WSS French horse - Villeroy

Finally managed to get my second unit of french horse done. This time 3 squadrons of the Villeroy regiment. The figures are all from Dixon Miniatures. I will add the flag once I get it painted.

With them completed I have made a start on a couple of Wurzburg battalions that I'll need for my ongoing campaign.

Campaign Games

As mentioned in a couple of my earlier posts I have been involved in a WSS campaign with Mick. Due to location we will probably only get in two to three games a year. We each generated  troops to a total of 600 points which was then split into three armies of our own choosing, we wouldn't know what was in each others armies until we faced them. We were allowed a reserve which contained points for spare officers, pontoons and redoubts for use in certain scenarios. Losses to our armies can only be replaced at the end of the campaign year and depending on losses may not bring you up to full strength.

Our first battle was fought back in February and was over a border town. The victor was he who held the town after 30 + 1d6 turns. This turned out to be a rather cagey affair, much different to normal pitched battles. We also added in a rule that only the brigadier was placed on the table for movement until they were spotted by the enemy. Then your brigade revealed itself. Luckily for me I had purchased a cheap unit of hussars who were to prove their worth, scouting ahead they allowed me to quickly identify enemy brigades and proved a thorn in Mick's side for the whole game.

Initially Mick captured the town with a small brigade of dragoons with my hussars looking on. Unfortunately for Mick my next two brigades were of infantry and artillery, enough to force him to yield the town. Mick eventually threw in the Gardes Francais but my infantry managed to hols the line and repel a number of assaults. Out on my right flank my Cuirassiers supported by an infantry brigade overran the French artillery, capturing 5 guns. With his flank turned Mick began to withdraw to preserve his army.

The battlefield

Hussars locating the French dragoons

French Dragoons capture the town

Imperialists retake the town

Imperialist right flank

Gardes Francais begin their assaults

The second battle at the weekend was a river crossing with the added incentive to capture a Port. Unlike the first game this was a bloody affair with heavy casualties particularly among the French infantry. On the river their were four bridges to capture with the fifth in the port which spread over both sides of the river. Special mention has to go to Bothmers Dragoons which captured one of the bridges and held out over 15 turns against repeated french infantry attacks. Once again Mick found his artillery overrun and captured while his troops in the Port were slowly surrounded. i then soften them up with turn after turn of artillery fire before my Hessian and English foot stormed the Port and captured it, thus handing me a second victory.

The Port begins to fill with troops

Far north imperialist cavalry cross the river

Bothmers Dragoons occupy the village with Horse and dragoons in support

Pioneers start work on an pontoon bridge

Gardes Suiss attempt to hit the allied flank

Bothmers are surrounded but hold on

Gardes Suiss repulsed by English and Hessian foot

Imperialist cavalry overrun the French guns

Successful assault on the port

I'm already looking forward to the next game which is a convoy scenario, we may fight this one twice so we both get a chance as the attacker and defender.

WSS French Cavalry regiment Cosse.

Here they are the first completed French horse regiment for my Friedlingen project, the Cosse regiment. I was unable to find this regiment in all of my lists so went for the standard french horse uniform of grey/white coats and red cuffs. I was undecided on the hat lace so plumbed for yellow, no doubt some one will correct me if I'm wrong. The figures for this regiment are all from Dixon's, love their mounted figures, though like Essex rather pricey compared to others.

I am still to source a flag for this regiment and hope to add one soon, always make the units stand out. Next up I have started on another horse regiment, this time Villeroy. Don't think I'll get them finished before the weekend when I am off to Micks for the second battle of our campaign

WSS Friedlingen update

Taking inspiration from the campaign I have decided to try and progress the remaining troops that I require for the Friedlingen project, namely the French horse. So first up is one of the 3 unnamed french dragoon regiments that were at the battle. With them being unknown I took the liberty of painting up one of the lesser known regiments , Fimarcon in their green coat and cuffs. The only issue being I don't know what their flag looks like. They will just have to do with a green flag with white lace for the time being. The figures for this unit are all from Roundway miniatures. I have ordered some foot dragoons to finish them off.

When I ordered from Roundway I also picked up a few more mounted colonels to act as Divisional commanders, These will suffice for both the campaign and Friedlingen

Now it's back to prepping some more French cavalry.

WSS Pioneers

As the title suggests I have completed a small detachment of pioneers. Normally I wouldn't have done these as most games I play are one offs and generally set piece battles for this period. However, because of the campaign and the need to construct pontoons for a river crossing in the next game I though why not, especially when I saw them on EBay for £1.60. I wasn't sure on uniforms so went for a basic red coat with blue cuffs, this way they will suffice for my English, Saxon and Hanoverian troops.

The figures are all from Roundway Miniatures and the bases from Warbases. They proved rather straightforward to paint.

Next up i completed two more singularly based dragoons, this time in red coats. These will act as a further 2 mounted messengers or mounted guards for my pioneers. The were both from Essex miniatures.

Next up on the painting table I have a regiment of French Dragoons awaiting basing, I'll be able to use these for the Friedlingen project. There are also 4 mounted officers also requiring basing. There is a further french horse regiment, Swedish Colonels and 2 Imperialist battalions of foot that have been undercoated. Should keep me busy for a while.

WSS Hessians

 After my campaign game at Micks it got me inspired to try and finish off some more of my WSS collection. It has even got me making a few more purchases as well. The first of these to be completed were 2 battalions of Hessians that have sat undercoated for over a year now. The are from the Wartensleiben regiment. The flag was kindly produced by Mick in return for uniform info that I had for the Hessians. The figures are mainly Warrior with the command from Dixons.

I have also managed to complete a few more bases of dismounted dragoons as I will more than likely need these for our next game.

I've now started on some pioneers as well as prepping some French horse and dragoons for the Friedlingen project (remember that)