Why Elba? Seemed to go hand in glove with Empire. A poor man's Corsica perhaps. Google tells me that Corsica has a square km size of 8,722, and Elba 224 km. Forget the empire, even by comparison to his first home I imagine it was quite a shock for N.
Why blog? Having re-entered the hobby after decades of absence there was much to learn and do, so no thought of blogging at all. Reading the exceptional blogs of others didn't translate into any desire to blog either. There are quite some gifted and entertaining writers out there!
Blogging seems a good way to archive and keep track of an interest which might otherwise be fleeting, but has now taken hold. Or it is something 11 weeks of lockdown will do to you - not sure which yet. It is possible any lockdown release, when it comes, will cure me of this need. This may be for the Greater Good!
For the moment though my aim is to record preparation for my first game of Piquet Les Grognards, and then a solo play through. That titan of generosity in our hobby, Peter Gonsalvo Andersen very kindly provided a beginner's scenario: Mohrungen 1807 in the Polish Campaign, between Marshal Bernadotte and the Russian General Ostermann-Tolstoi. My nascent collection is more 1812 focused, so there will have to be some historical outrages. Actually the whole thing is probably best approached treating the scenario as ahistorical, and assuming it is a what if clash early in the 1812 campaign, substituting both leaders for other commanders but otherwise keeping it as is.
Details of the intended scenario OOB will be up later. For now here are some of the current output:
Ist and 3rd Chasseurs (Art Miniaturen):
Neapolitan Velites (Franznap), waiting patiently for basing, along side Strelets Bavarians surprisingly striking even more relaxed poses:
The backs of Badeners, also franznap:
So as you can see, a little haphazard. The OOB will impose some discipline, possibly.
Congrats on the first post! The troops are looking fabulous, and of course I especially love me some Badeners! Do put the unique yellow/red enamel on the combs (supporting the black crests of the infantry helmets; easily done by painting them yellow and adding red dots to suggest the vertical striped pattern).
ReplyDeleteMohrungen is a "what if" scenario to begin with. It would fit fine into 1812. The main point is the difference in command e structure and efficiency between the two armies. Not as great in 1812 as 1807, but still significant.
Thanks for dropping by Peter. A further post concerning Badeners may be needed, especially if I am to come to grips with the flag allocation debacle (historical or facing colour replication) raised in your Baden post.
ReplyDeleteSo only a howler on my opening post: assuming the Mohrungen of the scenario was historically accurate. "Great success" as Borat might say...
I'm assuming each unit or group will get their post on the blog as they are completed. IIRC there was a brief clash at Mohrungen, but the Russians didn't catch Bernadotte quite as unaware as they had hoped. The January 1807 Russian offensive certainly caught Napoleon and the rest of the French army by surprise, but the Russians were lucky to capture a courier that revealed Napoleon's counter plan to trap them before it was too late.
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