The Grand Duchess' Coach: Finale

The battle rages around the beleaguered Coach...the Grolsteiner hussars bravely charge the heavier Freikorp dragoons, and after a violent clash are forced to retreat, (...and retreat into Lead Gardens history as they were sold to another "nation" just yesterday...bon chance my good men!)

...meanwhile Volger's jagers get the worst of a firefight with the coach guard...the Croats doing much execution along with some surprisingly good pot-shooting by the frightened driver of the coach.

...off at the head of the column, the lancers pursue the scattered remains of one of the Konigswald dragoon squadrons...

...and are able to reform just in time to catch the Kuschen hussars in retreat as well. The Poles have earned their pay and their dreaded reputation for pursuit this day!

Down the road, the last squadron of dragoons prepares to hold off a strong force of the Duchess' cuirassiers galloping to the rescue.

 ...while one cuirassier squadron makes for the coach, the second squadron charges the dragoons formed up on a low rise. In the melee, the cuirassiers are thrown back but the dragoons are out of the fight for the coach.

...and after the jagers fall back from the ridge with heavy losses, it leaves only Volger's dragoons to make an attempt on the coach.

...and they are met by the defending dragoons in another swirling melee that ends in both sides falling back, ending the action. 

Volger's men are forced to fall back and given the total losses the raiders sustained,  it may be some time before such an attempt on the Duchess is tried again.

...as the coach guard reorganizes, the commander of the coach guard, is heard to say, "Where are those blasted Poles!" ...but it's no matter because the cuirassiers are in contact and pickets are sent off to fetch them back...and the occupants of the coach, (turns out it's the duchess nieces...if the grand dame herself was in the coach she would have her Liebguard present as well) ...can safely proceed.

...the audacious raiders will have to try another day!

And it occurs to me that I really do have to make up some better game markers...those big red and black beads just look too "RPGish"  for my 18th century tastes! 

The Grand Duchess' Coach: Part 2

The coach in question...target of the Bleiherzen raiders...gets a four move head start as the die rolls for the Bleiherzen force have them all entering on turn four. The Coach escort gets 24" down the road before the enemy is sighted!

Overview of the fourth turn....the raiders appear!

...and the rear guard of the coach escort appears...

Colnel Volger's Freikorps in their first action, advance smartly to engage the column escort.

The Bleiherzen center moves to block the head of the coulumn, the Kuschen hussars on the left, and 2 squadrons fo the Konigswald Dragoons on the right.

The Grolstein column forms up to the left of the road, leaving the right flank exposed and guarded only by the small party of picked Croat sharpshooters who quickly conceal themselves in a wooded copse along the road.

The Grolstein rearguard moves quickly to cover the right flank.

Volger' Freikorps begins the affair with an exchange of musketry at long range. In this game I give the Croat sharpshooters an extra pip on the die to hit.

Croats returning fire...while the coach driver frantically hunts for a weapon...

In the center the two cavalry forces close the distance in preparation for a charge.

...as the cavalry clash begins in earnest, Volger's Freikorps tops the crest of a small ridge and peppers the column escort with well aimed fire...the jagers are under strict orders not to fire on the coach itself.

Friekorps dragoons move in on the weakly guarded flank of the column and are opposed by the hussars.

meanwhile on the Bleiherzen right, a large body of Grolstein cuirassiers thunders down the road to the rescue.

The cavalry melee is quick and ferocious, and the Grolsteiners get the best of it, sending both of the Bleiherzen squadrons to the rear pursued by the Duchess' Poles.

to be continued...

(...also continuing are some ebay sales of some SYW Austrian cavalry and a fine unit of Hungarian musketeers:  LINK and LINK and LINK )

Selling a Unit of Prussians

These fine fellows are for sale...they are a classic unit of 36 RSM Prussians...here is the ebay link:   LINK

I'm working on some funds for a new project of "really classic" Jacklex 20mm colonials I'm planning!

The Grand Duchess' Coach: A Replay of a Classic Scenario

A replay of a classic scenario is in the works here at the Lead Gardens. This is the "Wagon Train" scenario from CS Grant, using only cavalry and light infantry units for a change of pace...Klein Krieg at it's best!

First some pics of the grand Duchess' coach and four (castings from Eureka miniatures) led by her Polish Uhlanen coach guard followed by a small detachment of Hussars forming a color party. The coach itself is closely guarded by a picket of 3 picked Red Croat sharpshooters (who have a better hit chance than normal light infantry)...followed by a unit of Grolstein regular dragoons. Following on a turn later is the rest of the Hussar unit.

An overview of the Coach escort column.

In the lead, the Uhlanen mercenaries, (favorites of the Grand Duchess...)

Across the table, Grostein Curaissiers in their start positions...heading to meet the coach column... though they will not move until turn five.  

The Bleiherzen ambushing force, is comprised of the newly formed Colonel Volger's Freikorps...

Plus a squadron of the the Kushchen Black Hussars...

and 2 squadrons of the Konigswald Dragoons...

and, an overview of the Bleiherzen right wing who's orders are to block the road and destroy the Grolstein head of coulumn, while Volger's men attack from the flank to capture the coach.

.....more in part 2...

Colonel Heinrich von Vogler's Freikorps

 A rainy Sunday and I get to finish a new unit of Freikorps, now officially listed on the Konigreich der Bleiherzen army rolls as von Vogler's Freikorps. (Gotta love those internet German name generators! This is the name that came up when I typed my name in...go figure).

 a close up of the jagers...

...and the dragoons. I have another unit of cavalry waiting to be painted as heavy horse for the Grand Duchess,...lest she fall behind in the arms race.

Freikorps!

 After reading a number of your blogs out there, I was inspired tonight (11 PM to be exact...) to get out of bed and start finishing up a unit of Freikorps for my Konigriech der Bleiherzen army that has been waiting for my attention for a long while.

This unit is based on the historical von Kleist Freikorps that served with distinction in Fredrick's army. For my imagiNation, I just have added white cuffs and a different flag (using the famed "beer hops" device so beloved in the Konigreich)...The mounted castings are RSM (von Kleist dragoons) and I painted up some RSM foot jagers as well and hopefully in the near future I can add a light gun.

 My collection has a lot of light/jager/croat units...probably much out of proportion to a historical army of the time, but I just enjoy painting these guys and they are a fun break from painting musketeers. The base color in these pics was still drying and the shine still shows...I normally coat my finished figures with Krylon Triple Thick Glaze spray for a shiny finish and then paint the bases and leave them a matte finish to match my table.

The marvelous SYW Project site (which I might mention I support with my financial contributions as well....) has Kliest's officers in tricorn, so I used that reference as an excuse to dig out some of my extra RSM command figures and press them into service.

The foot jagers are still to be finished, but I'm on a roll inspired by so many great gaming blogs out there! ...and to be frank, today was one of those days where nothing on the home front seemed to be going right, and just a moment of late night escape into the wondrous and noble world of miniatures has turned a rough day into a pretty good one....HUZZA!

Stay tuned for more pictures of these guys when they appear in my next battle which is shaping up to be a classic "raid on the Duchess' coach" scenario derived from C. Grant's "The Wagon Train" which will feature my coach-and-four from Eureka minis that I finished about a year ago and have not yet had a chance to use it in a game. I'm planning to break out all of my light troops and cavalry for that one!

(...and thanks to everyone for reading...apparently I have had 24,000+...!?... visits to my blog...all of you are much, much appreciated!)

Unpacking the "Big Rigs"!

 Having time to set up a big game is tough these days when work gets more intense as the Spring semester reaches mid term, but I was determined last weekend to set of my 40mm ECW stuff just for the sake of seeing them again!

I worked up a simple set piece that allowed all of my collection to be deployed on the table. My 40mm stuff has reached about the maximum my 8x5 table can hold so I've come to a sort of end point in the collecting except for some more light guns and such.

 I'm still grappling with financial woes and these fine fellows are under consideration for selling...but I'm still agonizing over the prosect....

I know that if they do get sold I'll probably start a new ECW collection in 28mm at some point, as I am doing with colonials. At least I enjoy painting so selling a big collection has it's up-side.

But still, these guys have given me a lot of pleasure and they were the original reason I started the Lead Gardens blog, so I have a good bit of loyalty I'd have to overcome to part with them...and at 40mm they do command in the eye candy department! But like a shark one must always keep moving to stay alive...

That being said...If any of my readers are interested in this collection, drop me a line at: ddugas@vt.edu