It gives me great pleasure to announce that all the infantry, both French and Austrian, have now all been finished for the 1859 war in Italy. The French alone amount to nearly 9,000 infantry figures (I may have missed one or two though).
I was going to do the facings, belts, scabbards etc, but they take sooooo long to do as in the monster scales, I gave up.
Three battalions of French takes me about an hour from undercoat to sticking onto the bases. Bigger stuff takes me three HOURS to put the undercoat on, once I convinced the buggers to stay stuck on the painting strips I use and not keep falling off!! And they only cost me a few pence and not a kings ransom for biggies...
Just some more French artillery to do, then the scenics (which is being built by myself).
Once ready, for your entertainment and delight, I'll be putting on the Battle of Magenta, 4th June 1859 (the colour Magenta comes from this battle, purportedly from all the dried blood on the white Austrian uniforms).
This battle is much bigger than the little on I put on way back in January 2018 (Battle of San Martino, which actually came after Magenta) and there will be room for several players.
So, watch this space...
...will the French wipe the floor with the pompous Austrians, or will the 'Kaiser's children' give the ' Les Pantalon Rouge' a good thrashing?
More cavalry just completed for the Siege of Vienna collection, both Polish/Lithuanian side and Ottomans.
Lithuanian Tartars / Cossacks
Completed a second squadron of Lithuanian Tartars,these light cavalry formed about one third of the Polish cavalry strength with about one third Hussars and one third Pancerni (armoured Cossack) cavalry.
I still have to add a standard for this unit - it will be a religious banner of some sort.
Arab Heavy Cavalry
Next up is a group of Heavy Ottoman cavalry - Arabic in this case.
Warlord Light Cavalry
Thirdly I have finished the Warlord Croat Light Cavalry that I had on my workbench for months! These will be used as Polish Light Cavalry to work alongside the Lithuanians.
Finally I'm scratch building some Turkish Light Cavalry, these will be revealed at a later date!
All cavalry (except Croats) are being made form the extremely adaptable Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry plastic box set.
The Battle of the Lake (a.k.a. The Battle on the Ice) was fought between the Republic of Novgorod led by Prince Alexander Nevsky and the forces of the Livonian Order led by Bishop Hermann of Dorpat at Lake Peipus.
The battle is notable for having been fought largely on a frozen lake, and this gave the battle its name(s).
The Livonian Order was an sub-division of the more well known Teutonic Knights, as such many of their number were German noblemen, crusading against the Novograd pagans and the 'heathen Russian Eastern Orthodox Christians...
John is recreating the battle in miniature and this is scheduled to run May 10th & 17th, be there early for best commands.
Snow effects achieved by using salt and the trees, lake ice and snow drifts supplied by Mark from his WW2 Russo-Fininsh War collection.
A video of the Background to the battle and the real events of the battle can be found here:
The Tabletop, frozen lake to left and shoreline to right
First week was devoted to set-up and a good start on the battle its-self. Rupert, Mike W & Phil took n the Russian side, with Rupert playing Alexander Nevsky - commanding the Russian horse on the right, Mike W playing his brother -Andrei who commanded the Russian Horse on the left and Phil commanded the infantry in the centre.
Prince Andrei's Heavy Cavalry, deployed on Russian Left
Russian Centre, shore manned by City Militia and local tribesmen a mix of Spear and Crossbowmen
As expected Steve took command of the Crusader Military Orders in the Crusader centre and then the allied Germans were placed on the Crusader left under Mike N. and the Danish contingent was placed under Mark's command on the Crusader right wing.
Teutonic Infantry, backed by German & Danish Crusaders formed second rank on the Crusader right
Military Orders, formed centre of Teutonic Line
German Knights formed the Crusader left wing
The battle opened with a general Crusader advance whilst Russian infantry lines were straightened out and extended and the Russian horse under Andrei Nevsky was deployed to their left and the allied Mongol hordes were deployed to the right wing.
Crusader control was lax and as soon as they saw the flank moves the central knights were unleashed in an all out charge to the Russian Infantry lines on the lake shoreline.
Whilst Danish Knights formed the Crusader Right Wing
Again as expected the Military Orders were pretty much unstoppable, cutting their way through the infantry lines, although the allied Danish and German knights found the going tougher and they got caught up in a series of long running melees with the stout Russian defenders - with one German unit of knights even being routed.
Estonian Infantry lined up in the second rank to the left of centre.
However, quality wins and the Military orders then pushed through the centre to meet Alexander Nevsky and his horse who fought them off for a couple of turns before they too were pushed back.
As expected Steve, commanded the Military Orders and charged straight in flanked by German and Danish Knights
Military Orders break trough the Russian front line and then hit lines of Heavy Cavalry
On both flanks Russian Cavalry loop in to attack the Crusader flanks
Meanwhile, Andrei Nevsky and his Russian heavy cavalry rounded the Russian Infantry line son the left flank and turned in towards the centre, with a view to cashing in on the exposed flanks and rear of the Danish Knights.
Similarly on the other flank, Mongol light cavalry were able to crash into the flanks of the German knights and engage in melee - albeit indecisive, they got a few free hacks at the German flanks.
Crusader Infantry were largely inactive in the game, having been left behind by the knights all out charge, they only got a few passing shots at enemy cavalry passing their front as they closed on the centre.
All still to play for in Week Two!
Famous last words and all that! Week Two started with the two Russian Cavalry flanking forces closing nearer to the exposed flanks of the Crusader forces.
Confused melee on the lake shore, Andrei Nevsky leads his cavalry into Crusader flanks
The epic melee between Russian spear and crossbow men continued on the lank banks, with heavy casualties taken by both sides. However the end came for the Russians in turn two when the Holy Orders continued their rampage in the centre by smashing into Alexander Nevsky's heavy cavalry and breaking one unite and routing two other units as they failed their morale checks
The Russian army had reached its break point and the game was instantly over...
As it was still early in the evening it was decided to play on, on the Russian left a spearman unit of the Novograd city guard had managed to engage a Danish heavy cavalry unit in their flank, this unit was broken and the attached Battle Commander killed! Too little too late..
Alexander Nevsky and his cavalry in full flight
The game rumbled on for several more tuns with the inevitable destruction of the Russian forces in detail - albeit at significant Crusade cost - most of the German wing of the army were mauled and routed in their long running melee on their flank and in the centre - even one Military Order unit was routed.
Good win for the Crusaders and a good run out for John's rules.
Once ready, for your entertainment and delight, I'll be putting on the Battle of Magenta, 4th June 1859 (the colour Magenta comes from this battle, purportedly from all the dried blood on the white Austrian uniforms).
