Review: The Compleat Rifleman Harris

As part of my Amazon order, with vouchers I received for christmas, I bought "The Completat Rifleman Harris" (sic). I have recently finished this book, and I must say I liked it. I was aware before starting this was not going to be some Cornwell-esque romp through the Napoleonic era, but much more of a day to day story of the wars from a soldiers point of view. As such, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the tone of the book was much more of a conversational style, not as dry as I thought it might be, and the language not so dated as in, for example, Robert Roger's diary.

The anecdotes related within, whilst not all derring-do, were still interesting, and very informative. I for one knew nothing about the weird unknown disease that knocked out the whole of the rifles that were deployed as part of the Walcheren Expedition (not that I claim to be anything like a napoleonic scholar), but it does give a real insight into the problems the soldier of the time faced, apart from the enemies guns.

History from the soldiers point of view.

(You can find a summary of the contents here. But really, if you don't already have it, just go buy it).

Order it from Amazon here.

One Year Ago Today

Over on his imaginatively titled blog, 'The Wargaming Site', Phil has started a little meme, by posting a little look back at his blog posts from one year ago. As my blog has now been running for over a year, I too can join in on this little retrospective journey. I have chosen today, as 1 year ago today, I posted not one, not two, but four separate posts. What a binge!

The first was a sneak peak, posted in the morning, as I was in a great rush to post some pics of the minis I had painted the evening before (ah youth!)

Then there was a WIP of my Napoleon vignette. This one has at least been pushed a bit further forward since last year, but is by no means finished. This may indeed be the kick in the pants I need to complete him. Napoleon is all but done (a little finishing on the face), and Roustrum Raza needs quite a bit of work, then on with the base and tidying things up. I could really complete this in an evening if I was motivated.

Later in the day, I posted my painting scheme for the 95th Rifles, partly as a memory aid for myself, partly as information to others. Quite luckily too, as I have never gone back to finish these guys, they are in exactly the same state as they were after this post (with one mini half finished, still stuck to a cork). Coincidentally, this post has also been my top read post. The title may be the reason, as I'm sure it gets much traffic from google searches for that exact phrase. Although I never know of anyone has followed it, as no bugger has ever commented on it in that regard (well, except one Irish Bugger).

Lastly, I posted the actual minis, of the 95th Rifles, along with a little retrospective of why I am invested in the unit, which goes along the same lines as every other gamer's attachment to these guys I'm sure.

So there we have it, another little retrospective look at past blog posts. I'm sure some of which will be new to my more recent followers. Enjoy!

95th Rifles Tutorial

 As an additional post, mostly for me, as I currently have my paint scheme jotted down on a scrap of paper, that is sure to disappear the next time I'm looking for it. Here is a tutorial on how these guys are put together.

My first dilemma was how to base them. Most larger scale games require riflemen to be paired up at least. I was looking to be able to skirmish with them in battles of less than 10 men per side, at least to start, but I wanted the option of putting them together on a larger base in the future if need be. This is more so the case the for French Infantry I got to fight against them.
 I solved this by getting the smallest bases I could get my hands on for a reasonable fee. 1c each to be precise, as they are based on pennies. On top of this, I have a mix of sand and Polyfilla. Simple, cheap, and I think very effective.

 Next, the paint scheme. I undercoated in grey, as I didn't want to go to black, in case it was too hard to see the dark green on top. Next, I do my base colours, let them dry, give a lavish coating of inks, then highlight to taste.

Colour choice as follows:

95th Rifles

1993. I had just started university. I had been into role-playing for a very long time, and had done my share of wargaming, mostly fantasy/sci-fi, but I hadn't touched on the historical stuff. I had yet to try fencing, but to be sure, the swashbuckling gene was there. I had a very faint Idea who Wellington and Napoleon were, but my interest in the Napoleonic era was faint to non-existant.

Me and my Brother sat down to flick through the channels on the TV one evening, to see what we could find to hold our interest, not holding our breath. Then we saw Sean Bean swagger on screen, and were totally fixated for the next 2 hours (2 hours!).

The historical drama series 'Sharpe' was likely a gateway to many of my generation of historical gamers, and as such, you'll be hard pushed to find a painting blog that doesn't contain at least a few minis from the 95th rifles hidden in their galleries. Why shoudl this one be any different?

As I previously mentioned, I picked up a couple of Perry riflemen free with a magazine, then went online to buy a few more. Of course I had to find a range that would supply a version of the man himself. I though Front rank's range was consistently of good quality, and although their Rilfeman Captain with Rifle (not standard issue, for swashbuckers only) may not be in the most dynamic pose (and not carrying a heavy cavalry sabre), he fits the bill.

I went on to find myself a skirmish rules set, and settled on Ganesha Games 'Songs of Drums and Shakoes'. This seemed to have the right mix of RPG elemets and Skirmishing rules, that can easily be adapted for a more swashbuckling feel. To act as the dastardly French in my scenarios, I picked up a box of Perry Miniatures French Line infantry. As is par for the course, I have yet to play a game.

Onwards to the pictures.

Sneak Peak: 95th Rifles

I've been getting down to some proper painting over the last few weeks, at least an hour or two every week! Yes, I am fully aware this is not very much, but I've been trying to speed up my painting by going for what is essentially a dip style. Base coat - Devlan Mud - Highlight. I'm actually quite impressed with the results. A teaser of which is posted here. I'll for sure be going back to many of my uncompleted units for various games to get them completed much faster than I previously would have.

The models I chose to go with are the ubiquitous 95th. A couple of years back, Wargames Illustrated gave away a free pair of perry Riflemen with the magazine, which in turn prompted me to go online and get them some company. I chose Fronk Rank Miniatures, partly because of the figure in the centre of this picture, but more on him later.

I don't have access to all the pics I took, but I think this one's a good start to show them off. I'm particularly proud of the numbering on the back of the pack. I'll update with the rest shortly.