Maximilian Adventure - Imperial Mexican Army Rebased

Hi folks,

Well, my old basing style for my Maximilian collection died as the old bases were unique (very thick) and I ran out of them. My new units were being put on Litko bases, so I decided to rebase the entire collection to be more uniformed. (CRAZY!!!)

Anyway, here is my current Imperial Mexican army that fought against the Republicans. A true multi-national conglomeration of nations! We have Austrians, Belgians, and Mexicans. This makes for a truly colorful army and I love to have them on the field!

So far I have 20 Infantry Regiments, 8 Cavalry regiments, 2.5 batteries, plus command.

I do have a couple more units to paint at some point, but wanted to show what I have so far as it is more than enough. Click on photos for larger images. The biggest image can be found by right clicking on the picture and open in a new tab.

Entire Army

Several shots and angles of the entire army.

All the Infantry

Foreign Infantry

Austrian Legion
Three regiments that fought in the theatre.

Belgian Legion
The King's and Empress's Battalions

On the march

Imperial Mexicans

Emperor's Battalion
This uniform is just so cool. I have the 1st regiment still being painted in the same color scheme. This will be the last infantry unit for this army.

8 Line Regiments
The 1st Regiment is AWOL on the painting table, but should be finished in the near future. The uniforms were all over the place with the Imperial Mexicans.

Regiments 2 - 4

Regiments 5 - 8

Imperial Mexican Light Infantry
These are Bersaglieri Freikorp figures from their Italian Unification range. They are perfect for the late war light infantry uniform. I love how they turned out. Cazadores!!!

Consecrated Sharpshooters
A unique unit in the war. Gaudy blue uniforms.

Municipal Guards
I have three regiments of Municipal Guards. These are little better than local militia.

The Cavalry

Most of the cavalry is three stands (and two stands) strong rather than the normal Piquet four stands. I wanted them to be fragile in this period. I have six regiments of regulars, one Empress Lancers, and the four stand Exploradores (Scouts).

Wish I had taken better photos of the cavalry.

The Artillery

The Imperial Mexican army didn't have a lot of mobile artillery so I only have 2 batteries and 1 Austrian Mountain Gun section

Command

Here you can see Maximilian in the center, with two army\wing commanders flanking him, with 6 brigadier generals on round bases.

Closer look at the major commanders

Some extra eye candy

What is Left to Do

Imperial Mexican Band (Essex ACW Union band figures)
Austrian Legion cavalry (Hussars and Uhlans)
Belgian Mounted Infantry
More Imperial Cavalry to flesh out some units.

Thanks!
Eric

RJW - Japanese 2nd Division, 1st Army

   My fascination with early 20th century warfare continues with the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) land warfare. I have nearly assembled everything I need for this collection and I'm going to start posting my Japanese Army divisions and first up is the 2nd Division of the First Army!

   The 2nd Division is the first division I've completely painted and is ready to take the field for my games. Most of the figures were already painted when I bought them, but I had to rebase, flock and do some touch-up painting on them to prepare them for battle. (much more work than I thought)
  
   The 2nd Division was part of the Japanese 1st Army and fought in the following engagements during the war: Yalu River, Motien Pass (Motienling), Liaoyang, Shaho, and Mukden. The division fought in all major engagements outside the Port Arthur siege\assault.

   I will be able to use the 2nd Division as a proxy division for other divisions if needed. I will field units for the 3rd and 15th brigades, along with the attached assets, plus Telegraph and Medical detachment.

Not to stray too far off, but my blog has just now crossed over 400,000 hits, which I think is pretty cool for a blog about wargaming. Thanks to everybody that has dropped by over the years!

Click on photos for larger versions.

General Baron Nishi, commander 2nd Division, 1st Army

"If I were asked to name the chief characteristic of the Japanese Infantry, I should say that it was its tenacity."
-- Major Joseph E. Kuhn, US Military Observer attached to the Japanese 2nd and 3rd Army


3rd Brigade Commander: Major General Matsunaga

15th Brigade Commander: Major General Okazaki

2nd Division on Parade

OOB Japanese 2nd Division

2nd Division: Lieutenant General Nishi
     3rd Brigade: Major General Matsunaga
          4th Infantry Regiment (3 bns, 4 companies each) - Lt. Col. Yoshida
          29th Infantry Regiment (3 bns, 4 companies each) - Col. Shimada 
     15th Brigade: Major General Okazaki
          16th Infantry Regiment (3 bns, 4 companies each) - Col. Taniyama
          30th Infantry Regiment (3 bns, 4 companies each) - Col. Kawasaki 

Attached:
     2nd Artillery Regiment (36 guns)
          2 battalions, 3 batteries each, six guns per battery - Colonel Tada 
     2nd Cavalry Regiment (3 squadrons) - Lt. Col. Akiyama
    
Support:
Ammunition Columns (3 artillery, 4 infantry)
Medical Detachment
Pontoon Train
Telegraph Detachment
2nd Engineer Battalion
Provisions Columns
Horse Depot
Field Hospital

Source: British General Staff, The Russo-Japanese War, His Majesty's Stationary Office, London, 1906-1908.  


Originally, I was going to field the Engineer\Pioneer Battalion, but later read that they never really fought as a battalion, so I'm going to use them to fill out the 12th Division's forces.

A Japanese division is roughly 14,000 combatants and 36 guns (plus 6000 non-combatants).

Using BARRAGE basing, each infantry battalion is 12 figures on 4 bases. Standard basing is 3 figures on a 1.5 x .75 inch base. Each regiment would have 38 figures, which includes three 12 figure battalions figures and a two figure Regimental command stand.

2nd Artillery Regiment

2nd Cavalry Regiment
3 squadrons, and 3 dismounted stands

 3rd Brigade: Major General Matsunaga
          4th Infantry Regiment - Lt. Col. Yoshida (Irregular Miniatures - summer khaki)

          29th Infantry Regiment - Col. Shimada

Each regiment has a unique color label.

15th Brigade: Major General Okazaki
          16th Infantry Regiment  - Col. Taniyama
          30th Infantry Regiment - Col. Kawasaki 

Frontier miniatures for the infantry regiments

MARCHING SONG OF THE 9TH REGIMENT
Part of the 4th Division, 2nd Army

(This Regiment is mainly composed of men from the province of Omi, and the shores of Lake Biwa. The original was composed by Lieut. Umemoto, the " poet-lieutenant.") NOTE: almost sounds like an Iron Maiden song!

The bugle sounds, the war begins,
The war that's to punish the Russians' sins

Our Emperor calls us and bids us fight,
In his behalf for Justice and Right.
So forward march my comrades brave,
Let us face the Russians nor fear the grave

Chorus. 
We'll die if need be, but
we'll ne'er disgrace
The flag of our country,
the pride of our race :
Our colours shall lead in
the onslaught's van,
As becomes the pride of the
brave Omi clan.

...

Hope you enjoyed!

Japanese Guard Division here.
Japanese 12th Division here. (tbd)

Vauban's Wars - Custom Cards

Good morning gamers!

The proof copies of my Vauban's Wars custom card deck have arrived.

The rules come with cards printed on paper, however folks may want to pimp out their cards with these custom cards! They are true casino style poker cards and have a great feel to them.

Here are a couple photos of the cards. The Garrison cards have a blue top with a unique fortress map on the back, while the Besieger's cards have a red top and an assault painting on it. This will allow players to easily identify which cards belong to each player no matter which side of the card is visible.

Also, there are little cannon-ball icons on all the base deck cards, theses are the cards you always have in your sequence deck. Each turn you grab these 11 cards, then add three more for a total of 14. These extra three cards can vary based on weather, leadership quality, and army.

Lastly, there are five blank cards for each side that you can use to make your own different cards or replace an existing card if it is lost.

The rules should be ready to send to the printer and get a proof copy by mid-April. Then I hope to have them reviewed and ready for production by May 1st. There is light at the end of the tunnel! Some photos!