Somewhere in Saxony, 1813 – Russians under review

Saxony 1813 – September/October’ish. Generallieutenant Baron Winzingerode’s Russian Corps of the allied Army of the North are to be reviewed. Much to their disgust the 24th Division of Generalmajor Vuich and the supporting cavalry brigade of Generalmajor Manteufel are ensnared in this order. Don’t the fools know that the French are like slippery frogs demons who will take advantage of any respite given to them?!

Except where noted all figures are from Front Rank Figurines and paint applied by the Greater Queeg. All flags sourced from GMB Designs. Figures selected by, choreographed and based by von Peter himself.

24th Division Command – Generalmajor Vuich

Generalmajor Vuich doffs his bicorne to a senior officer who has arrived with news of the battle … err, parade. Vuich’s adjutant waits patiently and respectfully a little to the rear while an alert cossack keeps an eye out for any potential danger … and perhaps a stray rabbit which would make a fine addition to the evenings meal. Grenadier Simonovich is a little untidy amongst the dignitaries and will probably get a dressing down if Generallieutenant Baron Winzingerode should pass this way on his review!

Brigade of Colonel Zwarikin

Colonel Zwarikin commands one brigade of the 24th Division. Here he can be seen actually in the lead of his brave troops. The Colonel is well known for his disdain of danger on the parade ground and here he is also showing disdain for an incoming officer (an early Perry, ie. Wargames Foundry figure) who is left to make his point to the Colonel’s adjutant.

The two battalions on the left of the line – as the good reader looks at the screen – with the light grey flags are the first and third battalions of the Chirvan Infantry Regiment. As is the Russian way the first battalion has one white and one ‘coloured’ flag. The third battalion has two coloured flags. These are all Wargames Foundry figures … except for two of the four standard bearers who are Front Rank Figurines. The way that Foundry packaged the command blisters that von Peter himself desired resulted in a solitary standard bearer being obtained with each. von Peter himself was far too ‘careful’ of his military budget to purchase extra blisters just to get a single standard bearer out of each.

The two battalions with the light brown flags are the first and third battalions of the Oufa Infantry Regiment. For the curious the second battalion of a Russian 1813 Infantry Regiment was designated as the regiments depot battalion. Not that this saved many of them from eventually being sent to the front as the great grinding machine that was the later Napoleonic Wars demanded more and more fodder. For a closer picture of the third battalion and some more information on the Russian infantry take a peek at a prior post - More Russians trudge to the front.

Brigade of Colonel Maznew

Colonel Maznew’s brigade is constituted of one Jager Regiment and one Musketeer Infantry Regiment.

The Jagers provided the bulk of the light troops for the Russian divisions. The 24th Division contains two Jager Regiments in total with the 19th Jager under the command of Colonel Maznew. von Peter himself desired that his Russian jagers be oufitted in their green ‘winter’ trousers with the red stripe along the outside leg. Something a bit different from the musketeer battalions. Ideally there should be short gaiters but obviously the regimental tailors have been unable to provide these with all the campaigning that’s been going on.

The Bourtirki Infantry Regiment is represented by just its first battalion for now. The third battalion is to be added in the future. The prior post Standards … at last provides a closer picture of this battalion and some chat of Russian infantry flags.

Because the jagers are modelled as firing lines and the Bourtirki are in active charging poses with muskets stretched forward all of Colonel Maznew’s battalions are based on deeper than normal bases. von Peter himself simply cannot abide figures overhanging the edges of their bases as this would seem to be a recipe for bent and eventually broken muskets etc. Fortuitously this has meant that the two Russian brigades are on two different base depths which greatly aids in the identification of the two brigades when they are at war.

Brigade of Colonel Bulinski

There is a third as yet unmodelled brigade – that of Colonel Bulinski – that completes the infantry of the 24th Division. It comprises the 40th Jager Regiment and the Tomsk Infantry Regiment. At the snapshot in time that the order of battle of the 24th Division is being recreated only a single battalion of each of these units is present – either because they are off on separate –  garrison? – duties somewhere or the two battalions of the regiment have been combined into a single battalion. It is quite possible that von Peter himself will flesh these regiments out to the full two battalions each just because he can … and as a reflection of the 24th Divisions renown and to reflect von Peter’s prestige!  8O)

Light Battery #46

The 24th Division has integral artillery support in the form of Light Battery number 46. The Russians built their batteries on the larger side and Light Battery #46 came with the normal 12 ‘gun tubes’ – eight 6 pounder canon and four of the 12 pounder ‘unicorn’ which can be described as a cross between a canon and a howitzer.

Cavalry Brigade of Generalmajor Manteufel

Generalmajor Manteufel has been given the care of the St. Petersburg Dragoon Regiment and the Elizabethgrad Hussar Regiment.

The St. Petersburg Dragoon Regiment is famed for its martial exploits. To quote Alexander Mikaberidze from The Napoleon Series …

In 1808, it was awarded the 1807 St. George cuirassier model standards (one white and four greens) in recognition of the capture of three French “flags” during the 1805 and 1806/1807 Campaigns (etendard of the 11th Dragoon Regiment in 1805 and eagle of the 18th Line on 7 February and 44th Line on 8 February 1807). 

The Elizabethgrad Hussars have been modelled as two units to reflect the large size of the Russian Hussar regiments. It has also been modelled with the front rank armed with lances. The Russians trialled this with various degrees of success and longevity across their hussar regiments.

The cavalry regiments of this brigade are all sourced from Wargames Foundry unlike the command stand who hail from Front Rank.

Assorted Hangers on

Perhaps it would not be a true Russian force without a few extra persons of quality and distinction included in the roster.

The above stand will eventually command a brigade of cossacks. The commander with his mace is Front Rank’s General Platov figure and would normally wear blue. von Peter himself wanted something a little different so he instructed requested the Greater Queeg to give this particular figure a coat of green. Perhaps not very cossacky, but Russiany … and importantly – not very Platovy. An officer of the Cossacks of the Imperial Guard in his spiffy red is on hand to add some class to the proceedings and an overworked adjutant completes the group.

Father Disputin – distinguished ancestor of the notorious yet to come Rasputin – looks after the spiritual health of the Russian troops … and any loot that may come his way … for the good of the church you understand!

And what of the future for von Peter’s Russians? Raw recruits have been found – ie. the metal has been obtained and quietly awaits its turn in storage – for the expansion of the 24th Division, several more command stands, a regiment of grenadiers, a brigade of kuirassieres and a bunch of cossacks. All will come to fruition in Gods time as Father Disputin would say.

And finally von Peter himself likes to keep his vast horde of avid readers aware of some of the changes in the flora and fauna of the wargaming portion of the internet. No truly! So, dear reader, please be notified that there is a new blog out there under the title of The League of Augsburg. Not the first League of Augsburg on the ‘net – see the other League of Augsburg – but to be fair it has the same group of creative types behind it.

To provide an explanation of the blog who better to describe it than the site itself so with the assistance of a quick copy & paste …

The purpose of the League of Augsburg blog is to support the continued growth of Beneath the Lily Banners, the launch of Donnybrook, Warfare Miniatures, and the general promotion of the period of military history from 1660-1721 (give or take a couple of decades). There will be multiple authors and artists contributing to these pages and after we launch we will consider submissions from guests as well, creating an alliance worthy of the name The League of Augsburg. The plan is to present a wide variety of articles – history, wargaming, painting, terrain building, scenarios, and battle reports, as well as news for Warfare Miniatures, Wordtwister Publishing, and Quindia Studios. We also aim to provide unique content that you won’t find on our our other various websites (though expect some cross promotion from time to time as part of our news). Finally, the Fighting Talk Forum will still be central for debates on the period, but we hope you will all comment and participate here as well!

Until we meet again …

Salute

von Peter himself 

How to truly guard your game

von Peter himself had cause to visit Christchurch – yes, THAT Christchurch of recent earthquake fame – on the business of his employer. While there he poked his nose into a hall attached to the shore facility HMNZS Pegasus and was amazed at the hardware that was mounted in that same hall. From memory there was …

• a four inch naval gun
• a (presumably ex Navy) 40mm gun
• a (presumably ex Navy) 20mm gun

von Peter himself feels quietly confident that the readership will be able to sort out which is which all by themselves!  8O)

What a venue for gaming … especially WWII naval gaming.

And for the record … PEGASUS is named after Pegasus Bay on the east coast of Canterbury province. The ship’s badge was transferred from a former ship of the same name in the Royal Navy. That ship has battle honours stretching from St Vincent in 1780 to the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941.

It’s been well over a month since the last post so this is well over due. The plan was that this post would be showing off some Napoleonic Frenchmen in their greatcoated glory but they have been rather lax in mustering. A single colour is about all they can manage in a evenings mustering which is hardly a pas de charge painting rate. And one might think that there is not much to paint on a greatcoated Frenchman, but think again. There’s still quite a bit there.

So the Frenchmen were turning into a little bit of a disappointment as far as generating a post. What next? A cunning plan was required. So out came the Russians and a flurry of feverish activity saw the leaders and infantry being upgraded as required to the current von Peter himself patented basing standard. This mostly involved …

• a quick dusting – being able to leave your figures on the table for as long as you want does come at a cost!
• the application of tufts
• the application of the occasional flowering plant – best not to overdo this lest all pretence at manliness is lost!

This was followed up by a clearing off of the gaming table which had accumulated lots of gaming detritus mainly as the result of re-oiling the wooden floorboards elsewhere in Schloss von Peter … which had meant the dislocation of the aforementioned gaming detritus onto the aforementioned table.

So now the way is clear for that cunning plan alluded to earlier. There is to be a grand parade of the Russian 24th Division of Generalmajor Vuich – or at least that portion of the division currently mustered – and some supporting cavalry. Photographic evidence will be accumulated and revealed in/on this blog in the hopefully not too distant future.

The Russians are well placed for this sort of group flaunting as all the required generals are on hand to lead their brigades. von Peter himself really needs to sort out this aspect with his Prussians.

Oh and apologies for the pictures of the naval ordnance at the head of this post. They were taken with von Peter’s trusty and much beloved iPod Touch.

Until we meet again …

Salute

von Peter himself 

A temporary ‘little low’

von Peter himself has suffered an inspired period of gaming productivity since his last post. Hmmm, not a good start as it is not really that true. If only it were. One should at least aim for a modicum of truthfulness if one has pretensions of being an international blogger. Bad bad von Peter!!  Let’s start over shall we?  8O)

Lights … camera … take 2 … ACTION …

The three weeks since the last post have not been that productive and in truth the wargaming juices have been at a somewhat low ebb for von Peter himself. If pressed for a reason he would probably shrug his shoulders and mutter indiscernible mutterings under his breath. Perhaps the thought of the incoming winter is to blame though its usual precursors have been very slow to make their appearance this year. As a related event New Zealand Daylight Saving Time came to an end which is always a little disruptive. Winter really is on its way even if we have got no where near to lighting the fire yet. There’s always the dog to blame as well!  8O)

The time has not been a total waste though. A further two English Civil War Covenanter command bases have been welcomed into the rebased Covenanter Armee – one for the infantry (above) and the other for the cavalry (below). von Peter himself got a little excited when completing the basing on these and broke open his pack of yellow flowers. Such wild exuberance!

Unfortunately the lighting is not that great for the dismounted figure on the infantry command stand. In reality his facial complexion matches that of the mounted figure. Honest.

The understanding of von Peter himself is that most of his purchased ECW Covenanter army are Foundry Miniatures figures … but not all. The figures on the cavalry command stand do not look that Foundry’ish to von Peter himself.

Four Calpe Miniatures French voltigeurs are slowly plodding onward as well. Four doesn’t sound like many – mostly because it’s not – but they do constitute both a stand and a company for von Peter’s French. The guilty secret is that every now and then von Peter himself sneeks a company of French into the painting queue as a breath of fresh air. This is the third occasion and half a battalion of Route March French will have been completed on the sly when this stand is done.

This meagre output is positively stellar however when compared to The son & heir’s though <snigger snigger>. Of course he has been busy with schooling … and the XBox and Facebook <gag> … but it is nearly the end of term and some inducement/bribe may need to be forthcoming to get him to finish his Italianised version of Martin Kelly’s Befreiungskriege 1813-14 Limited Edition Figures over the school holiday.

And there was a game at Terry’s. A five player Black Powder game which was notable in that one side was completely manned by Austrians – a first for von Peter himself in a game this large. The son & heir concurrently savoured the highs and lows as the defender of a two section village. A Bavarian light battalion held out turn after turn despite growing odds whereas a Bavarian line battalion gave it away at the first opportunity. A double ’1′ followed by another double ’1′ will do that I guess. His big regret however was that he had kept the beloved Saxon battalions of von Peter himself in reserve and didn’t manage to get them mangled! There’s gratitude for you!!

Wargames Soldiers & Strategy spotted in New Zealand – the verdict

As a follow up to the last post von Peter himself is happy to report that he very much enjoyed reading the issue of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy (WS&S) that he spotted in a local purveyor of magazines. At this point in time – because in von Peter’s experience these things have a tendency to change over time – von Peter himself would rate this as his preferred read over Wargames Illustrated, the old/current Miniature Wargames and the old/current Battlegames.

‘Old/current’ is used above because Miniature Wargames is about to be revamped and merged with Battlegames to become ‘Miniature Wargames with Battlegames’ complete with a revamped look under the editorialship of Henry Hyde of Battlegames fame. Where this merged and revised entity will sit in the von Peter himself magazine hierarchy remains to be seen but the first issue is on order from Caliver Books.

For now von Peter himself has confirmed that WS&S is available as a regular release down here in NZ so he will be hunting it down on a regular basis.

Don’t forget to click on the images for larger and much improved versions of the image.

Until we meet again …

Salute

von Peter himself 

New Calpe website … and a bl**dy sheep runs amok!

von Peter himself has been wringing his hands awaiting the arrival of the new Calpe Miniatures website and now it’s here. Well it has been here for a few weeks now but the wheels turn slowly at von Peter’s command post at times. Same address as before …

http://www.calpeminiatures.co.uk/

… but now presented as a brand new modern website. But be warned it is still fairly new and is still being polished and not all products are loaded yet. A few points …

• There is a shopping basket facility available for ordering directly from the site.
• Not all of the current figures will make it to the new site. The older figures are now known as Calpe Veterans and a link is provided to what is basically the old Calpe website for access to these.
• A news facility is available so keep an eye on this area for Calpe news (as well as Martin Kelly’s Befreiungskriege 1813-14 blog). News posted to date includes …
  • News on new French march attack figures and artillery.
  • The new Prussian march attack musketeers are on their way.
  • The current Saxons are to be pulled and replaced around the end of March.
  • A price increase due to the increased price of metal. Figures will be £1.15 and horses £1.70.
• A Guides & Research area is available. Calpe have always been well regarded for the uniform and organisation research they make available. Currently information is provided for the Saxon and French figures that Calpe supplies. I’m not sure where all the information on the Prussians will be placed – presumably in this section. At the moment it can still be got at via the relevant range pages from the Calpe Veterans link/pages.
• A new discount scheme has been revealed as per the graphic below.

Wargames Soldiers & Strategy spotted in New Zealand

von Peter himself was due to meet Terry & Roly for lunch and was looking forward to a good dose of hobby chat. The problem was that he was early. What to do? Perusing a magazine shop was chosen as part of the solution. What a surprise for von Peter himself to see issue 64 of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy (WS&S) staring back at him from the shelves. Not that there is anything special about issue 64 as such. It’s just that von Peter himself was not aware that WS&S was available in New Zealand shops. The owner of the shop was not present but his stand-in was fairly sure that this was not the first issue of the magazine that they had stocked. Interesting. I purchased their last/only copy. Sorry Roly!  8O)

A quick look in another magazine shop revealed two further copies of the same magazine. So perhaps it is true that WS&S is now stocked in New Zealand by at least some of the high street magazine outlets. And at a reasonable price too. This is a discovery of a most surprising and excellent nature. von Peter himself will be keeping his eyes open for any more issues.

Bl**dy sheep runs amok – collection in peril! A horror story!!!

So there was von Peter himself working with some shingle down the drive. Suddenly the sounds of rapidly moving beasts are to be heard and von Peter himself turns around to see one of the neighbour’s trespassing sheep being herded down the drive by our pet canine Laelaps who is happily loping along after it. Before von Peter himself could bring the situation under control – via the issuing of some rather colourful and creative language – the pair had disappeared up the drive, up the steps and vanished into the courtyard abutting Schloss von Peter.

Although not personally witnessing the next few seconds von Peter himself can recount second hand how the dog chased the sheep for a complete loop of the house; and how it is still a mystery that Fraulien von Peter herself was not dethroned from the ladder up on which she was situated; and how The son & heir who was working on some art for school to the LOUD sounds of what he would term music could not make out that Fraulien von Peter herself was banging on the window and yelling at him to shut the door into Schloss von Peter.

von Peter himself arrived on the scene just in time to see the sheep disappearing into this very same door. The dog promptly ceased the chase with a distinct look of

‘hmmm, that’s not meant to happen’

promptly followed by the

‘ahhh, nothing to do with me’

look, instantly followed by the

‘I think I’ll make myself a little less prominent’

action. Both Fraulien von Peter herself and The son & heir usefully(!!!) stood aside and looked at von Peter himself. They both wore the

‘One does not have a dog and bark oneself’

look and so it was that von Peter himself was left to bravely enter Schloss von Peter and retrieve the potentially destructive and carnivorous sheep!

The now somewhat disturbed sheep was found cowering in the master bedroom at the far end of Schloss von Peter. It was while gently and humanely persuading the sheep to leave the way it had come that the stupid creature managed to dart into a side room – The Bastion. Fear and alarm instantly coursed through von Peter himself. The Bastion, or gaming room to those not in the know, is packed full of figures, terrain and other treasures. And this stupid sheep looked like it wanted to plough it’s way through everything stored under the gaming table. The potential for destruction of such a manoeuvre defies thought. Then a box of unpainted Napoleonic Russians was trod upon by a sheepish foot. No major damage to the figures as was later ascertained but the box was done for. Paternal protective instincts now fully took over and the sheep was unceremoniously grabbed and dragged out of Schloss von Peter in as discourteous a manner as any sheep shearer would be proud of.

Danger averted. von Peter himself – what a hero!!!   8O)

Until we meet again …

Salute

von Peter himself 

More Russians trudge to the front

von Peter himself proudly presents yet another battalion from his Russian 24th Division circa 1813. This time it is the 3/Oufa Infantry Regiment – well that’s the spelling that von Peter himself is going with from the many versions available – and it heralds the completion of Colonel Zwarikin’s brigade with two battalions each of the Chirvan and Oufa Infantry Regiments.

For the curious von Peter’s version of the Oufa Infantry Regiment carry 1803 Line Infantry Pattern Standards of the Orenburg Inspection.

Front Rank Figurines painted by the Greater Queeg. The standards are by GMB Designs. Figure selection, basing and assorted errors by von Peter himself.

Sadly this is the second time that von Peter himself has completed this battalion. While sitting in the car with The son & heir awaiting the arrival of the good Fraulien von Peter herself the following conversation was had …

von Peter himself: “I finally finished the 3/Oufa battalion last night” <smug look on his face>

The son & heir: “Did you paint the finials on the standard poles?”

von Peter himself: “<Beep>  <Beep> <Beeeeeep>!”

So that night the 3/Oufa Infantry Regiment was completed again. Certainly not as tragic a story as it might have been!  8O))

Above is a picture of a new Russian casualty marker. Last night’s gruel was a bit much for poor Dimitri whose stomach is giving him quite a bit of grief today!

Because we know that Dimitri is from the 24th Division and because of his yellow shoulder straps – which you can’t quite see – and ignoring the standards we can tell that he is a proud member of the Oufa Infantry Regiment. And by his full yellow pompon we can tell that he is from the strelki (light/skirmisher) platoon of the grenadier company from the first battalion.

Just beside and to the rear of Dimitri is the third battalion of the Oufa Regiment – the strelki platoon at the left end of their line have yellow over light blue pompons and the musketeers have light blue with a white centre pompons. Further to the rear is Dimitri’s battalion – the first battalion of the Oufa Infantry Regiment although the strelki’s yellow pompons look a little more orangey due mostly to poor lighting!

Now all this talk of pompon colours – and be thankful that von Peter himself has not also ranted on about grenadier pompons or fatigue cap colourings – has been of the generally accepted version of reality but disturbingly there is word coming out of Russian that perhaps this regime was not adopted until 1817 by the Russian army. See Some notes on Napoleonic Russian uniforms from Burkhard’s dhcwargamesblog. Whatever, the Russians of von Peter himself are too far down the track to now consider changes. The 24th Division was obviously ahead of their time!  8O)

Don’t forget to click on the images for larger and much improved versions of the image.

Until we meet again …

Salute

von Peter himself 

Standards … at last

Finally the deal is signed and sealed for the Napoleonic Russian 1/Bourtirki (or Bourtiski or any number of alternate spellings!) Infantry Regiment. Standard poles have been made from brass wire, glued to hands and painted. The standards have been ordered, arrived, cut out, glued to the aforementioned standard poles and shaped. And the now complete battalion has been photographed for propaganda purposes!  8O)

Napoleonic Russian infantry standards have always been a bit of a mystery to von Peter himself. Several designs were issued throughout the wars and listings of these by regiment is not difficult to discover. But which regiment actually received which flag design and when has alluded von Peter himself. And to be honest this lack of detail is a bit of an artistc boon. The regiments already present in von Peter’s growing Russian army have to date been given 1803 issue Inspection based standards but this has become a little boring. Hence the Bourtirki Infantry Regiment is graced by their older 1797 onwards issue standards – a much more colourful and interesting option. A bit of a push perhaps for the 1813 version of the Bourtirki Infantry Regiment but apparently some regiments – who knows which ones – didn’t get their replacement flags until 1813 … coincidently when a new 1813 line infantry pattern flag began its introduction! And von Peter himself has not even mentioned the 1800 line infantry pattern flag!  8O)

Being the first battalion of the regiment this battalion gets one white regimental standard and one coloured battalion standard. The third battalion will receive two coloured battalion standards whenever it is formed.

The standard poles are perhaps a little long. This is because von Peter himself modelled them on the standard poles he had already created for his other Russian battalions. A fine plan excepting that all those battalions fly the 1803 line infantry pattern standards of their Inspections which are physically larger than the 1797 onwards issue standards. Damnation!! This oversight was discovered just before attaching the flags to the painted standard poles that were already glued to the hands of the standard bearers. Far too late for the fragile mental state of von Peter himself to even contemplate ripping them off and cutting them down to size. Obviously the 1/Bourtirki are extremely proud of their standards and want them flown as visibly as possible on extended poles!  8O)

For the record the figures are all from Front Rank Figurines and were painted by the Greater Queeg. Standards from GMB Designs and composition, basing etc by von Peter himself.

Last Sunday von Peter himself and The son & heir ventured back to the French & Indian Wars in North America care of a time machine provided by Raymond Hutchison. 28mm black powder skirmish was the order of the day using the card driven ‘Muskets & Tomahawks’ rules from Studiotomahawk. This is the same French company that produce the Dark Ages skirmish rules ‘Saga’. Apparently ‘Muskets & Tomahawks’ predates ‘Saga’ but ‘Saga’ was  the first of the two to be published in English. If you’re interested you can check out Studiotomahawk’s forum.

von Peter himself was allocated the French allied Indians – the Hurons – while The son & heir was in charge of the partly regular, partly irregular French Marines. Michael had the French regulars but spent most of the game making his way through the woods. Craig & Colin ran the British who had the primary task of protecting a village and it’s citizenry that was placed roughly halfway between the two forces. Their task was always going to be of  the uphill variety.

Officially the French were not into wanton slaughter of civilians but what did the pale faces know. The Hurons had been promised plunder and the campaign to date had been noticeable for its lack of plunder. And there was bound to be plunder in the buildings!

In short the Hurons successfully plundered the village taking a few scalps along the way. Craig made them pay though with two of the three warbands gutted. In reality this would have been serious losses but was not a gaming consideration.

Raymond supplied the figures and terrain … and von Peter himself hardly took any pictures at all being fully occupied scalping civilians and militia. D’oh. The picture above of the three Indians gives an idea of the quality of the figures used in the game. There were actually six Indians present but the photos showing all six game out blurry while these good ones managed to hide the three rearward figures behind the front ones. Double D’oh! As can be seen Ray should be justifiably proud of the game he put on.

And don’t forget to click on the images for a larger more refined version.

Until we meet again …

Salute

von Peter himself 

ECW news … covering for some delayed Napoleonic news

Blogs wait for no man or their offspring … or their pet Napoleonic projects which should have been the focus of this post. An interval of around two weeks since the last post had left von Peter himself with a distinct feeling that he should be leaping into unaccustomed action to keep his blog alive. So here goes that leap.

Contrary to the plan not too much Napoleonic this time but for the record the current status of those projects Napoleonic closest to fruition report in as …

• the standards for the Russian 1/Bourtirki Infantry Regiment have been despatched by GMB Designs but have not as yet arrived at Schloss von Peter. von Peter himself is resolute that he will not under any circumstance be raising these standards until they arrive! So no more pictures of this particular incomplete battalion as yet.
  
• the basing of another Russian battalion – the 3/Oufa Infantry Regiment – continues at a somewhat lack lustre pace. The standards for this unit are on hand so cannot be blamed in any way for the non appearance of pictures of this battalion as a complete unit on this blog. Let’s move on quickly shall we.

Note that not good enough for the blog does not equate to not good enough to game with in the privacy of one’s own schloss. Both units have taken their place in the line of battle as vicious internecine warfare threatens between The son & heir and von Peter himself. The rules this time around will be (classic) Piquet using Piquet Inc’s Les Grognards Napoleonic supplement.

• The son & heir’s Italianisation of Martin Kelly’s Befreiungskriege 1813-14 Limited Edition Figures inches forward with minor updates to the last figure of the group – the newly naturalised Italian drummer. The son & heir blames a return to school for his poor performance and to be fair he has been putting in a startling number of hours on the school work front. It’s enough to make von Peter himself wonder just what has happened to the real The son & heir!

When not progressing his Napoleonic projects von Peter himself has the background task of rebasing his Scottish Covenanters. The Covenanter Commander in Chief stand was presented in the The A & E of Civil Wars post last December. But he will be needing assistance keeping all those burly pikemen, musketeers, cavalry and other less well ordered types in line and pointed in the right direction. This is where the two pictures above come in.

The picture at the top is a likeness of the the first of two cavalry commanders destined to lead the mounted element of the Covenanters. At the present he doesn’t actually have any rebased Covenanter cavalry to lead but the bloke with him is pretty handy with his sword so that’s a start!

The second picture represents the first of the Covenanter infantry commanders. At least he has some rebased infantry to lead so he’s feeling pretty pleased with himself. Life could be worse. He could be a cavalry commander with no cavalry to command!!  8O)

The son & heir has inflicted yet more crimes against good taste by insisting that a not quite right reproduction of the Royal Standard of Scotland – also known as the Lion Rampant of Scotland or the Banner of the King of Scots – be installed on the hallowed walls of The Bastion at Schloss von Peter. Not quite right because the full description of the banner runs to something like …

Red (Gules) lion rampant with blue (Azure) claws and tongue, within a red double border having a motif of alternating heraldic lilies, on a yellow (Or) field

So the tongue and claws should be blue and von Peter himself suspects that there should be more alternating heraldic lilies. But the overall effect is there.

Stuck between a Scottish heraldic flag and the Southern Rebel Dixie the young Napoleon in the picture would probably have a fit … or perhaps not. However if he knew that there are plans afoot to eventually add a Prussian Seven Years War or Napoleonic regimental flag to the mix he would be positively apoplectic!

And as always don’t forget to click the pictures to see larger clearer versions. You’d be mad not to!

Until we meet again …

Salute

von Peter himself