Irregular Wars Wargaming

This month's Big Battle Sunday saw the first of our Napoleonic games, featuring Tony, Karl and Andrew's Russians against Paul's French and my Württembergers. This was the first outing of a group project floated back in 2022. I finished my Württemberg light brigade over two years ago and decided not to put myself through the agony of painting more until they had a few battles under their belts. And here we are! Thanks to Karl, there is even a rare photograph showing that I exist! Very much the minor nation, I only had a single brigade on the table; Paul had four French brigades. Facing us were four Russian Brigades under Karl and Tony, with Andrew's large Russian brigade coming on half-way through the battle. Somewhere approaching Russia, c.1812. The thin green line of Württembergers, supported by French cuirassiers and dragoons hold the allied right flank. The left flank composed of French (and Italian) infantry. Generalmajor von Bruxelles encourages the Württembergers ...

With the completion of two small jäger battalions, and almost a year after starting, I have finally completed the Württemberg Light Infantry (3rd) Brigade, part of the 25th Division in Marshal Ney's III Corps from the 1812 campaign. The brigade has built as part of an ambitious group project themed around the battle of Borodino. During the 1812 campaign the Württembergers were very active participants - that was enough to justify my decision to field the 1st and 2nd jäger battalions as small units according to the Black Powder rules. I was torn as to whether I should break my heart doing the white piping around the collar, cuffs and tails etc as I have done with the light infantry battalions. The piping is shown on the Knötel plate above and generally paited on other minis I've seen online. However, on the photo below (showing an 1814 jäger uniform appropriated from Miniatures.de ), the piping is so very narrow that it shouldn't really be visible on a 28mm miniature. That...

Another small diversion, and helping to break up all the green of the 3rd Brigade's light infantry, I've painted up a single battery of Württemberg Foot Artillery to give some long range support. The figures are all from Front Rank, sold by Gripping Beast, and a prouder officer was never sculpted! Together with the two light battalions and clever generalmajor, I can now muster an arguably not-quite-negligible 132 points worth of Württembergers for Black Powder .

It has taken the better part of a year, but I'm delighted to have now completed both Württemberg light infantry battalions for our 1812 group project.  To aid in differentiating the two units who wear more-or-less the same uniform, the 1st Battalion (with yellow metal) have been given warmer coloured campaign breeches, while the 2nd Battalion (with white metal) have cooler coloured breeches.  Two small jäger battalions and some attached artillery, and the 3rd Brigade, 25th Division will be complete.

Over Easter I managed to complete the first two companies of the 1st Battalion of Württemberg Light Infantry for our 1812 group project. All minis are Front Rank, now sold through Gripping Beast. This is very much a slow burning project, but after completing each wee bit, I always hope the momentum will build! I've the other two companies sitting on the desk now to be painted, and two small jäger battalions and a light artillery piece on order to complete the Light Infantry (3rd) Brigade.

Having overcome a major psychological obstacle and completed the first battalion for my 28mm Württemberger brigade, it was only fair to reward myself with their commander, Generalmajor Felix von Bruxelles (sometimes von Bruzelles). Hopefully he inspires the rapid completion of the rest of his brigade in the coming weeks and months. Sadly, I can find very little information on von Bruxelles himself. Before 1812 he was presumably the colonel of the 2nd Battalion of Light Infantry who bore his name. At the Battle of Borodino, he commanded the Württemberg Light Infantry (3rd) Brigade, part of the 25th Division in Marshal Ney's III Corps.  I've no idea if he had brown hair, rode a black horse or stood near a scruffy white dog at any stage, but it all seems plausible. If you have anything more to add to that, please do let me know or point me in the right direction. The general and horse are from Front Rank, scruffy pup from Magister Militum.

Having started Project Württemberg back in August, I have finally finished the first full battalion of the fancy buggers. I love the result, but hate the process. I will need to work out a better/faster approach to painting the rest of the brigade.  These have been painted up as the 2nd Battalion (von Bruxelles') Württemberg Light Infantry; the 1st Battalion (coming next) are identical but for button colour which will be gold rather than silver. Based up for  Black Powder  (2nd ed), the two flank companies can be deployed as a skirmish screen out front, or pulled back into line. von Bruxelles' brigade at Borodino consisted of both Württemberg's light infantry battalions and the two jäger battalions. At this rate it will take me a while, but at leat I now have at least one useable unit!

This week, Andrew and I settled down for a learning game of Black Powder (2nd ed.) with our 6mm Napoleonic forces. It was a long time coming - I've just looked back and seen that it was January 2020 that we decided on 6mm Naps as a project and this is the first time they have seen the tabletop. We only ran two brigades each - Andrew running a French line infantry brigade supported by a brigade of dragoons, while I ran my large Austrian line infantry brigade supported by a small vanguard brigade - 1809ish. We also only used basic formations and just tried to get a handle on the rules. Andrew has played a couple of group games in the past, but the closest I have come was playing loads of Hail Caesar many years ago. Playing in 6mm, with 80mm as a standard battalion width in line formation, we used cm rather than inches. We also tried halving movement and musketry ranges. Deployment was a bit throw-down. The French (on the left) had the infantry on their left and dragoons on the righ...

Well, they have not been quick in coming (six figures over six weeks!), but the second company of Von Bruxelles' Württemberg Light Infantry is now done. I hope to get the remaining two companies out a little faster, but it depends on what life throws me!  

Against better judgement... I became excited recently by the prospect of a big group 28mm Napoleonics project. As the project is being inspired by Borodino and the 1812 campaign and I didn't want to do either of the main protagonists, I am aiming at Von Bruxelles' Württemberg light brigade (part of the French 3rd Corp.).  This is the first company completed for the 2nd Battalion - figures from Front Rank. This will be a slow burning project, but I wanted to get something complete and up on the blog to start building a little momentum.

It might be remembered that my 2020 project was a 6mm 1809 Austrian army. That was 'completed' by the end of that year and I have been adding to it, very slowly, ever since. The army has still not seen action, so there is no pressure, but every so often, it grows. I am coming out the other side of my first bout of Covid (I am traditionally slow to adopt new fads) and found myself with a few moments to knock out another line regiment. The red facings on this unit suggest it could be the 8th, 20th, 44th regiment, or similar. With 96 figures a regiment, these are painful to paint, but rewarding to complete. I also doubled the number of jäger in the army - the two bases on the left are new, matching well with the bases painted at the start of 2020.  Two more command stands - for a (forthcoming) grenadier brigade and a new command stand for the avant garde brigade - their old commander was transferred to lead a light cavalry brigade. An overview if the Austrian corp to date. On the...

After a lengthy Hapsburg hiatus ( last mentioned in 2020 ), I have started the year with a few 6mm Napoleonic Austrian reinforcements and a renewed enthusiasm to actually push them about in simulated anger. I've a few new units I wish to add to the army - bringing it up to a 300 point force if we end up playing  Bataille Empire , or a respectable five divisions should we go down the  Black Powder 2  route. First up, serendipitously, are the 1st (Kaiser Franz) Hussars. With their dark blue uniforms and black shakos, they could easily do double duty as the 11th (Szekler) Hussars from Transylvania. The next regiment is the 4th (Vincent) Chevauleger. This unit is actually composed of left-over cuirassiers supplemented by some spare mounted generals with greenstuff helmets to make them blend in. Given the hotchpotch make up of the unit, I think they have come together very cleverly. I went with the 4th regiment to ensure I got the green coats - not all chevauleger wear gr...