Prussian 25th Infantry Regiment

I have just recently finished making another two V&B stands for the 100 Days campaign. The brigade stand represents the main body of the Prussian 25th Infantry Regiment (25 IR), while the skirmish stand represents a detachment from the main body.

Full frontal Prussians

An excellent online source for the uniforms of the 25 IR is "Les Uniformes pedant la campagne des Cent Jours Belgiue 1815" website (click here for the Prussian 25th Infantry Regiment entry). This has been the main source of information for my paint scheme.

The bulk of the figures have come from the HaT Waterloo Lutzow Freikorps & Nassau Grenadiers set (PSR review here). The figures are perfect for the 100 Days campaign as the 25 IR as they were still primarily wearing the black uniform of the Freikorps.

Unfortunately the set doesn't contain any officers, musicians, or flag bearers. However it does contain a figure with a ring hand, which means that accessories from the HaT Waterloo Dutch Infantry set (PSR review here) can be used to create a passable musicians and a flag bearer.

Skirmish stand that can be detached from the main body.

Noting that some sources have some senior officers of 25 IR wearing the uniform of regular line officers I decided to use a rather nice figure from the Strelets Russian and Prussian Chiefs of Staff (PSR review here). I think having the officer in the regular army blue and grey is a nice contrast to the black uniforms of the rest of the figures.

I couldn't find any definitive answers with regard to the flag used by the 25 IR - or even if they had one! Based on what I could find, I decided that a draped red flag would look good and be easy to do.

Brienne 1814 - A (P)Russian Defeat!

Recently I played another game of Volley and Bayonet, in which I used my Prussians to represent Russian troops. The scenario was one of the ones that can be found here at Keith McNelly's rather excellent site.

The view from behind Prussian line of the initial set up.

We had elected to play the Brienne Scenario (found here), using the shorter table options. It was at this point I made two decisions that would have a dramatic impact on the game; The first being not to worry about having the required skirmisher stands, while the second was to not worry about having the required number of model villages, and to use paper templates instead. This in in a game that required me to hold a village temple (which can only be done with skirmish stands), and a supply line that passed through a village two templates big.

Supply line represented by quickly made wagons, limbers, and other sundry items on 3" long stands.

Rather than making the skirmish stands, or the villages, I concentrated on bodging the wagon train together - which from memory was some 10-12 stands worth - thinking I could make some skirmish stands later, after all they wouldn't be that important?

Note the undefended red roofed BUA at bottom? Holding that was one of my victory conditions....

My real undoing was my poor initial deployment, in which I contrived to leave a battalion of heavy guns on an exposed flank. Why? Because I'm an idiot?.....

Stout Prussian defenders of Brienne le Chateau, force a French brigade back.

But more are coming like an endless blue tide....

 Still despite my mistakes, the Prussians were able to hold on to the town , and give a good account of themselves.

Starting to feel a little outnumbered...

 By eventually the French pushed out the Prussians and seized the town. Any dreams of a counter attack at this stage had been replaced by a desperate need to fall back and hold the supply line.

Finally the French occupy the town....

The French started to push their troops through the light woods, hoping to break my line of communications, and seize victory by looting my baggage train.

A French division on woods edge.

The French advance.

 At this stage I still felt that I could prevent this. I had burnt through my cavalry on my right flank, and had hurt the French cavalry in the process. I still had two un-exhausted infantry divisions, and I was hurting the French. I might just manage to prevent defeat and get a draw.

And meet solid resistance from good Prussian steel!

And for a while, that was possible.....until the mounting casualties resulted in first one, then both divisions becoming exhausted - which meant a clear French victory!

We kept track of casualties. It was a close run thing....

Overall it was a very fun game, which we played over a couple of days at a very relaxed pace. The French fought well, and I think the result would of still been a French victory even if I had the skirmishers holding the villages. It certainly ranks up there as being one of the more fun games I've played.

But a well earned victory for the French!

As a result of seeing some of the notations in the scenario, I decided on getting the second edition of Volley and Bayonet, and the 100 Days expansion "Napoleon Returns". They both arrived last week, and I am starting to gear up all three armies required to play - although based on the games I have been playing lately perhaps painting some 1814 Russians might be in order first?


Still, it is an achievable goal, and working towards it will mean that I will at least finally make some villages!

More Prussians and French for Volley and Bayonet

 After the last game of Volley and Bayonet I discovered that I needed to base up more French and Prussians. Fortunately I could fast track the Process by making use of some oddments from Steve, and a number of old school Airfix paint conversions from Glenn.

Prussians. Three Infantry Brigades, and three Artillery Battalions.

Two of the Prussian Infantry Brigades have been made up from Airfix French Infantry (click here for PSR review) that were painted to look like Prussians. The other one was made up of figures from the rather nice Revell Prussian Infantry set (click here for the PSR review).

Airfix Prussian Infantry.

Admittedly the paint conversion does get some things wrong, particularly with regard to backpacks, belts,and other such items - but I think it does capture the general impression of Prussian troops of the period. Refurbishment was the usual quick touch up, followed by basing and a brown wash.

Prussian Artillery. Airfix guns and Hat crew.

The Prussian artillery were made up of guns from the Airfix French Waterloo Artillery set (click here for the PSR review), and gun crew from the Hat Prussian Artillery set (click here for the PSR review). When Steve based up his Prussian artillery, he had some spare gun crew, so I added the French guns to them in order to quickly add to my Prussian artillery park.

The French, Teeth and Tail elements.

 First up are some nicely painted Airfix Waterloo French Imperial Guard that I got from Glenn. (click here for the PSR review). Since they are shorter than many modern figures, I put them on a taller base.

Airfix French Imperial Guard.

 Next up is a vehicle I built years ago using matchsticks, wheels, horses, and a figure from the Airfix French Artillery set. The barrel comes from an unknown plastic kit. The design is pure fantasy, but I think it looks good!

French wine wagon with nearby Imperial Guard nursing their hangovers.

The final two additions are a battalion of French horse artillery from Italeri (click here for the PSR review), and a French command stand. The figure seems to be painted to represent Napoleon himself (the grey coat, added to the fact the figure was in the same batch as the Imperial Guard above, are fairly big clues to the intended identity).

Napoleon and Artillery. A natural combination.

The mounted figure is of course from the classic Airfix Washington's Army set (click here for the PSR review), and the figure is generally viewed as representing George Washington. Clearly, the original painter decided to go a different route! As Napoleon, the paint conversion is quite serviceable,but in my view  the pose is a little too martial. I plan to replace it with the figure from the Italeri French Imperial General Staff (click here for the PSR review), which I think is a better fit for a command stand in V&B.

The Battle of Pseudo Craonne 1814

Recently I had the opportunity to play a game of Volley and Bayonet with a co-worker who had expressed a interest in wargaming the period. They had also expressed a desire to play a French army. Fortunately I had one handy.

Some handy French.

The next step was to find a scenario. After a quick search on the internet, we found this one for the Battle of Craonne. Unfortunately, I don't have a Russian army, but I did have the bulk of a Prussian force, and some British oddments available for immediate use.

The gaming table.

This was not to be the only liberty taken with this scenario. The Allied Order of Battle was to have some major omissions adding up to a reduction of four units of artillery, and one brigade of cavalry. We also decided that the game would end after eight turns with the notional arrival of the Allied Cavalry Corps of six brigades of cavalry.

French Artillery. Happy to outgun the Allies.

These changes meant that the Allies would be outgunned and outhorsed, but they would have the advantage of just needed to hang on and block the French from seizing the main town in order to seize the day.

The Brave Allies.

The Allied plan was simple, quickly seize the town on the left flank., while holding the French on the right flank, resulting in the center being the place where the French would be beaten.

The Old Guard watches as their cavalry streams back.

Action began on the Allied right flank with the Allied cavalry bravely attacking the superior French cavalry, forcing them back to the protection of the French Old Guard. This was a good start to the plan.

While the Allies seemed to being getting thew best of the right flank, A French division managed to advance into the town.

Three brigades of difficult to dislodge.

That division would prove problematic throughout the game. How problematic was not yet realised by me.

The center, before it got bad.

The falling back of the French cavalry meant that the Allied cavalry could attack the French first line in the flank, and hopefully rout them.

A fuzzy look at the center. Two brigades of Allied cavalry are about the thunder down on the French from the Allied right.

Only poor Allied dice rolling could save the French, coupled with some great rolls of their own.....

Fortunately, the Allies have a reserve.

So as the Allied hopes in the center are dashed, and French elan wins the day, the battle for the town continued.

Many things in this picture are a work in progress, including clearing out the French!

 The battle was a meat grinder for both sides, with the French being slowly pushed back, but never completely so.

The lower half of the town is cleared.

The rest of the battle unfolded quickly, so I didn't take any more pictures. As the Allied first line in the center collapsed I threw in my second line to try and hold it. At the same time I siphoned off troops from third line to try and finally win the struggle for the town. This resulted in disaster as the French Old guard, and the recently rallied French cavalry swept down my right and into the centre, leaving me with a strong position on the left, but not complete control.

My opponent generously stated it was a draw as the notional cavalry reinforcements would be able to stabilise my position and the game had reached the point of their arrival, and French losses had also been heavy! All in all, it was a very enjoyable game and has inspired me to start the refurbishment of more Napoleonic figures!