Probe at La Cambe - Chain of Command

Yesterday I was down at the Devon Wargames Group running a Chain of Command game taken from the Pint Sized campaign covering the US 29th Infantry Division and its push along the road to Isigny in days following the landing at Omaha beach. I was fortunate to have the input from Jason and Nathan, to friends who know the rules a lot better than me, and so the game rolled along with lots of action.

I bought Chain of Command when the rules were first published and have picked up the campaign supplements as they have come out, but due to my commitment to the Napoleonic project have spent little time on getting to grips with them.

Yesterday confirmed my opinion that these are a very clever set of WWII rules and really take the game/simulation combination to a new level with their simple but detailed simulation of platoon level WWII combat. I am looking forward to spending more time in future playing them and think I will put together a purpose based set of figures to compliment the orders of battle.

As a bonus the game produced a nail biting finish that made a great afternoon at the club. If WWII gaming is your thing and you haven't checked out Chain of Command or the next level up, I Aint Been Shot Mum, then I would recommend both sets of rules to you.

You can read how the game went on the Devon Wargames blog.
http://devonwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/probe-at-la-cambe-29-lets-go-chain-of.html

Summer Dragonfly

As you know JJ's Wargames likes to include other interesting things alongside the wargames stuff, so I thought you might like to see these pictures I grabbed last night after getting back from a quick bike ride.

On entering our back garden this amazing creature came swooping past doing circuits of the back lawn seeming to be catching a mass of flying ants that had decided to take to the sultry summer evening air

http://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/common-hawker

Every now and then, as if to catch its breath, the insect would hover as it selected a suitable perch in preparation for another sortie among the myriad of black flying ants that floated over the grass.

Carolyn and I were transfixed watching the amazing flying attributes of this master of winged combat. On one of its final landing stops I managed to get it in the viewfinder of the camera on maximum telephoto as approaching it too closely was impossible, as was trying to capture it in flight.

I know nothing about one dragonfly from another so went to the link above, basing my pictures to be of the most likely suspect, a Common Hawker Dragonfly. It was a real treat to see this fantastic insect showing off its flying skills.

Next up, I'm off to the DWG to run a Chain of Command game on the push in from Omaha Beach and the 3/96e Ligne are done and ready for basing so we will get the third and final tutorial post up plus the history of the 96e Ligne at Talavera.

French Line Infantry Painting Tutorial Part Two - The First Highlight

Fusilier, Grenadier and Voltigeur
The box art from the HaT French infantry 1808-12 gives an idea of the look of the French
 line infantryman on campaign. Note the variations in trousers, water canteens and great-coats.
The rigours of Spain would produce even greater variation, but Fusiliers were still required to remain clean shaven.

Detailed highlighting requires a good brush

French Line Infantry Painting Tutorial Part One

Sorry for a delay in producing this second post, life has demanded more of my time with starting a new job, wedding anniversaries to celebrate and entertaining friends whilst the weather has enabled more out door living. The good news is that in between all that fun I have been putting in the odd hour or two to move this project forward, so on with the post.

So the next stage of the paint job is to apply the fist highlight colours to all the block colours you have already applied.

The one thing you really need for a job like this is a reliable brush that you can use again and again and get a good job particularly with fine work such as applying the top lip highlight under the nose of the 18mm figures as seen with the third figure from the left above.

To do this level of work you need to have a good point to your brush and I first highlighted these Tamiya detail brushes back in 2012. They are quite literally the best ever brushes I have ever used and I would strongly recommend them without reservation
http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/tamiyas-small-pointed-brush.html

I started this next stage in the same order as the first, so in these first three pictures you can see the figures after I have applied Citadel Kislev Flesh, picking out the nose, cheeks, top lips, chins, tops of hands and exposed fingers and thumbs. With the voltigeurs and grenadiers some of them are sculpted with a moustache as with the second right figure above and I generally leave the base colour showing for the top lip whiskers.

The other main colour I started with was the blue jackets and here I have highlighted with Vallejo Prussian Blue, those surfaces exposed to the light looking to leave seams and folds with the darker base colour. The backs of the figures above really show how effective just one shade up can bring out the folds around the turn-backs, straps and shoulder lapels on the fusiliers above.

The next major highlight to do is the light grey, specifically Coat d'Arms Uniform Grey to pick out the top folds of the grey great-coats, grey shako covers and those figures selected to have grey trousers/overalls as opposed to those I will have in their whites which usually form the majority of the soldiers.

Probably the biggest job in this next stage is applying the off white to all the dark grey areas. The idea is to apply a white that is thin enough (you are looking for the consistency of skimmed milk when mixing with water) to allow the grey base to show through in the creases and folds of all those belts laid across the front lapels. This application needs to be done as accurately as possible, so don't load your brush with too much paint. However the good news is that you can cover all the grey without worrying about leaving any of it exposed.

The other paint work requires a more accurate application, including the white straps on the blue uniform areas and around the back-packs, great-coats and musket slings. I would suggest mixing the white in a 50:50 with water to get a more controllable and thicker application, but leave areas around loops and buckles with the grey showing, to imply those buckles and around straps in folds of the uniform to create the shadow of straps going under arms.

The art of highlighting is to apply the next shade up taking care not to cover all the first shade but to leave it showing around the edge of the highlight. This effect fools the eye by giving your colours depth. For example, look at the picture below and see how the dark sea blue applied to the top edges of the shakos and to their peaks emphasises those areas exposed to the light.

Similarly the tops of the shakos with dark around the top rim highlights the crown and draws the eye.

This stage is also where I start to apply the lacing edges to turn-backs and collars. Try and be as accurate as possible (this is where a good brush pays you back for the investment). By adding the colour now you can correct any miss-application with the third and final highlight, although I will also take any excess paint off using water (the beauty of using acrylic paint).

The idea of allowing the base coat to show through is demonstrated with the plumes on the elite companies where you can see the base green, yellow and red showing through in the recessed areas of those raised plumes and chords. Like wise, the dark brown helps to provide depth to the brass scales and shako plates.

So there is the second stage completed with a highlight colour applied to all the first colours used. Some people are happy to just go to this stage and varnish. I would suggest the third and final highlight will really make things pop and we are using less paint as we work up to this point so the effect requires less work but will reward you with figures that will stand out on your table.

As always, if you are not clear on any of the stages illustrated or my colour preferences then drop me a comment and I will get back with an answer.

Next up, Part three, the third and final highlight and basing process.

French Line Infantry Painting Tutorial Part One - The Base Colours

The illustration helps to show the effect I am trying to achieve with the
variation in shade as the light hits the more exposed areas of the uniform

It's been a while since I went through a painting tutorial, and now being very much involved in adding significant numbers of French line infantry into the collection and with the 206th anniversary of the Battle of Talavera tomorrow, I thought it might be of interest to illustrate the process and colours I prefer to use when painting these troops.

Getting efficient at producing a nice looking unit is what this series of posts will be a about and lets face it, if you are into Napoleonics you are probably going to want some of these chaps in your collection and probably a lot of them.

The battalion shown below was waiting for the first colour to dry on the groundwork as I began work on the base colours for the third battalion to complete my second regiment, the 96e Ligne. It occurred to me to photograph and record the work to illustrate my method.

The 2/96e Ligne on the desk with the ground work to be finished 

I tend to have two battalions of French primed with undercoat at a time to allow work to proceed seamlessly from one to the next as we want to get on with playing as much as we enjoy painting.

My battalions are in units of twenty-eight including the four skirmishers and my senior or first battalion would normally have the mounted colonel on the command base, my second battalion a sergeant with the fanion group and my third with a pioneer with the fanion group. In addition I like to put in the odd personality figure like a cheering soldier, or in this case a fusilier falling wounded.

First stage base flesh and coat colours

The first stage is to apply the base flesh colour, which I tend to do with Citadel Ratskin Flesh. I find this colour gives a really satisfactory dark base to my flesh and although I have experimented with adding Citadel Riekland Fleshshade wash, now only use this on bareheaded individuals to contrast their hair from the rest of the face. To see the effect of the wash then follow the link to the 2/96e Ligne to see the cheering soldier.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/296e-regiment-de-ligne.html

At this early stage I am focused on making the greatest progress and getting the work done in the right order. The right order of putting colours on takes a bit of time to work out, but when faced with working through multiple units it becomes an important aspect. I will write down my sequence so I can come back to a project and pick up where I left off without having the painful process of re-learning it.

Next base colours to add, browns and greys. Greys include lapels, trousers, great-coats and shako covers. Note I will do straps and lace in grey at a later stage

So in this case, the last major colour to apply will be black because black gets applied over the top of other colours to finish off the base set up, such as black musket barrels over brown wood-work. Not forgetting of course that black is not a colour!

After the Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue jackets, I applied Coat d'Arms Dark grey to some great-coats, some trousers, all lapels and waistcoats, metal mess bowls and water bottles.

Brown include trouser, great-coats, back-packs and bayonet scabbards - fusiliers carry bayonets on the right, elite company on the left with their sabre-briquet 

Next colour on was Vallejo Burnt Umber to my Spanish cloth clad trousered soldiers and all the back-packs.

I then took Vallejo Chocolate Brown and applied that to the muskets, other great-coats and bayonet scabbards - yes French bayonet scabbards are brown, not black, as shown in the header illustration.

"Blacking up" - shakos, musket metal work, boots, swords and scabbards and ammunition pouches

The final large colour - shade, call it what you will, is the black over the primer to finish off the boots, shakos and peaks, musket and sword metal work, sword scabbards and ammunition pouches.

For variety I do shako covers in black, grey and white, thus for a white cover I would use a base coat of Vallejo Buff

With the black work done, the base boundary colours start to take shape and you feel you are making good progress.

All the black done, completes the first main base colours

With this big chunk of block work done it is time to go and make yourself a well earned cup of tea before getting stuck into the final base coat preparation covering the straps, laces, cuff/collar/shoulder straps/plumes and water bottle work before we can start to make these chaps come alive.

If you are interested in your painting skills, I would really recommend checking out the article published in Wargames Illustrated 287 which was available as a downloadable pdf called "The Four C's of Painting" by Joe Sleboda that covers off Colour, Composition, Contrast and Correction and is a very good summary of the basic skill set on deciding what you are going to do, where and correcting those little errors that can creep in to brush work.

So whilst prepping these guys I have been thinking about the groups of four figures that will be together on a base. The stick is organised so each group of four are together and I can make sure that there is plenty of variation in the group as far as castings and colour choices. In addition I will correct errors in the painting as I go ending up a little bit Obsessive/Compulsive but at least I can walk away and do something else afterwards, because I know the job has be done right! - "calm down Jon, step away from the figures!!!"

All the base colours added and stage one complete. Here the four elite figures in my Voltigeur base can be seen together on the stick with three figure variations and different colour combinations to provide variety for the eye

The final stage of getting all the base colours on to your figures should leave your models looking like the picture above. Having done all the large areas we are now doing the smaller detail areas such as small straps, lace, chords, musket slings, turn-backs, plumes, pompoms, brass/gold metalwork and water canteens.

Hopefully my pictures of the finished base coat figures will show you the colours I use for these little areas. Others that I noticed I hadn't highlighted include the raised gold buttons on the backs of the officers habite jackets that are found at the back on the waist line. I touch these in the Camo Black Brown as they will come up a treat when tipped with gold.

Note also that, unlike the British, the French didn't have a standard water canteen and so these figures carry three examples, the ghorde, the whicker framed bottle and the metal canteen, each requiring a different paint job. The four fusilier companies are represented with three groups of four fusilers having blue, orange and purple pompoms. I represent the first company with my drummer having a green pompom. The staff (officer and fanion bearer) have white pompoms and the elites including the pioneer either in grenadier red or voltigeur green/yellow. Note also that my elites carry distinctions peculiar to the 96e Ligne, hence the illustration at the top of the post as another reference to commonalities between regiments.

The volitigeurs of the 96e Ligne wore yellow cuff slashes as seen above, instead of the more standard white. Note that I haven't done all the piping, such as around the collars, some cuff slashes, turn-back and lapel piping. These will get done in the next stage as they can get in the way of the primary highlighting and it is simpler to add them later in the process. Likewise there are some small straps across the front of some of the fusiliers from which the water bottles are hung and are easier to apply later in the job.

So that is the base coat finished and now we can move on to the really fun stuff of shading up to a third coat to try and make these little chaps pop. However it is worth stressing that a good result relies on the foundations laid in the first stages, undercoat and base coat and attention to detail at this stage will reward you later.

The other aspect I would highlight here is that of colour selection. The predominantly blue coats of the French lends itself to a "cold" white, hence I have based my white areas on a grey. The British and Spanish in the red and brown coats lend themselves to a "warm" white and thus I would tend to base coat the white areas with a buff base coat.

You will note that the figures look dull in their dark colours. This is deliberate as these dark shades will underpin the more vibrant upper shades and provide the contrast in the shadowed areas. This technique is the same for painting 28mm figures and we are not relying on any black lining to delineate colours or areas of shadow.

Next up - Part Two and the first highlight colours

War Artisan Model Ships

My War Artisan 64 Gun Ship of the Line

I have always entertained the idea of playing through the excellent little naval campaign written by David Manley covering the fascinating naval war within a war which was the tussle for control of the Indian coast during the American War of Independence between the French Admiral Suffren and British Admiral Hughes.

http://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?252-Suffren-vs-Hughes

I have several of the model ships built using Langton models with other awaiting fitting out and have run games covering the battles of Sadras and Providien using them.

http://devonwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/battle-of-sadras-1782.html
http://devonwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/battle-of-providien-12th-april-1782.html

A big part of the enjoyment of fighting age of sail games for me is constructing the models themselves and I have been attracted by the amazing paper kits designed by Jeff Knudsen.

http://www.warartisan.com/

The pull in for me is that Jeff offers free kits to try out on his site so you can test your skills at putting them together. The instructions and guidance on the site with rigging tutorials and loads of gallery pictures help the first timer get their head around the build process.

There is even a set of rules "Admirals" that can be used for fleet actions of the kind I have in mind to go with the lines of model kits once they are built.

http://www.warartisan.com/rules

In addition there are sets of flags for most of the nations to bedeck your models with once built.

http://www.warartisan.com/ships

So with a bit of spare time to hand this week I decided to work through putting the 64 gun SOL together. I used cocktail sticks for the masts, paper clips for the spars and 0.3mm black nylon coated steel jewellery wire for the rigging.

http://www.jillybeads.co.uk/beadalon-7-strand-0-3-30-feet-black

The whole thing went together surprisingly easily and took longer than it needed too as I spent time on working out the best way of doing things, the whole purpose of the exercise!

The key learning points for me were:

• Drilling out the holes for my masts, pre construction of the hull, using my pin vice. I did the drilling after constructing the hull and it put a stress on the card causing a slight crinkling to the hull. (note to self).
• I still have to decide how I am going to base these models. I might just get some mdf from Warbases and paint then to the colour of the mats I a planning to put together.

The campaign requires a collection of 5 x 50 gun, 19 x 64 gun, 11 x 74 gun, 1 x 80 gun, 6 x East Indiamen and 10 x Frigate. With the 64 gun models offered as a free kit, War Artisan models make this a very affordable option for a lot of gamers and a lot of scratch build satisfaction, especially when seen en mass. These kits also offer a huge opportunity for purpose built specials like shot up versions with rigging lying over the side. The beauty of being able to produce multiple copies really opens up new ideas.

Ok, just to manage expectations here. I aim to build this collection over time as we get the Talavera project finished, plus the Roman and Dacian collection to do. The nice thing about these kits is that I can carry a little modelling box of scissors, glue, paper clips etc and put them together pretty much any where, so it will make a nice little "down time" project.

If you have been toying with the idea of having a go with these kits, then get one of Jeff's "freebies" and try it out, I think you will be impressed with the quality of the models and the ease of putting them together.

Next up Painting French Line Infantry - Part One

2/96e Regiment de Ligne

In the first post about the 1/96e Regiment de Ligne, I covered off the history and early campaigns of the regiment prior to its involvement in the Peninsular War. With the completion of the 2/96e Ligne the story of the regiment continues with their involvement in the Peninsular War leading up to Talavera.

Map to illustrate the actions that Victor's I Corps d'Armee fought up to Talavera

The mustering of Marshal Victor's I Corps d'Armee in Bayonne in the autumn of 1808 for Napoleon's re-invasion of the Iberian peninsula would be the first involvement of the 96e Ligne in the war.

Battle of Espinosa de los Monteros

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_espinosa_de_los_monteros.html

Napoleon left Erfurt on the 14th October and reached Bayonne on the 3rd November, by which time Victor's corps was already in Spain. By the 11th of November the regiment had had its first major engagement with General Blake's Spanish army at Espinosa and the return below for the 15th shows the three battalions of the regiment with 1,886 men in total, or just over 600 men each.

I Corps: Maréchal Victor - 15th November 1808, source Oman
1st Division: Général de division Ruffin
Brigade: Général de brigade Labruyere
9th Légère Regiment (3)(57/1,558)
24th Line Regiment (3)(56/2,046)
Brigade: Général de brigade Barrois
96th Line Regiment (3)(64/1,818)
Artillery:
6/1st Foot Artillery
7/1st Foot Artillery
8th Artillery Artisan Company

At this time the regiment was led by Colonel Jean-Chrisotome Cales who took command in 1807. Colonel Cales was wounded on the 30th November at the forcing of the Somosierra pass when the 96e Ligne was placed on the road to follow up behind the assault of the Polish light horse and secure the position whilst the 9th Legere and 24e Ligne cleared the sides of the valley. Colonel Cales, obviously a leader who led from the front, would be wounded a second time at Talavera on the 28th July.

By the 15th December 1808 Victor's corps was in and around Madrid as Napoleon's forces sought to close in on an unsuspecting British army under General Sir John Moore. The strength of the regiment was little changed at 1,878 men all ranks.

lst Division: Général de division Ruffin - 15th December 1808 - Source Oman
lst Brigade: Général de brigade Lefol
9th Légère Infantry Regiment (62/l,527)
24th Line Infantry Regiment (6l/l,852)
2nd Brigade: Général de brigade Barrois
96th Line Infantry Regiment (6l/l,8l7)
Artillery:
6/1st Foot Artillery (2/4/88/)*
7/1st Foot Artillery (1/3/34)
8th Artillery Artisan Company (0/0/6)

Whilst Napoleon was off to the north west in pursuit of Moore's army, his brother Joseph was establishing his hold on Madrid becoming increasingly aware of the old Spanish army of the centre badly beaten at Tudela on the 23rd November 1808 and previously commanded by Castanos, now under the command of the Duke of Infantado regrouping close by at Cuenca.

After re-organising his 20,000 strong army, the Spanish commander began a leisurely advance on Madrid on Christmas Day 1808 and failed to take advantage of King Joseph only having 9,000 French troops in the capital following his brother stripping the garrison to pursue Moore and Lefebvre, disobeying orders, taking his IV Corps north to Avila instead of remaining near Talavera.

With the arrival in Madrid of Marshal Victor's 16,000 men on January 8th, Joseph was in a position to confront Infantado's Army of the Centre, and on the 13th of January the Marshal managed to engage the vanguard of the Spanish army under General Venegas (9,500 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 4 guns) arrayed on a ridge either side of the village of Ucles.

Battle of Ucles (1809)

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_ucles.html

Ruffin's division ended up little engaged in this one sided action that saw Villatte's division turn the Spanish left flank and roll their line up to Ucles The 96e Ligne and the other battalions in their division were mainly involved in closing the escape route of the beaten army and rounding up the prisoners. Victor's troops sustained barely 200 casualties, whilst taking 6,000 prisoners and inflicting 1,000 killed or wounded.

Following this defeat Infantado fled into Murcia with the other half of his army, hotly pursued by French cavalry who caused them to lose their remaining cannon in their retreat.

Victor now turned his attention westward and his planned support of the second invasion of Portugal by Marshal Soult's II Corps from Galicia. Ahead of him lay General Cuesta's Army of Estremadura with 15,000 men in three divisions being shadowed by General Lasalle's cavalry close to Almaraz on the River Tagus where the Spanish succeeded in destroying the bridge and used the river to cover their front.

Victor at first was not convinced his force of 22,000 men was sufficient to take on Cuesta and invade Portugal, but after procrastinating about his orders, he was eventually compelled by King Joseph to get on with it and crossing the Tagus at Talavera and Arzobispo, turned Cuesta out of his position and pursued him south, where, reinforced, the Spanish general offered battle at Medellin on March 28th 1809.

Battle of Medellin

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_medellin.html

The Battle of Medellin saw the overthrow of the Spanish cavalry by the French cavalry who attacked the Spanish infantry to their flanks and rear as they were attacked by French infantry to their front. The rout when it came left 8,000 Spanish troops dead and 2,000 taken prisoner. The 96e Ligne as part of Ruffin's division was held in reserve throughout the battle.

Cuesta and the remains of his army retired to Badajoz to lick their wounds. Victor advanced on Merida where he halted and commenced a barrage of requests to Joseph for more resources before he would undertake any invasion of Portugal. These demands fell on deaf ears and thus Victor played no part in the march on Lisbon and would be forced by starvation to fall back on Madrid as Wellesley began his march into the Tagus valley that summer.

My 2/96e Ligne is composed of figures from the AB range and the fanion is from GMB.

http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/c_frenchinf10.html#96th

Other sources used in this post;
Napoleon's Line Infantry, Osprey Men at Arms - Philip Haythornthwaite, Bryan Fosten
French Napoleonic Line Infantry - Emir Bukhari
Napoleon's Soldiers, The Grande Armee of 1807 (The Otto Manuscript) - Guy C Dempsey Jr.
Napoleonic Armies, A Wargamers Campaign Directory - Ray Johnson
Talavera, Wellington's First Victory in Spain - Andrew W. Field

Next up the 3/96e Ligne and more. With the 206th anniversary of the Battle of Talavera fast approaching I thought I would do a series of posts on the construction of the 3/96e as a painting tutorial on French Line Infantry.

WWII British Motor Torpedo Boat - Exeter Canal

Today, Carolyn and I thought we would check out our new cycle path that runs around the River Exe estuary from Exmouth to Dawlish, though we intended stopping at Starcross and getting the ferry back across to home. The link below gives more information about this fantastic route that now boasts purpose built paths for cyclists with great views of the Exe estuary and the associated wild life.

http://adventure-eyes.com/places/biking/the-exe-trail-a-26mile-cycle-route-in-devon/

After crossing the river just below Exeter we followed the canal out towards Exminster. As we came around the bend in the water I saw this museum piece on the opposite bank. I'm not an expert on WWII British MTB's but the hull's distinctive shape would suggest this to be a Fairmile boat as shown in the photo above.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairmile_D_motor_torpedo_boat

It's great to see a craft like this in local waters as the English Channel was the front line for these coastal forces with significant groups of boats operating from places like Plymouth and Dartmouth in their battles with German E boats operating out of Cherbourg. Indeed it was from the French harbour that the German boats responsible for the attack on the US landing ships off Slapton Sands during Operation Tiger came out from and caused such devastating losses pre D-Day.

Next up 2/96e Ligne