Hello. This is Huw Puw, reporting once again from the Republic of Cantref Cemaes for The Fish Guardian.
Despite ample woolly distractions, the military build-up continues unabated in the Republic of Cantref Cemaes. In particular, Major Mansel Davies’ workshops have been working day and night to produce armoured fighting vehicles the likes of which (and I am absolutely confident in this) the world has never seen before!
I can now exclusively reveal that the Army of the Repbulic of Cantref Cemaes has agreed to take part in a joint Welsh Nationalist expedition to the English-Welsh border and the Catrawd ‘Twm Carnabwth’ has been selected to fly the flag for Cemaes. The Daughters of Rebecca are of course overjoyed at the prospect of action; they’ve done nothing but shop for new outfits and get their hair done ever since the warning order was received.
The mood of the men is jubilant and all across the camp can be heard the stirring Battle-Hymn of the Republic of Cantref Cemaes, sung lustily by tough men, raised in the Welsh Baptist choral tradition (sung to the tune of ‘Oh When The Saints Go Marching In’):
Defaid Blewog!
Defaid Blewog!
O mae defaid blewog yn wych!
Eu bod yn wyn, Cymraeg a blewog,
O mae defaid blewog yn wych!
Yes, it can truly be said that the King’s Army REALLY has no idea what’s about to hit them! I look forward to seeing the Catrawd ‘Twm Carnabwth’ in action… If only to see what they’ll do next…
Our photographer has taken some more pictures of the regiment training and showing off their newly-acquired vehicles and heavy weapons. Here we see the Buddig Mk I armoured lorry, suitably festooned in patriotic slogans:
The Buddig (named for the ancient British warrior-queen Boudica) has a crew of two and can carry a full section of infantry in extreme discomfort.
Here we see the Corgi Mk I armoured car, which has apparently been named for the tenacious Pembrokeshire breed of cattle-dog. I presume there must be some other sort of Corgi, as ‘tenacious’ doesn’t accurately describe my aunties’ overweight, malodorous, self-propelled furry draught-excluders:
The Corgi has a crew of two and cargo-space for four men or eight sheep and is armed with a Vickers machine gun.
Here we see Mansel Davies’ Llanfyrnach Armoured Company on exercise:
Mansel Davies’ workshops have also been producing heavy weapons for the Army of Cantref Cemaes, including this 2-inch calibre light mortar. This remarkable weapon acts as the platoon commander’s own ‘pocket artillery’, though has a poor reputation for safety. I have it on good authority that one round in every box of six detonates in the barrel… The crews have therefore been ordered not to fire every sixth round, which I’m sure you will agree, is a sensible precaution. The mortar crewman here, assigned to the Daughters of Rebecca, is apparently wearing one of his Mam’s aprons.
As the regiment will be operating in concert (well not so much a concert, more of a drunken sing-song down at the pub (but not on a Sunday, obviously)) with other Welsh Nationalist units who might not recognise the flag of Cantref Cemaes, they have been issued with a flag displaying Y Draig Goch (The Red Dragon), to emphasise the common cause of all Welsh Nationalist factions on this mission. They seem to like it, but to be honest, the dragon looks a bit like he’s woken up in the dark and is looking for the tŷ bach…
Some machine-gunners zero the sights on their newly-issued Lewis Gun:
Mansel Davies’ workshops have been set to work copying captured weapons and manufacturing them locally. These men have been equipped with a locally-produced ‘Boyos’ Anti-Tank Rifle:
So that’s it. We march tomorrow. My letters to the editor requesting a recall to Fishguard have gone unanswered and so this is it. This is Huw Puw, for the Fish Guardian, signing off for probably the last time.
[Models by Empress Miniatures and Musketeer Miniatures, painted by me]
Hello. This is Huw Puw reporting from Christ Knows Where for The Fish Guardian.
Insurrection is all very well, but why the transvestism?! Once again, the excuse for all this cross-dressing lies in tradition.
(Right) The modern-day ‘Rebecca’ is well-known raconteur and descendant of Twm Carnabwth from Mynachlog-Ddu, otherwise known as Eurfryn Plasymeibion. ‘Rebecca’ wears a very smart mink coat, as befitting of an officer:
My editor last week asked me to ’embed’ myself with the ‘Twm Carnabwth’ Regiment of the Army of the Republic of Cantref Cemaes. Needless to say, I was shocked at such a suggestion. God knows I’ve prostituted myself for a story before, but never with an entire regiment! In any case, my bara-brith isn’t buttered on that side (and for that matter, neither is that of the Cemaes soldiery, as many a jealous Preseli hill-farmer can attest)…
So without further ado, I was bundled into a waiting car and whisked away out of Fishguard, with the sound of my colleagues cheering me on my way. At least I think they were cheering me on my way…
As can be seen, the regiment is a fairly ragged spectacle, though they like their flags. The main flag seems to be the old arms of Cemaes (two red stripes on white), with a green stripe for a Free Wales. The 1st Regiment (‘Catrawd 1af’) is named for ‘Twm Carnabwth’, properly known as Thomas Rees, who was ‘Rebecca’ at the very first ‘Rebecca Riot’ in the Cemaes village of Efailwen, almost 100 years ago in 1839. The ‘Spirit of 1839’ runs deep in the memory of these people and many see the present war as simply a renewal of old grudges. Indeed, the elite ‘Cwmni Merched Beca’ (‘Daughters of Rebecca Company’) is said to dress in women’s clothing, as Rebecca and her sisters did in 1839.
Aside from occasional cross-dressing lunatics, the officers, NCOs and better-equipped soldiery wear Army-surplus uniforms dyed the typical bottle-green of the Welsh Nationalists. However, the majority wear civilian clothes or uniforms from a variety of sources – often with a green item such as a jacket, hat or scarf. Armbands in the Cemaes colours are fairly universal and those lucky enough to have helmets often paint them with a green band to aid recognition in the field.
As with uniforms, modern weapons are also in short supply. However, farmers’ shotguns are plentiful and ammunition is easy to manufacture.
Growing religious dissent, resentment of the land-owning classes, poverty and hunger during the late 18th and early 19th Centuries festered and came to a head in 1839, in the form of the ‘Rebecca Riots’. Led by the legendary ‘Rebecca’ (actually a man named Twm Carnabwth), bands of cross-dressing Welshmen rose up to smash the hated toll-gates. These riots started in the Cemaes village of Efailwen and quickly spread across 
With dissent in the blood, the people of Cemaes also hold little truck with the other Welsh Nationalist movements (particularly the more militaristic elements, such as the FWA and the 
However, the Republic is presently land-locked and therefore has little access to modern weaponry, ammunition and supplies other than what it manages to capture or trade at extortionate prices with neighbouring Welsh Nationalist factions. The Republic is therefore involved in a three-way race (with the FWA north of the Preselis and the Welsh Republic north of the River Teifi) to take the Royalist enclave of Cardigan and thus have access to seaborne trade and foreign support. Thus far, the three sides have maintained a united (though disorganised) front against the Royalists at Cardigan, though the situation has the potential to lead to conflict between these three Welsh Nationalist factions.
Among all this are continual raids and skirmishes with Loyalist forces along the Landsker, combined with the continual problems caused by refugees trickling north to Crymych from that ravaged country.
Aside from some British Army surplus, uniforms and proper military equipment remain rare and those uniforms that do exist are frequently home-made. As in other Welsh Nationalist forces, green remains a popular colour for uniforms and civilian dress alike, though the Army of Cantref Cemaes presents a very ragged spectacle. Nevertheless, armbands are universally worn as a field-sign, being in the traditional colours of Cantref-Cemaes; two horizontal red stripes on white. Some armbands have also been seen with a green stripe inserted between the two red stripes, representing their Welsh Nationalist affiliation. Flags are in the same colours.
As mentioned in my recent article on 
Pack 2 has six men with mixed weapons: an RPG-7 gunner & associated ammo-carrier (armed with AKM), a PKM machine-gunner & ammo-carrier (AKM), a rifle-grenadier armed with an AKM with a Wz. 1974 Pallad under-barrel 40mm grenade-launcher and an NCO armed with AKM.
So while this might only be a very small range of figures, everything you need to create a Cold War Polish infantry platoon or company is there and if you want to create a battalion, the only things missing are mortars (which in any case can be off-table in a game). It might be nice to have some more packs to increase pose variation or expand options such as AT-4 ‘Spigot’, AT-7 ‘Saxhorn’, mortars and artillery forward observers, but beggars can’t be choosers and this is a hugely welcome range of models!
One slightly surprising feature is that these models are cast in a strange, hard and very lightweight metal alloy and not the customary lead/tin alloy! Aluminium or zinc, perhaps? This does make them VERY difficult to clean up, as the metal is simply too hard for a scalpel to scrape off flash and mould-lines, so it was time for me to break out the snips and files! Thankfully, the casting is very clean and mould-lines are blessedly rare. The only other models I’ve encountered cast in such a hard metal were a long-forgotten range of fantasy figures called Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures (anyone here remember those? They did exquisite tournament knight sets… Anyway, I digress…). This means that the weapons are tough and resistant to bending, but probably rather more brittle than with lead-based metals (I haven’t tested this theory yet).
For the main Polish uniform colour, I use the same colour that I use for my Cold War West Germans and Canadians, namely Humbrol 116 (US Dark Green), highlighted with roughly a 2:1 mix of Humbrol 116 and white. Humbrol 116 is the colour used for the dark green component of 1980s US MERDC vehicle camouflage. A winter combat jacket in the same colour, with brown faux-fur collar (and a matching brown ushanka faux-fur hat with brass Polish eagle badge) was also issued.
a crescent-shaped shield (minus the royal trappings of pre-communist Poland). While these were originally stencilled on with white paint, they quickly faded and got rubbed down to near-invisibility, so can be left off or painted in more muted tones. However, I opted to paint the helmet-eagles in pure white in order to artificially ccentuate their ‘Polishness’. It’s not accurate, but it does look rather good (see the officer here on the right)… In any case, Polish helmets were normally covered in the field with scrim-netting and the modeller has done a superb job of modelling the scrim, which really pops out with a light khaki dry-brush.
Polish mechanised infantry sections were initially 10-12 men strong (sources disagree) and were mounted either in a 
The standard Polish infantry rifle was the 7.62mm 
In order to further increase platoon firepower, the third section in each Polish infantry platoon was issued with a Stepanov tripod mount for its PKM machine gun. The combination of the PKM and tripod was designated as the 
The rifle grenades partially made up for the lack of a suitable light anti-tank weapon (LAW) such as the Soviet 
Each Mechanised Infantry Regiment had three such battalions, plus a Tank Company and other combat support elements. However, some sources suggest that there was a move toward removing the Battalion layer of command and instead having large battalions designated as Regiments. This certainly occurred in the 6th Airborne and 7th Marine Divisions, where Regiments were downsized during the late 1970s, with each being reorganised as 5x Infantry Companies reporting directly to Regimental HQ (plus an Amphibious Tank Company in the case of the Marine Regiments). It isn’t clear if the Polish Mechanised Infantry Regiments and Tank Regiments were also reorganised in this manner, so more research is required!
Above: With an eye on the upcoming Waterloo Bicentennial, AB Figures had released a stunning Marshal Ney figure, which I HAD to get! Combined with AB’s ‘Superior Officer of Hussars’ figure (based on an Edouard Detaille painting) and a Carabinier command pack, he looks very much like the famous painting of Ney leading the massed French cavalry in the Waterloo Panorama painting (above).
Above: A close-up of Ney in profile. Tony Barton’s sculpting of Ney’s facial features is truly exquisite.
Above: Ney’s escort is provided by this officer and trumpeter of Carabiniers. The late-war Carabinier figures are among my favourite AB Napoleonics; the detail, from the rivets of the officer’s cuirass to the crowned ‘N’ on the front of the helmets, is truly astonishing.
Above: An anonymous cavalry corps commander (either Kellerman or Milhaud).
Above: Général de Division Charles Lefebvre-Desnöuettes commanded the Guard Light Cavalry Division in 1815. As former Commanding Officer of the Guard Chasseurs à Cheval, he is here depicted in that uniform. He may well have been wearing a simpler version of the uniform or even the standard blue General’s uniform, but he looks pretty magnifique in full Chasseur rig!
Above: Général de Division Jean-Jacques Desvaux de Saint-Maurice commanded the Artillery of the Imperial Guard at Waterloo. He had previously commanded the Horse Artillery of the Imperial Guard and as such, I’ve used a figure of a Guard Horse Artillery officer in full dress to depict him. In reality, he was probably wearing a regulation General officer’s uniform with aiguillette signifying his Guard status.
Above: An anonymous Général de Division of the Imperial Guard. His Guard status is indicated by the looped aiguillette on his right shoulder.
Above: An anonymous Général de Division of heavy cavalry.
Above: The Empress’ Dragoons of the Imperial Guard were the largest Guard heavy cavalry regiment present at Waterloo, serving as part of Guyot’s Guard Heavy Cavalry Division, alongside the Grenadiers à Cheval and the Gendarmes d’Elite.
Above: These beautiful new models have replaced a unique unit of Battle Honours Empress’ Dragoons that had never been released to the public. Tony Barton sculpted them just before Battle Honours self-destructed and for some reason they never became part of the AB figures range. As far as I’m aware, I have the only examples in existence, so I couldn’t throw them away and they now live in Martin Small’s collection.
Above: Another view of the Empress’ Dragoons. The flag is by Fighting 15s. I used to paint such things, but now not so much…
Above: The 2nd (‘Red’) Lancers of the Imperial Guard formed part of Lefebvre-Desnöuettes’ Guard Light Cavalry Division, alongside the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Guard and small remnants of the 1st (Polish) Lancers and Mamelukes of the Guard.
Above: In full dress, this regiment would also have worn tall white plumes, yellow cap-lines and red overall trousers with blue stripes. However, Tony Barton generally likes to sculpt Napoleonics in ‘field service’ dress – somewhere between full-dress grandeur and campaign dress scruffiness. Consequently I’ve painted these in blue field service trousers. That said, the trumpeter should really be wearing a sky blue coat for field service, but I do like the white…
Above: A rear shot of the Guard Lancers to show the cap-tops and equipment.
Above: The Horse Artillery of the Imperial Guard. Again, Tony Barton has sculpted these in ‘field service’ dress, retaining some elements of full dress, but lacking the full plumes, cap-lines, etc. In 1815 the Guard Horse Artillery were actually wearing their typical campaign rig, being a blue Chasseur-style coat with red distinctions, very much like that of the Horse Artillery of the Line, though with the unadorned fur colpack. My old Battle Honours Guard Horse Artillery were dressed in that style and I understand that AB Figures will shortly be releasing such figures (along with Mamelukes of the Guard).
Above: The 7th Cuirassiers, along with the 14th Cuirassiers, formed part of Travers’ Brigade, Wathier’s 13th Cavalry Division.
Above: The 10th Cuirassiers, resplendent in their pink facings… The 10th were grouped with the 5th Cuirassiers in Vial’s Brigade, which formed part of Delort’s 14th Cavalry Division.
Above: My first priority was a new Marshal Blücher figure.
Above: I was fairly well supplied with Prussian regular cavalry, but the 5th (Brandenburg) Dragoon Regiment was required.
Above: In addition to the regular Dragoons, I needed some ‘Landwehr’ (i.e. Militia) cavalry and the 1st 
Above: The 12th (2nd Brandenburg) Infantry Regiment (often referred to as simply the ‘Brandenburg Regiment’) was a regular (i.e. pre-1815) infantry regiment. However, as the most junior regular infantry regiment, this regiment was frequently at the back of the queue when it came to uniform and equipment and looked more like a Reserve Infantry Regiment in terms of dress.
Above: 
In 
Above: The Prince of Orange; commanding general of the Army of the United Netherlands and General Officer Commanding the Allied I Corps.
Above: I’ve rotated the model here to show the Prince’s Chief of Staff, General Constant Rebeque.
Above: I’ve rotated the model again to highlight the staff officer passing a packet of orders to a galloper from the Corps of Guides.
Above: The 2nd Netherlands Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Henri-Georges de Perponcher-Sedlnitzsky was spread across a very wide and precarious frontage in front of the Allied left flank at Waterloo. They have been unjustly maligned in virtually all subsequent British accounts of the battle, but recent research is thankfully restoring their reputation. It should of course be remembered that this division performed superbly two days before Waterloo at Quatre-Bras, where it was instrumental in delaying Marshal Ney’s advance.
Bijlandt’s Brigade (pictured here on the left) has been especially singled out for criticism, as it was positioned in an extremely exposed position in front of the main line and came in for particular attention from the French artillery during the opening phases of the battle and being rapidly broken by the fire. The Orange-Nassau Regiment (centre) and the 2nd Nassau Regiment (pictured on the right) together formed Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar’s Brigade and were spread among the hedgerows, gullies and walled farms (Papelotte, La Haye, Smohain and Frichermont) on the Allied left flank.
Above: The 7th (Belgian) Line Infantry Regiment. All Netherlands Line Infantry Regiments wore a standard uniform of dark blue with white facings. The Belgians were distinguished by having the Portuguese/British-style false-fronted shako, with cords and plumes coloured by company – white for the Centre Companies, red for the Grenadier Company and green for the Light Company. The Grenadier and Light Companies had blue & white striped ‘rolls’ on the shoulders.
Above: The 3rd Netherlands Division, commanded by Lieutenant General David-Hendrik Chassé, was initially stationed on the extreme right-rear flank of the Allied Army, covering the river crossings at Braine l’Alleud. With his centre in danger of collapse, Wellington brought this division in to reinforce the point at which the Imperial Guard were attacking and Chassé’s men were therefore instrumental (along with the British Guards and 52nd Light Infantry) in stopping and then pursuing the defeated Imperial Guard.
Above: The 12th (Dutch) Line Infantry Regiment. This unit represents D’Aubremé’s Brigade, which in full consisted of the 3rd (Belgian), 12th (Dutch) and 13th (Dutch) Line Infantry, the 36th (Belgian) Light Infantry and the 3rd & 10th (Dutch) Militia Regiments.
Above: The 35th (Belgian) Light Infantry Regiment. This regiment represents Detmers’ Brigade, which in full consisted of this regiment, plus the 2nd (Dutch) Line Infantry and the 4th, 6th, 17th and 19th (Dutch) Militia Regiments.
Above: The Netherlands Cavalry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Baron J A de Colläert, formed part of Lord Uxbridge’s Cavalry Reserve Corps. Pictured on the left are the 5th (Belgian) Light Dragoons, resplendent in their yellow-faced green coats and distinctive green shakos. This regiment represents Van Merlen’s 2nd Light Cavalry Brigade, which in reality also included the 6th (Dutch) Hussars.
Above: The 2nd (Belgian) Carabiniers formed part of Trip’s Heavy Cavalry Brigade, which also included the 1st (Dutch) & 3rd (Dutch) Carabiniers.
Above: Only the 2nd (Belgian) Carabinier Regiment wore the magnificent crested helmets shown here; the two Dutch regiments wore the same style of uniform, but were still wearing old-fashioned cocked hats.
Above: A rear view of the 2nd Carabiniers. The similarity to French Cuirassiers is very apparent and many of the officers and men had indeed been ‘French’ Cuirassiers until the previous year! However, they didn’t wear cuirasses and instead wore rolled cloaks en bandolier as protection against sword-cuts (indeed, at least one French Cuirassier Regiment was also dressed in this fashion in 1815, making the similarity even closer).
Above: Instead of a specific general officer figure, I’ve used a Dutch Carabiner officer figure to represent General Trip. He is dressed in the pink facings of the 3rd Carabiniers. The 1st Carabiniers had yellow facings. Both the 1st and 3rd Carabiniers wore white-plumed cocked hats.
Above: Netherlands Horse Artillery open fire on the enemy. There were two full horse batteries – Bijleveld’s Battery was assigned to 2nd Division, while Krahmer de Bichin’s Battery was assigned to 3rd Division. The Cavalry Division has two half-batteries: Petter’s and Van Pitius’. All were equipped with ex-French 6pdrs.