Snappy Nappy - Planning The Waterloo Campaign

    We of the Hartford Area Historical Gaming Society are working out the details for our upcoming "Campaign in a Day" to be held Sunday April 26, 2015, using the Snappy Nappy rules by Russ Lockwood. We had a great time with our prior events, the first based upon the events of April 1809, and the second based upon August 1813. This one will depict the events of June, 2015. See the flyer below for the details of the event, which is open to all interested parties. I highly recommend the unique "Fog of War" experience of these events! 

"Scotland Forever!" - Lady Butler's wonderfully romantic painting of the charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo

   The event will be held at The Portal gaming space in Manchester, Connecticut. The Portal is directly across the street from its parent store, The Time Machine. It is superb gaming space, and ideal for this project. There is excellent lighting and a large number of 4 x 6 foot gaming tables available, most of which will be in use for this project. It worked very well for our 1813 event!

    At present, the plan is to "Zoom in" one level, so that a stand of Infantry represents 1000 men, a stand of Cavalry represents 400 men, and a stand of Artillery represents 12 guns with crews. Infantry and cavalry units generally have 2 stands per unit, while Artillery units have one stand only. At that level, the game could easily handle up to 16 players. Alternatively, if turnout is light, the forces can easily  be cut in half, which would put it back at the base ratios for Snappy Nappy. 

French Army, Napoleon I

1st Corps, d'Erlon
16 Line Infantry,  2 Legere
2 Hussars, 2 Chevau-Leger Lanciers
3 6# Foot Artillery

2nd Corps, Reille
12 Line Infantry, 8 Legere,
2 Chasseurs, 2 Chevau-Leger Lanciers
3 6# Foot Artillery

3rd Corps Vandamme
12 Line Infantry, 2 Regt Etranger, 2 Legere
2 Chasseurs
3 6# Foot Artillery

4th Corps, Gerard
12 Line Infantry, 2 Legere
2 Hussars, 2 Dragoons
2 6# Foot Artillery

6th Corps, Lobau
8 Line Infantry, 2 Legere
3 6# Foot Artillery

1st Cavalry Corps, Pajol
4 Chevau-Leger Lanciers, 2 Hussars,
1 6# Horse Artillery

2nd Cavalry Corps, Exelmans
8 Dragoons
1  6# Horse Artillery

3rd Cavalry Corps, Kellerman
8 Cuirassier/Carabinier
1 6# Horse Artillery

4th Cavalry Corps, Milahud
8 Cuirassier
1 6# Horse Artillery

Imperial Guard, Mortier/Drouot
4 Old Guard, 4 Middle Guard, 4 Young Guard, 1 Sailors/Genie, 
5 Guard HC (2 Grenadiers a Cheval, 2 Empress Dragoons, 1 Gendarmes d' Elite)
6 Guard LC (2 Chasseurs, 4 Lancers)
6 12 # Old Guard FA, 2 6# Old Guard Horse Artillery, 2 Young Guard 6# FA, 1 Line 6# Horse Artillery

French Totals:    89 Infantry, 55 cavalry, 29 Artillery
60 Line Infantry
16 Legere
2 Etranger
4 Old Guard Infantry
4 Middle Guard Infantry
4 Young Guard Infantry
6 Hussar
8 Chevau-Leger Lancers
4 Chasseurs
10 Dragoons
16 Cuirasssiers.Carabiniers
5 Guard Heavy Cavalry
6 Guard Light Cavalry
16 Line/YG 6# Foot Artillery
5 6# Horse Artillery
6 Guard 12# Foot Artillery
2 Guard 6# Horse Artillery


Anglo-Allied Army, Viscount Wellington

1st Corps, Prince Willem of Orange 
4 British Guard Infantry, 2 British Line, 2 KGL Rifles, 2 Hanoverian Lts/Jager, 2 Hanoverian Line, 2 Dutch Jagers, 2 Dutch Line, 6 Dutch Militia, 4 Nassau Line
1 British 9# Foot Artillery, 1 KGL 9# Horse Artillery, 1 Dutch 6# Foot Artillery, 1 Dutch 6# Horse Artillery

2nd Corps Hill
2 British Highland LI, 2 British Fusiliers, 4 British Line, 2 KGL Line 2 British Rifle, 2 Hanoverian Line, 4 Hanoverian Landwehr,  2 Dutch Light, 4 Dutch Line, 2 Dutch Militia
1 6# RHA, 1 British 9# Foot Artillery, 1 6# Dutch Foot Artillery

Cavalry Corps Uxbridge
2 Horse Guards, 2 Life Guards, 2 Scott's Greys,  16 British/KGL Light Dragoons/Hussars, 4 Hanoverian Hussars, 4 Belgian Carabiniers (HC), 4 Dutch LC, 2 Brunswick LC
(We have lots of Brunswick Cavalry, so some may fill in for the Dutch and Hanoverian LC)
2 9# British RHA, 1 6# Dutch HA 

Reserves, Wellington
4 Highlander Infantry, 4 British Line,  6 Hanoverian Landwehr, 6 Brunswick Infantry, 4 Nassau Infantry
2 RHA 2 British Foot Artillery, 1 Brunswick 6# Foot Artillery

Anglo-Allied Totals  76 Infantry, 36 cavalry, 15 Artillery
10 British Line
2 British Fusiliers
2 British Light Infantry
4 Highlanders
4 British Guard Infantry
4 British/KGL Rifles
2 KGL Line
2 Hanoverian Light Infantry
4 Hanoverian Line
10 Hanoverian Landwehr
4 DB Light Infantry
6 DB Line
8 DB Militia
8 Nassau Line
6 Brunswick Infantry
4 Guard Cavalry
2 Scott's Greys Dragoons
16 British/KGL Light Dragoons/Hussars
4 Hanoverian Hussars
4 DB Heavy cavalry
4 DB Light cavalry
2 Brunswick LC
4 British FA
6 British/KGL HA
2 DB 6#Foot Artillery
2 DB 6# Horse Artillery
1 Brunswick 6# Foot Artillery




Prussian Army, Marshal Blucher

1st Corps Ziethen
10 Prussian Line, 6 Prussian Reserve, 10 Prussian Landwehr
2 Hussar, 2 Dragoon, 2 Uhlan, 4 Landwehr Cavalry
2 6# Horse Artillery, 2 12# Foot Artillery, 4 6# Foot Artillery

2nd Corps Pirch I
6 Prussian Line  10 Prussian Reserve, 10 Prussian Landwher 2 Ex Lutzow Freikorps
4 Prussian Dragoons, 4 Prussian Hussars, 4 Prussian Landwehr cavalry
1 12# Foot Artillery, 2 6# Horse Artillery, 4 6# Foot Artillery

3rd Corps Thielmann
4 Prussian Line, 4 Ex-Russo-German Legion, 12 Prussian Landwher
4 Prussian Uhlans, 2 Prussian Dragoons, 2 Landwehr Cavalry
2 6# Horse Artillery, 1 12# Foot Artillery, 1 6# Foot Artillery

4th Corps Von Bulow
4 Prussian Line, 4 Prussian Reserve, 10 Prussian Landwehr
2 Uhlans 4 Hussars 2 Dragoons, 6 Landwehr cavalry 
2 Prussian Horse Artillery, 2 Prussian 12# Foot Artillery, 4 Prussian 6# Batteries

Prussian Totals:  92 Infantry, 44 cavalry, 27 Artillery
24 Prussian Line
20 Prussian Reserve
42 Prussian Landwehr
6 Lutzow/RGL Infantry
10 Prussian Hussars
10 Prussian Dragoons
8 Prussian Uhlans
16 Landwehr Cavalry
6 12# Foot Artil;lery
8 6 # Horse Artillery
13 Prussian 4# Foot Artillery

SUMMARY  of  FORCES

ARMY	INFANTRY	CAVALRY	ARTILLERY
French	89	59	29
Anglo-Allied	76	36	15
Prussian	92	44	27
TOTALS	257 (771 figs)	139 (278 figs)	71 (220 figs/71 G)

Main Source used for deriving the OOB in Snappy Nappy terms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle_of_the_Waterloo_Campaign

With additional help from the Cent Jours site:
http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/organigrammes.php

Map of the Theater of War from the Block Game, Napoleon by Columbia Games

I hope to see some of you there!

Peter

The 95th Rifles - Napoleonic Wars

    Although perhaps the most famous British unit of the Napoleonic Wars, the 95th was also one of the youngest. It derived form the Experimental Corps of Riflemen, formed in 1800, which became the 95th (Rifle) regiment of Foot in 1803. The 95th trained in light infantry tactics along with other two other new  Light Infantry regiments  in 1803. A second battalion was raised in 1805, and a third in 1809. All three battalions served in the Peninsula and elsewhere during the Napoleonic Wars. The 95th was renamed the Rifle Brigade in 1816.

The 95th (Rifle) regiment.  Picking off officers of French units on a tabletop near you!

Old Glory 28mm figures. A is often the case, the green is darker on the figures than it appears in the pictures. 

The Baker Rifle was said to be able to hit a man sized target at 200 years, and as far as 400 years in the hands of an expert marksman.

Many of the riflemen were taught to read and write, which may account for the unusually large number of memoirs penned by enlisted men of the Regiment. Those in turn may also partially explain some of the fame of the regiment as it pertains to the Napoleonic Wars!

Similarly, there are an unusually large number of re-enactor/living history units inspired by the 95th, including outfits in the UK, the USA, and Australia. 

http://www.95thrifles.com/home.html

http://www.95th-rifles.co.uk/

http://www.1st95thrifles.com/

http://www.95thriflesaustralia.com/

The Hos Blethan Affair - Lord Kalvan Sequel #6

    Of the several new books acquired over the Holidays, I was most eager to read this one. It was finally published in November, almost a year late, as a result of a life threatening illness by the chief author, John Carr. This side tale, set in the Paratime world of  Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (Aryan Transpacific, Styphon's Houie subsector), which has roughly 30 Years War level military technology, is unique in that Kalvan makes almost no appearance whatsoever in its pages, although he continues to have a strong direct and indirect influence on events.

    The novel is set after the events related in the Sequel, "Kalvan Kingmaker", and immediately before those of "The Siege of Tarr-Hostigos". It chronicles the events in the Kingdom of Bletha set in motion by King Kalvan of Hos-Hostigos sending his "Chief of Intelligence", the former horse thief Duke Skanga, and a promising but somewhat hot headed Colonel from the Royal Army, Democriphon, to Hos-Bletha to uinitiate a 5th column action designed to tie up the armed forces of Hos-Bletha so that the Kingdom will not be able to send its planned contribution to join the Grand Host of Styphon, being gathered to crush Kalvan once and for all. Starting with a small band of leaders and a few companies of soldiers, the activities of Kalvan's agents range from raids to con games to Robin Hood inspired woodland outlaws, to systematically plundering the corrupt temples of Styphon and using the gold gained to fund operations. Along the way some old secrets are uncovered that further destabilize the regime of  Great King Niclophon.

    I don't want to give away any of the many plot tuns in the book so I'll merely say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While it lacks much in the way of battles that one might want to bring to the tabletop, there is plenty of fighting. This book was blast to read, and perhaps the closest in tone and style to the original Lord Kalvan of any of the sequels. I tore through its 650+ pages in less than a week! Highly recommended.

    At present The Hos Blethan Affair is available only in the beautifully produced but expensive limited edition hardcover book form; all of John's other works are now available in reasonably priced kindle/epub forms, either direct from John or via Amazon. John's site even has the 1st edition version of Great King's War (the first sequel to the original Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H. Beam Piper) available for free download.

Down Styphon!

Peter

60th Infantry Regiment "Royal American", 5th battalion

    The origins of this regiment date back to 1756, when it was raised as the 62nd Regiment (Royal Americans) in four battalions from American colonists and officered largely by foreigners (mostly German) of Protestant faith - the first time a British regiment had non-British officers. The regiment was re-numbered as the 60th Regiment in 1757. It fought at Louisborg and Quebec.

    In 1797, a 5th battalion was raised on the Isles of Wight, primarily from Germans, and was equipped entirely with rifles - the first Rifle armed Regular battalion in the British army. It was also  the first Regular unit to wear a green uniform (with red facings). A 6th battalion was raised in 1799; The 5th battalion saw extensive service in the Peninsula. The Light companies of the Line battalions of the 60th were later armed with Rifles as well. A 7th Battalion, again rifle armed, was raised in 1813 for service in the Americas during the War of 1812.  Later in 1815 the Regiment's name was changed to the Duke of York's Own Rifle Corps, and then again in 18130 to The King's Royal Rifle Corps.

The 5th (Rifle) battalion of the regiment wore dark blue pants with red stripes down the outer seams - quite unique in the British infantry. 

Battle Honors awarded to the 5th battalion include "Rolica" "Vimiera" "Talavera" "Busaco" "Fuentes d'Onor" "Albuhera" "Ciudad Rodrigo" "Badajoz" "Salamanca" "Vittoria" "Pyrenees" "Nivelle" "Nive" "Orthes" "Toulouse" and "Peninsula"

The motto of the Regiment is Celer et Audax (Swift and Bold). It is said to have been conferred by  Major-General James Wolfe. Apparently, Wolfe was was greatly impressed with the alertness, intrepidity and spirited conduct of the grenadier companies of the 2nd and 3rd Battalion of the 60th Royal Americans before Quebec that he conferred it upon them. Curiously, it seems to have been forgotten later, and only officially restored to the Regiment in 1824!

The 5th Battalion fought mostly in 1-2 company detachments dispersed among the Peninsular army to bolster its skirmishing capabilities.   28mm Old Glory figures.

The 5th battalion, 60th Regiment was armed with the excellent Baker rifles. It had the green cords and short plumes of a Light unit. Another of the many detailed regimental histories of British regiments, that for the 60th (this including a number of uniform plates) can be found online at: https://archive.org/stream/regimentalchroni00walluoft#page/x/mode/2up

Napoleonic Sailing Ships - Dutch

Prior to the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Dutch navy had been a force to be reckoned with. The vast Dutch colonial and trade empire needed good ships and captains to protect their far flung possessions and its commercial shipping. Following the French Revolution, Dutch maritime fortunes declined, the Dutch Navy being famously captured by a regiment of French Hussars (the 8th) at Den Helder on the night of  January 23, 1795. The winter had been extremely cold, and the ships were literally frozen in place. The French suck across the ice and captured the ships while most of her crews were asleep... or so goes the standard version. It seems perhaps that the truth is more complicated, and the Dutch fleet reached an agreement with the French rather than actually being captured (Holland was in a state of civil war between the French backed Revolutionary faction and the Orangists supporting the Stadtholder [Dutch sovereign]).  Either way, the ships of the Dutch Republic - Batavian Republic - Kingdom of Holland make a nice force that can be deployed to aid the French or fight them on the tabletop.

A 20 gun Sloop. the Belgica, and a 36 gun Frigate, Utrecht

Another view of the sloop and frigate; I painted the strakes of the Dutch ships a bright red color, shading towards orange, as opposed to the dark red I used on the Spanish ships seen previously. 

Next is a trio of 74 gun Dutch "3rd rate" ships of the line. 

Dutch ships had relatively shallow drafts to allow them to navigate the relatively shallow waters of the Dutch coast and the associated estuaries.

These three 74-gun Ships of the Line are the Dordrecht, the Alexander, and the Washington.

A view of all 5 ships of the Dutch squadron.

Another view of the five Dutch ships in my collection. It looks like we'll get to try out the Close Action rules tomorrow!

Great Britain: 2nd (Coldstream) Guards

    The 2nd (Coldstream) Guards is the oldest regular regiment in continuous service in the British army, Its origins date back to the English Civil War. It was originally raised as a regiment in the New Model Army by General Monck in 1650. During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Regiment saw service in Egypt, fought at Copenhagen in 1807, and was sent to the Peninsula from 1809 on. There it participated in the battle of Talavera as well as the Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Burgos and San Sebastian, the battles of Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Bidassoa, Nive, Nivelle and the investment of Bayonne. The 2nd battalion of the regiment participated in the ill-fated Walcheren expedition in 1809.
During the 1815 campaign in the low countries, the regiment fought first at Quatre Bras, where unlike the 1st Foot Guards, it was not heavily engaged. . At Waterloo, the regiment was famously part of the defenders of the Hougoumont chateau. Its losses that day were 348 killed and countless more wounded - extremely heavy!

The 2nd (Coldstream) Guards - 28mm Old Glory Figures. I was uncertain as to whether all the companies should wear the white plumes of Grenadiers (as in the Fusilier regiments), but looking at this re-enactors website, it appears the usual company plume distinctions were preserved (verified); I will have to correct that. 

I have painted all the companies with shoulder wings, which I believe is correct*, and for the Guards, the wings are in their dark blue facing color, rather than the red used by the flank companies of Line regiments. * see comments below - further research shows that the wings were  indeed limited to the Flank companies, although the 8 center companies had broad dark blue shoulder straps piped white. 

I need to order some more GMB flags - the Foot Guards Colors were unique in that the design patterns of the King's and Regimental colors were reversed, with the Regimental colors having the overall Union flag design, and the King's colors being crimson. To make things much more complicated, there were three different versions of the King's colors for Guard regiments (Colonel's, Lt. Colonel's, and Major's), and often even duplicates of these patterns due to the wear and tear caused by the ceremonial duties of the Guards. The Regimental flags were even more abundant, one per company, each with different badges/emblems upon them. Despite this profusion of designs, only one Crimson and one Union pattern flag were carried by a battalion in the field at any one time... thank goodness!

I have chosen to paint the regiment with the white pants worn for dress occasions, as a way of making the Guards stand out more easily on the wargames tabletop. 

The motto of the Coldstream Guards is Nulli Secundus (Second to None) which is a play on the fact although that the regiment was numbered as the 2nd Foot Guards, its history of continuous service as is longer than that of the First regiment. 

With the addition of this unit, my British Napoleonic army is now up to almost 300 figures, and my total Napoleonic collection now exceeds 6,000 figures! It will probably top out at somewhat under 7,000 eventually. 

2014 in Review, and Plans for 2015

Well, it's that time again for a retrospective on the old year and some plans for the new one.

Another doggone year at Blunders on the Danube

2014 in Review

1) Painting

January:  16 British Light Cavalry, 18 RHA, 6 guns

February:  6 Prussian Officers, 2 dogs

March:  24 Nubian Archers, 32 Sherdan Guards, 4 Crows, 2 Squirrels, 1 Skunk!

April; 24 Egyptian Archers, 4 Egyptian officers, 30 British Fusiliers

May: 45 Entomalian Fighters, 10 Entomalian Misiles, 6 Entomalian Starships, 7 Egyptian               Chariots, 5 Wolves

June: 38 Old Guard Infantry, 8 Old Guard Foot Artillery Crew, 6 Gendarmes d' Elite,12                  Brigade Models Merchant ships, 11 Terran Starships, 38 Terran Fighters, 10 Terran              Missiles

July: 9 escape pods, 2 Resin Egyptian Colossi, 20 Entomalian Starsghips, 16 Entomalian             Fighters, 10 Entomalian Missiles.

August: 14 French Artillery Crew, 4 French Napoleonic Characters, 18 Prussian Landwehr

September: 16 Austrian Hussars

October: 18 British Infantry

November:  18 British Infantry, 4 Ballistae

December 36 British Infantry

Total: 242 foot figures, 10 artillery models, 44 mounted figures, 12 animals, 7 chariots, 39 missiles/escape pods, 49 starships, 99 fighters, 2 terrain pieces, and about 60 drift markers for Galactic Knights.

Not a bad year, with a large chunk of it devoted to Starships and Egyptians, with less Napoleonics than usual.

2) Gaming

Games Played

Battle of the Trebbia (Pulse of Battle) w/ Barry

Montmiail Playtest #2 with Barry

Galactic Knights Playtest with Barry

Latema Nek WW1 at Historicon

RCW game w/ Jared and crew

La Bicocca Playtest with Jared

Legio Quatrenarius paytest with Barry

San Miguel with Die Fighting with Barry

Games Run

Hostile Realms at The TM (2 games side by side)

Montmirail x 2 at Historicon

Egypt vs Assyria with Pulse of Battle at Historicvon

4 Galactic Nights games (2 sessions of 2 each) at Historicon

Legio Quaternarius at EllisCon

8 games played, 7 games run - a pretty good year!

3) Blogging

100,446 pageviews
100 posts
A Liebster Bliog Award
Added Napoleonic Uniform Information Page/Index

A very solid year!

4) Publications

None, but working on at least one small project for 2015.

Goals - Looking to 2015

1) Painting

This year should be almost all Napoleonic until July and Historicon!

 I still have quite a few Landsknechts, Gendarmes, and other Renaissance/Late Medieval era cavalry that I can add to my existing forces if I have time - some could be used at La Bicocca.

2) Gaming

I did pretty well last year!  PLAYING 12 games a year is a stretch goal. We'll see! :-)

Use all those starships for a game or two!  

Maybe a Kalvan/TYW game with the HAHGS

Some Napoleonic Age of Sail with Close Action  - ? at Portal Con at the TM later this month.

I  plan to run a game of Die Fighting 2 (Napoleonic)  for Havoc this Spring.

Hundred Days 1815 "Campaign in a Day"  with Snappy Nappy at the Time Machine for June 2105 - really looking forwards to this one!

For Historicon 2014 I plan to do:

1)  Egypt Canaanite game with Pulse of Battle and Ken B. - need to firm up plans for this one.

2) A Napoleonic game with Die Fighting 2, maybe historical, maybe not

3) La Bicocca with Hostile Realms

4) Waterloo or Ligny with Field of Battle 2nd edition, maybe a PM/following AM doubl;e header - worked well with Montmirail in 2014. Buiggst issue is deciding which one fopr sure so as to guide painting, etc. I a, leaningh more towards Ligny.

Waterloo or Ligny with FoB2 (Probably whichever I don't do at Historicon) at the TM or at Ellis Con this Fall with HAHGS?  Hopefully Joe will ru n his Quatre Bra scenario one or more times.

3) Blogging

No major goals there - just continue posting regularly. Update some pages listing my exiting collections as time permits.

4) Publications

. Minor project started, should complete in the first half of this year.