Vendee Rebellion and Sharpe Practice

[SJWi]

Good Morning. I'm looking for advice from the collective hive mind.

I am currently assembling forces to game the Vendee rebellion using Sharp Practice. I was more seduced by the figures and romanticism of the period than any in-depth knowledge of the armies involved.

 To be honest I am struggling to work out how to represent the Vendean Rebels in SP2. I think they used "mass pike/polearm" units plus skirmishing musketeers. Is this assumption correct?

 If so how best to replicate the pike/polearm units in Sharp Practice?

 Any help/suggestions gratefully received.

[Poiter50]

IIRC Blue Willow ran a series of LAF articles some time ago.

[SJWi]

Thanks, I looked at that thread back in June. I will re-check some of the links but don't think they quite answered the question I have posed.

[OB]

As a rule of thumb the best Vendean units had the higher proportion of muskets integral, the next best had less muskets, the least best all pole arms. 

In a regular deployment the pole arms formed the centre, the best led the attack.  The aim was a double or single envelopment.  At that point the flanks raised the cry Rambarre! to signal the centre to charge home.  Yes to musket armed skirmishers too.

I hope that helps.

I don't know Sharp's Practice so cannot advise there.

[NickNascati]

It is a fascinating conflict, I’ve gotten fairly deep into it.  The book to get, is “ Banners of the King”, a great history of the war.  From reading that book and other sources, my impression is that as the rebellion continued, a higher and higher percentage of the Vendeans were armed with muskets.  They were reputed to be very good shots. Not being familiar with Sharpe Practice, I don’t know how large the units are, or how they should be organized.

[SJWi]

Chaps, thanks for the comments. I thought Rob Harper's "Fighting the French Revolution" was the only book in English so "Banners of the King" is a welcome recommendation. I guess it is out of print but see some decently priced 2nd hand copies. As for ORBATs what I may struggle with still is the translation of what sèem to be pretty large rebel "divisions" into small SP2 units.

[NickNascati]

I believe I paid around $40.00 for my copy on eBay.  One word of “warning” though.  I decided to add a Royal and navy landing party to support the Royalists.  This has led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, where I have now added troops to play the campaigns in the West Indies which happened during the same period.  More bang for the buck, I can use all the figures for both, and throw in some boats to boot.

[SJWi]

Nick, just picked up a 2nd hand copy for about $12. At that price I can't go wrong. I have a couple of mates who already game the West Indies so no need to go down that slippery slope.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[NickNascati]

That’s a great price!  What scale are you using?  I went with 18mm, AB and Blue Moon.

[SJWi]

As my mates all game Sharpe Practice in 28mm that's what I have gone with for both figure compatibility and use of existing terrain. I use Trent Miniatures for the Republicans.. I bought them before Warlord/Skytrex acquired the range and jacked the price up massively. I will go with Emperor Toad's Emporium for the Rebels.

[bluewillow]

A good assumption for the early part of the uprising. The vendeans after the taking of Saumur captured the arms and artillery from the cavalry school so a higher percentage did have muskets but powder was a problem.

A good option for sharpes practice is the chouan rebels in Mayenne and Normandy, lots of hedgerow ambushes and fortified farm houses, local vendettas etc.

My historical skirmish scenario book for the Chouan part of the Vendee rebellion I am hoping will be available for Christmas.

Cheers
Matt

[NickNascati]

Matt,
         A scenario book will be very welcome.