More of John's Russians...Mostly artillery

A Russian half battery defends a rather spiffy fleche

As promised, a few more pictures of Lander's Russian stuff. He has an AWFUL lot of artillery. I honestly don't know how much. I THINK he has....2 x line horse batteries, 1 x Guard horse battery, 1 and 1/2 Guard foot 12lb, 2x line 12lb, 3 x line 6lb...which makes for 51 artillery pieces, that sounds about right, I remember we once worked out the frontage of them all, and it was pretty scary (the above would be about 10 foot!).

On top of this he has quite a few limbers, pontoons, caissons etc which are nice bits of "fluff".

The first 2 pictures are of an Elite miniatures battery occupying a scratch built redoubt, John was rather keen on converting a lot of his artillery units, here the Elite crew have been tweaked to have them changing a damaged wheel as Connoisseur French infantry advance on them.

The Fleche is quite clever,made of aircraft engine filler (only about £400 a tin!) it sits on top of an existing hill and is moulded to its contours...then the hill can be used seperately.

12 lb foot battery: The backbone of every Russian army. Bicorne pontoon train in the background

Above is a 12lb line battery, this is made up of just about everything apart from Russian artillery figures! As I've said elsewhere one of the beauties of a lot of Connoisseur figures is their versatility. John has included French, British, Prussian, Spanish and ACW figures in the crews.

He hasn't done a lot of work, just changed a few heads, Russian shakos, added a few plumes and implements. The officer pointing with his sword is an ACW officer in a frock coat and sash. A new head, replace his Navy colt with a pin sword and suddenly he is a Russian officer.

Another view of the same battery, limber in support.

The mounted battery officer is the venerable and still great Connoissuer French infanty officer, berating a Spanish officer figure....you just need to be able to see the possibilities.

Russian Guard horse artillery

Finally, a view of some Guard horse guns, these are pretty much out of the box except for the officer which I think (can't really remember) is the Connoissuer French Marine of the Guard officer!...well, hes a bloke in a fancy uniform and a big hat, good enough, paint him green and there you go.

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A return to Napoleonics

Elite minatures Jager Battalion beautifully painted by Dave Docherty (when he could still paint, before he discovered what his penis was for).

Got to spend the weekend at Lander's where an enjoyable time was had by all. We spent saturday afternoon mucking about with the Napoleonics and then a crossfire WWII game on sunday, trying out some ideas for John's demo game for Salute next year. Somehow my camera ran out of battery very quickly so I have no pics of the WWII game, which is a shame, as it looked cracking and I couldn't record my tactical prowess (cough!).

Subsequently (and I know you'll all be upset over this), we'll have to have a look at few napoleonics instead. I took a few pics of John's enormous Russian collection, we had a strange moment when we "lost" some 16 battalions of Russian infantry. Looked everywhere for them.... very odd, then we discovered an entire shelf full, that we had overlooked....phew! all was right with the world.

THAT'S a cuiraissier division. Elite and Connoisseur figures

John's stuff is fairly tidy, he does enjoy the whole conversion aspect, so there are few of his units which don't have some major work done on them. Swords replaced, head swaps, and quite a lot of major conversions turning figures into completely different ones.

Although the vast majority of his Russians are Elite figures he uses a lot of Connoisseur stuff for his conversions, the simplicity of a lot of these figures lends themselves to this. He also used to occasionally do his own conversions on Elite figures and then get Pete Moreby to cast up whole units for him. The Russian Guard cavalry below are a good example of this:

One-off Russian Guard mounted Jaeger.

There is a companion unit of Finnish guard jaeger to accompany these, again, one-off conversions cast up by Mr Moreby (he got to keep the moulds)

Finns present

More of John's stuff later in the week...more cavalry, infantry, and a few of his 50-odd Russian artillery pieces!

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In place of the weekend

88 flak gun (why did I even bother with that description?) Panthers lurk.
I'm more than a little cheesed off this week-end. I was intending to head up to Mr Lander's in order to have a bit of a laugh, take lots of napoleonic pics and get in a game of crossfire with John's 1/35th collection. However, John had to unexpectedly work this weekend, so we've put it back to next week. Subsequently all you napoleonic fans will have to wait for the planned pictures of John's Russian collection. As a substitute I've put up a series of pics from a game we had a few years ago now, at the WHC using John's 1/35th kit. Many of you will be familar with his stuff from seeing the 2 demo games he has put on at Salute in the last 3 years (Sword beach and Market Garden). This was a prelimary game to D-Day where we tested out some rules and was an excuse to get the toys out. John wanted to try things out on a bigger table, so asked Gerry if we could come up and try it out there. Ged was champing at the bit to get his hands on some big panzers so off we went and the ensuing battle of Cagny was the result.

Panzer IVh and flak
To be honest I don't recall a massive amount about the game, although it went fairly historically, The Germans were kicked out of Cagny, then put in a heavy counter-attack which in turn bogged down the British, who managed to hold the town but by the end would have had to withdraw. I do remember it being a brilliant game

Whermact infantry jog through Cagny-the only troops I painted! Everything else is John's fine work
John wrote this up for an article in Wargames Illustrated in April 2006, so there are more pics there if you can find it, and detailed account of the game.

Shermans wait for the order "Driver Advance!"

John's talents (and some would say; obsession) with his 1/35th stuff is pretty extraordinary. I really keep working hard to get him back on the path of Napoleonic righteousness, so far, not much luck, but I will....just you see.

Britsh "O group" in Cagny as the Shermans roll past

It's not just the figures and vehicles that are John's work here, he did all the buildings from scratch as well. I've put in some B&W versions so you can see just how realistic some of this stuff is.

Recce regroup

Right! after that amount of arse-licking if I don't win the game next week, I'll give up!

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Some WWII bits and bobs, Nazi porn

Britannia 20mm flak, homemade emplacements
Just thought I'd sort through some old WWII pics, a lot of this is relatively old kit which I've had a while, this is all for the Germans in the med, mainly Italy and Tunisia. Theres a lot of Britannia stuff, which is "sturdy"..thats being polite for a bit crap, but they are robust if nothing else.

Generic Tigers, they will do for anywhere.
The obligatory Tigers are Hasegawa kits which are VERY simple and great value, with Lammercraft crews which are excellent. Hairnet cammo nets.

Panzer III's: again good for anywhere.
These panzer III's are mainly all Fujimi kits, I got quite quick at doing them after a while, (despite the individual track links) Again, they are primarily for Tunisia and Italy, I'm sure they will crop up in Russia from time to time. There is an accompanying panzer IV btn knocking about somewhere.

Stugs: The're great.
Finally some assault guns, these are a mix of Mili-Cast and.....eeer...some metal ones, Friend or Foe miniatures, I think. They are very nice albeit bloody heavy, plenty of crews and stowage finish them off. Good for anywhere (apart from Tunisia)


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Been busy

Westphalian Cuiraissiers painted by Neil Sheardown

I Know, I know.... I've been BUSY!

Work has taken over for the last couple of months, but the summer season has calmed down so normal service will be resumed. I haven't had a game or touched a paintbrush for the best part of 3 months. This will change this weekend-off up to Landers' for a 1/35th crossfire game, and I'll take some more napoleonic pictures. In the meantime, a couple of pics from Ged's birthday game last year (seems like ages ago now)

Gerry's Young Guard defend against Steve Scott's Austrians

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Prussian List

Landwher on the attack, Connoissuer and Elite figures

Having done two possible French lists, I suppose its only fair to do one for the Prussians (I would do one for the Russians and Austrians, but have no decent pictures to go with those)

In a way, the allies are a bit more fun. Smaller infantry btns, so a bit more flexible points wise, still the same range of troop types. The Prusskis can also have howitzer batteries which are pretty effective sometimes, plus 4 gun horse batteries. I didn't include any horse batteries for the French because they are very expensive, and 3 gun batteries are so very vulnerable, both to counter-battery fire and to being charged by cavalry. I've just seen so many ridden down over the years! 4 gun batteries are a different kettle of fish though, and they can REALLY dish it out sometimes. Few things frighten me as much on a ITGM battlefield as a well placed enemy 4 gun Horse battery, so I've put one in this list, despite the cost.

One thing you will notice is I havn't put in much landwher...Sacrilige I know in a Prussian army, but I just don't think they are worth the points saving...I'd rather have some good shooters. You could include more of them just to bulk out the infantry to get some more skirmishers,but I haven't done this.

Partly, the way I've chosen this list is from watching the way Herbert (probably the best ITGM player in the world) plays with Prussians. He tends to ignore the infantry up to a point, and utilise the ancillary stuff, doing most of the damage with skirmishers and artillery, while the cavalry just negates the French cavalry. Following that logic, I'd have only bought Landwher.

However, not all of us are quite as adept as Herbie, though its something I wish to try out in the future.

Calpe gunners on the march,painted by yours truly

(Apparently the corps commander is a freebie so the French lists should have an extra 50 points).

The basic infantry division is pretty simple, not disimilar to the French, but a bit weaker due to it being 32 man units rather than 36's

Div Co =50

1 x Landwher=32

4 x 2nd class line=192

3 x 1st class line= 192

1 x veteran= 96

24 x skirmishers= 120

6lber btty= 130

Total= 812

Much cheaper than the French divisions, but no cavalry, in Prussian styly I've kept them all brigaded together.

3 x infantry divisions = 2,436

The Extras:

1 x 12ber btty= 190

1 x Howitzer btty= 150

1 Cavalry commander=50

1 Staff officer= 25

4 x 24 Light cavalry=480

3 x 24 heavy cavalry=432

1 x 4 gun horse battery=240

Grand total= 4,003

Calpe Dragoons, again my paintjob (I really need some more of these)

So you end up with a force that is probably weaker in infantry than the French, but has plenty of cavalry and really excellent artillery

27 infantry btns

72 Skirmishers

6 artillery bttys

7 regts of cavalry

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Cheese Corps

Can't do anything without grunts. WHC action

To follow on from yesterdays blog putting together a hypothetical corps for Noels' forthcoming campaign, I've done another, also for the French. This is a fairly effective little outfit, and maximises the points system.

So:

Corps Commander = 50

1st Division:

Commander= 50

4 x 36 2nd class line =216

6 x 36 1st class line =512

1 x 36 Veteran =108

30 x skirmishers=150

3 x 6lb + 1 x How=130

3x 12lb +1 x How=190

24 x Light cavalry= 120

Total= 1,2166

The reasoning is as follows: Solid and punchy infantry component, but with 1 vet and enough 1st to do a bit of manouvering. maximum skirmish capability. The 12lb battery should probably really be a corps asset, but by having in a division then it can combine fire with the 6 lber.

Light cavalry for local support

2nd Division

Div CO = 50

8 x 36 2nd class line=432

24 skirmishers=120

1 x 6lb btty= 130

24 Light cavalry= 120

Total= 852

A cheap blocking force. Good enough to defend a position or get chucked into a big melee. Looks like its better than it is.

You won't see much of this in your campaign- French Guard Cavalry from the WHC
3rd Division

Div CO=50

4 x 36 2nd class line=216

3x 36 1st class line=216

1 x 36 veteran=108

24 skirmishers=120

1 x 6 lb btty=130

24 x Light cavalry=120

Total=960

A standard infantry outfit.

WHC French go over a wall. These are the lovely limited edition Old Glory original French infantry- miles better than anything they did since.

Therefore, the 3 infantry divisions + a corps commander have cost a total of 3,138. Each division has a cavalry component, and there is plenty of artillery. That means there is 862 pts still to spend,

I'm tempted to go for another 12lber btty, but that might be a bit over the top.

Some cavalry:

Cav commander=50

2 x32 Hvy Cav= 384

1x32 Cuiraissier=256

1x 24 Lancer= 168

Gives a grand total of 3,997

Thats 27 infantry btns

4 artillery btty

7 cavalry regts.

I'd play with that lot quite happily.

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