordered a couple of items which were delivered just before Christmas and they are static grass tuffs from Warpainter Scenics. They are a pack of green Rough grass. A pack of dark green Bushy tuffs and one pack of Arid grass set. Now I would like to get my old Airfix “Le Haye Sainte” farmhouse stuck down onto a base. That is why I have brought these tuffs hoping to get me motivated.

For Christmas I was given an MDF laser kit of the Rorkes Driff set which contains the Hospital and Storeroom plus a wagon for the Zulu Wars. This is in 20mm scale from the company Sarissa Precision and the kit comes unpainted. This is going to be my next project at some point in my life. I already have the British soldiers from Esci and their Zulu’s but as HaT have brought out a very large range of Zulu War figures and they are good looking figures, I was just going to do the battle of Rorkes Driff  but that might not be enough now. Suddenly Isandlwana is now looking even better. That is why I brought some arid grass tuffs.

This is how I would like it to look

Merry Christmas from the General

 

This year it has been a very difficult one for everyone in the world, but let’s hopes that the vaccine works for everyone and we can get back to a near normal life next year at some point.

This year will be a very different Christmas for all of us not being able to see loved ones, family and friends, so let’s make the best of the situation as the best we can.

I have managed to do a bit better on my blog this year and hope to continue to do the same next year. So many thanks for taking a look at my blog this year. I have had a total of 66,518 page views to date which is fantastic.

So I do hope that you all have a lovely time over the Christmas period and I would like to wish you and your family

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wargames Terrain & Buildings (The Napoleonic Wars) by Tony Harwood

 

Tony Harwood, “Wargames Terrain & Buildings (The Napoleonic Wars)” 

Published by Pen & Sword Military (2019) 

Pages 160 plus covers 

Being that we here in England are in our second lockdown, I thought that I should get myself a belated Birthday present, which in fact was last month. This book has been on my list of things to buy at wargaming shows, but when it first came out it was one of them books that we hard to find. It was on my list for the shows this year, but with them all being cancelled due to the Pandemic I started to browse the internet, as one does in these times, I found this book on ebay for £10 and purchased a copy through Books etc. I know that most of you wargamers have already been lucky enough to have purchased yourself a copy, so now I can join the club. The good thing was that I took just a week for it to arrive via post.

The book is in soft back and it contains three sections with three projects in different scales in each. It gives you step-by-step guide with plenty of pictures to look at. Flicking through the book I can already see a couple of projects for me, like the La Belle Alliance in 20mm. So I do hope that the instructions are clear on how to make such a great model for the table.

I shall give this book a good read before making plans for building any models but before that, the Scotts Dragoons are still waiting to be finished.

Prussian Musket 1809 Pattern

The musket is more correctly called a Prussian infantry musket or the Prussian pattern musket these later became known as "Potzdam muskets". The Potzdam musket was the standard infantry weapon of the Royal Prussian Army from the 18^th century until the military reforms of the 1840s. There were four models produced, first in 1723, 1740, 1809 and the last model in 1831. Potzdam lies just outside of the city of Berlin and it was Frederick the Great of Prussia's favourite place of residence. 

After Frederick was crowned king in 1740, he ordered the then-current Prussian musket; a version from 1723, for his army. The Potzdam musket had already made a name for itself by being the first standard German-made musket, and the 1740 model further solidified Potzdam as the key arsenal for Germany. The muskets were widely used by the Prussian army of the various German states in the 18th century. 

The smoothbore musket was reasonably accurate to about 100 yards against line infantry. But the musket was preferably used at a much shorter distance than that when discharged en masse. 

The Model 1809 Prussian Musket, like its predecessor, was assembled at the Potzdam armoury during the Napoleonic Wars. It had steel rather than brass barrel bands to reduce costs, and copied extensively from the design of the French Charleville Model 1777 Musket. The hammer (or cock) had a decorative heart-shaped cut-out, and the steel pan had a protective shield to keep the powder dry in wet weather. The pins were abandoned in favour of three steel barrel bands. Unusually, the fore-sights were cast into the barrel band rather than the end of the barrel. The musket had a 41.25-inch (1,047.75 mm) barrel and an overall length of 56.45 inches (1,433.83 mm), and weighed approximately 9 pounds (4.5 kg). The barrel, lock plate and firing mechanism were made of steel and sling-swivels made of iron whilst other furniture pieces such as the butt plate, trigger guard and ramrod pipe were found in brass. The stock was usually made of Walnut. The calibre was reduced to .71 (18.034mm). The barrels were manufactured separately at Spandau, and were brought to Potzdam for finishing and final assembly of the musket. By 1813, only 55,000 muskets had been made growing to 65,000 by 1815. A well trained Prussian solider could fire 3 to 4 rounds per minute during battle. 

At the Battle of Waterloo, the 1809 pattern Potzdam was the most widespread musket in use by Blücher's army. Due to its large bore, it could fire the cartridges of fallen British or French soldiers, although the smaller French bullets would rattle down the barrel and reduce its accuracy. The socket bayonet of the 1809 musket was patterned after the bayonet of the French Charleville musket. Like most other bayonets of the early 19th century, it had a triangular 19.25-inch (488.95 mm) blade.

The Challenge Continues

 

In this hot weather, I have really been thinking about the 2^nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) The figures are from the old Esci (set number 217) they were first made in 1985 and contain a total of 36 parts. There are 12 troopers, 12 horses and 12 stands made in cream plastic. Unfortunately they have stopped production of these, so I am glad that I have these in my too do box.

I brought two of these boxes at the time and they have been sitting around waiting for me to paint them. They were one of the largest cavalry regiments at Waterloo, so with 12 troopers in each box my regiment will contain 24 figures. I say 24 as there are two trumpeters, one in each box, but there is no officer in this set. What a great pity but there must be some way you can convert a figure into an officer?

There are some mistakes with this set, the shortness of the trooper’s swords and the horses lack the rolled cloak over the pistol holders on the front of the saddle and reins. Also the Horses tails should be docked or shortened as they were at the time. Other than that, these are great figures and I am going to leave them as they are.

Well meanwhile in this hot weather, I have cleaned them all up and stuck the stands to the horses and they are a better fit than the old Airfix cavalry stands. So now I have to wait for the weather to cool a bit so I can crack on with my coronavirus challenge. 

Coronavirus Part VIIII

 

A few days ago I finished off painting all of the figures of the Prussian Reserve Infantry, of the 1^st Pomerania Regiment, which would have been completed a lot earlier but I ran out of paint plus the hot weather here in the UK. Here are all of the 45 figures including the officer, shame about the drummer but I might find one one day.  These now brings my painting total up to 94 figures, but what next?

Well I have been thinking about the British 2^nd Dragoons, known as the Scots Grey's., but it’s the thought of painting the horses that is holding me back. Lots of research coming up I think.

Coronavirus Challenge Part VIII

A few days ago I finished the third batch of twelve figures of the Prussian Reserve Infantry, of the 1^st Pomerania Regiment. The only command element is the officer for this Regiment as I could not find a suitable figure for the drummer. It has nearly taken me a month to do these and the reason for that is down to the warm weather that we had and my bad hay-fever this year. So here they are, that now brings my painting total up to 85 figures. My next and last batch will just consist of just nine figures to bring the regiments total up to 45.

Coronavirus Challenge Part VII

I have now finished the second batch of twelve figures of the Prussian Reserve Infantry, of the 1^st Pomerania Regiment. It has not been easy with my hayfever and the hot weather that we had a couple of weeks ago. So here they are that now brings my painting total up to 73 figures. My next batch will just include the officer now, as I was hoping to have a drummer with the regiment but when I remove the intended drummer off of the spur, from the Prussian command set from HaT, I realised that he was head and shoulders above the rest of the unit. So I have abandoned that idea, which is a shame.

Coronavirus Challenge Part VI

Here is what I am painting for my next unit, the Prussian Reserve Infantry from HaT box number 8052. If you intend to get these just be careful when taking the figures off of the spur as it’s made of hard plastic and I nearly snapped off two of them from their stands. Although there are 48 figures in a box, there are four officers which three will not be needed. There is no drummer or flagbearer in this set so I hope I can find a suitable drummer from another set and they carried no colours, so no problem there.

So the unit that I am painting are the 1^st Pomerania Regiment with white facing and here are the first batch of twelve. Total painted to date 61 figures.

32nd Foot

The regiment first fought at the Battle of Quatre Bras, arriving about 3 pm on 16 June 1815 just in time to help halt the French advance. Two days later at the Battle of Waterloo the regiment was stationed opposite the French main attacks, standing their ground before attacking Napoleon's assaulting troops. The 1st Battalion of the regiment was part of the 8th British Brigade commanded by Major-General James Kempt, which was in turn part of the 5th British Infantry Division under Lieutenant-General Thomas Picton. The regiment was commanded on the field by Lieutenant-Colonel John Hicks and numbered at 503 men at the battle of Waterloo having suffered casualties at Quatre Bras. The Regiment suffered the greatest loss of all the British Regiments, losing 516 men in two days out of a total of 662. It was two men of the Grenadier Company that brought Pictons's body away from the battlefield after he was fatally wounded in the head.

32nd Colour Party

News from the Front

At Last HaT have started planning to make the Prussian limber and ammo caissons from their design team. With the pictures that they have posted today, they really do look fantastic and I just cannot wait for them to be produced. Hopefully they will be out some time this year. There are three different types of ammo caissons, although one looks like a covered wagon, and one limber which contain an ammo chest. Just have to wait for the pictures of the horse teams now. I do hope that we can get a box of three caissons and another box of three limbers like their French sets. Just need a British set now. What a great surprise in these bad times.

Picture from the HaT website

Coronavirus Challenge Part V

Well here is the very last batch of twelve figures of the 32^nd Foot. I finally finished these yesterday and the regiment is now complete. The only thing to do now is to sort out their regimental flag and attach it to the flag pole. Total painted in lockdown is 49. I have a project that I started painting way back in 2005 and now that I have done a bit more research on them I can now carry on with the regiment.

                          

Coronavirus Challenge Part IV

We are in week six of the UK lockdown and I have now finished the third batch of twelve figures of the 32^nd Foot. You may notice that the officer and standard bearer are not from the Airfix set. They are in fact from the HaT 8304 British Command set. Just a note, if you are thinking about getting some of these figures that enamel paint does not go on very well. With matt colours the plastic/rubber figures, seem to soak up the paint and so you will need to give them an under coat before applying the colour you want. They are really lovely figures with good detail on them. I shall use more of these in later projects.

The standard bearer will receive their regimental colours when all 48 figures are painted. I have now completed 37 figures for my coronavirus challenge. So on with the next final batch of twelve. Stay safe everyone.

Coronavirus Challenge Part III

Here is my second batch of twelve figures of the 32^nd foot regiment which are now finished, and I am really getting back into painting once again and I am now half way through the regiment of 48 figures. The third batch is now under way and will consist of the command stand, which contains the Officer, Flagbearer and Drummer. Total number painted to date 25 figures.

Coronavirus Challenge Part II

This is my very first completed painted personality figure and it’s of General Sir Thomas Picton. The figure comes from the Waterloo 1815 set number 028. A very nice figure to paint.

The general came out of retirement after Wellington appointed him to commander the 5th Infantry Division. Along with every other senior officer in the army, he was invited to the Duchess of Richmond's Ball that was held on 15 June 1815. This is how Picton looked on the battle fields of Waterloo as his personal baggage train failed to catch up with him on that famous day with his uniform. So we see him still in his party gear and he even had on his velvet red dancing shoes when he was killed leading his division. He was the most senior officer to die at Waterloo at the age of 56. You can read all about General Picton in the “Marshals and Generals ” label.

My second batch of figures the 32^nd foot, who was under Picton's command, are well on their way to completion.

My Coronavirus Challenge

We are in week two of the UK lockdown and I have given myself a challenge to see how many of my 32^nd Foot figures, I can complete before the lockdown ends. I suspect that the lockdown will be more than three weeks so here we go.

So here is the picture of the very first batch of my British 32^nd Foot Infantry. They would not win any photo/painting competitions but they will do just to give you some idea on how they look and the painting will do for me with that three foot rule.

Yep I know the figures are from the good old Airfix sets which I still love. The Airfix figures are the bulk of my British army and they have stood the test of time. I started these back in October of last year and got half way painting them at December. So I hope that the next batch of twelve will not take me so long to do. Stay safe everyone.

More News

Strelets*R have now released pictures of the last set of their Prussian cavalry sets the Prussian Hussars, box number 155. Once again I was looking forward to these but they are again disappointing as with the Dragoons.

All pictures from Strelets website

There are twelve figures and horses (which are at a halt) in this set. As with all of the three Prussian sets there is a useless standard bearer with a large flag yet another conversion? But I do love the other two in this picture the officer smoking his pipe and the trumpeter adjusting his hat.

Another thing is that the set contains five holding their carbines and not one with a sword in his hand. So are they out on patrol looking for the enemy?

I very much like the three cavalry sets due out soon, one hopes, as the sculpting of these sets are at their top for Strelets. I do like my HaT Prussian Hussars which I already have but I must think about these.

Again this set holds just two civilians in the set and they look great once again, if you buy all three you can make a little crowed waving off the troops.

More News from the Front

Picture from Strelets*R

Strelets*R have now released pictures of the Prussian Dragoons box number 229. Now I was looking forward to these but they are a bit disappointing. Once again there are twelve figures and horses (which are not shown) in this set. As with the Uhlans set, there is a useless standard bearer with a large flag. But this could be an easy conversion to replace the flag with a sword. As you can see on the right hand side an officer holding a telescope which is a nice little touch to this set. Another thing is that the box contains five holding their carbines, so I assume that the horses are standing like the Uhlans set.

Again this set holds three civilians in the set and they look great, but again will I use them? These two Prussian sets that they have shown look very clean and sharp, so the hussars are going to be interesting to see.

Picture from Strelets*R

News from the Front

It was not that long ago that I posted about the three new Strelets*s Prussian Cavalry sets that we hoped that they would bring out this year. Well the good news is that on their website, they have given us pictures of the first set the Prussian Uhlans box number 228.

Picture from Strelets*r website 

There are 12 troopers with their horses and the sculpting of these figures are fantastic. As I have said before, that I do not have any of their previous Napoleonic sets but this one is a must for me. The only thing that bothers me, and some of the other fans of these, is that one is carrying a very large flag. Now usually cavalry regiments never carried flags in to battle and if they did, no way would they be this big. So I will have to think of what to do with this figure when they do come out. All of the horses are standing and not charging, which will not be a problem for me.

Including in this set are two civilians which look as if they are waving at the cavalry as they trot pass. These are okay and it’s nice that they have fought about the population in the towns that they pass through on the way to battle, but again I do not know if they will be on my table at any time. 

From Strelets*r website

Napoleon’s Arabian Stallion, Le Vizir

In July 2016 taxidermists finished working on restoring a stuffed horse - the last one ridden by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Le Vizir was a gift to Napoleon, given to him in 1802 by Selim III, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, a former adversary. The stallion was  rigorously trained  at the imperial stables, as were many of the 130 horses that Napoleon rode during his 14-year campaigns, some of whom included the famous Marengo (pictured in Jacques-Louis David’s painting, Napoleon Crossing the Alps) and Mourad Bey. Though he was often painted on horseback, charging courageously into battle, in reality, Napoleon was not a very accomplished rider. Born on the island of Corsica, he didn’t sit a horse regularly until the start of his military career, when he continued to prefer small, docile horses for his mounts.

Taxidermists at work

Le Vizir fit the bill, and became a quick favorite of the emperor’s, who branded him with a crown and his imperial “N”. Napoleon rode the stallion in the Battle of Jena in Prussia, the Battle of Eylau in Russia, and on campaign in Poland before he accompanied the emperor on his year-long exile in Elba in 1814.

Napoleon's brand

By the time Napoleon swept back to power -- for the 100 days Campaign-- in France the following year after escaping from Elba. Le Vizir was spared the indignity of carrying Napoleon to his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. By then, the ageing stallion had been put out to pasture.

Napoleon died in 1821, but le Vizir outlived his owner by five years, passing away at the ripe old age of 33 in 1826. His remains were preserved by taxidermists in the same year by order of Léon de Chanlaire, a stable officer who sent le Vizir’s hide on to England for protection when anti-Napoleon sympathies in France reached their zenith. The stallion was displayed at the Manchester Museum in 1843, but later returned to France, where he went in and out of favor with the rise and fall of Napoleon III. Eventually, Le Vizir wound up in storage at the Louvre, where he remained for nearly 30 years before he was rediscovered and moved to Paris’s Musée de l’Armée.

 

Le Vizir Restored 

At last News from the Front

It’s been a long while since we reported of any new figures that might interest me for the Waterloo Campaign to add to my collection. But over the last year there has been some suggestions that some of the plastic companies will just do that.

You might remember that last year HaT asked it followers what new set they could make for us. There was a big interest in the Dutch and Belgium Carabiners for this period. But as to date there are no drawn sketches or even mock-ups of the figures, so we hope that these are still in the pipeline to be produce. They have also said that they are finally doing the Prussian limbers and ammo caissons for the artillery. We have seen the drawings so while ago but again nothing more to report on them either. They also mention on their list Prussian wagons, but nothing has been said about that set.

Now there are two companies that I have not brought any figures from due to the way they are produced. One is called Linear-A who have suggested that they are going to make a set for the Prussian Landwehr Cavalry. Strelets is another company that have on their list to produce are Prussian Uhlans and Dragoons. Now I know that HaT have already produced the Dragoons a very long time ago and they do need updating and the Strelets figures are looking better these days  Now the last two companies seem to be filling in the gap for the Prussian cavalry and am pleased that they are doing that and hope that it will be for the Waterloo Campaign.

So taking a deep breath of air, I do hope that these will be produced in 2020 it might help to get my mojo back.

Another Year Over

A Very Happy New Year to you all. Now if you follow my blog then you will know that I do not do any painting list for the year to come. So no New Year resolutions from me as the reason, which is quite clear from my previous posts, is that it would put me under great pressure to active something which would be impossible for me to reach. If you look at my performance over the years it is not very good one. Last year I managed to finish off my French Carabiniers troopers, seventeen in all. Now if we look over the last decade, I have painted just 132 figures which give me just thirteen figures per year. Now that does seem to be an easy number to beat this year so I am hoping that life does not get in the way as it has done over the last five years. So I am hoping to finish off my 32^nd Foot and a little bit more. So thanks you for looking at my blog but hope that this year more posts will be posted.