28mm ECW Parliament Pike and Cavalry

I exchanged a few blisters of unpainted Flames of War British with my mate Darren for these Dixons ECW models a few weeks ago. There was an assortment of Pike, Foot and Cavalry with the latter both Scots and English. These are the ones I've painted-up so far. I didn't want to take forever as I was anxious to get them done and on the battlefield asap. There's been a few ECW games at the local club and I was looking forwards to fielding some of my own models. To this end I went for a quick black undercoat with one flat colour and occasional highlight on top. I'm happy with the outcome. The cavalry as you can see are a selection of lobsters, dragoons etc. I intend to purchase more and make them up into proper squadrons. Also just noticed there's some individual characters in the bag Darren gave me: William Waller and Cromwell himself. Both Bicorne Miniatures. Nice!

These are the first Dixons Miniatures I've ever had, and I must say I really like them. They've a nice old school feel and I'll certainly be buying a few more in the future.

Crimean War Cannon and Sevastopol Eagle

Here are a few photos I took from a visit to the Leicestershire Regimental Museum. There are two Russian cannon outside both taken from Sevastopol during the Crimean War. As you can see they have slightly different carriages (one with four wheels, the other two). They both seem to be the same calibre guns, although I'm not sure what poundage they may be. There's what appears to be a slightly faded armourer's mark on both. I can't tell what they mean and the inscriptions are quite weather-worn. There were the initials 'M.A' on the rear of each. Apparently the guns were not definitely taken by the Leicestershire regiment during the siege, but the city had 'claimed' them for display at some point (I've seen four smaller guns in Nottingham which I assume were appropriated in the same manner). The Sevastopol wooden eagle, also pictured, was actually taken during the siege. As attested to by the inscription.

If anyone has any further info on the cannons I'd be interested to hear about it!

Waterloo - La Haye Sainte (Republic to Empire rules)

Board 1. The French attack goes in.

Sunday 20th March saw the Quorn Wargames Club ( refight D'Erlon's attack on the British left at La Haye Sainte. Simon Breen set the game up and umpired for the day. I felt slightly jittery as I was given the task of controlling the French centre and was faced with a considerable amount of British and their allies opposite.

The French objective was the Farmhouse itself and a part of the ridge across the road and past the sandpit (both of which were full of KGL). When I asked what the best tactic was, I was simply told "just don't do what Napoleon did, and we'll be alright!". Added to that was my instructions to move rapidly to the front, avoiding the cornfields that would slow movement, and veer slightly towards the British right to push their two batteries of guns off the ridge. This would leave Bob, our guest for the day, unmolested on his march toward the farm. In the meantime his own batteries would work away at reducing the walled defences.

Using our extra points we threw the French centre ahead and managed to knock back the Horse artillery that had been covering a wide area of our front. Although not quite managing to keep a foothold on the ridge the French had caused some consternation in the allied ranks. Next a British counterattack pushed us back but as we went into retreat they attempted a follow-up and came down off their defensive position. They also seemed to pour over much of their cavalry into this sector and away from their left wing. The Scots Greys came pounding over the hill attempting to surprise a column of French that were not in square and which I'd failed to get into order after a low charge-reaction roll. Nevertheless the column stood its ground and fought in a determined manner reducing the cavalry effectiveness right down. Both units wavered then retreated, but the Scots Greys were badly mauled and useless for the rest of the game. The two British units that had come off the ridge then routed after being charged by two French units. One was destroyed completely after being charged again when it turned and ran.

On the British left wing both Dave and Paul had come up against some allied reinforcements before hitting the ridge. It caused some delay but by this time it was obvious that the British center was extremely weak having pushed its support over to the right. While Paul cursed and grappled with the British reinforcements, Dave stole the Glory on the day by bursting through the hedge atop the ridge where a moment before a unit of nervy Dutch had been waiting the onslaught.

A French infantryman's eye-view from near Belle Alliance to La Haye Sainte.

Board 2. The British center at the start of the game.

Board 2. The French juggernaut in action.

Imperial Armoury, Hofburg Palace. Vienna

Thought I'd post up a few more photos from this years Vienna trip. These were all taken in the Imperial Armoury. Another one of Vienna's quite vast military museums. Again, definitely worth a visit.

Armour of Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592). Duke of Parma and Piacenza. Fought at the Battle of Lepanto (1571).

Armour of Ferdinand V. Konig of Aragon and Sicily (1452 - 1516). Designed by 'Meister P'. Italian/Spanish style dating from 1490 to 1500 period.

Sword of Kaiser Friedrich III (1415-1493)

The Austrian Military Museum, Vienna. 2011.

After getting back from a brief holiday in Vienna, I decided to post up a few of my photographs. The first set is from the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum. A fantastic place (and quite vast), which has its residence in the original Vienna Arsenal. It was very easy to find and only 5 minutes walk from the Belvedere Palace Art gallery. Entrance fee was cheap too at only 6 Euros and included an audio guide. My only slight complaint was that the guide didn't feature everything you were looking at - only the blue stickered objects. However, the Museum staff were helpful and knowledgable. The museum comprised of two floors, with each area being dedicated to its own era. So there was the 30 Years War, Ottomans, Prince Eugene of Savoy (17th Century), Maria Theresa (18th Century), Austria and Europe (1789-1866), WW1, Republic to Dictatorship (1918-1945), Austrian Naval Power etc.

Landwehr Corporal. 1809.

Captured French Eagles.

Radetzky's (1766-1858) promotion papers.

Radetzky's Death Mask.

Uniform Displays.

Field Marshal Gideon Ernst Freiherr Von Laudon's Sabre, hat and awards.

38cm Howitzer. 1916.

Complete Battery of Bronze Cannons from the kingdom of Sardinia. The first nine are all big 32 pounders. Marks on them say they were cast in 1782 by G.A. Bianco of Turin.

A Few Mutinous Sepoys!

Indian mutineers by Foundry miniatures. This is the first batch of Sepoys to come off the painting table. I used a black undercoat and then a light grey basecoat for the jackets, because I wanted to avoid having to do several layers of Red over a dark base. Very pleased with the results. As I'm considering quite a few of these chaps taking to the field along with their Indian warrior friends I'm looking at picking up a few Mutineer Miniatures models to provide a variation of poses (noticed they also do some very nice Sepoy standard bearers!).

I've grabbed a copy of 'In the Heart of Africa' by Chris Peers for a ruleset, alongside the Edinburgh Wargames 'In the Heart of India' playsheets.

Indian Mutiny Elephant with Limber

This is an elephant from the Foundry Miniatures Indian Mutiny range. It comes with one rider, two guides (in red) and a limber. I've also purchased a siege cannon which it'll soon be pulling along once I've completed it. I looked through the internet to find suitable colours for the hide. Mostly they're described as a dusky green/brown, so I mixed Vallejo German Cam Medium Brown with some US Olive Drab. I then highlighted it by adding a slight drop of white to every subsequent layer. I also found a few internet photos of elephant eyes. It appears they have quite a large iris, usually brown or grey on occasion. I've used a gloss varnish on my Mutiny figures, mainly because they'll see a lot of handling as individual skirmish models, and I didn't want to keep having to re-touch the paint jobs.