The Lone Huntsman

You'll have heard the news, no doubt, that New Zealand is not going through the best of times right now, and that it's about to get a lot worse.

I'm dealing with some of the anxiety by painting soldiers, which may partly account for the promising start I've made on my latest regiment, which is to be the 4e Chasseurs à Cheval. Once again, the plan is to paint the whole regiment in one go, with the sole exception of the wee test chasseur pictured below.

He's a vintage Hinton Hunt FN 122: French Chasseur a Cheval of the line charging. I think he's one of the loveliest HH one-piece-castings I've ever handled.

Far more impressive, however, is recent work by Rob G., who's been building a vintage 20mm Spanish army. Impossible, you say? Not if you have the artistry and ingenuity of Rob, who also turns out to be a genius with a soldering iron.

First up is Rob's 2nd/10th Guadalajara Regiment, which started life as what I think were Scruby 1806-era Prussians.

Not content with that, Rob has also produced the 1st/27th Princesa Regiment, using a few more of the Scrubys and grenadiers converted from Der Kriegspielers British Guard Grenadiers.

Simply stunning.

As my friend, DF, and the Wellington household are all vaccinated to the gills, we will be going ahead with our battle on Saturday. It's promising to be a corker.

Stay safe everyone,

WM

Edit: an earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that it was the 127th Princesas, and that the grenadiers were converted British fusiliers!

The Light Fantastic

Progress on my cuiraassiers is inching along, but there's not much to show yet. To make up for this I have some pictures of Rob G's recently completed 20th Light Dragoons.

Rob has made a magnificent job of these. They make my cuirassiers look simple in comparison. The figures, I believe, are all vintage Hinton Hunt BN 50 British Light Dragoon in Shako charging, with one very nicely converted by Rob into an officer.

If it's not cuirassiers next week it'll be something else rather special that's recently come my way....

All the best

WM

Edit: In other news, David C has posted the last installment of our epic refight of Rolica. This was the best fun I've had in ages, and it was an honour and a pleasure getting to know David. He really is a smashing bloke.

A Tour de Force

My friend Rob G has sent me  these photos of his new French line infantry battalion.

The troops are a blend of Hinton Hunt FN 5: Line Fusiliers advancing, and slightly modified Alberken FN 15: Line Grenadiers, advancing painted as grenadiers and voltigeurs on the flanks. They work together brilliantly.

Rob also sent me these close-ups of the command group, featuring what looks like he might be an Alberken FN 16: Line Voltigeur, painted as a sergeant of fusiliers.

I think they're absolutely stunning!

All the best to you all this Anzac Day

WM

Garrison Duty

Today was supposed to be spent finishing off the horses on my cuirassiers, but I started fiddling about with the Garrisons again and no horses were painted. I don't know what it is about the G-men, but I just adore them. Exactly the same thing happened when I was painting my French Garrison battalion, who threatened to elbow aside my Prussian reservists at one point.

Pictured below are the day's results:

The standard bearer was dead easy, of course, as all I had to do was cut away his musket and drill a couple of holes. The Silesian Landwehr flag he's carrying, needless to say, is not what he'll be carrying when he's finished, but it's shown here to give an impression of what the final result ought to look like.

The drummer was a much bigger challenge. I spent hours carefully paring back his arms with the intention of repositioning them, but when I tried to re-attach them they disintegrated. To make matters worse, I'd changed the solder I've been using recently and it really wasn't working very well. In the end I had to revert to my earlier supply and chop off a new pair of arms from a surplus Lamming Guard Grenadier. He still needs a little bit of work, but he's basically all there now. There's now a very high probability that the Garrisons will queue jump my cuirassiers, although I'm still fighting it.

In other news, my friend Rob G has sent me the attached, demonstrating once again his extraordinary painting accomplishments. Those have got to be among the best Poniatowski' and Ponsonby figures ever painted. Rifleman Plunkett, Rob tells me, is the chap they are about to tread on.

Last but not least is a selection of the absolutely stunning flags Rob has been gradually adding to 'Lee's wonderful Hinchliffe ECW army. These make me weep for my teenage self. My own attempts back in those days were absolutely abysmal.

That's it for now. It'll be either more Garrisons, cuirassiers or a general or two in the next post, although I also have some gunners on the go so anything could happen really.

WM

The Hundred Hours

Rob G, figure painter extraordinaire and a frequent commentator on this blog, was the first to invite me to put the CEF through it's paces. The scenario he proposed was based on Napoleon's march from Cannes to Paris following his escape from Elba in 1815. What would have happened, he said, if General Marchand and the 5e de Ligne had put up a fight instead of joining the Corsican fugitive? We set up the table to find out.

Rob's wargaming surface is a large sheet of coloured lino which is altogether smoother, greener, lighter and in every sense more practical than the half a ton of former ping pong table I have at my house. Rob also supplied the exquisitely painted Hinton Hunt Napoleon and ADC needed to lead the Emperor's army.

Into the Gap

It is March 1815, and the Emperor is advancing into a narrow defile near the small town of Gap. All Europe trembled, although only a battalion of the guard (disguised as line infantry, for some reason) and his trusty Guard Chasseurs were accompanying him.

Napoleon: Stop worrying, Marbot. The French Army will never fight

for that ridiculous Bourbon beach ball in the Tuileries!

At a bend in the road, however, a Bourbon force was found to be blocking the pass. It was General Marchand (who had a remarkable resemblance to Marshal Soult, or so everyone said) at the head of the 5th Line Infantry. The 3rd Swiss and the 7th Lancers were deployed in support.

Marchand: Vive l'Emp...I mean, Le Roi!

The Emperor signalled the Guard to halt. "There is nothing to fear, mes enfants!", he declared, "They've come to join our forces!". Spurring his horse, the Emperor trotted forward towards the 5th Line. Marbot scrambled to keep up. "Sire, I beseech you, let me go before you", he cried.

Napoleon: Nonsense, Marbot, they'll never lift a finger against me! Here, watch this...

Waving Marbot to be silent, the Emperor continued his advance until he was but a few paces from Marchand's impassive infantry.

Napoleon: Soldiers of the 5th, if there is one amongst you who would kill his emperor. let him do it. Here I am!

 The 5th prepared to fire.

Marbot:  They're raising their muskets, Sire....

Napoleon: You're right, Marbot. Let's send in the Chasseurs instead!

In a trice, the Chasseurs of the Guard were charging straight towards Marchand's line. The 5th held their fire until the very last moment.....

Marchand: Wait for it, wait for it.....fire!!!!

 …..and delivered an annihilating volley.

Men and horses crashed to the ground, sending the Chasseurs reeling back in confusion. As the smoke cleared, the lifeless body of Eugene de Beauharnais was seen lying on the stricken field.

Napoleon: Oh dear, Josephine isn't going to like that!

As the Emperor dashed back to try to rally has shaken Chasseurs, Davout led forward the Grenadiers of the Guard in an all-out assault.

Davout: The Emperor's eyes are upon you, Grenadiers!

I wish he had something else to give you, but there it is....

In the desperate fight which followed, the 5th were gradually overwhelmed by the Emperor's elite veterans. Marchand fell during the melee (or at least that's the story he told afterwards).

Davout: One down, two to go!

The 5th may have been overthrown, but there were still the 7th Lancers and the Swiss to contend with. As the Emperor tried in vain to rally his shattered Chasseurs, Davout was compelled to form square against the coming onslaught.

The fate of Europe hung in the balance as Murat's Lancers charged pell mell into the defiant Guardsmen.....

Davout: Merde!

...while the Swiss charged in column from the rear.

Davout: Double Merde!

It was too much for the Guard, who fell back and broke, but not before Murat was also toppled. Nevertheless, the Emperor's desperate gamble had failed.

As Davout lifted his hat to signal surrender, the Emperor turned away. Exile beckoned once again.

Napoleon: Oooooookay.....Follow mw, Chasseurs. If we head back to Cannes now

 we might just catch the last boat.....

My sincere thanks to Rob for an extremely entertaining game, particularly as he allowed me to play Marchand.

Since this game, Rob has painted a few more Hinton Hunts, which are illustrated below. I sincerely hope he does a few more. They're absolutely spectacular.

Rob's French Voltigeurs:

Rob's Marshal Junot:

I cannot thank Rob enough for the wonderful welcome and hospitality he showed me when I arrived travel worn and somewhat disorientated in the UK. We also fought another battle, of which more in future posts.

To finish up, and to prove that I haven't been entirely idle in the meantime, here are a couple of shots of the command element for my Lützower Lancers.

They're all finished now and should be appearing on the blog next week.

Salut maintenant,

WM

The PEF runs out of puff

Shortly before Christmas I had a bit of good news. This was that although I'd lost all my remaining photos of the battles I fought during my trip to the UK last year, my hosts had kept theirs, so all was not lost after all.

Fans of Stryker's Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargame Figures blog will have already seen the Prussian Expeditionary Force (PEF) in action during the Battle of the Four Generals. Although the side I was  playing with was beaten, the PEF under Ian's command performed splendidly. It was a huge pleasure to meet Ian and his wife again, and the lunch was yum! A big hello to Foy and Goya, too, by the way. You were really nice when I charged headlong into Ian's spotlessly-clean French windows. I completely failed to see these when I tried to sneak out into the back garden for a fag. So there you go: smoking is not only very bad for you, dear readers, it also exposes one to ridicule.*

Battered bonce notwithstanding, a few days later the PEF joined up with another beautiful Prussian army painted by the Archduke. This was but one of the Archduke's magnificent Hinton Hunt armies. The photos which follow were all taken by his Grace himself, who sent them to me a couple of months ago.

Opposing me was the Archduke's friend Ken, who fielded a mighty force of French and Poles. Most of the Poles, I believe, were Ken's, but almost everything else was from the Archduke's collection

Ken's indominable Franco-Poles

My plan was to sneak round Ken's flank with most of the PEF while the Archduke's Prussians did the heavy lifting in the centre. This turned out to be a remarkably stupid plan, as it happened.

The PEF went nowhere, as the Leib Hussars who were leading and protecting them were totally destroyed by Ken's elite Gendarmes, or at least I think that's who they were. They were certainly pretty hard.

The Leib Hussars prepare to meet their doom.

With Ken's cavalry now blocking the approaches to the bridge, there was nothing the PEF could do except form square and have a bit of a breather.

Plan B was to storm the village, but things started to go wrong almost immediately when the Garde du Corps were instantly overthrown.

It was nearly all up to the infantry after that. The Lutzowers did quite well at first by soaking up most of  Ken's artillery fire. The masses of French and Polish infantry behind Ken's guns, however, did not augur well.

Within a couple of moves the Prussian mass de manoeuvre had been whittled away to almost nothing.

Copious swearing by Blucher failed to turn the tide, although it did succeed in giving von Lutzow a bit of a shock.

Ken's strategy, on the other hand, was flawless - all my other units were shot to bits by his deadly skirmishers before his other battalions could even get near them.

His Grace, the Archduke, not only umpired with considerable aplomb, but also put me up for a couple for nights. As if this wasn't enough, the Archduchess is a wonderful cook and a supremely witty hostess who knows how to make the perfect G&T.  It was an altogether amazing and very joyful experience. I don't know what else to say, TA. I was very touched and the whole visit was completely glorious. Thank you.

Although this was the last stand of the PEF, it wasn't the last battle. Rob has also sent me pictures of the battle we fought just a couple of days later with his Spencer Smiths, so watch this space.....


Till then

WM

* For those who may be wondering, the doors survived even if my pride did not. If it's any reassurance, Ian, I've given up charging into plate glass, and I've even made a start on giving up the evil weed too.