Plains, Terrain and ..er Cuirassiers

A beyond cheesy title: the fact that I was amused by it is probably an indication of how badly one's sense of humour deteriorates with age. It vaguely relates to my being in the middle of making the terrain tiles and units necessary for the next battle. Action! was a small affair by the standards of the Grants. To me it represents a major step forwards, both in the amount of terrain needed and the number of troops.

Work in Progress - Terrain Pieces

There are a few details that make reproducing this battle more awkward. The rules in 'The Wargame' were, for their time, unusually precise in their use of distance. Charles Grant specifies a frontage of 12.5 inches for an infantry battalion. My battalions measure 16 inches. I should therefore either increase all other distances (movement, ranges and the size of the table) or else reduce my 48 man battalions to 38. The first of these is not practical: I don't have the room to do this. The second is (for me anyway) undesirable: I want to use as many of the figures I have as possible.

I shall therefore mull all these things over in my mind, and come to whatever grudging conclusion best suits me at a later date.

The Tricorn Affair Concluded

The King having observed, that the hats of the several Regiments are of different sizes, and cocked in different methods, I am to acquaint you, that the patterns which are sent to the Comptrollers Office, for the Cavalry and Infantry, are, in conformity to the King's Orders, to be sealed by the Board, and deposited as patterns; and it is his Majesty's pleasure that the hats of the several Regiments are for the future to be made conformable to them, both as to the size of the brim and method of cocking. [4th February 1769. Miscellany Book: clothing correspondence. Adjutant-General to Mr. Fauquier. W.O. 30/13B.]

As the excerpt above shows, there is nothing new in the problem of trying to get a hat of the correct size. In my case the lack of uniformity all occurs within a single unit: the evidence is shown in the photos that follow.

I may go back at a later date and knock off a few of the worst hats and remodel them. But, for now, they are 'good enough' and I have a lot more urgent things to do if I am to be ready for the Christmas battle. Similarly, the unit's complement of officers and musicians will have to wait while other units are attended to.

The Le Nobles uniform does look aesthetically pleasing. I think I have made the light blue a little too bright (a touch of grey probably needed to be mixed in) but I am happy with the result this small error gives.

Its Too Cold For Some

We just had a spell of unusually early cold weather here in the UK. For a day there was snow on the ground: very confusing for the many trees about that were still in full summer plumage. My computer was so impressed by this that it felt the need to mark the event by blowing up (I really must remember to put the heating on more).

The lack of a computer seemed, at first, to be a major loss. But I soon found that its absence encouraged me to spend more time painting and modelling. The rank and file for the two companies of my first light infantry battalion are now nearing completion and photos will follow shortly.

Sadly old habits seem to be returning all too quickly. I have an awful lot of blogs and other websites to catch up on, so the rabble of Le Noble's Freicorps stand unattended for the while.

Passing Out

Its a 'big grin' day here with the Dragoons finally being completed. Even the arrival of a copy of 'The Wargame Companion' was insufficient to halt the final stages. Referring to the book, I must say that the revelations about a certain Brigadier's nocturnal activities on page 63 was something of a shock. I shall not reveal the details, but how the press never got to hear of it is beyond comprehension (buy the book if you want to know more).

My Dragoon regiment follows the organisation given in Charge! with the exception that I have given the standard to a separate figure rather than having one of the squadron commanders bear it. This gives me the excuse to avoid painting a musician with all his inevitable intricate finery.

DR8 - Suren Riders On Stadden Horses

This is the first cavalry regiment that I have gotten up to full strength (at least in Charge! terms). It does seem to me to represent a lot of effort, but I am happy that it has been worth it. We come down to the simple fact that having been soaked with the values laid down in Charge! when I was a teenager, even now at the supposedly mature age of 50 I cannot really settle for anything less.

A Wargamers View of DR8

In my particular scheme of things, the figures mounted on circular bases are purely eye candy. Only the figures on rectangular bases fight and define the position of the regiment. The eye candy can be moved around to provide scenic effect - just as can be seen in the refights in Charge!

Dragoons (Almost)

Dragoon squadron commander and standard bearer (Suren riders on Stadden horses).

Today's rather embarrassing photo puts me in mind of a passage in Shaw's "Saint Joan".

DUNOIS: Not a man will follow you.

JOAN: I will not look back to see whether anyone is following me.

I had hoped to show a photo of my regiment of Dragoons, complete and basking in the full glory of a Charge-style cavalry regiment. But all I can do is put up a shot of one slightly bemused squadron commander, accompanied by a standard-bearer, wondering where his men have disappeared to.

Neuro-surgeons may understand some of the details of how the brain works. But I suspect that none of them would be able to explain how that part of my brain storing the fact that 'those dragoons need their muskets adding' chose to remain dormant until today. Inevitably, these dozy neurons chose to fire just after the critical moment: when the dragoons had been varnished. It would, perhaps, be unscientific to attribute all this to the sheer bloody-mindedness of the world in general.

Hopefully in a few days time I will be able to show the completed regiment and wax lyrical about the thing. Until then I shall be wondering about what else is lurking forgotten in the dark recesses of my mind.

Accumulating Companies

The first two companies of IR12

I have to admit to having trouble dealing with even that most simple of inventions: the paper flag. I cut the thing up using sufficient care to impress a brain surgeon. When I glue it to its pole I am aware of all the nasty tricks that a paper flag likes to play on the unsuspecting wargamer and take care to circumvent them all. And yet, when all is done, I end up with nasty white strips along the edges where the two halves of the thing have not been lined up properly. I have no explanation for this: I suspect its an inevitability, rather like that law of physics that says that toast always falls buttered-side down. I have given up trying to find a cure for it other than reaching for the paint pot and painting them out.

As the photo above shows progress on IR12 is continuing albeit at a slower pace than I would like. My plan is to fight Action! with Jim around Christmas time, and there are still quite a few units to do: two companies of line infantry, four companies of light, and two squadrons of cavalry. Hopefully I'll pick up some speed once the weather turns bad and I'm stuck indoors: the current Indian summer, although splendid in many ways, is not doing the painting schedule any favours.

Tedious Inattention To Detail

Prussian musketeers ought to have white lace on their tricorns: at least that's the inflexible rule that's somehow burnt itself into my brain. And so the men of my version of IR 12 (I'm currently painting the second company) have white lace on their hats. It never occurred to me that the Prussian army, in an inattentive moment, might allow any slippage of my golden rule.

Unfortunately, when checking Bleckwenn a few odd uniform details came to hand. Firstly the neck stocks are red, whereas before I've come across only white or black. But, more alarmingly, their hat lace appears to be gold - not just for officers but for rank and file as well. I took this last to be a printer's error, especially as the unit's drummers were still properly decked out with white lace on their hats (and drummers are a truly tarty lot given half a chance). And so, while I duely painted red on the neck stocks, it was the pot of white paint that I reached for to complete the hats.

But today I happened to be reading Duffy in an idle moment. And here I read 'In the veteran regiments the troops wore stocks (neck-cloths) of red, and sported expensive braid and buttons on their coats'. So now I am wondering whether the expensive braid extended as far as the hats, while mulling over the hazards of careless reading.