I.R #63 Bailet

 This is Infanterie Regiment #63, recruited in Galicia (previously Italy and the Low Countries). 

The regiment has light brown facings and brass buttons. It is in a "marching" pose, as compared to the advancing pose of IR Froon. 

I used Craftsmart Golden Brown for the facings. 

The Inhaber was Franz I's son, Josef-Franz, Erzherzog von Osterreich from his birth in 1799, until his early death in 1807.

  

Subsequent Inhabers were Feldmarschalleutnant Ludwig, Graf Baillet de Latour, from 1807- 1811, and then Feldmarschalleutnant Federico, Freiherr Bianchi from 1811- 1855. Bianchi was given the title duca di Casalanza by King Fernando I, King of the Two Sicilies, for his victory at the Battle of Tolentino in1815.

The regiment formed part of the VII Coprs under Erzherzog Ferdinand d'Este, fighting in Poland throughout the 1809 campaign. Flag by Adolfo Ramos.

Assyrian Cavalry from Bill McHugh's collection

 

In with the other Chariot era figures from Bill McHugh's collection, there were a few Assyrians.

These figures needed a bit more touch up on the fringes of their tunics and the horse furniture primarily. 

The shields are a bit of an anachronism; Cavalry generally didn't carry shields at this time period. Horsemanship and horses themselves weren't really up to the task yet!

Regardless, they look pretty fearsome, even from behind! 

The other 4 figures I based as Light Cavalry spearmen. 

Same touch up items on these - mostly the fringes on the tunics and the horse furniture. 

These cavalry will fit in just fine with my existing Assyrians.

I tried to come close to Bill's original basing technique. 

Once again, the manufacturer is unknown. The 10 figure quantity suggests they could be Old Glory!

Wargames Digest 1971 - The 30 Years War

 The longest article in the 1971,  one issue revival of Jack Scruby's The Wargames Digest concerned the 30 Years War, and included some brief background on the tactics of the War, Wargame rules for the TYW, a very brief overview of the very complex history of the Thirty Tears War, a listing of the 1 inch scale figures Jack designed, cast, and sold, and some pictures of a TYW game in progress. I scanned these pages in rather than using my cell phone camera like the last posting, so hopefully the pages are clearer and easier to read. 

I.R. #54 Froon

Well, it's time for a return to painting Napoleonics; after all, the 300 Austrians aren't going to paint themselves!

This is Infanterie Regiment #54, recruited in Bohemia.

It has "apple green" facings and pewter buttons.

The Inhaber of the Regiment was Feldmarschalleutnant Karl, Graf  Callenberg, from 1769 - 1805, and  Feldmarschalleutnant Josef, Freiherr Froon von Kirchrath, from 1805 to 1821.

In 1809, the regiment formed part of FML Hohenzollern-Hechingen's II Corps. \

It fought at Ratisbon, Aspern, Wagram, and Znaim.

These are definitely Old Glory figures (many were still in the original bags of 30 figures), but I think they originate from different molds than today's 25mm Old Glory figures. They are chunkier and better sculpted; indeed, at first I thought they might be Foundry figures when I was sorting them out. They were acquired second hand in 2011, but had obviously been sitting unpainted for at least 10 or 20 years before that! 

Charlie Sweet: "Confessions of a Long Time Wargamer"

    AS many of you doubtless know, Jack Scruby had a major role in the development of miniature wargaming as it stands today, both as a designer and manufacturer of wargames figures (the first armies that replaced my original flats were Scruby miniatures, augmented by a few Hinton Hunts  for specialty figures), and as the publisher of the first wargames magazine, The Wargame Digest, beginning in 1957. By 1960, there were 2 US editions per year edited by Jack, and 2 British editions edited by Don Featherstone and Tony Bath. By the end of 1962, as Jack says, "editorial differences" between the American and British edition ended The Wargames Digest, and lead to birth of Don's great Wargamer's Newsletter. The above was an attempt to restart WGD on a cash per issue basis, with no subscriptions. There was never another volume after this one, though. The articles, several of them reprints from earlier Scruby "House Organs" were all very interesting: Editorial, The Story of Wargame Digest, The Doublecross!, Lead Soldiers in the News, The Senegal Revolt, 1878, Part 1 *from a fictional campaign set in Scruby's "Mafrica"), From Out of the Past, All About Wargames: The Thirty Years War (rules set), Ancient Armies in Miniature, The Civil War - Men, Weapons and Tactics, Table Top Talk - Captain Sachs' Wargame, Last Minute Miscellanea, and Suggested Reading (other wargames periodicals). 

The final article was this one, written by Charlie Sweet. Indeed, the entire issue was dedicated to Charlie!

Little did I know at the time that in about2 years I would be meeting Charlie and playing in wargames at his house! As previously related, when I started at The University of Connecticut as a Freshman in 1973, that lead to meeting a UConn senior and fellow wargamer. Joe Fish. Joe was also from Bristol, CT; indeed Charlie's son, David, was a High School classmate of Joe's. Thus, through Joe, I met David, and then a group of us from UConn  were invited to several games at Charlie's home. Those games kindled my interest in wargaming with first Renaissance and then Ancient armies! 

    If there is interest in other articles from this magazine, I can probably post them as well. 

 

Eureka Gendarmes #1 -Margraf Knapton

 

I have had these Renaissance Gendarmes by   sitting in the Lead Pile for about 10 years now, and finally managed to paint some of them!

They really are spectacular figures; there are a great variety of weapons each rider can be equipped with, and many different styles of horse armor. 

These figures were designed as part of the Essex 100 club, which no longer exists, and sponsored by the US Pike and Shot Federation. 

The designs were based upon period artwork, and the whole project was spearheaded by Richard Knapton, then President of the US Pike and Shot Federation.

Sadly, not long after the figures were produced, Rich started having trouble with weakness in his arms and legs, and difficulty walking. 

At first it seemed that the problem was spinal cord compression in his neck. However, when the surgery for that failed to stop him from worsening, the real diagnosis became apparent - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease. 

Within a year, that miserable disease had claimed another victim.

Here's a long overdue Tribute to you, freind; the Gendarmes of Markgraf Ricard von Knapton!

Hobby Plans for 2021

  

Covid-19 disrupted just about everyone's plans for 2020, and makes planning for 2021 a challenging matter as well! On the personal COVID front, I had my first dose of the Moderna mRNA vaccine 10 days ago (no side effects except some mild expected arm soreness), with dose #2 to follow in early February. 

Expenses:

I will keep the allowance to $2000,  and hope to come in well below that. If Historicon does not take place, I should end the year well under budget. 

Painting:

I doubt I will be able to match 2020's production of over 3,700 points, but I'd like to paint at least 2000 points worth. 

1) Add to my French and Austrian Napoleonic armies (already my largest, mind you). I have lead on hand for a LOT of Austrians and quite a few French as well. No purchases needed here!

2) Some additional ECW reinforcements (Cavalry and Artillery - Old Glory, already ordered) 

3) Paint newly acquired/to be acquired Chariot era additions - Peleset, Libyans, a few Egyptians, etc. 

4) Add to my Mauryan Indian Army for To the Strongest! Lead already ordered. I still have some remaining lead for the Macedonian/Thracian forces. 

5) Paint the Murawski Polish Horse Artillery and Krakus. It looks like Murawski is now planning to do the Baden Hussars, which will be a Must Buy, even if they don't get painted this year!

6) Maybe start on my Darkest Africa project- I have a fair amount of lead on hand for that now. 

Games:

Try to exceed 20 games run/assisted with/played in this year. 

Historicon is the big question mark. It looks at least an even chance that it WILL happen this July, although it is likely to be restricted (see the plans for Cold Wars) . That makes it very difficult to plan any games. There is certainly no way I could see doing a Campaign in a Day event there in 2021, but 2022 is a distinct possibility.  

For the same reason, I don't think 2021 will be the year to run a Siege game using Vauban's Wars at Historicon... but we'll see. 2022 would be much more likely

One or two games with Field of Battle 3rd edition are likely to be on the roster (? Albuera 1811), as well as one or more games with To the Strongest/For King and Parliament. One posibility would be doing the Battle of Qadesh. 

A game with the 15mm Renaissance Galleys (Galleys and Galleons rules) on Sunday AM is a definite possibility. 

If Covid looks better by early Summer, it might be possible to consider doing a Campaign in a Day event in Connecticut in late September/early October. 

Blogging:

Maintain about the same number of Blog posts - circa 100 per year. 

Rules:

I still have a lot of sets that I want to try out! 

There at least 4 different Napoleonic rules sets in the sights - Blogger sets Eagles Cheaper than Brain Cells and 123! Napoleonics, plus General d' Armee and a Napoleonic variant(s) for Bloody Big Battles (Jared has been using this last with his students). 

Several Napoleonic Age of Sail rule sets to try as well - Grand Fleet Actions in the Age of Sail and Form Line of Battle.

Also for my large collection of Superior Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights ships, play at least one game with those rules, as well as Starmada and Ascension of the Galaxy (from a Kickstarter). 

Shardana (Sherden) Warbands

 

Also among the figures acquired from Bill McHugh were a number of these.

In fact, there were sufficient figures to make 3 full units!

The Shardana were another of the "Sea Peoples" who invaded Egypt and Palestine before, during, and after the reign of Ramses II. 

Once again, these figures are definitely by Old Glory.

Here's the second unit.

These are more or less as Bill painted them, with just minor touch ups and rebasing.

 

Once again, the models are familiar from my own Sherdens. 

In order to make the individual units distinctive, some minor paint conversion was done. 

For this 3rd unit, the shields were changed to green, as was the pattern on the tunics. 

The same was done with the first unit, using red instead. 

I am probably going to convert my existing 2 units of 16 Sherdens into 3 more units of 12, with the aid of a few Command figures acquired from Foundry last month. That way they can serve either with a Sea Peoples force or as mercenaries in the Egyptian army.