The Grand Review

At very long last I have finished the 8th Cuirassiers. It took two whole days to complete the final touches, which made me feel a little guilty yesterday as the weather was glorious. It was rubbish today though, so it was time well spent.

Marbot: General Nansouty has arrived with the cuirassiers, Sire.
Napoleon: He took his time! Very well, start the parade.

Nansouty: Cuirassiers! Let's show them what proper cavalry look like!

The 8th Cuirassiers defile past the assembled throng....

Nansouty: Nice one lads!

...and take up position on the right of the line.

Napoleon: Right then, time to thrash those Prussians!

The cuirassier figures are all vintage Hinton Hunt FN 102: Cuirassier Trooper, charging, with one converted into an officer and another as a trumpeter.

Lining them all up like that reminds me that I really need some more line regiments...

WM

Hot Cross Huns

Marshal Blücher has arrived to inspect elements of a new division being formed by General Pirch.

Pirch: My new Westphalians are burning to get at the enemy, Herr Marshal.

The newly-raised 5th Westphalian Landwehr Infantry Regiment, under the veteran Baron von Klaptowt, are put through their paces.

Klaptowt: Westphalians....March!

Drilled to perfection in the best Prussian style under Old Fritz's expert tutelage, Klaptowt's men wheel, march and countermarch flawlessly.

Blücher is impressed!

Blücher: A fine body of men, Herr General! Ve must send you some Regulars to make up ze numbers.

The figures are:

from the 1973 Garrison 25mm Napoleonics range:

PN 12: Prussian Landwehr, marching x 21

PN 12: Prussian Landwehr, marching x 1, converted into a standard bearer
PN 12: Prussian Landwehr, marching x 1, converted into a drummer with a Musket Miniatures drum;

and

Hinton Hunt, PN 10: Prussian Garde Officer, charging x 1, converted into a Frederickan dugout with a mystery head.

Happy Easter everyone.

With special thanks to Rob Young and Lewis Gunner.

WM

Onwards and Upwards

Now that Phase One is complete I thought I'd set everything out again and have a think about where the Hinton Spieler ought to go from here.

The task in Phase One was to produce two starter armies of five infantry battalions, two cavalry regiments and two batteries each. I also wanted to get in a good mix of different types, including guard, line and militia units, exotic foreign regiments, skirmish battalions and a balance of heavy cavalry and lights. The result, I hoped, would be armies that were not only fun to paint and play with but which would serve as a call to action. What I actually achieved, however, was slightly more than this due to the unscheduled appearance of the Bavarians.

The Prussian Army

The Prussian Army Order of Battle:

2nd Neumark Landwehr Infantry Regiment
2nd/21st Infantry Regiment
10th (1st Silesian) Infantry Regiment
1st Foot Guards
2nd Silesian Schutzen Battalion

2nd Leib Hussars
Garde du Corps Cuirassiers

1 Line Foot Artillery Battery
1 Guard Foot Artillery Battery
1 Line Artillery Limber

The Franco-Bavarian Army

The French Army Order of Battle:

3rd Swiss Infantry Regiment
13th Light Infantry Regiment
Combined Voltigeurs
45th Line Infantry Regiment
1st Chasseurs a Pied

7th (1st Vistula) Line Lancers
Dragoons of the Imperial Guard

1 Line Foot Artillery Battery
1 Guard Foot Artillery Battery
1 Guard Artillery Limber

The Bavarian Army Order of Battle:

4th Bavarian Line Infantry.

The obvious thing to do in both cases (Plan A) is to simply double the Prussians and the French. This would create two-battalion guard, line, light, reserve, landwehr and foreign infantry brigades and also light and heavy cavalry brigades. However, there is the small matter of that extra Bavarian battalion which would start to look increasingly anomalous.

An alternative plan (Plan B) is to regard the Bavarians as the beginning of phase two and to embark on two allied forces. The result would be very colourful, but wouldn't get me very far towards a coherent order of battle.

Plan C is to do a bit of both!

No prizes for guessing which one I've decided to go for. The first battalion is now half finished and will be the subject of the next post.

Till then,

WM

Onwards!

Prussian Grand Manoeuvres

My last two Prussian commanders are all done and so, by popular demand (well, Michael, anyway) it's time for the Prussian Grand Manoeuvres.

The first of the new figures is Hinton Hunt PN 64: General, looking through spy-glass, with the head of PN 61: General Gneisenau. He is to be Lieutenant General Hans East Karl, Graf von Zieten, the commander of the Prussian I Corps at Waterloo.

Next to him is my other example of a PN 65: ADC to a General, painted as a flugeladjutant von der Infanterie. I've modified him by twisting his head ever so slightly to the right. Also distinguishing him is his mount, which is a Hinton Hunt BNH 4: British Light Dragoon Horse as I've run out of Prussian general staff horses.

Lt Gen von Zieten and his ADC arrive on the manoeuvre field in the nick of time
 and report to Blucher

The plan for the manoeuvres is delivered by the Generaladjutant von der Infanterie.
The orders from Berlin are that the Army is to practice the new Drill Regulations of 1812

The Army marches into position....

while Blucher leads his commanders over the manoeuvre field.

At long last the Army is deployed - infantry in the centre, artillery and cavalry on the flanks.
The 2nd Silesian Shutzen take up  position as the advance guard.

The Silesian riflemen and their supports shake out into skirmish formation.

Nearing the objective, the skirmishers fall back to the rear and flanks while the
Neumark Landwehr and 1st Silesians deploy into line.

The Guard and the 21st conduct a nifty passage of lines  and charge,  while the
cavalry swoop in from the flanks to complete the victory. 

Gathering his commanders, Blucher declares the manoeuvres a complete success!

There are 162 figures altogether: 115 Hinton Hunts, 46 Der Kriegspielers and one Lamming!

I have an awful lot of painting to do if I'm to catch up with the French.

.

WM