Napoleonic Goodness

I took a chance the other day and ordered these two books from eBay for £25. Well, I wasn’t disappointed as they are amazing. Napoleonic gaming is a mine field of uniforms that seem to change after 1812 and are a myriad of colours. These books cover all the countries involved and are a must for painters and modellers.

I know I am coming very late to this party but this post might be helpful for players new to the era. I imagine most seasoned gamers will be well aware of these tomes of goodness. 

There are lots of these books on eBay, but beware of the green coloured versions, they are written in French.

The illustrations have a nice charm to them while at the same time being very clear and informative.

There are loads of nice group shots that show the variety of uniforms for the units I had been wondering about the differences in British dragoons and Dragoon guards at Waterloo. A nice group shot answered my questions. 

At £12.50 each these big books are well worth it, also on eBay you might even get them for less.

 Yellow covers written in English, green covers are written in French… an important note to remember.

Zulu game

The second tussle of the afternoon was a 20mm ‘The Men who would be Kings’ Zulu game. Again I had never actually played the rules so this was great fun. I was shocked by the speed of the zulus. Their double move made them cavalry like as they swept across the terrain. The game was based on the battle of Isandlwana and the same outcome was achieved.

Although I started this project in 28mm for the same set of rules, I can really see the benefit of doing it in 20mm. The masses of Zulus looked great as did the British companies in formation. Also a lot more figures could be used on the limited table space.

My little Hales rocket battery that I had created for my friend was soon engulfed and silenced. Even though I was on the opposite side, I really wanted it to do some damage. However, much like real life, it was swept away. Another fun game with a completely different pace to it.
 

At least this time I was on the winning side!

Donny Brook

I had a great day today actually playing some war games… yes an actual game. I was kindly invited along for a Sunday games day with some old Re-enacting buddies. 

The first game of the afternoon was a game of Donny Brook, a game I have heard many good things about but never played. I opted to play the Town Militia as I was sitting near the town. They were a motley lot of pitch folks and scythes but did have one unit of musketeers, who actually caused the enemy pirates a lot of grief. A tall dark stranger lead them on his horse.

As the first pirate ship pulled into dock they were met with a splattering of shot.

The motley mob of scythes ran to guard a bridge while the musketeers ran to the docks.

 The game involved a force of Cultists carrying a casket from one side of the map to the other, across a river and down to the docks. Once at the docks the pirate force would whisk it away. My poor militia were caught between the two. There was also a force of government troops who were on my side, but they were too far away to aid my poor yeomen..

To the south of the town the armed militia had more success. A steady musketry was kept up on the approaching vessels, causing several pirates to plunge into the dockside.

Cultist horseman charge the bridge after their leader paralysis’s my militia with fear. His mere presence rooted my guys to the spot, they couldn’t even fight back, they became wheat to the horseman’s blades. A few escaped but were again taken by the black fear and froze.

The Cultists pour across the vacant bridge carrying their dark mysterious casket with them.

In my force was also a poacher who was a crack shot. The very first round of combat he took down a pirate with his fouling piece. He had more luck than most, taking down a couple of others. His luck ran out though when he met a pirate captain in hand to hand combat. Although the fight went on for a while he was eventually knocked to the ground unconscious. He was despatched soon after.

Needless to say the militia failed to stop the casket from getting through to the pirates and the day was lost. 

It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the kind of role play element to the game. Also seeing all the seventeenth Century figures on the table was great. Loads of character in the forces, did I mention the ghoul…
 

Bonny Blue Flag update

 I came across this excellent review on another blog by a guy called Norm. It is very well written and observed and very useful. I learned a lot from reading it and I thought I knew the rules well.

 Turns out I had the 10% rule wrong, so if you are interested in the Bonny Blue Flag rules… read this review.

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2021/05/bonnie-blue-flag-acw-rules.html?showComment=1631963406408&m=1#c7677718623969395160

 Above is another interesting article concerning BBF, it shows part of a giant Napoleonic game, the battle of Dresden. This was posted by a guy called Olicana on the ‘League of Gentlemen’ website. The actual battle was played on four tables between 12-15 players over a two day period. This shows the rules can handle big battles and multiple opponents with ease. 

I have been giving some thought lately to turning the ACW rules as written into a Napoleonic set as I know they work well for that era too. They could be used as written to be honest with the fighting Confederate cavalry +10 on the melee table, being used for Napoleonic heavy cavalry. This would show their shock in close combat, the lesser +5 for Union cavalry, could be used for the lighter branches of horse like hussars. Forming and fighting in squares ( the only thing not in the ACW rule set to be fair) I could probably lift from Kevin’s other game ‘Up the Nile’. If someone already has a copy of these Napoleonic house rules, please leave a comment. I’d love to get my hands on one and see the alterations used for the period, many thanks Simon.

Red in Tooth and Claw, Wolf Riders!

Finished painting the heavy goblin cavalry tonight, so thought a group shot was in order. These have all been brushed over with Army Painter Dark tone stain from the tin. It drys quicker than the Strong tone but I still left it 24 hours to be safe.

Flori went to check the East gate and was never seen again. I wonder what happened to him? I’m sure he’ll show his face sooner or later.

This latest batch will be classed as heavy riders in Oathmark.To help this look I built them up with green stuff and gave them big shields. This should contrast with the smaller spear and bow armed riders.

To give a sense of a big pack of animals I placed smaller wolves here and there on the bases.

This guy is the leader of the whole lot. To help his leader look I chose the biggest Wolf in the collection and then beefed it up with green stuff. I also stacked on the green stuff to bulk out the cheiftain too. His axe is from a GW beast man.

This cheiftain has an eye for collecting heads, this is reflected in his standard. I think the smaller wolf is hoping for table scraps.

Five units of five riders for Oathmark.

An old GW plastic goblin head was used to create a couple of  larger Uruk warriors.

Smaller scout riders, armed with more ranged weapons.

 

Troll hide created by different sized pens and pencils. This was painted in a blue colour to match my trolls.