I’ve collected together some interesting Shako I ideas from other people. I’ve reproduced them here mainly so I don’t have to go hunting for them again.
Napoleonic Wars
In the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1803) and closely related Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) France faced successive coalitions of European states. In the Revolutionary Wars France expanded its control to the Low Countries, Italy, and the Rhineland. Napoleon built upon this and conquered much of Europe. However French success unravelled quickly after Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia (1812). The Napoleonic Wars ended with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo (18 Jun 1815). The wars depended on extremely high numbers of soldiers, recruited by modern mass conscription. My main interest is the grim contest between France and Spain (plus allies) in the Peninsular War (1808-1814).
Basing for Arty Conliffe’s Shako
Shako permits any basing system but recommends a few. I’ve gone for something slightly different to be consistent with my Shako Basing for the First Carlist War and Basing for the Liberators Quick Play Rules.(for the Chilean Campaign 1817-18) so I can do some mixing and matching of figures and/or rules.
Steven’s Peninsular Spanish Army
A few snaps of my Spanish army for the Peninsular War. Nominally they are for my Albuera Project and specifically the Spanish Units at Albuera.
Joaquin Blake Wargaming Project for the Peninsular War
I wanted to build some Peninsular War Armies for Shako based on a historical Order of Battle. And to my way of thinking you can’t do the Peninsular justice without a Spanish army.
Jose San Martin Wargaming Project for the Peninsular War
I wanted to build some Peninsular War Armies for Shako based on a historical Order of Battle. For the French army I wanted mostly French troops as the allies could form Bonus Selections. And to my way of thinking you can’t do the Peninsular justice without a Spanish army.
British Shipments to Spain during the Peninsular War
Britain sent a lot of uniforms to Spain during the Peninsular War. Some Spanish divisions were wholly equipped by Britain. In 1809-10 the uniforms were dark blue, sky blue, grey, and white (Chartrand, 1999a). By 1811 the uniforms were exclusively blue; sky blue predominated at the start but dark blue quickly took over. It was on 12 Dec 1811 that the so called “English” uniform became the national uniform.
Peninsular War Painting Guide: British Allies
A rough guide to painting British Allies that served during the Peninsular War – at least those that had unique uniforms. Those allies that served in British uniform are covered by the British Foot painting guide.
Peninsular War Painting Guide: Spanish Infantry
The Spanish Infantry uniforms basically went through four styles, with a constant ragged Campaign option. It is possible that all uniform styles were worn in the same army at the same time.
Peninsular War Painting Guide: Spanish Cavalry
This painting guide covers the Spanish Cavalry of the Peninsular War:
Rules for Naval Warfare from 1500 to 1850
My father, Gary Thomas, has always loved Naval warfare and hand crafted ships for both the Armada and Nelson periods. Although he has long since given up table top gaming and moved to computer games, in fond memory of those 1:1200 scale ships I thought I’d type up his rules. I have slightly edited the text, but the rule mechanisms remain unchanged.
Shako Orders of Battle for Albuera
Shako offers a default orders of battle for the Peninsular and Fields of Glory (FOG) – the Shako scenario book as opposed to the rules – has some Peninsular scenarios, including Albuera. I thought it would be interesting to compare these to each other and to the Historical Order of Battle.
Albuera Wargaming Project for the Peninsular War
I wanted to build some Peninsular War Armies for Shako based on a historical Order of Battle. The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) seems a reasonable starting point or perhaps finale since it requires three armies: Spanish, Anglo-Portuguese, and French. The two overall commanders (Beresford and Soult) were competent and several significant others were also present including Joaquín Blake y Joyes who commanded the Spanish, José de San Martin who was one of the famous Liberators in the South American Wars of Liberation , and José de Zayas who was arguably the best of the Spanish divisional commanders during the entire war. The French and Anglo-Portuguese are roughly the same numbers (ignoring the Spanish). The orders of battle are close to those in pick up lists for Shako.