Tall Order and a Hospital Pass

Wednesday saw the arrival of my order from H&R, which I hope to complete by year end. With some odds and ends which I had already, the total amounts to 30-odd units plus general staff figures. Total individual figures comes to 1475 (1481 if you count the 6 guns). When finished, the WAS/SYW collection will be over 8000 figures and just about complete.

The breakdown by contingent looks like this.

	Dutch	Hessian	Brunswick	Schaumberg-Lippe	Reichsarmee	Hanoverian	Mixed	All
Gren mitre	1	1	0.75	0	0.5	1	0	4.25
Gren bearskin	0	0	0	0	0.5	0	0	0.5
Jägers	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Musketeers	5	5	2	0.25	4	0.5	0	16.75
Inf total	6	7	2.75	0.25	5	1.5	0	22.5
Horse	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	4
Dragoons	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	4
Hussar mirleton	0	0	0.5	0	0	0.5	0	1
Cav total	4	2	0.5	0	2	0.5	0	9
Staff	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Artillery	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Total bdes/packs	10	9	3.25	0.25	7	2	2	33.5

Each brigade is 1 game unit of 2 bases. I'll actually have figures for more units than this, since the H&R infantry packs include enough figures for 1 1/4 units. Extras might go to the Reichsarmee which looks a bit light in numbers. And in truth, the Schaumberg-Lippe boys will get mixed in with the Brunswickers, as  they only fielded 1 battalion, plus 1 small squadron of exotically uniformed 'carabiniers' and 50 jägers. The guns will probably be shared out (Dutch/Reichsarmee/Other Germans).

All but 4 units of cav have been prepped and spray undercoated. These 4 cav have been prepped but not yet sprayed. That, and dabbing flesh on faces can be done whilst listening to Grimsby struggle at home in the Cup to semi-professional Wealdstone.

I really ought to get some games in, so those 9 weeks before New Year will soon disappear. Maybe get the Germans done first and finally do Minden.

****

At lunchtime on Friday I caught up with David-in-Suffolk (a true gent) when we attended the very instructive talk at the National Army Museum on 'How the ACW Changed the British Army'. This was a talk by Michael Somerville, author of another book by Helion: https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/bull-run-to-boer-war-how-the-american-civil-war-changed-the-british-army.php

The author started by discussing the 'traditional' view that the British (and other powers) took scant regard to the ACW and paid the price in WWI. Needless to say this view was exploded. Many examples were given of how warfare changed during the ACW and how the British Army did in fact evolve to deal with modern developments. In fact, some of the changes began before the ACW. Reflecting later in the day, I wondered how much of these changes had also been prompted by continental European wars, and Britain's imperial conflicts. To be fair, the author did touch on the latter. One other theme that came across was how much more professional the British Army officer class was than is usually portrayed. This 'myth-busting' wasn't much of a surprise given Peter Brown's, Don Hagist's and Robbie MacNiven's work on the similarly dismissed Georgian army.

By the way, some of these talks can be listened to on-line, so if you are too far away from London, you might still be able to enjoy them. 4 AM might be too early for those in the Pacific NW though! What's On at NAM

David and I had a good chinwag over sandwiches in the museum's caff afterwards, and we both noted how helpful other bloggers have been in our hobby pursuits. Leftfield observation: we also noted how the museum cafe seems to be a magnet for people looking after very young children. David suggested that it was a meeting place for nannies taking care of children from the local (wealthy) Chelsea area.

Walking along Royal Hospital Road afterwards I passed a young woman and her young ward talking to a Chelsea Pensioner outside the Royal Hospital (London's equivalent to Les Invalides, but still used for its original purpose). As I passed I overheard the boy say that he had made a 'tricorn'! I felt like stopping and saying "GOOD LAD" but felt I shouldn't betray my eavesdropping. I couldn't help but think 'how many kids that age (7ish?) knew what a tricorn is?'.