I just finished reading MWAN No. 86 and came away from the reading session full of inspiration and ideas, courtesy of the fine article written by Brian Carroll, in which he describes the planning and evolution of his "giants Marlbourian battalions and wargame project. I found every step of the process fascinating: from the selection of the period and the wargame figures, to the logistics of painting and basing the figures, and on through to the selection of rules for his wargames.

If ever there was a definitive guide book of how to plan and execute a wargame project, then this is certainly the best that I have ever seen in this regard. I also commend Brian for having the good sense to select one of the wars from the 18th Century, alla all, that is what Fife and Drum is all about. As editor and publisher of the Seven Years War Association Journal, as well as its new companion publication, the American Resolution Journal, I hope to offer MWAN readers a steady and regular diet of information and irisights about the period with respect to wargaming the various conflicts of the 18th Century.

A New Publication

I would like to take this opportunity to briefly discuss a new publishing project that I have embarked upon, and that is the establishment of a wargaming/re-enactrnent journal devoted exclusively to the American Revolution. It will be called the American Revolution Jounsal and will be published twice a year, every April and October. Each volume will consist of four issues (2 per year over a 2 year period) at a subscription price of $25.00 per volume (4 issues).

At the present time, I plan to distribute the publication myself although copies will also be available through my local wargame hobby store, The Emperor's Headquarters in Chicago. The target market for this publication includes wargamers, history buffs and re-enactors. Each issue will include something of interest to all three segments, i.e. it will not focus exclusively on warganning or re-enacting, but will include some of both.

It is my belief that both groups share a common interest in the history of the American Revolution, and both hobbies require significant amounts of unit uniform, and campaign research and information in order to participate in their respective hobbies. In short, I believe that there is much that both groups can learn from one another and the Journal will be a forum to make it possible.

The first issue (Volume I No. I April 1997) features articles, maps and orders of battle for the battle of Brandywine in 1777. Theree are additional articles about the Brigade of the American Revolution a Gst of re-enactment events for 1997, a question and answer section featuring information on the Rhode Island regiments of the American Revolution. a look at available web sites on the internet that are related to the period, and finale, a set of wargame rules for the period.

Future issues will focus on available wargaming figures, rules and books for wargamers interested in starting AR armies as well as various game scenarios to use on the tabletop. Anyone interested in subscribing to this publication can write to: Jim Purky, 3127 Park Place, Evanston IL 60201 (make checks payable to the same); or send me an e-mail at JPURKY@aol.com for more information.

Austrian Army Formations

Brian Carroll's article got me to thinking about the size of battalions during the Seven Years War. More specifically, I wondered if it would be feasible to create a diorama of an Austrian battalion at a one to one scale using I Smut figures. I had seen a similar example at the Saxon Army Museum in Dresden, during the Christopher Duffy Tour in 1994. The museum used 20mm or 25mm flats to recreate a Prussian regiment (consisting of two battalions) deployed in line, about to receive a cavalry charge from Austrian dragoons and cuirassiers.

It was visually stupendous and I often thought of doing something similar using 15mm Old Glory figures. With this in mind I went to my library to pull down some basic sources of information. These included the Pengel - Hurt booklet on Angstrom Hungarian Infantry 1740-1762, Christopher Dubs The Army of Maria Theresa, and the out-of-print Greenwood - Ball booklet on Uniforms of file SYW: Austria

The first order of business was to figure out how many men were in each regiment, battalion or company. I selected the year 1757 for two reasons: [1] the Austrian army had changed the establishment of the regiment at the outbreak of the SYW in 1756, and [2] the Austrians converted from a line that was four ranks deep to one of three ranks, which would have a considerable impact on the frontage of each battalion, etc.

At this time, each Austrian regiment consisted of two field battalions, two grenadier companies and one depot or garrison battalion for a total war establishment of 2,693 men, according to Duffy. Each field battalion was further divided into 6 companies for administrative purposes, but out in the field the battalion was broken down into 16 platoons (zuges), each 7 or 8 files wide and 3 or 4 ranks deep. Two platoons formed a half division and two half divisions formed a company.

Duffy has a chart depicting the deployment in the pre-war 4 rank formation indicating that each half division included one platoon of 7 files by 4 ranks, or 28 men, and another platoon of 8 files by 4 ranks, or 32 men, for a total of 60 men per half division or 120 men per company. Duffy also depicts the presence of 18 additional officers, NCOs, clerks and musicians, giving the company a total of 138 men of all ranks.

According to this diagram, a company would have a frontage of IS men per half division or 30 men per company, with a modest amount of space between the half divisions wherein patrolled the corporals and other officers. Since we are looking at a 1:1 figure ratio, the frontages don't really matter since the size of the frontage will be determined by the size of the wargame figures (i.e. a 30 man frontage is equal to the amount of space required to place 30 figures).

Next, I picked up a couple of Old Glory SYW Austrian figures that I had laying around the house and measured the size of the base. It appeared to me that a quarter-inch space per figure would cram the little men in shoulder to shoulder, so I arbitrarily added an extra eighth-inch for wiggle room, assuming that the formation would naturally expand a bit as it moved across the battle field. Furthermore, the men would have to open things up a bit in order to go through the manual of arms and firing process.

Therefore, the total company frontage would be 30 men times 0.375" or 11.25" plus some additional space between platoons. So basically, a 4 rank company would take about a foot of actual ground space using 15snm figures, meaning a fiull battalion would check in at about six feet in length. If we went to a three rank line, removing the last row of 15 men and distributing them amongst the first three ranks would simply add five more figures to each rank. Therefore, the newer formation would have a frontage of 4O,rather than 30, men per company by reducing the ranks from 4 to 3. This would push the company frontage from 12" to a little over 15" and add 18" the overall frontage of the battalion.

This little exercised made me realize that a battalion diorama at a 1:1 scale would be too unwieldly at a little more than six feet in total length. However, a company diorama of 15" in length would be feasible in that it would be small enough to display on a table or bookshelf without taking up too much valuable space. So maybe one of these days I will start painting white coats of 138 in number and actually do the diorama, but in all probability, they would find their way into one of my wargame armies for the SYW.

There is one other practicle application for this little exercise, and that is to use the frontages found herein (at 1:1 scale) and use them as a template for calculating unit frontages in the more common 50:1, 30:1 or 20:1 figure ratios. Failing that, perhaps this will inspire someone to work up a company set of wargame rules at a 1:1 scale for the Seven Years War. Wouldn't that be an awesome sight to see each player commanding a company of 138 figures?

New Figures

There has been a moderate amount of activity from the various figure manufacturers with respect to items suitable for 18th Century wargaming. The most active company, of course, has been Guemsey Foundry, which is in the midst of a massive release of SYW figures in the 25mm scale. Time and space do not allow me to go into a full review of the Guernsey Foundry line, but if you are looking for a comprehensive review of these figures then I suggest that you exarmne a recent issue of the Seven Years War Association Journal for detailed reviews of each individual Prussian and Russian and Cossack figure currently in production.

About a month ago, I received samples of the Russian infantry in summer campaign dress. These would be minus the traditional Russian Green wool coat. These have been led back with the baggage train and so these guys are decked out in their long-sleeved waistcoats which were red in color. On a hot summer day (when Russians traditionally fought- they return to Poland each winter) it's too warm to wear both a wool sleeved waistcoat and a wool green overcoat. So in an likelihood, the typical Russian SYW army would be wearing red rather than green coats into battle.

It is nice to see that a miniatures company puts this kind of research into their work and goes out of their way to get things right the first time. Imagine having a large army of red-coated Russians instead of one in the ubiquitous green coats. It would be a splendid sight to behold. You know the more I think and write about the Guernsey Foundry SYW Russians, the more te opted I am to drop everything, order 50 pounds of lead, and start painting GF Russians. They truly are splendid figures, and to top things off, their customer service is exceptional.

The London War Room, 41 Beverly Hills Loop, Petal, MS 39465, has just released a 25mrn line of Spanish Bourbon infantry figures to use for the War of Austrian Succession and the SYW. The proprietor, Vmce Clyant, informs me that the line is meant to be compatible with Guernsey Foundry figures in terms of size and proportion. Based on the four samples that I received: an officer waving his tricorne, a hatless drummer and a standard bearer, the two lines appear compatible in size, but GF figures are crisper in detail and execution. Nevertheless, if you want to have a Spanish army for the 18th Century, this line is your only choice, and not a bad one at that.

I understand that there are currently 11 infantry and cavalry figures in production, with more to follow. The prices are $1.25 per figure or $1.50 per horse if purchased individually, or $14.00 per bag of 18 infantry (about $0.78 per figure) or 6 cavalry with horses. A command bag of 10 figures costs $10.00. Note that all bags include a variety of figure poses. This is a nice niche & a figure manufacturer to fill and I hope that there is enough interest amongst wargamers to keep the product pipeline flowing from the London War Room. Perhaps someone will step forth and do the Dutch army or the French Maison du Roil Hard to believe, but nobody manufacturers the French Guard Cavalry for the War of Austrian Succession or the SYW in either 1 5mm or 25mm scales.

Errata and Corrections

In MWAN #86, Russ Lockwood erroneously reported that the SYWA Journal was converting to a publication schedule of twice a year compared to the current quarterly schedule. This is not correct as I still intend to publish the Journal on a quarterly schedule until further notice.

I admittedly suffered through a period of editor's burnout, during which I considered options including scaling back to three issues per volume or four issues delivered over a two year period. I stated some of these options in one of my Journal's editorials, and I am assuming that Russ inferred that I had already changed the production schedule and frequency of publication.

Since them I have been able to delegate all of the bundling and mailing of journals to a letter shop, which reduces my workload considerably. In addition the membership has stepped forward to help me in the procurement of articles and the typing of said articles. Accordingly, I anticipate maintaining a quarterly publication schedule for the Seven Years War Association Journal. Anyone interested in this publication can write to me at 3127 Park Place, Evanston IL 60201 or send an e-mail to JPURKY@aol.com, for more information.

Next issue, we win take a look at wargaming the American Revolution. As of April 1997 I had assembled an American army of 8 battalions and 2 guns plus 3 mobs of militia; and 7 battalions of British, I regiment of dragoons and 2 guns in my repective wargaming armies. The proposed scale is 10:1, which translates into British battalions of 3040 figures, 40-50 figures of light and grenadier battalions; 40-50 figure Hessian battalions, and American battalions ranging in size from 10 figures on up to 40 figures (with 20-30 figures being the average sized unit).

I am using Old Glory 25mm AWI figures, almost exclusively, with an odd sprinkling of Front Rank (too expensive), Hinchcliffe, RSM and Guemsey Foundry figures (rm using their Prussian freikorps figures for Hessians). I am currently using a variant of Rusty's Roles, which work fine for small games of 12 units per side or less, but I may end up writing my own set of rules at the end of the day. The plan is to run this game at Historicon this year, so I am also working feverishly on terrain and battlefield accoutrements (such as blown up cannons and limbers, casualty figures, civilians and other visual impact items).

As with all of my wargames of late, all the buildings will be constructed by the master wargame architect, Herb Gundt of HG Walls in South Bend, Indiana. So commit the words to Yankee Doodle to memory and get ready to fight the American Revolution.