Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon - Rory Muir and Leopards!

It has been a busy time with our first week in Sri Lanka completed. We are on a tour of the island seeing all the major sites guided by our personal driver Rana.

Starting in Colombo we have travelled via Kandy to the National Park at Yala, taking in tea plantations and historic sites along the route. Some of our hotels have included some amazing buildings dating back to the days of the British Empire, having strong resemblance to Inverness and the Scottish highlands.

A rare sighting of two leopards we photographed today in Yala National Park - Sri Lanka

On the journey I have finished reading a book I had been dipping into over the previous two months and one I would highly recommend to any Napoleonic enthusiast.

 

Last summer I read Brent Nosworthy's "Battle Tactics of Napoleon and his Enemies" an equally good read and the two books complement each other in terms of understanding what Napoleonic warfare was all about.

 

 

I should start by saying that I like to read to inform my wargaming hobby. The recollections of veterans of the period help to bring to life this period in a vivid dramatic way, and books like these two attempt to capture those memoirs and use them to help illustrate and gain a better understanding of why the men and the armies acted in the way they did.

 

Rather than giving a full review, which has already been done by others since the book was first published in 1998, I thought I would share some of my notes that I made while reading Muir's book which I hope exemplify why I think this is such a good read, particularly for an historical wargamer. Obviously with my focus very much on the Peninsular War I took more notes referenced to that theatre, but I would stress that that is my selectivity, not Muir's.

 

One issue that many a Napoleonic wargamer has had to face is "how strong is a model battalion or regiment on average?" The question is rather similar to "how long is a piece of string?" I took these quotes from Muir regarding infantry and cavalry as a note to self when constructing my next fictitious Peninsula scenario or, as I am working on at present, a campaign module.

 

 

 "The basic tactical unit of infantry was the battalion, whose strength in battle ranged widely from fewer than 300 men to more than 1,200 but was most commonly between 500 and 700. At Salamanca the strongest British battalion was the 1/42nd with 1,079 all ranks; the weakest was the 2/44th with 251 all ranks. Of forty-four British and German battalions present (excluding some detachments), five had 800 or more of all ranks, and nine had fewer than 400 with the average strength being 572. Coincidentally a return of Marmont's army dated a week before the battle gives an average strength of 568 officers and men, but this is rather misleading - other battles would show a wider variation in the average strength of battalions in opposing armies, depending on the circumstances of the campaign."

On cavalry the following

"In the main theatre of operations -commonly the battlefields of central Europe, but extending as far west as France and Belgium and as far east as Moscow - cavalry generally amounted to between 10 and 20 per cent of an army's effective strength. In the Peninsula, especially after 1809, the figure was lower, between 5 and 15 per cent, although in each case there were exceptions in both directions."

 

"The nominal strength of cavalry regiments varied widely from army to army, and year to year, from fewer than 800 men to more than 1,500. The effective strength in battle was much lower, commonly averaging around 500 in central Europe, and between 300 and 400 in the Peninsula after 1809 - though these figures are only rough approximations. At Wagram Napoleon's strongest line regiment was the 9th Cuirassiers with 776 officers and men - but the Chasseurs a Cheval of the Imperial Guard had 1,109. His weakest independent unit seems to have been the single squadron of the Prince Albert Chevauleger - 142 officers and men - in the Saxon corps. Similarly, at Waterloo, Wellington's strongest regiment was the 3rd Hussars of the King's German Legion with 875 all ranks, and his weakest was the 2nd Life Guards with 265. By contrast, at Salamanca, Wellington's strongest regiment - 2nd Dragoons, King's German Legion - had only 407 officers and men, and the average strength of his ten regiments of British and German cavalry was only 354 all ranks, while his two regiments of Portuguese cavalry did not amount to 500 men between them." 

 

On cavalry tactics there is a great quote from Wellington on its best use.

 

"In 1816 Wellington explained in some detail his views about cavalry reserves in some instructions to the Army of Occupation in France. He emphasised the importance of reserves, whether to exploit success, cover the retreat after a failure, or even to convert a failure into a success by attacking the enemy when they were disordered. Ideally the reserve should amount to between half and two thirds of the cavalry involved in an operation, depending on the ground and the strength of the enemy. The second line of cavalry should be deployed in line, but the third line - if there were enough troops available to form a third line - might be in column. Ample intervals were to be left between lines when facing cavalry, so that if one line fell back in disorder it would not disrupt the line behind. Wellington stipulated 400 to 500 yards as a suitable interval, arguing that as the supporting cavalry could cover it in a little over a minute they could readily 'improve and secure any success' achieved by the first line. Against infantry and artillery, where there was less danger of a counter-attack, he suggested that the interval be reduced to 200 yards so that the second line could strike as soon as possible after the first. "

"He then addressed the perennial problem of how to contain the enthusiasm which swept British reserves into the charge with the first line:

 

so much in the cavalry depends upon the preservation of order in the second line or reserve, where the first charges, that more precautions ought to be taken to secure it. The rule should be, then, for the second line invariably to pull up to a walk when the first line charges, and in case of the failure of the charge, to continue at that pace till the first line will have passed through the intervals. In case the charge should be successful, the second line would then preserve its pace, and its settled distance of 450 yards from the first. If there should be a third line, it should follow the movement of the second, keeping its distance from it, till the second should become first, by the retreat of the first, and it should then act as above detailed for the second line."

On artillery, the ranges for observation will come in really useful when thinking about using hidden movement and blind markers to add the element of uncertainty.

 

"According to the Artillerist's Manual, 'Good eyesight recognises masses of troops at 1,700 yards: beyond this distance the glitter of arms may be observed. At 1,300 yards infantry may be distinguished from cavalry, and the movement of troops may be seen; the horses of cavalry are not, however, quite distinct but that the men are on horseback is clear. A single individual detached from the rest of the corps may be seen at 1,000 yards. . . ."

 

The firing data also makes interesting reading.

 

"When the target came within close range round-shot would be replaced by canister. Test results show canister being effective at quite absurd ranges: 600, 700 or even 800 yards. If it had been, why was it not used more often.? It amounted to only 15 to 30 per cent of the ammunition carried by artillery, and as the weapon of last resort would be the type of ammunition gunners made most sure they retained in reserve supply in case they were suddenly threatened. At Salamanca Dyneley waited until the French were within 300 yards before opening fire on them with canister; but his guns were light six-pounders, and heavier pieces would have had a longer effective range. It seems probable that canister was generally used at under 450 or 500 yards at most, but again there is too little evidence for certainty."

The snippets I have provided hopefully give you a flavour of the wealth of information the book has to offer and for the serious student of the period or the casual reader I would highly recommend getting a copy.

I hope you like the mixture of wildlife photography and historical gaming. The elephants seemed to generate a lot of interest in the last post, so I thought I would take it to another notch by illustrating one of the top predators in Sri Lanka. These big cats are difficult to see on their own in the wild, so to get two together was a real thrill.   

Keeping an eye out for future paint jobs

We arrived safely in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday after a ten and a half hour flight and started our tour of the island today.

As we were driving to the Elephant Orphanage we saw these guys using the road we were on. A useful reference for future Pyrrhic paint jobs!

French 4th Dragoons - AB figures

So here we have the 4th Regiment of Dragoons to join the 20th that I completed last week. This now gives my French army five regiments of dragoons with one more required to roll out Vimiero (full fat).

The AB figures are a delight to paint and offer the painter loads of detail to emphasise and highlight. The sculpts are a marvel and an AB horse is a thing of beauty.

Anyway enough waxing lyrically about the gorgeousness of AB, what about the 4th Dragoons, I hear you say!



Well the 4th Dragoons tick all the boxes for a Peninsular War collector. These guys were already hardened veterans when they entered Spain in 1807 with Eylau and Friedland on their battle honours.

In Spain they were at Talavera, Albuera and Vittoria, and the icing on the cake , the 4th Provisional Dragoons were at Vimiero.

This will be my last posting about the units I am building for the next few weeks as I am off to Sri Lanka and the Maldives for a summer break and a Silver Wedding Anniversary. I will be taking the camera and laptop with me and hope to post some thoughts on scenarios, campaigns, books and other stuff while I am enjoying the break, but  the painting will continue on my return with some exciting projects coming up after the summer.

Wishing everyone a great summer and good times.

French 20th Dragoons - AB, Part Five

OK, so if you have been following my posts this week you will know that I started work on this unit a week ago last Sunday and I have recorded the progress of putting these figures together in their completed state.

I hope you like the results, I am looking forward to getting these guys into battle, probably in September, may be October when I run the Vimiero "full fat" scenario with a few mates from the Devon Wargames Group.

If you are interested a potted history of the 20th French Dragoons

More French dragoons coming soon.

French 20th Dragoons - AB, Part Four

With Saturday morning I am now into day 6 of this project and having completed about another hour and half on the horses last night, the following three shots illustrate where I'm at 7.45am.

I'm really on the home lap now. Last night I completed all the tack, manes, tails, hooves, eyes, white areas and coat highlights. The French were in the habit of using black leather work for their tack so painting French horses uses one less base colour.

As I paint I like to try out ideas occasionally. One idea I have started to adopt is highlighting the horse after the oils have dried. I quite like the look of block painted horses you see illustrated, in the way the detail of the musculature is accentuated. The use of artists oils achieves a much more subtle version of that technique. I have found that by applying a watered down top coat of the original base coat I can raise the detail of the horse, without losing the subtlety originally achieved.

So onwards and upwards - I will add to these first three shots before I post to show where I got to on day 6.

A big thanks for the comments guys. I've really enjoyed the feel of having a conversation as I paint. It has given me a great opportunity to think more deeply about the process.

09.10am

So the horses were finished off with highlights added to the black and white work. The metal work, bridles and buckles have been added and light hooves for the trumpeters white done, allowing me to bring the horses and riders together.



I look to marry up riders and horses before painting begins. The last thing you need is to struggle pushing a rider on to a horse only to find that in the process of wriggling and nudging the rider in place you've gone and damaged the paintwork on the horse. I know, I've done it and to quote my school teacher "it's not big and it's not clever", and "it's only your own time you're wasting!"

Off course to make sure the right rider goes with the right horse I arrange everyone in the same order on the paint desk and put them back in the same place as I paint. Simple but effective.

So I can now leave these guys to stick and go and get the bases ready. I have prepared laser cut mdf bases arranged for "Napoleon at War" rules but that work equally well for what I think are becoming my preferred option "Carnage and Glory". I have had these cut by the lovely people at Warbases and I like to apply magnetic tape to the bottoms, which I get from the equally lovely people at Magnetic Displays,  so I can transport my models safely in their metal tool case.

In addition I will varnish the models whilst still on the painting wood and hope to get them on the bases this afternoon ready for the groundwork to commence.

 "Et Voila" one regiment of French dragoons ready for groundwork and parade shots

French 20th Dragoons - AB, Part Three

Hi all,

So here we are on day five of this project having started on Sunday, I have finished the riders last night and have started work on the horses.

There is method to madness here, in that by leaving the horses to last I am allowing the artist oils to dry thoroughly.

Please excuse the quality of these "on the paint table" shots as I am simply trying to illustrate progress. I will post some "beauty" shots at the end so you can see the full effect.

Both Paul and John have highlighted a common issue among us who paint, and that is the speed we are able to turn things around and get jobs done. Obviously this comes down to time available and our ability to discipline ourselves to get on with things. I don't think this is easy as there would be a lot more painting going on than there is.

I am quite pleased with the leopard skin effect on the Officers helmet

The first thing I would say, is "hey guys don't beat yourselves up", at least you are painting which from what I see puts you in the 20% that do. The other 80% are watching or paying someone else to do it. If I achieve anything with this blog, I would really like to inspire and encourage all wargamers to paint their own figures and proudly get them out on the table. I thing it's a big part of our hobby and you miss out if you don't get stuck in.

The other thing is about working on the "psychology of painting", which comes to my point of building self discipline. If you don't paint regularly it might be because you don't have a habit. I seem to remember the training books suggest that to get a new habit you have to do something continuously for thirty days to "embed" it in the behaviours, and that it takes another thirty days for it to become an unconscious habit.

As well as building the habit I have my own personal mantra that helps me deal with a problem that's common to all of us toy soldier collectors, boxes and draws of unpainted lead. I always tell myself that no matter how lovely a figure sculpt looks, it's just a glorified fishing weight until I put paint on figure and get that baby on the table.

As you can see, my method of painting is stage driven and I find this also helps to reinforce the habit by giving me "lines in the sand". I get a great feeling of achievement when I sit down in the evening knowing I have completed another stage in a painting project. This is only reinforced when I sit down to the project the next day and delight at the work done with so much less to do.

I think it's also worth saying that I produce my figures to a plan. Again the training speak says, "Fail to plan, plan to fail". Any plan worth its weight is always written down, and so before any painting, I plan the armies I want to create and write it down, ticking off the units as they get put in the tin.



These are some of the strategies I have used to enable me to move seamlessly from one job to the next, week after week, and start to build forces of multiple units. This process also has to be managed in the time we have available. I am now at the stage that I feel guilty if I don't paint at some time during the day. However I am a family man and time with the ones I love takes precedence over my hobby every time so I paint most evenings at home but always finish off early in the evening to spend time with my wife.

I would end by saying that I find painting a great way to relax after a day/week of work and I don't find it a chore. I think this is important because why would you want to do something if you don't find the fun in it. Most of us have that in our lives anyway when we are at work.

I hope these thoughts are helpful and provide food for thought. I don't for one minute want to suggest that what I do would suit everyone else. We all have to find what works for us, but I do believe that a lot of the stuff that gets in the way of us painting more, more often  is common to all of us. I hope some of my ideas might help you to get the job done.

So back to the 20th Dragoons. I am still on target to get these guys done this weekend so if you have enjoyed the journey so far, stay tuned for the finale.

French 20th Dragoons - AB, Part Two

A good day yesterday, with a successful mid year appraisal out of the way at work, and my wife and younger son away in London visiting Kings University, I was in the mood to get stuck into painting while the house was quiet.

So I decided to get the riders first highlight done and the first colours on the metal work. I started at 7pm with a break mid evening to have tea and watch a "D-Day as it happened" programme I recorded from last month with my eldest son, I painted through to 11.30pm. Thus I post the results this morning, Wednesday 17th July.

Ok so, all first highlights done except the white stuff, which is showing as buff in the pictures. The tricky stuff with these figures is working out the shape of the sabre hand guards when held in the gauntlets, the various straps bracing the muskets and sabre scabbards.

After setting up the last two figures on the right I suddenly realised that what I initially thought were sabre scabbard straps were in fact the coat tails flying backwards in the breeze as this chap commits to the charge. This required the addition of extra yellow to highlight the turn backs that are exposed.

These chaps are in the pre 1812 uniform changes and are on 1801 saddle furniture and using the model 1801 sabres, hence a lot of the metal work is more towards steel rather than brass.

The plan is to have these guys "in the tin", by this weekend with the next two units primed and ready for work next week. I have ten battalions of Xan infantry on their way in the post as I write this, so there's no time to waste. So much to do, so little time, what fun!

Stay tuned for more updates