Fly me two dragoons

Not many people know but back in 1812, Napoleon was experimenting with a balloon observation corps. Obviously horses were short at the time due to the army eating most of them on the retreat from Moscow. As his Dragoons were considered quite flexible (ie being converted to Lancers or serving on foot) he decided these would be the guys to man his fledgling aerial service. Meanwhile Marshal Ney was commanding the rearguard on the retreat and had no cavalry left to scout for the dreaded Cossacks. So he sent an urgent communique to the Emperor, which has since been memorialised in song by none other than Francis Albert Sinatra, "Fly me two Dragoons so I can slay among the Tsars!".

Apologies for the appalling humour, I blame over-indulgence over the festive period.

Meanwhile here are my completed 1st Dragoons

As they arrived from Ebay:-

Refurbished:-

Seasons greetings to all.

Cheers

Dave

Back with bearskins!

After a hobby lay-off of quite a few weeks I managed to get some painting done this week, my first attempt at a French Old Guard Grenadier battalion.

Next up will either be some French artillery or a French Dragoon unit

Painting Postponed

A couple of weeks ago I had an operation to start reconstruction of my nose following an earlier procedure to remove a skin cancer tumour. I now have a flap of skin connecting my forehead to my lower nose which could be in place for several weeks. This means I can't wear my spectacles, so can't focus close enough to do any painting.

So, I've been using my time to think about rules. I always intended to use Charles Grant's Napoleonic Wargaming rules as serialised in Military Modelling in the early 1970's and subsequently published in book form, but scaled down to 1 inch = 20 yards, 24 figure battalions, 12 figure cavalry units and 1 gun batteries. Some of the original rules relied on having figures mounted singly and units having supernumerary officers to represent Command and Control. Officers =1 point, Colonel =2 points, for a total of 6, which would be reduced as officers became casualties. Grant himself suggests (at least in the book version) that instead you could assess officer casualties in proportion to overall losses. So this is the way I decided to go. With that in mind I've produced a couple of tables which should (hopefully) be the basis for implementing playable Morale rules. The following link should open a pdf from my Google Drive:-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QRDYqyAz00rhmwLk7lwEF3lOvtwLsXrt/view?usp=sharing

I've run through a couple of scenarios using these and they seem to work quite well.
I pitted two French battalions in column in an attack on two British units in line.

The right-hand British unit managed to decimate their French opposition, who halted, then broke and ran after getting reduced to 50% strength. The left-hand Brits were less lucky with their dice throws and the French managed to charge home, breaking the line. I repeated the scenario several times, in all cases the columns were repulsed. So, all-in-all, I think the result was reasonably accurate historically, while giving troops in column at least an outside chance of success. The columns would have had a better chance if the lines had been supported by an initial artillery bombardment!

Premier Francais, Part Deux

Here's the first French line infantry I've painted in 40 years!
A mix of Hinton Hunt and Alberken / early Minifigs.

Next up will probably be a battalion of Imperial Guard Grenadiers. Lets face it, it's got to be done.

First French Finished

First French infantry unit finished, a light infantry battalion, which I'm designating as the 17th Legere, not based on any definitive research, but they have to have a name. I recall from my general reading that the 17th served from Lodi to the 100 days, so that will do for now.

These are Hinton Hunt original castings, apart from the eagle-bearer (Alberken / early Minifigs) and the horn player (not sure of the make, here's a pic before I flocked the base, maybe someone recognises it?)

I've based them in twos and ones so they can be deployed in open or close order, I think this is a good compromise, because although most Napoleonic light infantry were employed tactically the same as line infantry I like to have the option to diverge from historical practice if I so wish.

First French

Time to get started on some opposition for my British / Allied troops.
These will be the first French Napoleonics I've painted in 40 years.

I've started with these elite light infantry, which coincidentally were the first Hinton Hunt figures I bought when I started collecting about 3 years ago. That was the start of the slippery slope!

These are 1809-ish uniforms, I put the carabiniers in colpacks as well as the voltigeurs because a) I don't have any figures wearing the taller bearskins, b) I do have the figures in colpacks. Seen a bit of debate on various discussion sites and there is evidence that some units were attired this way and often retained this style up to 1812 and beyond, despite official regulations. Work on the Chasseur companies will start this week.

This was the first time I've used the black undercoat method and think I'll stick to it in future.

It's also the first time I've concentrated on a small batch of figures, it's certainly less tedious than painting a full unit of 24 at once. But I've calculated it will take me at least twice as long to complete a battalion, so will probably go back to the production line method in future.

This week I received 3 x British Light Infantry in exchange for 3 x BN5 British line infantry so have nearly enough for my British Light battalion now. Just need a couple of officers and I'll be good to go. On this subject, the guy who sent me these needs still more BN5's to complete his project, I said I'd make a request on his behalf to the good folk who read this blog, let me know if you can help and I'll put you in touch.

Back in Black

The Brunswick Leib Regiment

When I bought these they were painted with all black uniforms and equipment, which was a bit boring, so I gave them brown packs, grey greatcoat rolls, light coloured haversacks and blue water bottles, with a stylised white horse on the backpack. This was justified by some illustrations in an old Osprey uniform guide and the fact that they are in British service so may have  acquired some non-standard kit.