Finished French Voltigeurs & Next Major Project

The first units for my French force for Shakos & Bayonets are done, and what better way to start than with some Voltigeurs? I've leaned on the plates in my copy of John R. Elting's Napoleonic Uniforms, which is an absolute essential if you can get hold of it. Luckily most of my force is based on Chasseurs and Light Infantry, and it has plenty of plates for "Line" Chasseurs too.

I wasn't sure I'd be able to find a blue I was happy with, as there is an overwhelming amount of variation in French blue, from almost black to an unrealistically vivid hue. Luckily Dark Prussian Blue did the job again, with a smidge of Prussian Blue for the layer. These two paints always come in handy, and you can really saturate the layer with either less or more Prussian Blue. 

I'll be pushing on slowly through this force as it's not my main priority, but I'd like to have at least the 500pt list done by Christmas. That's entirely achievable if I stay consistent for the rest of the year. Foundry figures as always are fantastic.

Ideas for my next project have been dotting around, and I was really at a stalemate as to what to choose. The Hussite Wars particularly interested me for Lion Rampant (I looked at Saga too, but it's a bit gamey for me). That said, the war wagons would really just be "scenic" pieces that units can be placed in, with no real effect on the battlefield. For a skirmish game it doesn't make much sense, so I canned the idea, even though the wagons are the defining feature of Hussite armies.

So I thought I'd give my English Civil War Irish a go, which I purchased at Salute earlier in the year. Not too many; I only grabbed a couple of packs to get me started. I had a pop at ECW a long time ago, but I was less focused on my painting than I am nowadays and it just never stuck. With a lot of reading recently, plus some documentaries, the inspiration is coming back. I painted a few testers and was really happy with the result. Bicorne do some lovely figures, and they can be mixed with Bloody Miniatures as it's the same sculptor, so there is tons of variety to choose from. Needless to say, I'm excited.

Specifically, the plan to start is as follows, and I'm going to challenge myself:

• Paint at least 3 figures a day (or at least 12 a week). Entirely achievable.
• Paint a unit of Pike and Shot for both sides (Covenanters and Montrose Royalists), followed by a different unit for each. This would let me test the Pikeman's Lament rules quickly. I can then keep adding a unit to each side to bring both up to 24pts, which is the general full size of a force in the rules.

By my estimates, I should be able to get this onto the table in just over a month (setbacks aside). I've become really interested in Montrose's campaigns, initially because the Irish Brigade is so fascinating. It also gives me an excuse to paint drab, less uniform clothing, which I find very fun because of the variation. I'm sure I'll end up with other forces at some point, but this is a great place to start. As always, the plan is to game solo for some narrative gaming. The "Rampant" rules are the perfect fit for this for sure. 

I've just finished reading Osprey's Auldearn 1645 and will be near Inverness later next year, so I'll be seriously considering a battlefield trip.

Anyway heres some pictures of base coated and finished in the last two days, just need to think of a basing scheme now. I'll focus on finishing the unit first then tackle that. 

 

I'm going to add some units with the "blue" bonnets to these units also for variation, as much as possible in skirmish forces is always good. Bicorne order will be happening soon. And of course at some point Highlanders will have to appear, and I really need to figure out how to crack painting patterns.

Thanks for the reading as always. 

Completed Russian Shakos & Bayonets Project and Recent Club Game

Well, looks like I finally got there with the project and so incredibly relieved to finally move onto something else. I've been painting Russians for a year, went back made revamps, changed rule-sets and finally come together with something I'm happy with. Its always a nice feeling being able to clear the decks and now fully focus on a different period or army.

The total list comes to 750pts which makes for a good large size game of Shakos and Bayonets and as mentioned before I specifically wanted to base the project around a force "on campaign" look, and with a core of Jaegers. 

Just finished a small unit of Finland Guard in full dress/greatcoats to be the backbone to this force, these have turned out lovely. Those with keen eyes will notice the mixture of Khiwer style Shakos and old flat top Shakos. Most units likely had either all one style or a mixture of both. I could find no evidence to suggest what type this unit wore in 1812, apart from being stationed near St. Petersburg (so supply was easier). However 1813 onward is likely a different story as supply started to catch up.

We had a 600pt game down the club again this month with my usual friend and did a rerun of the first scenario from the core rulebook. Essentially 5 objectives, 4 turns, at the end of a turn if anyone controls the majority of the objectives they would win. We have not touched on playing intrigues yet, but this was a hell of a game. Lots of movement, responding to opponents decisions, bad generalship (on my behalf!) and a concise ending to the game.

I learnt a lot, specifically French Voltigeurs hurt and must be respected and do not use your expensive Guard Infantry to face tank musket volleys. Keep them back and use them to fill the gaps in your line as needed or to push an enemy out of a position, but they must be supported. Unfortunately my biggest mistake of the game saw them being wasted as objective holders and taking a lot of unnecessary casualties. They looked damn fine doing it though!

Got some great photos from the game, and put together a pretty good looking board in about 15-20 minutes. As always club games have a time limit, so we don't have as much time laying out scenario like I do with my solo games.

 

 

Finally some shots for the whole project laid out:

The whole force for Shakos & Bayonets, primarily based on Jaegers

 

19th Jaegers with their accompanying Jaeger Grenadiers at the back. As Jaegers didn't carry Standards into battle it gave me an opportunity to paint up some drummers

 

Another angle of the troops in a mixture of campaign uniform

 

Some accompanying men from the Finland Life Guard

 

Russian Opolcheniye

Next I have finally made the decision to tackle my 1812 French as I really want to get some solo games on the blog again (the main reason I started this!). I'm painting a few Foundry testers I have, and will be focusing the force on a core of Chasseurs with some Carabiners/Voltigeurs. Again they'll have a mixed campaign look from the hardships of Russia. I'll keep you updated on the progress when this actually starts. 

If I do decide to come back and do some more Russians (which will inevitably happen next year), I've got some Dragoons and Hussars sat in storage ready to go. Either that or I'll add a junior section for the Jaegers in the old style Shako and Forage caps.

I did really want to try something different for my next project as the Hussite Wars have recently captured my interest, using Lion Rampant rules. The goal here would be the paint both sides of course and do the usual narrative games. But, I'm going to park this for next year as the Napoleonic fever is still running rampant in my brain. This will give me more time to research, read and get the creative spirit flowing. 

Once again, thanks for reading. Until next update! 

Shakos & Bayonets Painting and Gaming updates - Russian Grenadiers

Been a bit low on the old hobby morale, but its slowly coming back around with the onset of summer coming to a close.

With that said, I've still been chipping away at completing my Russians for Shakos & Bayonets and got another game in down the club. Next on the completed list is a unit of Russian Carabiners for my largely Jaeger based force. As the rest of the force, these have a campaign look so a mixture of Greatcoats and Forage caps. Very pleased how they came out, and they performed admirably in my latest game.

This is my full project list for the army, with just a unit of Guard Jaegers left to complete, as the Opolchenie I had have been re-based to fit the new army. 750pts exactly for smaller/larger games.

Once the Guard are completed this is Russians 100% done, I need to get the hobby inspiration set on something else. I do still have plans to complete a French force for solo games, but this is likely next year now. 

In other exciting news, I've got some commissioned terrain on the way from TwoShedsFred who I've used in the past for ACW/Indian Mutiny terrain which you've seen on this blog. I feel my 1812 boards have been lacking and really wanted some pieces to elevate the games, so expect to see them soon! 

Heres the pictures from the latest game we had down the club. Only snapped a few but we played capture and hold and it was a back and forth game with my Russians luckily holding the field at the end of the day (at the cost of some terrible generalship on my part).

 

I'll still also be chipping way at my Silver Bayonet in the meantime to get the next mission on the go also soon!

The Silver Bayonet - Solo Mission 2: The Ruined Chapel

Long overdue but finally back on the Silver Bayonet train after the last few models sat on my desk staring at me got some paint on them.

With out further ado...lets see what our Russian adventurers get up too in this scenario.

Having escaped the wolves, you press on deeper into the forest, relying on a compass and a crude map to bring you to the lost chapel. As another day passed, the forest slowly grew denser, with the canopies of the ancient, gnarled trees merging together until they blocked out nearly all natural light. Finally, through the tenebrous shadows, you spy the ruins of a small, stone building, surrounded on every side by broken, tilted, and overgrown gravestones. According to your orders, you are to search the chapel and recover any items of interest; however, just as you are about to order the advance, you see figures shuffling around in the graveyard.

There has been a few changes to the warband also based on some previous injuries or deaths as follows:

Officer - Grigori Miroslav (Great Faith, Strong)
Sapper - Fedir Kuzmin 
Champion of Faith - Father Dimitry Sokolov
Light Cavalryman - Koldan Zhukov
Grenadier - Tikhon Kuznetsov (Internal Injury : -1 Max Health)
Infantryman - Oleg Emsky
Infantryman - Rostislav Feneko  
Rifleman - Nikola Izhutin

I've decided to bring more silver shot this time specifically with the rifleman as I really struggled last time on dealing with regenerating wounds on Werewolves. The scenario does also state that it needs six Revenants, well there is only five sculpts and I didn't fancy painting duplicates. In case of a situation where a Revenant cannot spawn, I have also decided to bring in some Dark Wolves from the edge of the board. Lets just say some of those wolves still have a taste of blood on their lips from the first scenario and have tracked them down. Luckily this only occurred once in the course of events below.

The ruined chapel lies deep in the forest...

Lurking Revenants prowl the graveyard

 

Approaching from the east side, Father Dimitry encourages his men

Another view of the chapel's ruins

 

Recently deceased soldiers find themselves drawn to the smell of human flesh

 

Our brave Russians move to meet their rotting comrades

Grigori Miroslav discharge his Pistol and wounds the first Revenant

 

Oleg Emsky lines up a shot on an approaching undead, but misses

Tikhon Kuznetsov is pushed back after failing to wound the undead

One lone wolf tracks down that familiar scent

 

The men push into the graveyard together

Fedir Kuzmin bludgeons the undead but it refuses to die!

Grigori dispatches his undead foe, however more will rise

Another Revenant is felled by the Cossack and Sapper

Our Grenadier is not having so much luck, and gets bitten 

Rostislav scouts ahead to investigate a clue, and finds himself ambushed by another undead

Grigori spots a pale figure approaching...

Fedir Kuzmin investigates a clue and finds...

The strange Candelabra!

Another undead falls, but the there is other enemies closing in

The Vampire approaches with her dark aura

Tikhon is taken out of action with another bite

Rostislav despite his shaky nerves, keeps up his musket fire and wounds the Dark wolf

Nikola Izhutin loads silver shot and aims for the Vampire, missing magnificently

Father Dimitry sends the fiend back to Hell

 

One undead dies and another takes its place!

 

He fires again, this time the Vampire recoils when the silver hits its flesh

 

Grigori leading from the front, takes on one undead after another

Another view of the graveyard scuffle

 

The Vampire locks eyes with Grigori and closes in

Father Dimitry rally's our brave Russians in the ruins

 

Fedir takes out another Revenant with his Hammer

Nikola moves up to support and get a better shot at the Vampire

 

Koldan Khukov goes to investigate a clue, but is met by another undead rising out of the ground

 

After finishing off Tikhon this Revenant heads towards more human flesh

 

Grigori forces the Vampire away with his silver blade, however...

 

She lunges again, not scared of a mere mortal

 

Oleg fires his silver shot at the Vampire, but has other problems to deal with...

Koldan fells the first undead, but another takes its place

Sensing his kin in danger, another Vampire approaches from the small ruins

 

Oleg takes swift action with the undead, crushing it head with his musket

 

Having found the main clue, Kuzmin makes for the woods

 

Our plucky rifleman finds his mark and the Vampire goes down wailing

 

Another dark figure approaches

 

Oleg soon joins Kuzmin in making his escape, but is chased by a Revenant

Koldan having identified another clue, decides its also time to leave as another undead rises

 

Grigori and his other comrades group and prepare to make an exit, their objectives completed
 

The Vampire creeps into the graveyard, keen on rising more undead

Time to leave lads!

All four clues gathered!

Well that went way better than the first scenario. I was able to effectively grab all of the clues and meet all secondary's giving me some nice experience for my warband.

This time I used my officer effectively to deal with most of the Revenants, utilizing his high defence and fight characteristics. The Vampire is indeed scary and we had a few turns of my officer and the Vampire essentially fluffing their rolls against each other. With that said, his holy symbol completely saved me being wounded on two occasions with its -3 modifier. Most of my other troops performed well, but unfortunately our Grenadier went down again and rolled a 1 for his after action. Needless to say, hes resting in peace. I'll be thinking about what to bring instead of him for the next game.

The tactic of splitting into two groups and approaching from multiple sides also worked, allowing me to stay relatively safe and not get outnumbered. 

Next mission will see our Russian adventurers ambushed by some sneaky goblins, and one of their bigger friends. Until then, thanks for reading.