The Two French Armies

What passes for the sun being up in Scotland as we approach the Solstice

A Post for a Slack Morning

Well, well.

My two-month wrangle with the banks was suddenly over yesterday – everything seems to be running smoothly. I won. The garden is finally straightened up for the Winter (with sincere thanks to Dod the Gartenmeister), a brief drama connected with my son’s school exams appears to have sorted itself out, I’ve sent a shipment of soldiers away to be painted, I’ve extracted myself from a musical project which was starting to do my head in, and it’s another beautiful morning.

Unnaturally beautiful, in fact. While the rest of the UK has had dreadful problems with heavy rain and flooding, we somehow managed to have the wind veer to the North, so that – for the moment at least – it is clear and cold and vaguely Scandinavian here. While I was sauntering around, having my breakfast (a strange eating ritual I perfected when I still had commuter trains to catch), I was watching the sun come up. I munched my toast and strawberry jam (Bonne Maman – very good), and a single aeroplane vapour trail, many miles away, was eastbound, immediately above the sun in the visible sky. It was lit up a wonderful, pinkish gold. I wondered where the plane was going – probably Amsterdam – and whether this was a good sample of that mysterious Napoleonic uniform colour, aurore.

A second cup of coffee, nothing particular to do this morning – hmmm. This could be how people who can relax feel on a good day.

My Liebster nominations appear to have incommoded as many people as they pleased, so I’ll pass swiftly on from that [Got it wrong again, Dad]. My enthusiasm for another rant against the banks is fairly low this morning, so a good, safe-ground post might be some photos of soldiers – yes – good idea.

I wrote recently that I have re-organised my French army so that it is now two French armies, and there was mention of some pictures in due course. If anyone is following my campaign (and sometimes I’m not sure whether I am), please note that these two armies are not quite the same as the line-up for the campaign. The structure is similar, but this is a more long-term establishment thing – the campaign armies are spread all over Northern Spain to meet the week-to-week requirements of the unpleasantness there.

Here’s the whole lot, from 2 directions - you may notice the little "battalion" of skirmish-order tirailleurs at the front of each brigade...

Armée du Centre – 3 infantry divisions plus cavalry – mostly

Confederation, Spanish & Italians

Armée de Portugal – 3 infantry divisions plus cavalry

The Engineers, Reserve & Garrison Artillery and Odd-Bods

It’s considered good form to ask the Emperor to do his

special Charles Aznavour medley, with the band

Some more general pictures...

Not the Lobster Award

I've been aware of various blogs showing the Liebster Blog logo - a distinction which I know little about and hadn't really identified with. Since I have always subscribed to a strategy of self-humiliation as the best pre-emptor of humiliation by others, I covered myself by inventing a private joke about my receiving the Lobster Award, an alternative mark of recognition for blogs which fall rather short of popular acclaim. I even considered nominating other, similar blogs for this crustacean form.

Ross - he of the excellent Battle Game of the Month - has rather caught me off-guard by kindly nominating this blog for the for-real Liebster, which throws the whole lobster thing out of whack. Thank you Ross - I do appreciate it, though I am slightly nervous about the amount of homework I need to do next.

I understand that the rules require me to thank Ross for the nomination [tick], display the Liebster logo [at right - tick] and nominate 5 blogs which I like and read regularly, and which have less than 200 followers. Then all I have to do is send comments to those blogs to give them the news - supposedly good.

This is where the homework comes in - many of the blogs I read regularly have already been nominated, or have too many followers - one or two of them haven't been posting recently, and I did consider sending the Blog Police round to check they are all right.

I finished up with the following 5, which doesn't mean that I do not love others which are not listed.

(1) Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargame Figures because it's a joy to behold - a classic presentation of lovely pictures of proper old soldiers - and because I still don't understand how Ian gets Hinton Hunts to look that good.

(2) Another, closely related blog which I use a lot for reference is Clive's very fine The Hinton Hunter, which is an absolute gold mine for information and pictures of old Hinton Hunt models and related ranges.

(3) I am a big fan of Lee's A Napoleonic 'therapy' project for 2012, which is an inspirational shop window for the very best of 6mm Napoleonics, with some fabulous work on making hex grid battlefields look good.

(4) I was sure that Harry's Parum Pugna blog would already have been nominated, but I believe it hasn't. I'm not really an Ancients fan, but I love the pictures, and the posts are always humorous and pithy and brief - qualities which impress me especially, since they have all evaded me over the years.

(5) Something a little different - I've recently taken to reading Polemarch, which has a lot of original thought about wargames, philosophy and a whole raft of unlikely subject matter. Recommended.

If anyone wishes to accept it, you can also have a complimentary Lobster Award to go with it.

[tick][tick][tick][tick][tick]

Next I'll send the comments...

Solo Campaign - Weeks 23 & 24

After something of an extended intermission, the Solo Campaign gets going again. No dramatic action, but the French are worried about having left Madrid pretty much exposed (and thus are proposing to leave Salamanca exposed as well), the wall-repairers at Ciudad Rodrigo have made very poor progress (which is worrying the commandant), and I’m a bit worried myself about the logistics of putting into operation a cunning plan to use a British fleet to convey part of the Spanish Army round the coast to the other side of Spain. So it’s all a bit worrying.

Anyway, here is the summary of Weeks 23 and 24, and it’s a comfort to have things moving again...

Seems like a nice boy? – Gen de Divn Claude-François

Ferey, shortly to arrive to take over the Division of the

unfortunate Maucune. A suitably prestigious Art

Miniaturen figure is being commissioned to play the

part of Ferey on the tabletop – watch this space

Week 23

Random Events and Strategic Notes

No progress has been made with the Central Junta’s request that Wellington be seconded to the Spanish service. A further request has been made, for the British Navy to transport España’s force from Vigo, round the coast through Gibraltar, to Tortosa, to join up with the rest of the Spanish 3^rd Army to act against the French (and, potentially, their supply routes) in Aragon and Navarra. It is expected that General Giron would have a more active role with this enlarged field army.

It will take 2 weeks to assemble enough ships, and the actual passage is estimated at 2-3 weeks.

Outbreak of fever at Zaragoza badly affects French forces E & G (which are to combine). Estimated 1500 men in hospital, which is about 30% of French force present. Sickness not prevalent among civilian population.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 7 and the French 4. The Allies opt to move first.

Following losses sustained to staff at the Battle of Carpio de Azaba, the following changes to the French command are announced:

* General de Divn Claude-François Ferey, Baron de Rosengath, has been appointed to take over command of the 5^th Divn of the Armée de Portugal (formerly Maucune’s). Ferey is currently on long-term recuperation leave in France (following wounds received at the Battle of Fuentes d’Onoro) and will not arrive to join his new command until mid July. In the interim, the division will be commanded by Gen de Bde Baron Lamartinière, Marmont’s Chief of Staff.

* While General Berlier is absent from duty, his brigade of Clauzel’s Divn will be commanded by Col de Conchy of 25e Léger

Moves

Allies (7 allowed)

1 – A (Aigburth, with the Allied 3^rd, 7^th and Light Divns, plus cavalry) rests at Ciudad Rodrigo, allowing recovery following the previous week’s battle.

2 – D (Framlingham, with the Allied siege train) marches from Abrantes to Almeida, being ordered to join up with Aigburth’s main army.

3 – Sp B (España) is ordered to march from Orense to Vigo, to prepare his army for embarkation. This is a difficult (brown) road, so a test is required:

2D3 = 5 +2 (España’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - march is completed with no problems

4 – B (Graham, at Braga) to send scouting patrols into Orense

5 – A (Aigburth) to send scouting patrols into the area around Salamanca, to monitor the state and position of the French field armies.

6 – British ships at Gibraltar, Lisbon and Porto ordered to make ready and sail for Vigo within 1 week.

[Intelligence step -

• no French forces detected in Orense – assume Marmont is still at Leon.
• patrols from KGL and Brunswick Hussars report that Clauzel’s defeated force has stopped at Salamanca, and is not in good shape. Jourdan’s force also in this area, giving the French an estimated total of 25000 in this area [this is an over-estimate]]

French (4 allowed)

1 – I (Clauzel) rests at Salamanca.

2 – E (Rabbe’s bde of Abbé’s Division of the Armée du Nord) and G (Lacharrue’s bde of the same Divn) are to combine as E, under Abbé, at Zaragoza.

3 – K (Jourdan, at Salamanca) to send scouting patrols towards Ciudad Rodrigo.

4 – N (Marmont, at Leon), to send patrols into Zamora and Lugo.

[Intelligence step –

• Troopers from Maupoint’s cavalry brigade (in force K) detect no general movement of Allied units from Ciudad Rodrigo – Allied scouts reported around Salamanca area – presence of 1^st Hussars KGL confirms that Allied main army is still at Ciudad – no details known
• Cavalry attached to Marmont, at Leon, have found no Allied movements around Lugo, and have little definite information – hostility of civilian population in this area makes scouting very difficult. One party of 30 troopers  from 22e Chasseurs disappeared without trace near Sarria, presumed captured.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. French Force E at Zaragoza is Demoralized by serious outbreak of fever – this week’s losses to the hospital are:

4/28e Leg  -3 blocks; Chass des Montagnes, Gren Prov, 1/Dgns Prov, 4e Vistule & Tirailleur bn each -1 block = 1500 men in total.

Contacts

None, apart from scouts.

Engineering at Ciudad Rodrigo

Each battalion present with the garrison rolls 1D6 each week, giving 4D6 – every 6 rolled adds 1 to the Fortress Value, which is currently 4 – aiming to be repaired to a full value of 6.  This week, the dice come up 5 3 3 1, so no progress with the Fortress Value, which remains at 4.

HMS Inconsolable, 74 guns, Captain James Thornycroft,

which will be the command ship for the little fleet

transporting España’s troops from Vigo to Tortosa

Week 24

Random Events and Strategic Notes

Outbreak of fever at Zaragoza seems to have been related to troops being supplied with drinking water obtained from the River Ebro. No new cases reported this week.

Concerned about the safety of Madrid, King Joseph has ordered Jourdan to return there with his force, leaving Marmont and Clauzel with responsibility for Leon and Castille.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 4 and the French 5. The French opt to move first.

Moves

French (5 allowed)

1 – E (Abbé’s Division of the Armée du Nord) rest at Zaragoza, to recover from fever outbreak.

2 – K (Jourdan) to march from Salamanca to Avila, en route to Madrid.

3 – N (Marmont) to march from Leon to Zamora, to communicate with Clauzel.

4 – I (Clauzel) to scout from Salamanca towards Ciudad Rodrigo.

5 – N (Marmont) to scout from Zamora towards Orense.

[Intelligence step –

• No new information – the French are unaware that España has marched to Vigo]

Allies (4 allowed)

1 – British flotilla at Vigo take on supplies, and embark Spanish troops...

2 – Sp B (España) embark themselves and their equipment at the port of Vigo.

3 – D (Framlingham, with the Allied siege train) marches from Almeida to Ciudad Rodrigo.

4 – B (Graham, at Braga) to send scouting patrols into Orense

[Intelligence step -

• no significant French forces detected in Orense, though some contact with unidentified French cavalry in this area.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. French Force E at Zaragoza is no longer Demoralized by fever, since it has been contained.

Contacts

None, apart from scouts.

Engineering at Ciudad Rodrigo

Each battalion present with the garrison rolls 1D6 each week, giving 4D6 – every 6 rolled adds 1 to the Fortress Value, which is currently 4 – aiming to be repaired to a full value of 6.  This week, the dice come up 5 4 3 2, so no progress with the Fortress Value, which remains at 4. Col D’Orsay, temporary commandant at Ciudad Rodrigo, is said to be very disappointed by lack of progress, since the withdrawal of Jourdan’s troops to Madrid leaves him exposed to attack.

Old School Paint?

I must have reached some critical shelf date for my paint stock. A few of the old, polygonal GW/Citadel pots  I bought in the mid-noughties (at the start of my wargaming rebirth) are going off. As I've said elsewhere - and it was just as uncool when I said it last time - I like these paints. The pots are practical, they are simple to use, there is very little waste and they can be stored a long time (though not forever, as I am learning). My Blood Red went solid a week or two ago, so I had to get in some new. Now - disaster - the pots of white are turning gloopy on me.

A few practical issues have to be addressed. The only hobby shop that ever existed within 40 miles of here went bust a few years ago, so purchase of paint requires travel or - more practically - online mail order.

If I have no local supplier, and I don't like Citadel's newer pots so much (the lids won't stay upside down to act as a little palette), I also have a slight issue in that, having come to terms with seriously applying shades like Bubonic Brown and Snot Green to my beloved models (any grown-ups at home?), I now have to get the hang of new, though equally daft, names for the colours, since some 14-year-old marketing wizard must have decided that Snot Green isn't so great after all.

I like the Foundry paints I've used, though they are expensive to obtain here and I find the shade system impressive but bewildering - too much hit and miss without personal recommendations. Vallejo are good - I have some Vallejo colours (including white), but find them fiddly to use and I waste a lot when I mix them. A day or two ago our esteemed Monsieur Rosbif pointed us to a blog post where an expert sets out an astonishing presentation of all the weird and wonderful substances he uses in his painting and modelling. Once again, it is forcibly drawn to my attention that I am not - and never was - a proper painter. Not like those rude, heroic, beer-drinking Frothers people. So I am best advised to get the baby stuff and plod on quietly.

Back to the point - what to do about my white paint? Since the Citadel option is not so practical nor so convenient as it was, I took a mad turn and decided to revisit a brand of paint I used to be very fond of in the 1970s - Pelikan Plaka. In the interests of scientific research and unscientific nostalgia, I ordered a pot of the casein-based white acrylic I once used to swear by. In its/my day, Plaka was a major breakthrough for those of us who wished to paint white crossbelts over Humbrol red jackets, and were fed up watching the colour bleed through white enamel. At half-an-hour between coats, that was not a lot of fun.

It's arrived. I haven't used it yet, but I hope to shortly. The pots are redesigned, of course, but I believe the paint is still the same. If the white works, I might just give the yellow a try - I find it very hard to achieve a solid colour with yellows. Only problem with the yellow might be the shade - I used to have a very pale, lemony shade of Plaka - I assume they have others.

So anyway - this is today's non-news. If you are a Plaka fan, forgive my excitement - it's not often you get to leap back 40 years in a single step.

Subsequent Edit:

This is off the original topic, but I got emails from Ludovico, Jean-Marc and Lawrence Lander asking for more information about the changes in the Citadel range. Here is the only listing I have, which was kindly pointed out by Lee some weeks ago. I know nothing about the new range, nor how closely it matches the old one, but it seems there has been a move towards multi-shading. The only active, maintained stock of Citadel paints I've seen recently is in the Edinburgh branch of Hobbycraft, and they seem still to be using the old names, so don't ask me. I know nothing. A big boy did it and ran away.

New names - still daft?

ECW - Byron's and Dodding's Regts of Horse

Two new regiments of horse arrived today, splendidly painted by Lee - whose excellent painting services are described here. As ever, there is one for each side, to keep everything balanced and in step.

Col George Dodding's RoH [P] are a serious, well controlled lot. Dodding himself was from Conishall, in the Furness hundred of Lancashire, and his men were raised around Cartmel and Grange-over-Sands. The figures are SHQ/Kennington.

Lord Byron's Regt [R] are maybe a little more exciting in style - noted under my rules as "veteran rash gallopers", which makes them formidable opponents in melee but possibly difficult to keep under control. Figures are by Tumbling Dice - I've used SHQ horses to keep the cavalry units as compatible as possible.

Tomorrow they all get fitted with magnetic sheet under the bases, then they are ready for the light red boxes [not pink...].

Regimiento del Ribero

Having replaced my congealed red paint, I've now finished the first of my new units of Falcata figures. Here are the Regimiento del Ribero - also known at different times as the Voluntarios del Ribero and even as the Cazadores del Ribero. Whatever, they are light infantry. These are all pre-production castings from Falcata - the skirmishers are my own conversions - Spanish regular light infantry with militia heads.

There will be three similar new battalions in the fairly near future.

Hooptedoodle #71 - Rhyngrwyd

I have a feeling this post is bound to offend someone, so I hasten to put in an early disclaimer – it is not intended to be disrespectful, nor to step on anyone’s sacred cows or national pride or pet prejudices. It is merely an expression of my customary wide-eyed ignorance.

North Berwick station

Yesterday I took the train into Edinburgh. When I got to my local station, which is North Berwick, in the county of East Lothian, I was greeted by a very smart and friendly sign, welcoming me (well – welcoming visitors, really) to the little town in two languages. For information, it’s Gaelic name is Bearaig-a-Tuath. 

That’s all fine, then – Scotland has it’s own Parliament (sort of), and is officially bilingual.

Good.

Well - just a minute. According to the 2001 Census, a little over 93,000 people in Scotland have any understanding of Gaelic. That doesn’t mean that all of those use it to converse – some of these people just have some knowledge of it. Even so, this represents, I understand, 1.8% of the population of Scotland. Coverage is not even, of course – in the Western Isles and the Highlands a great many people have the Gaelic, and I am especially enthusiastic about traditions like that being preserved, but I doubt if more than one or two residents of North Berwick have any knowledge of it – insignificant in comparison to the number who speak Polish, for example.

North Berwick, like most of East Lothian, is much closer both in culture and surroundings to the rural parts of Northumberland, for example, than it is to “proper” Highland Scotland (as featured in Walt Disney or on shortbread tins). It’s name comes from the Old English word bere, barley, and means a barley farm, or a settlement where they grew barley. The word North was added to distinguish it from the much larger, sporadically English town of Berwick upon Tweed, which is 38 miles from here (and is, now that I’ve mentioned it, where a surprising proportion of my post and mail-order deliveries are sent). The Gaelic name is fundamentally a phonetic derivative of an English word. Again, this is all fine – there are a great many place names in Scotland which are Anglicised forms of Gaelic names – but it does leave me wondering who it is that is supposed to call it by this authentic new Scots name. Not the locals – that’s for sure – and I doubt if very many Highlanders coming here would be interested either.

So it’s a political correctness thing, then? That’s OK too, but I do wonder what sort of person decided this particular sign was necessary. I also wonder who came up with the Scotified name, and who asked them to do it, and what their job title is. And how much do they get paid?

I used to have a friend named George, who lived near Bala, in North Wales. George had terrible blood pressure, lived on gallons of instant coffee, stayed up all night reading, and used to rant on at huge length about almost exactly this subject. George is – maybe not surprisingly – now dead, but he lived and died a fiercely patriotic and proud Welshman – a North Welshman, no less, and a fluent Welsh speaker. Wales, like Scotland, has a measure of devolution, and is bilingual. The big difference in Wales is that the proportion of Welsh people who use their language is high – especially in the North – and the country really does need to be bilingual. It has been for centuries. What made George furious was that they had made this official policy in a moronically completist way. The Welsh parliament had appointed a committee of scholars (presumably expensive scholars) to ensure that all English words had a Welsh equivalent. It would be a poor show indeed, you will agree, if there was not a proud Welsh word to display on the official signs – and it should be recognisably distinct from the English word in a proud, Welsh sort of way.

Just as well they translated that...

I emphasise here that I am not opposed to bilingualism – I’m all for it. I am just nervous about the way in which it works, and about the thought-processes that get us there. George was furious that the committee had come up with its own word – rhyngrwyd – for the Internet. Was it needed? Did it help? Are there any other nations which insist on their own word for Internet? – almost certainly the Scots, though I haven’t checked. George felt that this kind of over-fussy fetishism actually made the Welsh language – or more particularly the bodies who proscribed it – look rather foolish. Since it was his language, I will pay him the respect of refraining from having an opinion on the matter, but he might have had a point. Maybe he was right – maybe it was a waste of money, of effort, of emphasis. Maybe the people who were distracted about the future and the integrity of the Welsh language would have been better employed to direct some of their attention to some other specific need which Wales has? The Welsh language is not going to be threatened by people referring to the Internet by its American-English name. What is the point? George would have suggested that if people’s pride in being Welsh manifested itself in minutiae of this nature, they would be better starting again from basic principles.

Doesn't always work - the Welsh version says

"look left" - this wasn't an attempt to kill

non-Welsh pedestrians, surely?

I wouldn’t know. If you disagree with this, or feel strongly about it, then you are probably right. There must be a chance for all the Manx and Cornish speakers out there to stand up and be counted, and God bless you all. I am aware that if the North Berwick station sign appeared in English and German, for example, then a great many of us would get very heated about it, and probably rightly so, but on a given day – even in Winter – there will be many more German speakers in the town than Gaelic speakers.

Very odd, really.