Planning for June

Brief break in the report on the Battle of Cressay, work reared its ugly head and meant that this week's meeting had to be postponed. However, that gave me the opportunity to start planning a game for next month. It will be a 15mm Napoleonic using the Shako rules (version 1, not the recent publication). Although based roughly on a historic battle, it will cover part of the action rather than the whole thing. This is due to lack of figures and space to do the thing at an appropriate scale. I know that some people like the experience of re fighting the key battles of history using a relatively small number of stands or units and their versions may well be more to scale and able to be finished in an evening. But, for me, if you are commanding IInd Corps it feels better to have 20 battalions, attached artillery and a supporting light cavalry division.















The Russians will be the main opponents for the French and their allies, here are the 5th Division. Standard infantry establishment is 8 line battalions plus 2 Jaeger battalions and two skirmisher stands. In addition the division will also have at least one foot battery. The figures are a mix of various manufacturers, I think the two jaeger battalions at the front are Lancashire Games as are the battalions of the Ingermanland Regiment by the trees. The Russian church is painted by Phil Olley.


In addition to the 4 line divisions there will be a reserve division of Grenadiers. This is not up to



















full establishment yet, only 8 of the planned 12 battalions and as with the line divisions there are a mix of manufacturers. Recently I have started using Fantassin figures for the elite units, they are 'large' 15's and therefore look imposing and although it identifies the shock troops to the opposition, who wants their elite troops to be invisible?

The Russian cavalry are somewhat unbalanced, I am a sufferer that the common disease of the Napoleonic gamer, 'cuirassieritis'. As a result there are more units of cuirassier than any other type of cavalry, there is a definite need for more Hussars and Chasseurs. Here is the division of line cuirassier, the Guard heavies form another division and there is a further one of dragoons. Any more and the table will start to tilt!