The British army at Waterloo for AOE (Age of Eagles) rules in 28mm

 

1st French Carabiniers and 1st Westphalian Cuirassiers at Wagram and Borodino for AOE/V&F in 20mm

French Carabiniers are a must for a battle were Napoleon was present. Together with Cuirassiers they were the heaviest French cavalry in the battlefield. I also used Italeri Carabiniers for the Westphalian Cuirassiers as they were similarly equipped and that included the same type of crested helmet, different from the helmet of the French Cuirassiers. 

The only conversion on these two units was the Westphalian cornet which had a busby taken from the an Italeri French Hussar. Also a tuft of Milliput was added to the Westphalians on the left side of the helmet. Not mandatory as these were probably not used in action but it makes them stand in the middle of others. 

The flags were hand painted (and that shows). 

Next: A video on the Russian Napoleonic army

A wargamer´s trip to Arnhem - (part 3 and final) The Bridge and surroundings

While arriving to Arnhem from the Oosterbeek direction you face the imposing St Elisabeth Hospital, today a block of apartments. Here, two famous ambushes occured: the first, a British one that  surprised a group of Germans parading in front of the hospital, from the initial 70, only 2 survived; the second, a German one made by Kampfgruppe Spindler (from the 9th SS PD) that blocked the British paratroopers and denied the possibility of linking the 1st and 3rd battalion with Frost´s 2nd battalion at the bridge also causing a carnage among the paratroopers which faced fire from three sides, including the fire of ex-French AA 75mm guns from the other side of the Nederrijn. 

Several details will be added to my model of the Hospital, everything under the surveillance of Elisabeth of Hungary. 

This simple AI diagram shows the axis of attack of the main German units against the tight perimeter of Frost´s men. 

The bunkers at the entrance of both ends of the bridge are still the ones from the battle, and at least this one had a 20mm AA gun on top on a wooden structure. The bridge itself was rebuilt after the battle. 

The distance from the houses on the right to the bridge during the days of the battle was much smaller. These new ones were built some 15 meters from the original site from were Frost men fired upon Graebnar´s column. The original ones were reduced to rubble, together with all the 18 houses that housed the 2nd battalion due to the german tactic of clearing with tank, artillery and Pzfaust fire one by one all houses that could but turned into a  British strongpoint. 

 

This is nowadays the place were the HQ of the 2nd battalion stood, around 100 meters to the west of the bridge. All those buildings, and many more all over Arnhem, completely destroyed, were rebuilt into a typical simple and modern Dutch look. 

The Church of St Walburgis, already with both towers (one was rammed by a FW190 during the battle) is an imposing site. Looking at it closely will also help to add more detail into the model. 

More small openings will have to be painted together with more detail on the arches. 

This place some 400m nort of the bridge ramp is the probable site of the assembly point  of  Kampfgruppe  Hummel (with Tiger I tanks)and Kampfgruppe Knaust. The Tiger IIs of 506th Heavy Panzer Battalion must have been around this place too but they were mostly used in reducing the Oosterbeek perimeter as they arrived late for the actions around the bridge. 

On the large square of the Arnhem court there is this beautiful building called the Sabelspoort which I want to model. It started to rain when this picture was taken so I went to the Web to find something better. 

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And here it is a much better view taken in fair weather. 

The one I really wanted was the Devil´s House but it looks a bit complicated to scratch built. These two pictures are also from the Web as mine were taken during heavy rain. 

If you want to pay a visit to the model buildings I´ve made in the past regarding Arnhem and Ooosterbeek here they are:

https://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com/2012/07/rapid-fire-battle-of-arnhem-buildings.html

Some are suffering changes while others will have still to be built, like the Oude kerk or the Sabelspoort. 

Next: More Napoleonic cavalry

The Napoleonic French allies for the campaigns of 1809 and 1812 for AoE/V&F rules in 20mm size

French Cuirassiers at Wagram and Borodino for AOE/V&F in 20mm

My 1809-12 French were designed around the Armée du Portugal that invaded Portugal in 1810. As this ratio is higher (1-100) than the AoE ratio (1-360 in infantry terms, for instance) I was not very worried about expanding French Line and Light infantry or Hussar, Chasseur or Dragoons as there are plenty in the shelves, but there were no Cuirassiers as they were not part of the Order of Battle of the Armée du Portugal.

Like that you need between 24 and 36 bases for Wagram (1809)  up to Borodino (1812). The first group of 24 bases divided in groups (brigades in AoE terms) is done with each brigade represented respectively by the 1st, 5th, 10th and 11th regiments. The good thing about painting Cuirassiers is that the differences between regiments is minimal and the painting process is quite straight forward with some changes in the facing colors. 

Another good thing about French Cuirassiers is their usage up to Waterloo as there is virtually no change in uniform. This has to do with my idea of returning to 20mm Waterloo and quitting my 28mm for that specific campaign. 

For this group I used (from front row to back row) Airfix figures, StreletsR and Zvezda. 

The Zvezda box is simply beautiful with a generous 19 figures provided. A few extra Airfix were added to make the total of 24 miniatures in two regiments. 

The Airfix figures are very old and incomplete so they needed some extra work, namely the addition of a plume in the helmet, a valise on the back part of the saddle (both made of Milliput) and a plastic scabbard on the left side of the cavalrymen. All horse´s "legs in the air" are glued to the base as usual but also as they are quite fiddly. 

All three additions can be seen here. Like this these oldies can became goldies. A paper flag was also added to the eagle pole. 

The StreletsR regiment is made of the usual funny figures made of shorties, when in fact the Cuirassiers were big guys on big horses. Even so all figures are different and very lively.

Next: photos from Arnhem