Sharp Practice 1809 Project - Update 2/2023: Sharp Practice AAR

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Heyhey. After several years some friends and I decided to do something Sharp Practice related (we leeched off Cpt.Shandy's excellent 15mm ACW terrain and collection for long enough. ).

Eversince the release of the rules we (virago and I) talked about how well these would suit games surrounding the Tyrolean uprising. Now it turns out that Nikfu actually owns a rather large and half-painted collection of 28mm Eureka Tyroleans. Virago instantly did his best to lure him into playing SP with us and pledging his allegiance to the king of Bavaria to help root out the "fundamentalist religious terrorist cells". Cpt.Shandy was arm-twisted into doing French. Me, I'll play the glorious role of the k.u.k. army ("Armed rebellion? Cool, got your back, Andreas Hofer!" - "yup, we'll be there in force, totally. Just keep going" - "yeah, we ran into some trouble, talk to you in a few weeks!" - "*This number is currently unavailable.*").

The past weekend I took the time to put together some figures:


Victrix plastics (for line infantry and third rank skirmishers), Front Rank (for Grenzers and Jägers), Black Hussar (Camp personnell, support, and other nice bits), some Warlord (Ladies with mules).

Of course I'm also keeping a keen eye on the Perrys' upcoming plastic cavalry and I should get some more Front Rank stuff. But that seems to be the core force for now and I hope that I can get going on painting the chaps soon!

[vodkafan]

Oh this will be good. 

[Stosstruppen]

Thinking about doing the same thing my self. Thanks for the heads up on the Tyroleans!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Oh this will be good. 

Haha, thanks very much. Depends on when I find time to do things!


@Stosstruppen: Cool, which side(s) are you doing? Yeah, Tyroleans are fun. Well, it depends But it's good that there's a range of them in 28mm and the conflict fits Sharp Practice really well. I'm also happy with my role in the whole thing, as I'm not majorly keen on asymetrical insurgency things in wargaming (because I'm boring), at least not so much in this period.

For now I based line infantry on 18mm washers, skirmishers, leaders and "others" on 24mm washers.

Once that was done and basing stuff was slapped on I proceeded to slay another kind of dragon:



A Landau coach! I got this one, among other things, from Black Hussar miniatures. Very interesting to put together. One thing I had to fix (the stick thing underneath one of the lanterns), I also added the frame at the front of the coackman's seat. The high-ranking officer in the back technically is a Russian, but I think I can get away if I just paint him up as an Austrian officer. What do you think?


Apart from that I primed most of the minis yesterday and hope to get painting proper soon.

[Shahbahraz]

Looking forward to seeing paint on these.

[vtsaogames]

The high-ranking officer in the back technically is a Russian, but I think I can get away if I just paint him up as an Austrian officer. What do you think?

He looks like the guys in my Osprey "Austrian Commanders of the Napoleonic Wars". White coat, red breeches, lots of gold braid and Bob's your uncle.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Stahbahraz: Thanks very much! Me too.

@vtsaogames: Cheers. That's what I thought as well. Then I looked into it a little more and things should work out. I'll most likely get rid of the epaulets though. Apart from that he should be OK.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

From a Bavarian perspective, you get a rare opportunity to use the 11th Infantry Regiment von Kinkel, which had rather attractive green lapels and cuffs.  They were disbanded in 1811 for bad behaviour and so don't appear in the later campaigns.

[FreakyFenton]

Oooh!  Following with interest!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Baron von Wreckedoften: Well, they WERE named "von Kinkel". Of course they'd misbehave.   Interesting stuff; thanks for sharing. I know next to nothing about the Bavarian army. I once got general von Wrede to paint, but beyond the uniform  I didn't have the time to do proper research. I'm sure the historybookman has a good pdf on them, but these only cover the uniforms and organization. Any suggestions for good literature on the Bavarian army, specially in regards to 1809?

@FreakyFenton: Yeah, if I ever find the time to actually get started proper! Hope I do so once the spring shows are done. And that big thing I have to finish by June. And the other thing. I hate to think of it, but this MIGHT turn into a summer project. Let's see.

[Aaron]

If you can get your hands on a copy of "With Eagles to Glory" by John Gill it will fill you in nicely on the Bavarians and then make you want to veer off and cover the rest of the German allies in the 1809 campaign!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

This might prove fatal, as I already got a whole lot of Poles and Italians to do as well.

[Stosstruppen]

I'd second With Eagles to Glory. Great section on the Bavarians and the Tyrol. I have it next ton my reading list since I did not complete it last time I was reading in it.  So I'll go through the whole thing again.

@Battle Brush Sigur I would do all sides in the conflict. Using Sharp Practice would not require too much in the way of figures.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Yes, you can't go far wrong with Gill's book, although the Rawkins/historyman CD has a lot of useful background stuff in it, and there is also "Die Bayerische Armee 1806-1813" in the Heere & Waffen series (I believe they now have an English version out - something they neglected to mention to me when they sold me the German one!).  The Osprey MAA is basic, but ok; no major errors, but it is now looking a bit dated.

[LazyStudent]

Naval and military press are selling the English version: https://www.naval-military-press.com/product/bavarian-army-1806-1813/