Malplaquet Preparations

Recreating Malplaquet on the tabletop is going to need a lot of field fortiications. To that end I've been scouring the marketplace for any and all gabions, emplacements and fortifications that I can find (and afford) to help in this.
Here are three of the sets found so far.

In price order then, cheapest first.

Coyote Miniatures (or possibly coyote models) are a firm I stumbled on, literally, late during my visit to Partizan. He was tucked away in a dark area near the large firedoor and was packing up when I found him. Offering very heavy strips of gabions in an earth bank either straight or curved for £1 a strip (no I couldn't believe the price either so I bought all the straight sections he had).
First impressions were that they are poorly cast with little definition and need some cleaning to remove all the grease from them, but for the price are you going to complain? However, painted up they've quite grown on me and now I quite like them.

Next is a section from Frontline Wargaming.
This is a straight section with a gap in the centre. They also offer, and I've bought some, corner sections of six gabions with a right angle junction. All of them come with a very narrow base with angled ends to fit them together. However, I found that mounting them on a base gave more support and, to my eyes look better.
Defintion is good althought the shape of the gabions is a little odd since they seem rather conical in places. the open ends have no wicker struts protruding and appear more like snow cones than gabions. Again though, painted up they are a fetching item for £2.15

Lastly is my favourite. From Ironclad Miniatures is a section with gabions over a gun placement reinforced with planking.
Not cheap at £4 but in my opinion well worth it. you're paying for a very high level of efinition in the gabion and the attention to detail (the gabions having exposed wicker poles around the open end). The sloping bank is easy to paint and takes highlights well.
Ironclad also provide a solid wall of gabions and sloped ends to go with this section. Excellent stuff.

Guardes Suisses

So this is it.
The end.
There are no more.

The last regiment to be raised by me for the Sun King is finished.

The Guardes Suisses are all from Front Rank, their ordenance from an article by Mark Allen that appeared in an issue of wargames Illustrated many years ago. My ususal source for flags doesn't have any for this regiment and looking through the various books and internet pages availble there appears to be a dissent over the actual standard. I went with Mark because his series of articles on the French armies of Louis XIV were well written, very nicely presented and fitted in with the understanding I had from other sources.

This is the first regiment I've done for this project with red coats. I wanted them to be distinguishable from the English red which are a warmer shade. So using Anitas Deep Red Craft paint for the base coat I applied GW Blood Red for the main. Officers were highlighted with a dilute layer of GW Blazing Orange. The blue is a foundation of GW Regal Blue with Enchanted Blue over the top and some GW Ice Blue for officer highlights.


With no more figures to be completed for June the painting total for the month now stands at:

WSS French - 36 + 32 = 68
WW1 Germans - 18 + 15(5pts for each HMG)) = 33
Total = 101
Total for the year 843

More new Figures for the Tabletop

Two landmarks reached this morning.

Firstly the Great war project is finished with the completion of the last two companies of German infantry and the supporting machine guns. I'm not planning on adding any artillery, mortars or grenade launchers to this lot.
All figures are Great War Miniatures.

Secondly I've definately finished adding new French line infantry to the ongoing WSS project. The last regiment to be added to the establishment is Auxerrois. Red facings, stockings and waistcoats against the pearl grey coat with a most distinctive colour. All figures are Front Rank.
That just leaves the Gardes Suisses to be added and some recruitment to the exisiting battalions as I begin the rebasing and repainting of all the Old Glory figures in the collection.

Great War Game Monday 8th June

A small game between my regular Germans with no support weapons or specialist troops, trying to take a village held by andy Hamiltons British regulars with a vickers emplaced in one of the buildings.
Six companies of Germans tried attacking on two fronts.
On the left a company with a MG18 gave fire support as the other two companies wound their way through the hedges and sunken roads into an open area directly in the fire zone of the Vickers. Once the Vickers was spotted the support company gave fire and quickly neutralised the threat. However, once the infantry attack got into the open it blocked the line of sight into the village and they were effectively on their own. at this point a concealed sniper opened fire on the Germans and removed the officers and MG18 from the attack. The remaining infantry were then pinned down as the British infantry fired.
On the right the Germans fared a little better. Despite losing an entire company from enemy fire as they walked out of the hedge rows and then lost a further company from a concealed Lewis gun and supports, the third company managed to get to the edge of the village by using the cover of the remaining hedges. Once there they laid down a devestating amount of fire to remove the enemy who were protecting this end of the village.
This caused some redeployment of the infantry inside the buildings and during this lull the attack on the left crept forward. Getting themselves into a drainage culvert at the edge of the village they were able to support the last company as they advance into the now empty vilage.

We tried some rule amends to the "Schwerpunkt" rules we use in order to try and restore some of the balance we feel has been lacking recently.
Firstly we allowed troops to use both of their actions to fire if required. Infantry have two actions and essentially these have become fire, move, aim or run if you want to move twice. Firing twice improved the chance of the defenders from halting the previously unstoppable attacks. Perhaps a little too effective for the HMG and perhaps the LMG as well but certainly a better performance for the rifle armed troops.
Secondly we removed range restrictions for rifle, LMG & HMG weapons. The rationale being that on the size of table we play on these weapons would have the range to cover the entire surface. This worked against the defenders who saw no benefit for their HMG which was shot over very badly by the enemy infantry. In future games the rifles and LMG will be range restricted but not the HMG.
This last change also improves the option of aiming. By aiming your shot you improve the chance of hitting a target of your choice. This is especially beneficial for rifles at long range but only if they have a long range!

A very enjoyable game with some food for thought on the rule amends we had proposed.

Malburian Game Monday 1st June

A small force of French & Bavarians took the field last night against a mixed group of English & Dutch. Both sides had eleven battalions but the French had a superior number of horse with their battalions being smaller in size than the Allies (who also a large battalion of Dutch Foot Guards).

The plan was simple. Mass the horse on the flanks and then advance in echelon from the right against the enemy. Indeed this looked to have worked for a while with a line of English hanging back, exposing the Royal Irish in the fore to two battalions of mine. However, I should have known better with the Irish refusing to go quietly and only marching from the field once the first line of French had decided to quit the field.

At the same time another English battalion had marched onto the right flank of the French line causing the French reserve line to wheel to protect it. This drew away any reserve I had to exploit the gaps that were appearing in the Allied line.

On my left, which I had thought to refuse initially, the Dutch made good ground. With the Guards ensconced on a rise, even the flight of their first line to a single volley from the Bavarians made no impact. As both sides redressed their lines another Dutch battalion advanced past the ongoing melees of horse and boldly took on the two remaining Bavarian battalions. In an unequal fight the Dutch finally came off the worst leaving the Guards alone to face the enemy.

On the flanks the horse of both sides fought themselves to a standstill with neither side able to make any impression. The superior numbers I had were negated by the restricted space caused by the woods on the right and the advancing enemy foot on the left. Not a single regiment of the French horse showed themselves in any light with all of the squadrons losing melees and failing to put the enemy horse to flight.

As dusk drew in the field was left with several battalions facing each other but no side willing to push forward and take the ground.

The last shot is of a pair of French field guns masked by some field fortifications that I'm creating for use in the Malplaquet game. Sorry I can't remember the maker of the gabions but they come as they look with a gap flanked by three. All I've done is mount them on a base equal in length to the width of the pair of guns. In the raw state I wasn't that impressed with them but painted and based I quite like them now.