At the palace - Merry Xmas .....

Affairs of state intrude, a quick briefing for the King - the Begovian army has set up a winter camp about 30miles from the border of the Zinzendorf province...

The entrance hall is busy....

in one of the salons, a card game is in progress....

the King, his family and friends in the royal apartments....

A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to All

Arriving at the palace ....

As Xmas approaches the nobles of the court start to arrive, a few today but as the festive season nears there will be more coaches each day and the servants will be busy moving all the luggage.

Baron Hofler and family have arrived, including their son Colonel Hofler (on leave from the army in the Zinzendorf province). The palace cats watch a small group of guards on their way to the main gate; meanwhile the window cleaner finishes off the last of the front windows.

Chateau or Schloss....

Found at a nearby emporium in the garden section ..... suitable for use as a Chateau or Schloss....

 out of the box, but the solar panel for the lighting (which cycles through 3 colours) is inset in the rear  of the roof so the hole needs filling in and a new roof section adding.

 I opted to cover over the hole in the rear part of the roof and put on some 4Ground tiles

 and a new front entrance made up from card ....

 roof repainted, and the new entrance painted to match; a suitable country residence .....

it will serve as a fortress, when used in conjunction with my small fort wall sections

Fenwick - converged grenadier battalion ....

Fenwick Army is on manoeuvres...

The converged grenadier battalion marches up to take position next to the guard battalion ...

 formed up and in position .....

[ New items - converged grenadier battalion: rank and file my own home-cast figures plus a mix of command figs from various makers]

Trouble with wolves ....

A detachment of the Kings jagers have been sent to the edges of the Sackwald forest to assist the locals dealing with a pack of wolves who have started hunting into the farmland areas.

The jagers have tracked them down .......

[new items: pack of 5 wolves, from 40mm Sash & Sabre napoleonic 'Retreat from Moscow' range]

Galleys for the River Oudear ...

For actions between Wittenberg and Begovians on the lower reaches of the River Oudear, involving river galleys, I have decide to go with 1/600 scale. This will give me enough space on the table to show the wider river and allow for sufficient galleys for a reasonable game.

Initially I bought a couple of 1/600 metal galleys from Skytrex; these are rather nice. I thought I should have a go at making my own out of cardboard and other bits. First attempt at 1/600 scratch-built galley done (need to do the sail yet), shown here with the Skytrex ones

looks ok, now need to decide how many to build for the opposing fleets.

Trouble near Topdan ...

A raid by Begovian cavalry has forced Hofler's Pandours to take refuge in a village near their base at Topdan....

 Begovian horse archers loose their arrows .... the pandours return fire ...

 Hearing the gunfire, the Rutenian cavalry on patrol nearby ride to the aid of the pandours and charge the Begovian cavalry ...

the Begovian cavalry beat a hasty retreat after a fierce melee....

[new additions - a unit of Begovian horse archers, finally got them painted :) ]

some buildings to be made ...

I treated myself to Paperboys book of 28mm European Buildings...

lots of nice stuff in it - will be making some of them up in due course.

Fenwick - Guard Regiment

Duke Maurice reviews his guard regiment ...

[Rank & File my own home-casts; command figures mostly from Eagle Miniatures plus a couple of oddments from my spare box]

Playing with galley's ....

having a look at and trying out some simple rules for engagements between galleys

mostly likely will use 1/600 size galleys.

Beef cattle herd ...

Some plastic cattle I used in a raid game previously have now been painted up and based; here they are being herded along.....

Fenwick Army - an update ...

The Duchy of Fenwick horse grenadier regiment is completed (mostly my own home-casts)....

One of my Wittenberg chevaux-leger regiments will double as a Fenwick dragoon regiment, so I've re-done their bases to match......

The four main infantry regiments, finished some time back - nice to get them out on the table ....

One regiment of Kurassiers, guard infantry regiment and a converged grenadier battalion left to do; then Fenwick will be able to take to the field on their own against the Monrovians.

A new addition to the palace menagerie ....

The King and his son have come to see the latest addition to the palace menagerie - a rhinoceros

Later on in the day the King had a meeting to inspect and approve the plans for a new class of river galleys to help protect trade on the lower reaches of the river Oudear from potential Begovian aggression.

Sodusi - plugging the gap ...

A jager patrol returns to the rocky outcrop area as some of the engineer corps prepare to start work making the outcrop into a fortified strongpoint..

 As the regular troops decamp and march off to return to their original positions, the local land militia man the new defences built across the valley by the engineer corps.

The Battle of Sodusi....

continued from the previous post .....

The Begovian column marches down the valley towards Sodusi...

The feldjagers scouts made it to safety, Count Boritzy ordered them to locate and 'hurry-on' the infantry regiment and the rest of the uhlan regiment. The count deployed what forces he had: jagers on either side of the valley,  the land militia in the centre and in reserve the uhlans...

 As a  regiment of Wittenberg infantry marches up through the town ...the Begovian light cavalry rode round in front of a small coppice loosing arrows at the troops to their front; the jagers picked off a couple and an ineffective volley from the militia deterred them from repeating the exercise.

The Wittenberg infantry regiment deploys next to the Uhlans. The Begovian light cavalry reform while their infantry comes up ....

The Begovian light cavalry charge the land militia, as their provincial infantry head towards the rocks held by the jagers...

The land militia hold the Begovian cavalry attack....

The Begovian provincial infantry move closer to the rocks and come under fire from the Wittenberg jagers; more Begovian troops are arriving....

The Begovian provincial infantry sent to clear the rocks retreat after being cut down by the fire from the jagers, another provincial infantry unit takes their place as two Begovian janissaries units move up....

The Wittenberg land militia are still fighting the cavalry and are attacked by the lead Begovian janissary regiment...

The land militia under heavy pressure finally break and fall back ....

As the Begovian Janissaries reform they are charged by the Wittenberg uhlans  .....

The Wittenberg uhlans disengage in good order and fall back out of the way, the infantry regiment advances and lets loose a volley at the disorganised janissaries who take heavy casualties ....

The Begovian janissaries fall back unable to match the firepower of the Wittenberg infantry.
Count Boritzy, re-inforced by the rest of the uhlan regiment, reforms his battle lines .....

The Begovian commander having had his light cavalry regiment and provincial infantry badly mauled and finding himself outmatched in cavalry; with insufficient troops to force a passage through decided to withdraw...

A Victory for Wittenberg ....

At Sodusi ....

Scouts have reported that Begovian troops have found a way through the border hills near Sodusi...

Wittenberg troops command by Count Boritzy have reached the town and are preparing to take up positions to block the valley (a regiment of infantry and half the uhlan regiment have yet to arrive)

'Ride hard lads' shouts the feldjager officer, as they gallop back to Sodusi to warn count Boritzy about the approaching Begovian troops

Begovian Army - Horse Archers - WIP

The 40mm ottoman style horse archer, has got into a mould so I cast up enough horse archers (added some bows made from wire), plus some horses to make a unit up for the Begovian army.... 

need to get these painted to take part in the upcoming action....