1st Westphalian Landwehr (Again)

The 1st Westphalian Landwehr was the very first unit I painted.

And now they are getting demoted, to the 2nd Westphalian LDW for generally being warlord plastics and insufficiently pretty. 

Calpe Miniatures were of course obtained as replacements. 

 1st Battalion is already completed and ready for the basing pit.

In the background left you can the West Prussian Dragoons are camping out on the heights.

I love the enthusiastic figure.  

He cant seem to decide if hes going club someone or stab them.

Next battalion up is in firing line and already well on its way.

Bremen Volunteers, Part Two

6th Uhlans, Bremen Volunteers

Bremen Volunteers, Part One

Bremen Volunteers, Part Three

Results after all the green stuff work months ago.

Westphalian Landwehr Cavalry

For various reasons I have not painted in several months.  The Nine Month Plan is in shambles.

To get back in the saddle I made a push to get the Westphalian Landwehr Regiment off the painting table this weekend

Calpe Figures as always. Custom flag to follow as based on the orange and black flag on Mont St. Jean

Taking Stock for 2015, June Report

For June the Live-in Painting Assistant and I did not quite hit our target 22.6 figures.  Total that passed final inspection and sealed was 18 figures, including the F/6th Line and 6 of 8 figures for the 6th Uhlans.

The final two figures of the 6th Uhlans (Lutzow's Hussars) and the 8 figures of the Brandenberg Uhlans are three-colored and awaiting the Live-in Painting Assistant's final detailing and TLC.  On top of that the Live-in Painting Assistant completed 9 of 44 horses, including prototyping figures for her first painting commission (separate post to follow) and also prototyped 3 figures for our Berg units (Calpe Saxon Lead).

Lutzow's Legion Uhlans, w/ the figures of the F/6th Line in background

Bremen Volunteers

Taking Stock for 2015 Summary:

GOAL: 22.6 Figures/Month

JUNE: 18 Figures--FAIL+

Completed: F/6th Line; majority of 6th Uhlans

Taking Stock for 2015

Zieten's I Corps for 2015 is.... well a work in progress and most likely will not be done in time for Ligny in Spring 2015....which is not to say that the 1815/2015 Historical Campaign isn't going to be ready.  Between all of us we currently have 7 brigades painted, just one short of the two corps worth needed for Ligny and Waterloo.

And so the Nine-Month-Plan... with a heavy emphasis on Cavalry and Officers.

Cavalry:
6th Uhlans (75%+) - 8 Figures
3rd Uhlans (75%+) - 8 Figures
Westphalian Landwehr -10 Figures
3rd Dragoons - 8 Figures
5th Dragoons - 10 Figures

Total: 44 Figures

Generals:
·   Generalleutnant Hans Ernst Karl Von Zieten—4 Figures; 4 inch Round

o   Chief of Staff Von Reich—2 Figures; 2.5 inch Round

o   Generalmajor Karl Friedrich Franziskus von Steinmetz—3 Figures; 3 Inch Round

§  Oberstleutnant von Othengraven (12th Line)—1 Figure; 2 Inch Round

§  Major von Laurens (24th Line) —1 Figure; 2 Inch Round

o   Generalmajor Otto Karl Lorenz von Pirch II—3 Figures; 3 Inch Round

§  Oberst von Kemphen (6th Line) —1 Figure; 2 Inch Round

§  Major von Quadt und Huchtenbruck I (28th Line) —1 Figure; 2 Inch Round

o   Generalmajor Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Ludwig von Jagow—3 Figures; 3 Inch Round

§  Oberstleutnant von Seydlitz (7th Line)—1 Figure; 2 Inch Round

§  Major von Hymmen (29th Line)—1 Figure; 2 Inch Round

o   [Generalmajor Wilhelm-Ludwig Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck--3 Figures; 3 Inch Round]

§[ Major von Stengel (19th Line) —1 Figure; 2 Inch Round ]

o   Oberstleutenant von Rentzell (Artillery Comm.)—3 Figures; 3 Inch Round

§  Kaptain von Reuter 1 fig +horse; 2 inch Round

§  Engineering 1 or 2 figs????

o   Generalleutnant Friedrich-Erhard-Leopold von Roder—3 Figures; 3 Inch Round

§  Generalmajor Karl-Alexander-Wilhelm von Treskow—2 Figures; 2.5 Inch Round (Need one more)

§  Oberstleutnant Adolf-Ludwig-Wilhelm von Lutzow—2 Figures; 2.5 Inch Round (Need one more)

No Highlight = Have Figures; Yellow = Have Some Figures; Red = Need all Figures;

Green = Not in the Nine-Month-Plan

Total: 32 Figures

Infantry:
F/6th Line - 12 Figures
28th Line - 12 Figures x 3
29th Line - 12 Figures x 3
19th Line - 12 Figures x 3
3rd Westphalia LDW - 12 Figures x 3
4th Westphalia LDW - 12 Figures x 3

Green = Not in the Nine-Month-Plan

Total: 120 Figures

Artillery:
6-pdr Foot Artillery Battery Nr. 1
6-pdr Foot Artillery Battery Nr. 3
6-pdr Foot Artillery Battery Nr. 15
6-pdr Horse Artillery Battery Nr. 2
6-pdr Horse Artillery Battery Nr. 10
12-pdr Heavy Foot Artillery Battery Nr. 2
12-pdr Heavy Foot Artillery Battery Nr. 9
Howitzer Foot Artillery Battery Nr. 1

Green = Not in the Nine-Month-Plan

Total: 40 Figures; 10 Guns

And the Grand Total: 204 Figures, 10 Guns, ~40 Horses or 22.6 Figures per month (not including guns and horses).  I highly doubt such a rate of production is possible.  I typically am closer to 12 figures per month (so far for the year I'm at 13.6/mo. with 68 figures painted).

The Bremen Volunteers, Part One

Links to Part Two and Part Three

A teaser for a more lengthy post when the 6th Uhlans are done:

The 6th Uhlans created special issues as there were no figures available for Lutzow's Legion cavalry or the Bremen Volunteers (part of the Hanseatic Legion).   The Bremen Volunteers were especially troublesome as they don't even wear standard Prussian kit... and thus my first steps at conversions....

First a shot of the base metal.  The two figures in the middle are Front Rank...French Lancers (its been so long I dont remember if they are from the French or Russian lines) which will become the Bremen Volunteers.  The outside two are Calpe Landwehr Cavalry which will be used for the two squadrons of Lutzow's Legion Uhlans.

And what I am trying to create:

And without further ado... the Green Stuff.

The Calpe Landwehr get built up shoulder boards and pickers and chains.

The Front Rank figures have had their bardin-habit veste-thing sliced off and buttons removed.  Some green stuff to smooth out and added in a Prussian cut double breasted coat-line. 

(In the background can see the Calpe Hussar, waiting for their picker and chain and join the unit as Lutzow's Hussar Squadron.  The 3rd [Brandenberg] Uhlans are also on the painting table in the background.)

Note, I cant take much credit for the success/failure of these troops, the live-in Painting Assistant and Artist Extraordinaire took over when I threw down the sculpting tool in frustration... 

The horse hair tassel/poms on the Bremeners was absolutely 0% of my work/imagination... I was thinking of just cutting the bottle brush of entirely.

Better angle to see the pants alterations.  The Front Rank figures are in a waist coat, so we gave them green stuff down to their knees to model a proper Prussian Litewka.  

The Front Rank saddles/shabraque are completely smooth and plain (correctly or incorrectly, I claim no knowledge of French/Russian cavalry), and are a stark contrast with Calpe's models.  It was difficult even getting the green stuff to stick to the metal was so smooth (figures were washed prior to alteration of course).  Added in a border to give us something to paint red and hopefully break-up the otherwise smooth metal. 

Calpe Squadron Officer having his kollet filled in to become a Litewka

Stay tuned for future installments, the figures are base coated now.  I've been hinting to the live-in Painting Assistant and Artist Extraordinaire that the Bremen Volunteer conversions could be considered her Masterwork, as there isn't anything left in the Corps that can really compare in difficulty.  

Click Here for Part Two

Which Way to Fleurus? (Part I--First Brigade and the French Left Wing)

I'm currently painting up the 1st and 3rd Brigades of the I Corp of Blucher's army for the Waterloo campaign.

Its known that small elements of 1st brigades 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) somehow ended up attaching themselves to Wellington's army at Quatre Bras.  Upon reading further accounts it appeared perhaps more of 1st brigade had been in the vicinity of Quatre Bra on the 15th.  Thus a short research project was born.

Sources: 

Public Domain: 

The Waterloo Campaign 

By Lt.-Col. Sisson Cooper Pratt (1907)

On Waterloo

By Clausewitz

Quatre-Bras, Ligny and Waterloo: A Narrative of the Campaign in Belgium, 1815

By Dorsey Gardner (1882)

The Waterloo Campaign, 1815
William Siborne, (1844)  

Online: 

http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/

A Short Digression...:
(Since I'm on the subject of Public Domain... two or three generations from now when future generations start wargaming the wars in the middle east and want to do research it is ridiculous and rather tragic that the books written today by a 25 year old officer wont be out of copyright until the year 2132--120 years from now... so much for the public benefit part of the Copyright Clause of the Constitution.)

Introduction to Movements of the French Left Wing:

Now one spent that much ink on June 15th so didnt take long to skim through the works.  Some interesting things came out of it. The bottom line is it unclear how 1st Brigade got there, but they arrived after 11pm at St. Amand well to the north of the rest of I Corps at Fleurus. One of my compatriots who has Girard's 7th Division painted up once commented "they got lost and ended attaching themselves to Vandamme's III Corps".  They in fact did not get lost, per se... they were chasing 1st Brigade all over the country side and happened to end up on top of the left flank of the right wing of the French at Fleurus at the end of it.

Ziethen's I Corps was spread out over 40 miles from Binche to Namur (with outposts and pickets South of Sambre River even farther out).  It is approximately 17 miles from Binche or Thuin on the extreme right of I Corps to Charleroi and 22 miles from Namur on the extreme left. 1st Brigade HQ is at Fontaine-l'Évêque.  2nd Brigade HQ is at Charleroi and 3rd Brigade is encamped around Fleurus.  A bit of luck along with some decent execution and advanced planning allowed Zeithen to delay Napoleon approximately 36hrs (all of the 15th plus morning of the 16th) before Napoleon brought the entire Prussian force to battle at Ligny.  I Corps losses were estimated between  1000 and 2000 men for the 15th of June (600 of those losses are from the III/28th battalion; the remainder largely from III/2nd Westphalian; the two battalions are combined).

Zeithen's Conduct of the 14th and Planning:
Ziethen's outposts discovered French concentrations on the 13th/14th by the light of their campfires and all brigades were placed on alert.  The evening of the 14th the men of I Corps were to be kept at arms and on watch.  Blucher was informed around 10pm on the 14th by Ziethen and ordered concentration of the army at Sombreff. Zeithen had already given instruction in May to his Brigade commanders in the event of an attack on I Corps and Zeithen did not alter May orders on the evening of the 14th--the Corps was to retire on Fleurus in the event of attack.

The French Left Wing and the Road to Gosselies:
Hostilities commence at 3am with Reille (one of the few Corps to step off on time) skirmishing with II/1st Westphalian Landwehr on the south bank of the Sambre before Lobbes and III/1st Westphalian Landwehr at Malandrie before Thuin.  By 4am these troops are pushed back retreat over the Sambre river.  Reille brings up gun batteries and begins to assault III/2nd Westphalian Landwehr at Thuin.  The cannon reports are heard distantly in Charleroi.  The Waterloo Campaign has commenced.  The III/2nd Westphalian LW are pushed through Thuin and retreat in front of Reille throughout the morning on the south bank of the Sambre.  At Montigny they make a stand and take heavy losses.  The III/2nd Westphalian will be reform as combined battalion by the end of the day.

Between 10am and 11am Reille arrives at Marchienne where the I/2nd Westphalian Landwehr and the remnants of the III/2nd Westphalian hold barricades on the bridge.  The bridge is forced.  The II/6th Line holds the other side of the bridge and delays Reille.  Some confusion results as to the retreat route of these troops.  Siborne clears it up.  The II/6th Line retired to the east crossing the Peiton and joining the rest of 2nd brigade in the retreat on Gilly from Charleroi.  The I/2nd Westphalian (and possibly the remnants of III/2nd Westphalian) retreat to the north and attach themselves to Steinmetz's 1st Brigade making for a crossing of the Peiton above Gosselies.  Reille delays (or more generously rests his troops) in Marchienne until noon.  He is ordered up the Brussels road from Charleroi by Napoleon around 1pm.

Gosselies--A Mini Quatre-Bras:
The few paragraphs on Gosselies are somewhat inconsistent.  What is clear is there is a meeting engagement between French Cavalry and the leading elements of Reille's Corps and 1st Brigade and its reinforcements.  The timing of the combat is also unclear as it see-saws and occurs approximately between 1pm and 3pm.  Pajol's 1st Hussars are pressing up the road to Gosselies.  Steinmetz is still on the otherside of the Peiton river must cross.  Napoleon's seizure of Charleroi at 11a.m. and the retiring of 2nd Brigade on Gilly opened up the Brussels road.  Hours before the skirmish at Gosselies, Zeithen anticipated Steinmetz might be in trouble and cut off as he still had to cross the Peiton and the Brussels road and Zeithen ordered the 29th Line (Berg) from 3rd Brigade at Fleurus to march on Gosselies to secure 1st Brigade's retreat. 

The French 1st Hussars approach Gosselies and are initially repulsed by Lt.-Col. Lutzow's 6th Uhlans and possibly infantry support with either the 29th Line of 3rd brigade (relief column) or the 24th Line of 1st Brigade.  Napoleon checking in on Reille sends the Guard Light Cavalry and a regiment of the Young Guard to spur Reille's lead elements at Gosselies.  The Prussians are driven back through Gosselies.  Steinmetz witnessing this hurrys the 1st Westphalian Landwehr (the boys that started the mornings combat at 3am holding Lobbes and Maladrie in front of Thuin against Reille's Corps) across the Pieton and at the French left flank.  This allowed Steinmetz to cross the Peiton. Its unclear whether there was a momentary breakthrough by the French north of Gosselies or the French were contained.  Siborne suggests the French were handily contained with few casualties for the Prussians.  Others make it a more close run affair. The 6th Uhlans and 4th Hussars (1st Silesian) screened the retreat.  The losses for all of I Corp were only 1,000 to 2,000 (600+ of which are accounted for at Gilly) so it could not have been too bloody of an affair.

Over the Hills and Far Away:
It is clear that Steinmetz was "forced from the roman road".  All maps presented in the above works do not show a road between Gosselies and Fleurus.  Steinmetz appears to have gone overland while being chased by Girard's 7th Division until Heppignies where Girard's lead elements are counter-attacked by the 12th Line and forced to momentarily retreat.  Somehow from here Steinmetz's 1st Brigade ends up at St. Amand after 11 PM (Fleurus was much closer...). Girard ends at Wangenies at 7pm,  practically a stones throw away from Fleurus (2km). Girard's 7th Division is possibly the most advanced element in the French army on Grouchy's Right Wing--rather sad considering the circuitous and cross country route they had to take).

Anyone cut off or lost in the mix-up at Gosselies would likely have been pushed back up the road to Quatre-Bras as the French reached towards Frasnes the evening of the 15th.  Perhaps rejoining such elements at St. Amand was why the 1st Brigade retired so far to the North.  Additionally the overland route taken by Steinmetz would have been roughly close to the ground D'Erlon would traipse back and forth over on the following day.

Closing Thoughts:
Ziethen's timely messages, orders and preparations got a lot of praise, especially by Siborne, Gardner, Clausewitz and to a lesser degree Pratt (who thinks the Prussians should have blown the bridges).  Ordering reinforcements for 1st Brigade's retreat hours before they were needed likely saved Zeithen an entire brigade.
I think he had some help from the French sloth... though recovering troops spread over 40 miles on both sides of the river Sambre and separated by other tributaries with 1000-2000 losses against more numerous and superior quality troops is really nothing to sneer at.

Map I Photoshopped together with annotations

A full version can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ww17lrrr81e2m80

A Random Note For Campaign Gaming:  
I think there needs to be at least three dice/randomization for the 15th.  First, what time Reille takes Marchienne. Second, when/who takes Charleroi (e.g. Vandamme gets his orders and is on time or Napoleon has to do it himself at 10-11am.) Third, what time Gerard takes Chatelet.  Vigorous and coordinated attack on any two of these locations would have forced the Prussians to defend much more vigorously the Sambre crossings or be split from the main body of Blucher's army, likely falling back via Quatre-Bras if they are able.  Even if you play historically, a more vigorous assault on either Gosselies or Gilly could see the loss of 1/4 to 1/2 of Prussian I Corps which affects Ligny.