Flags of War 1745 Government Kickstarter has arrived

So I got home from a couple of days away with work to this beauty.

This has been my first Kickstarter and really impressed by the whole thing, what really stands out is mainlyhow Iain has communicated the whole way through.

And the first thing you see on opening is more of the same, great communication and messaging.

An the second thing is sweets, the way to my heart!

The Kickstarterm, as well as being well handled, gave people who pledged some great rewards. A free flag for every 5 packs, 10% off pack prices and free figures as pledge goals were reached.

I seriousley considered this when the Highlanders were released through Kickstarter but held off, the release of the Government troops was more than I could handle especially with the quality of figures already produced so I waded in, initially with 15 packs and then added a few more at a later date which Iain ensured got added to the same order to reduce my postage.

So as well as my free flags I also got a couple of Jacobite flags too, Generic Jacobite in red and Royal Ecossais to compliment Cobhams Dragoons, Barrells foot and the Glasgow Loyalist Militia. Below in order from right to left.

The Dragoons were the first thing I opened and they are absolutely lush. Really pleased I got these. Dynamic and characterful, like all the figures they are also really clean of flash.

If I have any criticism there are two horses and I would really prefer 3, the riders fit OK rather than perfect but these are tiny quibbles with some fantastic sculpts. I have two packs of these, added to the command thats 9 so an 8 man group for Sharp Practice and a leader figure.

I particularly like the Royal Ecossais command, this standard bearer looks great.

Here is the haul as a whole, I was a bit giddy like a kid in a sweet shop.

OK so the Govornment infantry loading is a great set with 4 slightly different loading stances, I like this pack a lot.

The command pack is also great and in keeping with the firing line, particularly like the Standard bearers.

The firing line is also nice, I prefer the loading pack if I am honest but they do complemnt each other, the bayonets are chunky and robust but I may still put the firing figures in the rear rank so the base and front rank helps stop the bayonets being knocked off. Two packs of each of these gives me two groups, if I add the command to the Grenadiers thats three.

The Grenadiers currently only have a firing pack but a loading pack is planned for the next release along with Baggots Hussars which I really fancy a unit of.

The cavalry command pack is lovely the Mounted officer though is probably my favourite figure from the whole range, dynamic and full of character I love this figure.

The Duke of Cumberland (The Butcher as he was known to the Jacobites) is another great sculpt capturing the character of the man himself for some reason I bought this figure when I already got one free with the pledge! Still sure he will come in useful or someone may want to do a swap.

Although part of an earlier release I also picked up some Jacobites with these guys. The Royal Ecossais command is probably my favourite pack of the range, they are just lovely. Cant wait to paint them. The Kilted NCO is particularly nice. I am really looking forward to these with the fantastic flags and just hope I can do them justice.

The Ecossais firing line is also great, I have two packs of the Kneeling fellas, more of these are planned so hopefully loading for both standing and kneeling will give this a more diverse look. I am tempted to give these a grimy look over their white overalls but lets see.

I picked up the Lowland command pack to add to my other Lowlanders, another lovely set, I had to photograph these again as I delted the original. The Cockades do mean I need to decide if they are Jacobite or Loyalist before painting them but given the aggressive dynamic poses I think they go too well with the Flakgs of War Jacobites to sit anywhere else.

The Highlanders I have not made much of a start with just a couple painted so these will be handy, again dynamic figures which paint up really well, one lost his bayonet as I tried to bend it back in shape as it was bent over in the bag, a bit of this is inevitable with bayonets but these figures do have quite robust bayonets.

The command pack is again lovely, I particularly like the shouting NCO and the Officer in great coat just like the plate in Like Hungry Wolves.

Two sets of highlanders with swords complete the purchase, one in shirts and one in jackets, they come with seperate arms so each figure can be in a variety of poses as well as different colour schemes and maximum variety can be achieved, this is a really good idea for creating varied looking units.  Agin really looking forward to getting stuck into these.

So with so much arriving at once I guess my only dilemma is where to start, watch this space, I will share my progress with you.

Latest Sikh Regulars For Sikh Wars Project

This unit has been a real nostalgic pleasure, you may remember me saying I had picked up 12 figures I painted back in the 90's that had been sold on to other collections, I painted an additional 8 marching figures from Old Glory and then rebased the original 12, with very little else other than a layer of varnish here they are. Welcome back old friends!

So we dont really know which Sikh regiment wore what combination of uniform and facings but this mix seems to have been one of the common ones and is quite bright with a lot of white.

Officers oftten wore expensive Silks and this figure with the Helmet and pistol is one of my Favourites from the old Foundry range.

The flag is interesting, when I painted these 25 years ago or so we only had the references for two captured Sikh flags both very faded so I made up my flags. This one amusingly is based on the flag outside my local Guru Nanak temple.

This lot takes me to 4 regular battalions, I am planning to paint them in pairs with the same uniform as multi battalion regiments tended to be brigaded together in the French manner, hardly surprising when you consider that the Sikh army was trained and organised by ex French Napoleonic officers.

One of the last Sikh Wars units I will finish for a little while I suspect as I make in-roads into the 1745 lead pile however a couple more units already painted to share first.

First Jacobite Scots for 1745

As I was waiting for the Flags of War Kickstarter to be finalised and dispatched I was having a play around with my Scots figures and movement trays. (As its arrived today I thought I better post this first and then get some pictures of the lovely figures.)

I have finished and based 18 figures now, based individually for Sharp Practice. Ideally I want to be able to use the majority of these figures for Jacobite Lowlanders, Loyalist Scots and even American Militia for the French and Indian War.

I am investing in movement trays, the below 8 figure tray will be the most used but I will need a 12 figure one for the clans. I have lined the first tray with magnetic sheeting and will then add some steel foil to the bases so they dont fall out which will be great for both gaming and storing/moving the figures.

So firstly then an 8 figure Jacobite lowlander unit, four flags of war figures and  Ebor WSS figures with head swaps. 6 of these have white cockades so I cant really use them for anything except Jacobites, the other two are more generic.

So removing the 6 with white cockades and replacing them with more generic figures this unit could be either Jacobite or Loyalist like the Glasgow regiment which saw service in a number of actions.

Swapping out more of the bonnets and replacing them with militia figures in Tricornes and this unit now looks a bit more like the Edinburgh loyalist regiment but again could easily be used as lowland Jacobite and now even a French and Indian War American Militia unit.

The lastly swapping out the tricornes and throwing in a piper this could almost be a Highland Clan unit so I can do a number of different things with a relatively small amount of figures. Well thats the plan anyway.

More updates as I get more complete and when the Kickstarter arrives in Late February/ March.

Sikh Irregular Gorchurra Armoured Cavalry

These are one of the highlights of the Sikh army to mymind brightly coloured native troops in armour with bright banners and horse clothes, these do look awesome.

This unit like many of the others are all from the Wargames Foundry Sikh Wars range, other than third in from the right who is actually from the old Afghan range. However I ran out of horses so pressed these Saracen horses from Black Tree into service, they work really well but are both a little big for this collection and a bit weak at the ankles (I had to bolster one horse with logs around its hooves to stop it snapping off..

From the formation of the SIkh state these armoured noble cavalry were the mainstay of the armies until Ranjit Singh imposed a modern, European trained regular army on the Sikhs.

These are the last of the armoured cavalry I have (so far) and last but one of the Sikh irregular cavalry units. One more lot of mainly Muslim light cavalry to paint up

Mind you never say never, I love painting irregular cavalry and Sikhs had a heck of a lot of them.

They are of course really useful for earlier periods, especially with lots of the lighter horse and maybe mixing in some chaps with moustaches so they look a little less Sikh. We could easily use these guys at Seringapatam or Assaye for instance.

Although the horses areBlack Tree they figures fit onto them really well indeed.

I do ahve a lot of cavalry now so maybe worth pressing on with some more infantry for both sides. Possibly a bit more artillery would be nice too. Much closer to enough for a decent game.

Watch this but maybe this month is realisic for the next game with these guys.

1669 French vs Savoyards AAR

I was very kindly invited to game at Colin Ashtons "Burrow" at the weekend, the game to be a surprise when we got there.

I forgot my tablet so took pictures on my phone, they are not the best quality and I should apologise as I also managed to get the order mixed up so they wont always actually follow the narrative.

Sorry my bad!

I had gamed with Colin's wonderful Sikh Wars collection at Stockton Battlegound show and was really looking forward to this. When he said Savoy 1669 I was only slightly wiser to be fair but what a beautiful collection.. http://www.carryingsonupthedale.com/2020/02/the-war-of-waldensian-succession-1669.html The War of the Waldensien Sucession!

Our game would pit a strong French army against a slightly weaker Savoyard - Piedmontese force defending a walled city and Spanish support turning up randomly at some point during the game.

Paul R and Conrad would be the Savoyards and Piedmontese advancing onto table with a walled city on their right flank and heavy guns mounted on the walls and a redoubt on the opposite side of a river. Paul took the infantry in the centre and right and Conrad took both Cavalry brigades in the open ground on the left flank.

For us John took the French cavalry to face the Savoyards in the open grounds and Paul S took our better infantry up the centre at Paul. I opted for the poorer foot (Its not my fault if I lose then!) with a view to holding the left flank and defending our big guns as they shot up the enemy, this gave me 5 battalions of foot with 3 being newly raised. 2 light guns and 3 seige guns. I also had a brigade of 3 units of dargoons on our exteme left against the river.

Not surprisingly this turned almost into 3 mini battles. The French needed to defeat the Savoyards before the Spanish could arrive and turn the tables, occupying the City and the bridges would eb a bonus. Rules were a masg up of Black Powder and Pike and Shotte being a period sittign between the two and woked really well. Colin had prepared sheets with army stats, rules and background. Reading through I noticed the river was shallow and easy to cross for horse and foot so I hatched sneaky plan. Or should that be cunning? It almost turned out like it had been planned by Baldric.

Jon and Conrad pushed the horse forward and pretty soon the lead elements were at each other, whilst most were designated Trotters, John had lef with the Royal troops who were Gallopers and so had the ability to counter charge which camer as a nasty surprise for Conrad and tipped the balance in the initial stages.

My brigade advanced towards a hill about 18 inches in with my heavy guns to the right of it protected from counter battery and the light gunsto be stationed on the top.

Paul with the best and largest infantry force would push through the middle and try to break the main Savoyard infantry force and so advanced steadily for the first couple of moves, movign around the village in the centre.

My initial plan was fairly simple, keep my foot out of harms way for a few moves and use the artillery to punch holes in Pauls foot, my foot wasnt very good so I would need any advantage I could get, ideally this forced Paul to advance on me. I would push my dragoons across the river, capture the reoubt and bridge and then be able to fire into the flank of Pauls force as they advanced. All very good but it came a cropper almost straight away.

Half my foot refused to move, the guns moved but refused to un-limber and worst of all as I declared my intention to cross the river Colin said "You cant its impassable!" turned out the comment in the rules about the river being fordable was from an earlier game, Colin smiled at me "Bad French scouting I am afraid!" Oh well, my dragoons were here now so I better do something with them. Against all advice I threw one regiment forward to try and reach and then cross the bridge before the Savoyards could stop me.

They reached the bridge and dismounted but couldnt cross it before Pauls troops marched up and fired a point blank volley, two casualties I was still in the game and next move I fired back and then legged it over the bridge.

My other dargoons dismounted to support their brave (lunatic?) comrades. Fortunately for me we were 15 inches away from Pauls foot and light gun. The dragoons had firelocks with a range of 18 inches but the Savoyard foot like most of the foot had matchlocks with a range of 12 inches. Hurrah I could fire without taking return fire myself. Almost like I planned it.

The beautiful Spanish in the above picture hadnt arrived just yet, sorry, I did say they were out of order.

In the centre Paul S was pushing forward and I had finally got my guns unlimbered and into action, with one of the Savoyard units taking a fair bit of punishment as the big guns concentrated their fire. Paul was only able to fire one of his big guns at one of my units and so far he had been unlucky with his hits and I had been lucky with my saves.

More out of sequence Spanish below!

The cavalry melee in the centre had grown as both Conrad and John fed more and more  units in, John had the better quality and was having the best of it but Conrad was making a proper fight of it.

Paul S then brought our reserve infantry on in the centre behind his initial deployment, if I could keep the troops facing me busy Paul S could overwhelm Paul R's less numerous infantry in the centre.

At this point one of the Savoy units moving to support the centre crossed my guns, I got three hits on an already damaged unit and it broke. On the right John had broken two of Conrads cavalry units and things were going according to plan.

Thats the Spanish brigade above, a little earlier than they actually turned up (just after lunch) a beautiful array.

Meanwhile on the left my Dragoons were hit again by Pauls troops taking them over their stamina, I passed the break test but was forced back disordered, fortunately though on the side of the river I wanted them.

My Dragoons and guns continued to pick at the Savoyards who couldnt do much about it, whilst Paul S with the main French foot was now coming to close quarters with the enemy on the far side of the village and the lead units of both sides began to trade volleys.

A shout from John at the other end of the table reminded me that I really did need to be a bit more aggressive and take the enemy on so with a final volley from my Dragoons and guns the brigade began to move steadily forward.

After a lovely lunch provided by Colin the Spanish finally turned up right on the right flank of our cavalry. Just in time as John had finally broken the last of Conrads cavalry but was too badly damaged himself to have any troops ready to take advantage of his success. Fortunately the Spanish commanded by Colin failed their first two movement orders after arriving and bought John some valuable time to get organised.

John just managed to get one intact unit of horse in front of the Spaniards before they charged and beat the French unit convincingly.

I had finally got organised and pushed forward closing gradually with Paul R and my Dragoons over the river were firing into the gun in the redoubt causing casualties but unable to move after failing orders. My light guns along with the heavy guns targeted the nearest unit of Savoyards and caused enough casualties to break it. In the centre the main force of foot was now volleying each other at close range and casualties were mounting.

Paul R's heavy guns could now reach Paul S's foot and began to take a toll but given their positions they were not able to mass on any one target and numbers were starting to count in the centre.

My dragoons kept up their fire on the redoubt until eventually the gun was destroyed and I was finally able to advance onto the flank of the Savoyards.

My foot now manouvred to charge the depleted Savoyards but at last Paul could fire back, his first volley was devastating and my good dice finally deserted me and the first unit of French foot broke.

However it was a little late in the day for the Savoyards, their cavalry was destroyed, their foot on the verge of collapse and we had captured the first of the bridges into the city. The Spanish were on our flank but wouldnt have the numbers to beat us by themselves. The Savoyards began to retreat, whilst not a total victory for the French it certainly felt like we had the best of the day.

A fantastic days gaming thank you Colin.

A colourful period with a beautiful collection of figures I had not played before, the rules worked well and I might consider them for my Boyne project when it eventually reaches the front of the que.

Great company and an interesting game, whats not to like, thank youvery much gentlemen for a great day out.