Fusilier Chasseurs Nearing Completion

 As always seems to happen, whenever one project is nearing completion, I get sucked into another.  The Der Kriegspieler French Napoleonic Fusilier Chasseurs of the Middle Guard are coming along nicely, so of course something had to come along and delay their final completion - namely an army of 15mm late Prussians for my DBN collection. 

 Well, this ship/camp scene has been coming along as well, but in all fairness, I think I started it before the Fusilier Chasseurs.

 The Prussian army was a bargain find at the Siege of Augusta, and came with enough pre-painted figures for almost a complete army, and enough unpainted lead to fill in any blanks.  Most are older Naismith figures. 

 As you can see the army contained not only a couple of elements worth of artillery, but also enough to make a camp scene with a limber and some destroyed artillery.  Once I paint a few elements of cavalry the entire force will be ready for basing.  Fortunately the purchase came with all of the figures necessary.  Now I just have to decide which type of cavalry I want to paint.

Won't be much longer before these are done.  Mostly just need buttons, lapel and cartridge box badges, as well as sword knots and they should be good to go.  Well that and a little highlighting, especially on the coats.

 Thanks to the generosity of one of our fellow enthusiasts, I received enough rifles to begin the upgrade of the Bavarians I mentioned in an earlier post, that turned out to be modified Airfix Old Guard Grenadiers.  On the left is the original figure I received, now cleaned of all the old paint.  You can see the rather clumsy attempt at a musket.

 I've tried a couple of different positions for the replacement musket.  The figure in the middle has the musket held in the extended left arm, which has the effect of minimizing the height of the musket above the head.  The figure on the right, has the musket in the bent right arm, which masks the scar from where the old musket was removed.

The Perry brothers sculpted their Bavarians with the muskets held in the left arm, so I am inclined to think this is more correct, but I have not tried to research the military drill of Bavarian Napoleonic soldiers.  I'm inclined to put the musket in the left hand, as I think that is a more normal placement and position of shouldered arms in this period, but would love to hear from any of my readers who might be more knowledgeable on the subject.

1806 Prussian and French Napoleonic Slug Fest

The crossroads of Brentwaldstadt were abandoned as two great armies approached to decide the fate of the once mighty Prussian state.  Frederick the Great was long gone and at the head of Prussia's armies was the elderly General Hohenlohe von Crenshaw.  While the Prussian army was larger, the out dated command structure and musket drills shackled the Prussian forces.  Nonetheless the Prussians moved aggressively into battle, seeking a delaying action on their right and a decisive clash on their left.  The main battle line on the left was supported by horse artillery and Colonel Von Blucher, leading his famed Red Hussars, while on the right, light infantry and jagers quickly occupied the woods opposite Brentwaldstadt with Von Beeren's heavy cavalry, the corp artillery, and a Saxon regiment in reserve.

The view from the Prussian left as the main battle lines approach.  The French, with two regiments of elite grenadiers and supporting fusiliers have taken up a strong defensive position on the heights outside of Brentwaldstadt.

The Center - The Prussian and French corp artillery were engaged in fierce counter battery fire for most of the game, only occasionally being able to fire at more vulnerable infantry targets.  Note the Prussian jagers and light infantry moving into the wood to engage the French legere who have taken a defensive posture inside the walls of Brentwaldstadt.

As the lines approach, one regiment of Prussian infantry, suffering heavily from the French guns, was forced to retire behind the main assault.  The horse artillery on the left has already chased one regiment of French Fusiliers from the field, forcing the French to either stand in their defensive position and take a withering fire, or advance on the Prussian lines.

While the struggle continues on the left, the French legere on the right has stormed the Prussian positions in the woods and cleared the Prussian skirmishers, and are now advancing on the Saxons and corp artillery.  Only Von Beeren's heavy Cuirassiers remain as a substantial obstacle to the French advance.

Dire situation on the Prussian right.

Von Beeren leads his cuirassiers forward accompanied by the untested Saxon allies, leaving the shaken Prussian jagers vulnerable to the curved sabers of the French hussars.

The French, unwilling to stand in the face of artillery fire, charge off the hill and engage the Prussians at close range.  In desperation the horse artillery is ordered to defend their position, and though they have initial success with the aid of the Red Hussars charging the flank of the French line, the French squares prove too much and deliver staggering volleys into the glorious Red Hussars, chasing them from the field.  The horse artillery though valiant to the end also succumb to the French charge, but a final crash of Prussian musketry shatters the French line leaving both side exhausted.  It is still very much an undecided contest, but both sides are at the breaking point.

The French gather themselves and despite exhaustion and depleted ammunition stores, storm the Prussian left in a flank attack.  Undeterred the Prussians turn to face the attack, and despite being outnumbered 2 to 1, the Prussians hold, leaving the remaining French regiment and core artillery vulnerable to a counter attack.

Everything is hanging in the balance.  The Prussians have held the French, but their counterattack will be a desperate gamble.  Just as the Prussians are gathering themselves for the final assault, a tremendous explosion rent the air around Brentwaldstadt.  A stray French shell landed in the caissons of the Prussian artillery, with the resultant explosion heard all the way down the road in Auerstadt, ten kilometers away.  Prussian Gunners and horses are ripped apart in a grisly scene from some hellish nightmare.  What is left of the artillery abandons their position, and the Prussian General Hohenlohe von Crenshaw, seeing his artillery flee the field decides his armies position is untenable, and rides out to meet Field Marshal Cliffel and surrender his sword, lest his army is utterly destroyed.

The battle presented here was played using a DBA variant called DBN written by Alex Testo and Bob Carter.  It is available as a download here:  http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk/

The troops are 15mm miniatures played on a 30" square board.

New DBN elements in 15 and 25mm

I have been working on a few DBN elements over the past couple of months and thought I would share the results. First up: The Old Guard - Chasseurs a Pied

I got these figures from a friend at a great price and trade, but unfortunately that means I really don't know what manufacturer these figures are from. I thought they were Foundry, but I've been told they're Dixon. In either case they were great figures. The figures were actually Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, but I filed off the square cuffs and painted on the chevron cuffs, and used epoxy putty to cover up the bearskin plates. Most are in Campaign dress, but the NCO on the end decided to dress for the occasion, at least in his choice of headgear.

The flag is a free download from warflags, which I used as a template, over which I painted the flag just to add a greater vibrancy that I get from paint as opposed to inkjet prints. Note the pouch covers, which is a dead giveaway for the 1815 period.

These are some old Hinchcliffe figures that I got on ebay and represent a battery of horse artillery. This element was a real challenge. The figures were badly painted and I had to strip them completely and start again. The gun itself was a howitzer and the carriage was so poorly assembled I had to chissel out all the old glue, strip the paint and start over. The howitzer just looked goofy so, with apologies to a certain figure manufacturer, I made a plaster mold of a gun barrel and cast my own. (I don't feel too guilty about this as said manufacturer has waaay too much of my money) I had never tried to make a mold and cast my own lead, and though the results were acceptable, I don't think anyone has to worry about me becomming one of the dread figure pirates. It was fun to try at any rate.

The Perry's make the best figures out there as far as I can tell. They are a joy to paint and I have always been pleased with the result. Here is an element painted as the 1st line battalion of the Brunswick army in 1815. The flags are by GMB Designs.

Lastly I have some 15mm 1806 Prussian Dragoons by AB miniatures. These were fun to paint and almost complete my Prussian army.

It's a funny thing, but I think these figures almost look better form the back, which is a good thing, since as their general, I rarely get to see the front of the figures!

1806 Jena Prussians

This just in: The Von Beeren Kuirassiers are done. Now that I have the heavy Battle Cavalry, I have enough elements for the Prussians to take the field!

Here are some better pictures of the 1806 Prussians I have been working on. They are a mix of AB and Minifigs. The AB are far superior, but much bigger, so mixing the two has been a challenge. I am currently working on the Kurasiers and Dragoons which will finish out the army.

An Artillery limber which will serve as the camp for now. This is an AB grouping of marvelously sculpted figures.

The general staff - or a bunch of old farts in white powdered wigs, except of course for Blucher, who is sporting the uniform of his famed red hussars.

These are the figures that got me started on this project. Mark, "extra crispy" Severin gave me this Minifigs and some others when he was cleaning out his piles of old lead. I had to change the style of the Shakos to the earlier 1806 style, but otherwise they are very nicely animated figures.

The infantry: Grenadiers in the center and muskets on the wings and behind. Each element is painted to represent a particular regiment. The grenadiers were combined from companies of four different regiments so each figure is painted in the uniform of one of those regiments. The Grenadiers in the middle with the flag are painted to represent a standing unit of the elite 6th battalion of Guard Grenadiers . This is a stand of mixed AB and Minifig figures. The minifigs are standing on cardboard shims to raise them higher and thus minimize the size difference of the two figure manufacturers.

A side view to show off the pretty flags. All the flags are hand painted.

Excellent AB artillery figures. 1 horse artillery battery on the left, and two foot batteries on the right, one being hauled into position with bricoles and drag ropes or prolongs.

Progress Report

I'll start with an update on my 1806 Prussian project for DBN. I have just finished three elements for the light infantry and jagers, as well as some nice terrain pieces to represent towns and fortifications.

Coming

and going

For the terrain pieces I decided to go with 1/300th scale buildings, which are large enough to almost accomodate 15mm figures, but small enough to fit on the base sizes required. The buildings, and walls are from Hovels, and the hedges are just piecesof flocked foam.

I love the flower gardens around the house for a little bit of added color.

The jagers

detached schutzen (sharp shooters) from a light infantry regiment

The light infantry. This photo makes them look like they are huge compared to the building, but it is really just an effect of the camera angle and of course the fact that the figures are on a relatively thick base.