28th (North Glouchestershire) Infantry

After I settled upon Fuentes de Onoro as the Napoleonic battle to be run at Historicon 2021, it became apparent that I needed more British troops! Fortunately, I had enough lead in the pile to field 3 additional infantry units; this unit is the first of those. 

The 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot was first raised in 1694. The regiment fought at the Battle of Elixheim, July 1705. It lost over half its men at the Almansa in Spain, on April 1707. The regiment saw action in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession and, was designated the 28th Regiment of Foot in 1751. It took part in the siege of Louisburg in June 1758, and fought on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec in September 1759 during the Seven Years War. Hmm, I see I missed some silver on the ensign's epaulette; that has been fixed now!

The regiment returned to North America in May 1776 and saw action at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 during the American Revolutionary War (I have lived the majority of my life within 15 - 60 minutes drive of White Plains, then a small village of about 500, now a small city of about 60,000). It also fought in the West Indies and helped take the French colony of St. Lucia in 1778, but was captured by the French on Saint Kitts in 1782 and interned until the end of the war. In 1782, renamed the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot as part of the reforms to create a territorial association for each regiment, it returned to Flanders following the outbreak of war with revolutionary France in 1793 and moved to the West Indies in 1795. A detachment remained in Gibraltar before being moved to Minorca in 1798.

In March 1801 the regiment formed part of the British expeditionary force that landed at Aboukir Bay to oppose Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. During the Battle of Alexandria (March 21, 1801), French cavalry broke through the British lines, formed up behind the regiment, and began to charge. Still heavily engaged to their front, the order was given "Rear Rank, 28th! Right About Face", and standing thus in two ranks, back to back, the regiment successfully defended itself. After the battle, the regiment began wearing a badge on the back as well as the front of the headdress to commemorate their action, a unique distinction in the British Army which was officially sanctioned in 1830. Looks like I need to add a rear shako plate to these fellows, eh?!

The regiment was sent to Denmark, and took part in the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807, under the overall command of one Sir Arthur Wellesley. The regiment was sent to Portugal in July 1808, and took part in the Battle of Corunna, 16 January 1809, before being evacuated from the Peninsula the following day. A detachment remained behind and fought at the battle of Talavera in July 1809. The remainder of the regiment went on to take part in the disastrous Walcheren Campaign in the summer of1809.

The regiment returned to the Peninsula in January 1810, and fought at the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811 Albuera in May 1811, and Arroyo doe Molinos in October 1811. It saw action at the Battle of Vittoria in June 1813, the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813, the Battle of Nivelle in November, the Battle of the Nive in December 1813, the Battle of Orthez in February 1814, and finally, the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. 

It was one of the few Peninsula veteran regiments which was available for the Hundred Days campaign and fought at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, as part of the 8th Brigade in June 1815. Because of its actions in the campaign, the regiment earned distinguished mention in Wellington's  dispatches. 

Their regimental color was laser printed from Napflag, and the regimental history is condensed from Wikipedia. 

Renaissance Reconnaissance, Part 2 - Box #5 "I'm fondue the Swiss"

    The story of the Swiss Cantons at war during the Renaissance era  begins in the late Medieval era, with the establishment of the Eternal League between the three Waldstätte or ‘Forest Cantons’ around Lake Lucerne – Unterwalden, Uri and Schwyz, in 1291. They provoked a confrontation with the Happsburgs, which lead to the destruction of an Austrian force of 2,000 or more invading the cantons at the decisive battle of  Morgarten, November 15th 1315. More victories for the Swiss followed, against fellow Swiss, supported by Burgubndian men at arms at  Laupen (where they faced some Swiss enemies as well) June 21st , 1339 (which lead to the addition of the pike to their primary weapon, the halberd). During a prolonged armistice with the Hapsburgs, there occurred a succession of alliances between the Swiss cantons: Lucerne (1332), Zürich (1351), Zug and Glarus (1352), and Berne (1353).

War with the Austrians resumed, once again provoked by the Swiss, resulting in another decisive defeat at Sempach (July 9, 1386), and further actions at Näfels (April 9, 1388), Voegelinsegg (May 15, 1403), and Stoss (June 17, 1405). The battle of Arbedo, against Milan (June 30, 1422 ), where the Itial Condotierre commander had his heavily armored cavalry dismount and fight on foot, very nearly lead to a severe defeat of the Swiss, and prompted the completion of their move to the pike as their primary weapon. 

   The Swiss - Burgundian Wars grew out of a complex series of alliances and arrangements involving the Hapsburgs, French and Swiss on one side, and the  Burgundians on the other. The seemingly well organized forces of Charles the Bold of Burgundy suffered a series of defeats, at  Héricourt (November 13, 1474), Grandson (March 2, 1476), Murten/Morat (June 22, 1476), and finally nancy (January 5, 1477), where Charles was killed,

There's a very good, concise history of these actions, and analysis on the development of Swiss tactics on the Battlefield Anomalies site.

Box #5 contains my Swiss, and a formidable lot they are! The "cantonal colors" of their dress, and the  dramatic but simple cantonal banners add to their appeal. There are 164 pikes (including a few stands of  Halberdiers mixed in).

The figures are mix of Minifigs, Hinchliffe, and Old Glory.  There are 16 skirmishing Arquebusiers included; they were used mainly to screen the massive pike phalanxes, and counter enemy skirmishers. 

The Swiss had a very decentralized command structure, but 4 leader/hero figures on foot are included in the group. 

Egyptian Skirmishers, Leaders, and Heroes

Some spare figures are drafted to serve in the Army of Egypt. 

A unit of Skirmish Archers in the red of Division Amun leads the group. 

Behind them is a General in the yellow of Division Re. 

the Archers are Foundry figures, and the General and his companion are Newline Designs. 

Finally, two undifferentiated Old Glory Archers can serve as Heroes wherever needed. 

This completes the Egyptian expansion, and the Hittite expansion project was finished earlier this year. I have some Libyans to paint up by Historicon in November, and will likely start on them this month.  

Renaissance Reconnaissance, Part 1 - The Spanish; Boxes #1 - #4

    I have the numbers and identification of all my painted troops, etc., recorded and tallied in detail on the "pages" of this blog. Some are in need of another periodic updating now, usually done every 3 to 6 months. This is of course a clear indication of an obsessive personality trait. :-) 

    All that is, except one era... my Renaissance troops. The explanation for this is pretty simple. Most troops of this era are fairly generic. That's a plus with regard to collecting and painting them, but a detriment when it comes to counting and documenting them. The recent "Off the Shelf" reorganization of my collection created an opportunity to assign the figures to semi permanent boxes  for the long haul, and in so doing to finally complete their census (now if only they could be taxed to pay for their upkeep and support!). 

    I decided to lead (in both the pronunciations of the word!)  the process off with the one part of the Renaissance roster that is instead pretty distinctive, namely the Spanish. The bulk of these figures are the wonderful Hinchliffe Spanish, really dressed more for the later, Armada era, but so wonderfully iconic. Many of the sculpts convey such a wonderful, subtle attitude of arrogance suited to the nation of the Conquistadors and the wealth of the "Siglo de Oro". Most of these figures were painted when I was a Resident in Family Medicine, circa 1982 - 1984. The remaining figures are Essex with a very few by Redoubt as well. If nothing else, they will illustrate the process, as well as verifying and updating the current tally. 

The Spanish are housed in four 8.1 L Really Useful Boxes; really closer to three, the 4th box simply housing a Camp element. Box #4 might eventually be used strictly for a number of Camp elements of various factions. 

Box #1 contains all of the Spanish cavalry, some commanders, and a few LI Crossbowmen. 

16 LC/MC Genitors, 12 EHC Spanish Knights on metal barded horses, 18 EHC Lancers ("Elmeti"),

12 HC Mounted Arquebusiers, 4 LI Crossbowmen, and 5 mounted commanders.

Box 2 has about half of the infantry; Tercios/Collunellas and supporting troops. 

64 MI/HI Pikemen, 48 Arquebusiers,

12 HI Halberdiers, 24 HI Swordsmen, 12 LI Crossbowmen.

Box 3 contains the rest of the infantry, and all of the Musketeers. 

32 MI/HI Pikemen, 12 MI Arquebusiers, 8 LI Arquebusiers, 8 LI Crossbowmen,

 8 LI Swordsmen, 24 LI Musketeers, and 24 vMI Musketeers.

Box #4 at present simply contains the Spanish Camp vignette. Perhaps some more camps will be added in the future? 

Egyptian Spearman of Division Amun

 

Red is the color of Division Amun in my scheme. 

Some of the men in the front rank have drawn their kopesh, the famous curved sword of the Egyptians. 

These are Newline Designs figures, purchased during their annual January sale earlier this year. 

These are excellent figures, as I have noted previously!

Trecking across the desert sands in bare feet must have been interesting; I imagined they developed one heck of a set of calluses!

The magic wash did a nice job of bringing out the details of these figures. 

Aghast at more fine wares from Pastimes on the Square!

    

While working on the table layout for my upcoming Kadesh playtest, I decided that I needed some terrain enhancements  to improve the look of that table, and the two other games that are to feature Ramses II and his opponents. I recalled the fine items I acquired from Pastimes on the Square, located in Palmyra (I love it!), Pennsylvania. A brief email to Steve confirmed that they were still shipping orders, and we were off!

Tall Weeds, Elephant Grass, Weeds and Reeds, Brambles, and Desert Weeds.

Tree ferns, Colorful Weeds, Medium Scrub Trees, Mixed Shade Trees. 

3 packs of 1" tall flocked hills, one each 12", 9", and 6" diameter per pack. I got one pack in Desert flock for the Egyptian games. 

10 "Desert Weeds", with a 28 mm figure for scale. 

12 "Brambles". 

15 "Weeds and Reeds" 

12 "Tall Weeds"

15 "Colorful Weeds"

Steve also extended to me the same "Buy two, get one free" deal as last year- no need to be identical, either!

10 "Elephant Grass"

"Moses, Moses... where are you hiding? "

10 "Tree Ferns"

10 "Scrub Trees"

10 " 2 inch 

Mixed Shade" trees. In truth, these are really too small for 28 mm, but they will work well with Snappy Nappy Campaign in a Day events and other uses. They sell trees up to 4" in height. 

The contents of 2 of the 1" height hill packs in green...

and the three pack in Desert flock. 

    When we confirmed the availability of the items and the order total with the effective 33% discount, I then asked Steve how much to add for shipping. "The shipping is free!" was the answer. Dude, almost nobody does THAT anymore. Wow!  Needless to say, a big box arrived a few2 days later, well packed, with the items just as ordered. Hard to beat that kind of service and value these days!

Many of these items will also come in  handy for the planned "Darkest Afrika" project as well...

Egyptian Archers of Division Ptah

These rather heavily protected Archers (for Egyptians) wear Crocodile leather armor.

The green distinctive color marks them as belonging to Division Ptah in my scheme. 

Ptah was the god of Creation and craftsmen, and is often depicted as a green man, bearing multiple Egyptian symbols of power. 

These are Foundry figures, purchasd during their annual "Christmas" sale the end of 2020. 

Egyptian Archers were famous for their skill as late as the Successor era and the Ptolemaic dynasty. 

The armor could merit a "Veteran" designation for To the Strongest!