A little drill manual

Some years ago my father purchased in auction a pocket drill manual for the British Army, published in 1805; 

An exposition of the nineteen manœuvres As ordered by his Majesty, to be performed at every inspection or review By every Regiment of Foot. Likewise of the exercise and manœuvres directed by His Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, for the practice of the light infantry and rifle corps. 

The wallet forming part of the binding contains: “twenty figures, representing the companies and half platoons of a battalion; by which the manœuvres of a battalion, or operations of a live way be easily practised in theory” (p. vi) Contents With errata. - With 3 p. of music, titled: Signals of the bugle. - Includes one folded leaf of plates. Binding information In a nineteenth century red goatskin wallet-style binding. 

After a bit of research on line I found the following link from the author, who frustratingly remains anonymous as 'A humble servant'.  Never the less it is an interesting article on the application of the Rules & Regulations.  Follow link here , (specifically page 261 and 262 refers to the publication of this little wallet manual).

Well done dad ! Having only just being reaquainted with this little book I will enjoy a good read of this !

Of course, it wouldn't do not to share some pictures !

progress... ? maybe...!

Well, I thought I would write an update if , for no other reason, to write something on my blog.

I have come to realize that it is a bit cold in my garage so my enthusiasm to finish my 'red battalion' has waned somewhat.  That said i have been planning my next stage.  I think for clarity it is worth putting some of my thoughts in blog, since my last post on where I want to go with my little project.

I have for many many years had a specific interest in British army drill of the early 19th century.  I have had the honour of drilling up to company strength military enthusiasts in the world of reenactment and it is from this experience that I have come to recognise the skill in the battalion, brigade and divisional commanders and so on; in the movement of men on the Napoleonic field of battle.

Kriegsspiel is a field I have taken a great interest and it is from this that I have taken inspiration in focusing the game of war at battalion level.

I want to see at a scale of 3mm a battalion in full being moved in formation on representative terrain in order to get a feel for the challenges faced by the battalion commander.

Specifically, I think these will be understanding the terrain, distances and timing. Akin to sailing a large oil tanker.  The ship movement must be planned well ahead to ensure that the formation arrives at its destination in order and at the right time.  If that makes sense !?

The challenge therefore is also doing this in the face of opposing forces and achieving the  target objectives assigned as part of the game play.

All too often i see Napoleonic wargames with clusters of infantry being manouvered around the table randomly at times and I feel that it doesn't really represent actual conditions or challenges faced.

Anyway , I have recently ordered john curry's recent book volume 2 on kriegsspiel the game of war for further background reading.  Follow link here.

I am also now thinking of the board.  I would like this to be transportable , a bit like the original concept. So, I am thinking of making tiles in the same fashion - plaster of paris painted accordingly as in the original kriegsspiel

More on that later ...