More Renaissance Polish

Here are the latest results of this months painting output. they took a time to do not because of the complexity of the painting but because I had an operation earlier in the month and was recovering from that. Nothing too serious, just had my gall bladder out due to the somewhat painful development of gall stones.
   I'm going to have to order some more soon as I only have a unit of Cossack axemen, some archers and the general's stand left to do, hopefully they won't take as long to do as the cavalry.

More Krakow pictures

Just thought I'd post some more pictures of pictures from various galleries and museums that I took in Krakow.

Battle of Raclawice. Jan Matejko (1838-1893) 

 Unfortunately I didn't note down the details of this painting.

 Blue Hussars. Piotr Michałowski (1800-1855)

 Somosierra. Piotr Michałowski (1800-1855) Obviously it should be the other way up but...

 Retreat from the Environs of Moscow, an Episode from the Year 1812. January Suchodolski (1797-1875)

Prince Josef Poniatowski entering Krakow on July 15, 1809. Michał Stachowicz (1768-1825)

 Fight for a Turkish Standard. Jósef Brandt (1841-1915)

Huzzah, Husaria!

This morning I finally finished the bases on my first banner of Polish husaria and the weather has been rather sunny I thought I would take some pictures in natural light. I have no idea of the unit name but the lance pennants are from the Stockholm Roll. The standard is contemporary (apparently) but whether the pennants and standard are from the same banner is anybody's guess.  I also took the opportunity to take some better pictures of the infantry from the previous post. Next on the list is a unit of pancerni cavalry.

First of the Renaissance Polish

I asked a mate to pick up a Pendraken 10mm Renaissance Polish Battlepack for me from the York show and I got them from him at Cavalier so I've been painting them ever since. Unfortunately you don't get any command figures in the pack so I had to put in order for those. In the meantime, all 84 of the hadjuks were painted and based plus I started on the first unit of husaria; all the comrades are done and the command -officer, kettle-drummer and trumpeter are half way finished -including a two-tone horse for the officer. (Pictures on completion) After that I have a 12 figure unit of mounted Cossack LC, a 30 figure unit of Cossack infantry and a unit of 15 Polish Wybranieke (peasant levy) archers. Gostomski's and Kazimierz are taken from the Stockholm Roll which shows the wedding procession of King Sigismund III in 1605. It is useful because it shows other units as well including hadjuks and husaria with examples of the lance banners.

All the standards are hand painted by me and all the pictures are clickable.

It can be found here: http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/StockholmRoll.htm

 Hadjuk unit of H. Gostomski who was the wojewoda (military leader) of Poznan -a private unit either from his retainers or from the city levy and paid for by him.

 A hadjuk unit from Karimierz

Hadjuk's from Sandomirz.

The uniform is a green coat with red lining and the standard is copied from the city coat of arms. Whether the uniform is accurate or not I don't know, but the colours go and the sources only say that blue, yellow  and red  were the most popular colours...so that is enough of a grey area for me.  

All three units together.

A great days gaming in Norfolk.

Yesterday, after an interesting drive Iain Burt –EB- and I arrived at Gary’s (garyp) humble abode in the wilds of Norfolk for a day’s gaming.  Using only two large and lovingly painted collections –those of Gary and Iain, the sizable table was soon covered in lots of 20mm Les Higgins goodness for a game loosely based on the Battle of Minden. As Iain missed his chance and was too late choosing any other command except the Guards Brigade, he was by default made the French and allies CNC, while Gary’s friend Iain determinedly grasped the nettle and took on the mantle of the British commander.

Opposite me on the British right Mark (Peeler) and his host of Bavarian allies marched resolutely forward towards my stoic defenders who left the relative safety of the village to meet them in open ground. His cavalry soon outpaced the infantry and two cuirassier regiments decided to make a name for themselves and charged my infantry lines. Not knowing a great deal about this particular period it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I rolled the dice for musketry and was pleasantly surprised when, after a volley and melee, the French cavalry were pushed back in some disorder.

In the British centre, Iain and Peter (Purps) for the Brits against Iain (no relation) and Simon (Goat Major) for the French, advanced towards the town but with a shorter distance to cover, the French arrived first and set about defending the place.

On the British right centre and far flank, Peter and Tim (Tim Hall) began their steamroller advance despite being faced by at least six regiments of Simon and Gary’s French cavalry who, like the two against me decided to ‘get stuck in’ as soon as possible…with pretty much the same result.

With the Bavarians and my infantry soon in firing range we began blazing away at each other with positively alarming results and the casualties began to mount up. Alternatively falling back to recover and moving back up into the line, the fight went on for quite a while until my cavalry advanced. Seven regiments from Ian’s and my command charged forward across the killing ground and fought their way into the Bavarian infantry, forcing some to rout, others to retire, but worryingly, supported by two artillery pieces, one remained and for a time, held off all comers.

Behind the British centre, an angled second line had been formed to stop our victorious cavalry from wreaking any more havoc; it was just in time. In the centre, Iain and Peter were making inroads in and around the town while on the far flank, the French ended up with only one usable infantry battalion out of several brigades after some very spirited fighting by the British against determined defending.

Peeler’s Bavarians started doing some damage and my casualties were beginning to mount when fortunately, 'time' was called.

After the inevitable post mortem it was unanimously decided that the French would have been able to make a fighting withdrawal leaving the British in control of the field. The phrase ‘marginal British victory’ was bandied about by the French in more hope than anything -the British commanders just sat there with smug looks on their faces.  

All joking and partisan reporting aside, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, great company and hearty cuisine -I mean you can’t really go wrong with jacket spuds and chilli- coupled with an almost endless supply of cakes, tea and coffee. Thanks must got to Gary and Iain (no relation) for putting on a really good game and letting the rest of us play with their little chaps and to Gary alone for his hospitality. Brilliant!   

 Gary's Wargames mansion.

 Mark's Bavarians facing me.

 Simon's infantry in the fore with Iain's (no relation) Guards Brigade behind.

 Simon's massed cavalry

British infantry of Iain and Peter waiting for the French cavalry to charge. 

 Iain (no relation) indicating to Gary how many ladle's full of vegetarian chili he wanted for lunch !

 Panorama just before lunch call.

 The single minded French -l to r, Mark, Iain (no relation), Simon and Gary.

 The thoughtful British - l to r, Tim, Peter and Iain.

 Traffic jam in the centre of the battlefield.

British pressure increases in the left centre and flank. 

 Gaps appear on the French right flank while the British movement gods continue to advance their army.

 A last panorama as the sun begins to set over Norfolk and the battlefield.

Perhaps a little too late, Marks Bavarians sense the British left is faltering...I had lost 3 battalions by this time and decides to advance.

A final note. From a period novices’ point of view the rules -Rank and File- seemed to work quite well, simple enough to pick up, reasonably fast paced and seemed to capture the ‘flavour’ of the period. Iain’s (no relation) innovative idea of using red flags to denote morale checks was a great success, with many of us thinking that the idea could find its way our own tables in the not too distant future.

Iain's (no relation) rather nifty morale flags in action.

Over a month without painting but...

I've just checked my painting log and the last entry was on December 11th last year and it's now the end of January which means I have gone over a month without picking up a brush.
   But as I've said before, if I'm not painting I'm normally doing something of a wargamey nature and this time is no exception. In the post before last I mentioned finding my Books folder on a stick and that's what I have been doing, finishing off the draft copy of my book; completed it this morning with a grand total of 55,340 words. Now I have the unenviable task of proof reading and fact checking for the second  draft.
Watch this space for more updates as they happen.

As a generalisation, wargamers can get inspired for a new period by all manner of things, reading a book, watching a film...you know what I mean and I think you have a rough idea where this is going. Yes, sure enough, my trip to Poland has rekindled my interest in the Husaria of Renaissance Poland. I already have a fair wedge of information on the period and even -back in my Hamlet Models booklets period- wrote a booklet on them. So, long story short, I've ordered a Battlepack from Pendraken as a starter...just to see how it goes you understand.
   I've actually given this idea a bit of thought and concluded that any foreign troops i.e. reiters and the like will double-up as 30YW or ECW with a standard change, likewise with any MPM (Musket/Pike/Musket) units. In fact a lot of the opposition troops could also come under the MPM umbrella using the same standard swop. At a battle not far from Gdansk there were even 3,100 Landsnecht which gives me a starting point for other Reanaissance armies, if the mood should take me.

Husaria and Cossacks on the same table, what's not to like?

Aaaannnndddd, I have ordered a few more bits and pieces for my 6mm FPW forces to even them up a little.

Krakow trip.

Well, that seemed to come around really quickly, one minute it was Christmas, then my birthday -a landmark 60th if you must know the numbers- and then suddenly it was off to Kraków in Poland for the weekend with my daughter. She had wanted to do something special for the occasion and this was it.
   Now there are two things about Kraków (pronounced Krakuf), one I knew and one I didn't; I knew it was going to be perishing cold in January -it reached -6 C with snow- so that was no real surprise but I didn't know how nice both the city and the people are. Some of them who were trying to sell you tickets for a horse and carriage ride would quite happily direct you anywhere you wanted to go...and smile while they were doing it! My daughter had worked there in the summer so she made a pretty good guide -for pubs, zapiekanki (street food) sites and vodka bars...but she didn't know much about the museums. Luckily, Google came to the rescue and I found a few on there including Wawel (pronounced Vavel) Castle. I had previously made a list of interesting places -to me anyway- that I wanted to visit so we worked out a plan of action. We flew out of Gatwick at 0815 on Friday and arrived at 1215 (Kraków is an hour ahead). Friday afternoon -a walk around the old town on the way to Wawel Castle while checking out some of the local restaurants for an evening meal. Some of the buildings date back to the 18th Century and some churches are from the early medieval times. One, St Andrews, along with Wawel Castle, were the only stone edifices left standing after the ten day siege by the Mongols in early March 1241!

   

(I have other pics but for some reason it wants to display them as landscape rather than portrait).

About Wawel Castle. Hulking great place, quite a good museum with lots of armour and bits from the husaria period (Renaissance Winged Hussars to the non Polish speakers). Looks the mutts thinks I, got to give that one a look over. Walks in goes up to the ticket counter and sees a sign saying that the Castle Armoury section is closed until Jan 25th. If we had turned up the bl**dy day before it would have been open but... Not happy but nothing you can do; so I bought a guide instead. It was almost like a Bullseye moment when Jim Bowen used to say "Lets see what you would have won". Gutted, especially after looking through the guide. So this is as close as I got to husaria material in Poland -a model display in the shop!

But you have to be the bigger person and move on so we went to the Aircraft Museum (Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego) and boy did that come good!

Here is a link to all the planes they have there:

http://www.muzeumlotnictwa.pl/zbiory.php?w=a&zb=aeroplanes

These are just a few of the pics I took.

 No idea what this is but took it for the colour scheme.

 Spitfire Mk 26

 Me 109 G

 Junkers JU52 (Tante Ju)

Mig 29 (Fulcrum)

At one of the art museums (the Krzysztofory) -a converted palace, I found this which I was quite chuffed about.

Jósef Brandt (1841-1915) and entitled Fight for a Turkish standard, (Walka o sztander tureckie). Quite the action pic. There was also a famous painting by Piotr Michałowski depicting the uphill charge of a squadron of Polish Lancers at the Somosierra  Pass during the Napoleonic Wars in Spain but that only loads sideways as well. 

I found these in the courtyard of the Palace of Bishop Erasmus Ciolek (Palac Biskupa Erazma Ciolka). This place was full of religious paintings and statuary but in the central courtyard were these. Bit random.

The size of the mortar bore is anybody's guess but the size of the stone cannon balls are intriguing.

I took over 300 pictures of various buildings, churches, aircraft and all other sorts of whatnot, picked up a number of museum guidebooks with useful bits and pieces in but the prize was a book called 'Digital Reconstructions of the Historic Built up areas of Kraków'. 170 pages of larger than A4 size with fold out full colour pictures of the evolution of the city. Early timber frames, stone, the lot. Cost me 60 złoty (about £10) and was an absolute steal if you are interested in making your own, reasonably accurate terrain like wot I is. 
     Monday morning came around too quick. We had to leave the hotel at 1000 because our flight was at 1215. The temperature had dropped significantly overnight which is where the -6 comes into it but as well as that, while at the airport the snow started to come down in large flakes and we had to have the wings de-iced before we could take off! 
     Luckily we made it safely back to good old Blighty. It was a fantastic experience and I would definitely go again if the opportunity presented itself...especially to the displays at Wawel Castle!

Fortuitous recovery and a brief summary of 2015.

More than a month has passed since my last post so I thought I had better put fingers to keyboard. 

Firstly, a fortuitous update. A few months ago my tower pc decided that it didn't want to play any more and gave me the 'Blue Screen of Death'. This was quite unfortunate as you can well imagine. Never mind, thinks I, once I get another I can just reload everything from my Google drive. All well and good until I actually opened up my Google drive and found that all of my most recent stuff wasn't there. Not impressed. Thinking that I would have to shell out cartloads of cash for someone to try and recover the info I put the old hard drive to one side and soldiered on. Now included in this loss was a manuscript for a non-fiction campaign book that I was writing and until the crash had written more than 50,000 words. Gutted!

   Now skip forward until the day before yesterday when I was looking for a memory stick to put a file on for my mate to print as my printer is not working at the moment. Opened the files on the stick and lo and behold...a folder marked Books...with my book there in all its monochrome gloriousness with words and chapters and everything. As you can imagine, I was as happy as a pig in breakfast as they say in the Midlands. So now I'm writing again. I have concluded that the problem was that I had a Google drive icon on my desktop and everything came from and went back to there so it probably didn't actually get uploaded. Problem solved. I now upload after every session, have a copy on my main drive, another on my backup drive and yet another back on the stick. My MO recommends sending myself a copy as an e-mail attachment. Ma Subs and I didn't raise daft kids...luckily.

   This leads me nicely into a quick summary of 2015.

   Managed two games -both solo- and duly reported here; painted lots of 6mm -unfortunately my tracker was on the old drive- but from memory; Samurai, WW II Late War British, Goblins, Halflings, Centaurs, Ancient Macedonians, some Flemish and Sassanid Persians as well as some 10mm Mongols, more Song Chinese and Medieval Polish. Plus made lots of 6mm terrain for my WW II project -pictures below- and written various articles for MWBG all about the Mongols. Went to the obligatory two shows of Cavalier in February and Broadside in June.

   Unfortunately, the big Lottery win eluded me once again. Oh, well never mind, here's to an even more productive 2106. 

Happy New Year to all my avid readers.