Russian Campaign at Michael's - Part 3

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

More on our Campaign on the Invasion of Russian and my progress commanding the Westphalians in the Battle of Smolensk. We are using 6mm Adler Napoleonics.

Here is a view of the rest of the battlefield in and around Smolensk. I am assaulting the left, which if not shown on this image. Poniatovski's Poles are attacking to the left of the church in the centre of the image, while Ney is assaulting to the right of the town.


A view of the rest of the battlefield

Poniatovski's Poles slip past the cavalry in their staring competition to hide in the cornfields to the rear of the town only to discover a brigade of Russian infantry

the Russians and Poles come to grips in the cornfields

Ney manages to punch a hole in the Russian lines atop the ridge packed with artillery using 2 battalions of Hessian Guards supported by French infantry to their left and right

The 4 Hessian battalions assaulting the Russian line forces them back in total dissarray creating a hole that could be exploited

Back to my attack.

With only Cossack skirmishers now between me and the main Russian lines, it was now time to hand over the attack to my Westphalian Infantry. The Cavalry moved further to the left to threaten the rear of the left most position of artillery (36 pieces of 6 pounders!) and a protecting brigade of Hussars.

With the front open, the 1st of my 2 infantry divisions deploy wide with 1 brigade of 5 battalions in a line of columns moving towards the enemy gun position on the left mentioned above, and the other brigade of 6 battalions in a line of columns moving to the enemy gun position on the right. This 2nd position also contained 36 guns but 24 of them were 12 pounders. Nasty! Needless to say a large skirmisher screen was pushed forward to occupy the guns but it was not long before both the skirmishers and columns were taking casualties from the guns. I had to make my move quick.

My lead division of Westphalian infantry spread wide to threaten the enemy gun positions to their front

The left brigade

With the left brigade I pushed forward 2 battalions in line to occupy the gunners for my cavalry attack on the extreme left. This was to hopefully prevent the enemy from turning his guns to face my horse. It worked! The guns did not move, but many a fine Westphalian Infantryman went down. But the gunners were also taking casualties as well.

A line of 2 battalions encompass the front of the left gun position in an attempt to occupy its gunners. 120 casualties were taken in this action but a few of the gunners were killed also.

One of the benefits of this move was that the left most battery in that left gun position was a horse battery and it opted to relocate and abandon the line. Great! 12 less guns to deal with.

My line of infantry now faces 22 guns while my cavalry come to grips with the defending Russian Hussars and fight an even fight on my left.

My right infantry brigade prepare to attack the right Russian gun position

I do not have much time. The casualties are mounting on the infantry column. At around 300 every 15 minutes, I had to act. A thick skirmish screen was thrown up right at the tips of the guns. This occupied them in order to stop them targetting my columns. Skirmishers were dieing fast! I needed to get the columns moving.

A thick skirmish screen thrown in front of the guns to reduce casualties to the column is almost wiped out!

The call the charge rang out! The Russians were stunned! Napoleon's ADC attached to my staff was gobsmacked! 6 Westphalian battalions in column closed their gaps and double paced forward into the waiting guns. It was beautiful! With the Brigade and Divisional commanders leading, they could not fail.

It was close! My Infantry's elan was just enough to overcome the gunners and soon we had a horse battery running for it's life and 23 heavy 12 pounders in our possession. We succeeded but we lost approx 360 men doing it.

Now the front is open to the awaiting Russian Infantry and the Guard!

Will the tide turn?


My Westphalian infantry rejoicingly dance around the on the position that earlier was occupied by 36 Russian artillery pieces.

A couple more pics.

The main Russian gun position on the ridgeline that commands the left flank. My attack completely avoided it by moving further to the left and is currently slightly behind and to the left of it.

A French Light Cavalry attached earlier in the day to my Corps finally arrives and takes to the field covering my right.

to be continued ...

Russian Campaign at Michael's - Part 2

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

More on our Alder 6mm Napoleonic Campaign on the Invasion of Russian and my progress commanding the Westphalians in the Battle of Smolensk.

Some of you asked for pics of the campaign map. Here is a bad pic of the area around Smolensk.



And here is a pic of the full map. (Sorry about the lighting)

My Westphalian divisions attacking the Russian flank.

Napoleon is convinced the Russian Guard is deployed deep behind this ridgeline. My orders are to attack the flank in depth and draw as much of the reserve as possible. I have 2 divisions of infantry, a couple of brigades of cavalry, another light cavalry brigade attached, and associated artillery.

I led the attack with my line and Guard lancers pushing through the deep Cossack screens. A couple of charges sent them all packing with either no contact or contact resulting in a rout.

Following this was a veteran line infantry division of 11 battalions and 3 batteries of guns.

Behind this is a more elite infantry division of 10 battalions and 4 batteries of guns.


The view from the flank of the Cuirassier regiments looking in the direction of attack

Following that is my Westphalian Cuirassier brigade of 2 regiments and 1 horse battery.


One of the Westphalian Cuirassier regiments

Behind and to the right is the attached light cavalry brigade. This element has not managed to receive any orders even though they were sent 2 hours ago. The cuirassier brigade was delayed also so I intentially slowed the movement of my forward elements in order to wait for the remaining elements to fall in line.

As my attack moved forward, the line lancers struck multiple regiments of Cossacks who either dispersed or fell back. Below is the last regiment between me and the Russian artillery and infantry. This regiment made the mistake of trying to countercharge my lancers. 120 casualties later and a routed regiment flees the field through their own artillery. Unfortunately, my momentum (breakthrough) would not result in me hitting the artillery so I chose to stand and reform and rally and recover my order.


My Westphalian Lancers come to grips with the last Russian Cossack regiment before exposing the front line of Russian Artillery and Infantry positions.

The brigade commander's horse leaps in the air in victory as he watches the Russian Cossacks flee.

My Lancer brigade with the victorious line lancers on the left and the Guard Lancers on the right with skirmishers thrown forward.

In the centre of the field Poniatovski's Poles attack at precisely the same time as my attack on the left of Smolensk. As they clear the cornfields they come face to face with Russian artillery, infantry and hussars.


Polish cavalry stare down Russian positions while Polish infantry split behind them to clear any enemy from the cornfields behind Smolensk.

Polish infantry behind their front line moving up in support.

Enemy hussars charge the advancing Polish cavalry. This actions results in a draw and both forces bounce back in a standoff.

On the right side of the battle, Ney pushes forward with his divisions, one behind the other like the other 2 attacks. His lead element of Hessian Guards manage to punch a hole in the Russian positions to their front which they move into with a funny arrogance. A couple of Russian counterattacks fail to dislodge them but they have managed to take over 300 casualties between the 2 battalions.

to be continued ...

Brush Preserver?

Well today was an interesting day.

I decided to purchase a couple more fine tipped brushes from the local art store thinking vaguely that last time I did this exercise they were a lot cheaper than the local hobby/model stores.

I looked around and saw nothing smaller than a O brush. So I asked behind the counter and discovered they were behind the counter and not only did they have my required OOO brush but they also have a 5/O and a 10/O. So I purchased a OOO and a 10/O and got to talking about what I use them for and how cool it was that I paint such tiny little men. Got a 10% discount for being such a "cool" guy ;-) so all I paid was $5.50AUD for the 2.

Then I made a comment about how they tend to clog up with clumps of paint even though I always wash them in water and never let them sit in the water and always dry then with a tissue squeezing the tips. The lady behind the counter was inpressed and told me I was doing all the right "brush life techniques".

She then pulled out a small tin of wax called "The Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver". It smells like hair wax but apparently all the professional painters (artist painters I presume!) use it and they swear by it.



Instructions say you wash the brush in warm water and then rub it in the wax until it frothes all over. Then paint and wash as normal. They say the paint always kinda sits in the brush but not on it and therefore washes out very easily thereby giving the brush a waaaaay longer life.

Anyway, I will give it a go and report back here. Stay tuned!

1812 Russian Adler 6mm Infantry Division - Part 2

Part 1 / Part 2

Hot off the basing table, the 1812 Russian Infantry division is now spray painted with a black undercoat. It's still wet in this pic so it almost looks white!



Now back to the painting table for their "basic training".

Stay tuned.

1812 Russian Adler 6mm Infantry Division - Part 1

Part 1 / Part 2

Now that all my latest order from Adler is all accounted for and stored away ready for "recruitment" and "basic training", I can move back to my 1st Russian Infantry. Today I based them all up ready for their undercoat and painting, ie "basic training".



This division is the 4th Infantry Division which was part of II Corps at Borodino. It consists of 3 brigades, 2 being of 2 regiments of line infantry and 1 of 2 regiments of Jager. It also has 2 light foot artilley batteries and 1 heavy foot artillery batteries, each of 12 guns.

More pics to come. Stay tuned.

My order has arrived!

Hooray for the good guys! That's me by the way.

My latest order from Adler for 6mm Napoleonics has arrived. This order is quite large so I am slowly going through it all item by item to make sure I don't miss anything. As I do it I am cleaning all the flash off and arranging them into units ready to go to be based and painted and deployed.

Lets start with the 2 x French Infantry Divisions in the order. These are fully equipped with Mounted Brigade and Divisional commanders, 4 Regiments of 3 Battalions with 1 Regiment being of light infantry. Also included is 4 artillery peices with crew. 2 of these babies and my 24 figure battalions gives me an entire 1815 Corps of 4 x divisions complete with mounted commanders and divisional artillery. Great stuff!

Here are a couple of pics:


A full corps of French Infantry + an incomplete light infantry division on the bottom right


4 x Foot Artillery batteries

An infantry brigade

An infantry division

And then:


a top up of the French and British artillery park!

Casualty markers

Prussian cavalry


The 1st half of the Prussian Guard formations in 1815 and a Polish Infantry Brigade on the right.

Better get to painting now then!

Back to 6mm gaming at Michael's

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Well with me dropping a few hobbies over the past few weeks, it meant I had more time to do things I want to do and one of those was to go back and check out things with the guys at Michael's place and the 6mm Adler Napoleonic gaming with Empire V.

Currently they are fighting a campaign based on the invasion of Russia in 1812 and it looks very impressive. Michael is leading the French army into Russia and is poised outside of Smolensk. William and Stevie are running the Russians doing a great job. They have managed to avoid many full on battles and I think are only just getting to their 2nd large engagement. This is a big one with at least 4 corps per side including the Guard of each. Tsar Alexander is facing off against Napoleon.

The Tsar's forces are aligned on the opposite side of Smolensk which is itself occupied by light infantry. Cossacks run all along the Russian side of the river in front of the town.

Napoleon in is infinite wisdom decided to assign command of his 7th Corps made up of Whestphalian soldiers to me in the launch of his attack on Smolensk.

Here are some shots:


Smolensk

My sector - the left of the field opposite the Russian grand battery.

My orders are to attack to the left and get engage as much of the enemy as possible behind the hill. Napoleon suspects the Russian Guard is further behind the hill.

A close up of the grand battery and one of the redoubts

Smolensk with Cossacks

One of the redoubts

My Westphalians bravely move forward. Guard Lancers and Line Lancers protect the right flank and attempt to push any Cossacks away.

The Line Lancers

Me!

My Westphalian soldiers

Marshal Ney's Corps moves forward on the opposite flank

Part of Ney's opposition

Ney's supporting cavalry

Ney himself

to be continued ...

More 20mm Pics

I promised more pics of the 20mm WarTime figs I purchased recently so here they are. Aussies with steyrs, Afghan civilians, Taliban fighters and Bushmaster 4 x4's.

I will post more pics when I have painted them up. Maybe even a painting tutorial or 2.



The casting looks good. Many of guns arrive bent but not too long to get then straight. Nice and soft metal so moving them back to correct position once does not break them off. The barrels for the Steyrs are very very thin and so a couple did break off. I will need to find some wire or something to replace those.

Not much flash to cut off. Majority of it was a thick section on the underside of the base on about 6 of them. 1 taliban fighter had flash between the barrel of his AK and his stomach. A light cut and V section cut saw that off in a hurry.

The Bushmasters look great. Nice and solid and well cast. It's great to see all the bits and pieces to add on. Handle them all with care as they are fiddly and can be lost easily on most workbenches. I took the pic and immediately placed all the bits back into the ziplock bag they came in. Good habit.

20mm Aussies with Steyrs

I received my order for 20mm Aussies from WarTime Minis. They look great. I also received Afghan civis, Taliban fighters and 2 x Aussie Bushmasters. So I grabbed my Caesar 1/72 plastic British to compare sizing and they suit quite nicely as you can see below:





Great minis. I will add some pics of the bushmasters soon.

I also have a premade and painted german Tigre chopper which I have handed over to a mate to respray as the Aussie ARH Tiger.

Ebay scores - 2009 #2

Scored a few auctions on ebay recently. A while ago I scored a 96 man lot of Baccus 6mm British. I did not realise at the time it included the painting and basing of these as the pic had them all painted and based and ready to go. I was keen to get some Baccus to run side by side with my Adler 6mm to see how they fare on the field together. The text with the auction did mention the painting and basing so completely my fault I did not know.

I managed to score another lot last weekend of unpainted Prussians. Saved 43% on market price on that one. Good stuff!

Anyway, took a while to get done for me and a few more weeks to come from UK to here in Australia. But they do look good.

Here is a few pics of the completed job, before I debase them and rebase them to what I need:





And here is a pic of them beside some Adler 6mm Brits not painted by me: