Danube Trip – Well, We’re Here #2

Bavarian Army Museum, Ingolstadt

On Friday morning, we drove to Ingolstadt and visited the Armeemuseum. Excellent. My only slight grumbles were, firstly, that it is staffed by some ladies who do not seem to be very happy to be there, and who cheer themselves up by disciplining the visitors, and, secondly, flash photography is not allowed, and the exhibits are preserved by keeping them in such a gloomy environment that we had difficulty reading the notices on some of the displays. Other than that, the place is terrific value at 3.50 euros for an adult. Remarkable collections of weaponry and models of artillery equipment, and some breathtaking dioramas. The dioramas in particular were simply too much to take in – all done in flats, and sometimes using enhanced perspective, by which I mean that smaller scale figures are used at the back of the model.

The emphasis is, obviously, on the history of the Bavarian army, a subject area where my knowledge is very much limited to the Napoleonic period.

30YW Leather Gun

Uniforms of the Crown Prince and Genl Wrede, 1809

Genl Deroy

Abensberg

We spent the afternoon at Abensberg. The Director of the Stadtmuseum there gave me a fantastic amount of scanned material – old books on the Abensberg battles, plus some marvellous old maps from the Austrian war archives. Then he gave us an extensive guided tour of the battlefield itself. I took a lot of pictures and a lot of notes, which I shall enjoy working through, but most of the landscape-type photos are really not very suitable for including here – although the scene makes sense at the time, when explained, a photo of a tiny church tower in the far distance, obscured by woods and buildings which were not present in 1809 is pretty meaningless. It was a most enjoyable day, though – the Battle of Abensberg is one of the more confused actions of the campaign, and it makes it a lot more understandable to visit the various locations, appreciate the distances involved and see at first hand what the protagonists had to cope with.

I’ve included a selection of pictures, to give an idea of what we saw.

15mm scale model of the town of Abensberg in 1808. I don't know where I'll
store it, but I want one...

The inn at Rohr, where Archduke Charles and Napoleon spent consecutive nights

Danube Trip - Well, We're Here #1

Lindach Church

We got here safely enough yesterday. This morning we collected our rental car (it's a yellow Opel Corsa - they must have been looking for someone daft enough to take this one for a while) and headed off for the Eggmuhl battlefield. The battlefield is bigger than I expected, and our guide (Georg) gave us a few inside tales of how things are not always as they are represented. Examples:

(1) The church tower at Lindach is famous because Napoleon is reputed to have climbed up there to see where the Austrians were. In fact, he can't have, because the tower has no proper windows and you can't see anything from that position.

(2) General Cervone was hit by a cannonball, and is buried beneath a monument by the road. In fact, he is buried where he fell, on farmland, but the farmer became so fed up with visitors trampling his crops that he arranged to get the monument shifted. Thus Cervone is buried on the battlefield, but nowhere near his monument.

(3) There are many little villages on the battlefield, and the fighting lasted over two days. Exactly which bit was the battle of Eggmuhl depends on which nation's version you read and which days you include.

Whatever, it was a fascinating and rewarding morning's trip, and we are deeply grateful to Georg for his knowledge and enthusiasm.

This afternoon we wandered around Regensburg old town, and were particularly impressed by an establishment called Dampfnudel Uli's, which specialises in traditional Bavarian steam dumplings, served with custard sauce. If this does not sound particularly interesting, I assure you this is only because you have never tried them...

Tomorrow we visit the Bavarian Army Museum at Ingolstadt, and the battlefield of Abensberg. Here's some pictures from today.

Georg Schindlbeck, in the uniform of a fusilier of the Bavarian I.R. No.5, Graf
 Preysing, gives an impressive display of how to fire two aimed shots a minute with
a flintlock musket

Lend him a Bavarian helmet and a French musket, and old Max Foy can still turn
his hand to soldiering. The car is official Napoleonic army issue.

In our exchange of international gifts, Georg was kind enough to give me a musket
ball, which was found on the battlefield. It's small size suggests that it was either
an officer's pistol ball or - more likely - a Bavarian sharpshooter's rifle ball.

My valiant colleague. Simon the Bookseller on the old bridge at Regensburg. The Danube
 is absolutely raging, and there is about 4 feet clear below the top of the river walk in
the background

Inside DampfNudel Uli's - lots of photos of celebrity guests

Uli - while he was showing me some of the photos of guests, he
was delighted that I told him that, quite correctly, he was more
famous than Ronald Reagan

More Spanish Thoughts - Milicias Urbanas

With thanks to everyone who offered comments and email advice following my last rambling post, I am pleased to report that I think I may have made some progress. Perhaps.

The first, and probably most significant, point is that my Spanish army is a fair size already, so any infantry I add to it is just organic expansion rather than any major change in the Grand Plan – or it may just be completing some missing bits from the Grand Plan.

I acquired the unpainted bicorne troops along the way – some NapoleoN, some Falcata, and I have access to more Falcatas if I need them. My 1812-style army currently has, I reckon, 11 battalions of troops which would not sit comfortably with any white-coated 1808 types.

So big idea No.1 was let’s paint up 11 or so battalions of bicornes, and then I can field an 1808 or an 1812 army by switching the line infantry. Cool, eh? This is very attractive, but has two downsides:

(1) I would need to get in a lot more bicorne soldiers to make up this amount – the project just grew arms and legs. A bit like building a second house to get rid of half a dozen bricks you found in the garden.

(2) There is the issue of inconsistency with the dating of the other Peninsular armies which I mentioned previously.

So, somewhat reluctantly, I have moved on to not-quite-so-big idea No.2. This is to identify units which might reasonably have been seen in bicornes in 1812, and add them to the army I already have. Further research indicates that the Milicias Urbanas might be just the boys. The JM Bueno picture at the top, admittedly, shows uniforms from 1808, but it seems these chaps looked like this for much of the war. There was a variety of uniforms for the various towns and cities, but all along this general style. We might debate how far from home some of these units might be deployed, but they certainly saw plenty of active service. The Milicias Urbanas of Ciudad Rodrigo, for example (and not unreasonably), were present at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (the French being the besiegers), and were dressed identically to the Madrid soldier pictured in the last post.

The Milicia Urbana are necessarily going to be poor quality troops, which frequently adds to their unpredictability and entertainment value on the tabletop, and they also seem to have had interesting flags. My current thinking, then, is that I have (or can easily scratch together) enough figures for about 4 battalions of MU, plus associated skirmishers, and thus I can run up an extra brigade for Morillo’s Division. If they only do garrison duties, that should still get them a few outings. I think I’ll go with this.

Strangely, for such a vague decision, I feel quite comforted. Having made a choice, I don’t actually have to do anything about it for a while. But at least the things I am not doing will be different things. I am reminded of the bit in Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf where the main character decides he will commit suicide, but that there is no rush – the decision is an end in itself...

Spanish Thoughts

1812 Spaniards in bicornes?

As ever, I find myself going about with a head full of plenty of half-formed ideas, but very little that is clear enough to do much about. It helps when a particular thread is hit simultaneously from two different directions – then there is an implication that a bit more focus is needed.

Napoleonic Spain is one such area at the moment. I had another friendly poke from Martin by email, asking me when the solo campaign is going to come out of the freezer and get moving again – which is a good question, pertinent, even, and I shall come back to this in a moment – and then I was doing some more clearing of the spares boxes and I came back to the old question of what am I ever going to do with my 1808-style Spanish infantry. Let’s have a look at this second bit first, just to be awkward.

I have a fair mound of unpainted Baylen-period Spaniards with nothing to do. Because my French and Anglo-Portuguese Peninsular armies are dressed for the later stages of the war (originally because of availability of figures, but now simply because that is what I have, and the momentum is established), it made sense to add Spanish forces from the same period, so my Spanish Nationalist line infantry have the post-1811 British style uniform. Blue jackets and shakos and all that. A sprinkling of white-clad chaps from 1808, in bicornes, in what was an old fashioned uniform even in 1808, would not sit well. They might look nice, but the anachronism would grate with me. Mind you, they would look nice...

This is how it always goes. This is not helped by the fact that my existing army contains a good proportion of milicias and voluntarios in round hats, not to mention guerrilleros, all of whom could be comfortably wheeled out at any date from 1808 onwards. Which, in turn, got me thinking that maybe I could make up some 1808 line units which could be combined with the irregulars to make an alternative Spanish army, for earlier in the war. Hmmm.

Mind you, they would have to fight Frenchies, some of whom are wearing distinctly 1812-style uniforms – I could just about live with that. But then, if they fought alongside the Brits, there are a good few of those who are straight from Waterloo, and that would be upsetting. Worst of all, I would have difficulty combining the two alternative Spanish armies into one big one for special occasions, which you can see would be a disappointment at a more childish level.

The alternative approach is to go back to studying the various books and bits and pieces and see if I can identify any units in bicornes which could justifiably be added to the existing 1811-12 army. JM Bueno’s Uniformes Espanoles de la Guerra de Independencia is always a treasure trove, and I turned up various odd militia units raised from colleges and academies who seem to have dressed in a rather outdated style, but they may be a bit rarefied. They might have been drinking clubs rather than regiments (no – I don’t mean it, I’m sure these guys fought like heroes).

The two Bueno pictures at the top of this post look more promising. The soldier on the left is from the Milicia Nacional Urbana de Madrid of 1812 – apparently, as soon as the French evacuated Madrid following the Battle of Salamanca, the local movers and shakers raised 8 battalions, no less, of these fine chaps, plus an attractive-looking unit of cavalry. Now you’re talking. Unfortunately, JJ Sanudo’s database of service records makes no mention of such a unit (or maybe I just missed it), so maybe they were disbanded, smartish, when Wellington went back to Portugal after Burgos. The jury is out on the Madrid boys – they are interesting, though.

The other soldier is from the line battalions of the Voluntarios Distinguidos of Cadiz. He is in parade dress, but apparently this unit was dressed like this throughout the war, and they have a very long and worthy record in Sanudo. They look good, too, eh? Sadly, they were, of course, rather stuck, not to mention besieged, in Cadiz, and would not be a convincing addition to an army in Castile. I am continuing to ponder the matter. There must have been other, similar, units which I could utilise.

The solo campaign. I have waffled on about how I was disappointed with some aspects of how the rules worked, and have been gently accused of putting the campaign on hold in a fit of petulance, which I would protest is only partly true. The campaign had reached an interesting phase, and I am determined to get back to it when the Autumn comes (which may mean when the lawns no longer need cutting). It would certainly be a pity to abandon it, and I have received an extra boost from the imminent arrival of some Spanish light cavalry (at last!), and a couple of new general figures, of which you will hear more. Admittedly, the acquisition of new toy soldiers does not make a very good reason to fire up the campaign again, but it all helps. Watch this space.

There you go – another entire blog post which doesn’t quite say anything.

Perfect Circle

I sometimes have a look at The Miniatures Page (TMP). I am a member – I believe I am a Trusted Member, no less, but sadly I can’t remember my password, and can’t be bothered doing anything about it, so my involvement is limited to a casual gawp from time to time.

Often I find TMP interesting, even useful. On occasions it is a bit depressing, though – a general dumping ground for nerds of all nations who may misunderstand each other and at times aren’t paying much attention anyway, being distracted by the need to strike attitudes and out-nerd each other.

All this is merely my humble personal opinion, of course, but I was interested to note that I have been getting a fair few hits on this blog from TMP readers, and it highlighted what might be a classic example of collectively missing the point. Naturally, I am delighted to welcome all TMP activists here – pleased to meet you – but I was amused by the particular thread which got them here.

A few posts ago I put up a tweaked set of map cards for the Perfect Captain’s Battlefinder system. This was entirely an exercise in self-interest on my part, since I wanted a set of their (excellent) cards which were changed a bit to feel comfortable in a Northern Counties ECW context. Thus my son and I did a bit of PaintShopping and altered the place names to suit. In case it was of wider interest, I offered it up on the blog, with all due credits and links to the Perfect Captain.

It was of wider interest, as it happens. In particular, some worthy Resource Investigator type [check out Dr R Meredith Belbin’s famous work on team roles – identify the members of your local club...] put up 3 of my 4 altered sheets of map cards on a TMP post [obviously not a Completer Finisher, then], with a link to this blog – though not to the post in which they appeared. There are a few responses – one fellow says he found the blog and the C&C-derived rules, but not the map cards. The original thread setter suggests that he should contact me directly, which is accepted as a good idea, though none of the 500 or so hits which came from TMP in the last month seem to have resulted in such a contact – why am I not surprised? Eventually, some hero has reported that the map cards can be found on the Perfect Captain site – which is true, though not my tweaked version, obviously. We can all settle peacefully now – we have successfully completed the circle and arrived back at the point immediately before the point at which I started. Maybe someone will link to this new post, and we can go around again.

In fact, if I have drawn the attention of a few new people to the Perfect Captain then I am more than happy. I am more than happy in any case, simple soul that I am. Some more ECW cavalry will be going away for painting next week, and my artillery should make some major progress shortly. I have an interesting collection of random kit for the guns – some heavy stuff from the old Hinchliffe 20mm range, and a fair assortment of light pieces (from sources unknown), which includes a robbinet, a leather gun, a little frame gun and some other intriguing objects. As ever, I have no real idea what colours to paint these things – maybe plain wood, and there seems to be a generic orange stain whch is often depicted. I am also confused by the various explanations I have read of the names of the types of guns, so for the time being I shall not attempt to identify Falcons or Sakers or even Bastard Demi-Cannons – my ECW artillery will be called Heavy, Medium and Light, which is a cop-out but avoids argument.

ECW "BattleFinder" - alternative map cards for the North West

After some previous mention here of my intention to produce some tweaked map cards for the BattleFinder battlefield generation system, with place names which are more appropriate to an ECW campaign in the North West of England, a couple of people kindly emailed to express their interest in such cards. I've produced the first of an intended three sets of add-on cards, and they are here. If they are any use to you, please feel free to download them.

To put this into context, BattleFinder is available (free) from the website of The Perfect Captain, along with their Tinker Fox ECW campaign game and a few other goodies. These cards are not a corruption or rip-off of BattleFinder - you will still need to download the official rules and the playing board - my map cards use the original artwork and are merely re-named to suit a mythical area stretching from the old Lonsdale Hundred of Lancashire to the West Riding of Yorkshire - the idea is that the place names should sound reasonable rather than be real places.

As I sit here, I believe it is unlikely that I will use The Perfect Captain's Very Civil Actions or Spanish Fury tabletop rules, but the campaign stuff is definitely intriguing. My thanks to my son Nick for his skill with PaintshopPro and the magic copy-&-paste touch.

Solo Campaign - Action at Martin de Yeltes

The 11th Portuguese Cavalry watch as the French enter the valley

It took me a while to recover from the family goings-on at Christmas and set up the wargames table, but I have now fought the little conflict between the two advance guards. I shall publish the revised returns taking account of this action after the next map moves.

Since the battle was small, and used the table lengthwise, I used a modified version of CCN - replacing the Command Cards system with a dice-driven activation system which I have used before and which worked pretty well.

The Allies won rather easily, and there was a cameo appearance by a Major Sharpe of the 95th, who commanded a provisional brigade composed of detached light-company men of the Third Division. I was a bit embarrassed to mention this, but why not, after all?

Action at Martin de Yeltes – 30^th July 1812

The Allied advance guard, commanded by Maj.Gen Long, had been rather outmanoeuvred by a French force under Gen de Bde Pinoteau, having their right flank turned as the French crossed the little river Huebra.

Long had a brigade of King’s German Legion heavy dragoons and a brigade of Portuguese cavalry – all the cavalry being commanded by Lt.Col De Jonquières of the KGL (deputising for the wounded General Bock) – plus a provisional brigade of three “converged” battalions of light companies from the Third Division, commanded by a Major Sharpe (all right, calm down). In addition, Long had the services of Bull’s Troop, RHA. His force was near to the village of Martin de Yeltes when the French appeared on his right, around 10:30am.

Pinoteau had two battalions of the veteran 59eme Ligne, under their colonel, Nicolas Loverdo, and three regiments of cavalry – one of Chasseurs à Cheval, the Italian Dragoni Napoleone and the Lanciers de la Vistule. He also had a battery of horse artillery – that of Capt Faruse, from the artillery park of the Armeé de Portugal. His cavalry were brigaded under the command of Col. Lemoyne of the 14eme Chasseurs.

The French advanced in a businesslike column – lancers at the front, followed by the horse artillery, then the Dragoni, then Loverdo’s infantry and the Chasseurs bringing up the rear.

The 11^th Portuguese cavalry fell back in front of the French advance, and Pinoteau detached his Italian dragoons and his chasseurs to his left, to pursue them behind a small wooded ridge. Meanwhile the French infantry entered some woods on the right, with the intention of taking possession of the large farm at Santa Consuela Parlanchina.

The British light infantry took good advantage of their ability to move quickly, Major Sharpe leading two battalions into the enclosures at the farm and commencing a brisk fire fight with Loverdo’s infantry.

The French cavalry attack – which was approached with great confidence – proved to be a complete disaster. The Portuguese 11^th cavalry were joined by the 2^nd Dragoons of the KGL, and together they routed the two French units, suffering very little loss themselves. Around this time, Col Loverdo was severely wounded on the French right, and Pinoteau decided to withdraw. The fresh lancer unit were detailed to cover the retreat, but they themselves were very badly beaten by the 11^th Portuguese, and the French withdrawal became a panic. Long called off the pursuit – a move for which he was subsequently criticised – but he had won an excellent little victory.

The Rifles officer was Major Norman Sharpe, by the way.

De Jonquiere's KGL Dragoons

French advance

Dragoni Napoleone - did not impress

Lancers of the Vistula Legion

General View of the field at the start

A Thought for Today

Captain Faruse's horse battery

Pinoteau brings up his cavalry

Major Sharpe with the Light Bobs

Bull's Troop, RHA

The French take the initiative

Loverdo takes the 59eme into the woods

General view around midday

French cavalry attack the 11th Portuguese

Pinoteau watches in disbelief as his cavalry falter

Meanwhile in the woods...

Allied cavalry drive back the French

French cavalry beaten back with heavy loss

Double crossed-sabres mean that Loverdo is wounded

The Dragoni are just about still there

The Lancers cover the withdrawal...

...but not for long

OOBs

French Force – Gen de Bde Pierre Pinoteau

Infantry Bde – Col. Loverdo (59e)

59e Ligne [2 bns]

Cavalry Bde – Col. Lemoyne (14e Chasseurs)

14e Chasseurs à Cheval [3 sqns]

Dragoni Napoleone [3]

Lanciers de la Vistule [3]

Horse Artillery battery – Capt Faruse

Total force engaged 2475 men with 6 guns. Loss approx 200 infantry, 620 cavalry. Col. Loverdo was severely wounded during the firefight in the woods at Santa Consuela, and was taken prisoner.

Allied Force – Maj.Gen RB Long

Provisional Brigade – Maj. Sharpe (95^th)

3 bns of light infantry from Third Division

Cavalry Brigade – Lt.Col De Jonquières (KGL)

1^st Dragoons, KGL

2^nd ditto

1^st Portuguese Cavalry (Alcantara)

11^th ditto

Troop ‘A’, RHA – Maj. Bull

Total force engaged, approx 2300 men with 6 guns. Total loss 325 infantry, 90 cavalry.

Detail losses:

French – 2/59 (-1 block), 14e Chass, Drag Nap, Lanciers de la Vistule (-2 each)

Anglo-Portuguese – 1^st Ptgse Cav, 1^st & 2^nd Prov Lt Bns (-1 each)