To See Again Such Loss - a full weekend of Sharp Practice.

So, once again down to BIG for a fun-packed weekend of 28mm Sharp Practice action, this time set in the Peninsular War. As with many other BIG Sharp Practice weekends, this was organised and orchestrated by David Hunter, whose enthusiasm is enormous and who really keeps the narrative thrust of these gaming sessions alive.

We were limited to 55pts (or thereabouts) per player per game, with two players on each side. We were allowed to vary the composition of our forces from game to game, with the proviso that we kept the same force commander throughout.

I took all of my available Anglo-Portuguese troops, thinking that I might need to vary things around a bit, depending on the table being played over. As it panned out, this was a good idea.

My initial force was as follows;

A formation of 3 groups of 8 British centre company infantry from the 61st Foot, led by Captain Nigel Molesworth (Status III), who was accompanied by a drummer (a musician in Sharp Practice terms) and two Status I leaders, Sergeants Timothy Peason and "Scrumpy" Jack Spratt. (34pts)

One group of 6 men from the 95th Rifles led by Lt Barnaby Thorne (status II)  and Sgt Jasper Hyde (Status I)  (21pts)

For subsequent games, I switched out the Rifles and one British  line sergeant, freeing up 24 points. 

My first replacement was two groups of 6 Portuguese Rifles (as a formation) from the Atiradores company of the 3rd Caçadores, led by Lt Horacio Bacalhau (Status II), costing 24pts.

I amended this for the two Sunday games by reducing Lt Bacalhau to Status I and adding another Status I leader in the shape of Sgt Manoel Cataplana, allowing me to field the Atiradores as two separate groups, giving me extra flexibility.

This last version was a far better balanced force.

The theme of the weekend was the French pursuing Wellington's retreating forces (mainly British, but featuring some Spanish and Portuguese troops, plus some Royal Navy sailors and Marines), with the Anglo-Portuguese conducting a fighting retreat, centred on the town of Puenta des Pantalones. 

The French had the best of the first day, leaving the Allies a lot to do on the Sunday, but, when the last musket was fired and the smoke cleared (a.k.a. when the last dice were rolled and the cotton wool removed), the weekend ended up with a victory for the Allies. As Sir Arthur himself almost certainly never actually said, it was a damn close-run thing.

My personal favourite thing was defeating a worryingly determined and quite large French attack column (which never managed to activate Pas de Charge) with my Portuguese light troops and my thin red line of the 61st for no losses whatsoever, in the final game, but it was also good to see off a galloping charge by two groups of French lancers in an earlier game, even though it did cause me a fair bit of damage. Still, I did capture the Lancers' commanding officer.

Anyway, lots of photos, so feast your eyes on some great terrain and lovely-looking armies.

At last, a return to the Condottieri

Having to quickly paint up all those Peninsular War British Foot took me away from my current big project, my Italian Renaissance Condottieri band for Lion Rampant.

However, having finished off the 61st Foot, I am now back on track with some armoured guys with big choppers, and here they are;

I've also been doing some drummers and standard bearers for when I get my pikemen and other lighter troops finished. My current plan is for two groups of pikes; one in the red/white colour scheme and another in a black/yellow scheme representing some Swiss pikemen from the Canton of Uri, hence the yellow flag with the black bull's head. I want a standard bearer for each pike group, and a musician for each group too.

I've also completed a few more armoured foot wearing the red/white livery, here with some yellow to add variety.

My next task it going to be a unit of crossbowmen. I have a dozen glued together and primed, ready to begin work next week. These will also be in the predominant red/white colour scheme, but I also would like another unit in a different livery, again probably the yellow and black of Uri. I like yellow and black for this period.

I also want a unit of troops equipped with polearms. This is an option in the Perry plastic box set, but unhappily this means cutting pikes down to size and glueing on a new top piece with a polearm blade . I foresee much swearing.

I know that I am going to have too many units for a simple 24 point Lion Rampant force, but I am hoping that I can persuade an opponent to play a larger game, with 36 or even 48 points a side. Also, having lots of units to choose from will give me the chance to put together a variety of different 24 point forces.