Gonzalo Rides Again

 

Last year I noted that my Italian Wars Game "Gonzalo" was completed two years previous. That's 3 years in all, and counting. Gross neglect, and tardy of me to be sure.

Now my Italian Wars interest is back and so is Gonzalo.

David at Not By Appointment made me some flags for the famous Captains of the day. We are going to see them below, and one from Stuart at Army Royal. The command stands each comprise of two Venexia Gendarmes (Big 15s) and a Blue Moon trumpeter. Let me introduce them to you.

Pierre Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard. Universally acknowledged to be without peer or reproach. Incredibly he paid the peasantry for provisions rather than plundering them. A true paladin and popular with everyone. 

As you can see Venexia and Blue Moon work well enough together.

Louis de Tremouille, top of the page and above. You can see the cross of St. Denis replacing impressa on the French Commanders surcoats.

John La Palais, as above, so below as the Occultists used to say. Stuart Mulligan made the flag.

The last of the French today.

Two pic's of Berault Stuart.

All French so far of course. Well Berault was a Franco-Scot. He was also one of those Stuarts and therefore if I recall right, of Breton descent. So going back far enough, a Dumnonian.

To catch up I have more Spanish Commanders to do.  

The first is Diego Mendoza. His impressa was Fortuna’s Wheel.  The Spanish heavy cavalry could not match the numbers of the French gendarmes. Interestingly they seem to have trained to fight as both impact lancers and skirmishing jinetes. Even de Cordoba might fight as a jinete if he thought it called for.

Note the two versions of Fortuna's Wheel below. Favoured by Louis de Tremouille and the Spanish Commander Diego Mendoza. 

Being a fighting noble was chancy. Capture by a fellow noble mostly meant ransom. No such surety pertained if the commonality got their hands on you. A nod to Fortuna must have seemed a prudent precaution. 

The Spanish Colonela combining targeteers, pikes and shot.

I intend 3 of these. Not all of the same size because that varied.

Note above front a Gladiator Arquebusier wearing a feathered beret matches nicely with the otherwise all Venexia formation.

Next, we have some Imperial Landsknects from Venexia. The flags are from Pete's Flags. In Gonzalo I differentiated the fighting style of these German pikemen from that of the Swiss.

There we go, back with a bang. While we are on the Italian Wars let me commend the Helion series to you. Refreshingly good.

League of Augsburg - Huguenot Horse and Foot

Ian Kay of Irregular Miniatures who supplied nearly all of my League of Augsburg Collection has retired. A great lad all together who has done good service to the hobby. And, let us not forget, ran a very successful business. All in all one of life's good bloke's.

Today's offering comes in the form Huguenots and English Dragoon Guards. Fittingly all figures are from Irregular Miniatures. The flags are from David at Not By Appointment.

Schomberg's Horse above. I intend a second squadron. Note both variants of the flag.

The English Dragoon Guards. Both squadrons and the Flags are from David once more.

Top of the page and below Cambon's Huguenot Regiment of Foot. David freshly researched the flags.

I have modelled the regiment as Pike and Shot in Beneath the Lily Banners speak. Note the Grenadiers on the left of the formation.

Paraguayan Progress in 15mm

 

Back in October '25 I announced that I was waiting for a deliver of Paraguayan Horse, Foot and Guns in 15mm.  These have now begun to arrive in increments. I'm painting by order of arrival. Above you can see a battery of artillery. Much to like here what with kilts, kepis and shakos.  

The guns are Naismith from Keep Wargaming. I'm utterly charmed by these little pieces. I have Parrot's, 12pdr's and Whitworth's, very nice. Let us acknowledge the excellent and speedy service from Keep Wargaming. 

My concept of the Paraguayan Army is very brave but often poorly equipped infantry, courageous cavalry and good artillery. Those Paraguayan fellows liked to pound and charge.

The first  of 2 squadrons of regular cavalry. Note the interesting headwear. Lancers to a man as were almost all Paraguayan cavalry. These are quite detailed to paint. Sticking the paper pennants to their lances can be tricky.

More Paraguayan cavalry note the painted tri colour on the shakos. No cloth needed. Again, 3 squadrons are the goal.

My first unit of Paraguayan infantry. Some units included spear men. One or two were very well armed. All liked to charge home.

All figures from FK 15 a venerable make. I intend 6 battalions of these. As you can tell by the pic's the light was extremely variable this morning. I'm making an attempt at Indian flesh tones above. Oriental Flesh with a wash of Burnt Sienna.

I have much more to come and in future we will see a mixed presentation of units by nationality. Triple Alliance soldiers and Paraguayans depending upon what I have painted.  

If you are waiting for the second part of my Balaclava piece my apologies. I'm checking some source material. Hopefully it will be done next week.

The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt -First Impressions

 

More properly The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt - Cleruchs, Mercenaries and Machimoi by Stéphane Thion. New and expanded and in English for the first time. A book then, from Helion.  Why First Impressions? Because there is an awful lot here. I cannot hope to review with justice the scholarship therein. Space prohibits it.

I can say if you fancy doing a Ptolemaic Army this book will see you alright  for the early, middle and last armies. The page count is 151, a paper back with 30 pages of full colour  illustrations by the author. 

The style is reminiscent of the old WRG books if your memory stretches that far. The illustrations are first rate and the product of diligent research. Mind you, conjecture finds its place too.  You see two plates from the book on this page.

For example we have a page showing the colours of soldiers chitons and chlamydes (tunics and cloaks) incredibly useful.

There are other photographs and black and white drawings of surviving depictions and reconstructions of the Ptolemaic soldiers. You can see some of mine on this page.

Here are the chapter headings ignoring the dedication (to Angus McBride) acknowledgements, sources and intro etc.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty

Main Components of the Ptolemaic Army

Organisation of the Ptolemaic Army in the Third Century BCE

Ptolemaic Army in Battle Gaza, Raphia and Panion

The Transformation of the Ptolemaic Army in the second century BCE

The Fall the first century BCE

Military and Civilian Dress

An opponent of the Ptolemaic Dynasty: The Jewish Army of the Second and First Century BCE

Conclusion and Appendix: Numbered and ethnic evidence of hipparchies.

I paid less than £20 for my copy including postage. Money well spent. If you are interested in the Diadochi or Ptolemaic Egypt this book will not disappoint.

We will be back at Balaclava next week.

Lieutenant General Liprandi's Gambit-Part 1

I have been poking about Crimean War records for decades. On and off of course. Some tropes re occur. The Russians from General to soldier or trooper were slow to react, sluggish or some such. The question arises, is that right?  

I thought it timely to have a look at General Liprandi's orders at Balaclava and how the Russian Army carried them out. 

That's Liprandi above. Balaclava saw Russian horse, foot and guns engaged. His career began with fighting Napoleon's lads. Like Raglan and Airey then. The Russian objective was to seize control of the British supply route and to raid the British supply depot. This is how it went.

At 5.AM in the morning Liprandi's cannon went forward harness tinkling. Then came 5 Battalions of Foot with supporting Cossacks. On the flanks Russian Light Cavalry started to clear out British Cavalry vedettes. Ten guns unlimbered at range.  The Russians were heading for Redoubt No.1. 

Redoubt No.2 attracted the  attention of 3 Russian Battalions and 8 guns.

Redoubts numbers 3 and 4 were targeted by 4 Battalions, 8 guns and 300 Cossacks.

Behind all of these Foot and Guns were Major General Ryhzov commanding Light Cavalry and Cossacks. These cavaliers were to exploit the opening up of the Allied position and raid the supply Depot at Balaclava. See  the forthcoming PART 2 for how that went.

Manning the redoubts were Ottoman conscripts from Aleppo.  It was far from the good weather they found themselves. If they were cold, they were also hungry. The high pork content of their British supplied rations helped that. Each redoubt could hold a battalion say 500 men. Far beyond the defences were many hungry British soldiers who were freezing for want of cover. Pork or not there was not enough to eat. Officers did better. It was equal opportunities misery for the British and the Ottomans, nearly.

The redoubts were not formidable. One observer thought a Cossack might clear the rampart with a good run up on his pony. To help things along the British supplied  guns and crews to each redoubt. Redoubt 1 had 3 12pdrs. Redoubts 2 and 3 had two guns and Redoubt 4 had 3 guns. These were the objects in the cinematic line "There are your guns, My Lord!". Doubtless some readers will recall it well.  

Some say British Officers commanded the redoubts. I wonder. If so how did they speak to the Ottoman soldiers? One is certainly attested later in the flight. For the record the only Anglo-Turkic bilingual I am aware of was on Raglan's Staff. Anyhow, lads from Aleppo presumably spoke Arabic. So, who knows?

In theory help was at hand. British Light Cavalry Vedettes were at work night and day. If the Russians got on the move they would alert the Army. Then the cavalry would saddle up and ride to the rescue. A little slower whichever infantry regiment that had been rotated out of the Sevastopol Siege Lines was woken up and ordered to march on Balaclava. 

For the last week Cossacks had triggered alarms every night. Then they went to bed. The British had to assemble, then march, then wait until they were sure the Russians weren't coming. Then they could go to bed with much reduced sleeping time. If it wearied the cavalry it infuriated the infantry.

The Ottoman soldiers in the redoubts knew from experience that infantry reinforcements would take at least an hour to arrive. Surprisingly given their circumstances they were ready to fight. At one stage they had been used to pull carts carrying supplies. They knew their allies despised them. All the same they seem to have understood they must stand.

The Russian Guns, always formidable, opened up at 5.30. 56 shells or solid shot hit the redoubts every minute of the barrage. The estimates are between 1,800 and 2000 rounds hit the Redoubts.  

British Horse Artillery, external to the redoubts, attempted counter battery fire but could not sustain it. A battery of Foot Artillery came to help. It didn't matter.  Losses and lack of ammunition forced a withdrawal. That was the last British support for the defenders of the Redoubts.

Then came the Russian infantry. Jagers first, potting any visible defenders. Behind them came columns of infantry bayonets fixed. The Ottomans (Syrians!) stood and volleyed like brave men. Their guns fired, some say with cannister. On came the Russians with a traditional shout of Urra! and the bayonet. 

Redoubt 1 fell with the loss of 170 Syrians and 151 Russian officers and men.  The remaining 430 defenders made a run for it. Cossacks lanced them down. It had taken two and a half hours from when Liprandi had ordered the advance.

Redoubt 2 had its guns silenced by a Don Cossack Battery. The Russian infantry then stormed the position. Some accounts say none of the defenders survived that.

The same procedure occurred at Redoubts 3 and 4. With the same results.

Surviving defenders ran for safety and were lanced and sabred by Russian Light Cavalry. Many fell in the the slaughter.

The British Heavy Cavalry were positioned close enough to stop the pursuit. Some of them thought they should do so. Apart from moving back out of the range of the Russian cannon they stood still.  

Callous as that sounds Raglan had good reason to preserve his cavalry. Already some of the Heavies had fallen to the Russian guns. To put it plain they were a finite resource. That could not be replaced.

Let us return to our original question. Were the Russians from General to soldier or trooper were slow to react, sluggish or some such?  No, not on this evidence. 

In less than 3 hours the Russians had stormed 4 Redoubts, killed or expelled the garrisons and captured their cannon. They had also driven in the British cavalry vedettes, drove back the British heavy cavalry and won an artillery duel.

All in all a handy action with horse foot and guns working well together. Command and control was steady and timely. In fact, General Liprandi had seized the British supply route in an exemplary fashion.

Now he wanted to spoil the British Supply Depot at Balaclava Port. If he was successful the British would seek food and fodder from the French who would be unable to help. The Allied Armies might well have to withdraw, the British certainly could not endure further privation. High stakes.

Recall Major General Ryhzov's Light Cavalry and Cossacks. They were to sweep down on the Port. This was very much a Light Cavalry job. We will see how they got on next time. 

All the while I'll keep an eye out for slow or sluggish Russians of whatever rank. It is a question that demands an answer.

India 1857- Irregular’s Indian Mutiny Range 15mm

My India 1857/8 comes from Dixon and Irregular. Today I though we might see some of the Irregular ones. Mainly because I have rebased them. Also, as toy soldiers go they are rather fun. Often not much on display by way of uniform. Not as we normally understand it anyhow. Here and there you might see a Dixon miniature.

Irregular have returned from a well deserved extended Christmas Break. Pleasingly they still offer a British Army Pack and an Indian Army pack £35.00 each. A very accessible way into gaming the period.

British Heavy Dragoons above. I really like these. They seem to capture the big lads on big horses thing very nicely.

British Lancers. A mixture of uniforms to remind us we are in in India.

British Light Dragoons. Here I wonder about the sword thing again. Blunt swords must have cost many lives. Or, conversely saved them. The British Regular Native Cavalry had the same problem. Here is an extract from Mutiny Reflections:

“Again, reforms had been proposed for the light cavalry as far back as 1847, and interestingly enough, the recommended changes came from Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Carmichael Smyth. He wanted to clothe the cavalry in “a broadcloth Ulkalluck, or long native dress, a pair of loose trousers, a turban and cummerbund with Hindoostanee saddles and bridles, “ thus aligning them in dress to the irregular cavalry who were not only more comfortably dressed but better equipped, forgoing the light cavalry sword for the much more efficient tulwars and shamshirs.”

No one in authority heeded Smyth. Nolan was championing the same cause years later. With some incremental success we might note beginning with saddle and tack.

 

Sikh Sowars with a British Officer. Sharp blades there.

 

A variety of Sikh Infantry next. No Indians were ever entrusted with the Enfield in 1857/8. They carried the percussion musket.

Each Sepoy regiment had a Rifle Company armed with  Brunswick Rifles. Better than the Baker Rifle it was said. An effective Indian Commander might cause these to be combined into a Rifle Battalion. Otherwise each rifle element might remain with its parent body.

 

A couple of gun emplacements. The gabions and defences are from Irregular.

The Crimean War once more next time. I have found something interesting.