Canterbury Mounted Rifles on Anzac Day

It's Anzac Day here in New Zealand today, meaning, as a nation, New Zealanders gather together at war memorials throughout the country to commemorate the service and sacrifice of our soldiers throughout the 20th century. This afternoon my 'better half ' and I travelled out to the Greendale Domain in rural Canterbury for the service there. The draw for me was the attendance of the NZ Mounted Rifle Charitable Trust reenactment troop. Compared to other countries, New Zealand only has a very few number of reenactment groups, and this one was only established in 2014 to mark the centenary of the Great War. The unit portrays the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, which many of the farm boys from the Greendale area served in. I hope you enjoy the selected photos I took of them.

Unusually, many of the reenactors were of the 'fairer sex', but you can't really tell from the way they wear their uniforms.

Note the saddle blanket on this horse. It belongs to the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry - first established as a volunteer mounted militia unit in the 1860s, it later formed A squadron of the Canterbury Mounted Rifle Regiment of the Territorial Force from which the regiments of the NZ Expeditionary Force were formed.

Note the leather rifle bucket strapped to the saddle. Unlike normal cavalry units, the mounted rifles usually dismounted to engage the enemy with musketry and the bayonet.

The Aussie flag was carried to acknowledge the special bond forged between the soldiers of the two British dominions during the Gallipoli campaign. It was here that the colonials gained a sense of national identity that was strengthened by further fighting on the Western Front. After serving as infantry at Gallipoli, the Canterbury Mounted Rifles served in the Anzac Mounted Division in Egypt and Palestine until the end of the war. 

I spotted this bloke walking around but he wasn't part of the Mounted Rifles, just a local reenactor who turned up to add an infantry perspective.

This chap is dressed as a lance-corporal of the the Canterbury Infantry Regiment  circa 1916. He wears the distinctive 'Lemon Squeezer' hat that the New Zealander Division adopted when it was formed in Egypt in March 1916, prior to transferring to the Western Front. The standard British Army tin helmet was worn when serving on the front line. The green/ red puggaree of the hat represents an infantry unit, while the hat and collar badges identify his regiment. Note that the medal on his left breast indicates that he has been a serving soldier in the past.  

The whole uniform (apart from the unit badges and boots) was sourced through reenactment suppliers in the UK.

Lest we forget!


Until next time.

       

Von Munchausen's Grenadiers

The latest second-hand infantry unit to be 'tarted up' in my Hessian force is Grenadier Regiment von Munchausen. This is a fictional regiment and the uniform is basically that which the original owner had painted, except for the newly-painted red turn-backs. I gave the officer a silver sash and the GMB flags are those for the Knyphausen Regiment (which I hadn't intended to include in my army, hence now being portrayed as von Munchausen's). I gave these Wargames Foundry figures a new coat of Dark Prussian Blue, re-based them and had to add another stand of new figures that I painted to match the rest of the unit.

These GMB flags are superb and easy to mount. I paint the areas that tend to over-lap when bending the flags into shape.

I know I'm a bit late with this but, Happy St Patrick's Day! I love this Bartek cartoon of a temptress chasseur of Napoleon's French Irish Legion. It's a regiment I intend to paint up at some stage, but the figures certainly won't look like this! A wee treat to celebrate my Irish ancestry.

Until next time! 

AWI 28mm Hessians - Rall's Grenadier Regiment & terrain

Continuing with the project of 'tarting' up my new second-hand Hessian force; below is the first of the grenadier units to have facing changes and be re-based. This unit of Wargames Foundry figures is my interpretation of Rall's Regiment of Grenadiers for the American War of Independence. I know that Don Troiani depicts the grenadier mitre differently from how I've painted mine, but I decided to follow the colours portrayed from earlier artists (primarily because I liked the look of the red bag). As far as I know, Rall's regiment within the Hessian force in the American colonies was the only regiment totally designated as grenadiers, and not an ad-hoc collection of grenadier companies from various regiments that was a common practice during that war. However, I have another grenadier regiment that is almost finished that will break with historical correctness to became another unit to totally comprise of grenadiers. This is really due to laziness on my part, as the original owner had painted these well and I couldn't be bothered to repaint facings and mitres for four different regiments.

The flags are from GMB Flags

Note the red bag for the mitres. There are several sources that differ as to the colour of the bag and rear head band.

    I've also been painting up several of the superb gabion basket terrain pieces by Tabletop-Art that I purchased from Mighty Ape. IMHO, these are the best depiction of gabion basket defences that I've found....and reasonably priced as well. From memory, they cost about $18 NZ and the detail made them very easy to paint. They will prove very versatile and I can use them for many periods.

 

Thanks for having a look!

Until next time.

Foundry SYW/ AWI Hessians

Just before Christmas I purchased a second-hand painted force of Foundry Hessians from Geoff, one of our Southern Strategists. The 5 infantry units, 4 artillery stands, a heavy cavalry regiment and a mounted command base that I got off him had been part of a larger army that he had bought off Trade Me (the NZ equivalent of Ebay) and were surplus to his requirements. The figures were painted to a high standard by the unknown original owner, but there were some that needed repair or touching up with a paint brush. The infantry units were only 20 figures strong, so I needed to buy and paint up a few more figures from Foundry to build the units up to my usual battalion strength of 24 figures. The original uniforms didn't seem to match the Warflag flags used on the command stands, so I decided to change the facings on the figures to correspond with the new regimental GMB flags that I replaced them with. However, I want to use these units for both the SYW and AWI, and there appears to have been plenty of uniform and flag changes for the Hessian regiments over that period. That means that these refurbished units are painted to loosely represent the regimental uniform covering both wars. So apart from changing the facings, pom-poms, etc., I also re-based the units, adding Rodger Wood's foliage for effect.

This is the Leib Regiment. The facings were originally maroon, which I've changed along with the pom poms. The flags are from GMB Flags

I repainted the drum from its original colour scheme and I chose not to paint on the swallow-tail lace on the sleeves of the drummer.

I love the pose of the officer: 'The way is forward!'

This is von Donop's regiment. The yellow is probably a bit brighter than it should be but it stands out on the gaming table. 

These figures are von Kleist's Free Corps that actually served in Frederick the Great's Army and not with the Hessians. However, as mercenaries, they now serve under a Hessian flag...well, they will in my miniature army.

There's no fenial on this flag as I couldn't replace the well-glued original flag pole which was a bit short to accommodate the GMB flag, leaving nothing to glue the fenial to. It's unlikely these rat-bags would have carried a standard into battle anyway!  

 Until next time!     

Peninsular War British 23rd Foot

The 23rd Foot (Royal Welch Fusiliers) is my first unit to be painted up for 2018. However, I must confess that this unit is actually one 'tarted up' from an army I paid someone else to paint for me way back in the early '90s when I lacked the confidence and experience in painting my first metal figures. I bought these Essex 25/28 mm figures as part of a ready-made army from The Guardroom in Dunstable and they seem a bit a bit dated compared to the huge range of multi-posed Napoleonic figures available today. Nevertheless, I'm sure they will perform just as well on the games table when they get the chance...depending on my dubious dice throwing skills. These blokes have had a few newly painted extra figures added to bring the battalion up to strength, including a Front Rank mounted colonel. The flags are by GMB.

The Royal Welch Fusiliers became one of my favourite British regiments after I had visited the regimental museum in Caenarfon Castle and scored myself an old bugle from an antique shop in Tintagel that had the regimental badge attached to it. The bugle still works, much to my neighbours annoyance!

Until next time!