Sorry for the delay; glue issues

Wanted to post an update and explanation of the delay in posting pics of the French IV Corps in formation. 

Unfortunately the glue I used earlier to glue the backpacks on several of the French line and light Hat French figures didn’t take.  I’ve had to strip off the backpacks, clean of the dried flaking glue, and reglue (this time with a hot glue gun; so they’re staying on now!).  I’m about 3/4ths of the way through this, so should be completed, and the IV Corps set up for pics by this weekend.

Im sure I’m not the first person to have issues with gluing model figures, but it is quit annoying given that I spent quit a lot of time the first time washing and gluing the figures and money on what I was told was decent glue (Loctite) for it to fail so completely (and messily).

Cheers

IV Corps; Boudet’s Division

Here is Boudet’s division of IV Corps.  The smallest division of Massena’s Corps, this division was the only formation on Napoleon’s far left flank on the second day of Wargram.  Unfortunately for this division that is exactly where Charles attacked with his VI Korps; pitting less than 4,400 French infantry, with little artillery and no cav against over 16,000 Austrian infantry, 9 artillery batteries and 2 regiments of Hussars.

The Austrians beat back Boudet all the way to Essling, but a combination of the Austrian leadership’s typical lack of initiative, the Artillery on Lobau island, the arrival of the rest of IV Corps to reinforce/counterattack and Austria’s failures on the opposite flank of the battlefield (Oh where was Archduke John when they NEEDED him) conspired to steal defeat from the jaws of potential victory and ended any hope the Hapsburgs had of continuing the war.

A short aside from Wagram: my collection of painted Napoleonics

 As I mentioned in the “Quantity has a quality all its own” post, I do have a small collection of figures I painted (some better than others, but unfortunately none of them very well).

Top shelf is Russian line (Timpo) and Pavlov Grenadiers (Classic)

Next down; French Grenadiers/guard (Timpo)

Next; French line (Airfix) and Saxon Grenadiers (CTA)

Next; Austrian line & gren (Italeri) shako line (BMC), Jagers (Hat) and volunteer Jagers (Hat)

Bottom shelf: British line & highlanders, and Prussian line & reserve (Timpo)

French IV Corp Light Cav Division LaSalle

LaSalle’s famous light cav division assigned to IV Corps sitting Wagram.

Unfortunately I don’t have the rest of IV Corps light cav (Marulaz’s light cav brigade) properly mounted (or with me) to show with it.

When first thinking about doing this, I didn’t give the cav much of a thought as I was so focused on the infantry.  However, while waiting for Hat to produce their 1/32 MAC sets of Austrian German fusiliers so I can build our my Austrian army, I have very much got into the Cav aspect of the battle and collecting the units to do it justice.  

The Tempo French Chasseurs a cheval were acquired from www.ToySoldierCo.com and while not overly expensive they didn’t come with horses, so are mounted here on CTA light horses.  The Hussars are Dulcop, acquired from the same source over many years and unfortunately at a much higher cost.  

Quantity has a quality all its own- why “unpainted” vs painted figures

The obvious question about my efforts here is why, unlike almost all those who attempt to war game with figures, am I using “unpainted” figures instead of figures painted in detail.

The answer is 3 fold;

1st  I don’t actually enjoy painting figures and I’m not very good at it.  I have about 330 figures I’ve painted and while I enjoy looking at them on display in their glass curio cabinet, their fragility (and less than professional paint job) limits their actual use, and therefore my enjoyment of them.

2nd is best summed up by the quote (often attributed to Stalin) “Quantity has a quality all its own” , that is, I’m going for a large scale, which I think is cool in its own right, and that more than makes up for the lack of detail on each figure.  Since childhood I’ve love how a bunch of unpainted 1/32 figures in formation look.  This effort is that love writ large.

3rd fully painting the number of figures needed for the scale of engagement I’m planning would be prohibitively expensive in terms of money and time.  It would also exponentially increase the amount of effort and space needed to safely store the collection to prevent the paint being chipped.  All a hassle I’m happy to avoid.

Cheers

Austrian VI Korps (almost complete)

Here is my Austrian VI Korps set up in formation, only missing a few units (highlighted in yellow in the OOB table pic, which also identifies which brigade are on the right and left sides of formation).  

Unfortunately I left the Korps 2 Hussar regiments at my other place (not that there is room for them on my display table anyway), also missing 1 Bat of German fusiliers for lack of the figures, and 3rd Erzherzog Karl Legion (for lack of space on the table).

Austrian Heavy Cavalry Division Hess-Homburg

This was the largest Austrian heavy cav division, which included all 6 of the in-theater Kuirassiers regiments (the Austrians foolishly sent their other 2 with VII Korps on its fiasco in Poland).

Each regiment was composed of 6 SQ, originally of 135 men each.  However all regiments had suffered attrition on the campaign and none were even close to full strength by Wagram.  Additionally, 2 SQ of the 1st Kuirassier regiment Kaiser were assigned to guard the baggage train, so unavailable for combat at Wagram.

3rd brigade Kroyher is the lead formation (missing the 2 SQ/1 Div guarding the baggage train).

2nd brigade Lederer is Directly behind it (8th Reg. On the right, 4th on the left)

1st brigade d’Hurbal is on the left of the formation (with 3rd Reg. then 2nd Reg.)