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

[Grumpy Gnome]

Looking good! Great to see that you got a game in.

[Shahbahraz]

Those are looking great. I know what you mean by all the white stage. With WW2 it's usually all the webbing and pouches. Just about to start that with a Japanese platoon I am painting for Chain of Command.

Looking at these figures I also realised for the first time that only the flank companies would have the second cross strap for the sword. I should have realised.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Rick W: Yes, it was nice. I managed to arm-twist my brother into playing Sellswords&Spellslingers with me last May/June, but otherwise no  non-solo games for me all year.

@Shahbahraz: That's true, I suppose there's that stage with almost any figure. Problem with Nappys and the likes of course is that usually it's very rich in contrast and you gotta get that piping and so on just right. Yeah, the lack of a second cross belt is a thing I had to get used to as well. Some dudes just wore the bayonet scabbards on the belt (like SAVAGES! ).

[DintheDin]

Good job on those Sigur, really admirable! Cheers!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@DintheDin: Thanks very much, Sir! Hope you're having a great weekend!


I got the Duchy of Warsaw infantry game-ready and even based the sabot bases I got from Warbases. Wahey!




Look at them boys all ranked up. Neat. Am I 100% happy with this solution? Nope. They're standing too far apart of course. But that's what you get for using round bases and sabot bases, eh? 1.5 or 2mm of MDF between each base, and I kept the bases as small as possible anyway. Anyway, I got sabot bases for them now, which is cool.

Next steps: Polish Officers, NCOs, and other command figures. Of which I got too few and not a single suited figure for the Voltigeurs. Oh well. I'll find a way, I guess. Or just forget about the problem. The thing is: Murawski seem to have jumbled up their command packs a bit (and they sell packs only), so getting any of these packs will get me one new officer (and they got some really nice ones) and one I already got. And I'll get two more drummers I don't need and another flag bearer I don't really need. I could convert that one to another leader, but I'm not 100% keen on that either.

Front Rank sell extremely pretty single figures, but I went with Murawski with the Poles (as you do), so the FR dudes are pretty massive next to them. Something that's rather welcome to grenadiers, or the obligatory barrel-chested and well-natured line NCO, but it doesn't quite fit the Voltigeurs.

Eagly Figures got single figures and even a Voltigeur Officer. Of course here the simple fact that ordering anything from the UK became just bothersome. From the website the Eagle Figures poses look a bit stiff to me, but I'm not picky. So I guess this is the most feasible option for getting another one or two leaders.

So that's the state of things. Hope you like my 28mm dudes, hope you're having an excellent weekend!

[batu]

Amazing work sigur. Congratulations on getting the whole bunch done! I am thinking about getting some poles from Murwaski for years now. You are making it hard to resist. I will probably get a Vistula Legion battalion, but I have to finish a lot more stuff first. I hope we will see another update soon

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Thanks very much! Aye, Vistula Legion is a great project as well. I painted a bunch of the guys a few years ago.


full size image:

..and even more cavalry to go along with them.

Over the past two hours I got out Austrians again, built a drummer and a flag bearer, then I got out a bunch of train, civilians, etc. and worked out some ideas for deployment points. At least in SP2 you don't need as many deployment points as in Chain of Command. THEN I went straight on to cavalry and tried to work out how to turn my French Chasseurs á Cheval into Polish Chasseurs á Cheval. No biggie, all I need to do is add epaulettes and change some colours. Now I put away all the line troops and just kept the figures for deployment points, support and vignettes on the painting desk.

So much for the state of affairs.

[batu]

Thanks for the update. I think I remember your Vistula Legion from Warseer 

Could you please be so kind to shoot some pictures of your conversion of the Chasseurs á Cheval before painting?

Can you recommend literature on the Vistula Legion and the Dutchy of Warsaw?

[Battle Brush Sigur]

I think I'll just make some fringed epaulettes from Green Stuff. The set probably includes more correct coats as well (before the 1808 regulation they wore basically regular kurtkas like the infantry, but dark green. From 1808 they were to wear the 'Kinski' coats like the French did, also dark green. The 1st Chasseurs á Cheval of the Duchy of Warsaw seem to have worn the kurtka for a bit longer though. In general there seems to have been quite an overlap with the implementation of new regulations. But the Perrys plastics box contains the Kinski coat, so that'll work nicely. Only difference is that the Chasseurs of the Duchy of Warsaw wore fringed epaulettes even on the centre companies. The Perrys box includes those parts as well (for the French elite companies). Problem is that when I built and painted mine I made them a mix of centre and elite company, so my centre dudes will have to get some epaulettes.

By far the most comprehensive books on the topic I've seen is the series of books illustrated by Ryszard Morawski. It's a whole series of rather expensive and as-of-now hard to come by books, but based on my limited knowledge these are the definitive work on the army of the Duchy of Warsaw (and Lithuania) during that period.

I got "Orphan Eagles - Polish armies of the Napoleonic wars" when Warlord Games released it. At the price point I think it's okay. It gives you an overview of where and when the Legions and the army were involved in combat. Unfortunately the layout quality and picture quality are just ...well, one reviewer used the word "regrettable", which I think is a diplomatic way of wording it. However, it's not a bad jump-off point I think, especially if you can get it relatively cheap. It's not really a book I enjoy getting out and reading it, but I think it's rather useful.

There's "In the Legions of Napoleon: The Memoirs of a Polish Officer in Spain and Russia, 1808-1813", which might be useful for your research. I haven't read it, but it keeps on popping up, and gets good reviews. Seems to fit your field of interest spot on as well, and I think it's pretty widely available, so most probably worth checking out.

Last, but not least there's "The Army of the Duchy of Warsaw 1807 – 1814" by W.J.Rawkins (tidied up and edited by his son, the late historybookman). Only available as ebook and endlessly useful. It's very concise on 'fluff' and sticks strictly to uniforms, unit organization, and such. It's basically an Osprey on steroids, covering all arms of the army. It's great, it's incredibly useful, it costs about five pounds. Sadly, it's currently unavailable since the historybookman sadly died late last year, and the family don't carry on the store. They wrote that they will make the books purchaseable again in some form. He also had a separate volume on the Polish Legions (reviewed here: https://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/uniforms/RawkinsPolishLegions.pdf). His ebooks are amazing and I hope they become available again soon.

[Bloggard]

wonderful all 'round.

love the minifigs (?) - never seen those looking better.

[batu]

Thanks for that overview sigur!

I have bought "The Polish Army in 1939" by Vincent W. Rospond, which also was published by Winged Hussar Publishing. It has the same issues as you have described regarding "Orphan Eagles - Polish armies of the Napoleonic wars." Additionally, the editing / translation is horrible. Good to know. I am going to stay away from that publisher and I am going to try finding Morawski's books.

Thanks for the help!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Yeah, I think the Warlord and Winged Hussar versions are the same. I ordered "European Weapons and Warfare 1618-1648" by Wagner(?) back when Warlord re-released that. I got the Winged Hussar version, which has a slightly different cover, but otherwise is the same thing and ....yeah, the quality's not good on that one either. Luckily a friend gave me his  copy of the original book as a big, hard-back version  a few years later.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Heyhey,
As you might know my friend Cpt.Shandy started an 1809 Sharp Practice thing in 15mm parallel to my 28mm efforts. Of course he's so much faster with his 15mm figures that he already had several games AND wrote a campaign system.


Here's my report of our second Sharp Practice campaign game, using the Star of Bravery campaign rules. This time Capt.Cruchot of the light infantry took on a force of Austrian Grenzers:
https://www.tabletopstories.net/language/en/2021/06/sharp-practice-campaign-game-2/



Hope you enjoy the article!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Yikes stripes, yet another battle report! Third game of our Sharp Practice 1809 campaign. An ambush on a prisoner transport, featuring cavalry!

https://www.tabletopstories.net/language/en/2021/07/sharp-practice-campaign-game-3/




Hope you like the battle report!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Heyhey, happy wednesday! Hope everybody's fine. Here's my report of yesterday's Sharp Practice game, campaign game#4:

https://www.tabletopstories.net/language/en/2021/07/sharp-practice-campaign-game-4/




Hope you enjoy the report!