7 Years War Cavalry.....but which Regiment?

Over the past few years I have been building up a Prussian army for the 7 Years War, some of which has featured on this blog and that of Vauban & Shandy  The quality of modelling hasn't been as high as the period deserves due to the limitations of my skill and patience, both of which are intolerably low, but they have a naive charm to them which works for me. 

So what is this ramble all about?  well, since before I started this project I've always wanted to have a unit of Hussars in mirliton helmets and about a year ago I picked up four suitable heads from Alexanders Toy Soldiers (ATS) - this is what I did with them:

The ATS heads on Dulcop Napoleonic hussar bodies and mounted on horses by Jean Hoefler, the later are a bit "My Little Pony" but I quite like their jauntiness and they paint up nicely.

Since then I've squirrelled away enough body parts to make 24 figures, which in my little Toy Soldier world equates to three Regiments - but what to paint them up as?

My original thought was one of those black clad Totenkopf outfits but now that seems a bit dramatic for the table top and in any case I do like a bit of colour.   Also, what to do with the other two Regiments?  I currently have one each of Cuirassiers and Dragoons so three units of Hussars would surely be too unwieldy?

I draw heavily on the Kronoskaf site for research and I'm currently recruiting for the armies of  Brandenburg, Austria and Russia, as well as others outside the 7YW period, so my question to you dear reader is what should I paint these three Regiments up as?  Your consideration in this matter is much appreciated.

Toy Soldier conversions for the Funny Little Wars C18th project

This post is in response to a request for more details of the figures used in the C18th Funny Little Wars 54mm wargaming project.  These days there are some very good sets of 7 Years War figures made by Armies in Plastic and HaT but before that most of the C18th figures you could get were based on the American War of Independence but with an alternate paint job and stretching the bounds of history a little they can fit the bill for earlier periods. 

At the back troopers of Kurassier Regt. no2 are made from the bodies of Britains "Herald" Life/Horse Guards, the heads replaced with metal castings, saddles and horses from Helmet kits  I had intended to paint them as a "white jacket" Regt. so that they could double bubble as Austrians but at the end of the day I just couldn't resist the "yellow jackets". 

The Line infantry, Musketeers of Regts. 3 and 4 on the left and Fusiliers of Regts. 35 and 42 on the right are all from the BMC Yorktown playset.  Their sculpting is generally poor but they have a nice toyish appearance, you get a good variety of animated poses and when painted up en masse they look okay.

The Grenadiers in the middle are made by American firm CTS, the drummers are all by Accurate (who I think have been taken over by someone else now) with mitre hats from the spares you get in the HaT 7YW sets.

At the back the Dragoons are made from Britains "Swappet" AWI bodies with heads, legs and horses from Helmet Kits.

In front from the left are more BMC painted as Russians (another stalled project) but pressed into the Frederickian ranks as Jaegers for this game.  The greyhound comes with the Elastolin figure of Frederick the Great, so had to be included. 

The command group include a character figure from a German TV series? don't know what it was or who made him but he looks the part.  Marshal Murat from del Prado looking suitably exotic travels back in time to become Lord of the Bosniaks.  Lazare Hoche and Louis XVI were premiums from the French coffee firm Mokarex, behind them Marshal Montcalm is made from SEGOM kit parts on a Historex horse and the begging dog is a vintage item by French firm Clairet. 

The Pandurs are loosely based on Trencks' Regt. and will rejoin the Austrian army when I get around to doing it but for now they have joined the ranks as a Bosniak contingent.  They are a mix of figures by Marx and A Call to Arms with either a head change or just a reshaping of their bearskins, by rebasing and giving them a uniform paint style figures from different makers can go together seamlessly.  They are accompanied by their chaplain in the form of Piere l'hermite issued as a premium by the Belgian coffee firm of Storme.  Finally the Grenadiers in light blue began their military career with the French Lazun Legion but have now joined Frederick as allies from a nondescript minor state.

The opposition "Pragmatic" army (not shown in this post) are from the French and Indian wars range by Barzo bolstered by some rather nice metal figures from Tradition.  The Regiment Royale Ecossais are mostly by Marx and the Dragoons and light infantry from A Call to Arms.

Spring Campaign in Flanders, and a storm is comming

A delightful day was spent in the countryside yesterday, where we held our third encounter in the C18th Funny Little Wars campaign.   The weather was unseasonably fine and bright such that we could almost have played the game outside in the garden......almost but not quite.

The scenario chosen to playtest was the storming of a fortified town as a prelude to full blown siege operations.

The "Pragmatic" Army have occupied a town and their Command are in the Main Square to oversee the laying of guns and supervise the engineers who are hastily putting up barricades and revetments.  This is the centre of their line and the guns have good clear fields of fire.

To the left the newly arrived Regiment Royal Ecossais hold the strongly walled perimeter of the churchyard, on their extreme left (out of picture) a regiment of Dragoons is posted on a low hill.

On the right of the "Pragmatic" line more French infantry and a regiment of  dismounted Dragoons take up position behind the barricades among the outlying houses.

The "Army of Observation" have arrived on the outskirts of the town, after a careful reconnaissance their Command confer and decide on an immediate attack before the fortifications can be completed or enemy reinforcements intervene.

A full view of the table at the opening of the game.  The main attack will be delivered on the right flank where the open country will allow the cavalry to deploy supported by three regiments of infantry.  At the far end of the field a single regiment of infantry and a battalion of Bozniac Pandours will pin down the enemy's left flank while a company of Jaegers and a composite battalion of Grenadiers will make a demonstration against the enemy centre.  Two mortars are also sited in the centre which will pound the town to Rubble!

The Game is afoot.

C18th dioramas by John Jenkins Design

With my current kick for the 18th Century growing stronger I was pleased to see these rather fine dioramas on the John Jenkins Design stand at the December 2012 London Toy Soldier Show.

A lively set to, which I assume to be Culloden but could be any of the clashes from the Jacobite Rising/Rebellion.  The very thought of painting tartans fills me with dread but I can't help feeling that I'm being drawn in by the wonderful animation of those Highlanders.

These Prussian Grenadiers could have just jumped straight off the canvas of the famous painting DieSchlacht Von Leuthen by Carl Rochling, inspiring stuff, I just wish I could get my humble Frederickians to look that good!

The mid C18th game begins to look like a campaign.

Earlier in the week I set the scene for the next play test of the 54mm C18th wargame rules, this time a Hanoverian army were offering battle so the storyline was altered a little: Having previously seen off the French Army Lilly White, the Frederickians have rushed to intercept "Pragmatic" Army Red, while they are strung out on the march, and prevent them linking up with the remains of the Lilly Whites.

The opening move sees the "Pragmatic" Army marching into the safety of a strongly defended town but a forced march by the Frederickians on a convergent road threatens to cut them off so they prepare a rearguard action to hold the bridge open.

The Frederickians deploy, cavalry on the left, infantry centre and right, guns on the heights by the old churchyard.

The town nestles in the bend of a wide fast flowing river, the banks are broad and marshy, the main road crosses a sturdy stone bridge and turns into the town square, a small track leads out of town over a rickety trestle bridge up to the church on the hill.

A hasty reconnaissance shows the town is well prepared with entrenched guns covering both bridges and a wide field of fire.

The garrison hastily stand to as the shout goes up "the Frederickians are upon us!".

"Pragmatic" Army dragoons take up position on the bridge while two regiments of infantry stiffened by a composite battalion of grenadiers form up to hold the road open.  Further out, two regiments of horse and another of dragoons hurry towards the bridge.

Five regiments of Frederickians march in oblique order across the face of the enemy to concentrate against the two regiments holding the road, while their cavalry wheel to the centre and charge home on the "Pragmatic" line.

Enfilade fire from the guns across the river drill through the Frederickian lines with devastating effect, further punishment is inflicted by volleys from the line, the bridge and the garrison.  The cavalry charge breaks against the "Pragmatic" line and is countercharged in flank by a regiment of their horse.

The Frederickian infantry reach their objective but an entire regiment lays shattered in the fields behind them.  On the right there are not enough troops to effect a breakthrough and the attack collapses, in the centre two regiments fall upon the remnants that have just withstood the cavalry charge and wipes them out, on the right the regiment of fusiliers turn aside to face the second regiment of  "Pragmatic" horse who are closing in from the flank.  A volley fails to see off the horsemen and after a short melee the fusiliers are overrun.

The final scene of carnage, both sides have fought themselves to a standstill but with only one regiment still intact and fresh enemy troops approaching, the Frederickians beat a fighting retreat.  Watching the defeat unfold the King exclaims "Teufel! I need more men" before quiting the field and sending off gallopers to call up the regiments from his Eastern Provinces, hire mercenaries and call in the pledges from his Allies.  "A battle is lost but the fight goes on!"

Ahh the joys of wargaming with larger scale toy soldiers rather than just leaving them to gather dust on the shelf!

7YW game of battle with 54mm toy soldiers

Earlier this week I visited my erstwhile gaming opponent PW to trial the new C18th rules for 54mm wargaming he is working on and a jolly good fast running game it turned out to be.  Both sides had about 70 infantry, six/eight cavalry, two guns, two mortars and a gaggle of staff in command.  The terrain and buildings are in scale for 28mm figures but worked very well, they give definition to the landscape without imposing so much on the visual aspect or the space that larger items would need.  This is how it went:

An overview of the initial dispositions from the Prussian lines.  In the left foreground a company of Grenadiers cover the flank of a Fusilier Regt. supported by two battalion guns.  On the right the Prussian command have established H.Q. in the hamlet and formed a strong defensive position with two Regiments of Line infantry, two mortars have been brought forward and a unit of Cavalry stand in reserve.

Opposing them the French begin to advance through the fields on either side of the road, on their left the Irish Dillon Regt. are supported by a heavy gun

In the centre dismounted Dragoons form a skirmish line in extended order supported by an elite French Regt. and a second heavy gun.

Their right flank is secured by a company of Cuirassiers and two mortars (out of shot)

The Irish Regt. halt at the line of a picket fence where they take a hard pounding from the Prussian mortars

The Prussian regiments contain many recent new recruits resplendent in their pristine undress undercoat No.1 uniforms.  The cavalry unit have left the hamlet and moved to cover the gap between the Fusilier and Line Regt's.

The French skirmish line has reached the low stone walls in the centre of the field and a battalion of Fusiliers move forward to extend the line but receive a strong volley from the enemy Dragoons and are forced to retire.

The Prussian cavalry race up the central road towards the French command but are countercharged by the enemy Horse.  The Prussian Line infantry have moved up in support.

The French Horse brush the Prussian cavalry aside with devastating effect and career into the supporting infantry where they face close range volleys from the front and flank.

A general advance of the Fusiliers and Grenadiers on the left leads to a melee which forces the French to retire.

On the right the advance of the Irish "Wild Geese" is counterattacked by a brigade of Prussian Line, who pay a fearful price to buy time for the remaining brigades who prepare a volley which succeeds in forcing the Irishmen to retire.  At the end of the day the French showed their marksmanship and ferocity in melee to be far superior to the enemy but they were badly served by their artillery, while it is fair to say that the day was saved by the judicious siting of the Prussian guns.

Guns and infantry only fire every other move so wafts of smoke are placed in front of units that have fired to indicate they are reloading next move, this gives the attacker a chance to close with the enemy without being massacred.  Artillery shots are taken using ball firing cannon, wherever the ball hits it ploughs a file through the enemy line.  Infantry fire is simulated by firing a matchstick dipped in ink at a paper template of an infantry line to determine casualties, it may sound a bit messy (and it is) but it's more tricky than you'd think and it's a lot more fun than continually bowling fist fulls of D6.

Towards a 7YW wargame in 54mm

Been a while since my last post, nothing wrong just haven't had any toy soldier news or anything particular to say.  Over on the Vauban and Shandy blog Paul Wright has treated us to an airing of his new C18th wargame and pretty impressive it is in my opinion.  Some years ago I bought the BMC Yorktown playset as I needed some figures in mitre caps to paint up as Napoleonic Russian Grenadiers but when they arrived they weren't what I was expecting.

In the left foreground are the command figures with a couple of drummers converted from Accurate AWI, behind them going clockwise are figures in stages of completion from basic undercoat up to the finished items in right foreground - BMC Hessians painted as Prussian Fusiliers.  In the centre are Grenadiers by CTS and the BMC artillery crew.

The BMC Hessians have short mitre caps not suitable for the Russians I had in mind, somewhat annoyed I searched through various uniform books and found they would be perfect for 7YW Prussian fusiliers, also the other infantry in the set had rather large floppy tricorns which just didn't look right for the American Revolution but perfect for Prussian line infantry.  Just what I needed, another wargame project with lots of fussy uniforms to paint, it started enthusiastically enough but then ground to a halt.

Subsequently I have had an invite from the aforementoned PW to help playtest the new rules so the Prussians have been dusted off and I am undergoing a frenzy of basing and painting to bring the numbers up to a decent muster - just the impetus I needed!  No doubt there will be game reports on blogs in the not too distant future.