Stone Bridges

I'm not obsessed with bridges, no, it's just that I never seem to have enough of them, of the right kinds or periods.  So over the last few years there's been the Arnhem Bridge, an ancient period bridge, a couple of wooden bridges and an ACW period 'barn bridge' variant.

WSS Danes crossing a bridge

This time, for a planned wargame, I decided that I needed a new stone bridge.  So I built two of them, one intended for 15mm and the other for 20mm, because at the time I wasn't sure whether the game would be in 15mm or 20mm.  To do this I made a cardboard template for the sides which was used for both bridges.

Standard template

Construction comprised my usual pizza base polystyrene sheeting to form the sides.  The road surfaces (about 45mm wide for the 15mm bridge and 65mm for the 20mm bridge) were made from cardboard gently curved to shape, with wooden coffee stirrers glued underneath for strength and to provide more surface area for the PVA to key with when attaching the sides.  The buttresses were made from carved balsa or polystyrene.

Pointy

The second bridge used the same template, making both bridges the same length.  I did this because I've only got one width of river I'd made previously and also I didn't want the larger scale bridge to be too long and therefore take up too much space on the table.

The only difference was that I made the 20mm bridge at the larger scale with double the thickness of polystyrene walls.  The idea for this bridge was to make a representation of an eighteenth century bridge, based in fact on Wade's bridge at Aberfeldy in Perthshire.

Wade's Bridge at Aberfeldy

Bridges like this were constructed to link various of General Wade's roads across the Scottish Highlands, intended to enable swift movement of redcoats to subdue the Highlanders and to crush any inconvenient ideas they happened to have about not wanting to continue under Hanoverian/ British rule.

Pointy and painted

Anyway, to make this model more Aberfeldy-like I added some wooden trim to the sides and sharp pylons at each corner of the parapet, made from carved balsa.  I couldn't make the pylons as ridiculously high as the ones on the original bridge because they'd just get knocked off in storage or in action. 

Italeri French crossing a bridge

Once constructed everything was undercoated in black and then painted in a dark grey and dry-brushed with white.  Neither bridge has had an outing yet, but I think it likely that a future scenario from our One Hour Wargames campaign will include at least one substantial bridge, so look out for one or other of them.

The Russians are Coming No.1

I've been planning a 15mm Russian Napoleonic army for some time, particularly as my regular opponent (Geoff) has various 15mm figures including French and Austrian, as seen in a number of One Hour Wargames AAR (see here and here).  Having never had a Russian army (I was always the French since our early Bruce Quarrie days) I thought this would be a good opportunity to try something new.  Also, green uniforms are cool.

15mm Warrior command on left, Roundway command on right

As Geoff's 15mm French are generally early period, I thought that matching Russians (i.e. pre-1812 reforms, no kiwers) would be best.  Having decided on a period I started looking for figures, and consequently I decided to do a comparison between suitable figures from Warrior, Roundway and Minifigs.

Warrior (L), Roundway (M) & Minifigs (R) 15mm Russians

A quick review of the infantry indicated that the Minifigs were not for me, being too skinny and for some reason cast in exceptionally light order (no packs).  What was interesting, however, was that the Roundway figures (grenadiers in this case, with massive busch) represent the 1805 uniform with the unreinforced shako and cylindrical valise carried diagonally across the back.  Nice.

Warrior (L), Roundway (M) & Minifigs (R) 15mm Russians - rear view

Meanwhile the Warrior figures are slightly later (1807-1809 reforms) with the reinforced shako and square backpack.  These figures are a bit stockier (and shorter) than the Roundway figures but do have a lot of character.

15mm Curassiers: Warrior (L) & Roundway (R)

As for the cavalry, the curassiers (and dragoons for that matter, because at that time Russian curassier regiments did not in fact wear cuirasses) are very similar.  Both figures have the 'caterpillar' type crest representing the pre-1812 period.  However, the helmet of the Roundway figure is oddly bulbous compared to the Warrior trooper.

Cossacks: Warrior (L), Roundway (R)

The cossack figures are really quite different, with the Warrior figure equipped with a sword and wearing a long kaftan and wide busby compared to the Roundway figures with lance.

Russian generals (Warrior)

Finally here are some Warrior Russian generals which are quite serviceable.

Overall, it came down to a toss-up between Roundway figures and Warrior.  I liked the early Russian infantry from Roundway with the valise instead of a backpack.  The Warrior cavalry I really liked, particularly the cossacks.  Overall, the Warrior figures are good and let's face it are considerably cheaper than Roundway, so they will form the bulk of the army.

Warrior RUS2 - true 15mm

Subsequent posts will show how my army has shaped up (with the addition of jaegers and artillery), and they might even feature in an AAR or two...