Two New Cavalry Units

I finished two new cavalry units in January, one Allied, one French.  The first are the British 15th Light Horse also called Elliot’s Light Horse.  This unit was part of the Allied army commanded by Ferdinand of Brunswick and was made famous after its charge against the French at Emsdorf. The figures are from Italeri, US Independence War British Light Cavalry.  The uniforms are close to the ones worn during the Seven Years War and, in any case, the only set of cavalry wearing leather “jockey cap” type helmets available in1/72 plastic figures. 

The second unit are the French Bercheny Hussars.  This unit was part of Broglie’s army and was also present at Emsdorf where they were routed by Elliot’s Light Horse and Luckner’s Hussars.  The figures are from the excellent Zvezda set, Black Hussars of Frederick the Great.  The musician is from the Zevezda set Swedish Dragoons of Charles XII.  They are covering the right flank of the French advance and should see action soon.  

Another Rules Update

I recently put the latest version of my Old School rules to the test with a game loosely based on Blastof from Charge!  I played against my son who had never played before.  It quickly became apparent that I had violate two of the five goals that I outlined two year ago, when I previewed the first iteration of these rules.  To refresh, my initial goals were:

1. Old school feel: units with individually based figures
2. Brevity: core rules limited to two sides of one page
3. Simplicity: something intuitive enough for a novice to grasp quickly
4. Economy: minimum number of dice rolls and modifiers to get a result
5. Morale: simple but something better than last man standing

The rules had grown to 4 pages from 2 pages which violated rule #2 but it also became clear that the increased length violated rule #3.  I decided to go back to the drawing board and strip out much of the chrome and morale details that seemed to impact the speed of play.  I managed to get all of the rule mechanisms on one page, with an additional page for formation diagrams.  The result is something that has all the necessary basic mechanisms but can be understood quickly.   Anyhow, here is the latest:

Old School Rules - 1 Page Version

Here are a few pics from the game.

Scratch Built Buildings for Seven Years War

I was inspired to make some scratch built houses for my 1/72 scale 18th Century armies after viewing posts on TMP and blogs like Jimbibblyblog.  I tried to closely imitate some of the designs which I thought would be perfect for 18th century era houses.  I started by sketching the basic design including positions of doors and windows on 2mm chipboard sheets.  I then cut the pieces with an Exacto knife.

 

I glued the walls together and stabilized the joints with pieces of balsa wood.  

I then started to apply trim.  The exposed timber beams were made of 1/16th inch balsa wood strips.  The window sashes and door arches were either polystyrene plastic strips or thin card.

The timber strips and background were painted before being applied.  The stucco on the bottom half of the house was a thin application of AK hobby concrete.  

The windows and doors were installed before placing the roof.  The doors were scratch made and the windows are laser cut S scale windows purchased from Rail Scale Models.  The roof shingles shown below are also from Rail Scale.  Great products and great service from proprietor Steve Milley.   

The laser cut shingles are sold in sheets that can be cut into rows.  They were painted with a wash of dark gray paint before application.  After the roofing was finished, the shingles and timbers were dry brushed to give a weathered appearance.

Finished buildings in action.

 

Update to Old School Rules

I have significantly revamped my Old School Rules.  The biggest change is resolving combat in groups instead of individual single combats.  Single combats became tedious and time consuming even for small actions.   I created new rules by modifying aspects of melee rules from Donald Featherstone and Charles Grant.  

The other change was updating the morale rules which were amended to a variation the one found in The Wargame by Charles Grant.  I wanted to have them reflect the impact of officer losses on command and control.  I also streamlined the overall rules and included more tables in place of long text explanations.  I did not materially change the rules for artillery and musket fire.

Overall, I'm pleased with how they work.  Here is the link for anyone interested.

Old School Rules 2021

Finally a pick of some of my latest old school figures.

 Grenadiers from the Hanovarian Dragoons - Breidenbach Regiment

Hanovarian Infantry - Hardenberg Regiment

Five Allied Infantry Regiments:

    Hessian Grenadiers, Hessian Erbprinz, Hanovrian Von Scheither, British 4th King's Own, and Hanaovarian Hardenberg

Dolitz & Probstheyda, Leipzig - part 1

Something different, 18mm Napoleonics.  A scenario from the General de Brigade scenario book, volume 2.   This was featured in Wargames Illustrated, March 2001.  The scenario represents the fighting that took place in the southern sector on the third day of the Battle of Leipzig, October 18, 1813.  The French represent Augereau's IX Corp. Victor's II Corp, Oudinot's Guard Division and elements of Poniatowski's VIII Polish Corp.  The Allies, comprised of Austrian, Prussian and Russian divisions, are organized in two columns, the 1st Column under Hessen-Homberg and the 2nd Column under Barclay.  Here is the original map from the scenario booklet.    

This is a map I made to create the terrain, a similar area but showing the Pleisse River to the left of Dolitz and Lossnig.  Much fighting occurred around that river and I wanted it represented my scenario. 

Polish troops marching to take up positions in Dolitz. 

Dubreton’s division of Victor’s Corp advance to take defensive positions at Meusedorf Farm. 

Probstheyda, soon to be the scene of desperate fighting.

A view of Lossnig from across the Pleisse.  Dolitz in the background to the right.

Napoleon with entourage conferring with Marshall Victor.

The battle begins, two Austrian grenz battalions advance on Dolitz.

Bianchi’s Austrian’s begin advance on Dossen.

Silesian Uhlans attacking Semele’s division, supported by Austrian Uhlans.

Prussian fusiliers supported by landwehr advance on Muesdorf.

After the initial attack was repulsed, Austrian’s under Wimpfen attack Dolitz

Bordesoulle’s heavy cavalry division.  Saxon Cuirassiers and Garde du Corp in the lead followed by French Dragoons and Cuirassiers.

Russian Cuirassiers prepare to meet the threat.

Napoleon receives a report from Poniatowski near the tobacco mill.  

Augereau sends Lagarde’s division to reinforce Lossnig.

Austrian’s finally take Dolitz........

......and prepare to advance on Lossnig.

All figures are 18mm AB, some of the best miniatures in any scale.  Some units, all skirmishers and casualties we painted by me. Most of the rest were painted by Ron Redworth of Wargames Den in the UK.  Great painting and service.   More to come......

Somewhere in Italy

 Slowly building my French and Austrian armies for Napoleon’s campaigns in Italy.  I’m making slower progress than I hoped but decided to set out what was finished along with some terrain recently made and purchased.  The buildings are from Charlie Foxtrot Models.  These are great kits and the website instructions on how to finish them lead to good results.  The grass mat was purchased from Barrage Miniatures.  When I ordered the mat they contacted me immediately to get my instructions on the colors and finish.  Great service from Clara and team.  

The flags are from GMB.  They are actually for the Egyptian campaign but look nicer than anything I can download and print myself so I’m using them anyway.

The civilians are from Front Rank.  All other miniatures are 28mm figures from Eureka.  Here are the French.

..........and the Austrians.

More to come...........