A French Mitrailleuse .

 

In my quest to get everything ready for the game at Christmas I wanted to have a change from painting infantry.

 

 

Instead of another gun and crew I decided to give the French a Mitrailleuse- a sort of early machine gun .

 

 

Very cute - hope it performs better on the table top than it did in history !.

 

 

Painting Challenge - Turco's Finished !.

 

Last post I mentioned that we were planning a Memorial game around Christmas time to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of the Featherstone's 'Horse and Musket' rules . 'S' set me a challenge to paint up the FPW  figures I have in stock to play this game - challenge accepted ! .

 

 

The first unit to get painted is a French unit of Algerian Turcos - cos they have nice bright uniforms !.

 

 

By clearing the painting tray of all other projects I've managed to get this unit done .

 

 

The varnish was still slightly tacky when I took these photos . A French Mitrailleuse and crew will be  next I think !.

 

 

 

O.S. F.P.W. Bavarians - And A Challenge.

 

I was talking to 'S' about Don Featherstone and his great influence on me and my hobby and said I had been thinking of a sort of commemorative game to mark the 50th Anniversary of the publication of his rules . 'S' said that he was available sometime over Christmas and we should play the game then , "you could get the rest of that F.P.W. stuff done and we could use it for the game !" - he said . The gauntlet having been thrown down I have started to finish off the figures I have in storage -  4 units of foot and a Prussian gun and a French Mitrailleuse . Luckly I had already started painting the Bavarians .

 

 

This means I have a Wurttemberg Regt. for the Prussians and a Zouave Regt. and a Algerian Turco Regt. for the French - Damn !- two rather complicated uniforms there !. However I am setting to and hope to complete them by Christmas - phew !.

 

 

As well as the Bavarians I did another Prussian Brigadier in the form of this rather 'natty' Bavarian . Well I had better get on painting - Turcos first I think !.

 

 

 

F.P.W. Prussian Hussars.

 

Finally got the Prussian Hussars done ! , these poor figures seem to have hung around for months . They are the 5th Hussar Regt.

 

 

They were incredibly difficult to put together , but I'm pleased with the way they have turned out .

 

 

Here they are in my current game facing off some French Lancers - Hmm let's hope the curse of the newly painted figures does not strike !. 

 

 

The same photo in period tone.

 

 

 

Guilt !.

One of the great things about a blog is that you can look back at your past endeavours and bask in their progress and successes ! - the downside is that it can remind you of all those projects started and never finished . A year ago I was gushing enthusiastically about starting two Old School FPW armies and unusually for me I even set out a plan -   http://thesteadfasttinsldier.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/franco-prussian-old-school-stylefrench.html sadly after the initial flush of enthusiasm it has been cast aside . Then I came across some Prussian Hussars that I had made up and sprayed ready for painting - they were languishing in the shed and even had a cobweb on them ! - guilt ridden I have started painting them and started gluing together the other couple of infantry units I had in storage . It would be nice to complete this project this year as it is nearly half finished , so watch this space -

 

 

After The Battle Caculations.

 

 

After the battle you then go through a series of 'Post Battle' processes - Randall Hill goes up a rank and receives 3 Elan Points (EP) - 2 for turning up and 1 for leading a charge. The individual regiments take permanent battle losses plus any losses due to camp fevers and as you can see most units lost heavily . The 1st Michigan became 'Seasoned Veterans' , the 38th N.Y. received a 'Hero' and a new regiment was transferred into the Brigade the 4th Michigan- a Seasoned Veteran unit who also have a attached company of Sharpshooters .  To bring the Brigade up to the required number of bases (40) another unit is added the 11th N.Y. (Fire Zouaves) . I am now ready to fight the next battle which takes place in 1862.

'Longstreet' Campaign , First Battle 1861

 

I have started the campaign from the 'Longstreet' rules - my Commander is Col. Randall Hill who served in the Regular Artillery before the war and then moved into railroads , but has answered his countries call and re-joined the army . (Randall Hill is the name of a bungalow in our village - it always sounds like an American politician to me !)

 

 

 

 

His Brigade . The first battle is set in 1861 and his Brigade has been given the task of capturing a ridge from the enemy . It was played against my gaming colleague 'A'.

 

 

'A' insisted on bringing his own General figure .

 

 

My troops prepare to attack .

 

 

Col. Hill helps position and aim the guns personally - with impressive results !.

 

 

'A' consults his cards and by the demonic look in his eyes - Beelzebub as well !.

 

 

My attack goes in !.

 

 

The highpoint of my game - the cavalry overrun his guns !

 

 

I'm afraid to say that I didn't manage to record the rest of the battle as the action grew furious and although I took his guns and captured one of the objective markers I was forced back, ran out of command cards and so lost the battle !. How this will affect the Brigade will have to be diced for and the results posted next time.