A brief Tour d'Horizon

Ok, so what is the current activity in the House of Chisholm? Well, not as much wargaming as I would like for a start. I have not rejoined my old club at Guildford this year: being without a car is the current limit there and I have been focussed more on starting my new freelancing career than playing around with little men for the first 6 months of this year.

Now, although I am still managing my cash flow (which is still far better than managing my boss) I have started to get back into my wargaming. Another factor, to be honest, was my crushing defeat as Bennigsen at the Liphook refight of Eylau in February (more of this later). I am now getting back into the fold, a nice performance at Friedland at a command level I feel comfortable at (Corps) have had a very salutary effect on my personal morale!

One major consequence of this is that I have been painting like hell. I had a minor stroke back in 2003 which meant that painting 15mm or smaller was very difficult for me. But, the Liphook games have made investing in 25mm seem worthwhile so I am now, after 20 years or so with 15mm, embarked on a new track. My first 25mm formation was to buy and paint all the Prussians for my Liphook Jena command, which was the Division of the rather crusty GM von Tauntzien. All from Elite there are a few pics here for you to enjoy…

Prussian Horse Artillery and Fusiliers

I do mean to get round to painting up the Saxons from his command too, and I realise, looking at the orbat, that I should have had a 3lb battery under a Hauptmann Rose. Not that I think it would have done much good at Jena apart from to impede me. But, I guess it is a fun thing to have if I can find some appropriate 3lb models that fit. I guess a SYW Prussian 3lb is made by somebody after all.


Prussian Musketeers and Horse Artillery

Currently I am wading through Austrians. As you will come to appreciate the Austrians have rather dominated my wargaming interests. They are a fun army; with no show pony units or generals to rely on you are left with some advantages but nothing really marked. You get average artillery and infantry, some good cavalry and dedicated light infantry but nothing really special. So, given that the Liphook group will be doing several Danube battles in 2009 it was time to start early. I bought all of the units from IV Kolonne from Aspern-Essling for Christmas and will probably get V Kolonne next year. It would total 4 divisions, plus I would want some other stuff like Landwehr, of which I already have one battalion.

Inner Austrian Landwehr


But that will come to an end soon. Although I am getting an 18-strong battalion done a week next year for the Liphook group we are doing Bailen. Short of Spanish I have agreed to do the Marquis of Coupigny’s division. Given that we will be doing Peninsular battles in 2010 and 2011 too they will be a good investment.

And the Frogs? Well, I currently have 6 battalions’ worth of lead, either painted or unpainted. The aim is to get to one large division of 15 battalions (12 Ligne, 3 Legere) with a couple of batteries and a couple of regiments of cavalry. But the Spanish, followed by the Austrians, will be priority. I have been informed that as a group we do not have enough Russians to do Borodino. I can see the future, and it has a lot of green in it…

J