Work in Progress ( Vauban fortifications)

After far too many months I have revisited my Vauban fortification project. I posted in October last year showing the Ravelin which I have completed and I thought it was about time I pushed on and finished this project. So I have now started work on constructing the two Bastions which will form the main part of the defensive works. As with the Ravelin I have not bought any materials other than wood glue. I intend to build this as cheaply as possible! I have used a sheet of hardboard left over from lining the shed in the garden and some off cuts of chip board from an old set of drawers which I was replacing. Here is how I have got on so far.
The base board for the Bastion with cut outs at the rear to allow the curtain walls to abutt snuggly (thats the theory!).

The upper level of the bastion again from hardboard.

The two lengths of retrieved chip board which will form the wall supports.

I have glued and tacked the wall supports to the base after sawing them to (approximately) the right length and adding angled cuts.

The suppoting walls glued and tacked into position. As you can see the construction is fairly rough but all this will be covered by card and Tetrion eventually.

The upper floor is now glued and tacked on top of the walls.

A side view of the basic construction (with one of my dogs looking on :) ). My next step will be to add card to get the angled wall surface and to add the top of the battlement. Hopefully this will progress in the next couple of days. I just need to find some more offcuts of wood!

What's been happening lately?

Sorry to have neglected this for so long but I think we've all been swallowed up with commitments lately.

I will post some of our pictures during the latest games, we are still playing which is a great comfort for our loved ones as it gets us out of their hair at least once a week. (Or month in David's case).

Here are a few pics of my latest venture with these lovely figures from Front Rank Seven Years War Austrians. I decided last year to go into this period in 28mm, mainly because of the great games we have had previously using John's brilliant 40mm semi flats. The only problem is they are getting old as we all are and we're much more ham fisted now than ever before.................  yes I know it's mainly me!

So I bought three battalions last year and they are nearly finished. However, I've another five battalions as well as cavalry and guns so this summer will get them on the board. John is working on the Prussian opposition.

I've started with an Hungarian Brigade.

Waterloo

As we approach the anniversary of the battle this year we thought we would revisit the battle again to re fight it.

As a group we have fought this battle under many variations. Initially taking parts of the battle as a re- enactment, namely Hougement to La Haye Saint as well as D'Erlon's assault. We also re fought the entire battle in 6mm scale a long time ago and this was something that has caught my imagination for a long time. Why could we not use 25mm figures and have the battle re fought on a Brigade scale?

So I began the process with John and we think we have a solution to the logistics. We hope that the result will be spectacular and represent the Allied and French Corps down to battalion and  cavalry regimental level.

We have play tested some rules to make having 33 battalions per Corps manageble and quick. I'll post some pictures of this Sundays game where we hope to test the game play.

Mahratta Update (It's been a while!)

Well it has been a while since we last posted and I wish we had a good excuse! Just the usual stuff about everyday life getting in the way (blah blah blah). I personally have not played a huge amount of games since Christmas but I know the lads have played almost weekly and Paul has some pics from those games, so hopefully he will be posting these soon.

Any way I have been plodding on slowly with my Mahratta Wars project and here are a few pics to prove it. All figures are Redoubt Miniatures but I was interested to see that Eureka in Australia are to release a range of Mysoreans which will cover Tipoo Sultan and Haidar Ali. I am not sure whether these figures are compatible with the Redoubt ones but I may request a few samples to see them in the flesh. Above is the first Matchlock Irregular that I have painted and I am pleased with the way he has come out. I intend to have 2 or 3 units (each of 24 figures) to support the regular battalions. As with the regulars I will be using a simple uniting colour scheme. These units will be distinguished by their coat colour (Blue above) and will have different sash and turban clours within the unit to give them a more irregular appearance.

I have added another artillery crew, this time in blue turbans. Redoubt also do artillery just in loin cloths which I will mix in with the next set of crews that I paint.

Another view of the artillery. Elite Mininiatures 12pdr guns from my Napoleonic collection.

Next is my British Army command base. This has Wellesley and 2 staff officers (sold as a set by Redoubt).

I have painted the mounted staff officer as Lieutenant Blakiston of the Engineers, one of Wellesleys most trusted officers.

Finally a unit of Mahratta cavalry. These semi-regular guys have a common sash and turban colour for ease of identification on the wargames table.

I still have to add the lances and a standard. All standards are to be ordered from The Virtual Armchair General who has a complete range for the 2nd Mahratta War.

Again I will finish the bases off when I have decided exactly how I wish them to look! Maybe I am just putting the job off!

I have a number of EIC sepoys on the painting table which are nearing completion so I will post them up soon(ish).

Finally I would just like to mention that one of our number (Graham) got married at the weekend so congratulations to him! It was a great day from what I can remember!

New figures added to John's collection

Here are some of John's completed units that have rolled off the paint board.

Cannot wait to gfet them involved and attacked ha ha... well you do need them blooded.

A nice scots clan no doubt looking for some poor English to pick on!

Now how intimidating are these guys?

Hope to get some game photos on here soon

Hope you have all had a great New Year

2nd Mahratta War

As I mentioned in a previous post I have become interested in the wars against Mysore and The Mahratta Confederacy 1799 - 1807 ish. I have therefore embarked on building forces to represent both these kingdoms and the British and East India Company troops who fought them. Looking around for suitable 28mm figures I came across the range by Redoubt Enterprises. They are, in my mind, lovely figures, nicely sculpted and full of character. I have posted a few photos to show my efforts so far. My painting doesnt do them justice but I have yet to see any other painted examples anywhere. On top of this the Redoubt website only has line drawings of a few of the figures, so it wass a leap of faith when I made my initial purchase (would I like them or not?). Well I do like them, very very much!

The first photos show some of the sepoys I have painted. These have green or orange facings and will be expanded into units of 24 figures. I hope to base my initial forces on the order of battle of Assaye.

To this I will add other troops and types to give my British some variety (and to stop me getting bored!).

Initially I will be raising Mahratta forces but I intend to use them as Mysore troops also, with a few variations. I have opted to keep it simple in terms of painting and organisation. All regular Mahratta battalions will be in white with Turban and sash in a uniform colour. This will give ease of identification on the table and also will look quite appealing.

As you can see by the photos I have based the figures painted so far but have not flocked the bases. I am still undecided on the final finish of these.

I have completed one artillery crew so far. The Mahrattas had a lot of artillery attached to their regular battalions and I will have one gun model per unit. The good news is that I will not have to paint any guns for them as I intend to use my French Napoleonic cannon.

There will be lots of cavalry to paint and I have the first unit sitting in the box waiting to get started, they are beautiful figures. Also I intend to add a couple of irregular match-lock battalions.

Well thats how far I have got so far. I will update as I progress. Thanks for looking!

Peninsular trouble

Penninsular Poser

Hi , Dave and I have decided to make a conscious effort to post more games reviews and painting items. Given that my painting is abysmal and positively geological in the time it takes in getting finished I had better type some of the games up!

John and I came up with the terrain one night and we thought it offered potential for a multitude of differing period scenarios. (I actually mainly lumped the terrain about as John used his knack for creating a testing and interesting combination of valleys, stream/river crossing points to ensure opponents have challenges rather than just wading into each other.)

The scenario was that the French were tasked with marching along the main road (lower left) and had to exit the battlefield via the far road route beyond the old hill fort (top right of pic). The river had a bridge, ford and was crossable either side of the bridge, but with a movement restriction on the ford side and without any movement restriction towards the source (lower right in the pic).

I was in command of two brigades of infantry with accompanying cavalry, foot and horse batteries. 

Graham commanded the second column with the 3rd Inf brigade and 2 battalions of Guard with Napoleon himself no less!

I was faced by the wooded hill with battery and a British battalion. Lt cav guarded the valley. The old fort had been repaired a gun protruded from the ramparts infantry was observed on the far wooded hill.

My 1st were shaken out into mixed order and art /cav covered both flanks as the assault began.

My 2nd formed column on the right & marched into the right hand valley, cleared the far right hill. Combined horse art and light cavalry brushed  aside the protecting British cavalry.

John, commanding the defending British battery had two further battalions emerge from the woods and they fired a tremendous volley into my 1st Brigade.

The rebuff of two battalions of this brigade was not a major setback as guns & the threat of the French 2nd Brg had John retiring onto his supporting Scots lining the river.

The first hill was secure!

Meanwhile, Graham's long column was

held up over the ford by his dragoons encountering

British Lt cav and horse art with an Inf Brg on the hill over the river.

It took the Cuirassiers to help out but the action grew hotter with a hard fire fight to control the heights.

His 3rd Inf formed for assault and the Guards marched around the rear of them to outflank and race for the exit.

The game ended with my 1st & 2nd Brgs redeployment from right to centre where they controlled the bridge

area & pinned John's reserves as the Guards hooked far left to overpower

John's heavy cav/horse artillery.

A brilliant defense by John had thrown us off balance a few times and slowed the progress of the columns.

The next game will again feature the same terrain with differing problems posed. Hopefully it will not be as long to publish.

Work in Progress

I eventually go time to finish the ravelin which I started in April. If you view my post from the 29th April you will see it at the halfway stage. Actually this was finished about a month ago but our official photographer, Paul, has had the photos until now. Anyway here is the finished model. It will eventually form part of a more extensive Vauban fortification.

I am quite pleased with the result of my first ever scratch built model and now I must find the time to start construction on the two bastions. As you may recall I have the gateway already (another scratch built model purchased from Phil Olley).

I have gone for a pretty rough hewn effect (more to do with my limited modelling skills than a design decision!). This will form the defences of a small fortress or town rather than the more grand defences of Lille and such like.

A view from the attackers perspective (Paul getting creative).

I hope to finish at least one bastion this month and will post pictures as and when I do. My time is torn between finishing the fortifications and building up my new project: The 2nd Mahratta war and the campaign against Tipoo Sultan. More on this when I have some photos. . . .