Steve's Random Musings on Wargaming and other stuff...: Gates

Showing posts with label Gates. Show all posts

Saturday, March 14

Parade grounds, Vichy and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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Saw this on Farcebook the other day... you may remember I bored you rigid with a whole series of posts on the Portsmouth defences and the gates, and you may even remember that the old fortifications were all demolished and removed in the 1880's.

At about that time those busy Victorians however, were also building a massive barracks complex to replace them, comprising the Victoria and Clarence Barracks (the latter replaced the same named one that was originally inside the fortifications)..

The Victoria Barracks was the smaller of the two, started earlier (1880s) and designed to house a regiment of infantry... and this is it following..

“Victoria Barracks, Southsea, c.1920-1940 Source Historic England Archive (The Penzance Collection) pze_22837_011 flown 1930s (estimated)”

...and another view of the complex from across the Common..

....Victoria Barracks was demolished in the early-1960's and is long gone... this is the view now:

The handsome house on the far right in the original postcard is still there - that's now Rees Hall part of the University of Portsmouth's student accommodation (middle right above).. Victoria Barracks is now a housing estate and the handsome bell tower building (which was the officers quarters among other things) is now where the Holiday Inn (😏) is, but off in the distance top left you can still see what was part of Clarence Barracks - it's now the Portsmouth Museum - and my next little exploration I think..

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Vichy emblem

I've just finished reading "Charlotte Gray" (by Sebastian Faulks - same guy who wrote the probably better known "Birdsong") which is set in France during WW2, and in the very early days of the Resistance, the early coming to prominence of de Gaulle, but very much more about what it might have been like (it is a novel after all) to have lived in Vichy.

For those that don't know, after 1940, the Germans occupied half of France, but left the running of the other half to the puppet government of Marshall Petain - which was based in Vichy, hence the name. Petain was the WW1 Marshall, and something of a "hero of Verdun" to the French. His government was anti communist, conservative authoritarian and followed a policy of co-operation with the Germans, as they were looking for concessions (return of POW's etc). What it actually meant was that despite these efforts the Germans largely ignored them, while still insisting on a sweep of German legislation, and other more swingeing demands/retributions in the form of labour, money and food resources ...

What I had not realised was the depth of the concessions conceded, some apparently more than willingly - they unilaterally passed "The Law of 3 October 1940" which defined the status of Jews in the unoccupied zone and also "the Law regarding foreign nationals of the Jewish race" which authorized and organized the internment of foreign Jews. There is documented evidence that Petain personally made changes to the first law to make it more anti semitic than it had been. "The General Commissariat for Jewish Affairs" was created by Vichy in March 1941, and was responsible for the seizure of Jewish assets it also organised anti-Jewish propaganda.

Drancy internment camp in August 1941. By the autumn of 1942 approx. 42,000 Jews had passed through mostly sent to Auschwitz.. Note the Gendarme guard.

There were roughly 340,000 Jews living in France after the surrender - two thirds were French nationals, and a third were refugees from Germany and other European countries the Nazi's had invaded. Between '42 and '44, and following round ups and raids leading to multiple arrests, 75,000 Jews were deported (usually to Auschwitz) from internment camps in France - most of those deported were Jews of foreign citizenship, refugees who had come to France hoping for safety, but over 90% of those deported died.

By the second half of 1942 some of the roundups of Jews had caused huge protests within the Catholic Church, a mainstay of the Petain regime, but also among the general population. The brutal nature of the roundups, (initial roundups had said adults only, for example, so children were left behind while their parents were arrested) caused widespread public anger. In the end, the Vichy governments decision to try and meet German quota demands by arresting/deporting foreign Jews just meant the Germans increased the quotas. In November '42, the Germans moved into Vichy as a result of the Allied landings in Tunisia anyway.

The Germans met increasing resistance to quota demands, from both the administration and the Gendarmerie. The Vichy president Laval, refused to strip French Jews of their citizenship to facilitate deportation, but thanks to this obstruction the vast majority of Jews with French citizenship survived the Holocaust. France has possibly the highest percentage survival rate of Jews of any of the countries.

Laval was executed on charges of collaboration and treason after the war. Petain was also found guilty, but de Gaulle commuted the execution to life imprisonment.

Saturday, December 13

"Firing into the Brown" #95 - “The Noon Stagecoach Wagon Job” game, fort speak, and stuff

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update.. and the game has been played, and what a load of fun for reasons that will become clear.. 😏

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For me, as a solo player, the narrative is always key, but I accept some find the mechanics interesting as well, so each move has both - you can read one or the other (or both), as required..😁

For the dramatis personae I refer you to the previous post [clicky].. the scene opens with the three good guys exiting the cantina after a quick meal...

Move 1:

Characters/order of activation: Jebb (7♤), Clay (4♡), the Deputy (3♤), Weaver (3♧), Shotgun (2♤) and then the Marshall (2♡)

Shots start to fly as the three men exit the cantina - from across the way one of the bad guys, clearly up to no good, runs across the open ground in front of the cantina. Stopping behind the wagon, he fires at the Deputy as he comes in to sight. The Deputy raises his gun to shoot back, but misses..

"I know him", shouts the Marshall, "that's Jebb Carden! Where he is, Clay Hardin ain't far behind"

Sure enough he spots Clay just behind, who skids to a halt behind Jebb to also fire at his trusty deputy, hitting him in the leg and causing Luke to grunt out in pain, but not stopping him getting off a couple of shots at Jebb. He only graze him, but Jebb looks decidedly shaken.

More shots ring out, and the Marshall also spots 'Long Tom' Weaver in the brush behind them - his Winchester smoking. Luke's definitely the focus of attention - he nods at him to let him know he ain't alone in this.

Then out of nowhere he see's Shotgun run past for the steps of the cantina roof - "damn - he's running!" thought the Marshall but had cause to eat his words when Shotgun reached the roof, leant over the parapet, and fires off a barrel from his shotgun at Jebb - "well done old timer!", he shouts..

Time he took part in this little lead party himself. He fires quickly at Jebb, missing him, but spooking the horses on the wagon who snatch jerkily forward, and causing the strongbox to fall off the back of the wagon!

"What the..!"

..but he has time to react to see Clay now exposed by the movement of the wagon, and fires off a shot at him - he's looking as shocked as Jebb.. pretty clear no one was expecting it to go like this!

Mechanics behind the narrative:

Jebb (7♤) gets 3 actions as a result of the 7.. moves, aims, and fires at the Deputy who attempts to 'get the draw on him' but fails (NB. Jebb gets +1 for trigger finger) but Jebb then throws snake eyes and misses - Horse spook test no effect
Clay (4♡) moves to join Jebb and also fires at who fails to 'get the draw on him' too and for his pains the Deputy is hit in the leg - Horse spook no effect. The deputy passes his lily liver test (what in 'Ruthless' is the morale check😁) he also has a +1 bonus for the Marshall's 'commanding presence' trait.
the Deputy (3♤) - fires twice at Jebb hitting once and only grazing him - horse spooks no effect - Jebb fails his test and becomes lily livered
Weaver (3♧) fires twice at the Deputy - hitting once but only grazing him - horse spooks no effect - the deputy again passes his lily liver test
Shotgun (2♤) runs up the stairs on the outside of the cantina - leans over and gives one barrel at Jebb - hits him but only grazes him - horse spooks no effect- Jebb is already lily livered so no need to test again
the Marshall (2♡) is last to react but fires twice - first at Jebb - the shot misses but spooks the horses, causing the wagon to jerk forward 2", and the cash box to slide off the back onto the ground (two 1's in succession on D6s!) - which reveals Clay as a target, so his second shot is at him grazing Clay, and causing the horses to spook again (another 2"). Clay fails his lily liver test

Move 2:

Characters/ order of activation: Deputy (K♧), the Marshall (7♢), Weaver (5♢), Jebb (4♢) lily livered/yellow pin, Clay (3♡)lily livered/yellow pin, and finally Shotgun (2♧) - the clear pin marks the strongbox on the ground

Conditions are getting downright warm and lead rich out in the open so the Deputy dashes back into the cantina taking up position at the slit window where he fires at Jebb - and is rewarded by the sight of a blossom of red on his leg and a cry of pain.

The Marshall see's the deputy move into the cantina, weighs up the odds and agrees that's also the best move for him... he needs some cover! Firing rapidly at Clay he also moves into the cantina to the other slit window.

He sees Weaver across the way in the brush looking for targets, and firing at a target above him.. but then the sound of a shotgun above him on the roof - "well Shotgun's certainly ok" he mutters to the Deputy. He then see's both Jebb and Clay move into cover.. and out of sight.. "now where are those two off to.."

Mechanics behind the narrative:

the Deputy (K♧) moves into the cantina and fires at Jebb from the side window hitting him in the leg - he is already lily livered so no need to test again, and the horse spook test has no effect
the Marshall (7♢) has 3 actions as a result of the 7 and fires two times at Clay before following the Deputy into the cantina - he hits Clay twice but only grazes him - he is already lily livered so no need to test again, and the horse spook test has no effect
Weaver (5♢) fires twice at Shotgun on the roof of the cantina - Shotgun counts partial cover - he hits once but only grazes him.. Shotgun passes his lily liver test - no horse spook test required as they are too far away
Jebb (4♢) - fails to recover from being lily livered and as a result must move immediately to cover - once there he snaps off a shot at long range and further negative modifiers at Shotgun and not surprisingly misses - no horse spook test required as too far away
Clay (3♡) - passes his lily liver test and recovers but is alone in the open so moves to cover with Jebb, he fires at long range at Shotgun and misses - no horse spook test required as too far away
Shotgun (2♧) - fires off his last barrel at Weaver - only grazes him - and drops down behind the parapet wall to reload - the horse spook test has no effect - Weaver fails his lily liver test

Move 3:

Characters/order of activation: the Marshall (A ♤), the Deputy (A♢), Clay (A♧),Weaver (10♧), Shotgun (9♤) and finally Jebb (8♧) - yellow pins for lily livered, and the clear pin for the strongbox

With no other targets the Marshall fires twice at Weaver across the way in the scrub and is rewarded with a shout of pain and Weaver dropping in to cover.. the hammer clicks on an empty chamber - he's out of bullets! By his side the deputy also fires twice, and hears another grunt of pain..

Meanwhile, Jebb and Clay move to the lead horses on the wagon - keeping them between them and the cantina for cover..

On the roof Shotgun reloads.

Weaver is strangely quiet..

Mechanics behind the narrative:

Ace heavy turn.. and yes I did shuffle them.. 😁
the Marshall (A♤) - at the right of the two windows - fires twice at Weaver in partial/soft cover - hitting him twice in leg and chest - Weaver already lily livered - the Marshall is out of bullets for his revolver - no horse spook test required as too far away
the Deputy (A♢) - at the left of the two windows also fires twice at Weaver in partial/soft cover - also hitting him twice - in the arm, and for a second time in the chest, killing him outright - no horse spook test required as too far away
Clay (A♧) swaps cards with Jebb as the Ace is also a 'recover from lily livered' card
Jebb (now A♧) gets an automatic recover from lily livered and moves twice to the front horse of the wagon
Weaver (10♧) - dead - though the Deputy and the Marshall don't know it yet
Shotgun (9♤) - loads both barrels (action) and raises his head over the parapet to see what's going on (action)
Clay (now 8♧) - joins Jebb at the front of the wagon

Move 4:

Characters/order of activation: Jebb (Q♢), the Marshall (K♢), Shotgun (8♡), the Deputy (5♤) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

At the head of the wagon Jebb and Clay have a quick conversation to agree the plan and Jebb grabs the lead horses collar, and encourages it to step backwards so as to encourage the rest of the team to push the wagon back towards the strong box..

In the cantina the Marshall and his Deputy reload, but are surprised to see Shotgun hurtle down the ladder from a rooftop door and then sprint out the back door.. he just has time to let them know what Jebb and Clay are up to, and "by the way - you plugged the guy in the scrub out back, he's dead"..

At the wagon, Clay moves with it and positions himself by the rear to keep an eye on the cantina door

Mechanics behind the narrative:

Jebb (Q♢) - uses both actions to walk the horses backwards towards the cantina (and the strong box!) - had to play the movement distance by ear as it's not stated, but I assume that with two moves, and the fact that the wagon had only spooked forwards 4" that would be good
the Marshall (K♢) - spends his two actions reloading
Shotgun (8♡) - exits the cantina by the terrace door, and the door at the back and run across the open ground up the stairs to the terrace of the second house
the Deputy (5♤) - also spends his two actions reloading
Clay (2♢) moves to the back of the wagon - in cover to keep an eye on the front door of the cantina - he takes the action to reload

Move 5:

Characters/order of activation: Marshall (A♡), Clay (K♡), Shotgun (Q♡), Jebb (J♡), the Deputy (J♧) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

Now fully loaded, the Marshall follows Shotgun out of the back door - he can see him on the roof of the house opposite and runs across to the far corner of it to see if he can get a clear line of sight on either Jebb or Clay.

At the wagon, Clay moves, picks up the strong box, and slides it back into the wagon, just as the sound of a shotgun bellows out from the roof of the house opposite the cantina.

..."the sound of a shotgun bellows out from the roof of the house opposite the cantina"...

Clay shouts "I'm ok... it's done!", and Jebb starts to lead the horses forward, ducking down behind them to get as much cover as possible..

The Deputy meanwhile moves to the front door of the cantina and can see Clay in the open - a clear target! He fires and hits him in the arm...

"The Deputy meanwhile moves to the front door of the cantina"....

Mechanics behind the narrative:

Marshall (A♡) - runs out of the back door used by Shotgun, and across to the far corner of the house opposite to see if he can get a clear line of sight
Clay (K♡) - uses both actions to pick up the strong box and place it back in the wagon
Shotgun (Q♡) - moves to the back corner of the terrace and fires at Clay (partial cover/short range), but only grazes him - horse spook test has no effect - Clay just passes his lily liver test
Jebb (J♡) walks the horses forward 6"
the Deputy (J♧) - moves to the door and fires at Clay in the open, hits him in the arm - Clay passes his lily liver test - no horse spook test required too far away

Move 6:

Characters/order of activation: Jebb (Q♤), the Deputy (J♢), Clay (10♢), Shotgun (8♢), Marshall (4♤) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

Jebb continues to walk the horses forward he even begins to think they may get away with it!

The Deputy fires twice more at Clay, who turns and raises his gun, fires off a quick shot.. and the Deputy drops to the ground as the world goes black on him...

Clay snatches a quick look to make sure he's down for good, and runs to the nearest cover.. some scrub just behind him..

"Unless we do something that strongbox is lost!" the Marshall shouts to Shotgun.. Shotgun runs down the stairs and across the open ground and finally gets a bead on Jebb - it's long range though - not ideal for a shotgun and he misses. The Marshall does the same, also fires and also misses..

"Damn!!"

Mechanics behind the narrative:

Jebb (Q♤) walks the horses forward 6" - they are at the table edge
the Deputy (J♢) - fires twice more at Clay in the open, who tries to get the draw on him - neither get +1 for shooting skills as the shooting is not aimed or long range so straight dice roll - Clay wins hits him and inflicts a serious wound knocking the deputy unconscious - no horse spook test required too far away
Clay (10♢) - uses his remaining action from 'getting the draw' to move to the nearest cover
Shotgun (8♢) - runs down the stairs and across the open ground and fires at Jebb - long range (-1) and misses - no horse spook test required too far away
Marshall (4♤) - runs across the open ground to get clear line of sight and fires at Jebb - and also misses!

Move 7:

Characters/order of activation: Marshall (J♤), the Deputy (Q♧), Clay (10♡), Jebb (7♡), Shotgun (8♢) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

The Marshall fires twice more at Jebb, this time hitting him in the leg but it also spooks the horses who jerk forward violently causing the strong box to again fall from the back of the wagon!

By the cantina the Deputy, recovers consciousness and climbs groggily to his feet, checking himself over for wounds..

Clay ducks down and moves quickly behind the scrub to the back of the wagon - "it ain't over yet!" he mutters, as he also sees Jebb move to the strongbox..

With no line of sight to the bad guys because the Marshall is in the way, Shotgun reloads and moves closer to the wagon making sure to get some cover as he does it..

Mechanics behind the narrative:

Marshall (J♤) - fires twice at Jebb - grazes him and also hits him in the leg - the horses spook but also so abruptly they cause the strong box to fall off the back of the wagon again! (I kid you not - 1 on a D6 twice in succession, for the second time in the game!)
the Deputy (Q♧) - recovers consciousness (successful die roll)
Clay (10♡) - moves twice to the back of the wagon
Jebb (7♡) - recovers from being lily livered and then moves to the strongbox
Shotgun (8♢) - reloads and moves to the side as the Marshall is blocking line of sight

Move 8 (Last Move):

At the wagon the lead again begins to fill the air, as Clay fires desperately at the Marshall, but misses with both shots..

"DAMNITT!!"

Shotgun meanwhile gives Jebb both barrels but can see he's only grazed him, though Jebb is looking far from happy..

He's only going to get unhappier though as the Marshall also sends a couple of shots in his direction, one of which wounds him badly and knocks him out cold. As he slumps to the floor, the wagon jumps forward, the horses spooked again.

Clay can see the game is up, and what's more he can hear the sound of approaching horses and doesn't fancy waiting to see if they are friend or foe.. he runs to the nearest cover, and shortly after the Marshall hears the sound of a fast moving horse..

Mechanics behind the narrative:

Whatever happened on this move unless the bad guys got the strongbox off the table by the end of it, they would lose..
Clay (K♤) - fires twice at the Marshall, but misses both times - the horse spook tests have no effect
Shotgun (10♤) - fires off both barrels at Jebb - hitting him twice but only grazes.. Jebb fails his lily liver test
Marshall (9♢) - also fires twice at Jebb - hitting him twice - one of which is a sever would that knocks him unconscious - the horses spook - and move forward enough to exit the table
the Deputy (6♤) - moves to the centre of the yard to clear his sights and fires once at long range at Clay but misses
Jebb (4♧) - fails to recover consciousness..

Afterword:

As the Marshall stands up from tying up the now conscious Jebb, a fast moving column of cavalry come into view, under the command of a young Lieutenant..

His horse sliding to a halt amidst the dust of the column, the Lieutenant, gun drawn, looks down at the Marshall .. "mind telling me what your up to, Mister"

The Marshall explains that he's on government business, and is able to prove his and his Deputy's identity, and having done so the Lieutenant visibly relaxes, as does the rest of the column.

Over a glass of rough wine in the Cantina the Marshall describes the attempted robbery, and the the Lieutenant explains that they were just out on one of their regular patrols and happened to hear the shooting so came to investigate.

"I can give you an escort as far as Cedar Gulch if that's any use to you?"

The Marshall gladly agrees, and he the Deputy and Shotgun return to the wagon to get her ready to depart..

"Hang on a moment Lootenent, just one small job to do first" says Shotgun.

As the Marshall and the Deputy look at each other quizzically, Shotgun climbs down, goes to the back of the wagon and then ties down the strongbox firmly..

"You can't be too careful" he says, as he climbs back on to the wagon and flicks the reins to get the horses moving..

Post Match Analysis:

Clay and the boys were SO close! I thought it was all over for them by turn 3 and then Jebb pulled it out of the hat and gave us the close result we got..

Yes I know the good guys could have shot the horses - but that wasn't going to happen - this is Hollywood for goodness sakes, and they were the good guys! 😁

A first for me - this entire scenario was generated from ChatGPT - all I asked for was "a simple Western skirmish scenario with two to three characters a side for the Ruthless ruleset" and it came up with this.. I don't think 'Ruthless' is well enough known for the AI to come up with the specific characterisations but it did have a go (from what I can tell I think AI was using 'Red, Dead, Redemption' instead) and the characterisations were mostly generic enough I could retrofit them to 'Ruthless'. Those that weren't generic enough I tweaked - in fact one of them, 'Commanding Presence', was so good that I may add it to 'Ruthless' permanently.

Butchers bill:

NB. This is missing the 'severe wound' Jebb picked up on the last move/turn.. oh, and he's a prisoner so in reality the Outlaws lost two...

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On my way to the pub the other day I had reason to pass one of the multitude of open green spaces in Portsmouth and happened to notice it was called "Ravelin Park" - aha, thought I - that'll be something to do with the Old Portsmouth fortifications that I bored you with last winter...

Time for some maps... we love a map...

Note the Park and the associated House and their proximity to Landport Terrace.. which allows us to locate the specific Ravelin the park is named for on the 1860 map as Landport Street and Terrace are indicated...

..so it was named after the "East Ravelin". The ravelin is long gone, but the clues remain - fascinating, eh, and another word added to the English/fortspeak dictionary..

Sunday, July 6

"Firing into the Brown" #85 - Top 10's, Cambers and stuff..

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update.. apologies - may be a bit short this week - the weather is monumentally good in the UK at the moment so not attuned to long hours in loft or in front of keyboard... 😏

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While out on Gertrude the other week I happened to find myself on the opposite side of the Camber to where the Camber Bastion would have been, and noticed something interesting.. well I thought it was anyway.. 😁

First some map'ery to orientate ourselves.. the gates are ringed as is the Camber Bastion our focus for today..

X marks the spot..

Photo was taken at X and looking across the basin to where the Bastion would have been... note Bridge Tavern (pub) off left - named for the bridge between this side and the other side where the Gate was...

Close up of what got my attention... look at that brickwork... smacks of original to me... quite exciting.. I do wonder if that is the pointed front edge of the old bastion..??

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I was sitting there the other day having written the blog about Forsyth dying, and thinking I'd really like to put together that top 10 of all time novels I mentioned.. for no other reason than that I like a list, and if you put up a list someone is bound to tell you "your talking out of your ear", "know nothing", "what abut x, y and z", etc etc.. and I like the feedback and hearing what other peoples choices are..

So here is version 1.. a work in progress... no rankings yet, as I'd like to get a list first..

'Wuthering Heights' - that Bronte girl was a story-teller...
'Pied Piper' - so many Nevil Shute books could go in the list but if I had to chose one this would be it
'Winter in Madrid' - CJ Sansom - set in Madrid at the end of the Civil War and when we were all holding our breath to find out whether Franco would come in to the war..
'Day of the Jackal' - Forsyth - for all the reasons previously mentioned but mostly because this was a genre defining book
'Captain Correlli's Mandolin' - Louis de Bernières - an absolute tour de force that I kick myself repeatedly for not having read sooner, and will read again soon..
'Lord of the Rings' - Tolkien of course - not fair you shout, as there are three books, so if I had to choose one it would be for the first one 'The Fellowship of the Ring'
Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian.. 21 books in all but if I had to pick one it would be 'The Reverse Of The Medal'.. the "off hats!" passage causes the eyes to go blurry every bloody time... utter genius..
'Secret Water' - Arthur Ransome - part of his 'Swallows and Amazons' series of which I could have chose any other book from, but I think on balance this is the one I liked the most, and which for me (among may others) started a life long love of sailing..
'Wolf Hall' - Hilary Mantel - part of the trilogy on Thomas Cromwell - what a stunning imagination she had... a close run thing with 'The Mirror and the Light' which I may still nominate instead..

....that'll do for now - more will come to me... (Pullman 'Dark Materials'?? Simenon's Maigret? Certainly but which one - he wrote 75! Dibden I think as Zen is a fantastic creation, but which one... 😁)

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Laters, as the young people are want to say...

Saturday, June 28

"Firing into the Brown" #84 - 3D, Orleans and stuff..

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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By way of a wrap up, and also because this is an amazing 3D mapping project by a very talented lady that (although a trifle "niche" 😁) needs to be seen by more people - the following puts the "Gates" mini project into an overall context..

Note the following we have visited on the blog (click for the post .. if you haven't had enough already 😏):

King James (or Point) Gate at 0.15 sec and 2.50 sec
Camber Bastion at 0.37 sec and 2.41 sec
Kings Bastion and the Spur Redoubt 0.54 sec
King William Gate 1.10 sec
Landport Gate 1.40 sec
Beestons Bastion 2.16 sec
King George (or Quay) Gate 2.37 sec

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Regimental Standard - Copyright: Kronoskaf

Another in the occasional "regiments of renown" series featuring the histories of various regiments painted in haste at the beginning of a project but which were not documented here for posterity.. so we come to French cavalry regiment "Orleans", part of my War of the Spanish Succession collection - this one was quite possibly the first French cavalry unit I painted for the project...

There is a very (very) good potted history of this regiment on the Kronoskaf WSS site (link below) so there's little point in me repeating the (huge amount of) good work completed there, but by way of a framework to hang some 'rabbit holes' on (and I do love a rabbit hole😏) the regiment was first raised in Piedmont (Italy) in 1630 by the Commander de Souvré. The regiment transferred into the French service in May 1635.

The regiment was serving in Flanders at the start of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13) and had three squadrons.

As is usually the case the regiment was named after their Colonel, the Duc d’Orléans , but in the field were commanded by these august gentlemen.. unusually (as I've found to now) there seems to be little or no information on these guys other than the tried and trusted information..

Duc de Orleans - Portrait by
Jean-Baptiste Santerre

from 1 May 1693: Jacques-Joseph Vipart, Marquis de Silly (a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit no less) -

Silly commanded a brigade of cavalry at Blenheim, comprising his own regiment, plus the Regiment de Montreval, the Regiment de St. Pouanges and the Regiment de Ligonday - about 500 men in all, in 9 squadrons..
from what little I have managed to find out about him "..he is said to have been of a haughty and arrogant disposition and after attaining the rank of Lieutenant Général des Armées du Roi he put an end to his life by throwing himself out of a window in a paroxysm of mortified ambition" (from the forward to the "Memoirs of Madame de Staal de Launay" a lady who had fancied him but not had her feelings returned, but despite that cast him in a more pleasant light than most seemed to.. 😏)
he was wounded, and taken prisoner at Blenheim and the regiment was then given to ..

from 25 December 1704 to 6 March 1719: Nicolas-Louis Grostête* de Jouy

apparently an outside choice for the command of the regiment, and someone who the Duc de Orleans had gone outside of the box to choose. From what I can tell the concerns were mainly due to Nicolas's lack of influence or seniority in terms of aristocracy..
he was clearly able as he commanded the brigade after Silly's absence and on at least two occasions was trusted to take them on missions away from the army

*Grostête doesn't that translate as fat-head?? 😐

War service by year:

1701 in Flanders
1702 combat of Nijmegen
1703 siege and capture of Alt-Breisach; Siege of Landau; Combat of Speyerbach
1704 Battle of Blenheim
1705 in Alsace being brought back up to strength
1706 operations on the Rhine.
1707 transferred to Flanders
1708 Battle of Oudenarde
1709 Battle of Malplaquet
1711 Combat of Arleux
1712 Battle of Denain; siege and recapture of Douai; Siege and recapture of Le Quesnoy; Siege and recapture of Bouchain.
1713 transferred to the Rhine; capture of Landau and Freiburg.

These are Dixon's and painted and based by me some time pre-2006, and as I say probably one of the first regiments I painted - I have a curious antipathy towards flags for my cavalry units - so there isn't one.. 😏

Saturday, June 21

"Firing into the Brown" #83 - last of the gates and stuff..

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update.. too damn hot in the loft so time to get out on Gertrude

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...and so we come to the very last of the four gates that allowed access to the old/original Portsmouth, and also, alas, to the end of this most enjoyable little mini local history project.. it's been great fun.. be quite sad to see the end of it, but I don't doubt the odd rabbit hole will present itself going forward.. 😏

So the last gate, the King William's Gate, is also the last in other ways actually - as it was the last of the four gates to be built, not being completed until 1834 - and having built it, it was demolished with the rest of the fortifications only 40 years later (1876'ish)

Starting with a map to orientate ourselves:

The gate is ringed - you'll note that it was protected by it's own ravelin (long long gone and no signs of it now) and was in the southern quarter of the old town - adjacent to Kings Bastion (which we have been to already [clicky]). Note also the Guard House just inside the gate..

Some period pictures and photo's.. no date on the following, but it shows the outer face of what was clearly quite a utilitarian gate, no monographs, balls, crowns, entablature (still like that word!) or globes, and not a bit of gilding to be seen. A veritable "Tesco Blue stripe" kind of a gate... 😏

..the one following shows the view into the town, I suspect not long after the gate was demolished - it's not clear but that looks like rubble on the slope just in front of the guard house (left centre - two chimney pots) previously mentioned, which is also now visible..

There's a tiny picture in the "further reading" link, but I thought this painting of the inner side of the gate was good.. I suspect it is of the time, but unfortunately there is no dating information.. again - note the guardhouse, but also note the railings.. 😁

...and here's the gatehouse (following) as of yesterday.. the actual gate and wall would be left of picture.. note also the fences which may be original - it's a school playing field now but it's also the grounds for the Royal Garrison Church..

...the line of the old fortifications.. this footpath runs directly to Kings Bastion and would have followed the line..

..following - the bit on the side is clearly newer.. I think the inside of the wall and gate would have butted up to the wall the alarm is on..

..following - the other end of the footpath, wonder whether some of those stones have been re-used from the demolition of the original walls? The plaque by the way, is a remembrance of a previous noteworthy's favourite horse...

...and last of all a view to what would have been the inside of the gate 150 odd years ago...

Last of all though I'll leaved you with this one, which is a cracker... click to embigen.. we've visited the volunteer reviews before [clicky]


	"The Volunteer Review at Portsmouth: The Defending Force Concentrating at King William's Gate UK 1869" - Illustrated London News

Saturday, June 7

"Firing into the Brown" #81 - Camber Bastion, Orkney's and stuff...

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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Whilst getting the pictures for the post on the King George (or Quay) Gate the other week I happened to notice this on the side of a very new shed like building on the estate between where the Quay and King James Gates would have been..

...and then I noticed this on the side ..

..by way of orientation - the bastion would have been here - the year dates it to the de Gomme fortifications.. the positions of the two gates are highlighted..

..this picture following is from that post on the King George/Quay Gate.. the bastion would have been just out of picture on the left..

The Inner Camber - the King James Gate location is off to the left behind the row of houses/flats in the distance - best guess the two pointy roofed one's.. the front face of the King George or Quay Gate would have been behind me..

...and then I found this in the British Museum Online Gallery

"A VIEW of the NEW MAGAZINE on ye CAMBER at PORTSMOUTH as taken from ye POINT GATE Ano 1716"

Two things about that picture... first, the "Point" gate they refer to in the inscription would have been the King James Gate, the engraving pre-dates the King George (or Quay) Gate by about 18 years, but the Elizabethan sally port/arch would have been up there near the fences top left (behind the boat), and second, the monogram that kicked off this little rabbit hole can be seen next to the square opening in the camber outer face.. 😊

So.. built in 1687, it was basically a triangular limestone gun platform which projected into the Camber - by the early 1700s the garrison magazine was built in to the landward end of the bastion (I think that's the large square building in the engraving) but that became redundant by the middle of the 1700s when it was relocated further out of the city (I suspect the citizens of Pompey would have been quite happy about that - it would have made a big bang if it had gone off! 😁).

By 1865 the bastion was in use as the garrisons out-pensioners* establishment (which would have saved it from the general demolishment of the walls going on at the time) but was then redeveloped as a military hospital which remained in use until the early 1900s. The bastion was eventually demolished in about 1935 which may explain why we still have those monograms..

History's all around us.. 😀

* now here's a thing I didn't know.. historically, all British Army pensions were administered by the Royal Hospital Chelsea, any veterans in receipt of this payment were known as Out-Pensioners but those accepted for admission to the actual Royal Hospital surrendered this payment and were known as In-Pensioners.

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George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney - Colonel
of the regiment from 1692 to 1737!

Another in the occasional "regiments of renown" series featuring the histories of various regiments painted in haste at the beginning of a project but which were not documented here for posterity.. so we come to British infantry regiment "Lord Orkney’s Regiment of Foot", part of my War of the Spanish Succession collection

There is a very (very) good potted history of this regiment on the Kronoskaf WSS site (link below) so there's little point in me repeating the (huge amount of) good work completed there (and there really is, it's one of the most comprehensive regimental histories I've seen on this excellent site), but by way of a framework to hang some 'rabbit holes' on (and I do love a rabbit hole😏) the regiment was first raised for French service* by a Royal Warrant dated March 1633 awarded to Sir John Hepburn, who was their first colonel. They were known in French as “Regiment d’Hebron” and at one time numbered almost 8,000 men!

*(Charles had married Henrietta Maria, a princess of the French Royal family, in 1625, and the marriage treaty that was signed with it meant a fair few British military resources were then loaned to the French King to be used in his wars against the Spanish)

The formation date certainly makes this one of, if not the, oldest regiments of the line in the British Army. It then existed in its own right (as the 1st Foot after the organisation of 1751) right up until 2006, when it amalgamated with a number of other Scottish regiments to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland - which may explain why their nickname in the British Army is "Pontius Pilates Guard" 😁

Seniority is more complicated (as you'd expect it's a fairly touchy subject!) but I think they would be ranked as the most senior of the foot regiments of the British army, just behind the Guard regiments who differentiate, and are senior, by the fact they are.. errr.. Guards.. 😏

Cutting to the chase... during the War of the Spanish Succession it's fair to say they had a busy war, not the least, serving in all four of the major engagements..

Sir John Hepburn

1701, one of the first thirteen British battalions (or rather in there case two, as uniquely the regiment sent both battalions to the war - most regiments would have kept one back as a training cadre and source for reinforcements) William III sends to assist the Dutch Republic in support of the Treaty of The Hague
1702

siege of Kaiserwerth and then the regiment along with the Foot Guards and other British units formed the rear guard during a French relief attempt
siege of Venlo
one battalion of the regiment was detached for the siege of Stevensweert
siege of Liège

1703

first battalion of the regiment brigaded with the Foot Guards and the regiments of Stewart, Howe, Ingoldsby, and Marlborough, under Brigadier -General Withers
second battalion and the regiments of North and Grey, Derby, Row, and Ferguson, under Brigadier-General the Earl of Derby.

1704

part of Marlborough's march to the Danube,
Battle of the Schellenberg where they charged three times before storming the Bavarian entrenchments.
siege of Ingoldstadt
Battle of Blenheim
siege of Landau.

1705

recruits from Scotland
first battalion siege of Huy
part of the force to attack the fortified lines of the French

1706

Battle of Ramillies where it was initially deployed near the right of the first line, on the heights of Foulz
sieges and captures of Dendermonde, Ostend and Menin.
one battalion of the regiment was detached for the siege of Ath

1707

first battalion was brigaded with the Foot Guards, Godfrey's Foot and Sabine's Foot under Brigadier-General Meredith
second battalion was brigaded with Webb's Foot, Ingoldsby's Foot, Tatton's Foot and Temple's Foot under the command of Brigadier-General Sir Richard Temple.

1708

following the threat of a possible French invasion of Britain the regiment with several others was ordered to return to England. Following the failed invasion attempt the regiment was sent back to Flanders.
Battle of Oudenarde, where it formed part of the division commanded by the Duke of Argyle.
siege of Lille
part of the force which advanced to relieve the French siege of Bruxelles
siege of Ghent where a detachment of the regiment formed part of the forlorn-hope

1709

more recruits from Scotland
siege of Tournai
battle of Malplaquet, in the division commanded by General Count Lottum, engaged in the assault of the entrenchments in the wood of Taisnière.
siege and capture of Mons

1710,

siege Douai
siege of Béthune
siege of Aire

1711

siege of Bouchain

1712

siege of Quesnoy
preparatory to a general treaty of peace, the agreed to deliver the city of Dunkerque into the hands of the British as a pledge of his sincerity The regiment was part of the garrison and remained in the city nearly two years.

1713, a treaty of peace having been concluded at Utrecht, the British troops were ordered to return from Flanders.
1714 went into garrison at Portsmouth (I'm guessing Gosport? No evidence to suggest it was actually in Portsmouth itself) and Plymouth.

These are Dixon's and painted and based by me some time pre-2006, probably one of the first regiments I painted - the flag is new as of this post [clicky - thanks again for your work David!] as the old one was decidedly battle damaged.. 😏

I chose to depict them with blue facings (which I think they were got at the end of the 17th C) but most pictures/references for the period still show them in the older grey/white facings..

R.J. Marrion’s illustration of a man of Orkney’s Regiment of Foot (from the Charles Grant book cover).

Further Sources:

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"Laters", as the young people are want to say...