A Force Suited to the Task

    A few weeks ago, Steve from the UK asked for some suggestions on generating random forces for his solo Napoleonic games. I usually play games based upon historical or campaign generated scenarios myself  but sometimes you don't want to work that hard. He happened to be asking with regard to Snappy Nappy, but there really isn't anything particularly unique about the rules in that regard. A modified version of my response, followed by an of the cuff suggestiion by the rules author, Russ Lockwood, follows. 

One simple way would be to take a standard deck of  52 playing cards plus 2 Jokers.

Assign one of you miniature units to each card for each army on a roster (each army will have its own listing). Spread them out across the suits.  Don't worry about the cards that have no units, just leave them as blank "nothing" until you paint up more troops, then fill them in as you go! Don't assign anything to the Jokers.

Decide roughly how many units you want on a side. Then roll a number of D6's (average score on a D6 is 3.5) for each army (doesn't have to be the same!). That is how many cards that army will draw from its deck. If you draw a card with no unit, tough luck, no troops for that card. If you draw a Joker, the next card drawn that is an actual unit will be a GUARD unit of that type. You can be fancier and say that if a card that represents a real unit is preceded by a card of the same suit, its rating is one HIGHER than usual; if it is preceded by a card of the same color but the other suit, it is rated one LOWER than usual.

There are many other methods, but this one is simple and fun, and may allow a bit of pre-game narrative to be developed. It is derived a bit from both the systems used in Brent Oman's "Theater of War" campaign rules, and the "Beat the Drum" force selection process from my own Band of Brothers rules (inspired by an idea by my co-author, Ken Baggaley). One advantage of this approach is you will never generate a force that has more units than you have already painted. The balance of forces may suggest scenario variants by itself. It is easily gussied up further.

Sample army roster for an army with 16 infantry, 8 cavalry, and 4 artillery painted:

Card	Clubs	Diamonds	Hearts	Spades
Ace
2	1st line		1st Dragoon
3		2nd Line		2nd Dragoon
4	1st light		3rd line
5		2nd light		4th line
6	5th line		3rd light
7	6# Ft Batt	6th line		1st grenadier
8	1st Lt Cav	6# Horse Batt	7th line
9		2nd Lt Cav	12# Foot Batt	8th line
10	9th line		3rd Lt Cav	6# Foot Batt
Jack		10th line		4th Lt Cav
Queen	1st Cuirass.		11th line
King		2nd Cuirass.		12th line

For larger collections, one could also have each card draw be TWO units of that type, or even a Brigade or Division of that type. You could require the commands to be organized by suits... many possibilities!

Peter

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Russ' proposal:

We usually set up historical battles/campaigns, so random was not in my thinking for the rules. The point system came about because some gamers wanted to pick their forces like in a tournament situation. But random...hmmmm....off the top of my head...

As for number of units, take one 6 or 8 lber Artillery unit and one Light Cavalry unit, and then another d10 roll:

1-2 = 8 more units

3-4 = 9 more units

5-6-7 = 10 more units

8-9 = 11 more units

10 = 12 more units

Then for the "more units", a d10 roll for each

1-7 = Infantry

8 = Light Cavalry

9 = Heavy Cavalry

10 = Artillery

And if Artillery, roll a d10:

1 = 3/4 lber foot artillery

2-8 = 6/8 lber foot artillery

9 = 9/12 lber foot artillery

10 = 6/8 lber horse artillery

Finally, the type, roll d10 for each unit:

1 = Militia

2-3 = Conscript

4-5-6 = Seasoned

7-8 = Veteran

9 = Elite

10 = Guard

No doubt that for certain situations, you can add a +1 or -1 die modifer. For example, the French 1805 army was at its more or less peak, so might get a +1 for type, Spanish army may get a -1, etc. Some armies might get a +1 for size or a -1 for size...up to you.

This will likely generate some odd creations, as randomness sometimes does, but at least it's a start (of sorts). If this helps, let us all know how it works out.

The army I just created:

Rolled a 1 for size: one 6/8lb art, one light cav, and eight more units

Eight die rolls: 2, 10, 10, 9, 6, 1, 8, 7

Translates to:

4 Infantry units

1 Light Cav

1 Hvy Cav

2 Artillery

Add in the 1 Light Cav and 1 Art base..

4 Infantry units

2 Light Cav

1 Hvy Cav

3 Artillery

The artillery rolls are: 8 (6/8 lber foot), 10 (6/8 lber horse)

Providing:

4 Infantry units

2 Light Cav

1 Hvy Cav

2 6/8lber foot Artillery

1 6/8lber horse Artillery

Rolling for type:

4 Infantry units 4, 1, 8, 2

2 Light Cav 1, 5

1 Hvy Cav 10

2 6/8lber foot Artillery 6, 4

1 6/8lber horse Artillery 1

(Well, that's quite the mixed bag)

Thus, generating:

1 Militia Inf

1 Conscript Inf

1 Seasoned Inf

1 Veteran Inf

1 Militia Light Cav

1 Seasoned Light Cav

1 Guard Hvy Cav

2 Seasoned 6/8lber foot Artillery

1 Militia 6/8lber horse Artillery

If there's a story behind this corp, it looks like a hastily-raised cavalry division attached to two rebuilt infantry divisions and stiffened up with a Guard brigade.

Now, generate your own corps and send it into battle with this one. Let us know the outcome!

Russ

Prussian Reserve Infantry, 1813: 50 Shades of Grey

The background, history and dress of the Prussian Army's Reserve regiments is complex, and I will not try to give anything more than a very basic account thereof. As a result of the humiliating Peace of Tilsit in 1807, and the following Treaty of Paris, the size of the Prussian Army was severely limited to just 42,000 men, at least on paper. The "Kruemper System" was used to pass a moderate number of men through the ranks for training, and then discharge them as a sort of reserve pool of trained manpower. At best, however  this  pool never exceeded 50% of the strength of the authorized army. Following the Convention of Taurroggen on December 30th, 1812, which established a cease-fire with the Russians, General Yorck's Prussian Auxiliary Corps effectively defected; Yorck started raising militia in East Prussia in January 1813. King Frederick Wilhelm III officially rejected this action on January 10th, declaring support for Napoleon, and with his approval commenced the mobilization of Prussian forces, including the Kruemper reservists. On March 17, 1813, Prussia declared War upon France, commencing their War of Liberation or Befreiungskriege.

    As part of this process  ultimately twelve Reserve regiments were raised. The men for these were drawn from the the Kruemper Reservists, new recruits, and a small contingent of men and officers drawn from the unit's Stammregiment. Uniforms, muskets, and all manner of equipment were in very short supply. The initial official uniform for these Reserve regiments was to be a grey, tailless jacket, grey pants, grey equipment, black crossbelts, and a grey cap, the Schirmuetze", with a black visor. The collar and cuffs were to be in the provincial color, as worn by the unit's regular equivalent Stammregiment. as much as possible. officers and NCO's were supposed to wear the standard regular army uniform, though, once again that of the Stammregiment. In the event, there were wide variations in the dress of these units, down to the battalion basis. Although an effort was made to replace these initial grey uniforms following the Armistice of the summer of 1813, some units were still wearing them as late as 1815.

    The units depicted in this post are all 25/28mm Old Glory figures, and are all wearing uniforms that approach the regulations above; a subsequent post will cover Reserve units wearing very different forms of dress! Each unit's coat and pants are actually in a different shade of grey; indeed, this project used every hue of grey paint that I had, and even more would have been helpful!

The first unit up is the 1st Reserve Regiment. It's Stammregiment was East Prussian, and thus they wear the orange ("Tile-Red" or "Brick-Red", Knoetel gives the shade in German as ziegelrot) facings of that province. The shade is often depicted as what we today would call "orange", as it is in the Osprey "Prussian Reserve, Militia, & Irregular Troops, 1806-15", Men at Arms #192 by Peter Hofschroer, illustrated by Bryan Fosten. My love for color being well known,I have of course opted for this more distinctive shade, rather than an a duller, orange-red hue. :-)

This view of the 1st Reserve Regiment shows the officers wearing the blue uniforms of the Regular units, as per regulations. The drummer has "wings" on the shoulders of his jacket in the provincial color, piped white. The rims of his drum are in provincial color as well. I could find no documentation about the dress of drummers in the Reserve units, not that that would likely mean much anyway, so I used the same pattern as set forth for the Regulars. 

Rear view of the 1st RR; note the grey equipment. This uniform (along with white crossbelts) was only worn by the 1st battalion of the regiment. The Schirmuetze supposedly had a brick red numeral 1 on the front of the cap; I didn't try to paint this on!

Next up is the 2nd Reserve Regiment; it has white collars, cuffs, and band on the Schirmuetze, as it's Stammregiment was Pomeranian. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd battalions wore this uniform, at least initially. By the way, the Osprey has a lot of detail of the dress of the 1st RR as an example, and then dismisses any coverage of the other eleven regiments in favor of a lot of interesting but not very useful historical details. A far superior source for uniforms is David Nash's The Prussian Army, 1808-13, published by Almark in 1972. Although my copy is literally falling apart after 40 years, it remains invaluable, and is the main source for the Reserve uniforms shown. 

Note the very modern appearance of the uniform - they could almost be WW2 German Luftwaffe, eh? In this case, I have given the officers the same uniforms as the men, contrary to regulations. The drummer's wings, being white (Pomeranian provincial color), are in this case piped in red, same as they would be for a line unit. 

A final view of the 2nd Reserve Regiment; note again the all grey equipment, this time with regulation black belts and straps. 

Deployed in square, we have the 7th Reserve Regiment. This unit's Stammregiment was West Prussian, so it's facings are crimson; I have opted for a relatively bright shade here. For this unit, I once again have the officers in the dark blue  regulation Line Infantry uniforms. 

Note the red wings on the shoulders of the drummer';s uniform, piped in white - you actually can tell the difference between these and the white piped in red of the former unit! Nash actually says the 2nd and 3rd battalions had crimson piping on grey collars, cuffs, shoulder straps, and the lead edge of the jacket, while the 1st had just crimson collar patches. I have opted for a more "regulation" display of facing colors, however. 

A final view of the 7th Reserve Regiment; the (free) flag is from Warflag with some slight paint enhancement, same as all of the flags seen in this post.. Officially, these units were not to have flags, but it seems that this regulation was largely observed in the breech, with unofficial flags similar to that carried by the Landwehr being likely. 

The blue flag and the yellow facings clearly mark this unit as having a Silesian Stammregiment.  This is the 10th Reserve Regiment. Nash notes that the 3rd battalion of this regiment had grey coats that were "very dark, almost black in color." Thus I have used Payne's Grey for the jackets and pants of this unit. 

The very dark grey coats almost make this look like a Brunswick unit, especially with the blue and yellow colors of the flag! Note the white tin "Landwehr Cross" on the front of the cap of the officers; the men might equally well  have had them sewn onto their caps. although these castings do not have them. 

The 10th Reserve Regiment actually looks quite dapper in dark grey faced yellow, and with the more colorful flag, don't you think? Most authorities feel these Reserve regiments were pretty much up to the standard of the Line after a few months on campaign. 

Mit Gott für König und Vaterland!

Peter

Kingdom of Italy Pt 1 - Line and Light Infantry

    General Bonaparte's successful conquest of Northern Italy Italy in his remarkable first Italian Campaign of 1796-97 lead to the establishment of sister Republics satellites of France, the Cisalpine Republic centered on Milan, and the Cispadine Republic, centered around Modena. The Venetian aristocracy gambled and unwisely backed the wrong player when they declared war on France after having given their assurances of neutrality after Bonaparte passed them by on his way to invade Austrian territory. Immediately after the preliminaries of the Peace of Leoben in 1797, the Dodge and Senate of Venice were replaced with yet another new Republic, that of Venice... at the tips of French bayonets! Although the bulk of Venice's territory was later transferred to Austria as part of the peace, a large portion of Northern Italy was ultimately incorporated directly into the territory of France. After becoming First Consul of France in 1800, Napoleon became President of a  newly reorganized Italian Republic in 1802. Following his coronation as Emperor of France on December 2, 1804, this arrangement became incongruous, and Napoleon was proclaimed King of Italy in March 1805, with his coronation taking place in Milan in May, using the ancient Iron Crown of Lombardy.

   This post concerns the army of the Kingdom of Italy; The Kingdom of Naples occupied the lower half of the Italian Peninsula  and as previously noted, a large portion of Northern Italy was incorporated directly into the territory of the French Empire. Indeed, some seven "French" Legere and twenty-three Line Infantry regiments had depots in such territories, along with nine regiments of Chasseurs a Cheval, one of Hussars, and six of Dragoons.

  By late 1806, the army of the Kingdom of Italy included six regiments of line infantry  three of light infantry  plus the Dalmatian regiment. A seventh line regiment was added in 1808, and a 4th Light Infantry regiment in 1811. In 1813 four more line infantry regiments were raised (the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th). in 1814, Viceroy Eugene de Beauharnais was recalled to Italy, and fought a generally successful delaying campaign against the Austrians. He ultimately abdicated in May 1814, following Napoleon's own abdication in April.

    The original uniform of the Line Infantry (Fanteria di Linea)of the Italian Republic was very similar to that of France, except with dark green replacing dark blue. In 1806, the Line infantry adopted a white uniform, with different combinations of facing colors for each regiment. The cuff flaps were three pointed. In the table below, the color of the text for each item is the color that item was piped with. The shoulder straps for all regiments were white, piped with red or green (Von Pivka cops out by saying "in the facing color", which is obviously not very helpful given the scheme below).

Italian Line Infantry, 1806 - 1813 (per Osprey of Von Pivka)

Regt	Lapels	Collar	Cuffs	Cuff flap	Turnback	Button
1st	red	green	red	green	red	Y
2nd	red	white	white	red	white	Y
3rd	red	red	red	red	red	Y
4th	white	red	white	white	white	W
5th	green	red	green	red	white	W
6th	green	white	white	green	white	Y
7th	white	green	red	(none)	white	W

The same information is on the Italian Line Infantry of the Napoleonic Wars site (see below).


Another, very different version of the distinctive colors for each regiment (as shown on the Napiltalia and Gruppo Murat sites):

Regt	Lapels	Collar	Cuffs	Cuff flap	Turnback	Button
1st	green	green	green	red	green	W
2nd	red	white	white	green	white	W
3rd	green	red	green	red	green	W
4th	red	red	red	green	red	W
5th	green	green	green	green	white	W
6th	green	green	white	red	white	W
7th	red	red	green	green	white	W

The shoulder straps are all shown as being white, and piped in the same color as the turnbacks for that regiment (as are the pockets on the tails of the jackets as well).

And just to make things perfectly muddy, the Napoleone in Italia site has a plate with still another slightly different scheme. None of these really seems reconcilable with the others.  Mamma Mia!  In any event, my own Kingdom of Italy units were painted back when the Osprey and Funken books were all I had available  and thus follow the first scheme, although I suspect that the one listed on the Italian language sites is more likely to be accurate - but maybe not!

Be that as it may, this is my version of  the 1st Italian Line. The light blue sphere on the French-inspired "lozenge" style standard (hand painted) reads:

 NAPOLEONE

(Imperatore di Francesi)

RE D'ITALIA

AL 1 REGG D' INF

DI LINEA

The shako plates were brass. The colors of the company pom poms for the center companies were the same as their French counterparts, worn with white cords on the shako.

Like their French counterparts, the Grenadiers (Granatieri)had red plumes, epaulettes, and cords on the shako, while the Voltigeurs (Volteggiatori) had (usually) yellow over green plumes, green epaulettes with yellow crescents, and green shako cords.

Next is the 3rd Italian Line; like all the rest of my Italians, composed of Minifigs painted more than 20 years ago. I did update them a bit with some touch up and a coat of "magic wash".

Drummers wore red, white and green lace piping to the collars, cuffs and swallows nests (which were "in the facing color"). Drums were brass, with the rims painted with red/white/green diagonal stripes.

The grenadiers might also wear a bearskin in place of the shako, with red cords, plumes, and a red "cul-de-singe" with a white cross on the back, and a brass plate on the front.

This is my version of the 4th Italian Line regiment; note the coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Italy in the white lozenge, which appears on the reverse of the standards. 

Packs, greatcoats, belt, rank insignia, etc were all as per their French counterparts.

The Italian regiments adapted the familiar six company organization (one each of grenadiers and voltigeurs, four of fusiliers) about the same time as the French army did.

Here is my version of the 5th Italian Line Regiment. Oddly, the Osprey doesn't have a color plate with even a single figure from the Kingdom of Italy after 1806, an odd omission indeed!

Close up of the 5th Italian Line; like the French, they carried a gold Eagle at the tip of the pole, of slightly different design. Pants were officially white, but on campaign might be white or even brown, the later especially on service in Spain.

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The uniforms of the Light Infantry (Fanteria Leggera) were once again inspired by their French counterparts  but with the short jacket and pants being dark green. Cuff flaps were rectangular. Buttons were yellow metal. Once again there are conflicting versions of the facing colors for the various regiments.

Von Pivka's Osprey gives the following, possibly pre-1811:

Regt	Collar	Cuffs	Piping	Waistcoat	Turnbacks
1st	red	red	red	green	white
2nd	yellow	yellow	yellow	yellow	yellow
3rd	white	white	white	white	white
4th	lt blue	lt blue	lt blue	lt blue	lt blue

While other sources give this version, at least from 1811 onward:

Regt	Collar	Cuffs	Piping	Waistcoat	Turnbacks
1st	yellow	yellow	yellow	yellow	yellow
2nd	red	red	red	green	red
3rd	orange	orange	orange	green	orange
4th	crimson	crimson	crimson	green	crimson

This is my version of the 2nd Italian Light Infantry, with yellow collars and cuffs, yellow piping on the lapels, turnbacks, and outer seams of the pants. In all versions, the regiment with yellow facings is noted to also have yellow waistcoats, which gives them an especially dashing appearance; the waistcoats for all other facing colors are always noted to be green. 

I have given this unit a rather elite appearance, with the Chasseur (Cacciatori) companies having green cords and plumes, the Carabinier  (Carabinieri) company in bearskins (without a plate in front), and the Voltigeurs in colpacks. 

Note the red sword straps of the Grenadiers; these were green for Voltigeurs and white for Chasseurs.  The cockade for the Italians was green within red within white, once again same as for France but substituting green for blue.  In general French figures can be used for Italians, with just a "paint conversion".

A brief note is also in order regarding the Dalmatian Regiment (no, they did NOT wear white coats with black spots!). This light infantry unit was raised from the newly aquired territories in Dalmatia in 1806. Uniform consisted of a dark green single breasted coat of Austrian style cut, with with scarlet collar (yellow for the Voltigeurs), pointed cuffs, and Austrian style turnbacks; white buttons. Pants were dark green of a tight "Hungarian" fit. Initially a round hat turned up at the side (rather like the Tyrolean Jagers) was worn, with red pom-pom for Carabiniers, Yellow for Voltigeurs, and green for Chasseurs. The hat was abandoned in favor of the shako in 1809; this had a diamond shaped white metal plate on the front bearing the initials "RRD"  (Von Pivka says RDI, probably in error - RRD is the abbreviation for "Royal Dalmatian Regiment" in Italian ) under the iron crown of Lombardy. Red epaulettes for Carabiniers, yellow epaulettes for Voltigeurs, and green shoulder straps piped in scarlet for the Chasseurs.

Part 2 will cover the Artillery  Cavalry, and Royal Guard of the Kingdom. Part one turned out to be more work than I had anticipated, largely due to the very confusing situation with conflicting sources! Troops from the Kingdom of  Italy saw action far out of proportion to the relatively small size of their army - Prussia in 1806-1807 (mostly sieges , in Spain from 1808 - 1813, against Austria in 1809, during the invasion of Russia in 1812, in Germany and Italy in 1813, and in defense of the Kingdom in 1814. A contingent of Italians will add a nice splash of color to your "French" forces, and are usable in many campaigns, as noted above. 

Sources and other sites for additional information:

Napoleon in Italy
Site has a wealth of information including the Italian Republics; sometimes hard to read the plates, etc, but well worth browsing! Also includes the Knotel plates on the Kingdom of Italy.

Italian Line Infantry 1807-12
Pretty much what bit says, no illustrations.

Troops of the Kingdom of Italy 1805-14
French language site, takes a bit of work to find what you want, but literally dozens of plates contained within the site

Hiostorex plate of Italian Line Infantry

Napitalia
Many useful plates of Line Infantry, Light Infantry, and Chasseurs a Cheval

Army and Uniforms of the Kingdom of Italy, 1805 - 1814
Italian Language site with good brief descriptions and illustrations

Hiostofig plates (5) on the Italian Royal Guard
Very well done; unfortunately nothing from them on the line troops.

Divertirsi!

Peter