Secret Project Reveal

 So, one of the reasons that I've been less active (aside from hitting that bit where I work on many projects, but few of them reach a finished stage), is that for the last 20-some months, I've been doing an additional project that I decided to keep secret until it's in a substantial stage. At first, I thought "Done", but, well, it's been almost two years already.

 Anyway. I fell down the rabbit hole that is Napoleonics (I guess it's true as they say, sooner or later any historical wargamer feels that call). I decided that if I was going to do this, I was going to do this "right". So not only did I pick a nation, I looked at battles, and orders of battle, and organisation of divisions (and went slightly mad), and organisation of regiments and battalions (and went more mad). But in the end...

Here is Campbells Brigade of the British 3rd Division, at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812. (The rest of 3rd Division to follow, time permitting). I didn't do the common "one figure equals x actual soldiers", but went with more standard unit sizes. Still, units that had more men at the battle got larger.

First up is 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of Foot. 1st Battalion was quite new to the Peninsula in 1812, and not only full strength, but even overstrength. So that is one massive unit, all dressed up in brand spanking new uniforms.

For a change, the 5th also had their 2nd Battalion at Salamanca. Battleworn, and standard procedure was to fold in all the effective soldiers into one Battalion, and then send the rest back to Britain to recruit more, but Wellington tried to hold onto his veteran units as long as possible. At Salamanca, some sources claim that 2/5th was as low as 2-300 men (for comparison, more normal was 6-700, and 1/5th had over 1000), so I didn't need as many of these. And of course, they can be folded in with 1/5th, or divided up more evenly, if ever there's a need.

Next up is the 94th Regiment of Foot. Nothing to remark on here, a solid regiment that were apparently long in the Peninsula and did good service, but nothing that stands out (although Campbell, who's in charge of this brigade, is also the Colonel for the 94th, having to do double duty). Since they were so long in the Peninsula, I decided to paint them with brown, civilian pants acquired locally, as the white uniform pants were apparently prone to wearing out. Still, most of them have more or less similar pants, giving a nice, ordered look still.

Finally, 83rd Regiment of Foot. Another regiment that was strictly too small (of a similar size to 2/5th), but Wellington kept on because Veteran troops were rare and punched above their weight.

Of course, you can't not have some Royal Artillery. The gunners were never plentiful, but each division had a battery.

And of course, you need some officers to control this lot. Campbell (the Brigade Commander) on his horse, alone on his base, and Pakenham (Divisional Commander for the 3rd during Salamanca), with an adjutant.

My basing for the infantry is, if I dare say so myself, ingenious. Each figure is based on a 19mm round base, and 4 figures can then be put in a 40mm x 40mm sabot block to form up. This lets me have larger blocks for moving around in line, but also individual figures for skirmishing when needed.

For unit sizes, I went with 28 for small units (although 2/5th and 83rd should probably be even smaller... ah, well, there's always the option of not fielding them all), 40 for "normal" units (only the 94th so far, but 1st Brigade will have more of these), and 50-some for 1/5th, that is known to be over-size. This might seem odd (I think certain well-known games for this era suggests either 36 or 24 as "standard size"), but there's a method to this madness.

British doctrine was to release the Light Company of each battalion to form a skirmish line, usually coordinated in a Combined Light Battalion. So pick out these (4 per battalion as I've modelled it), add on some commander (and extra loose fellows from the 5th)...

... and that gives about half of a battalion of various Light Companies (the other half to be filled out when Wallaces Brigade gets done).

Talking about skirmish lines... While they were technically part of Wallaces Brigade, 3rd Division had three companies from 5th Battalion, 60th Regiment of Foot, the forerunners of the famous 95th Rifles. I've painted up what would be one company of these (and a Sergeant to lead them). Of course, since they're dedicated skirmishers, they've got slightly different bases, but same principle as the line infantry, only 3 to a non-square.

To begin with, I probably won't be playing any divisional games (what with having less than a divison, and all), but the plethora of men from the 5th means they'd make a good force for Sharpe Practice or similar. In fact, I have enough for 6 units of Line Infantry, and either 2 Grenadiers, or 3 Light Company (quirk of the 5th, all troopers had White plumes, making Light and Grenadier troopers identical), as well as an Officer, Sergeant, and Musician for the Flank companies (Lights/Grenadiers), and 3(!) Officers, 2 Drummers, and 3 Sergeants for the Line units. Should give me enough options, especially if I expand and toss in the Rifles too.

Of course, you don't have to just use them for historicals (don't lynch me!). Some very a-historical fellows, and this will double nicely for a force in games such as Sludge (where these will serve splendidly as Arcanists, or the fellow in the middle could be a Sorcerer, or...)

So that's what I've been doing lately. Now I just need to finish Wallaces brigade. And Powers Portuguese brigade. And some cavalry. And perhaps some Highlanders... this rabbit hole is deep! (And of course, once these are nearing the finish line, I need some opposition for them).

But first, back to the Dark Ages, and some SAGA. Hopefully, that will be quicker.

/Fool, Out