I have been on holiday for three months in Australia, the weather was fabulous and it was great to catch up with friends. I had great intentions of painting some figures whilst I was there, however I really did not devote any time really in between family commitments. This is one of the few I actually had time to complete.
King Shapur II, possibly the greatest and longest serving king of the Sassanid empire and a pain in the side to Rome and her allies in the east. The miniature is from the aventine range along with the two retainers and standard, the horse however id from the A&A range and fits in nicely. This vignette almost completes my Sassanid army for Impetus, I would like to buy some more foot, heavy infantry and archers and I will be done.
As I have decided to add more Napoleonics to my collection this year, one of the armies you may of noticed last year was my Grand Duchy of Baden. The miniatures I will be using for the army are from the Murawski miniatures range.
A ideal army for wargaming at 1/20, as it is a nice small Division sized army with supporting cavalry, artillery and light infantry. As with most of my armies I like to research and pick a year or battle to focus on. As 1809 is a great campaign period for Baden I will build the army for this period so they can fight against my Austrians.
I will also plan to add a train, Gendarmes and possibly some militia types too which will require some green stuff to complete!
My plan is to build this year
General staff (mostly completed in 2021)
Baden garde du corps 4 figs
Guard Infantry
3 Line Infantry regiments
1 Jager battalion
Garde du Corps
Dragoon Regiment (completed 2021)
Hussar Regiment (using plastic Perry hussars)
1 foot Artillery battery (completed 2021)
1 horse artillery battery
Train
Gendarmes (completed in 2021)
Militia Infantry and artillery. (possible Jager company, artillery company and veteran battalion inclusion)
Historical Organisation 1809-10 Baden elevated to an electorate in 1803, then a Grand Duchy in 1806, with the population with the additional lands acquired reaching one million people by 1810. The extra territory allowed the state to raise 10,000 men for the army of Baden. It served in the Grande Armee in the 1805, 1806, 1807 1809, 1812 and 1813 campaigns.
Ministers of War 7 March 1808 to 17 September 1808 Karl von Geusau 1808–1814 Karl Friedrich von Fischer 16 August 1814 to 4 Dezember 1833 Konrad von Schäffer
Music
Some regimental music I have found
Parademarsch der königlich Bayrischen Grenadier Garde
March of the Swabian County Regiment, Durlach-Baden (c. 1700, oíd version)
2021 is done and dusted, and with the pandemic continuing a very strange year. and tough for our inbound tourist model at French Wargame Holidays.
We completed the year fulfilling 12% of our normal budget with Wargame Holidays and regular B & B, thankfully the Macron Government helped keep us afloat again............we are still here, and looking forward and currently planning for a prosperous 2022 fingers crossed.
A big thank you to our customers that did manage to attend and play a wargame this year. A big thank you for your continued support here on my blog, on Facebook, Instagram and the various Forums I haunt. A major change as we have started to attract european guests, French, German and Dutch who managed to travel during Summer.
We are taking Bookings for holidays from now, commencing in late March please contact us via the website to discuss your needs for a tailor made holiday for you and your partner or with your friends here at French Wargame Holidays and L'hotel de Hercé for a relaxing stay in the Loire.
Summing up my Wargame painting and terrain progress this year on my goals I achieved about 75% with a few minimal diversions. I may of completed more looking back, but motivation was up and down depending upon the external stresses of this strange year. On the positive side a lot of my stash completed with very few purchases of new lead or plastic. Medievals were again my main focus as I added to my collections to fill them out to match our "Walk the Battlefield in the morning, Wargame in the afternoon" tour and wargames.
2021 Goals achieved
Salon de Guerre redecoration
100% complete, curtains completed and artwork, swords and lances hung, a new Louis XIV cabinet for display for large models and three new chairs.
28mm miniatures painting
Completed 28mm Infantry 216
Completed 28mm Cavalry 144
Completed Artillery 1
Baggage Animals 9
WW2 and Modern 20mm
20mm Infantry 99 72 x 20mm vehicles 6 Aircraft
artillery x 9
WW1 Miniatures
4 WW1 1/72 aircraft
Other Science Fiction
1 Imperial Space ship
12 Space marines ......for my Sons birthday present
Miniatures rebased and touched up
Large scale Figures
1 x 54mm figure
Total Terrain System For Now (TTSFN) Goals achieved
Château board (1500x1200), includes Gaulois fort, dark ages Motte and bailey, and 100 YW castle under construction ATM 40% complete
Standard boards x 6
Roman Fort
Ploughed fields
Maize /corn Crop fields
Harvested crop fields
20mm buildings x 8
Dark Age Buildings x 6
Medieval buildings x 10
20mm ww2 buildings x 6
Bocage mark V 12m
Stone walls 3m
27 pine trees
6 garden trees
8 dead trees
27 palm trees
8 28mm trees
Board game played
19 games, mostly online.
Wargames played
Ancient games x 7
Medieval games x 8
Renaissance Wargames 0
Napoleonic games x 4
Ww1 games x 4
WW2 games x 16
Modern games x 5
Naval games x 4
Fantasy 0
Science fiction x 2
Completing bits from my project drawers was the focus on terrain has helped me a lot this year, as now I have space to plan 2022 which is well underway. I will continue to try to post every week or two as it helps me keep track of what has been completed.
I will be on holidays in Australia from January to mid March, but I have taken some toys with me to complete!
Let us all hope this pandemic can be over finally so we can socialise and share all of our new painted goodies, and watch our recently painted units flee off the table once again!
"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™
Thought to be designed by the chinese and moved west by the 6th century the Mangonel was used widely as a siege engine across europe and asia. The engine was simple to build leverage system and used pulleys and ropes to launch the rocks or rock at the enemy walls, some drawings exist of a torsion type rope system with a pin which would create more energy to release stones further. The Mangonel was replaced by the trebuchet by the middle of the 13th century when stone tower and wall fortifications became the norm for fortifications in the middle east and europe.
I am not certain where the Mangonel comes from but the crew are Mirliton 13th century figures with with new arms. I am intending adding twisted wire or cord at some stage when I get back into 13th century medieval later in the year.
I have painted the plastic Victrix gaul to represent the Gallic Chieftain Virdovix, he lead the Uenelli, Aulerci and Lexovii federated tribes (all local western tribes in cotentin peninsula and Normandy) in rebellion against the Romans incursions in 57BC and 56BC.
Three Roman legions lead by Quintus Titurius Sabinus campaigned in the peninsula in 56BC to put down the local uprisings by the Uenelli, Lexovii and Aulerci Federations after they had removed their tribal senators and rebelled against Caesars treaty. Sabinus then built a 3 legion encampment at Petit-Celland (close to modern Avranches) to control the area overlooking the Vire valley.
Virdovix, wth his federated army besieges the Romans but Sabinus refuses to be drawn to battle, the gauls daily taunting his cowardice for several days trying to draw him out to fight them.
Sabinus deceives the gauls that he was departing the encampment by sending a gallic auxiliary deserter to convince theVirdovix that the majority of the Roman army was in fear, had low morale were lacking in food and were deserting. Sabinus was withdrawing the following morning early to join Caesar in the south who was fighting the Veneti ( Nantes). Sabinus however places one legion at each gate in along with auxiliary cavalry.
The following morning the Roman commence the apparent departure and the gallic assault commences, Sabinus coordinates the two other legions departing from the encampments other gates to assault the flanks and the rear of the gallic attackers by the auxiliary cavalry. Many of the Gauls were killed pressed between the fortifications and the Roman legions on each flank. The Auxiliary cavalry follow up the fleeing gauls turning it into a slaughter, Virdovix is killed in the fighting at the battle of Vernix and the tribes sue for peace.
