Happy New Year from the General

 

A Very “Happy New Year” to you all and let’s hope that this year we can get back to some kind of normality. Well 2020 is going to be a year remembered for the all the wrong things. Wargame shows were cancelled for which I have missed very much last year. The output of plastic figures seemed to have done very well considering what has happen across the world. Hopefully it will continue and hope that there will be a few new Napoleonic sets for me this year?

Here in the UK we were put in our first lockdown from March for four months due to the Coronavirus first hit the UK. With not being able to go out and see family and friends, I set myself up for the Coronavirus Challenge. This challenge was to make me sit down and paint my Napoleonic armies. In months that followed I managed to paint a total of 94 figures completing two regiments. The first was the British 32^nd foot followed by the Prussian 1^st Pomerania reserve infantry which were finished on the 8^th August.

 On the 17^th August I stated my next regiment which is the 2^nd Dragoon (Scots Greys) but due to the English football season starting, they have been on the back burner while I sorted out my football competition to get it up and running. Although we have had another lockdown for four weeks in November, things have not changed much as we are in yet another lockdown as the virus picks up in numbers in the UK. But now that the Christmas and New Year period are over, it’s my intentions this year is to finish off the 2^nd Dragoon (Scots Greys) and complete some odds and ends that have been stored away for many years. I will also like to start painting some more new regiments but we will see what happens.

Now if you follow my blog then you will know that I do not do any pre-painting list for the coming year, so no New Year resolutions from me once again. If you look at my performance last year it was one of the best years that I have had on my blog with postings. So thank you for looking at my blog but hope that this year even more posts will be posted once again.

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.