WSS Hessians

I have continued to try and round out my force of Hessians for this period. Blue coats are such a nice change from painting red and white. So first up is 2 battalions of the Prince Leopold regiment. The figures are all from Warrior except the command which is from Dixon. The flags once again were produced by Mick.

Next up I completed 2 battalions of Grenadiers, these figures are all from the excellent range by Dixon miniatures. At the moment they do not have any flags. This is because I put in a small order with maverick models as I have seen some good reports on their flags. I also purchased some for my Hessian horse units. So these will have flags added as soon as they arrive.

This brings my Hessian strength up to 10 battalions of foot, 2 Horse regiments and a regiment of Dragoons. I do currently have Auroch's dragoons on the painting table and will have to purchase some extra figures for the 3rd horse regiment. I also have enough figures to complete the 2 battalions of Lowenstien's regiment. I still need to do some research on the Hessian artillery, i.e uniforms and gun colours, so far turned up very little.

Here is all of the foot completed to date. I did notice that some of the older units have a different finish to the base and will need rectifying in due course.

WSS French and Ramblings

Well first off I was a lucky chap and entered a prize giveaway ran by Ray at http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/ and actually managed to win something (Check out his excellent blog if you haven't already done so). So thanks to Ray, looking forward to the prize and already can see some gaming opportunities.

On another note my local club will be closed for a minimum 12 weeks, this is due to the Sport Center in which we rent a room undergoing some refurbishment. Its meant the last few week I have had to retrieve items I may need and sneak them past my other half into storage. Luckily this week we have been offered a temporary new home, we will not have our own bespoke room and will have to pack games up at night but at least we will get to game.

Now onto the figures. I managed to finish a second Dragoon regiment for my French from the remaining Roundway figures I had left. I have painted them up as the Colonel General regiment and I have since discovered that they fought at Friedlingen, bit of a result. I also took the opportunity to complete some dismounted troopers for both of my French dragoon regiments.

As I was in the mood and busy sorting out my figures I took the opportunity to take some photos of my French collection. Not yet as large as my Imperialist and will need some considerable strengthening.

So far I have 2 Horse regiment, 2 Dragoon regiments, 18 battalions of foot and 3 batteries. I am considering either adding a brigade of Irish infantry or Bavarians and at least 2 more brigades of horse with one possibly Bavarian. I will also need to add to the artillery and some more officers,

WSS Wurzburg infantry II

Following on from my last post I have completed 2 more battalions of Wurzburg infantry.  This time from the Bibra infantry regiment. The figures are mainly Warrior miniatures with the command a mix of Roundway and Dixon Miniatures.

These 2 battalions will complete a brigade of Wurzburg infantry ready for the campaign.  Next up I have some French dragoons to finish and then sort out some mortars.

WSS Wurzburg infantry

As I mentioned in the last post i have started to put together a few battalions from the Archbishopric of Wurzburg. These guys will be ideal to fight alongside my Franconian and Swabian circle troops. I have already painted the grenadier battalion and would now like another 4 battalions to bring them up to a brigade strength.

First up is two battalions of the Fechenbach infantry regiment. The figures are all from Roundway miniatures, except for the two Ensigns which are from Dixons'.

I've now got 2 more battalions from the Bibra regiment prepared and ready for painting. These guys will also prove useful for the ongoing campaign as replacement troops.

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