Austrian Uhlans. The reason behind

The reason behind my interest in the Austrian Uhlans (see the previous post), despite their scarce participation in the Leipzig Campaign, lies on the new Franz Nap 1/72 figures, available through his site.

Trooper set

Command set

Mounted Command set

As said in the previous post, I love their fancy green and red uniforms and their colored czapkas, so I ordered a Command and a Trooper sets, and I have received past week the postal packet (too late for the Three Wise Men's day!) . I expect to paint them in the next weeks. See below the black primed figures.

Pay a visit to the Franz Nap wbe site, because there are some other beautiful 1/72 Napoleonic miniatures!

Share |

Austrian Uhlans: a wargaming whim

During the Napoleonic Wars there were four regiments of Austrian lancers (Österreische Ulanen), raised respectively in 1791, 1798, 1801 and 1813 and composed mainly from Poles and Ukrainians from Galicia. The 4th Regiment was not involved in the conflict, but the first three ones took part in the 1805 and 1809 campaigns.
In 1813, the 1st and 2nd Uhlan Regiments were in the Italian theater and do not fought in the Campaing of Leipzig, and the 3rd Uhlans was attached to the Wrede's Bavarian army (the Bavarians defected to the Allies on 8 October 1813) and was routed at Hanau on 30-31 October (See here for the Napoleon's Battles Scenario)

Austrian Uhlans fighting French Light Guard Cavalry at Hanau

The Uhlans wore a green (initially grass green but later changed to dark green) jacket with red lapels, collar and cuffs and yellow buttons and dark green trousers with red stripes and strengthened with black leather on the bottom. White belt and black cartridge box. The only regimental distiction was the Czapka's color:
     Regiment No. 1 (Merveldt) : Yellow
     Regiment No. 2 (Schwarzenberg) : Dark Green
     Regiment No. 3 (Erzherzog Karl Philipp) : Scarlett
     Regiment No. 4 (Kaiser Franz) : White
The uhlans carried 2 pistols, curved saber and a lance. The lance pennons were black over yellow..

There are infinity of pictures in internet and in many uniform books depicting the Austrian Uhlans uniform. Below, you can see a very detailed picture: a Boisselier's plate taken from the Brown Digital Repository depicting the 2nd Regiment (Schwarzenberg).

As shown in the first picture (Hanau), I own an Austrian Uhlan unit, made by painting the old Esci 'Polish Lancers' French Cavalry Set 218 adding them a large plasticine plume. They have not seen much fight, which is a shame because they wore a very nice and colorful uniform!

Next: The reason behind this whim!


References

• Das Österreichische Heer web site Die Ulanen
• The Uniform Evolution web site Uhlans
• Philip Haythornthwaite and Bryan Fosten. Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars (2) Cavalry, Men at Arms 181. Osprey Publishing 1986
• Napoleon, His Army and Enemies web site Austrian cavalry

Share |

Bunzlau. The rules for the Scenario

Terrain
The River Bober is only passable at bridges and fords. There are two possible fording areas, that can be probed by any touching infantry or cavalry unit. A ford is found with a D4+.
The stream and woods are rough terrain for cavalry and infantry, and impassable for artillery, which only can cross the water courses at the bridges, and the woods by the road.
Each built-up area may contain one infantry unit.

Duration
The basic duration of the game is 24 turns (3 hours). Seven dice are used, instead five, to test Army Moral. Bonus Turns are allowed rolling 2D6 (p. 66 of the e-Lasalle book).
(3) The Prussians are the attackers and the first side.

Deployment and Reinforcements
French units
The Brigade Valory (11th Division), acting as the last rearguard, can be deployed anywhere east (right bank) of the River Bober, including Bunzlau itself. The rest of the 11th Division, can be initially deployed anywhere in the west (left) bank of the Bober with the artillery limbered. The cavalry must be in the C1 area.
French reinforcements may enter (deployed or not) at A1-B1-C1 (20%/50%/30)
Prussian units
Von Katzeler’s flank guard is on the table at the start of the game deployed in the C5-D5 area. Von Zeppelin’s first line will enter at B5 in the 3rd turn and von Weltzein’s second line in the 5th (30%), 7th (60%) or 9th (100%) turn, at the A5-B5-C5 area.
Allied reinforcements may enter at C5-D5 (40%/60%)
All reinforcements follow the Lasalle arrival rules (p. 91 of e-Lasalle).

Destroying the bridge (Modified from “Lasalle”)
The French sapper detachment force must be in contact with the bridges for demolition. The large and small wood bridges require, respectively, two (successive) and one engineering tests to start burning (D4+). The fire can be extinguished by one (Prussian) infantry unit wasting one full turn in contact with the burning bridge. That unit cannot fire and will fight at disadvantage, halving its dice if caught in hand-to-hand combat. A fire burning during more than two successive (Prussian) turns will render impassable any bridge.

Assault of defiles (optional)
1) A column of march can assault a defile like a bridge, a fortified gate, a fort, etc. It represents not only true march columns, but also all those formations with reduced front.
2) It fights at 1/2 dice and with no previous shooting, adding a -2 for "bad terrain" as they will be fighting in cramped quarters.
3) The enemy can use the "cover" or "higher elevation" modifiers when applicable.
3) However the small front, the enemy never halves their dice.

Optional rule: Irregular cavalry (Cossacks)
1) Irregular cavalry units may charge enemy units standing in 'limbered' or 'column of march' formation in open terrain.
2) Irregular cavalry units must to pass a 'Discipline' (D4+) test to initiate the charge in open terrain.
3) If routed in 'decisive combat', the irregular cavalry unit is immediately broken.

Small irregular Prussian units (to be tested)
The Prussian Jaeger units (line and guard) only have two elements, so are in disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat with larger units and will fall back automatically if charged (no morale test is necessary). They can only initiate combat against unprotected artillery batteries or wagon train units. However their small size and because of their marksman ability, these units have a full SK3 capacity in the fire step (when firing or fired upon).
This rule is included to test for the presence of small, high morale and specialized units, such as Prussain Guard Jaegers and similar.

Victory conditions
The French aim is to retreat after breaking the bridge over the River Bober, while the Prussians should try to avoid it maintaining open the pass over the Bober Therefore the bridge in B3 is an Objective, while intact,  and the rules of p. 67 and 91 (e-Lasalle) are of application if the bridge is in Prussian hands (use 6 dice instead 4). If the bridge is broken by the French, the Objective rules are not applied.

Share |

Painting time. East-Prussia National Cavalry Regiment (and III)

The painting of the East Prussian (later renamed Prussian) Mational Cavalry Regiment is finished. You can see below some pictures of the unit.

Post Scriptum
While searching for information, I found the Peter Schuchhardt's Compagnie d'Elite web site, where he sells very detailed Napoleonic uniform plates (printed or pdf). The plate (tafel) No. 21 corresponds to the EPNCR and is accompanied by a summary (in english) with details of the history of the unit. You can see below a reduced version of the pdf, and there are other 59 plates so a visit is worthwhile!

Share |

Painting time. East-Prussia National Cavalry Regiment (II)

As in the case of the Brandenburg Uhlans, there are not 1/72 HO scale plastic figures for the East Prussian National Cavalry Regiment (EPNCR). The main feature of the uniform is the hussar-style braided litewka, so hussar figures without the flying pelisse, are a good initial option. The mandatory visit to the Plastic Soldier Review page, led to me to the Italeri 6008 French Hussars, with have some figures wearing the pelisse.

Original pictures from The Plastic Soldier Review page

The above pictures show the chosen figures as well as the neccesary surgery: the elimination of sword or carbine and a good haircut! The sabre of one of the shouldered-sabre figures was also eliminated, to build a figure carrying the lance on the right stirrup and secured to the right arm of the rider, while another was left 'as it is' to make for the lanceless Freiwilliger detachment. The trumpet and the figure with the wavering sabre (commanding officer) were also used without modifications.
The tails of the litewka were modeled with plasticine, that was also used for the shako cover, the kolpack of the elites and the horse bags, as shown in the following picture.

Next thing: the painting and basing!

Share |