Wednesday 29 May 2013

GNW Swedish Horse

I've managed to make some more progress on my Swedish forces for the Great Northern War. This time I have focused my attention on painting the available cavalry figures that I had. All of the figures are from Dixons GNW range.

First up is the Vastgota cavalry regiment at 3 squadrons strong. The flag for this unit is from Solway Craft and miniatures.


The next regiment I painted up was Smalands. These are also 3 squadrons strong. So far I only have a black and white drawing of the flag. I'll get it scanned in and try and paint it up for the unit.


The last regiment is the Southern  Skane, these are only at 2 squadrons as that is all the figures that I had left. Like the Smalands regiment I will need to paint up a flag for these.

On the painting table I have a 18 strong dragoon regiment, 3 infantry battalions and an artillery battery to complete. After these there are another 2 dragoon regiments of 9 figures and 4 more infantry battalions. After these I will have to source some suitable figures for Generals as generic WSS figures do not have the Swedish style coats which are more in common with the Seven Years war.



I've also received my prize from Seb at Back to the Minis, this has already been added to my reading pile along with the Dux Bellorum rules. Can see some Dark age and Renaissance gaming on the horizon.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

GNW Upplands regiment

After the big FPW game at the weekend I was exhausted, due to the comments from the other players, seems  it was a success, so much so that Mick has gone out and bought the figures to put together a Saxon Corps for future games. Despite my exhaustion I thought I would get the next regiment of Swedes done for my small GNW project. This time I went for the Upplands regiment, bringing me up to 3 regiments of foot. The figures are all from Dixon and the flag is from Solway. Going to have to purchase another set as I need an additional 3 flags when I get all 10 regiments completed.




After a discussion via text with Neal and Dave, it looks like I will have another project on the horizon. looks like 10mm will be the scale for the Crimean War. We are still deciding on what basing to use and who collects what. I prefer the idea to collect troops from both sides, i.e a Russian and an allied division that way I can still use them for club games. Now to begin some research.

Sunday 19 May 2013

FPW Battle Report (ficticious)

On Saturday I was lucky enough to go up to Mick's for a large FPW battle. I even had the dubious honour of running and organising the game. So for a scenario I had to come up with a way of limiting the Prussian artillery as once it was set up, its devastating fire power would blast the french position to pieces. So I used the weather.

The French III corps was escorting badly needed supplied to the main French field army. So far it had been running a 2 day battle with lead elements of the Prussian XI corps before 3 days of heavy rain bogged both armies down. The scene was set. Dave had command of the French, his only stipulation was the positioning of III corps on the southern short edge of the table and waggons on the road. Due to the rain, no troops gained any bonuses for being on the road, they had been reduced to quagmires. Cross country, artillery and waggons were reduced to half moves due to the saturated ground. The waggons also had to dice each turn off road in case they became bogged down.

The rules were simple, the French had to get the waggons through to the road to army HQ, while the Prussians had to stop them. The Prussians were commanded by Neal, while Mick took on the South German troops, Bavarians and Wurtemburgers. The opening moves saw the Bavarians and Wurtemburgers arrive on the northern edge of the table, orders to drive south and trap the French. The Prussian XI corps advanced onto III corps with XII corps supporting its right flank.

To counter the Prussian advance the French I and V corps advanced through the woods onto the table. V corps were ordered to link up with III corps while I corps would check the advance of the South German troops.

The next couple of the moves saw the 2 armies move into position, with much Prussian grumbling over the soft ground slowing up the artillery. Eventually XI corps got into position and launch the first of many brutal attacks into the French III corps. Castigny's division bore the brunt but gamely held on to their position. The small town acting as a breakwater to the Prussian assaults.

Over in the north the Wurtemburgers and Bavarians were slowly getting into position when the French I corps advanced into view. Mick the decided to send the Wurtemburger division on a hook around to try and lad against the left flack, using a wood to cover their advance.

In the centre the lead elements of the Prussian XII and French V corps crashed into each other. Initially the French held a slight advantage, but Neal reformed his columns for a second attack which steamrollered over the lead French division. Dave then Had to commit his 2 reserve divisions to check the Prussian assault.

Over on the French right flank, III corps were evicted from the town, Dave then committed the French cavalry reserve into the action. It was a glorious charge, on they thundered. The Prussians opened fire, none rode back. With the loss of the town and cavalry, even Castigny's division had to give ground. In the centre, the Prussian XII corps continued its assault and now it had artillery support. Much to the relief of the Prussian commanders, with their artillery now in position, they began to pound the French lines. On the French left the Wurtemburgers arrived on the flank, forcing I corps to refuse its flank, while to its front, the Bavarian 1st and 3rd divisions began to advance. With pressure telling all across the line and time running out we called it a day. All agreed on a Prussian victory as the French waggons had failed to get through, while the wait of Prussian artillery began to inflict heavy casualties on some already battered french troops.


All in all a very enjoyable game. My initial fear that the wet ground was proving to much of an obstacle for the Prussian became unfounded. Hopefully Dave will also post some of his pictures up on his blog.

Monday 13 May 2013

Swedish Livgarde

I've now completed my second Swedish unit for the Great Northern War. This time I chose the Foot Guards, mainly because it was one of the flags that i had available from Solway. I couldn't quite work out the hat trim, but went for yellow and blue, think it turned out okay. Once again I went for a mix of headgear, gives the unit that bit more of a campaign feel. The figures are all from Dixon miniatures.



Ive got 2 more infantry battalions prepped for painting and a unit of horse cleaned up and ready for undercoating. Gives me something paint over the next couple of weeks.

Friday 10 May 2013

FPW 59th Infantry Regiment

With the game at Mick's coming up next weekend, I've managed to finish off another infantry regiment. Unfortunately I will not be able to get the last regiment painted in time, but that will suit the scenario I've devised.

These are the 59th Infantry regiment, the 3rd in the division. The figures as usual are all from Outpost, flag from Warflag and the bases are MDF from Warbase.



Also for use in the scenario I have painted up a couple of carts and some pack mules, this will probably give Dave, commander of the French on the day a bit of an idea of what is coming. The ox and waggons are from Warrior miniatures and the mules are from Black Hat.



This brings my total up to a 5 carts and waggons and 4 bases of pack mules, makes quite a nice supply train. I've also left them generic enough to cover a number of different periods.

Seb at backtotheminis is continuing with his give away this week. Today's offerings are some Old glory TYW/ECW, Venexia Italian Wars and 12 painted Gripping Beast dark age archers. Those are some great offerings so get yourself along and check ii out.

Sunday 5 May 2013

Narke-Varmlands

It feels like ages since I've been able to get the time and sit down to update this blog, I have even been a bit slack on checking up on the blogs I follow. You may want to check out backtotheminis as Seb is having a give away to celebrate his blogs 2nd birthday.

I have still been busy on the wargaming front. I've managed to get in a couple of games at Neal's, both bolt action and General de brigade. Very impressed with the Bolt action rules that I went out and bought an early war British rifle platoon. I'll post updates later on the Vimerio re fight that I am currently involved in.

On to the painting. Things have slowed down a little, I put that down to finishing off the WSS British and needing to recharge the batteries. So in a slight change from the WSS I decided to make a start on my GNW Swedes. First up is Narske-Varmlands infantry battalion. I chose these as they were one of the few with red turn backs and I particularly like the flag.



For the Swedes I have done a 4th base with the pikes. This way I can remove the pike base and use them for the Seven Years war. The flag is from Solway and the figures are all Dixons.

I also finished off 2 more Brigadiers, this time French for the Friedlingen project. Both these figures are from Mini Figs and paint up rather well. i find I am warming more to Mini figs, especially the cavalry figures.



Now in preparation for a large FPW game at Micks I need to put in some work on a scenario and the related maps and objectives.