Prussian Napoleonic Cavalry

It has been a while since I've posted anything here.  I have been painting figures and vehicles but they are for a special project that is not yet ready to be unveiled.  Heh, heh!

But in preparation for a bicentennial battle commemorating the Befreiungskrieg ("Prussian War of Liberation), I needed a couple of more Prussian cavalry regiments.  Luckily I had two regiments that were bought almost completely painted.  Of the sixteen figures I only had to paint two from scratch, while I did some major and minor repainting of the other fourteen.

So without much else ado, I present two light cavalry regiments of the cavalry reserve, III (Prussiche) Korps, Army of the North.

Ulanen Regiment Nr. 1, West Prussiche

Ulanen Regiment Nr. 1, West Prussiche

Pommerische Landwehr Kavallerie Regiment Nr. 2

Pommerische Landwehr Kavallerie Regiment Nr. 2

All of the riders and horses are vintage Hinchliffe.  I still need to figure out a way to arm the Pomeranians with lances, but that came happen later.  Right now it is back to the "Special Project."

Bayou Wars 2013 Pictures

Finally after almost a month I am posting a few of the pictures I took at our regional convention, Bayou Wars, which took place June 7-9 in Kenner, Louisiana (a suburb of New Orleans).  This was the 21st running of Bayou Wars and was, as usual, a lot of fun.  The pictures are not necessarily in chronological order but I have attempted to identify the game and when in the convention it was played.

Larry Reeves ACW game Friday night, "Battle of Mansfield" (Red River campaign, Apr. 9, 1864)

Ken Hafer's Brain Dead Sunday morning game, "Hillbilly Hootenanny"

The magnificent Brice's Crossroads battlefield of Dean West that was fought on Saturday

The British commanders in Mark Stevens "Egypt 1801 - Napoleonics in the Desert"

Polish winged hussars in George Morgan's "Pike and Shotte" Renaissance game on Friday night

Mark versus Mark in George Morgan's "Pike and Shotte" Renaissance game on Friday night

"Close Action" Napoleonic naval on Saturday morning using Jeff Hunt's magnificent Portsmouth Miniatures ships

Russian ships go up in flames in my Pre-Dreadnought Russo-Japanese naval battle Saturday night

And last but definitely not least, board member Chris Johnson presents the 2013 Bayou Wars Best Game Master of the year award to Larry Brom for all his involvement in the convention over the years and for all of the rule sets he has written  and inspired.  Accepting for Larry is his daughter Lori.

"Slushy" Delivery

While Lord Sterling and I were on our way down to New Orleans for the regional Bayou Wars convention, we stopped in Ponchatoula, Louisiana for a pit-break before we hit the IH-55/IH-10 causeway around the west end of Lake Pontchartrain.  As we pulled into the Race Track gas station, we saw how they are now delivering the "slushy" mix to their stations!

The "Slushy" Truck has arrived!

This was such an incongruous scene that I could not pass up a picture of it.  Please double-click for a larger version.

More pictures taken at Bayou Wars will be posted later.

ACW Units

My enthusiasm for painting has been at a low ebb since before Christmas due to several different reasons.  But lately I've been getting a little more painting done.

I acquired the figures that were used in these two regiments back last year, intending to use them in a skirmish level force.  But that project kinda went by the wayside.  So I decided to construct a Confederate and a Union regiment for large scale battles.  These two units were completed back in late March for our Champion Hill "recreation" battle.  My good friend Lord Sterling ran the battle using his massive 25mm ACW armies.  I added these two regiments to his order of battle.  And just last Saturday, they were part of our "recreation" Battle of Chickamauga, even though neither was even close to the battle!

36th Mississippi Infantry Regiment

The 36th Mississippi Infantry Regiment wasn't at the Battle of Champion Hill, being part of the actual Vicksburg garrison.  But since it was the regiment in which my great-grandfather served, I couldn't resist constructing it.  It is flying a "Van Dorn" flag even though no one knows for sure what type flag it carried.  Since many of the Mississippi units that served in Van Dorn's (later Pemberton's) command were presented "Van Dorn" flags, I've given one to the 36th.  The 36th Mississippi participated in the battles at Iuka and Corinth in late 1862 before they were assigned to the Vicksburg garrison were they participated in the siege.  The regiment was reconstituted after the parolees were exchanged and assigned to the Army of Tennessee where they fought from Resaca through to Nashville.  After the disastrous retreat in the winter of 1864/1865, the regiment was assigned to garrison at Mobile.  They were included in Lt Gen Taylor's capitulation on may 4, 1865.  My great-grandfather was a casualty during the siege, was paroled to his home in Copiah County, Mississippi, and never returned to the colors.  I think he probably never received notice of the exchange since their were probably no newspapers "out in the countryside."  Either that or he felt he had done enough.  Either way I'm glad because he missed the slaughterhouses of Franklin and Nashville, thus living to have children, grand children, and great-granchildren (me!).

4th West Virginia Infantry Regiment

My Union regiment is the 4th West Virginia Infantry Regiment.  One of my co-worker's ancestors was a member of this regiment.  Originally part of the Dept. of the Ohio, the regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee's XV Corps during the campaign and siege of Vicksburg.  The 4th West Virginia and the 36th Mississippi even opposed one another during Grant's second assault on May 22.

Both regiments are composed of Custom Cast figures.  Most of the figures were purchased already painted.  I traded with Lord Sterling for a few figures to fill out the two regiments and painted them as well as touched up the ones I bought.

Merci Train Rededication

On Tuesday, March 26, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History rededicated the restored "Merci Train" that was one of the ones presented after WW2 by the French people to thank the United States for its actions in both freeing France from German domination and for providing assistance in rebuilding France after the war.  As I published in earlier posts (see below), the old "40 & 8" boxcar was in terrible shape and was almost lost.  But after a lengthy restoration and rebuilding, it looks like new!

I attended the rededication and took the following pictures.

Hank Holmes, the Director of the Department of Archives and History, opens the ceremony with a few words about the history of the boxcar and its restoration.  Standing on the right is Robert Parker Adams, the architect who supervised the restoration.



Some of the spectators at the rededication, including William Winter (on right in suit), former governor and former president of the archives board of directors; Elbert Hilliard (in tan coat), director emeritus of the department; and two of the distinguished WW2 veterans present.

Bob Adams, the architect, described the restoration process which included moving the car to its present location at the historic Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio (GM&O) Railroad depot and completely stripping it down to the bare structural members.

Our distinguished guests (from left) - Mr. William W. Correll (WW2 veteran), Mme Keltoum Rowland (honorary French consul to Mississippi), and Mr. R. B. Andrews (WW2 veteran).  Both Correll and Andrews actually rode in the 40 & 8 cars during their service in France during WW2.

The interpretive plaque that has been mounted in front of the boxcar.  I have to get a better picture of this and at a better angle so I can make it more readable.

The 40 & 8 car in all of its new glory.  It is protected by a shed that is designed to resemble the shed across the tracks at the GM&O depot.  And it is a good thing the shed was put over it as Jackson had a severe hail storm on Monday, March 17.  Without the shed, the roof of the car would have taken a severe pounding.  Whew!!

Previous posts:

http://colcampbellbarracks.blogspot.com/2012/04/mississippis-merci-train.html

http://colcampbellbarracks.blogspot.com/2012/05/mississippis-merci-train-part-2.html

'Murican Reinforcements

The 'Murican army has just received some reinforcements to assist in its campaign to free the colonies from the Britannians.

Barber's (New Jersey) Light Infantry Battalion, composed of vintage Jack Scruby figures

Morgan's Continental Regiment, composed of a mixture of figure manufacturers

I have had the old Jacks Scruby figures I used for Barber's Battalion around for probably 30 years.  Only this month have I finally gotten them painted!  Morgan's Regiment is designed to be used as either a rifle regiment, a "mismatch uniformed" Continental regiment, or a militia regiment, as needed.  Twelve of the eighteen figures have been painted for a number of years.  This month I added another six to bring it "up to strength."

In addition to these 'Murican reinforcements, a new general has arrived from Hesse-Coburg to lead some of the Hessian units in the Britannian army.  I haven't decided on his name yet; any suggestions?

A Miniature Figurines mounted American Revolution officer painted as a Hessian

Thinking about "A Very British Civil War"

After reading several blogs and battle reports about the gaming genre known as "A Very British Civil War" (VBCW), I thought that I would look further into this, to me, fairly new bit of imagi-nationing.

My first step was to get a copy of Paul Eaglestone's A World Aflame: Interwar Wargame Rules, 1918-39 published by Osprey.  My dealer friend (and Army comrade) Rudy Nelson of Time Portal Hobbies was finally able to procure a copy for me.  I finished reading through it today and have been intrigued by the possibilities of not only using this for VBCW, but also for our Back-of-Beyond China armies.  Usually we use Larry Brom's The Sword to Adventure, available from Sergeants3.  But AWA will give us a more "granular" game than TSTA.

The next step was to see what sort of troops I could throw together from what I have on-hand.  And actually I could get a nice little force, from East Bergholt, Suffolk [edit - location changed].

The Squire of East Bergholt and his cronies (and cronyettes) of the East Bergholt Hunt Club.  The Squire has done his share of hunting in Africa and has surrounded himself with like-minded hunters and huntresses.

The East Bergholt Civic Guard is composed of some of the Baron's retainers and respected citizens of East Bergholt.  They have great loyalty to the Squire and to their small village.

And finally, the East Bergholt constabulary, led by Detective Inspector Foyle.

That's all for now.  We'll see how things go.