An Article Written Possibly in the Mid-1970's by Don Featherstone and Published in His Magazine 'Wargamer's Newsletter' My first wargaming love was for armies of the mid-19th century. I still possess huge forces of French, Prussians, Federals, and Confederates to prove it - representing evidence of that pervasively wargaming disease with the symptoms of amassing armies far too large ever to be used in a single tabletop battle. But one buys and paints them on the shaky premise that they will march progressively into action as campaigns unroll. Another symptom of the disease is the manner in which another unit with an enticing uniform or name turns up and we can't possibly do without it, can we? The American War Between the States took a new lease on life after I had actually walked the immortal battlefields, but the European Rifle and Saber Era - that age of colorful militarism, the last before it was realized that bright uniforms made good targets - has yet to come back into its own. That is a pity because here one encounters brilliantly attired cavalry squadrons cavorting in the sun before charging, usually disastrously as at Morsbrunn or Sedan, or with a rare success as at Mars-la-Tour or Balaclava. As they had been for 300 years, battlefields remained enshrouded in palls of black smoke causing confusion and surprise few wargamers have ever managed to recreate. They were a bright lot, French infantry in red trousers, breastplated Cuirassiers and other quasi-Napoleonic horsemen, and the exotic French North African Zouaves, Turcos, Spahis, Chasseurs D'Afrique, and the Foreign Legion. Not even a week spent walking the 1870 fields in Alsace Lorraine and Eastern Europe could revive our enthusiasm. Then, the chauvinism aroused by writing the book MacDonald of the 42"d made it compulsive to have a full-dress Crimean War period British Army, which took on not only Russians but also French and Prussians in imaginary wars that could well have occurred through the Machiavellian politics of the age. Then was felt the need for yet another European army circa 1860-80 to make a quartet with the British, French, and Prussians, a decision made through a couple of fortuitous holidays on the Continent. One spring found the family at Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol where my children were reputedly learning to ski. At Bergisel I found the splendid museum of the Austrian Kaiser-Jager Rifles. There was one gallery displaying wall-to-wall paintings of life sized soldiers, in the familiar Austrian white tunic and the pale blue trousers or gray Jager dress, fighting before a background of almost classical Northern Italian scenery with vineyards, lofty poplar trees, and village-crowned hills. It brought back vivid memories of my youth in the Royal Tank Regiment, fighting amid that same countryside, oblivious to the fact that in 1859 a colorful war was fought there between Austria and the French and their Piedmontese allies. That same year, a few months later when wandering around France with the usual battlefield-walking gang, we came upon the beautiful chateau of Valencay, boasting an exhibition of paintings by the French military artists Detaille and Alphonse de Neuville that were so impressive it justified spending precious French francs on a large book of colored reproductions. It lays open before me as I now write at a painting titled 'Episode de la Bataille de Magenta' - an action that presented the world with a new color - magenta - derived by patriotic French artists gazing at the hue of blood as it soaked through their baggy red trousers. The stirring painting of baggy-trousered Zouaves, white clad Turcos, and others storming a white village stronghold is quite inspirational and, when coupled with memories gained at Innsbruck, left little choice but to refight this war, which also offered Solferino, a battle so bloody that it prompted Swiss traveler Dunant to form the Red Cross. My French forces were 30mm scale, which made it difficult to find their Austrian foes. Friends came to the rescue and through he post came two model soldiers; an Austrian infantryman in a shako and a Jager in turned-up brimmed hat. Now, it has to be remembered that these were the days when lack of suitable soldiers forced wargamers to make their own moulds and cast pristine silver figures that required considerable cleaning-up before being painted. So, after a mere 6-months slaving over a hot stove, 300 gleaming castings awaited attention, which, as all self respecting wargamers will know, is the worst part of the hobby! But, divine Providence came to my aid in the shape of the Olympic Games (I can't remember which year) when one had to sit up all night before the TV set. This I did while painting an Austrian Army. Luckily their almost all white or gray uniforms allowed them to be sprayed en masse, and the trimmings added later. They looked great, and writing about them has revived my enthusiasm for this esoteric war. I must get them out again! Back to MWAN # 121 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com