The Siborne “Small” Model

The Siborne “Small” Model shows the area around the Brussels-Wavre crossroads including the farm of La Haye Sainte where, during the second phase of the battle of Waterloo at 1.30pm to 2.30pm (Sunday 18 June 1815), Picton’s Division engaged the Divisions of Donzelot, Alix and Marcognet, while the farm itself was still held by the Kings German Legion. This is not to be confused with Siborne’s “Large” model which depicted the entire Waterloo battlefield.

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Bijlandt’s 1st Netherlands Brigade

Continuing with more of Lieutenant General Hendrik George de Perponcher-Sedlnitsky’s 2nd Netherlands Division in the Hundred Days campaign here we have my recreation of (Major-General) Willem Frederik count of Bijlandt’s (or Bylandt) 1st Netherlands Brigade; following on from the 2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment and the 28th Oranien-Nassau (Orange-Nassau) Regiment of von Sachsen-Weimar’s (Saxe-Weimar) 2nd Netherlands Brigade. So here’s some more ‘Work In Progress‘ type photos as I work on basing these chaps ready for service on the table top…

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Najewitz Modellbau Buildings Arrive

Over the past 18 months I’ve regularly looked at the models buildings and wagons (and the Berlin Tram) by Najewitz Modellbau in Germany – they look fantastic in the photos and I’ve always been keen to take the plunge – however the description of the material has always had me a bit wary – the wagons & tram and some of the smaller scale buildings being laser cut Finnpappe which they describe as “…no word for it in English dictionary is a product made of ground wood pulp. To say it is cardboard is the wrong title for it. It´s more similar to MDF, quasi ‘MDF-light’.” However the larger 1/72nd and 28mm buildings are kitsets of a resin material, the type isn’t clearly specified on the website – but I took the plunge recently and ended up ordering a selection of the 1/72nd scale buildings…

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28th Oranien-Nassau Regiment 1815

Continuing with Lieutenant General Hendrik George de Perponcher-Sedlnitsky’s 2nd Dutch-Belgian Division in the Hundred Days campaign and the balance of (Colonel) Prince Bernhard of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach’s 2nd (Nassau) Brigade, and following on from the 2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment is the 28th Oranien-Nassau (Orange-Nassau) Regiment – the unit von Sachsen-Weimar (Saxe-Weimar) was Colonel of prior to taking over the 2nd Brigade on the 15 June 1815. So as these are near completion and following the ‘Work In Progress‘ type photos theme, here’s the Oranien-Nassau regiment…

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2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment 1815

I have finally got around to getting to work on basing up my figures for Lieutenant General Hendrik George de Perponcher-Sedlnitsky’s 2nd Dutch-Belgian Division in the Hundred Days campaign. First up is (Colonel) Prince Carl Bernhard of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach’s (Saxe-Weimar in English) 2nd (Nassau) Brigade, with possibly my absolute favourite uniformed Allied unit from Quatre Bras, the 2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment. As they are now firmly mounted on bases ready for completion by flocking, varnishing, and fitting of standards I thought it was a good excuse to take some ‘Work In Progress ‘type photos of the near completed regiment…

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Lasalle at NapCon 2011 Report

A scene from Day 1 of NapCon 2011
A scene from Day 1 of NapCon 2011

While I was unable to attend NapCon several other New Zealand Lasalle players did – and one of them (Lintman) has provided some great photos of the event on his blog – Two large multi-player games were staged, Day 1 saw a loose recreation of Waterloo, and Day 2 a refight of Vitoria. Check out more great Lasalle stuff at Lintman’s Blog, especially his magnificent Calpe Miniatures Prussians

The 95th Rifles’ Song of Drums and Shakos

Chosen Man Cooper followed by Riflemen Harris advance in the Song of Drums and Shakos game.
“Chosen Man” Cooper, followed by Riflemen Harris, takes a shot in the Song of Drums and Shakos game.

I’ve been giving some thought to skirmish gaming over the last year or so – it started with Fantasy, as I was looking for something to do with my collection of classic D&D (Dungeon’s & Dragons) RPG figures that I’ve collected over the years (some dating from the early 1980’s, others being more recent 2000 acquisitions after the release of 3rd Edition D&D tempted a (very) brief revisit to the P&P (Pen & Paper) RPG world), however the idea rapidly spread to Napoleonics (to use my assorted surplus figures from my Lasalle/SHAKO armies) and then it’s spread to thoughts of doing the F&IW (French & Indian War); and with the new releases by Empress Miniatures this year, the 19th Century New Zealand Wars!

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Some Lovely Langton 1/1200 Ships

Stumbled across these excellent efforts by Alanus, Dux Homunculorum on his blog. Check out HMS Orion (74), HMS Phoebe (36), and the French vessels Scipion (74) & Hortense (40). Wonderful stuff and another gamer going through the Langton SCAFP or Too Fat Lardies KMH or similar “which rules play best” process, as mentioned in my earlier Trafalgar vs. Signal Close Action Fast Play post. Continue reading “Some Lovely Langton 1/1200 Ships”

Trafalgar vs. Signal Close Action Fast Play

The last year or so I’ve been trying to get back into some Napoleonic Naval Gaming – initially I started out using 1/1200th Langton Miniatures (and Rod Langton’s original edition of “Hoist The Signal For Close Action“) back in the early and mid-90’s but after moving to Auckland switched to the 1/2400th Hallmark ships when Fire As She Bears (FASB) first came out (as several AWC members already had that scale). Although I purchased FASB II when it came out I never really got back into Napoleonic Naval at all for most of the last decade (i.e. 2002-2010). However in the last 18 months I have sold off all the small 1/2400th ships and reverted to the larger 1/1200th scale, and I’ve subsequently purchased “Trafalgar” and the latest editions of  both versions of Rod Langton’s rules (“Signal Close Action (SCA)” and “SCA Fast Play“), and with another AWC gamer also considering looking at “Kiss Me Hardy (KMH)” too. Continue reading “Trafalgar vs. Signal Close Action Fast Play”

Lasalle: The Trouble With Tribbles

The Battle For the flux de Tribble - as the Carabiniers storm across!
The Battle For the flux de Tribble - as the 1st Carabiniers storm across in foreground!

Okay – it’s got nothing to do with Star Trek & Tribbles – but I thought it sounded a cool title for a blog post (and AAR)! Anyway back at the end of July (2011) Cam and I played another Lasalle game – we reverted to the basic Army Builder List of a core force and 1 support option with standard troop values (1815 Hundred Days French & British) – the idea was to try out a proposed alternate scenario that was going to be used in the Lasalle Tournament at  “Call To Arms”  a convention in Wellington (New Zealand) in the second half of August. The proposed scenario in simple terms made both sides the ‘attacker’ (so Core Force + Attack Bonus + 1 Support Option) and placed 3 objectives instead of 1 on the table – all 3 having to be on the centre line, with one in the table’s dead centre, and one placed by each player not within 4BW or so of either of the others or the table edge. The following is a brief summary of the game with photo gallery…

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The Crossroads

Frederick William, Herzog von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel-Oels (Duke of Brunswick), leads his forces in the action at 'The Crossroads'.
Frederick William, Herzog von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel-Oels (Duke of Brunswick), leads his forces in the action at ‘The Crossroads’.

Today we played a Lasalle ‘Big Battle’ with over a Division of troops a side and had a very successful game – our first true large game with Lasalle. The scenario was based on “The Crossroads” from C. S. Grant’s “Programmed Wargames Scenarios” (Wargames Research Group Publications 1983 – Pages 79-81) modified to suit Lasalle (most especially the game turn limit and our forces). Both Cam and I did the mad panic thing during the preceding week getting extra troops and such either painted and/or based for our ‘big bash’ which allowed us to field 31 Infantry Battalions (14 French & 17 Allied)  supported by 4 Batteries (2 each) and 5 Cavalry Regiments (3 small Allied and 2 large French – we had more cavalry available but did not deploy them to avoid a too ‘cavalry heavy’ game.

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Picton Holds On The Chaussée de Charleroi

Picton's Troops Advance...
Picton's Troops Advance...

Having taken rather a beating the last two days, Picton’s division had spent the day retiring North towards Brussels and collecting stragglers, looking to join up with the balance of the Anglo-Dutch-Belgian-Brunswick-Nassau forces heading South and East towards them. Picton had received instructions from Wellington to ensure he delayed the French sufficiently to allow such a concentration of forces – and to that end Picton deployed on the fourth day to again offer battle to the pursuing 6th French Division of General de Division Prince Jérôme Bonaparte.

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