The Opening Moves!

For some time now, I have been discussing my mythical campaign, "Viva Espana!" which I think, by the way, I will rename "Viva Iberia!", to avoid any conflict with Two Fat Lardies Spanish Civil War campaign. Most of the posts so far have talked about collecting and painting the various forces to be involved, along with a couple of battle reports using either highly modified Charge! rules, or the more contemporary (and I believe more suitable) About Bonaparte by Dirk Donvil.

Now, for those of you that game in 54mm, you understand the logistical problems associated with large club games, especially if you want anything bigger than a skirmish.

Now,  in the depths of a particularly variable New England winter, I haven't been getting out as much as I used to. A large part of it I think has to do with my getting on in years, being in my eighth decade. Perhaps more relevant is that I don't like driving at night in the winter. That being said, a solo game or two combined with significant painting sessions, pretty much satisfy my gaming needs.  

 The basic rules were pretty much adhered to, so they would be a good indication of their suitability. For such solo games, I turn to Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames. For this, I will be using the basic map for Scenario 24, Bottleneck.

 The Blue force will be the French and the Red force Spanish. Using the dicing system to determine the forces involved, in this case a 6 unit force (blue) against a 4 unit force (red), the following were decided: French-> 3 infantry units, 1 artillery, and 2 skirmishers 

French Artillery and Commander

French Skirmishers

Two French and one Swiss Battalions

 Spanish-> 2 infantry, 1 artillery, and 1 skirmisher. Under the scenario conditions, one of the red units had to be skirmishers.

Spanish Skirmishers

Spanish Line

Spanish Commander and Artillery

In the next edition, I will go over the set up and opening moves, perhaps even the entire battle!

We're back...A New Year Beckons!

It's been awhile, longer than I expected but Der Resin Kavalier has finally returned. As most of you who have followed this occasional blog, I am retired and with all the time on my hands, I continually find new things to do and interests to pursue. In the last eight months or so, I've painted numerous figures, mostly 28mm World War 2 ranging from US Marines and their Japanese opponents, to North Africa with the 8th Army, Afrika Korps, and Italian troops. I made enough jungle terrain to covers most of a 4' x 6' table, built a model railroad, and of course played numerous rounds of golf. Having an wonderfully tolerant and understanding spouse has certainly helped Indeed, after nearly fifty years of marriage, I still can't believe how incredibly lucky I have been in that regard. But enough of the 2021, a new year is upon us. So back to Spain it is! But first, let me talk about something I've been meaning to do and that is discussing how conversions and paint jobs can create multiple units and nations, and with a minimum of work. So to change about the familiar Latin phrase E pluribus unum or, "out of many, one", I will change it to Ex unum figura, multae, or "out of one figure, many". In some of my earlier post, I showed you some pictures of some Bourbon Spanish troops that I converted from "A Call to Arms" (ACTA) French infantry. This involved, other than painting, a couple of steps:replacing the head, adding a plume, and finally painting it up. The photo below shows the process:

Another easy conversion involves the ACTA Waterloo Dutch Infantry. In looking to find some light infantry for my Spanish Army, I came across a listing both the names and uniforms of a number of these light infantry (www.littlewars.se/spanish/lightinf) One unit that caught my fancy was the Battalion de Voluntarios de Málaga. The dark green uniforms, purple facings,and buff belts/straps were calling out to be painted. The Dutch needed a bit of modification. They a cast with what appears to be the perfect shako, except that it is double-billed (Austrian surplus?). A bit of trimming, and we are good to paint, as shown below:

I'll finish up today by showing just what I meant by "out of one figure, many". The series below shows you the basic starting figures, Armies in Plastic set #5455, the French Second Foreign Regiment(who, I might add, contributed to the inventory of Spanish plumes for their bicorns).

Starting at the top we have Swiss, Nassau, Irish Legion, French Lights, and the original castings! Until next time...

On to Spain, Part 2

 In my last post, I showed you some of the Bourbon Spanish forces that will be used in my current campaign. The rules are titled About Bonaparte by Dirk Donvil. However, I noted in the previous post's opening that it has been my experience that no set of rules survives first contact with gamer. Let me state though that I like the mechanics of the rules and the results (so far) seem to be consistent with many other sets that are used for this period. Most of the changes I've incorporated are primarily aesthetic. So let's take a look.

I don't like square bases! I have been gaming with toy soldiers most of my life, and in an organized way (i.e. using written rules) for more than sixty years. From my earliest excursions, bases have been mostly rectangular. Dirk's rules use a 55mm x 55mm base for 2 infantry figures, which also allows for some creative landscaping. Four bases constitute a unit ( 8 figures). The rules allow for different basing, so mine are 3in x 1.5in, with three figures (12 per unit). It takes up more room, but I think it looks better. Light Infantry are mounted on the same size base but with two figures. Likewise, instead of splitting a base or removing a figure for casualties (and skirmishing), I just use a plastic ring to indicate it. 

The cavalry in AB are on individual bases 55mm x 110mm, and since I hate rebasing, I've let that alone. Artillery on the other hands is supposed to be on a 110mm x 110mm base with 3-5 gunners. I've left the gun un-based and the gunners on 1.25" fender washers. I think it looks good, and appears to have no significant impact on the rules play. Below are some photos of the French.

Artillery on the march!

French Line and Chasseurs à Cheval

In these photos, you can see the general deployment of  the troops.  

French Lights skirmishing

A Swiss Battalion in French Service

On to Spain! The Campaign Season Begins!

 It has been said by many much wiser than I, that no plan survives the first contact with the enemy. I think the same could be said for wargame rules. It's been my experience that gamers almost without exception  tinker with rules and rule sets after the first game or even reading. I am no different!

Although it's been several months since my last post on this blog, I haven't been idly puttering away. On the contrary, I've been painting, mounting, and playing with my 54's. Of course, most of the time it has been solo play as the pandemic continues (although it seems to be abating here in New England). In a recent video conference with members of my club, the consensus was that maybe by the end of April, when all of our members should be vaccinated, we just might be able to get together for a game. But getting back to my point...

I have been play testing Dirk Donvil's About Bonaparte rules for large 54mm Napoleonic battles. While I like the mechanics and play, there were (are) some things I have changed based on comments both from Dirk, my friend Ross, and of course my own observations. Likewise, I have been reading Neil Thomas' Napoleonic Wargaming and have adopted several of his ideas. 

So what's new? Well, I'll go into more detail in an upcoming post (I actually have several all lined up for final editing!) but the most obvious change is the basing. Now, I have been been brought up on rectangular bases for Napoleonics since, well, since Napoleon was a corporal. About Bonaparte uses a 55mm x 55mm base for infantry, 55mm x 110mm for cavalry, and 110mm x 110mm for artillery. My Anglo-American Armies for the War of 1812 were based that way in my early test games previously posted. Even using half bases for skirmisher, it just didn't look right to me. So I opted for 3" x 1.5" base for infantry. I didn't change the cavalry, and ignored basing for the artillery altogether. I just think it looks better, an doesn't seem to impact the game at all. I also ignored or modified the national characteristics for the various armies given in the rule book.  The actual mechanics of the rules were pretty much retained (subject to further play test, of course). 

We'll finish up today with some photos of my Spanish forces. I've already written about the modifications I made to come up with the infantry. The artillery and dragoons started as Armies in Plastic American Revolution artillerists and cavalry. Careful trimming of the tricorns, along with a plume, give a pretty good facsimile of those Spanish troops. 

Viva Espana, part 2

Follow-Up to Yesterday's Post

 Yesterday, I wrote about my conversion of some ACTA French Line into Bourbon Spanish infantry. I left you with some primed figures which unfortunately didn't convey the final product. I hope to rectify that today. Below is the "master figure" for my Spanish contingent (see my September blog for an explanation of "master figures"). He represents a soldier from the Regiment Grenada. The colors and details came from the long out-of-print Funcken book: Uniforms and Arms of Soldiers of the First Empire. If you can pick up a copy somewhere, it is well worth it. It's a two volume set, published originally in the late 1960's. I have had this set for some fifty plus years now, and I find it still valuable.

Viva Espana!

In my last post I displayed some pictures of my French and Allied figures that would make up my armies for the Peninsula Campaign to be played using the About Bonaparte rules. For those who might be thinking about such a campaign, real or imagined, the availability of figures for both the French and British armies is truly spectacular. Likewise the range in price varies from relatively low  ( Armies in Plastic or AIP) to moderate (A Call to Arms or ACTA, HaT), to the relatively expensive (Expeditionary Force, or XF). The general quality also varies with AIP being moderate at best, ACA and HaT being more highly detailed, to XF with its exceptional detail (and cost accordingly).

Similarly, the figures necessary to make up the various allied troops/auxiliaries are more or less a different paint job on one of the above existing.  For example, AIP British can become KGL or Portuguese; AIP can be painted as the various German States, Italian, or Neapolitan forces. 

Cavalry requires a bit more seaching, although both ACTA and XF have wide selections. Those figures sold as Napoleonic cavalry by AIP, are basic at best. Artillery is easily available from XF or AIP.

All are there for the painting except for one major power...the Spanish. But there is an answer and that, of course, is conversion! The cut of the Bourbon Spanish Army was essentially French, but with a bicorn and plume.  Now, in the early 19th century, European uniform design, as in the SYW of the previous century, boiled down to a couple of styles: French, or British. (Austria, Prussia, and Russia were more or less unique.) So this provides the starting point.

While I'm the first to admit that I am not a good photographer, these pictures should illustrate the conversions. The base figures for the infantry originally started out as ACTA Series 17 French Line Infantry. After removing the original head, I replaced it with one from Irregular Miniatures' line of  military heads. The plumes were taken from AIP set #5803/4. Using a pin vise, I drilled a hole in to both the base of the plume and the bicorn, then inserted a 0.020 brass wire fixed with CA. There was a bit of judicious carving and trimming with an Xacto knife with a #11 blade. And, yes, a bit of blood was spilled, but that is another story for another time.

The results were satisfactory and when painted up should provide a reasonable Spanish Infantryman. 

One further note: the officer is also from the AIP set. What I find, however, is that the Irregular heads don't look quite right on most AIP or HaT figures. ACTA figures are a bit slighter in build and a hair shorter. So they fit the figures almost by design.

Next time, I'll post some pictures of the initial French and British forces. The Brits you've seen before and the French were featured individually in my last post. 

1812 and All That...Now, On to Spain!

This year I made a promise to myself to try to publish at least one post in Der Resin Kavalier, every month. Well, today being the last day of September, it's publish or perish (well, no, not really). Why Spain or even Italy for that matter (the Battle of Maida is coming up!)? First and foremost: the British Army is all painted, based, and organized for battle using the About Bonaparte rules by  Dirk Donvil. A couple of boxes of AIP's  Napoleonic "2nd Foreign Regiment Chasseur -1810" (Set #5803) provided the French Line (and Lights, with a slight ignoring of the long-tailed coats). Some trimming required! So for the past few weeks, painting has occurred (more than usual, I might add). More to the point however, is that Napoleonics has always been my first love in this hobby...even more than AWI.

My normal routine when I am beginning to paint in a new era or scale is to do a series of what I call "master figures" -- prototypes for how I would want the rest to turn out. Fortunately, being units of usually no more than eight figures, this seems to work: more exacting on the first figure, somewhat less as short-cuts become apparent. So today, I present a few pictures of  the combatants! 

The first is a British Highlander, probably an old Airfix, that was given to me by my friend Ross a couple of years ago at Huzzah (along with about a dozen or so companions).

 Next couple are those AIP figures I mentioned in the first paragraph. They've been painted as both light and line infantry.

 Next, to add dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl, here is the first battery of the French artillery.  These are AIP.

They are followed by some Wurtemberg Infantry (HaT). Who would go to Spain without allies?  

 Finally, we have a dragoon that I think is A Call to Arms figure. I lost the original container that was their shipping package. He is a bit slighter in build than the AIP characters but the animation more than makes up for it!