Sunday, June 21, 2020

Maximilian Adventure - French Army Rebased

My second rebasing project for the Maximilian Adventure is finished. Yea me! 

Here are the French in all their glory. Roughly 2 divisions plus cavalry when it is all said and done.

Video of the army (should have taken a photo of the entire group, oh well)



Figures are 15mm mostly Freikorp, but some Frontier and Minifigs.

Infantry

1st Brigade (2 line battalions on right, 2 Zouave battalions on left, 1 Chasseurs a Pied in the front)


Here you can see the heavy and field gun batteries. 



2nd Brigade (2 line battalions, 2 Legion battalions filling in for Zouaves until they are painted, 1 Turcos Battalion (Algerian Sharpshooter\Tirailleurs) in light blue, and 1 Chasseurs a Pied)






3rd Brigade (miscellaneous brigade with sailors, two line battalions, and the Egyptian battalion that served in Mexico). One day I may get around to fielding two more Zouave battalions for this brigade, but most likely I will just leave it as is.




Frontier Sailors, Old Glory Egyptians, and Minifig Chasseurs a Cheval in green.


Cavalry

The 5th Hussars (2 stands in blue), 12th Chasseurs de Cheval (4 stands in green), and Chasseurs d' Afrique (8 stands in blue with white havelocks). Each stand represents a squadron. Oh, I know the Spahi (4 squadrons in red) didn't server in Mexico, but damn what if they did?!? 






Artillery

Imperial Guard artillery crew is from the Freikorp FPW range. I like how they turned out. I haven't painted six of the guns, and should have them done in a bit. The other two batteries of field and heavy guns are in the infantry brigade photos.



What's Left to Do?

Two battalions of Zouaves. These will be of high priority (need to buy the figures), but will use Legion battalions in their stead until they are painted.
Contra forces, both cavalry and infantry. Not very many to paint and certainly not an immediate need.

Cheers
Eric

Depending on the size of my battle, the French C-in-C will represent General Forey or General Bazaine


PS - Below is the French organization as of 1st December 1862 with more troops added through 1864.

French Army

By the 1st of December 1862, when General Forey arrived in Mexico to take command in place of Rear-Admiral Jurien de la Graviåre, the distribution of the various commands was as follows: 

Commander-in-Chief: General Forey 

First Infantry Division 

    Divisional Commander: General Bazaine
    Chief of Staff: Lieutenant-Colonel Lacroix
 

1st Brigade (General Baron Neigre)

  • 18th Battalion of Chasseurs (Commandant Lamy)
  • 1st Regiment of Zouaves [2 battalions] (Colonel Brincourt)
  • 81st Regiment of the Line [2 battalions] (Colonel la Canorgue)

2nd Brigade (General de Castagny)

  • 20th Battalion of Chasseurs (Commandant Lepage de Longchamps)
  • 95th Regiment of the Line [2 battalions] (Colonel Jolivet)
  • 3rd Regiment of Zouaves [2 battalions] (Colonel Mangin) 
  • Turcos Battalion (Algerian Sharpshooter\Tirailleurs) (Commandant Cottret) 
Second Infantry Division

Provisional Divisional Commander: Brigadier-General Douay

Chief of Staff: Major Acting

1st Brigade (Colonel L'Hériller – Commanding Provisionally)

  • 1st Battalion of Chasseurs (?)
  • 99th Regiment of the Line (Colonel L'Hériller) 
  • 2nd Regiment of Zouaves (Colonel Gambier) 

2nd Brigade (General de Berthier)

  • 7th Battalion of Chasseurs (Commandant Albici)
  • 51st Regiment of the Line (Colonel Garnier)
  • 62nd Regiment of the Line (Colonel Baron Aymard)

 

Cavalry Brigade “de marche”

Brigadier-General Mirandol

1st Provisional Regiment (Colonel de Brémond d'Ars)

        2 squadrons from 1st and 2nd Chasseurs d'Afrique

2nd Provisional Regiment (Colonel du Barail)

        2 squadrons from 3rd Chasseurs d'Afrique and 2 squadrons from 12th Chasseurs a Cheval


Land-based Naval Assets

Battalion of Marine Fusiliers (sailors) – (Naval Lieutenant Bruat)
2nd Regiment of Marine Infantry (2 battalions?) (Colonel Hennique) 




Sunday, June 7, 2020

RJW - Japanese Imperial Guard Division, 1st Army


The Imperial Guards Division is the second division I've completed painting and fielding for my Russo-Japanese War games. Most of the figures were already painted when I bought them, but I had to rebase, flock and do some touch-up painting to prepare them for battle. It was quite a lot of work.
  
The Imperial Guard was part of the Japanese 1st Army and fought in the following engagements during the war: Yalu RiverMotien Pass (Motienling), LiaoyangShaho, and Mukden. The division fought in all major engagements outside the Port Arthur siege\assault.

The Imperial Guard uniform had red cap band and red collar, while the LINE regiments had yellow cap bands and yellow collars. These figures are in the early war winter dark blue uniform but the Guard Cavalry is in the khaki uniform that was issued later. All regiments and brigades are color coded on the back of the base for easier identification during a game.

Infantry figures are 95% Frontier miniatures (15mm), while there are a scattering of Irregular miniatures throughout the commands stands. One command stand has Falcon USA figures in it, which are very nice. Artillery is from the Really Useful Guns range sold by Irregular Miniatures. Cavalry figures and their dismounted counterparts are also from Irregular miniatures. Flags were made from clipart, and touched up to add blue-ish outline, which I then touched up with paint.

The commander of the Japanese Imperial Guard is Lieutenant General Hasegawa, and he was in command of the Imperial Guard throughout the war. He can be seen in the photo below.




Below is General Baron Hasegawa in front of the artillery regiment.

Imperial Guards Division (1st Army) Order of Battle

Commander: Lieutenant General Hasegawa

1st Brigade: Major General Asada
     1st Guard Infantry Regiment (3 battalions of 4 companies each)
     2nd Guard Infantry Regiment (3 battalions of 4 companies each)

2nd Brigade: Major General Wabanabe
     3rd Guard Infantry Regiment  (3 battalions of 4 companies each)
     4th Guard Infantry Regiment (3 battalions of 4 companies each)

Attached:
     Guard Artillery Regiment (36 guns) 6 batteries of six 70mm Arisaka Field Guns (Col. Kumamoto)
     Guard Cavalry Regiment (3 squadrons) (Lt. Col Kasa)

Entire Guard Division




1st Brigade on Parade





Major General Asada, commander of the 1st Brigade, Imperial Guards:

Below is my version of Major-General Asada of the 1st Brigade along with his regimental commanders:


2nd Brigade on parade:


Major General Watanabe, commander of the 2nd Brigade, Imperial Guard:




More of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd and 4th Guard regiments




Guard Artillery Regiment, six batteries (stands), with 6 guns per battery.



Colonel Kumamoto, commander of the Imperial Guard Artillery Regiment (figure on round base above):




Guard Cavalry Regiment, with dismounted stands. Cavalry regiments attached to the division were small 3 squadron regiments of about 300 men per regiment. I gave this regiment a Hotchkiss MG too.




That is my Japanese Imperial Guard Division! So excited to get them on the table!

Japanese 2nd Division here.
Japanese 12th Division here (tbd)