Promotion

My camera issue could be about to be solved as a result of a  positive turn of events personally,  as I am now General Manager at work.. This position will take a lot more hours and responsibility and painting time will suffer so I need to PAINT PAINT PAINT like crazy until it really kicks in.  As I now also get a state of the art mobile phone :) I'm going to ensure it has a state of the art camera and viola ! all my problems are solved.
 
On the 15th of January I said I would paint the following figures and aim to have it completed in 2-3 weeks. Rather ambitious as I had several nights off but I have made stead progress over the last 11 or so days.

• 96 Hinchcliffe Saxons(Reg du Roi, Reg Von Low, Reg Prince Max, Reg Prince Auguste)
  
  • 14 Perry French Hussars (10th Hussars)
  • 24 Minifig French Legere (8th Legere Regiment)
  • 24 Hotspur French Line. (84th Line Regiment)
  • 24 1/72 Confederate Cavalry
  • 15 or so 28mm casualties.

 The results:

1. 72 Hinchcliffe figures are re-painted\touched up  (24 yet to be based as I ran out of bases and replacements are due) and only have to have the standards attached. One lot of 24 figures left to do.
2. 24 Minifig French Legere (8th Legere Regiment) and 24 Hotspur French Line. (84th Line Regiment) have undergone their base coats and tonight will hopefully see them almost completed.
3. I have painted the horses of the 12 1/72 confederate cavalry for some variety to painting and I hope to have these done in time.
4. Some 15mm British Foot artillery have snuck into the list too and are half done.

And some tinkering with my 1/72 Confederates which will most likely be my next project (after the project in between of course) or I'll give my 1/72 SYW figures a finish. After toiling with 25/28mm figures I like to get stuck onto 1/72 as they are so easy to paint (being so small).

Solo campaign map styles

Hi,

I have been pondering a bit on solo campaigns I plan to run. I have done a few so far but the are mostly very simple. Simple is good but I want to try something a little more complex

The period isn't set as I am just conducting a paper exercise on what map and type of map movement is needed.


Piquet - Theatre of War style.

Each grid is an area of terrain that effects the table top battle (rolled randomly). The type of square indicates the number of impetus needed to enter it (impetus is rolled for randomly) and the ability to move is determined by cards (eg: to move into brown you need to draw a card Move in rough terrain AND also have the 6 impetus needed to go into it).

The random nature of the above map is the direction I am leaning for. The card and impetus make solo gaming quite appealing as it increases the fog of war and inability to move the forces wherever they want . Its very bland and cold and gives no detail as to the local area - I might adjust this grid and simply overlay it over an existing map so at least the square movement can work but I get to see the local area and lament over certain places (Like a mid 1990's Wargame campaign town of Craonne where the 33rd Foot lost its dignity).

More detailed maps

 These give more flavour, but increase the complexity of moving and fog of war. The above give a lot more detail to the area you are in so you can get more of a feel for the local area, I guess getting more involved in the story\background. However force movement becomes incredibly complex. You either have to detail several sets of orders for a non player forces and randomly assign on (reviewing every X days) or have the non player faction not as detailed - ie: simply blips that can  be something or might be simply rumour or shadows.

 a) Point to Point
 A map with point to point movement.(We used this type in the late Barry Taylor's Spanish and German campaigns) where a forces can move a number of point to point road segments.

b)Hex
 A hex based map  eg: Infantry move 3 squares on road, 2 in rough terrain etc etc (The Tony bath style)

c) The fantastic battle-finder system (http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com).
A load of tables all joined together - a lot of the leg work is done ! They supply several games all with maps that could be useful.

If anything battlefinder will be a start as they are so versatile and all that is needed is the in between table movements.

Something for me to mull over anyway and play around with. I've already created several maps for campaigns of various genres so the creativity is there, just the forces, armies and time aren't. I'm yet to decide on how orders would work but I'm leaning towards a random dice roll of three to six  sets of orders, I guess the key will be making sure there is are always multiple objective available for the non player side.

ACW Basing options

Wow 21st of Jan and I have made 6 post already - I'm really enjoying this burst of enthusiasm and activity. I'm deep into another Saxon unit and will have that finished tonight - I usually paint  50 figures in anyone go but I cut that back to 24 for this last two Saxons as I have other things to do. Once these two are complete I have two French Regiments to do which will take my grand total of French Infantry to 3 units (out of 25). Then its the French cavalry's turn to be re-based (and horses painted properly).

A brief interlude into ACW.

I have been looking at Regimental Fire and Fury recently and then at my current figures. Those that survived my original ACW armies were based matching Archduke Piccolos rule-set (Blue and Gray I think) on 35mm x 15m bases. Since most of the forces destruction I have purchased new figures but I have noticed that fitting the older style base is an issue. Airfix and Esci figures fit fine as they have smaller bases but other brands and the poses suit those bases. Some Italeri, Revell and IMEX however have larger bases or the poses often seem to be facing forward so the base is width wise instead of the old classic height wise (Firing figures like the red shirt rebel on the right hand base)). This results in only certain figures fitting together well on a base.

So a new plan is needed I think as I'm not happy with the way the bases work on the new figures.

The following picture is of 3 different basing option (using some unpainted figures).

Right is the original 35mmx15mm, middle is 35mmx30mm and left is the F&F 20mm recommended size 1 1/4 " x 1".

 

The newer options really only have 2 figures frontage that I think works well space size, but it simply blows away my current units. My units are all individual Regiments from the War (eg: 10th Alabama) so moving to a F&F basis of stands will take away that individual basis and also wreck havoc with my current organisation. I could aim for a default F&F unit size of say 6 or 10 stands but this then causes issues.

eg:  10th Alabama is 24 figures (8 ranks of 3) currently

Options - 

• Do nothing and just trip the figure bases to fit (For F&F two older bases can combine into 1 FF base.

• If I re-based for Fire and Fury - I could go for an average size of 6 stands (24 figures) to keep the individual feel and then have a load of generic stands to plug the gaps if larger units are needed or simply go for units of 10 and adjust\remove per ruleset used.
• Bases ESCI\Italeri on the old bases (making figure combos fit) and then use the IMEX\Revell figures for FF bases for a small force.

It is something I shall have to ponder over as it seems like a lot of effort.

Almost completed 2 Hinchcliffe units "renewal"

I have finished re-painting two of my Saxon Regiments that are very old hinchcliffe figures.

These figures are over 40 years old at least, they were coated in large globs of varnish and have some "lead rot". I had to be fairly gentle with them when I discovered how brittle they are as legs were snapping off with too much pressure. I do the standards and basing all in one go for multiple units so when I complete the other few units I'll add them in. They will fit in well with my multi-manufacturer forces.

The Front unit is Regt. Prince Antoine (Blue facings) and the second is Regt. Prince Clement (Green facings).

A bright close up.

The above took 3 days from start to finish for a total of 9 hours painting (+/- a few other figures from other genres).

Next task - more 28mm French Allies.

The best photo my phone can take - My current phase of getting the 28mm French allies back up to scratch.

I'm not into all this ipad\iphone nonsense - all it needs to to is ring and  text hence low quality photos ! Hopefully I can find my old point and shoot soon or pick up a cheap replacement.

 A new round of troops to be finished\started.

96 Hinchcliffe Saxons(Reg du Roi, Reg Von Low, Reg Prince Max, Reg Prince Auguste)
14 Perry French Hussars (10th Hussars)
24 Minifig French Legere (8th Legere Regiment)
24 Hotspur French Line. (84th Line Regiment)
24 1/72 Confederate Cavalry
15 or so 28mm casualties.

A real mix of manufacturers and why I love this army - build up over 25 years from different sources and countries. Front rank are nice figures but once you paint 24 you get bored, I like the variety different manufacturers can bring.

The time frame to do this is 2 - 3 weeks. Some big nights will be needed but its why this army is in this state - I've only done a unit here and there over the last 4 years - I need one big hit and another third of the task will be done.

February will be a crap month as I'll be in French territory perfecting my pigeon conversational skills.

Lasalle play test

Last evening Mark hosted our test game of Lasalle. All the gory details are on his Blog but I stole some of the pictures from his blog. A crushing defeat for my forces and some terrible dice rolling but lots of fun.

All his figures are wonderfully painted and are an excellent example of colourful and  bright Napoleonics. He has been bitten by the bug we all know well with unpainted figures coming out of his ears !

The beginning.

Westphalian Grenadiers about to runaway and the Heavy battery about to prepare to grapeshot the moon and not the unit 10 yards away.

Westphalian Brigade about to run away as well.( Don't mind the 8th Neapolitan Infantry pretending to be Westphalians)

The Swiss hoping that the Croatians get hit first :).

I sent in my French allies and decided to take no cavalry. The large Austrian battalions were hard to deal with in all regards and I'm not sure how the melee resolution sits. I had a brief look on-line and a lot of comments are that the large battalions are too powerful in all regards. But tactics really weren't that important as I just wanted to get stuck in and see what happened.

If you are defending and lose by double the number of hits your units breaks but the attackers takes no casualties so the attacker simply rolls on. I guess I'm used to too many rule sets that both sides take casualties in melee so the attacker doesnt get a free hit.

But its always good to play Napoleonic's and have a quick game. This game took around 4 hours and we spent a lot of time buried in the rules but we picked things up very fast future games would be over quickly. The usual rule mistakes for new players but it was fun and fast - next time Lancers !

Camera woes

Hi,

I've been up to a great deal recently but my camera is finally about to die so I cannot get any decent pictures of any progress.I have a game against Mark tomorrow so I have re-based and repainted under -half of my "French" Napoleonic forces. Over the holiday period my schedule suffered greatly as my daughter was staying up (or trying her best to) late at night, and the cat recently has been very clingy. One thing about deaf cats is that they can be incredibly loud when they want to be as they have no volume control (imagine the following https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZzCRyZ70ow)

I repainted several units before Christmas (Earthquake damaged) and then have spent the last 4 days basing using Marks Technique as my units are dreadfully inconsistent (That's what happens as units are acquired over 20 years). I'm quite pleased with the results so they shall look good on the table - 240 figures all up from a range of manufacturers but I left the cavalry off most of the list.

I plan to complete the refurbishment of the other 15 Infantry, 8 cavalry in the near future and then move onto the Prussian and Russian forces (Quite small compared to the French).

French\Con. of Rhine.

• 3 Dragoons Regiments
• 2 Lancer Regiments
• 1 Hussar Regiment
• 1 Chasseur
• 15 Infantry Units.

Allies

• 7 Prussian Regiments
• 3 Prussian cavalry
• 7 Russian Regiments
• 2 Cavalry Regiments
• 4 British Infantry
• 2 British Cavalry - Guns et all.

It takes me 3 days to completely repaint 24 28mm figures and 3 Days to base 10 Regiments. I plan to repaint\paint a at least a unit a week and then base them in large groups every 4 weeks or so.

As well as to other little projects on the go and fit some solo games in. Quite annoying the camera is kaput as I want to actually take some photos - oh well her is one from an old campaign game back in 2011 - the Spanish armies victory at Azuel 1809.

2014 recap and 2015 plans

Happy New Year,

Well upon checking my 2014 goals I didn't actually finish anything I wanted to but I am close on two of them. However I did manage to play in around 8 games versus other people as well as play a lot of solo games. I'm quite lucky these days I have a good group of people to play against which makes the games all that more enjoyable. A few other projects snuck into my list that were completed (and gamed with ) so its good to finally get some use of some things. (These were 10mm WW2, some more 15mm Fantasy armies)

 I am about to finish rebasing my Napoleonic "French" and just have to finish off the infantry late next week (I'm in Auckland at the moment) then I plan to finally finish my final french units as well as rebase my Prussians, Russians and that sole Austrian unit. Then next week (I think !) Mark and I are going to give Lasalle a shot. I has been noted though that all my forces (Allied and Confederation of the Rhine) don't fit any army list Lasalle has so some shuffling of things has occurred in my lists.

My 6mm armies are flying along quite well and last week I played a game of Piquet Napoleonics with them solo. I managed to get most of the rules wrong but that's what play test games are for.

So whats for 2015 ? More painting and more gaming frankly - I'd like to get the Napoleonics sorted and also make a good start to the 28mm WSS armies. I also plan to get some solo campaigns going to generate some games which is why I have also picked up a 3x2 mdf board to replace my green felt mat (That looks simply awful). I have the terrain and I now have a little board - onwards and upwards .
 Finally on the list are some 15mm forces for solo games - either Vikings, Zombies or AWI.

I also plan to count the figures I paint for a year to see what it all stacks up to:


Cheers.