Preparation for Saalfeld 1806

Today is August the 1st. In two months WR is scheduled to GM, with his son Daniel, the 28mm Battle of Saalfeld 1806 napoleonic scenario at the regional HMGS-PSW Fall convention, held in Fullerton CA (CSUF) on Sept 30th-Oct 1st, and in conjunction with the International Plastic Modelers Society (IPMS) convention at the same location. Full convention details found on scanned flyer at end of this updating article. HMGS-PSW

WR intends to use this uupdating blog post to show the many steps WR completes to bring a convention level napoleonic scenario to life. Each week WR hopes to update this blog article with news of forward progress towards the Saalfeld 1806 napoleonic scenario, the unit miniatures needed or painted from bare lead, reference material collected, scenario written up, and the long list of small but incremental steps towards a “hoped for” successful scenario game. At the same time, another concurrent running progressive blog article will cover the other planned Flames of War (20mm) post war May 1945 scenario planned for Sept 30th at the same convention.

Look for the dated updates [xx/xx/17] below as WR adds to article text.

Scenario notes .doc file for Battle of Saalfeld 1806: Saalfeld 1806 Scenario notes

Initial 8/1/17 post: Why Saalfeld 1806? Well, about a decade ago WR acquired small Prussian 1806 28mm collection. At the same time, found on the Ebay world, someone was selling a collection of 1809 era unpainted (raw lead) 25mm Old Glory Saxons, which for a very cheap price, found a new home in the WR miniature ranks. About four years ago, just before moving to the new gaming warren, WR spent several winter and spring months painting up the 25mm Saxon collection for future 1809 campaign battles and also covering the 1806 era organizationally. WR is aware that the Old Glory miniature backpacks are French inspired and not Prussian look for the 1806 Saxons… but for this scenario, their gleaning white ranks will suffice unless Dan M and his “1806 correct uniform” Saxon miniatures make the tabletop. Either way, the Saxon army portion on the tabletop Saalfeld battlefield is miniature covered.

Required Saxon units for Saalfeld 1806 are: Saxon Hussars, KurPrinz Regt, Pz. Clemens Regt, the Xavier Regt, and a Saxon foot battery. All are found in the Saxony box below.

Saxons ready to go. The line cavalry is stored in another box but only the hussar regiment was at Saalfeld.

For the Prussians a lot more work is required by WR. Thankfully at Saalfeld 1806 the Prussian contingent is small and includes the following units: Schimmelpfenning Hussars, von Ruhle, von Pelet, and von Rabenau Fusilier btns, several Jager company sized detachments, the von Muffling Regt, and two Prussian artillery batteries. From the various Prussian miniatures groups pictured below, the Prussian contingent will take form during August.

Lots of basing and unit touch-up work required in the three early 1806 Prussian boxes.

Mixture of 1813-15 Prussian Landwehr and early 1806 Prussians (hussars, uhlans, and grenadier btns.). At least the majority are based into units.

Four Prussian musketeer regiments, three jager battalions, and three small fusilier battalions. The Prussian artillery is found in the common Prussian artillery box not pictured.

For the French 5th Corps (Lannes), WR has a large collection of bicorne republican and early imperial era French infantry and artillery to select from, including the actual numbered French ligne regiments. The painted French cavalry collection is more 1809-1812 era regiments but for the early Imperial campaign battles is little changed from an elevated eye viewing distance. WR will have to paint up the two French hussars regiments (9th and 10th) as they have distinct uniforms.

Massed early Imperial French regiments are needing their standards and some rapidographic black line work.

8/9/17 Update: Finished another six French early Imperial era line battalions and three legere battalions, for the Saalfeld 1806 scenario, with their rapidograph black lining. WR, instead of his poor attempts for shading miniatures, many year ago started a process of black outlining his napoleonic miniature collection. Almost 100% of the collection 25/28mm painted miniatures have these fine black lines picking out the uniform detail… buttons. crossbelts, folds in the clothing, buttons etc. WR also, being poor in ability to paint faces, gives his miniatures black lined eyes and mustaches to give character to the masses. Equipment and flags/standards receive the same treatment. One major advantage of this process is the ability to correct painting errors… the black ink line cleans up the crossbelt white, or any other painting edge work. Mess up with the black ink lining process, you can just wash off the miniature with warm water and light brushwork and start again when dry. For the ink, WR uses non-waterproof India ink in his 2.0 rapidograph pen. Waterproof inf WR finds tends to cause more ink blockages. All miniatures are sealed with clear coat to prevent the ink coming off with sweat. Takes some time… maybe six infantry or four cavalrymen for an evening work while watching TV, or a sporting event. Secret is every evening do your minimum effort or better which for this project is five French infantry per evening. By the end of August, the French army will have twenty-three more battalions of early Imperial era infantry if work schedule held to.

Front legere battalion miniatures have the rapidograph black line work while the rear battalion awaits their turn. Old Glory 25mm (tall) early French legere with side plumes. Note that avoid gluing the double miniature base till both have their rapidograph-black lining done.

8/22/17: Finished reading several texts on the battle, looked at the maps, checked out the who’s who list of commanders all this past weekend… the process of detailed note taking has started. But before I start the final typed Saalfeld scenario notes draft, I continued to enlarge my collection of basic French early Imperial (1800-1807) bicorne era French infantry while watching several pre-season football games and the solar eclipse yesterday. Finished using the .02 rapidograph pen and black lining on another six line battalions (three regiments of two battalions each (6×10)). This leaves only eight line battalions to finish the black lining stage, leaving only the final unit identifying markings (on the bases), and grant (affix) the standard bearers hands to the Emperor’s flag. Pictured below along with the rapidograph .02 (yellow tip) pen and the Higgins ink.

Youtube video on unit identification and Base Marking

Two additional legere battalions plus the next six line battalions. Each battalion has ten miniatures. One is a grenadier and another the voltigeur company. Essex and OG miniature mix.

8/28/17 Update: WR finished the last of the French 28mm miniatures and now is completing the storage boxes… more likely a reshuffle of the French Imperial era miniatures within French boxes. Also French flags have been printed out, regimental numbering applied, in some cases, to generic “blank flags” designs. Each flag will have the normal rapidograph black line applied to give definition to the flag design. Over the years WR has collected a fair amount of flag designs, all filed away by nation and period in pre-scaled designs. For his French Republican and Napoleonic Imperial era flags, all national flags have a common size for infantry regiments. Each is 1.5″ in height and proportionally in length, either square or rectangular. Cavalry standards are smaller, generally 1″ in height and again proportionally in length. WR prefers a larger flag or standard to true 28mm scale, as the flag can clearly be seen across the wargame table and in photos. For most regiments, only one flag or standard unless the regiment has three or more battalions. In those multi-battalion cases, common in the Austrian, French, and Prussian (post 1808) armies, sometimes a second battalion flag is presented to the regiment. WR doesn’t present a flag to every individual battalion, if he did the tabletop battalions would be hidden under the waving massed flags.

French Imperial napoleonic storage boxes undergoing a bit of reorganization. WR is preferring to group the legere regiments in one box and another for the line regiments.

French Imperial napoleonic flags 1804 design. Both legere and line regiments represented. WR has 25 flags in photograph. Each flag needs paint edge work (blue or red) then rapidograph black line work.

9/6/17 Update:  With all the French early Imperial 1804 flags now created, printed, black lined with the rapidograph pen, and sealed with a satin clear coat, they need attachment to the 1st battalion, and in some regiments, the 2nd battalion infantry command bases. Next the 9th and 10th French Hussar regiments need to report themselves to the painting table.

Going over the battle history this past weekend, WR has discovered several OOB issues with the Prussian-Saxon and French forces. For the Prussian-Saxon, the starting location of the 6th (Schimmelpfennig) Hussars and the Saxon Hussars differs between reference sources. One source has the 6th Hussars with four squadrons. with General Major Schimmelpfennig in command off map at Posneck, three squadrons at Blankenberg (under GM Pelet), and the remaining three squadrons. before Saalfeld. The entire Saxon Hussar regiment (eight sgns.), with Prinz Louis Ferdinand of Prussia at Rudelstadt, later moving towards Saalfeld during the early morning hours. Another reference source has five squadrons of the 6th Hussars off map at Posneck with GM Schimmelpfennig, and the location of the other five squadrons, unknown location at battle start (unmentioned with this source), but formed a second line with the Saxon Hussars late in the battle. The Saxon hussars with this second reference source started three squadrons at Blankenburg and the remaining five squadrons at Rudolstadt under Prinz Louis.

Uniform plate from E.G. Hourtoulle “Jena – Auerstaedt The Triumph of the Eagle” book. These book has a Saalfeld chapter and several battle maps.

Reading the flow of battle, when Prinz Louis charged the French hussars near the end of the battle, the Saxon Hussars formed the front rank and the 6th Hussars placed in supportive second line. So we know a detachment of the 6th Hussars was present on the field backing up the Saxon Hussars it seems. So if a detachment or squadron group (unknown size, but WR guesses five squadrons) was present, and the Blankenberg units under GM Pelet were never engaged (during the actual battle), then the 6th Hussars couldn’t have been with GM Pelet and also be present behind the Saxon Hussars late in the battle. Therefore the Saxon Hussars had three squadrons at Blankenberg, and the remaining five squadrons with Prinz Louis. After marching that morning from Rudelstadt, just before the battle started, the Saxon Hussars detached three squadrons to support the Saalfeld left flank during the early morning hours following Prinz Louis’ orders to reinforce their left flank. As the Prussian-Saxon retired their left flank through Saalfeld during the late morning hours, these three Saxon Hussar squadrons rejoined the other two squadrons stationed in the Prussian-Saxon center. This places all five Saxon Hussar and five 6th Hussar squadrons present, in the center, and positioned to charge the French hussars led by Prinz Louis.

For the Prussians, there are two other confusion points for this battle. E.G. Hourtoulle’s book mentions a “Masars Kompanie” of light cavalry. This unit is actually a Prussian jager company from the Jager Korps. The Jager Korps, apart from a small “messinger ADC like service” detachment, never were mounted. The last issue WR resolved was the question that the Saxon 4lb horse artillery battery was present. This was easy as this battery was attached to the Saxon main cavalry body at Jena and not present for Saalfeld, as mentioned by some reviewed Saalfeld wargame scenarios.

For the French side, the French OOB is easy to document and complete except for one unit. Several available scenarios for this battle mention a French “elite battalion” with the 17th Legere regiment. Other say there was a third 17th Legere battalion present. One published scenario has this unit being large, and being so large, had two “wings” for the scenario. Other sources make no mention of these “elite” companies or any mention of the 3rd battalion. What WR has found is the third 17th Legere battalion was still being formed in France and only the converged grenadier and voltiguer companies, formed as a converged small battalion, was present. These two elite companies engaged and pressured the Prussian left flank, through the town Saalfeld itself, during the battle.

09/15/17 Update: Saalfeld 1806 scenario tabletop map is now completed. Image below. WR’s FRW and Imperial period tabletop battles use a common drawn map scale of 12″ per inch square on the map. On the tabletop the ground scale is 50 yards to the inch, therefore 12″ distance equals 600 yards.

Saalfeld 1806 scenario tabletop map drawn to 12″ per inch square. The French will enter from the SW table edge while the Prussian-Saxon forces are outside Saalfeld.

09/19/17 Update: Daniel and WR spent the afternoon re-flocking the tabletop trees for this Saalfeld 1806 scenario and the 1945 Operation Overcast Flames of War 20mm scenario. Both scenario use the same tree miniatures to represent wooded areas. Every few years… or decade, WR finds his tabletop tree models have become worn from the constant use and battering from gaming use. Bits of green flock material falls off and over time the exposed wire or plastic branch limbs show their bare look. Easy fix. WR purchased four different “green” coarse flocking grade canisters of flock. Then old spray bottle is saved to spray thinned PVC white glue on the tree miniature. Flocking material is liberally applied to the tree and pressed into the open branches. After drying time for the PVC glue spray, another light glue coat is sprayed to help seal the material on the tree miniature. Good for another decade of gaming….

Finished trees. The flock material canisters at top. The blue small bucket holds the loose material pending application.

09/23/17 Update: Working on the Prussians this weekend as the Saxons are completed. With only one infantry regiment present (I.R. #49 Muffling), three fusilier battalions (#13, #14, #15), the 6th Hussars (Schimmelpfennig), a 6 pdr. horse battery, and two jager companies, the nearly completed miniatures are PVC glue based on balsa wood (or bass wood). Note that the two rank jagers and fusilier miniature battalions have wider basing (.75 inch frontal width) compared to the three rank musketeer battalions (.50 inch frontal width). Once based, the exposed wood is painted WR’s standard undercoat green then top flocked while the rear edge is marked with unit identification.

Four musketeer battalions at left (4×8) then viewing right, three fusilier (3×7), three jager (3×7). In front are some regiment artillerymen, horse artillerymen, and various Prussian / Saxon commanders.

09/26/17 Update: The Prussians are done. Some French hussars are now painted and await the fine black line work. Hope to have them done for Sunday’s Saalfeld 1806 scenario.

The completed Prussians for Saalfeld 1806. Jager battalion, three fusilier battalions, a single musketeer regiment (#49 von Muffling), some commanders, and two horse artillerymen.

09/29/17 Update: The Saalfeld Scenario note .doc file has been posted at the top of this article. This .doc file contains the scenario design, tabletop map, deployment starting, reinforcement arrival, terrain, and victory condition determination. Also has the OOB for both sides and other rules to run the scenario.

Scenario map with command counters placed at their starting map square locations. French coming from the bottom edge. French first movement. See scenario notes .doc file for more details.

2017 Mini-Wars Flyer and initial PEL

09/30/17 Update: Tomorrow is the Saalfeld 1806 scenario. The tabletop and miniatures are ready.

Scenario set up for the game. Old town of Saalfeld lower left behind the crumbling walls. Prussians positioned outside. Saxon and Prussian main body at right. French enter tabletop at upper left.

French 1st Brigade under GB Claparede march toward Garnsdorf, with two 4lb near support. Head of the light cavalry brigade under GB Treillard arrives along forest road.

With little French on the scenario tabletop at start, another view of the Saxons and Prussians, under GM von Bevilaqua, holding the center position.

Prussian advance guard of two Fusilier battalion, some Saxon Hussars, and a half battery of 6lb artillery at front of Saalfeld.

Cheers from the busy warren.

WR