Home Brewed Flags - Joseph Napoleon's Spanish Troops

There is very little information about these flags. Here are examples of the flags I developed for my own wargame armies; from top to bottom they are the 2nd Line Regt (Toledo), 1st Light Infantry (Castilla) and Royal-Etranger (which I think, was technically a French army unit). The white flags would be carried on a blackened pole with a gilt spearhead finial and red cravat.

If they are of any use or interest, please feel free to copy them. The Toledo flag is based on the regulations, and on a reconstruction of the standard for the 6th Regt.

The green borders are not part of the design - they are just to make it easier to cut out a white flag!

More Newbies - these are Scrubies...

This new unit represents two firsts for me.

(1) Though I have a couple of Jack Scruby command figures and the odd cannon in my armies, and though I have bags of the little blighters, unpainted, in my spares department, this is the first full unit I've ever had painted up for service. I have to say that they painted up much better than I expected, though I really didn't expect a great deal. All in all, they're not bad at all - though they look a bit undernourished, they are indisputably Old School.

(2) This is the first unit of my mooted Vorpommern Brigade to come into service. Students of the period who are surprised to learn that there was a member state of the Confederation of the Rhine of which they have never heard will be interested to know that this is the company of foot artillery Stadt Stralsund in the service of the Duchy of Stralsund-Ruegen. The unit is commanded by Major P Nyudrev, formerly of the Swedish service (which is only fair, since it's partly his fault for encouraging me to invent a Napoleonic nation - as if things weren't confused enough already). The French-made Gribeauval cannon are finished in the official Pommeranian shade of garden shed green, and are NapoleoN castings.

Folderols - the back of the Painting Queue

There are some nice little side projects which crop up from time to time which seem a great idea to add variety to the wargames soldier collection, but I regret that my track record of getting them finished is not good. In particular, the less closely they conform to the basic definition of "combat unit", the more they will be constantly pushed to the back of the painting queue.

The chaps illustrated above - well, almost all of them - have been in my spares box for upwards of 30 years - maybe nearer 40 - which means they must have moved house with me on 4 occasions. S-Range Minifigs, all bought new from The Toytub. To prove that every dog has his day, and denote one small victory for the folderols from the back of the queue, please may I introduce the band of the Grenadiers of King Joseph's Royal Spanish Guard.

No, they will probably never set foot on a battlefield - for one thing, this would draw attention to the fact that they have the same footprint as one of my fighting battalions, which is silly - but I am pleased to have them. They can play quietly in The Cupboard to motivate the rest of the troops, and it is, after all, some kind of a triumph over something or other.

Paintwork is by David Young, who does most of my painting these days.

Any requests? They do a very funky version of La Marche Consulaire.

CCN - thoughts on a Grand Tactical Variant

I find myself most of the way through a 7-day Cabbage Soup de-tox. For the uninitiated, or the non-believer, this is a no-coffee, no-tea, no-booze, hardly-any-carbohydrate, very-little-fat regime which will leave me feeling terrific and ready for a large coffee, a big steak with fries and onions and half a bottle of Montepulciano on Day Eight. In the meantime, I am existing on what feels like a single figure allowance of Kcals per day, which is disorienting. This has no relevance at all to the subject matter, but it may help to explain things if I suddenly lose the plot, or end a sentence with the wrong artichoke.

It must be the time of the year or something, but everyone seems to be writing or revising wargame rules. Not wishing to be left out, and (temporarily) not having the mental resources to think of anything more original, I am joining in with the trend. My particular angle on this came after my recent stocktake of in-hand projects (and I forgot to mention the translation of Max Foy's "Vie Militaire", which is making rather halting progress). The particular food for thought came from comparing my recently tested, home brewed MEP rules for Grand Tactical Napoleonic battles, with my experiences with Commands & Colors: Napoleonics (hence CCN) to date.

Interesting. The main contrast - immediately - is the order-of-magnitude difference in ease and speed of play. CCN plays like a game, rather than a post-graduate research project. It does not suffer from being bogged down in all the convoluted extra cleverness which it has taken me years to build into my own game. Some of the things which it does not have are a source of minor regret, since I have grown to be very attached to them (skirmishing, for example), but the negative side is pretty substantially swept away by the playability and the logical flow. I find that having CCN available (and I play it as a miniatures game, remember) means that I can regard my cupboard full of soldiers and the rest of the paraphernalia as a game which I can play whenever I wish, with the certain expectation of finishing, and finishing, moreover, while still in a physical shape to appreciate it. Previously, there has always been an element of my wargames - and I have always tried to simplify them as much as possible - of having a cupboard full of equipment with which I may once again attempt to wrestle with the problem of striking an enjoyable balance between fun and my personal finicky views on military tactics.

I am, understandably, not going to scrap my MEP game, or any of my other games, but at some hungry moment or other during the last few days it occurred to me that I could produce a slight variant on CCN which would handle most of the aspects of MEP yet still move with the swing of CCN itself. If the changes were minor enough, it could almost be viewed as a kind of scenario amendment to CCN. So let's regard this as a possible new game, not as a replacement for anything, and toss some ideas around. [Bear in mind that this is not as heretical as it might seem - study of the published CCN Scenarios makes it obvious that Waterloo, for example, must use a different unit size and implied ground scale than Rolica.]

These are a first-cut list of changes to the standard CCN game:

(1) The Command Cards mechanism from CCN - in fact just about all rules from CCN - will be adopted as a starting point, and adjusted as necessary. The actual pack of Command Cards will need to be checked - some of the cards will require some new definitions, or may need to be excluded (I haven't looked at this in detail yet).

(2) The scaling and grouping from MEP will be introduced. This means that, in general, a unit will be a brigade, and the number of "blocks" (bases in a miniatures game) will indicate the numerical strength, the identity of the blocks representing the historical units present - typically, a block will be a battalion or cavalry regiment. This immediately introduces the idea of mixed units, so some commonsense rules will be required to average this out where necessary. A couple of examples here: (a) my view of French Light Infantry in the Peninsula is that they were pretty much indistinguishable from Line, so a brigade of mixed Light and Line units will be Line; (b) the Anglo/Portuguese Light Division will have brigades which are entirely Light Infantry, with some Rifles blocks present; (c) divisional artillery attached to a brigade will be present at a strength of 1 block, and will not affect the troop class of the brigade (artillery may also be formed into massed or reserve batteries of up to 3 blocks in strength); (d) a 4-block unit which has 3 Guard blocks and 1 Line will normally be taken as Guard (etc).

(3) There will be some implied change in the ground scale. Movement will be as normal, but artillery ranges will be reduced to 3 hexes for horse artillery and 4 for foot artillery. Ranged combat will not be allowed for infantry other than Rifles. Rifles will be allowed ranged combat at a range of 2 hexes. I still have to think about all this, including drawing up new Combat Dice numbers for artillery. Bonuses and deduction for Combat should remain unchanged, though the number of blocks counting for dice should be limited to 4, to stop a large, poor quality brigade becoming unstoppable.

(4) The rule whereby a single-block horse artillery unit cannot move and fire is suspended - typically, batteries will have a single-block strength.

(5) I have no idea how to decide which block in a mixed unit (brigade) is hit - maybe the owner can choose? If the dice shows an artillery symbol, the battery must go if there is one. Needs work.

(6) Leaders/Generals will normally be deployed at Divisional level and higher – it might be that a detached brigade might justify having its own Leader. This will give a higher proportion of Leaders to combat units – to compensate, there is a change to the rules: you may attach a Leader to any unit you like, but he only allows them to ignore a Retreat result if he is in their chain of command. Also, it may be necessary to add 1 to the victory flag requirements to allow for the greater number of potential Leader casualties.

That's my very first thoughts on this. My current assumption is that the rest of the CCN rules stay as unchanged as possible.

More soon. I would kill for a cheese sandwich.

Qualiticast - Some Illumination!

Following the previous post on Qualiticast, Andy Taylor was kind enough to contact me via email, and send some more information and some smashing pictures. Very many thanks, Andy.

I read your recent blog entry and comments about Qualiticast with interest and was particularly surprised to learn that the company are such a mystery to many people. It’s true that there are very few images of these elegant figures on the web, so I thought you might be interested to see this selection of units from my own collection.

I’m pretty sure I bought these towards the end of the eighties. One of the early Qualiticast mission statements that appeared in all their advertising was to design a range of metal figures that would compliment the plastic ones then available and specifically to fill the gaps in the plastic market.

Amongst my first ‘buys’ were the Brunswickers, Prussians and 95th Rifles. No one was making those in plastic back then as this was long before HaT had arrived. They were also an acceptable match for Hinton Hunt figures which were next to impossible to find in the days before Tim Berners-Lee did his stuff.

I think the company was a husband and wife team who were a regular feature at SELWG on the rare occasions that I attended. I don’t recall their names but they were a delight to deal with in much the same way that I’ve read people compliment the guys at Newline and Tumbling Dice. On one occasion they sent me some British colour bearers but later declared that they hadn’t been altogether happy with the design of the figures and subsequently sent me a double load of their new mould. If there was a difference between the two excellent designs, I certainly couldn't see it.

My main interest in them had started with the Zulu War figures they produced, which I still rate as the finest in any scale of plastic or metal.

It’s a huge loss that they’ve gone. The figures were never less than perfect and I never encountered flash at any time. The last time I looked at a catalogue, their range had expanded to include Waterloo , The Peninsula, US Civil War & Plains War, Vietnam , The Crusades and Imperial Rome. I think they also dabbled in 28mm too which, given today’s developments, makes them truly visionary.

It's only right and proper to note that most of the artwork on these figures was done by GJM Figurines.

Qualiticast - just a glimpse of the unknown

I'm not sure why, but Qualiticast, the British manufacturer of 20mm wargame figures, has been a mystery to me. There is a brief summary on VINTAGE20MIL, which suggests they were sort of compatible, size-wise, with (presumably) Hinton Hunt, but there's no listing and no pictures. There is some discussion of Qualiticast on TMP, mostly about the Romans, and mostly repetition of urban myths - i.e. the figures are a little bigger than Newline, the Napoleonics are "unimpressive" and so on. Somebody produced a useful side-by-side photo of Qualiticast Napoleonics and 1/72 plastics, to give a size comparison, but that's about all the evidence I've been able to find. It seems very odd that all these years of involvement in Napoleonic wargaming have left me unaware of one of the makers I might have been very interested in, but no matter. The mystery has remained.

Well, today I received my very first Qualiticast Napoleonic figures. I am now a fan. I suggest that they are far from unimpressive. Just so there is no doubt, let me state that they are well proportioned, very nicely sculpted, and average about 23-24mm from soles to scalp. The figures I received today were part of a mixed eBay lot of Spanish guerrillas - a mixture of Qualiticast and Kennington. The Kenningtons are a very close match - the figures are about 1mm shorter (maybe less) and very slightly coarser in quality than the Qualiticast, but it's close, and it required some time poring over catalogue listings to work out which was which. They would be good with Hinton Hunts, though the castings are a little slimmer and more elegant than HH, and they would mix well with the HaT plastic guerrillas, for example. My eyes are opened - I shall watch with interest for more. They are currently out of production, and I am unaware of anyone who has stocks, but I did come up with a catalogue list, though I don't think it's complete.

Mixed guerrillas - the 3 on the left are Qualiticast (L to R NIS5, NIS1, NIS4), the rest Kennington (L to R SGA2, SGA5, SGA3) - you get the idea. The guy in the top hat is a little masterpiece, if his sword is a little long for true beauty.

Taking Stock

A lot of plates spinning at the moment. Sometimes in blogs you can witness people changing their minds, or you read of a proposed project which stalls, or of which you hear no more. That's absolutely fine - blogs should have that sort of daily journal role, with all the swings and changes which feature in our real lives, but it can also be rather a public way of failing to do something. That would worry me a bit, so I thought I’d do a personal checklist of where I’m up to. If you wish to share my checklist, then welcome aboard, but this is really for my own benefit!

My current projects which have started and which I've mentioned, but are currently somewhere in flight (or not) include the following.

Army Complete

Well, yes - I've arrived at the supposed destination, with some tidying up to be done, but during the journey it occurred to me that I could extend the line a bit. Some existing units are to be replaced (mostly for aesthetic reasons), I'm still working gently on an Allied siege train, and I have decided to add two further brigades to the armies - the French are to get the (fictitious) Vorpommern brigade, and the Allies are to get some Spanish militia and guerrillas to fight alongside the line troops. And then, of course, there is the small matter of providing more limbers for the artillery.

My Spanish Troops

The post on the Nationalist forces has appeared – I intend to do another two, one on King Joseph’s troops (and that one is waiting only for a couple of command figures to be painted for one of the units, so as not to spoil the team photo), and one on my new/proposed militia and irregulars, which will be a little while since there is much fettling and painting to be done to get them finished.

Vorpommern

This project has not disappeared. The first unit – the foot artillery company Stadt Stralsund – is at the painter as I write this, and should be back soon. I have figures reserved for the grenadiers, the jaegers and the 2 line battalions, though they are Scruby 25mm, and I spend alternate days worrying about how they can be painted effectively, given the almost complete lack of detail on the castings. I had cavalry put aside for them – also Scruby – but I really have decided that they are too awful to use, so the Vorpommern cavalry will be extra regiments of French-style chasseurs a cheval, which gives the slightly pathetic advantage that I can also use them as Frenchmen if required. Painting will proceed in due course.

The Grand Tactical Game (MEP)

Well, it exists, and I got through the Los Arapiles test with ideas for some changes. Further progress has been shelved while I get more experience with the Commands & Colors rules. Apart from anything else, there are mechanisms in CCN which are similar to, but simpler than, those in MEP, so there may be a little judicious cross-pollination coming up.

The Band of the Old Guard

This Minifigs S-range item has been sitting about for many years, waiting to be finished. Like all non-combat units, it keeps getting pushed down the painting queue. I finally got an official-issue drum major, and have bravely sent them off to the painter to be prepared as the band of King Joseph’s Spanish Royal Guard. No, I don’t know how they were uniformed, but I doubt if anyone else does either, so they are going to look very like the French Guard band out of Funcken! They will exist primarily for parades and other ceremonial fol-de-rols. I have abandoned the idea of a special morale bonus for neighbouring friendly troops.