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Wednesday, December 22, 2021

That Crucial First Fire

 

Thinking about We Brought You Liberty brought to mind that crucial first fire.  You know the theory.  Far from the stress and danger of combat the battalion had carefully loaded its pieces.  When the moment came it presented, leveled, and unleashed death.  No subsequent fire would be as devastating. There were a few caveats. 

For maximum effect you needed to deploy in line and pack your firers as closely together as practical.  You also needed your enemy to come well within range, anything below 75 yards was good enough.  Below 50 yards was ideal.   For best results your enemy should be packed closely together too. This was because soldiers tended to point rather than aim their muskets. All those criteria being met a good outcome could be expected.

Much ink was expended as various theories contended on how to best deploy this decisive technology. Fire by platoon, section, file and battalion all had their advocates.  All however agreed the first fire was the one that did most damage.

After that, most thought that rapid fire was needed.  The soldiers might even ignore loading drill so long as they shot as quickly as they could.  The aim was for maximum enemy disorientation after the lethal first fire.  In other words, to prevent the foe from recovering from the first shock .  As you may imagine misfires, clogged barrels and wide shots ensued.  Officers didn’t mind as long as the lead kept flying.

There were keen eyed military dissenters.  The most famous, perhaps, being Ney, who opined two volleys maximum and then in with the bayonet.  His words were lost in the incessant clamor.  A few years later the British did just that-with no small degree of success.

There was something else too. Once troops had begun firing it was very difficult to stop them doing so.  It could continue until barrels were too hot to handle and ammunition ran out.  Adrenalin and fear beat the cat.

It follows then that the first fire was to be avoided if possible.  Armour could no longer mitigate it. Cover was useful but not always conveniently present.

Highlanders had liked to try to provoke first fire at a safe distance before their charge went in.  They did this through aimed fire dropping individual opponents.  Hopefully the victim’s comrades then fired back and then it was Claymore!

During the American Revolution the British learned the value of having their own light infantry to see off American provocative skirmishing aimed fire.  Thus, they preserved the first fire of their line battalions for better, more closely packed, targets. That tactical advance that was swiftly forgotten.  Not so by the French who took it to heart.

When the monarchs of Europe decided to crush the Revolutionary French, their instruments were linear armies using devastating fire power. The Prussians were the exemplar.

A Republican response was required.  It came in the form of Cannon, Columns and massed skirmishers.   

 

What trained troops the Republic had could form line with the best of them.  The problem was most of their troops were not trained when the war began.


French artillery was good and plentiful and closely packed regimental lines made for fine targets for canister. 

The dispersed masses of skirmishers using aimed fire made for poor targets. Yet they demanded a response.  

Even barely trained men could form a column and move swiftly forward. 

A column was mostly protected, by its front rank, from canister.  What was needed was round shot that could plow through rank after rank. Accustomed to linear fights the guns of the Monarchists stuck to canister. 


The French method was a viable trifecta of what was available to them and it saved the Revolution.

If politics is the art of the possible the same can be said of war.  We can add to this that necessity is truly the mother of invention.  That is not to say the Republican way of war was newly minted-for it was not.  Rather, the theories of advanced French military thinkers were finally put into practice whole sale. 

The results were spectacular. 

The toys are all from Lancashire Games save for Blue Moon Grenadiers and some command figures.  All Les Bleus are painted as the Parisian National Guard.

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

A French Revolutionary War Project in 15mm

 

Books are always the driver of my gaming projects.  In this case Neither Up Nor Down by Philip Ball.  It’s a good one although still too gentle on the Duke of York for my taste.  Add to that a recent book on the Vendee War and it is motivation enough.

Then there is the Lancashire Games Christmas Sale with a tasty discount.  So, we are off on a new project.  This one will run alongside Gonzalo for the next few months.  The aim is to have French, Coalition and Vendee forces.  In my dizzier moments I think Khurasan will finally release their ’98 Irish and I’ll do that too.

As ever with the toys there is the issue of size compatibility.  So far, I’m managing to combine Lancashire with Old Glory, Battle Honours and Blue Moon.  Minifigs and Chariot will also be deployed but as separate units.

Here are some Lancashire Austrians first. A unit of combined grenadiers have managed to secure a flag from some one.

I like them, should you like them too they are mostly in the Archive range.  I have one Austrian regiment done so far.  First battalion below, 16 figures in each battalion.  They carried two flags per battalion in this period.

The second battalion here.  I'm going for 4 Austrian regiments.

The Prussians to match the Grenadiers at the page head.  The very nice flags are from David at Not By Appointment blog.  Check the sidebar for the link.

Battle Honours Jagers.  I'm going to be using Battle Honours and Old Glory cavalry.

Old Glory Grenzers.   

They are from their 7YW range but, by French accounts, may do well enough for 1792-95ish.  If not they can rejoin their comrades and fight for Marie Therese.

So much to do on this one and a problem to be resolved.  What am I to use for the Dutch? 

Everything will be based to suit Field of Battle.  I also have some rules in development more about that later.  The short term aim is to have enough French and Austrians to try the rules (working title We Brought You Liberty) out.  Then on to the Vendee Forces.   I'm looking forward to it.

 

Saturday, December 11, 2021

The Pope's Army and the Red Shirts

I should be bringing you my first game of Gonzalo but events have intervened.  The Gonzalo game will appear when things return to a gentler post Christmas pace.   In the meantime I thought I should post something and this one has the virtue of being about Italy too.

A while ago (3 years) I thought I'd do something (else) different for Rebels and Patriots and spurred on by a QRF sale bought some lads for the Pope and Garibaldi.  

Here we see the Papal Chasseurs, lively and jolly figures.  Light cavalry.



Here are the Irish perhaps a tad more dapper than the reality.  They could fight though.



These little fellows are also from QRF, nice and lively with good detail.  They were all volunteers from Ireland and included some men with military experience.  Myles Keogh, who died at the Little Big Horn with Custer was one of them.  They fought aggressively through out the war and with great distinction despite being equipped with inferior rifles. I’m rating them Shock Infantry @ 6 points.



These Papal Zouaves are from Peter Pig's ACW range as the QRF ones don't look like the images I've seen of the unit.  To me the QRF'ers look like Ridgeway period Canadians, a good thing if further research confirms it.


The Zouaves had a fearsome reputation.


That's as far as I got.  This project is currently way down the painting list but I think it has potential.