Revolting Peasants 3

Well these chaps are the last of the Revolting Peasants ("Good Lord, let's hope so!")

These are Old Glory figures, and quite nicely sculpted. 

Another Spare banner from Pete's Flags elevates the unit a bit. 

"Where's the Monster?!"

They do look quite the angry mob!

Once again, useable across quite a few centuries. 

Wurttemberg Leibjäger Garde

The  Wurttemberg Garderegiment zu Pferd had its origins in 1801, when the Garde-du-Corps and Leibjäger squadrons of the Württemberg Reiter Regiment was separated from it and became an independent squadron under the direct command of Duke Frederick. At this time both were small, less than 50 men each. The Leibjagers performed the functions of the Gendarmerie for the Army.

Until 1808, the Leibjägers wore dark  green coats with red lapels, collar, cuffs, and green turnbacks piped yellow. A red cummerbund was worn around the waist. The pants were white, belts black, and the buttons and contra-epaulettes were brass.  A black helmet with a black comb and a brass plate on the front. and a long trailing black horsehair crest was worn. There was a dark green plume at the front of the comb, which was moved to the left side of the helmet in 1805. By this time, the unit was up to a full squadron (146 men). 

The Leibjäger received a new uniform and headgear in late 1808. The new coat was grass green with  a black collar and black square cuffs.  The turnbacks were yellow with a black edging piped yellow at the extreme edge. The front of the coat was decorated with a wide lace welt approximately 6 inches in width of a yellow and black ½ inch checked pattern. The contra-epaulettes were brass. A black cummerbund sash was worn at the waist over the coat. For gala dress a ‘soubreveste’ was worn over the coat of black lacquered cotton faced felt with a silver star of the order of Militär-Verdienst-Ordens on the breast and back. The edges were trimmed with a four deep with of black and yellow checked lace. The cummerbund sash wasn't worn with the soubreveste. This is the uniform depicted in the Funken plates. 

Also in late 1808 the squadron received new raupenhelm style helmets with black leather slightly elongated crown and a very low comb which supported a thick, black wool raupe. The front of the helmet had a brass plate with the Royal coat of arms flanked by the lion and stag supporters. The base of the helmet was trimmed with a brass band. The national cockade of yellow and red was worn on the left side of the raupenhelm. Above the cockade was a dark green plume. This pattern helmet continued to be worn for gala and parade dress until 1814.

In 1809 a new coat was issued for everyday wear and campaign dress, and the short tunic was reserved solely for gala dress. This was a single breasted, grass green long tailed uniform coat, with collar, cuffs and turnbacks faced black. The front of the coat was piped yellow and closed with nine brass buttons and the seams on the tails were piped with yellow. Cuffs were of the square cut pattern with two buttons one on the cuff actual and one above. The collar was decorated with yellow lace edging to the leading and bottom edges. The cuffs were trimmed in yellow at the upper and trailing edges and the turnbacks were also edged yellow. Full fringed yellow epaulettes were worn at the shoulders. This is the uniform seen above. 

In 1809 the Leibjäger rtecieved black bearskin bonnets, without a front plate for wear during campaign. The Leibjäger bearskin had a black cloth patch at the rear with a yellow lace cross and  yellow cords and flounders. A dark green plume was worn on the left side of the bonnet with a small socket conceal behind the national cockade which was now yellow, black and red. The chinscales were brass. Once again, this is as depicted above. 

The shabraque from 1808 on was dark green, with a broad band of yellow and black checks edging it. The officers had red edging with a zigzag yellow lace running through it, a glimpse of which can be seen on some of images of the standard bearer. The flag is speculative at best, the deign being known for only the Garde du Corps squadron. These lovely figures (and the flag) are from Lucas Luber and Piano Wargames in Germany. 

Revolting Peasants #2

A second unit of Revolting Peasants scurries off the painting table.

They should be useable from the Dark Ages through the TYW/ECW eras. 

They get fancier than they probably deserve with the addition of a spare flag. 

Bread Riot!

I rather enjoyed painting this scruffy lot!

Wurttemberg I.R. #5, "Prinz Friedrich von Wurttemberg"

The Kingdom of Wurttemberg has another infantry regiument marching off the painting table this week!

The 5th Regiment has sky blue facings and pewter buttons. 

Therse are Piano Wargames figures once again, designed by Lucas Luber. 

The flags were laser printed from free downloads from the Piano Wargames site. 

The Inhaber of this regiment, Prinz Friedrich, was the King's nephew, who was 1 year old in 1809!

Prinz Friedrich later pursued a military career, with involvement in the Austro-Prussian war on the losing (Austrian) side.

Medieval Warfare, by Charles Sweet

 From  Jack Scruby's The Wargames Digest, Book I, Volume IV, published in December 1957.

Scan courtesy of Mike Taber, from the Tabletop Talk Facebook group. 

The ideas in this article are said to have significantly influenced the original CHainmail rules by Gary Gaygax and Jeff Perrin, the small Lord of the Rings fantasy section of which was the precursor to Dungeons and Dragons...

I don't recall every seeing Charlie's Medieval figures in action, but there was that famous Chainmail based campaign at UConn  in 1974 based upon the contenders to the French Throne circa ? 1200, featuring a certain gamer of Swedish descent as the Vikings and yours truly as the Dauphin, along with many others....

Revolting Peasants 1

Here we have a  mob of Wargamers converging on the home of Ridley Scott, having just watched "Napoleon".  :-)

They are armed with a variety of pitchforks, scythes, axes and the like.

They are suitable for a wide time span, probably through about 1700. 

I gave mine a few WotR command figures and some spare WotR banners from Pete's flags. 

I have in mind to use them as "Very Inferior Array" for some games with Test of Resolve - Wars of the Roses.

Events Past and Present

 

Yes, I saw the Napoleon movie last weekend. We'll come back to that in a bit...

We lost ouir Zoe fairly suddenly earlier this year, a victim of the Hemangiosarcoma that is the plague of Golden Retrievers.  Zoe was the last of many Golden Retrievers from our long time breeder and freind, Bob. The Empress has puppy tested Bob's litters for decades, and in September, after testing a litter, she came back saying how wonderful this one particular boy was. "But he's spoken for, so it doesn't matter." A few days later, Bob called us to say that the prospective  owner had backed out, so if we wanted the boy, we could have him. We all went to check him out a few days later. I knew that once we went, we would be getting him. My younger daughter lost her beloved Golden, Rory, a few years back, and has wanted another boy for a while. In fact, we got Rory in much the same way - an unplanned puppy. 

So, no surprise, a week later, the new boy, whom my daughter named "Rowan", came home with us. The big girls weren't quite sure what to make of him at first, hence "making friends with treats"!

Well. it wasn't long before Rowan "Conquered everything". he is seen here seated upon this throne, LOL!

Everybody love Rowan!

"I am master of all I survey!"

    Back to the Napoleon Movie; I saw it with my wife and our two close, history buff friends (neither of whom is really very familiar with Napoleon and his times). The theater was actually full, which surprised me somewhat. As history, well, not too great. The movie is more told through the lens of  Napoleon's relationship with Josephine, which isn't unreasonable for the general public. The earlier part of the movie concerning the siege of Toulon, the "whiff of grapeshot", Napoleon's encountering Josephine, some brief cameos in Egypt and then the Coup d' Etat of Brumaire, the consulate and coronation was reasonably well done; I'd be really interested in what is in the 4+ hour director's cut. The battle scenes are impressive but pretty grossly fantasy. Overall, I enjoyed it for what it was. The subject of Napoleon, his life and his times is so complex that it would really take a muti-part series to cover it in any depth at all.  I think the director would have been far better off with at least 2 or 3 movies; the first woukld cover his early life, and end with his successful 1st Italian campaign. The second might have covered Egypt through Austerlitz or Tilsit, and the last from there until his death. Certainly more development of the many other characters surrounding him, demonstration of his charisma and incredible work ethic, and some coverage of  the Concordat and the Code Napoleon would have given a more nuanced and engaging portrait of the man.  Today is the 119th anniversary of Napoleon's coronation as Emperor of the French, and the 118th anniversary of Austerlitz.  Vive l'Empereur!

Finally, this week saw the death of Dr. Henry Kissinger at age 100. His legacy is complex, but he was certainly a major force, for both good and bad, in the evolution of the world order in the 1960's, 1970's, and beyond. . He retired to Kent, CT, one town Northeast of where I have practiced for almost 40 years. Soon after we moved to the area, my wife and I were out to dinner. She whispered to me "Peter, someone is doing a really BAD impression of Henry Kissinger!". I glanced over, and, knowing that he lived in the area, replied "Oh no, that IS Henry Kissinger!"  For the most part celebrities bore me to tears, but I must confess that speaking with Kissinger would have been another matter altogether. We of course ignored he and his party the rest of the evening.