1866 Austrians and Allies take on Prussians and their Allies

Finally got around to having the game with Jack and Bob that I threatened.  Way too many figures but an opportunity to show them to Jack who hadn’t seen them before, despite making a number of the moulds for me.

It started as a game using Black Powder but quickly degenerated into more of a chatting match.  After Jack had his second glass of Shiraz and a bacon sandwich and we discussed which of us was going to get to the pearly gates first this just turned into a photo shoot opportunity.  So lots of pictures not much text but we enjoyed ourselves which was all that mattered.

On the Prussian left flank is a brigade of light and heavy cavalry consisting of Hussars, Uhlans and Cuirassiers

 

The next to them a brigade of Allied troops from Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, Lippe and Saxe Coburg

 The centre is made up of Prussian infantry supported by artillery

On the right is another allied brigade of troops from Brunswick, Bremen and Waldeck

On the extreme right is another Brigade of cavalry consisting of 2 regiments of Prussian Dragoons and Dragoons from Mecklenburg and Oldenburg. 

  

 The Austrians had a mixed force of Austrian. Bavarians, and Wurtemburgers supported by troops from Nassau, Saxony, Scheswig Menningan, Baden and Hesse Kessel.  On the right was a mixed brigade of cavalry with Austrain Uhlans, Bavarian Cuirassiers and Light dragoons and Hesse Kessel Hussars.

 

Supported by Wurtettemburgers and Bavarians  in the centre and the Austrians on the left flank.

 Jack and Bob plot the Prussian strategy. Which quickly goes to pot as Jack never seeing the opportunity to wait with his cavalry launches a frontal assault on the Austrian artillery and Jagers on the hills to his front.

  

The Mecklenburgh Hussars charge the Austrian artillery.  Needless to say they are driven away.

 The same is true for the first regiment of dragoons who are charging up hill into the Austrian Jagers.

A lot of head scratching about what to do next.  Withdraw the remaining cavalry or plough on!   This is of course Jack and retiring isn't part of his vocabulary so they charge on!

 In the centre the Prussian infantry brigades advance

The Prussian artillery enjoy some success routing an Austrian regiment

 Poor Austrian artillery allows the Oldenburg Hussars to charge home routing the gunners but at the same time running into the Austrian cavalry brigade who drive them back.

 The second regiment of Prussian Dragoons also enjoy success with some pitiful rifle fire failing to stop them they rout the Jagers.

Jack celebrates this brief cavalry victories.

In the centre the Bavarians close on their Prussian enemy.

 The Prussian regiments form a formidable firing line 

The second glass of Shiraz slows the thought process!

The Bavarians quickly try to counter the Prussian firing line.

The combined allied cavalry of the right finally get moving and charge the Prussian Hussars who are put to flight

 

 The Austrian allies and Prussians firing line grows in length.  Unfortunately, the actual firing ranges from feeble to pathetic and even the extra boost given to the Prussians fails to have any effect.

Another Prussian Hussar Regiment is put to flight.

 Even at close range the firing is hopeless

 The Brunswickers and Bremen infantry rush to join the fray.

 Still the deadlock goes on.   The Austrians throw the last of their allied reserves into the firing line but still both sides remain locked in a series of hopeless firing throws and good saving dice

At this point and with 2 glasses of Shiraz and a bacon sandwich having an effect we decided to call it a day.

A Good couple of weeks

It has been a really good couple of weeks from my point of view.   I have been able to find good wargaming homes for Jack’s hand built ships and some of the figures and at the same time put names to faces of some fellow wargamers who I had only spoken to by email or on their Blog sites and to raise some money for Cancer Research at the same time.  I am looking forward to seeing pictures and the figures in action.  Of course like all good wargamers I passed on tasks as well as finished products painting Jacklex ships crews for the most part and I will be interested to see what, if any, different approach is made to painting these ‘Jolly Jack Tars’.  For my part I kept them as bare metal for more years than I care to think about!

I had great pleasure in meeting a fellow blogger ‘Bob The Painter’ (Douglas Miniatures.blogspot.co.uk)  last week and looking very enviously at his marvellous collection of figures and terrain.  I had always thought Bob Black and I were a bit odd as we had never settled or specialised on a particular period.   Imagine my joy at seeing all the different and beautifully painted period that Bob the Painter (too many Bob’s) has tucked away and not feeling quite so odd. 

Many thanks for a great few hours Bob in which I felt normal and cancer was a million miles away!  That is one of the joys of our hobby it can distract you from all the daily grind for a few hours and take you to far flung places of imagination.  You know we are really very lucky.

I also had the opportunity to exchange emails and eventually talk to Mark Lodge the new owner of the Jacklex range produced by our fellow gamer Jack Alexander.  Over the years Jack has produced one off figures for games he and I, or the 3 of us, have played which never made it into commercial production.  Over time Bob and I have sorted some (a very few) of Jack’s collection of hundreds of moulds lying in boxes in his garage and so I knew where to find bits that were not parts of the range that Spenser Smith used to offer or were simply deemed missing.  I believe that when Mark launches the range hopefully in September this will be the most comprehensive Jacklex 20mm range to ever have been marketed.  This is a wonderful range and I look forward to carrying more details on both this and our sister blogsite All Things Jacklex over the coming months.

Bob's 28mm Ottoman Army

Whenever we have a game using Bob’s Ottoman and Renaissance armies, the number of hits on the blog are high and there is clearly a real interest in both the figures and the period.

On wet days I like to get my armies out of their boxes and see what I have and take pictures and post them.

When we play with Bob’s figures, invariably we only use a part of his armies so I convinced him to open all the boxes and lay out all his Ottomans, probably for the first time to see what he had and I took some pictures.  The pictures don’t do real justice to the numbers of figures and the mass effect of such a large army.  Bob has added a bit here and there over time as we all do and it was stunning to see them all out in one go.

Having done this for the first time Bob has decided that we should record all his armies so look out for some more mass effect, heraldry and unusual figures!  

I make no apologies for the number of pictures.  Bob has also added a narrative about the different makes.

'I bought an Ottoman army from Essex. The bulk of the Janissaries (pics 1+2) came from this army, along with the Spahis. Rest of the Janissaries are from Irregular, who also supplied Spahis and light cavalry (pic 3). The light cavalry includes Balkan cavalry, Turks, as well as Huns and other steppe riders. '

 'The “mob” are six large bases of white coated infantry from Lancashire Games, with assorted hand weapons (pics 7+8 + 23). '

 'The six Sultan’s guard each with a different banner are castings from a Polish souvenir that Alan brought back from Poland in 1994.'

'Guns are from Old Glory, Irregular, and a mortar with crew and accessories from Eureka Miniatures. There’s also a unit of Turkish pirates from Eureka(18)'

'There are figures from Hinchcliffe, Parkfield, Redoubt, and Pechenegs from 1^st Corps, as well some old Minifigs.

Best guns for FPW period

Still going strong! Not being able to acquire genuine S range artillery I have been looking at the various models available with which to arm my Prussians in particular.

I have looked at what is available on the UK market.  I do know that their are  some good models available in the US but when I have tried to purchase these, they either aren't posted to the UK or the postage is really high and makes them prohibitively expensive.

So this is a look at the guns that are easily available over here.  I have had to rule out what look like some excellent looking field pieces on the Northstar 28mm 1866 range as they come with gunners and the guns are not sold separately.  Call me mean but I don't want to spend £12 and throw away 4 gunners. I also ruled out the 20mm B&B FPW artillery as having bought some I considered them too small.  They are shown as unpainted guns in the pictures below.

Basically, this left me with 28mm Foundry and Old Glory.

Franco Prussian War Artillery - Prussian
Make	Type	Length (inc Barrel)	Wheel Diameter	Width	Barrel length
Old Glory GSG-002	Krupp Gun	57mm	25mm	30mm	37mm
Foundry FPPG001	Prussian Field Gun	52mm	22mm	25mm	30mm
Foundry FPPG002	Prussian 90mm Krupp Field Gun	65mm	20mm	38mm	37mm

These are the Krupp Guns available (L to R  25mm Old Glory, 28mm Foundry 90mm Field Gun and for scale a 20mm B&B Prussian Artillery piece.  The Foundry guns can be bought separately and after adding VAT (tax) run in at a little over £6 each plus P&P  for the Prussian Field Gun whilst the 90mm Krupp gun is  £8 plus VAT and P&P.  whilst the Old Glory are around £12 for 2 guns plus P&P.  The 20mm guns are the cheapest.  They could be 'light field' guns given the size, but the seats make them look a bit odd.

The only gun capable of seating my 'Minifigs/S range conversion' is the 28mm Foundry Gun.  The Old Glory gun would probably sit a 20mm gunner.  

As you can see the wheels on the Old Gory wheels are much larger than their Foundry counterpart.

Just to prove a point 20mm and Old Glory 25mm side by side.

 My original artillery from my Crimean War S range army.  This piece is from the S range era, although I don't know whether it is actually an S range piece. Oddly it has a rammer moulded onto the underside of the gun carriage.  The guns were painted way back when by the original owner and I have left them in the same painted condition.

So these are the guns I settled on 2 Foundry guns and the Old Glory Krupp guns.

The real surprise is that the Foundry Prussian Field Gun has a longer gun carriage that the 90mm Krupp gun by comparison. I haven't bought the Prussian 21cm Foundry Krupp Mortar at £8 plus VAT and postage or the 15cm Krupp Siege Gun again at £8 plus VAT (although oddly this looks the closest to the style of the original S range flied piece.

I hope this is of some help.

The Hardest Blog to write?

Well went to see the doctor with a bit of indigestion at the beginning of March and by the end of the month was told it was terminal cancer.  No cure months, not weeks at least!

Having been a gym person and passed all my medicals up to this point it was a bit of a surprise but I guess we all have a shelf life and mine is coming up.  So back home and then looking at 40 years or more collection of Wargame stuff and where to start to sort it all out?

Bit of a bummer as I had cast up figures for my ongoing 1866 project and they sit and stare at me.  Decided that I may push on with these for a bit.  But what to do with them all?  So many home made moulds.  Quality varies but they work.  Castings and other bits and pieces.

Last week, John has sent me examples of the various Belgium/Austrians and French in Mexico figures I made up for him.  The castings look very nice and are available from him.  Annoyingly, as I can see how some of them could fit into my French 1870 army.  I hope to paint some of these too show the finished article. 

So I am looking for advice, rather than sympathy.  The 15mm Napoleonic stuff should be easy to move as their are many collectors but when it comes to the old S range it is a bit more selective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder so to speak. Not everyone's period either.

The question is do I sell all my S range as a collection, or in parts?  My desire is for them to go to someone who would appreciate them for what they are and maybe keep altering them.  But, by the same token, that’s a big ask and there may be many who would like some, but not all and what price does one ask?  It is not an immediate issue.  I am told that since I am ‘fit and well’ (bit ironic) that starting the treatment early means I have a chance of responding better and (maybe) some extra time. 

Before getting a chance to post this l got rushed into hospital this time last week.  If someone had told me it was all over I would have been happy.  But the brilliant nursing staff and doctors at our local NHS hospital got me back home 'fit-ish and more important mentally well enough' to at least post this blog and continue the clear out. 

Setting myself goals and milestones Christmas being the first, then see how things progress.  You never know.

Still aim to wargame with Jack and Bob for as long as I can and hopefully post lots of pictures.  Promised Jack a Franco Prussian/Austrian/Allies mega game with my S range figures may look silly getting everything onto the table but what the hell.