42e Ligne

The 42e Ligne had its origins as the Limousin Regiment,  raised in 1635.

It's early years during the Consulate and Empire were spent in Italy/Naples from 1803 - 1807.

Most of the Regiment spent 1808 -1811 in Spain, where it fought at the sieges of  Tarragona and Gerona.  During 1809 some battalions served with the Army of Italy, and wereinvoled in a nuimber of battles, including Raab and Wagram.

During 1813, the Regiment served  in Germany, fighting at  Bautzen, Gross Beeren, and Dennewitz.

For the battles of 1814,the regiment returned to its earlier stomping grounds in Italy.

Assyrian Odds and Ends

 

These are the last of the Chariot Era figures from Bill McHugh's collection.

Some Light Infantry/Skirmishing archers

A little repainting was needed here to give a blue/yellow theme to the unit. 

A second unit of Light Infantry Archers.

Once again, minor changes made to give a color theme to the unit. 

I once again tried to come close to reproducing the basing style that Bill used. 

An Assyrian Command Group...

a pair of Assyrian Heroes (for To the Strongest! games), and...

a stray Sardanna (Sherdan) leader or hero.

    I still have one other group of figures from Bill's collection, a moderate Medieval collection from roughly the era of the early HYW. They will need a LOT of restoration work, and I have no pressing need to do anything with them, so it is unlikely I will touch them before 2022. 

General Scenario: Battle of Castiglione, August 5, 1796

    On consideration of a scenario for trying out some hitherto unplayed Napoleonic wargames rules, I decided that Albuera was perhaps better suited to a second game with some or all of the sets, and began looking for a different scenario, preferably one I haven't gamed before. With my ongoing participation in Jon's Rivoli game, a battle from Napoleon's first Italian campaign seemed attractive. Thus I settled on the Battle of Castiglione

The overall situation as Napoleon was confronted by yet another attempt by the Austrians to relive the garrison of Mantua (like the following two maps, from David Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon). 

Early phase of the battle

The later phase of the Battle. 

This Map is from https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Castiglione_1796_campaign_order_of_battle

And yet another map!

Revised OOB and naps based information provided by Michael:

Castiglione August 1796

1 Infantry - 1,000 1 Cavalry = 600, 1 Artillery = 10 guns

French Army of Italy, Napoleon Bonaparte commanding

Division Massena

Brigade Joubert

3 Light Infantry

Brigade Valette

3 Light Infantry

Brigade Victor 

3 Line Infantry

Brigade Rampon

2 Light Infantry

Brigade D’Allemagne

3 Line Infantry

1 Battery

Division Augereau

4 Line Infantry, 1 Battery

Division Despinois
3 Line Infantry

Division Fiorella
4 Line Infantry

Division Kilmaine
2 Grenadier, 2 Chasseurs, 1 Hussar, 1 Dragoon
2 Horse Artillery

TOTAL: 8 Light Inf, 17 Line, 2 Grenadiers, 4 Cavalry, 4 Batteries

(20,000 Inf rising to 27,000 at end of battle, 2400 cavalry, 40 guns)

Austrian Army, FM Dagobert von Wurmser

Right Wing, FML Davidovich

Col Schubirz
1 Jager, 1 Grenz

GM Spiegel 

1 Line 1 Grenadier (actually Deutschmeister IR #3), 1 6# Foot Battery

GM Liptay
4 Line Infantry, 1 6# Foot Battery

GM Mittrowsky (2nd Line)
4 Line Infantry, 1 6# Foot battery

Left Wing, FML Sebottendorf

GM Gummer

2 Line Infantry

Col. Piazczek
2 Hussar, 1 Uhlan
1 x 3# Cavalry Battery

2 x 12# Foot Batteries (at Monte Medolano)

TOTAL: 1 Jager, 1 Grenz, 1 “Grenadier”,11 Line, 2 Hussar, 1 Huhlan, 6 Batteries

14,000 Infantry 1800 Cavalry, 60 guns

Terrain Map

Deployment Map

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original version:

Finding a good Order of Battle proved much more difficult. The best I could find was this one from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castiglione_1796_campaign_order_of_battle

French Army

Napoleon Bonaparte

• Army of Italy: Napoleon Bonaparte (42,049)
  • Division: General of Division André Masséna (15,391)
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Barthélemy Catherine Joubert
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Antoine La Valette
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Antoine-Guillaume Rampon
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Claude Perrin Victor
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Jean Joseph Magdeleine Pijon
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Paul Guillaume
  • Division: General of Division Pierre Augereau (5,368)
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Martial Beyrand †
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Jean Gilles André Robert
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Gaspard Amédée Gardanne
  • Division: General of Division Pierre Francois Sauret (4,462)
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Jean Joseph Guieu
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Jean-Baptiste Dominique Rusca
  • Division: General of Division Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier vice Pascal Antoine Fiorella (10,521)
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Louis Pelletier
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Charles François Charton
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Emmanuel Gervais de Roergaz de Serviez
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Claude Dallemagne
  • Division: General of Division Hyacinthe Francois Joseph Despinoy (4,772)
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Nicolas Bertin
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Jean-Baptiste Cervoni
  • Cavalry: General of Division Charles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine (1,535)
    • Brigade: General of Brigade Marc Antoine de Beaumont

Austrian Army

Dagobert von Wurmser

• Austrian Army: Feldmarschall Dagobert von Wurmser (60,690, 98 position and 94 battalion guns)
  • Right (I) Column: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich (17,621)
    • Brigade: General-major Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen
    • Brigade: General-major Johann Rudolph Sporck
    • Brigade: General-major Peter Karl Ott von Bátorkéz
    • Brigade: General-major Joseph Ocskay von Ocsko
    • 17 battalions (15,272), 13 squadrons (2,349), 24 position guns
  • Right-Center (II) Column: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Michael von Melas (14,403)
    • Brigade: General-major Peter Gummer
    • Brigade: General-major Adam Bajalics von Bajahaza
    • Division: Feldmarschallleutnant Karl Philipp Sebottendorf
      • Brigade: General-major Franz Nicoletti
      • Brigade: General-major Philipp Pittoni von Dannenfeld
    • 19 battalions (13,676), 4 squadrons (727), 24 position guns
  • Left-Center (III) Column: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Paul Davidovich (9,892)
    • Brigade: General-major Anton Ferdinand Mittrowsky
    • Brigade: General-major Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud
    • Brigade: General-major Leberecht Spiegel
    • 11 battalions (8,274), 10 squadrons (1,618), 40 position guns
  • Left (IV) Column: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló (5,021)
    • Brigade: General-major Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
    • Brigade: General-major Ferdinand Minckwitz
    • 5 battalions (3,949), 7 squadrons (1,072), 10 position guns
  • Mantua Garrison: Feldmarschall-Leutnant Joseph Canto d'Irles (13,753)
  • Brigade: General-major Gerhard Rosselmini (3,666 in 5 battalions)
  • Brigade: General-major Josef Philipp Vukassovich (2,449 in 3 battalions)
  • Brigade: Oberst Karl Salisch (1,489 in 6 battalions)
  • Brigade: General-major Mathias Rukavina von Boynograd (2,443 in 5 battalions)
  • Brigade: Oberst Strurioni (2,298 in 2½ bns)
  • Unattached: 434 cavalry in 3½ squadrons, 96 sappers, 701 artillerists
  • 
    
    

    However, it is completely lacking in any detail as to the kinds of troops contained within each formation. I was able to make a rough approximation from more detailed listings for battles earlier and later in the campaign, but in the end wound up just using what seemed reasoable to me from that data and the contents of my own collection. 

    I settled on the following somewhat generic OOB, which will have to be further adapted to the rules to be played. In any event, I used the following rough conversion of historical numbers to tabletop units:  1 Infantry unit  = 1,000 men, 1 Cavalry unit = 600 men,  1 battery = 8 guns

French Army- Napoleon Bonaparte

Massena 8,000

6 Line Infantry, 2 Legere. 2 Batteries

Augereau  10,000

8 Line Infantry, 2 Legere,  2 Batteries

Despinoy 4,000

4 Line Infantry

Verdier 2,00 Grenadiers

2 Grenadier

Marmont 18 horse artillery

2 batteries

Kilmaine 1500 Cavalry

1 each Chasseur, Dragoon, Hussar

Fiorella 500 dragoons, 5,000 infantry

1 Dragoon, 1 Legere, 4 Line, 1 Battery

TOTAL: 29 infantry, 4 cavalry, 7 artillery

Austrian Army, Dagobert von Wurmser

Melas 8,000 Infantry, 24 guns

1 Light Infantry, 1 Grenadier, 6 Line Infantry, 3 x 6 lber Foot batteries

Sebottendorf  8,000 Infantry, 24 guns

1 Grenz, 1 Grenadier, 6 Line, 3 x 6 lber Foot batteries

Davidovich 7,000 Infantry,  2400 cavalry, 16 guns

1 Light Infantry, 6 Line Infantry, 2 Hussar, 1 Chevau-Leger, 1 Dragoon, 2 x 6 lber Foot batteries

TOTAL: 23 Infantry, 4 cavalry, 8 Artillery

Terrain map, 6 x 9 foot table

Deployment Map; arrival of Despinoy, and later Fiorella, will bein part rules dependent. 

    Now to set up the terrain and troops, and then decide which rules to play first!

February 22nd, 2021 - Thanks to the much more detailed (but still with gaps) information from Michael aka Wargamer Rabbit, a significant revision to the OOB and deployment maps will be coming in the next few days...   Peter

I.R. #36, Kolowrat

I.R. #36 was recruited in Bohemia.

Their  facing color is "Gris de lin", the color of Flax flowers. Often described as mauve, the examples I saw were closer to Lavender. I used Delta CC Lavender, darkened a bit with a touch of Delta CC Pansy so that the hue would show up better. 

Heirloom Flax flowers. Flax fibers are of course also used to make linen, and the seeds are both edible and used to make linseed oil. A very useful plant!

The Inhaber of the Regiment was Furstenberg, Feldmarschalleutnant Karl-Aloys, Furst zu Furstenberg from 1792 -1799, vacant from 1799 - 1801, then  Feldzugmeister Johann-Karl, Graf Kolowrat-Krakowsky.  Furstenberg was killed at the Battle of Liptingen (25 March 1799).

In 1809, the regiment formed part of Bellegarde's I Corps. 

It fought at Aspen, Wagram, and Znaim. 

35e Ligne

1

With all of the Austrians mustering out recently, the French were clamoring for reinforcements! This is the first of 4 new units of Line Infantry in the 1809 uniforms. All were part of Grenier's Division of the Army of Italy in 1809.  

The 35e Ligne had its origins as the Aquitaine regiment of the Royal army, formed in 1625. It fought at Ulm in 1805 as part of the 2nd Corps under Marmont. These are Wargames Foundry figures purchased in December 2019, in the "loading" (reaching into their cartridge boxes) position, which I rather like for variety. 

As noted earlier, in 1809 the regiment was with the Army of Italy and fought at Raab and Wagram. 

I generally do my French line in groups of 4, with each unit having the Fusilier companies in one of the 4 company colors. For the first unit, same as the first company, that is green. 

During 812 campaign in Russia, the regiment fought at Smolensk and Borodino.

Using this system, purists could reshuffle the stands of the regiment so that each has one Fusilier stand each with green, sky blue, aurore, and violet pom poms. 

During1814, it was stationed with the Army of Italy once again. 

I really like the basic French Ligne uniform, but I have to admit that it is a pain to paint... red piped white, white piped red, dark blue piped red, and so on!

WGD 1971: The Story of Wargames Digest

 

The list of original subscribers is especially interesting, including as many well known names as completely unfamiliar ones! 

Many oftheideas discussed in tjhese4 early years are still evident today!

Although this appeared first on the pages of WGD, Volume 7 #1 I placed it second in this post, as likely of lesser interest to most. 

Sadly, there were no further issues after this one!

Eureka Gendarmes #2 - Herzog von Hessen

    This is the second unit of Gendarmes by Essex that I purchased as part of their 100 club 10+ years ago; there remains lead for 3 more such units! 

This unit is named for another fallen  wargames freind, Peter Hess.

Peter was an active promoter of Pike and Shot/Renaissance era miniature wargames, and usually could be found running one or more .large games from Renaissance history at every Historicon. 

I played in one of his games from the Swiss Burgundian Wars (I believe it was Morat, June 11, 1476), and enjoyed it immensely. 

Subsequently, Peter played in one of my Hussite Wars games using my Own Band of Brothers, 2nd edition rules. The back and forth battle over the Wagenburg was tense, and Peter said it was one of the most fun games he had ever played in. 

For Historicon 2009, Peter sponsored a series of game for the 500th Anniversary of the Battle of Agnadello, April 1509, subtitled "500 years of Obscurity". The Battle was run with multiple times, each with a different set of rules; I ran the version played with Band of Brothers, 2nd edition. If I recall correctly, as happened historically, the French prevailed in every case. That year a group of 6 of us also ran 6 battles from the 1809 campaign Razyn, Teugen-Hausen, Eggmuhl, Aspern-Essling, Wagram, and Hof (in Saxony - Jerome's Westphalians, etc vs various rebel factions supported by Kienmayer's Austrians). 

I was shocked to learn of Peter's passing less than a year later, he had no signs of ill health whatsoever in 2009. 

Peter used "Hessians@aol" as his email, so this flamboyant unit is named in honor of him. 

WGD 1971: The Senegal Revolt, 1878

    This account is actually itself a reprint of an article that appeared in an earlier Scruby Miniatures house organ, "Miniature Parade" in 1968. I've enjoyed re-reading this account by the little known historian, Joachim von Srubanwitz, several times over the decades. It tells the tale of a Native rebellion in Senegal, on the "Dark Content" of Mafrica, against the Europeans of the Imperium, their trading companies, and their native surrogates. I hope you enjoy it as well!

Although I would not learn of it until many decades after I first read this, there is connection between my Maternal Grandfather and Africa!  I never had the privilege of knowing him, as he died suddenly under very mysterious circumstances when my mother was only 16 years old. He was born in Wales but emigrated to the US early in his life. He volunteered and served as sergeant in the US Marines during World War 2. By all accounts (perhaps biased, as my mother adored him, and he her!) he was a very intelligent man, and during the short time he was stationed in France, he taught himself French. Indeed, he taught himself French so well, that after the Great War, he was employed as an interpreter at the French embassy in Senegal for several years. 

His time in Senegal doubtless accounted for the Rhinoceros tusks mounted on a plaque that graced the wall in the guest room of my parent's home.  As far as I know, they were lost in the rather hurried move of my parents from their home to a single level condominium in their late 80's. Given today's well justified wildlife conservation laws against the sale and possession of such things without proper documentation, perhaps that was for the best! It was accompanied by a late 1800's rifle of the kind that the Imperium may have used at the battle related by von Scrubanwitz, current whereabouts also unknown!