More pics etc coming.......

Been a little pre-occupied over recent weeks. Hopefully I will have these Austrians finished within the next couple of weeks, then on to the other European nations from the 1700s. (especially Russia, Prussia and Sweden.)

I'm also not far from finally finishing my Japanese village so also shots of that coming soon.

Lots going on. Just nothing finished and ready to post!

Back at Bluffton High School Wednesday

My soldiers and I will be back at Bluffton High School Wednesday afternoon (March 9) helping Mike Kracium with one of his history classes.

This time, we will be covering the 100 Years' War.

We'll have about 30 photos for display on the high school Smartboards, which hopefully wil help give the students a better understanding of the period.

Seven Years' War Austrians

Every now and then a new army, or multiple armies, from a "new" period comes along that I want to study, but just can't find the right information to build them up.

Back in the early 1990s, I struck that when new ranges of Austrians and Prussians from the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) suddenly appeared. I could find lots of general info about the period, but virtually nothing reliable on unit organization, and even uniform painting. So I went ahead with a "best guess" option and built an army for each.

"Murphy's Law" then kicked in, and as soon as I had "finished", the very stuff I had been looking for started to appear, telling me all the things I had got wrong, including the uniform colors of the Austrian artillery I was so proud of.

In the intervening years, I have been splitting the blame on an obviously incompetent quartermaster for ordering the wrong uniforms and the clothing factory that messed up his order, depending on my mood. This year though, with Russians and Swedes from the 1700s now also on the shelves, I've decided my major project for this year will be my armies from the 18th century.

I've started on reshaping my Austrian army first up. I've completed my two infantry regiments, each of two field battalions. (I don't really need the third "depot battalion" because that stayed back in headquarters and took care of the routine stuff like recruitment and training.) I'm going with a later Seven Years' War army, simply because I don't want to buy more figures. (In the early part, the battalions formed up in four ranks, in later years, three. Three ranks works better for me with what I have so I'm sticking with that. If I'm fighting an early war battle, then my battalions will be a little under-strength, but that happens in wartime, so I can live with that.)

One of the regiments is pictured above, although the Oberst battalion is standing behind the Lieb battalion, so you don't quite see all the figures - 84 plus officers in this shot. Grenadiers are deployed on the right flank (the left as you look at the photo). In battle, the grenadiers from each battalion were usually split off into a separate grenadier battalion, but for the photo I've kept them together.

I haven't done the battalion gun that will accompany these guys into battle yet - that will happen when I get onto the artillery.

Cavalry will be the next part of the project, as I bring my regiment of dragoons up to speed, and try to figure out whether I can use some of the hoardes of Prussian hussars I have as Austrians. Not sure yet what to do for Cuirassiers (heavy cavalrymen who still wore an armored breastplate into battle - against gunpowder, it gave no extra protection, but apparently it helped the men "feel invincible", so provided them with a morale boost, and it's always a good thing to keep the troops morale up when they're in a fight.)

Enjoy!

Muscovites Vs Swedes - a lesson in patience!

Ugh! It took three weeks to get through that one. A combination of being busy at work and my own laziness.

The battle turned into a real, war of attrition, as the swarms of Muscovite cavalry chipped away and finally overran the Swedish positions.

I really didn't realize just how big this Muscovite army really is until I laid it out on the table. Not all the infantry I painted up was involved, but the huge numbers of light cavalry (including the Sons of Boyars pictured above) just took up so much space.

More than a handful for any opponent.

My next battle will not be a tournament scrap. I have to work on a 100 Years' War presentation for Mike Kracium's history class, so I'll be doing that next.

The next competition battle sees Japanese againnst Poles (the Poles previously lost to the Ottoman Turks and this is the first outing for the Japanese - hopefully I will have their village finished in time to use in the battle.) We'll see how the Japanese can cope, but right now, I'm thinking it will come down to Muscovites Vs Turks in the final battle.

Pike and Shot Tournament: Poles Vs Turks Summary

It's great to be fighting battles again!

I haven't done much of it in recent years, due to the lack of sufficient free hours to really work on these battles. But my resolution for 2011 is to change that, and put my 10,000 figures to as much use as possible! Which hopefully, in turn, will mean the regular posts that I originally set this blog up to accomodate.

Last Sunday's battle was my first with both these armies, which I assembled over the course of the past year. Neither army is completely finished, but they are ready enough to take the field. (In fact, I haven't done much fighting in the Pike and Shot era at all previously, so this tournament will be a great learning experience for me.)

I was definitely pleased with the look of both armies. They made for a really colorful display, and once I plug the gaps in their ranks that currently exist, I think both will be very formidable - hopefully both in look and deed.

The Turks had a great day. Pretty much everything fell into their lap, and indeed the only bad dice throw I can remember them getting was the one that killed Kazazian Beg. Everything else went their way - the Poles arrival was delayed long enough to allow them to take the village and relatively freely deploy for its defense. Their outflanking force showed up at just the right time to provide re-enforcements for the main battle, and if the Poles had arrived earlier, its arrival would have been perfect to hit the Poles in the flank as planned. The Turks even managed to string together a series of good throws in the final melee against the Winged Hussars.

The Poles on the other hand, had to struggle for everything they got. They arrived late. When they did arrive, the Zaporozhians found the going tough against a lone unit of Tartars - that should have been a comfortable match for the Zaporozhians. Their German allies played no meaningful role. And then the Winged Hussars had to make a hurried assault, with very limited support, against a formed-and-ready Turkish defense force.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army seems to be one that needs to take its time to accomplish things, and they just didn't have it in this fight. Had they been able to use their artillery to soften up the Turks for a few rounds before sending the Winged Hussars in, the result might have been quite different.

There will be other days however, and I'm sure this Polish army will have its share of glory in the future. Its second round clash against the Japanese will be do-or-die as far as this year's tournament is concerned though.

The Turks next assignment is against the Swedes, and we'll know more about them next week, after they take on the Muscovites in our New Year's Day (or the day after!) battle! For now though, the Turks are sitting comfortably at the top of the table.

Pike and Shot: Poles Vs Turks - #3 of 3

Hetman Nowak knew there was insufficient time for his infantry to clear the path to the village, and the artillery at his disposal was not particularly powerful. Accordingly, he resolved to make the thrust for victory with his mighty Winged Hussars!

As the hussars advanced, the Tartars attempted to clip their wings with another arrow storm. The armor of the hussars however provided better protection than the cossacks had enjoyed, and the arrows did little damage. Realizing his own light cavalry couldn't stand up to the Polish elite, Kazazian Beg led his own bodyguard against them.

The thunderous clash was followed by an intense do-or-die struggle. Surprisingly, (actually, luckily - some great dice throws!) the Turks didn't just held their own; they actually gave better than they took. But, just as the Poles could not break them, they could not break the Poles!

The fight continued, with the Polish and German infantry closing in, hoping yet to play a role in the victorious push, should the Turks give way. Kazazian Beg himself fell in the struggle, but still, his men got the better of the overall contest.

The hussars had now sustained heavy losses, and their line was showing signs of strain. Hetman Nowak recognized there was no way through, and called for his men to fall back, relying on his supporting infantry and the proximity of darkness to deter any pursuit.

With nightfall approaching, the Turks were content, for now at least, to hold the field, and gather up the body of their fallen leader.

Pike and Shot: Poles Vs Turks - #2 of 3

The forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth received a nasty shock as they approached Bratworst village - the road ahead was blocked by Tartar and Turkish cavalry.

The Zaporozhian Cossacks at the head of the column hastened to deploy for battle, the Tartars began to pepper them with arrows. In an effort to clear some space, a small group of Cossack horsemen rode out to challenge the Tartars. Outnumbered, they were driven back, with the Tartars in hot pursuit. After a brief but desparate struggle, the full cossack contingent was able to see off the Tartars, but they themselves had taken such heavy losses that they were forced to withdraw from the field.

The Cossack's struggle however had brought time for the Poles (right flank) and their German allies (left flank) to enter the field. As the Tartars regrouped at a safe distance, closely supported by Kazazian Beg and his sipahi, the Poles and their allies deployed for a final rush on the village.

At this time, the Turkish outflanking force also arrived, further boosting Turkish numbers north of the stream.

Time was running out for Hetman Nowak! (To be continued........)