New Entry from Greg: 28mm Foundry Austrian 6pdr Artillery

Shifting from the steppes of Russia to the Austrian Marchfeld, here we have Greg presenting us with two Austrian 6 pound artillery pieces with their crews, ready to help blast the French back into the Danube (or announce the opening of Oktoberfest). Beautiful work, Greg! You just need one more section and you'll have the battery done. (You see, Greg hates, HATES painting artillery...).

Greg has already built a gorgeous 15mm Austrian force, but has recently decided to take the plunge and do it all again in 28mm, organized around the 'Grande Manner' scale.

These two artillery bases will give Greg 11 points for his opening gambit in the Painting Challenge.

Even though they were completed not long before the Challenge contest parameters I thought I'd include below a few shots (gratefully poached from the Fawcett Ave Conscripts) of some his beefy 40-man infantry battalions. Yes, very nice indeed - bravo, Greg!

Two battalions of German infantry with Command

...and a Grenzer battalion.

New Painting Entry by Sylvain: 28mm Victrix 1805 -1808 Russians

Here's another entry for the Napoleonic Spring-Thaw Painting Challenge! This one is from my friend Sylvain and he brings to us a battalion of mid-period (1805-08) Russians from the Smolensk Regiment. Beautiful work, Sylvain!

One thing you have to understand is that  Sylvain is a very task-oriented kind of guy, with a terrific amount energy and clear focus (freakishly obsessive, really). So I was delighted when I caught him between projects with a game of 'Black Powder' (I let him win) and a cock n' bull tale of 19th century Russian stoicism, martial glory and their perverse propensity for using acres and acres of guns. The poor man really didn't have a chance. He took it, hook, line and sinker and now I have great expectations of seeing a  Russian army on the table in the near future. All in all an epic win for Curt's Cunning Plan.

These are new(ish) Victrix metals are sculpted by the talented Paul Hicks. In addition to the above lads from Smolensk, Sylvain has the following regiments either arrayed on his painting desk or coming in as reinforcements:

- Novgorod
- Apsheron
- Arkhangelrorod
- Preobrajensky (Guards)
- Pavlov

...plus artillery, plus cavalry - the man is completely mad! Bless his soul.

So with this in mind, keep and eye out for more entries from Sylvain in the coming months...

Sylvain tells me that eight of these were done before the Challenge started, with another eight that were already in process, so this group will count for nine points.

Battle Report: The Great Retreat from Waterloo

If you're interested, check out the 'Past Games' section for a battle report of the 'When Things Go Boom' scenario using 'Republic to Empire'. Cheese Warning: Its a bit of a cliffhanger...

28mm Napoleonic Pioneer Assault Teams

I completed these three pioneer combat stands for the 'When Things go Boom' scenario that I put on for the guys recently. Two are French and one is British with a mish-mash of figures from Foundry, Victrix, Perry and Sash and Saber.

In 'Republic to Empire' a brigade's pioneers can be commandeered together to form specialized assault teams to aid in defending or seizing built-up objectives. These hard nuts are quite the terror in close combat but the downside, of course, is that they are amongst the first to take casualties in a pitched fight. 'Lasalle' also features Engineer bases so these boys will serve for future games in that system as well. I quite like the inclusion of these elements to a game as it builds the excitement when players have to 'ante up' their forces for close combat.

As you can see I didn't have enough pioneer castings to fill all the stands so I included a selection of grenadiers to back them up. This seemed reasonable as I would think grenadiers would be a common choice for leading these kind of assaults. If I hadn't been in such a hurry to get these done for the game I would have modeled them on cobblestone bases with some of the figures carrying ladders, pickaxes, etc. - well, maybe for the next group.

These brawlers will count for 12 points in the Spring-Thaw Painting Challenge.

A Napoleonic Hypothetical Scenario: The British Retreat from Waterloo

Over in the 'Past Games' section you will find a Napoleonic scenario I cooked-up for a recent set of games. Its built around one of those crazy 'what if's' of history.  The basic premise is that after the battle of Ligny the Prussians decide to fall back on their lines of communication instead of supporting Wellington. The Duke is subsequently defeated at Waterloo. The action depicted takes place during the British mad dash to the sea (and the salvation of the Royal Navy) at a village which overlooks a pontoon bridge crossing the river Rupel. The position has to be held to allow the army to retreat on to Antwerp, but for the French this is a golden opportunity to finally rid itself of 'Perfidious Albion.'

I've put this scenario on a couple times now. Once up in Saskatoon for Tim and John as a 'Black Powder' game (see Tim's report here) and last week using 'Republic to Empire' for the lads here  at home (report to follow). Perhaps next we'll use 'Lasalle'...

I apologize in advance to the scenario's length. I definitely was not living up to my given name when I wrote it up...