Prussians Get an Outing AAR

On Friday night I got the chance to run the Prussians out in a game against Matt. Matt having never played the rules before meant I would also get another view point on the rules not an opportunity to be missed I hear you say, too right I answer.

I gave Matt some fairly standard French, twelve battalions of infantry including three Ligne, three batteries including horse, one each of Lancer's, Hussars, Dragoons and Cuirassier regiments. I as the Prussians also had twelve battalions though six were Landwehr, three Reserve and three line battalions. The Landwehr though was defending the town on the left flank. They also had a battery of guns and two Landwehr cavalry regiments. I also had two Dragoon and two Hussar regiments and a total of two batteries so I had the slightly larger force.

The town, this has to be held to win the game. I put three battalions in the town with the other three Landwehr behind the town to the left of the picture. On reflection I should have had these in the town as well.

I expected the centre to be attacked and had the reserve regiment in between the two hills, when this did not happen I was slow to get the troops into the action, this would mean extra pressure on the town.

I had put the two Landwehr cavalry regiments on the hill and when one was charged I had to counter charge off the hill (I should have added the uphill bonus though it would not have helped as I was facing three French regiments and was routed after just one round of combat though I did get the Dragoons to drop one level of cohesion.

Chasing after the routing Landwehr the Lancers crashed into my second regiment of Landwehr cavalry but being unsupported failed to drive these ahead of them. A swirling melee was to last a number of rounds before I was finally driven back in retreat.

Meanwhile I was trying to catch up with three battalions of French infantry that composed the French left flank with my centre. I had already dropped one of the Battalions two levels of cohesion and a morale level so I had a chance of driving these off if only I could keep pushing.

Matt at this point was attacking the town with a relatively light force but whilst he lost one battalion to rout he was driving back the Landwehr from the town. My decision not to put two regiments into the town was starting to tell on me. My support was in the town and to the left but it allowed the better class of French to get a hold on the town, I would need help from the dice now.

I allowed Matt to hold me near the town that and I was not winning the majority of the initiative rolls meaning one formation was missing out whilst I found I needed to use the one in the town every turn so either the infantry top right or the cavalry bottom right did not get to move. If I did I could possibly have had the troops on the hill crushed between the two forces.

All this could do was play into Matt's hands and sure enough he not only got the town fully under his control but wrecked the Landwehr division. I rallied the retreating cavalry (not the routing one) but I still had two battalions under forced retreat and two routing. Enough to signal forced retreat on the Division and whilst I could get this to halt I would be lucky to get them in order to attack again and even so they would be very fragile.

Two battalions about to withdraw from the town Matt would have most of his troops in good order from the attack. A better defence would have seen his force reasonably spent but these guys enjoyed a bit of a cake walk.

The Landwehr cavalry failed to regain cohesion meaning I would have to leave them close to a forced retreat to go and try and start rallying one of the infantry battalions. This formation is finished for the day.

The three Reserve battalions on the right never so much as fired a shot, the line also never got into the action. At this point I decided the best option would be to retreat under cover of the cavalry that was still in good order and able to take the fight to the French if needed.

Not that the French needed to attack, they had captured the town and was content to sit on the hill, no doubt happy to see the Prussians retreat at great haste, would the Prussians put up a bigger fight next time.

So ended the first outing of the Prussians and down to a few mistakes by me they suffered. Well they will be out again sometime soon to try again. I made the Landwehr fairly weak as this was supposed to be when they were untested in battle and to be honest felt they performed as could be expected. Better support would have given them a better showing. Whilst Matt was not flushed with love of the rules he wants another game with them and I think he could get to like them a fair bit. Not to replace the rules he uses but as a different flavour to what he plays on a regular basis.

Project Waterloo Prussian Leaders

After reading a few books on the Prussians it seems to me like the Prussians almost had two separate commands through Blucher and Gneisenau, though Gneisenau was officially subordinate to IV Corps commander and needed to request rather than order Bulow which is one of the reasons the IV Corp did not get to Ligny.

Anyway that's the story why I have painted up two army command stands, though I don't think both will be used in the actual battle, I was happy to have some fun.

Army Command Stands are represented with four figures on the base. This could include someone on foot though dead do not count ;-) Here we have Blucher who being a man of action has all on his base riding at the gallop. I also included a Hussar ADC as a nod at the fact he was an old Hussar officer.

At Ligny Blucher started the day on a white horse but had it shot from under him and had to use an aids horse in the retreat. I stuck with the white horse, well he could have got another from somewhere else.

Gneisenau by comparison I have surrounded by stationary staff, one looking through a looking glass (maybe looking in vain for the British lead help on the 16th?) again I gave the top man a white horse but with no better reason than I could.

One aid is looking at a map, possibly trying to work out if THAT was the road help was supposed to come from, pity they ended up being French troops.

Overall I think the base gives the impression of uncertainty and lack of vigour. Of course this will curse me to suffer poor roles every time I try to activate his command.

Next up is Steimetz commander of the 1st Brigade of I Corp. Brigade commanders are represented with a two man base. I'm not really sure who is who on the base but the dude with the bicorn looks a bit important.

For a moment I thought he would ride straight into the barn wall but looks like he turned in time. I just think he is a bit put out by so many of his commanders turning up at once.

Poor Steimetz seems like his Corp commander Ziethen has now turned up. He had best make himself look busy! Obviously the chap in the middle has got to be Ziethen as he is waving his hand about.

Corp commanders have three figures on them. In this case I have them pointing in different directions as if they are having a discussion before the brave leader points the way to Wellington's salvation. Again I like how this base turned out as it's rather simple but gives the look of being a little diorama.

All figures are Adler from the Army Command pack that they sell. You get a nice mix of figures but I'm not sure why the need to supply two each of Blucher and Gneisenau especially as they are in the same pose. Not that it matters that much as I am sure they can also be used for other command figures. 

Prussian 6th Regiment (1 West Prussia) 6mm Adler

Given the amount if Prussian lead that came home with me on Saturday I suppose it's fitting that the next post is about some of those very Prussians. These were finished just this side of the month and were the April figures. Worryingly May's figures are still at the prep stage but should be finished before the month finishes.

Here we have the 1st and 2nd Battalions. These were part of the Ist Corp under Pirch II. Rather than Jagers these two battalions just use inherent troops from the regiment. 

The figures as stated above are Adler but the flags are Baccus and the blown up picture shows the detail that Baccus provide in the flags. This is the 1st Battalion.

I have added mounted officers to the 1st and 3rd Battalions and some future bases may have a couple of riders or other figures to keep them looking varied. This was the first Adler infantry I have tried to base in column and to be honest I am really disappointed with the result. It's a learning curve like most things but I cut the bases of the figures too small. This has ended up with the figures far too close together and rather than a column I have more of a wedge. The type of formation you may have wanted to produce with some of the raw troops yet to be painted! 

So effectively a lot of time spent making them look good wasted when it came to basing them. Still I was very happy with the dry-brushing the blues which have come off well.

These close up shots make me appreciate the recipe for the static grass that Lee supplied. One part summer and  two parts Autumn, gives a nice meadow type look. Though looking at Lee's basing I have gone too light with these for the ground so next lot will be backed off a bit.

Here is the 3nd Battalion, these I did in a three deep line, I really like the mix of colours you get with Prussian flags, helps make a mostly drab force so much more colourful. Though these being Prussian at least they also have the red facings.

The lines are a bit ragged but I don't mind that at all. Getting basing paint and grass down the lines was a little challenging but I was lucky in that spaces were available.

The flash has really picked out the blue undercoat on the shako's but without it the blue does not show through so much and sometimes not at all.

The fusilier battalion (3rd) and so has no flag to add colour. Fortunatly they have some help from a few Jagers. Notice the mounted officer getting in the way.

This battalion I went for the typical wargame double line. I liked this spread quite a lot as it shows off the numbers possibly the best. One guy though just can't keep up.

I like the pose which is the typical Baccus pose but it gets that little bit extra from the super thin bayonets though one has to wonder how long they will last.

So the Prussians troops slowly build up, I plan to just work my way through each Corp infantry wise. Artillery will be done between regiments and as such will often be done in small batches well ahead of schedule  Cavalry though is another matter, these will be done a couple at a time so in some cases this will mean that regiments that did not fight at Waterloo are still painted up. This is either for the other battles around Waterloo that are bound to get some play or for different campaigns such as Russia. After all I plan to use the troops raised for Waterloo as the starting point for many another action.

Project Waterloo and Blog Giveaway

The first month is coming towards it's end and as I am short of primer (a couple of can's are on order) it is very likely I will fall behind of schedule for Cavalry, guns, limbers and command in this the first month. Now this sounds bad, but in fact just painting up one of each of these would supply a few months worth of my target as I have such a long period to get these doe in. I will not become complacent though and you can expect April to supply a several of each if I get the chance.

The infantry is a different matter though, I have painted up 12 battalions providing three regiments, though I have painted these up as regiments that were involved in the 100 days campaign but not those actually at Waterloo. The idea being that these can be used if I do not get all the actual regiments done but as I will need more than the Waterloo force for other campaigns it's not a worry that I will find myself with a few spare.

All three regiments are Baccus figures and were really easy to paint, though the time to paint was actually longer than painting the French equivalents which was a surprise. On the picture above you can see the drummer has the white/red facings on his shoulders which adds a nice touch to what for drummers is a rather drab uniform. So many other nations having alternative colour schemes for their drummers. The blanket roll was the reason for the slower pace of painting which I found was a slower process that the white cross-belts of the French. 

Three of the four regiments has the correct flags for the regiment they are depicting, this one being the 2nd Line Regiment 1st Pomerania. All three battalions are present with the fusilier battalion without a flag which is accurate. I did consider giving them a flag as this looks better but decided to go historical instead.

Next up is the 8th Line Regiment Leib much the same as the one above, I have mixed in line and column formations as my rules (and most others) deal with the actual formation abstractly. 

The 9th Line Regiment Colberg, each regiment has a number then in some cases a second number and a Prussian district. This is where the regiment is based and or recruited from. with the second number required if that district has more than one Regiment based there.

The 14th Reserve Line Regiment Third of Pomerania, this regiment has no official flags but like many others is suspected to have carried unofficial ones. It's pure conjecture as to which flags were carried so I went with a little bit of colour. The facings denote what area the regiment comes from, these being red, white and yellow so a nice touch of colour. All four of these have standard infantry acting as skirmishers but most would have Jagers which you will see with future regiments.

DON'T FORGET THE SIX DAY BLOG GIVEAWAY STARTS TOMORROW.

Project Waterloo

Lee was over earlier collecting his part of an order I had placed with Adler, mostly Russians as it happens but still the main influence on this post. Well part of his order was the final bits of his French Guard so that helped.

As has been mentioned Lee and myself are looking to do the Battle of Waterloo on and around the 200th Anniversary of the actual battle. Lets be clear, this will not be a display game nor participation game, no it's going to be a US game. Not that either of us expect or hope that it will just be the pair of us, we want some mates to be involved though the figures in play will be either mine or Lee's unless something changes. Lee is planning on making up some new terrain boards specially for the battle and has already started work on modifying available buildings for some of the key fought over locations and I have to say doing a credible job with the Leven Buildings I have seen so far.

Between us we have a fair amount of French but still need a lot more, especially cavalry. The British are almost done but the allied contingents are very sparse and in some cases none existent at this point but Lee will be sorting these out. As for the Prussians I got that look from him when I showed him the Twelve Battalions in the process of inking, not because these represent a four month target done in the first twelve days but rather the comment I made stating these of course were not at Waterloo but were at the other battles just prior. A mix of sympathy and loathing best describes his look. But when all is said and done I have the flags for these guys  :-)

Well in fact these could be used as any of the regular line regiments if I choose to not worry about the flags though the real reason to do these as the none Waterloo regiments is that I have had the idea that all the Prussians in the battle will be Adler. This is still possible but having now seen the Adler Prussian castings against the painted Baccus I am starting t think I may well just go along with a mix of the two as the Baccus infantry do rather look good, much better than the current French which are the only Baccus Napoleonic figures I have painted to date. What it does do though is really make me excited about the soon to be released Baccus new look French, something of a blessing given the amount I am bound to be painting over the next two years!

Anyway as I was saying, I now have a bunch of Adler Prussians and will be getting these started around the end of March as they have to be handed over to the family who are buying them for me for my Birthday. Usually I get money for me to spend post the day but this year I will be getting to unwrap them. It's one of the Infantry packs and four or five cavalry packs including a number of regiments that were not actually at Waterloo that will still get painted up between now and when I will not need them. Well I have not forgotten about my Borodino project that I will continue to add to as time goes on, nor have I forgotten about the Peninsular even though that has nothing to do with these Prussians.

So expect regular(ish) updates on both Lee's and my progress and how we stand time wise as the months tick by. As yet Lee has no actual plan of what needs doing per month but that will not be an issue as I suspect other than the Guard all his troops will enter his house just needing basing and flagging (cheat!!) my real concern is working out exactly how many French units need to be painted and adding these to my Prussian list. The Prussians will not be an issue as even if we go for the whole campaign I can easily keep ahead of the schedule with one painting session a week. Lee does not as yet have a lot of French so I am expecting a fairly high quantity of units being required. 

Funding has to be the last word, well the first as well. This has been covered rather nicely between Birthday gifts and the sale of my Irregular French and Prussians. The sale alone netted me £350 so my wargames neutral is safe and sound.