Back to the 18th century and a return to my imagi-nations

It is quite a long time since I painted any troops for Syldavia and Borduria, but I've been painting Grenadiers. First, two groups of grenadiers for the Freikorps Schtroumpf;

A couple of groups of grenadiers had been in my plans for a very long time, a decade in fact, but I'd not done anything about them until now. I'd always planned for them to have the white and blue Schtroumpf uniform colours, but with red facings. The figures are from Essex Miniatures and are actually Prussian Von Schony grenadiers. I've added in an officer, NCO and Drummer. The drummer in the front group is there for colour, but is treated as a man with a musket for Sharp Practice purposes.

Next are two groups of Syldavian grenadiers, once again from Essex Miniatures' SYW Austrian range;

As I already have one group of 8 grenadiers from the Istow Regiment, I decided to paint two groups from other regiments, so I could have a Combined Grenadier formation for Sharp Practice. The front group  with green facings is from the Lippzshutt regiment and the group behind with black facings is from the Motörkopf regiment. Again, I have added a couple of officers, a drummer, an NCO and an ensign with a standard, showing the famous Black Pelican of Syldavia.

These chaps will be getting their tabletop debuts at Winter Wonderlard VI at BIG in Bristol on SAturday 7th February.

Three units of heavy cavalry for my SYW imaginations project

So, it is time for the cavalry part of my Uberwald SYW army. First, three units of big men on big horses, i.e cuirassiers, the armoured fist of the mounted arm.

These are the Garde zu Pferde, resplendent in their blue uniforms, led by their Brigadier and a trumpeter.

Next are two squadrons of line Cuirassiers, wearing buff uniforms.

These units could all be brigaded together or I might use them as shock troops to be supported by Dragoons and Hussars.

My last three SYW infantry battalions

I've finally nearly everything done for my Honours of War project, apart from the cavalry. Here are my last three infantry battalions;

Overall, I am pretty happy with what I've done with this army so far. Even without cavalry it is a pretty reasonable force. It would certainly suffice for most games of Honours of War.

I'll be working on the cavalry over the rest of September and into October, but for the moment I will be concentrating on a 28mm Austrian Napoleonic project that I really should have got on with last year. 

Guns and limbers for my SYW project

Here is the artillery for my SYW imagi-nation for Honours of War;

Above we have the limbered guns for movement before or after deployment and below I have placed a cannon on one of the artillery bases I finished a while ago, to show how the deployed guns will appear on the table. I think this has come out rather well.

I have also finished off the rest of my infantry battalions, but I will do a separate post about these.

A new project - SYW 15mm troops

This project is something I had no idea I was going to do at the beginning of the year, but a few people at the club were getting interested in the Honours Of War rules from Osprey and were using SYW armies that they either already had or were putting together. I played a couple of games and, although I have some reservations about the rules, I decided that they weren't too bad and I ought to put an army together too.

The rules allow for the use of imagi-nations, which is something that I am very much in favour of because it takes me back to Charles Grant and his wars between the Vereinigte Freie Städte and the Grand Duchy of Lorraine in his classic book, The War Game.

My project is to create the army (in our chosen scale of 15mm) of the Grand Duchy of Überwald (a name that will be familiar to Terry Pratchett fans), a long vanished entity from somewhere near Austria. 

The rules in the book uses infantry battalions made up of five elements, but because some players have battalions of four elements, we have agreed on this for our campaign, which is supposed to begin in the autumn. We are also reducing cavalry squadrons by one element too, to keep frontages in proportion. 

Our campaign will be using a blend of real and imaginary states, so long as the imaginary armies have the characteristics of the real ones in the book.

The Grand Duchy of Überwald's army will be using Essex Prussian minis and will be based on the rule book stats for Austria.  As you can see, their flags will look rather French too.

So far, I have completed two battalions of Grenadiers and three of light troops, as pictured above. My plan is to have ten battalions of infantry, three of light troops (most likely a Freikorps) and seven squadrons of cavalry of various types, plus medium artillery and a number of brigadiers and an army commander. I expect that my imagination will run away with me and I end up with a few more units.

To provide a nice colourful appearance I will paint up some infantry in colours other than grey. There will be a battalion of Garde zu Fuß musketeers in blue and two more battalions in green, representing troops from the Margravate of Streslau, a feudal vassal of Überwald. There will also be artillerymen, cuirassiers (including one of Garde zu Pferde), dragoons and hussars in a variety of uniforms.

I am going to have to work quickly. I also have a 28mm Austrian Napoleonic project that I need to finish by November. So far, everything is assembled, based up and undercoated.

Reinforcements for my 18th century imagi-nations

When I first started this blog, my original aim was to write about the imaginary countries of Syldavia and Borduria, well-known to all fans of the Tintin books, their history and their armies and personalities of the 18th century.

Over time, the blog had expanded to cover all things wargaming, but I still love my imagi-nations, and often think about what I could write about next. I am always also thinking about new units I could create for my armies (used for Sharp Practice), including some Ottoman enemies who threaten both Syldavia and Borduria from the south.

Anyway, one nagging annoyance was that I created a couple of units which were understrength and I've recently addressed that issue. Here are four groups of eight figures who all provide reinforcements for their respective units.

First, the Syldavian Douma Regiment of Pandurs. These now have two line groups, a group of skirmishers, an officer and two NCOs.

Now, the pride of the Syldavian Light Infantry, the Strelec Jäger Regiment. I am thinking that I might upgrade the Schützen group roster so that they will be equipped with rifles. 

Next, the Bordurians. First the Smederevka Hajduk Regiment, volunteers and conscripts equivalent to the Syldavian Pandurs.

And finally, the feared Moznik Jäger Regiment, equipped and uniformed in the Prussian style beloved of the Bordurian Autokrat, Constantine II. Again, I am wondering whether the Schützen group for these troops should have rifles rather than muskets too.

The final items for my FIW French

Here are the final pieces in my French and Indian War jigsaw puzzle. The wagon has been sitting around, half-finished for ages, mainly because I hadn't got round to undercoating the horses.

The wagon and horses are from Warbases, and the wagon is really a Gribeauval wagon limber, at least, that is what it said on the MDF sheet. However, I think it will be fine as a support option in lots of different guises, because I am not going to get all nitpicky about whether it is the right sort of wagon or not. Life is too short ..............

The figure with the barrel is a from a pack of Perry AWI metal civilians, so he fits in pretty well. I've painted him so that he looks like he might be a member of the French infantry without his uniform coat. The wagon and horses are from Warbases, who have some rather nice carts specifically for Sharp Practice that I will probably buy at some point. I've got another one of these wagons still not made up. I will probably modify it in some way and not use the cover.

Finally, here is the last part of my Régiment de Guyenne, a Colour Party. These are from the Warlord box set, including the flags, which are on the leaflet in the box. I've got a few figures left over, so I'll hang on to them in case I suddenly have a need for some more 18th century French characters.

So, I am now all ready for the monumental clash of French and British in the great North American wilderness at the end of january. 

Now, on to my next project, which I shall get started on next week, probably.

More from my French and Indian War project for Sharp Practice

I began this project towards the end of 2018, and I wrote about it here. Since then, with a few distractions onto other things, I've finally finished off the rest of my forces for the Sharp Practice day at Bristol Independent Gaming at the end of January.

Here are three groups of fusiliers from the Régiment de Guyenne, accompanied by a Senior Leader, Capitaine Philippe Au Brion (drawing his sword), a Junior Leader , Lieutenant Pierre Lardon (armed with a musket and a sword) and a Musician (drummer).

First, here they are in line, ready to fire;

And here they are in a marching column;

These are all Warlord 28mm metal figures, based on 25mm circular bases and mounted on Warbases movement trays. I chose to paint them in pale grey rather than pure white, because there was considerable variation in the actual colour of the cloth used for French uniforms in this period, and a pale grey-white seems entirely appropriate to me. Indeed, in many paintings you will see that the uniform coats were not actually pure white, and the terms "off-white" and "white-grey" are often used to describe the actual colour. I think that the cloth used was actually made from undyed wool, and you never see pure white sheep.

I am reasonably happy with how they have turned out, eventually, and I will explain why. Now, I don't like to say bad things about manufacturers generally, and this is really a rare gripe from me. However, I bought two boxes of these French infantry at Colours last year and while I have no issues at all with the sculpts, which are great, one box was considerably worse than the other one from a castings perspective. It wasn't just flash, the issue was quite large blobs of superfluous metal on a number of the figures, requiring a lot of work with a knife and a file to get the figures in a fit state to paint. In a couple of cases, the cleaning up was pretty extensive, requiring the use of metal snips to cut off the worst of the extra "growths".

Anyway, moan over. I still have a couple of odds and ends to finish off, including a Colour Party, which I hope to get finished next week.

A new Sharp Practice mini-project; French forces for the French and Indian War

The French and Indian War,  which was fought in North America between the British and French colonies began in 1754 and ran on until 1763. From 1756 onwards, it can be viewed as part of the much larger Seven Years' War. It started out as a conflict between the colonists and their local forces, but gradually regular troops from France and Britain began to be deployed as the conflict grew.

I am painting up a smallish 28mm French force for a Sharp Practice weekend in January next year at Bristol Independent Gaming. Each player has 65 points available for their troops and mine is going to consist of the following;

Leaders (total 22pts);

Status III - Capitaine Philippe Au Brion, the impoverished son of an Irish emigré military family. He is accompanied by a Musician (drummer) 10 pts

Status II - Capitaine Henri Thierry, 6pts

Status I -  Lieutenant Pierre Lardon, 3pts

                Lieutenant Jean Merluche 3pts

Troops (total 42pts);

3 groups of 8 Fusiliers of the Régiment de Guyenne (18pts)

3 groups of 6 Compagnie Franche de la Marine Skirmishers (24pts)

Support (total 1pt);

Burning torches 1pt (not sure how useful these will be)

This gives me a grand total of exactly 65pts.

Capt. Au Brion is the force commander and leads the fusiliers. He is assisted by Lt. Lardon. 

Capt. Thierry commands the skirmishers, with Lt. Merluche as his deputy.

Before starting on this little project, I looked around for the what I thought would provide the best fit for the kind of force I wanted to paint. I decided on the Warlord boxed sets of Compagnie Franche and Line Infantry, and I bought two of the latter, so that I'd have enough figures for my plans.

So far, I have completed the skirmishing force made up of troops from the Compagnies Franches de la Marine, autonomous companies of infantry who were attached to the  French Marine Royale and who served both on ships and as garrison troops in the various French overseas colonies. Until the FIW, these were the only regular French troops stationed in Nouvelle France, the French possessions in North America.

Anyway, here is where I am with this project so far.

First, here are Capitaine Thierry, on the left with the drawn sword and Lieutenant Merluche.

Next are their troops, in three groups of six skirmishers. Note that there is a lot of variation in the dress of these soldiers. in the first group I have added in one figure from the box of line infantry. This is because I didn't want any figures with an officer's gorget amongst the rank and file. I see this figure as being a low-ranking NCO, and therefore not a leader in SP terms. While on active service, the troops of the Compagnies Franches wore a relaxed service dress that included some items adopted from the Native tribes of the region. The hooded capot tunic was also popular. Troops were issued with swords, as were line infantry of the period, but these were often replaced with tomahawks.

Finally, I have painted up two Deployment Points. Both of these are resin items from Coritani Miniatures, whose products can be found here. Both of these DPs are using surplus figures. The one on the left is from the Compagnies Franches box and the other one, painted up to represent an office of the Régiment de Guyenne, is from the box of line infantry.

My next task is to get my line troops prepped and undercoated.

When two patrols clash - a Sharp Practice imagi-nations AAR

Here is a game I played at the club last Sunday.

The scenario was an encounter between a Syldavian patrol and one from Borduria in the border region between the two countries to the north of the Zympathian Mountains, where the foothills flatten out to form the Great Bordurian Plain, known as the Pjinfold in the local dialect.

The Syldavians were pushing northwards to see how many Bordurian troops were in the region, in advance of an incursion by a force comprising several brigades.

The Syldavian force was a small column of Fusiliers and Grenadiers from the Splitz Regiment, supported by Jägers. The patrol was accompanied by an ammunition wagon.

Opposing them was a hurriedly-assembled force from the Freikorps Schtroumpf, supported by some Bordurian Fusiliers and local Hajduks, or border troops, also with an ammunition wagon.

The terrain was lightly-wooded with a number of rocky outcrops and a few fields of cereal crops. The Syldavians were on slightly higher ground.

The Syldavian commander, Kapitän Heinrich Chzippz led his troops towards the low ridge that dominated the centre ground.

They were opposed by a line of infantry from the Freikorps Schtroumpf, led by Kapetánios Ioannes Doukas, the youngest son of a local Bordurian landowner, supported by fusiliers from the Krupski Regiment.

Elsewhere, Syldavian  Jägers were opposed by their opposite numbers from the Smederevka Hajduk regiment.

Both forces were soon engaged in a musketry exchange, with both sides taking shock.

Further exchanges of fire saw the Syldavian Grenadiers taking a lot of casualties, which soon led to them breaking and fleeing the scene. The relatively early loss of one group of Jägers, who were acting as a skirmish screen didn't help matters either.

Both sides were soon blazing away, with accurate shooting from both sets of skirmishers taking a toll on the lines of troops.

Before long, a crashing volley caused one group of the Freikorps Schtroumpf to flee.

Eventually, the rest of the Syldavian fusiliers joined the fire fight, causing casualties and shock. Unfortunately for the hapless  Kapitän Chzippz, his forces were getting the worst of the encounter, with his force moral falling steadily.

Accurate musketry from the Bordurian Hajduks and skirmishers were  whittling away at the Syldavian line, and shock was making the Syldavian return fire less effective.

The Bordurians were dismayed to see a random event  force a group of infantry charge forwards, only to be wiped out by the staunch Syldavian defenders on the ridge. However, this was a false dawn for the Syldavians, who were being forced to withdraw back whence they had arrived, leaving the Bordurians in possession of the field of honour.

This was an exciting game, with Brian, commanding the Bordurians the eventual victor. Once again, the martial prowess of the Bordurian Autokrator's military machine proved too much for the Syldavians, who never really recovered from the loss of their elite Grenadiers. 

One thing this game really showed perfectly is how effective the Sharp Practice rules can be with regards to shock. The Crashing Volley rule, which inflicts double shock, can be devastating and can force groups of troops to break once they are taking casualties.

However, as things turned out, it really was a case of Goodbye, Mr Chzippz.

Escort Duty - an Imagi-nations AAR for Sharp Practice.

I hadn't played any games with my Syldavians and Bordurians for quite some time, so yesterday's game at the club was a welcome opportunity to get them on the table again. The game we played was Scenario Four: Escort Duty.

The map is taken from the Sharp Practice rulebook.

All the figures are Essex 15mm.

 

Deployment points

Borduria enters the table at either Point 1 or 2, rolling to see which with an equal chance of either. They place a secondary Fixed Deployment point there, as they have no Primary Deployment Point for this scenario. Roll a further D6 and half that total, rounding up. The Bordurian player now takes that many moves with his entire force.
       

The Syldavian player now rolls a D6 to see which Deployment Point they use. On a roll of 1 to 4 they place their Primary Deployment Marker within 6” of that point. On a 5 or 6 they choose whichever Point they wish. Any secondary Deployment Points are placed and the game now begins.

Objective

To win, The Bordurians must exit the table on the far edge with the convoy they are escorting. The Syldavians must capture the convoy. 

I decided that this encounter would feature the Freikorps Schtroumpf, and would be an event from the early days of Frans Schtroumpf's career as a soldier of fortune in the service of Constantine II, Autokrator of Borduria. 

Before the start of the campaign against Syldavia in 1754, the Freikorps Schtroumpf was stationed in the border city of Oilcanya, to the west of the River Djrinje on the plains to the north of the Zympathian Mountains. Syldavian raiding parties had been crossing the river from the Syldavia city of Turksi Bazar and attacking Bordurian merchant caravans. The Freikorps was ordered to move south and provide escorts for caravans along the Djrinje valley. In early April, Pukovnik (colonel) Schtroumpf was personally accompanying an escort patrol because he had business in the small town of Bugrit, several kilometres inland from the border.

Forces

Syldavia

3 x groups of 8 x Fusiliers Status III leader Status I leader

2 x groups of 6 x Pandur Skirmishers Status II leader

1 x group of 8 x Hussars Status II leader

1 x group of 8 x Dragoons Status II leader

1 x Ammuntion cart

The Syldavian Fusiliers are classed as Regulars and the Dragoons are Impact Cavalry.

Borduria

3 x groups of 8 x Freikorps Fusiliers Status III leader (Frans Schtroumpf) Status I leader

2 x groups of 6 x Hajduk Skirmishers Status II leader

1 x group of 8 x Freikorps Hussars Status II leader

1 x cannon with 5 x crew and Status I leader

1 x Musician

The Freikorps Fusiliers are classed as Conscripts and Volunteers and have the Aggressive characteristic. The Hussars have a fearsome reputation and have the Blood Curdling characteristic. This means that when charging into Fisticuffs each group of opponents must roll 1D6 per figure. Each roll of 6 inflicts 1 point of shock on the group.

I played the Bordurians and the Syldavians were jointly handled by Andy and John. 

The table looked like this. The buildings, walls and fences are mine, the rest of the terrain belongs to the club. Here is the view from the Bordurian entry point end of the table;

A general view;

The view from the town of Bugrit. The Syldavians would enter the table from the left of the town.

The Bordurian convoy entered from the far right of the table as one complete entity and began to deploy along the road. The Hussars attempted to canter along the road to seize the entrance to the town, while the main body of infantry advanced to the right of the road, supported by the Hajduk skirmishers. The cannon moved round to the left of the farm. Already, Syldavian Pandur skirmishers were in the woods along the road and the unit of Dragoons from the De Bourbon regiment were attempting a flanking manoeuvre.

The Syldavian Vranac Hussars began a flanking advance to the left of the farm in front of the Bordurian troops.

The De Bourbon Dragoons charged against the Freikorps fusiliers, who were unloaded after firing at the Pandurs in the woods, but they failed to contact the enemy.

The Hajduk skirmishers to the right of the Fusiliers fired at the dragoons, causing casualties and shock. A random event roll inflicted "Charge them to Hell!" on the Hajduks and they hit the dragoons in the flank, inflicting more casualties and shock, forcing the dragoons to flee back towards their deployment point. Even worse, the dragoon leader was killed outright. Meanwhile the Vranac Hussars were threatening the Bordurian cannon, as well as the merchant caravan.

I swiftly moved some Hajduks and a group of Fusiliers to support the gun while it unlimbered. The resulting round of canister caused shock and casualties, forcing the Hussars to take refuge in the trees out of sight. The Syldavian cavalry were getting a bloody nose.

Things were not look that good for the Bordurian horse either, as the Freikorps Hussars also came under fire. The were forced to move out of the line of fire and regrouped away to the left near the town.

There is a shortage of pictures, but, after the Bordurian cavalry looped right round the outside of the farm, back towards their entry point the two groups of Hussars ended up in Fisticuffs, with the Syldavians coming off worse and breaking, fleeing from the field of honour. The loss of both cavalry units and their officers meant a big decline in Syldavian morale. Before long this would fall into the red band, which would cause them problems by losing Command Cards.

Elsewhere, the Istow regiment began to deploy, firing at long range on the Bordurians, causing some shock and a few casualties.

The Bordurians began to advance down the road, with the wagons and pack horses staying just behind the troops.

The Syldavian plan was to hold the line around the cornfield outside the town, preventing the wagon train to get past. The remaining Dragoons were finally rallied enough to rejoin the fight, but had to rely on the Force Commander to activate them.

The Bordurians, secure from flank attacks by the vanquished Syldavian Horse began to push ahead, first clearing the Pandur skirmishers from the woods and then engaging with the main Syldavian line. Skirmishers moved up to the farm and added their musketry to the battle. the gun would soon be ready to add fire to the battle.

Combat in this area would mean success or failure for Frans Schtroumpf's small force. Meanwhile, a single group of Freikorps fusiliers and the remaining Hussars made a flanking advance around the back of the farm. Eventually, these troops would arrive on the edge of town.

 

There was much combat along the road, with the Freikorps Fusiliers coming off best in shooting and fisticuffs against their opponents from the Syldavian Istow regiment, knocking their commander unconscious, forcing the Syldavians to break and capturing the ammunition wagon and the knocked out Syldavian officer. As the Schtroumpf Fusiliers prepared to charge the remaining Pandurs, the Pandur commander decided that discretion was the better part of valour and his troops evaded, withdrawing well away from the enemy. There was just one group of Syldavian infantry between the convoy and the town, with Bordurian Hussars and more fusiliers threatening them from across the road.

At this point, Syldavian morale had plummeted to 1 and they had lost all their remaining Command Cards, as well as their Force Commander. With heavy hearts, the battered remnants of the Syldavian raiding force decided to withdraw, realising that it was now almost impossible to prevent the merchant convoy from reaching Bugrit safely.

This was a terrific battle, and very bloody. It really could have gone either way but the loss of so many Leaders really hit the Syldavians hard, resulting in a hard-fought and costly victory for the Bordurians.