Les Higgins Project - British Household Cavalry

 Over the past year or so, I have been gradually accumulating Les Higgins napoleonic figures.  I have finally finished off the two Household Cavalry regiments, namely the Life Guards and Toyal Horse Guards.

In addition, when time permits I paint the odd infantry figure and last weekend I had done enough to deploy a brigade, consisting of two line battalions, a light battalion and some Rifles.  Some were eBay purchases that required a quick clean up and new bases.  Others were painted from scratch.

I am working on some Scots Greys, but I do not have enough yet to make up a 12 figure units.  Some French Dragoons are on their way too, so I should have enough of those for a regiment.  Finally, I have worked on some French infantry as well as some British Light Dragoons.

And so it begins ... 25mm Warrior Miniatures French Army - The Heavy Cavalry

 Last week I started rebasing the French Army, having more or less completed work on the Austrians. However, in the case of the French, I am adding units from my existing French Army, suitably based to match the Jeffers collection figures.

The first batch consists of the French line heavy cavalry.  The combined total is, five regiments of Cuirassiers, one of Carabiniers and four of dragoons. There is also a horse battery.

Currently Marshal Ney is in command.  This was a clever conversion carried out by Jeffers, who is also responsible for most of the painting.

Austrian Army Review - The Infantry

 Over the weekend I completed reorganising the first tranche of the Austrian infantry.  

So far, I have rebased 10 battalions and they provide a colourful mix of shako and helmet line infantry, Grenzers and Jaegers.  All of the figures are by Warrior Miniatures and have been beautifully painted by Jeffers:

I have taken a look in the spares box and I have found sufficient command figures to provide the right structure for the odds and ends left from the rebasing exercise. There could be quite a few extra battalions.

My next tranche will be the combined grenadier battalions.

25mm Napoleonic Spanish Army

 I recently revamped my Spanish army, after acquiring a few more battalions off eBay.  The additional five units has increased my organisation to 10 battalions, four cavalry regiments and a couple of batteries.  

The new troops were credited to belong to the former collection of the late George Gush.  I purchased them as I could see that they were by Warrior and that Spanish troops are quite hard to find now. I must say they are lovely figures, which when given a coat of varnish, a bit of touching up and new bases, blend in well with my existing troops.  

The George Gush figures are the rear five infantry battalions.

All the figures are from Warrior Miniatures and I think they look quite business like when painted:

Plastics in Action

 Having spent a fair bit of time renovating the plastic battalions, I thought it would be good to test them out on the table.  The idea was that a French Corps would probe forward and attempt to force a river crossing to allow the main army to advance deeper into enemy territory.  In an attempt to prevent this  an Austrian Corps has deployed along the river, covering the various crossing points.

The Austrians are strung out along the river bank, occupying villages and woods, seen here as french cavalry probe forward:

The French plan was to feint on the Austrian left and push across the two fords on the Austrian right.  french cavalry and artillery move forward to occupy high ground that dominates the river valley:

A French division arrives to force the two crossings.  The troops are mostly Airfix French:

The game was being played with Command and Colors rules and like most battles, the French plan did not survive first contact with the enemy.  The French did not have a single card for their left, and so the action switched to the right, which was to be a feint. A spirited French attack against the Austrian left saw the defence crumble:

Austrian light infantry were evicted from a wood and an infantry battalion collapsed under pressure.  Suddenly the whole Austrian left was in disaray.

The French supported by cavalry quickly cross the river and the Austrian commander, feeling that he had done his duty in delaying the French decides to withdraw; his forces being too widely dispersed along the river.

The troops looked good and it was quite a spectacle seeing them set up on the table.

Hinchliffe British Fusiliers

 It may be recalled that I had decided to refurbish a group of Hinchliffe 25mm British Fusiliers. The job is now complete and these fine looking troops can take to the field.  The standard bearers are converted musketeers, having had damaged weapons.  The drummer is the same, with a drum scrounged from a Russian figure.  The officer needed a new sword, sourced from a bean can lid.

This is what they were like prior to painting.  The picture was taken before I found a Hinchliffe officer.  In the photo a Lamming officer is in command:

Here is the finished unit:

These will go off to join Phil's collection, which consists of early Hinchliffe figures.

Hinchliffe 25mm Personality Figure - Prince Poniatowski

 This is another of the Hinchliffe Personality Figures (PF 17), Prince Jozef Poniatowski.  He rose to fame as one of Napoleon's best commanders, leading the Polish contingent of the French army.  He was made Minister for War by Napoleon and was a notable commander during the 1812 invasion of Russia, where he commanded the largely Polish 5th Corps. He was made a marshal of the empire by Napoleon.

At the battle of Leipzig in 1813, Poniatowski was charged with holding the the rearguard as the defeated French army attempted to withdraw over the Elster river.  Poniatowski and his men fought bravely during which time the Prince was severely wounded while leading several counter attacks.  Unfortunately the Elster bridge was demolished early and the rear guard was trapped on the enemy banks.  In the confusion as his men attempted to cross the river, the weakened Prince was thrown from his horse and was lost under the water.  His body was found five days later.

Another lovely casting from Hinchliffe:

Hinchliffe 25mm Personality Figure - General Lasalle

 Antoine-Charles Lasalle, was a napoleonic French cavalry general who rose to fame as a dashing commander.  He fought with the Army of Italy, campaigned in Egypt, saw action in the European theatre, especially against the Prussians.  He met his end in the Austrian campaign, being killed at the battle of Wagram on 5th of July 1809 leading a cavalry charge.

This figure is listed in the Hinchliffe 1976 catalogue as PF21:

He was a joy to paint and will take his place amongst my 25mm French armies.  I have a number of the Hinchliffe personalities and plan to paint them from time to time.

Hinchliffe Prussian Cavalry Renovation

 This turned out to be quite a challenge.  I was given three badly damaged Prussian, 25mm Cuirassiers by a friend.  The figures had lost their swords and were bent out of shape.  The horses were even worse.  However, Phil is a collector of old Hinchliffe for his wargames armies and I asked if he would like them after I had renovated them.  I also found three more on eBay, which were also broken.  

After quite a bit of bending back into shape and the addition of new swords and some reins on one of the horses they were ready for painting.

Here is the result:

A useful little unit.  I am also working on some British Fuiliers from the same manufacturer.  These are in reasonable condition, with most bayonets intact, but not well painted.  The officer is an old Lamming figure, but since the picture was taken I have acquired a Hinchliffe fusilier officer:

The Great Plastics Revival - French Infantry and Artillery

 Over the past couple of months, I have been working through the mountain of French Line and Guard infantry and artillery.  The figires are a mix of Airfix, HaT, Revell, ESCI and Italeri.  

First off, we have the line infantry, with 11 battalions and three batteries of guns:

Airfix line infantry:

Esci line infantry

And the Imperial Guard, consisting of, five Old Guard battalions, two of Young Guard and three gun batteries:

I'm now starting to sort out the Prussians.

The Great Plastics Revival 2

 Some more figures have been tidied up and rebased:

Airfix British line infantry:

Some British light infantry, I think by Revell:

British heavy cavalry, by Revell, Hat and ESCI.

A brunswick brigade, figures by Hat:

The first of the Prussians, Airfix figures:

More of Norman's Soldiers

 A few days ago Norman Paterson sent me some more pictures from his collection(s).  This time we are taken to the Napoleonic wars in Egypt, with 1/32 French infantry under attack from Mameluk cavalry.  They are all beautifully painted.  I think the infantry are Airfix and Armies in Plastic, while the cavalry are by Italeri. Enjoy:

The Les Higgins Project

 Having played most of my recent Napoleonic battles using the Command and Colors (C&C) rules, I have decided to try something new.  I like C&C a lot and my brother, nephew and I have spent a great deal of time over the years adjusting the rules to suit our needs. However, I wanted to play some games not using a hex based mat.  I think my aim is to try and relive some of the simple games that I played in my youth.  To that end, I have taken a look at the rules by Neil Thomas, which offer up small fast moving games that do not need a great deal of troops.

To fully adopt these rules requires some adjustment to force levels.  I did not want to start rebasing my existing armies, so, over the past few months I have been accumulating 25mm figures by Les Higgins.  Units consist of 16 foot figures, eight light and 12 cavalry. I am going for British and a French armies (as they are the only figures produced by Les Higgins).  Most of the figures have come from a collection sold on eBay, but I have also had some very generous donations from friends.

I started working on the French army, which for a bit of colour will include some German units.  I would like to stick to Les Higgins figures, but some figures seem hard to find, especially French cavalry, although I now have lots of lancers. As an interim I have used some plastic figures to make up numbers.

Here are the first of the French coalition army:

Grenadiers:

French light infantry

Saxon line infantry

Saxon light infantry

French Guard Lancers

There are more French on the way, as well as a number of British units.

Rolica 17 August 1808

 This is a battle in the Command & Colors scenario book that I have been wanting to try for several years.  However, a visit by Phil and the fact that Will had deposited his 20mm Anglo/Portuguese army, along with his French for safe keeping presented an opportunity not to be missed.

So, the table was set out as per the scenario we chose sides; I was the Anglo Portuguese while Phil played the French.

Having set out the scenery, this is the table ready for play:

A view across the battlefield, with the French firmly installed upon the long ridge.

As the Allied commander, I thought that this would be quite an easy action.  How wrong I was! My plan was to demonstrate on the French left, with the hop of drawing off reserves from the centre, attack in the centre to pin the French on the ridge and then sweep around the French right flank.  First of all I needed to clear the river and bring my artillery into range.  The British battalions under the command of Wellesley wade across the river and secure the far bank.

Over on the Allied left flank the Fergusson's British move more cautiously, as Phil deploys some light cavalry round the rear of Rolica village.

Meanwhile, Trant's Portuguese, supported by some Cacadores and cavalry advance on to the French left.  the French counter move with some light troops and hussars.

British light infantry hold a wood to secure the crossing, but cannot advance due to the cavalry threat

Over on the Allied right, the French counter attack causing casualties amongst the Cacadores, who are forced into a close combat brawl.

The French Hussars attack and drive off the Portuguese cavalry, while the Portuguese line are pushed back having also suffered casualties.

With the Portuguese attack being largely blunted a second Portuguese line battalion moves up to stabilise the situation.

Although the Allied right flank attack was repelled quite quickly, in the centre the british battalions, having crossed the river, move towards the ridge.  It looks a daunting task.

An over view of the situation at this point.  Allied artillery now has the range of the French on the ridge, as the British attack goes in.

Predictably, the British battalions suffer heavily and pull back, but another battalion moves up in support.

A further British battalion crosses the river on the left, mindful of those pesky French Hussars.

On the Allied left things are more successful.  Led by General Fergusson, a battalion moves around rolica village and begins to climb the ridge, having driven off the French Hussars.

While this is going on Wellesley rallies the British battalions in the centre and moves once more towards the ridge.

battle is joined, with most of the French infantry pushed back.  The sweep around the outnumbered French right forces a general French withdrawal.  

This is a costly win for the Allies with the score being 6 - 5.  The French pull back to a second ridge line as the Allies reorganise for a second attack.

Although the Allies were victorious, this turned out to be a more challenging battle, not helped by some rotten dice rolls by the Allies!