Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The Young Guard

 Having a friend who is collecting Prussians and researching Waterloo has given me a burst of life to start on a new french unit. I have researching the young guard for a while and so decided to create a unit of Tirailleurs to stop him in his tracks. In 2004 I bought a load of front rank figures to create some Young Guard, they have sat hidden away for years until now. the models are old by Front Rank standards and have been removed and up dated by now. There has been more great reference books released since I first started to look at the units which has helped a lot in researching them.

I've discovered that the Tirailleurs were given red epaulets for the Waterloo campaign. I had bought a lot of line Voltigeurs back in 2004 to convert, thinking it would be a simple painting conversion. However after a little thought I started to model some epaulets out of greenstuff. it was a lot easier than I thought and I realized doing the complete unit would be fun and also a one off. I will also look to increasing the size of the pompoms too. The great coat colour has caused all kinds of confusion. I have decided to paint most in grey and browns with just a few in light Blue. That way I've covered all the options.
The new releases from Calpe Miniatures have got me thinking about replacing my regimental command with some better figures, including the colour guard etc. I imagine that now calpe are doing French It's alright for front Rank to start doing Prussians.
The new Front Rank prussians do look good and can be bought in Regiments which is very handy, ear marked for the future I think.

Games day

 My re-enactment group organised a wargames day this weekend. I was like a boy in a candy shop, It was great for me to see other peoples work and look at new figures and try new games. These pictures are taken from a game of Muskets and Tomahawks. I really enjoyed the game partly because it gave me a chance to use all of the ACW scenery I made last year. The rail fences and corn fields really helped to top off the look of the game.
 Another great thing about the day was seeing these gaming mats, I had read a lot about them but It was good to actually see them close up, very effective I thought. They really help to work out soft cover and hills can be added by putting objects underneath the cloth. As soon as I get a little more money in the bank I will be tempted to get one. The one below is from a ACW scenario by Cigar Box Miniatures.
 A lovely era to wargame with loads of great scenery to use in setting the atmosphere. If I didn't have a to do list as long as my arm I might be tempted to collect some units. Must stay strong now and look away.
Another game I got to play was regimental Fire and Fury, I have been itching to play this game for two years now so arranged a game. It played differently from how I had imagined and we used 10mm figures. These seemed tiny to my big 28mm eyes but i could see the attraction , the units actually looked like real regiments with the dense formation of numbers. I have to admit I released quite early on that i had maybe chosen the wrong scale to game it in when I started to look at the immense army lists.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Painting Again

Last night I actually stole some time and did a bit of painting, it felt bloody great, still feeling the benefit today. Some water has been put back into the well!
I have so many things going on on my dusty old table that It's hard to think straight, last night I thought I would just dive in and start to clear some of those units that have been hanging around for a while.

 Researching Wargs again on my phone on the long trip back from London I was full of inspiration and ready to go when I finally got home. Wolves and Wargs for the Battle of the Five Armies are a joy to paint as they are basically all dry brushing and can be finished quite quickly. I'm glad to say I managed to complete all of the vicious beasts and even had time to do a ECW trooper too. Those little puppies have been snapping at my heels for months now.

Recently I have had no inspiration to pick up the brush, with working long hours drawing all day, my eyes are burnt out when I get in around 9ish at night, all I want to do is flop down in front of the TV and turn my brain off. I always end up watching other people paint figures on YouTube which seems a little odd.
I think one big thing I did recently which has helped, I bought a painting tray thingy from Games Workshop a few months ago. It really helps being able to grab it and take it into the living room and do a bit of painting while still being sociable, not disappearing into my man cave for two hours.

The man cave

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Victory without Quarter 'Trotters'


A squadron of 'Trotters' pause to work out how to engage. Thanks to some kind members of this Blog I have figured out what to do when the situation arises again.

Trotters can either stop and fire with one unit card activation...or they can charge home with a card activation. They can't do both in the same turn.

I my game my unit pulled up to a halt and fired their pistols at short range, I couldn't see how to engage them after that. On their next activation card or officer card they could of attempted to charge home or fire again. As the melee damage (3D6) is greater than the pistol damage (2D6) it would make sense to rush them into close combat.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Internet Standards


Test Game of Victory without Quarter

 Having read the rules three times I thought I would give them a run through using some units.

My wife was up for rolling some dice and then decided to take a general's roll. It was slow going at first as I waded through the simple rules trying to remember everything I had read. My wife not being a war gamer at heart thought this process was to slow and a bit boring as you can imagine. However once the units started to get closer and shoot at each other, things started to get better.

I did loads of things wrong it appears but by the end of the game I had learnt quite a bit and put a lot of that reading into practice. I didn't have the officer's roll right, when their card came up I had them just giving everyone orders so they one knew what they were doing in their card activation. It turns out officers can give a unit in their command radius an extra command which they carry out straight away like shooting or movement etc. This would have made the game a lot more action packed and more fast moving, that would have pleased the parliamentarian general a lot.

Also thanks to some kind comments on this blog and reading through a lot of other blogs I have worked out how the Event card works. My game was too small for one but I like the idea a lot. Also My General was targeted by artillery which led to me being a little confused on how to handle that, It turns out best leave the artillery shots to actual units and not small groups of men riding around shouting.

There is a rule that had me scratching my head a little and that was the combat involving Trotters vs Gallopers. Trotters charge up to the enemy but stop eight inches away and fire their pistols. (2 D6 per base) This is very in keeping, but my question is do they ever close to combat with sword (3D6) and if so when . It lead to a strange stand off when Gallopers drew up short and just stood there getting shot. I reread the rules trying to work this out but so far have not found how trotters can close. Maybe it's a case of rolling a morale check after they have fired and sending them in if they pass. Don't know still trying to work this on out.
 Above a Royalist blew coated regiment shuffles forward with lowered pikes, in the distance a Roundhead yellow coated Regiment moves to intercept.
 Purple coated cavalry charge across the field towards the parliamentarian line. Crossing the field of fire of their own cannon. playing these rules was a joy once things started to slot into place, my favourite thing was how the regiments fired at each other and very gradually started to take damage. My wife was a little annoyed at how ineffective the shooting was but I thought it was spot on. Lots of smoke and noise but not a lot of men going down. Very realistic I thought, of course when the units got closer more men started to drop.
 I also liked the way the units became shaken for a few rounds and then managed to pull themselves together. A great test game which I know both I and my Wife enjoyed, the fact she is related to Stonewall Jackson was not lost on me as I retreated with my tail between my legs. I really enjoyed this game even with all the mistakes, next I will create some paper units so we can have a bigger game with event cards.
I don't normally sell any of my wargames armies but in this rare case I am prepared to let these two armies go.
The Blew Regiment of foote £265, Roundhead Yellowcoated Regiment of Foote £200, cavalry units £180, cannon £26 and Generals £20. The paint work and colour schemes are minimal but very in vogue at the moment great for old style games. So don't hang around or you will lose a great bargain. if interested drop me line. Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry!

Friday, November 18, 2016

Basing idea for Victory without Quarter.

The top unit is the one from the rules, the bottom is my tweaked version, bulking out the regiment slightly by adding more men so that the figure count is around 25. My version has been inspired by the great looking units from Warfare Miniatures and their Lilly Banners regiments, units struggling under pressure. I always think of regiments in 28mm being around 24 figure mark, this probably coming from my old ACW regiments, I think 24 is a good number for a unit.

 Just WIP at the moment but exciting stuff and lots of food for thought. I need to get out more...

Thursday, November 17, 2016

More ECW Temptation

 Although I am loyally waiting for' The Pikeman's lament' that is released in January 2017, I have also been tempted by another set of ECW rules, 'Victory without Quarter' I down loaded the free PDF and I'm quite impressed.

 Unlike Pikeman's lament with VWQ you can field larger forces. I do like the idea of having different coat colours etc and the idea of doing dramatic bases is a real draw for me, a bit like my ACW bases with loads of drama as the unit struggles on the field. I may have to buy a few more causality packs. Pikeman's lament is more of a regimental skirmish game with each block of muskets and pike fighting as separate units.

My only slight worry with VWQ is that I like my armies to look like armies so I'm thinking of ways to increase the figure count in the regiments, maybe by making the bases bigger and adding 8 figures per base rather than 6 the regiment will look more substantial. However this may effect the shooting, not sure yet.
If anyone has played Victory without Quarter please let me know what you think of it, so far I like what I see.

Monday, November 07, 2016