The Battle of Kirchdorf 1809, A Napoleonic Batrep

Finally, I played my first game of the 2017!

For a change it wasn't Postie reffing the game nor were they his figures. Ian's been collecting his 25mm Napoleonics for quite a few years now and this was only their second ever outing. And the last game Ian reffed was back in 2011, a WWII bash, see that here.

Ian's using General de Brigade as rules, they're a bit complicated and a tad long winded, but it was his first proper go at reffing the rules so we'll all hopefully get to learn the rules over time.

There were only 2 Rejects playing, Surj picked the French outta the hat, while I was in

charge of the Austrians.

We had to set on maps blind to what the other was doing. We were given info that some terrain

needed to be captured for points at he end of the game.

The left of the field, I guess both the hills were worth points?

Surj placed all his Horse this side up against my 2 Cuirassiers.

On the right, was a bridge, which I was told to capture and in the left of the pic in the centre of the 

table was a crossroads. I placed my Austrain Grenadiers here, in Hold orders, something

I would later regret!

Surj's overloaded right flank.

My plan was to hold all my infantry first, then move forward and attack next to the 

bridge, while my left flank horse would engage anything on the opposite hill.

Surj on the other hand was only going to attack on his overloaded side.

The Swiss and French in defensive formation.

Now this is where the game went tits up for me. After seeing Surj's setup

I realised I needed to push my right forward now, and also release my other cavalry brigade 

to cross the river and attack the French flank.

I could only test to change 1 order, which I failed miserably!

We both had engage orders with our horse and moved forward to attack.

My 9 pounders on the hill.

The first Cavalry engagement went Surj's way. One of my Cuirassiers failed their morale test

to countercharge and fled, leaving these two above to fight it out.

After failing my change order test once again, I was allowed a free order change, only because Ian felt sorry for me! I turned my artillery to fire on the opposite hill, and moved my infantry on top of the hill.

Meanwhile on the opposite flank, my troops stood motionless unable to change their orders.

Here's where the battle was won and lost.

Surj charged, my Jagers moved back behind the line unit.

Next turn I failed the order move again, but was allowed to change orders

anyway. The Grenadiers were given a assault order and pushed forward.

Looking a bit dodgy!

Oh dear, Surj threw a double 6 in melee and knocked 13 figures from my unit which

then routed.

I carried on moving forward but the game was already lost on the left flank.

So the game was called a victory for the French.

Conclusion

My dice throwing ability was really crap.

While my set up was ok, giving my foot hold orders really lost me the game, I couldn't change them, if Surj and Ian didn't let me change my orders when they did, the game would have been over earlier.

It was difficult giving your troop orders on the map before you'd seen the enemy dispostion, something that Ian will change for the next game.

And it was great seeing 25mm Naps at Reject HQ!

AHPC VII Bonus Round "East" John Easton

Entry number 4 into the Challenge and its Bonus round again.

This time the Bonus word is "East". And once again our leader Curt had me stumped!

I don't have any Eastern figures, apart from a few Dark Age Rus, so I had to think of something else. A quick trawl in a few books and I came up with a few suggestions. I settled on a chap called John Easton, you can read about him below if you wanna!

The figure used is a Crusader Miniature, which I bought on Ebay,

Pack CCP005 Gentleman Pirates

I decided on a rather subdued paintjob, Easton was a Quaker and looking at
period paintings Quakers seemed to where black. greys or browns.
Check out the link to the Challenge and if you have a mind to, place a vote for your favorite entries.

John Easton (1624–1705) was a political leader in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, devoting decades to public service before eventually becoming governor of the colony. Born in Hampshire, England, he sailed to New England with his widowed father and older brother, settling in Ipswich and Newbury in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As a supporter of the dissident ministers John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson during the Antinomian Controversy, his father was exiled, and settled in Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island (later called Rhode Island) with many other Hutchinson supporters. Here there was discord among the leaders of the settlement, and his father followed William Coddington to the south end of the island where they established the town of Newport. The younger Easton remained in Newport the remainder of his life, where he became involved in civil affairs before the age of 30.

Ultimately serving more than four decades in the public service of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Easton began as an Attorney General for the island towns of Portsmouth and Newport, soon fulfilling the same role for the entire colony. To this line of service he added positions as Commissioner, Deputy, and Assistant, for many years serving simultaneously in multiple roles. In 1674 he was elected to the office of deputy governor of the colony, serving for two years, with a part of his tenure being during King Philip's War, about which he published a written treatise.

Easton was replaced in 1676 during King Philip's War with the militarily experienced John Cranston. In 1675 he wrote an account of the Indian war entitled, "A True Relation of what I know & of Reports & my Understanding concerning the Beginning & Progress of the War now between the English and the Indians." The following year he was a member of a Court Martial at Newport for the trial of certain Indians charged with complicity in King Philip's designs.

Following the overthrow of the Edmund Andros governorship under the Dominion of New England, Easton was elected as governor of the colony for five consecutive years. While in office his biggest concerns were funding the ongoing war that England was fighting with France, and dealing with the disruptive French privateers. Other issues during his tenure included a smallpox epidemic in Newport, charter issues having to do with Rhode Island's militia serving in other colonies, and the ongoing border line disputes with the neighboring colonies.

The period of time from 1676 to 1681 was one of the few periods when Easton did not serve in a public capacity.[7] Throughout the 1680s he was an Assistant, and in January 1690, following the three-year rule of Edmund Andros over all the New England colonies, he was one of the Assistants who wrote a letter to the new English monarchs, William and Mary, congratulating them on their accession to the throne, and informing them that Andros had been seized in Rhode Island, and returned to the Massachusetts Colony for confinement.[7]

War with France

King William's War involved the New England colonies, and subjected them to the exploits of French privateers.

The governor, deputy governor and assistants were exempted from paying any colony tax because of the expenses they incurred in attending to their official duties and the fact that they received no salaries. Easton held the governorship for a period of five years, during which period, England and her allies were engaged in the Nine Years War with France, and the New England colonists were left to deal with this war in North America, known as King William's War. Letters from other colonies came to Rhode Island asking for troops to aide in their efforts, and the reply was usually that the Rhode Island colony had a very exposed condition, and required its men to stay at home. Nevertheless, In October 1690 the General Assembly agreed to raise 300 pounds for the prosecution of the war. The colony now had nine towns: Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, Warwick, Westerly, Jamestown, New Shoreham (Block Island), Kings Town, and East Greenwich, each town being taxed for its portion of the levy. Legislation was also applied to property appraisal, which in the past had been done by the "guess" method, and shipping was to be taxed, with all ships from other colonies being henceforth assessed a tax on cargoes unloaded at Newport.

While the war was a major burden upon the colonists, one bright spot occurred in July 1690. As the colonies were being continuously harassed by French privateers, an expedition consisting of two sloops and 90 men under the command of Captain Thomas Paine went out from Newport to attack the enemy. Paine approached five ships near Block Island, sent a few men ashore to prevent a French landing, then ran into shallow water to keep from being surrounded. A late afternoon engagement ensued, lasting until nightfall, when the French withdrew, losing about half their men to casualties, while Paine's loss was one man killed and six wounded. The brilliant exploit of Paine inspired the people of the colony with a naval spirit; this was the first victory for Rhode Island on the open sea. French privateers, however, continued covering the seas, plundering the commerce of the colonists, and compelled a special session of the Assembly to adopt stringent measures for raising the tax levied but not yet collected.

AHPC VII. Entry 3 - Donnybrook - 25mm Woodland Indians

 "Concentrate on one thing at a time".........this is what I told myself in October, "Just

paint the French for Donnybrook in the Challenge".....did I listen?

Nope!

So for my third entry into this years Challenge I've painted up what I talked myself

 into getting. Luckily for me I didn't buy any of these figures, 6 were part of my 

Santa Claus pressie, (thanks again Santa) while the other 6 along with others were a 

Xmas pressie from my 2 eldest daughters Emily and Abi.

The plan is (and my plans never seem to work out), is to paint up a 4 point Indian War party for Donnybrook, not for the French Indian Wars, but for the earlier King Philip's War 1675-78,

Bacon's Rebellion 1676 and King William's War in Canada 1688-97.

A 4 point army without characters is only 42 figures, so I may well double it up to an 

8 point army??? (See what I mean about my plans?)

Anyway on with the figures...

They are from Warlord Games in the UK and will make up my first point of

 12 x Bow armed Recruits.

Now I'm not 100% happy with the paintjob to be honest, the figures look like they've had a month in the sun, with the fleshtone I've used. I knew halfway through they were to dark

but hey ho!! Suntanned they will have to remain.

These well oiled boys netted me 60 points pushing me up to 55th place in the AHPC VII.

AHPC VII. Armour Bonus Round - 25mm Donnybrook English Engineer

 

Its Bonus round time!!

And our first Bonus round was "Armour"

I don't really do any periods that use armour per say, so this was the best I could do

this Dixon Miniature from their Grand Alliance range. 

He's the Officer in their EG2 Pioneer pack well worth the £6.95 IMHO!

The other figures in the pack will hopefully be making an appearance later in 

the Challenge

 If you feel the need to vote for my Officer, or any of the other splendid entries

then click this link!

Adding the 55 points for this figure to my total gave me 75 points and pushed me

up to 51st place, although I'm back down to 57th as I write this post!

The next Bonus round is due in on the 22nd Jan and is "East"???

this has really left me scratching my head!

Maybe time to think laterally once again???

AHPC VII 1st entry 2 x Mounted Moors

As some of you may be aware its Painting challenge time and this is my first entry into the

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VII.

These 2 were undercoated during the last Challenge, and along with loads more

never got painted. Most were sent off to Fran, who painted them up for my Broadside game 

Teviot's Last Stand.

I kept a handful of figures both mounted and dismounted back to use these as Leader or 

Character figures. These two never made it, so I thought I'd get these finished first!

The chap on the left is an Essex miniature, while I think the other is a Gripping Beast,

but I could well be wrong???

These 2 earned me 20 points and pushed me back up the charts to 41st place!

Happy New Year 2017

Wishing everyone a very cheeky Happy New Year!

Only 2 resolutions this year..... Paint more and play more!

All the best in 2017

Ray