Two Games of August

 I have actually played three but only have the pictures from two of them. So just a quick run through based on a failing memory....

Another tilt against Matt, same armies but with a few more points. We did better with the rules but Matt continues to stink up the room with his dice rolls.

I on the other hand was rolling laver, this helped me with some questionable decisions but again the light troops seemed to do better against bigger units by disordering them on a number of occasions. 

Matt was able to clear away my skirmish line but unable to do much else allowing them to go back in.

My guys on the left run from the Persian skirmishers whilst my Cretan's watch. Fortunately I was then able to clear his troops away and continue to march forward.

My skirmishers on the right were doing much better, though we were to more or less wear each other down over the following turns neither able to get an advantage. However Matt was also wearing my cavalry down as it was much weaker on this flank than on my left.

The main action was on my left with Matt sending in his Cataphracts against my Agema, I had managed through eye watering rolls seen off one regiment whilst I was certainly losing another but through epic rolls not quite breaking.

But all good things must end and ended with a rather poor roll. Matt's quality then started to take over and my left wing was crushed leaving the ever vulnerable infantry phalanx's at risk. I did have the pleasure of seeing a Gallic warband hit one Phalanx and whilst it just survived the first round was not going to stand beyond that. 

Whilst we did not fight to a conclusion it was obvious the winner would be Matt. So after two games of Hail Caesar we will try Napoleonic 6mm with Matt trying the rules Lee and I worked on. Which is a nice link to....

Lee, my son Joseph and I have joined Chesterfield Open Gaming Society (COGS) which seems to be a retooled version of the club I used to go to in Chesterfield YMCA, certainly plenty of old faces there.

So this is our third visit and this time Lee played his Russians against James and me with the French.

The issue was that I had left the rules at home and Lee had not taken a set away so we were without the rules and trying to work without the charts. We did fairly well but I was rather annoyed with myself. Still we had a good game.

Joseph sent his cavalry against Lee's on the far left after Lee instigated the attack. His use of combined arms a timely reminder of how effective it is. Meanwhile on the right I was sending my light infantry through the woods after Lee had moved into it whilst keeping the rest of the Division back.

I had the heavy cavalry which I first moved towards the centre as Lee used his heavies to threaten Joseph's infantry with some success. Lee was to pull back when faced by my cavalry's move but we did not get chance to fight them as I had thrown them into his infantry.

Joseph in the centre about to be charged by Lee's heavies, Joseph did not have light infantry so his movement into the woods was slow going.

Lee's light cavalry had made a bit of a mess of Joseph's light cavalry and a foot battery but Joseph's response was to give him a taste of his own medicine. First defeating the weak Cossack division and then facing the better quality second line of cavalry.

Lee had two divisions of infantry to my one (Joseph had two to Lee's one) but I had cleared the woods and was starting to reposition the infantry to make it hard for Lee to drive against me and for good measure had sent my heavy cavalry into his weakened division. I should have taken the option of falling back but having kept in contact with his squares I was being sucked into a lengthy combat. One I was sure to win but it would leave them vulnerable to Lee's still strong heavy cavalry.

On the left Joseph was closing with Lee and able to either press the one Division of infantry with his one or threaten Lee's centre where he would then dilute Lee's strength of cavalry. By this point both Lee's and Joseph's light cavalry had reached their forced retire orders through mutual combats. Joseph effectively winning that battle as he had also dealt with Lee's Cossacks.

The shattered remains of Joseph's cavalry that was now limping off the field. This is the point we had to end but it still had plenty of play left with either side yet able to make a successful breakthrough. Still plenty of tweaking yet to happen but it felt like Napoleonic's and looked good too. We typically use these rules for BIG games and they work well with them. Club size games has been put under less stress. I think they will clear down to a nice set of rules.

We are back next Monday but changing to a Gunfight using Dead Man's Hand, that should give us a nice quick game or maybe two. Nice to get the opportunity to play again.

6mm Prussian Landwehr by Adler

 With most of my painting time now used for none wargaming projects it was nice to take a step back into an old project and paint up some more Prussians for my 100 Days Prussian Army. I say 100 Days as these did not even show up at Waterloo as I have all those already painted.

As per most of my Landwehr we have Baccus skirmishers and Adler for the main body. A few of the bases also have mounted generals to add interest.

Three battalions leading the way, 4th Westphalia 1st Corp Second Brigade, only nine battalions of the Corp made a showing at Waterloo, though some cavalry and guns did. Of the infantry I only have nine reserve and three Landwehr battalions to complete the infantry as well as a regiment of cavalry and two guns then one Corp is fully finished. 

The 4th Corp just needs four cavalry regiments painting to be finished but that's because most of that Corp was at Waterloo. I have the figures to do most of the remaining units to have the lot painted up. The fact I will never need all these units for any battle remains a mute point now. Given the amount of money needed to get all the units I don't have I simply don't see the point of not doing them all.

The 3rd Elbe Landwehr regiment from the second Corp, 8th Brigade. This needs six battalions of Reserve Infantry three regiments of cavalry and four guns (2 batteries) to complete. Third Corp is the one needing the most work with 21 battalions of Reserve or Landwehr infantry six regiments of cavalry and six guns including a horse battery. These will probably be the ones finished last, well unless Lee suddenly wants to fight a battle that these were in!!!

I know it's kind of pointless painting up all these battalions when in many of the cases I can just sub a different battalion without much chance of being pulled up for using the wrong battalion based on collar or cuff being wrong but at least I can fantasise about using them all in a sweeping campaign.

I also painted up a couple more command bases. At some point I need to check how many I have so to make sure I can supply enough for any battle. Our rule system requires a fair few. Next up for this army is a couple of cavalry regiments but they are being bumped down the list as other projects need work doing on them.

Three Baccus British Heavy Cavalry Regiments

I managed to paint these three in a day and base them the following day. Seem to have some of my old speed back. These are for my son's Peninsular army. Whilst they were there they actually did not really get involved in much fighting and when they did it was hard for them to actually get anyone to stand against them as the French cavalry by this point were in a poor state through lack of suitable remounts etc.

Front left we have 1st Life Guards and alongside the 3rd Dragoon Guards and at the back Royal Horse Guards, or The Blues as they were known.

Typical set up, nine figures in a unperfect line to suggest the start of a charge. 60x30mm bases with the sand and masonry paint mix dry brushed to give more colours and static grass and tufts applied. I really spoil that boy ;-)

Rear views, I really like Baccus as you can paint or ignore detail dependent on your style and it does not take that much effort to put together a fairly reasonable looking unit.

I still have plenty of figures left of Joseph's to add to his force. More infantry, light dragoons but need to get some horse artillery at some point.

These were prepped for the Analogue Painting Challenge I dropped out of not last year but the previous one so were well over due. I have manged to prep a bunch so I may have a reasonable run and quite a mix of projects.

Baccus French Napoleonic Infantry

It's been quite awhile since I last painted any French infantry so it was nice to sit down and do them. I thought I had quite a few standard battalions left to do but turned out I only had four left to do so added the last two in bicorn as well.

I bought one small blister pack of French Bicorn when Baccus released the new codes. One battalion was painted up straight away and I did a second one as Paris Guard in red uniform. These will most likely be the last bicorn wearing French infantry I will do as my army is all shako wearing.

I painted up three of the battalions as line as you can never have enough. Lee also has a large number but if we ever get round to doing one of the bigger battles battalion for battalion I am confident we will still need to paint up a bunch more.

The other battalion of course is light infantry, I don't even know how many of each I own anymore, never mind the cavalry so I will have to get them all out and have a count up.

Whilst I am now out of standard French infantry from Baccus I still have a fair few battalions in greatcoats and Grenadiers both with and without greatcoats. I also have extra skirmisher figures that will be added to smaller bases for games where skirmishers had a bigger role than we allow in our rules.

On top of the Baccus I still have most of a Adler army pack I bought via Dave D all those years ago. Still my unpainted figure count still is over 3,000 though breaching this number is within site. This of course does not include the figures Joseph has that I have yet to paint for him as well. I am purposely not adding them up!!

Talking of "The Boy" we have managed three games of Command & Colors Napoleonic during the lockdown and will be getting another one in soon. This will be the last one from the base module so looking forward to playing more from the other add on's.

Adler French ADC's

I actually finished these with the Prussians but I had started them about 3-4 years ago so way too long in the finishing.

The main reason for the slow pace has been the lack of real need for these guys. I simply have so many I have as many as I would require in any game we have played so far but if we ever get round to playing a really big battle I may still need more so I may need them one day.

All told this gives me another four command bases for Division or lower commands using our rules. Of course if I use another rule set I may need even more command bases or need messenger stands. 

As you would expect from Adler these have so much detail that you feel you need to keep going. Better detail than some 10mm castings. It really has taken too long to finish these and the fact I still have so many more unpainted makes me smile. Many of my extra command will find their way onto infantry bases whilst I will continue to add to me command bases as well.

I actually have a sizeable amount of Adler French castings I bought via Dave D at the first Blog Con and far more Baccus that still need to be painted. My plan is to paint up some of the French Baccus infantry and get them sold on as I can't see me needing THAT much more French infantry given the quantity Lee also owns not that it will stop me painting up some for myself at the same time.

Prussian Reserve Regiment 22 Adler Miniatures

Anyone who has followed this blog over the years will have seen a few Prussian Battalions shown here. I am still working through all the regiments that did not fight at Waterloo but were involved in the 100 days campaign. 

The 22nd Regiment was part of Pirch's 2nd Corps and whilst the rest of the 7th Brigade fought at Waterloo under the command of Brause the 22nd missed the action.

I continue to add flags to battalions that all most certainly did not have them but given I was well into the originals before I realised that why not continue. I still left the third battalion without even though it's not a fusilier battalion but that's me.

The standard depiction of our units of 4 skirmishers out front with 24 figures in the main body. These being Adler you get a little more Varity in poses. The skirmishes have three poses and the main body two or more versions to buy from.

One battalion I adopted a three deep line and two battalions have a mounted officer to add to the Varity. Basing is my normal outdoor paint (bitter chocolate tester from Homebase) with sand dribbled over, left to dry and surplus brushed off. I then drybrush a couple of lighter colours then add static grass and tufts.

I still have 44 more battalions to do so no where near finished, plus more artillery and cavalry but in far fewer quantity. Not that I own all the battalions required so I will paint up what I have before getting any more. This certainly moved onto a vanity project as I really do not need to paint up the rest and will never get them all on the table at the same time. I still also have plenty of French I really don't need as well as plenty of British to paint for my son.

The next up on the table will be two units of Companion cavalry I also don't really need :-)

6mm Napoleonic Prussian Artillery

To follow on from the last post on French SYW Artillery I felt I had to go with my latest addition to my Prussian Napoleonic Artillery.

I don't need a massive amount more artillery for my Prussians in total so these are a bit of a tidy up. All four guns and crews are Baccus, the limbers are from Commission Figurines and the horses and riders are Adler. Yes the bits box was raided!

The Adler bits were actually bought ready painted  but were missing some of the limbers (some were used as wrecked ones on bases due to damage) so I broke into a pack of Commission Figurines as I can still use the horses etc without the limbers.

As you would expect these did not take much time to paint up and are now tucked away in a box awaiting future play. Problem is that I have enough for Waterloo which is about as big as my Prussians are likely to get for a long time yet. However my Prussians are not really about painting for a game so much as I have them and want to carry on till I have enough for the whole of 100 days campaign and possibly then look at earlier campaigns, who knows. Whilst it's fun I will continue to paint the odd unit or battery up.

At the moment I have the last of the infantry and cavalry for our game for Joy of Six in a couple of months. The plan is to have them all finished before the end of this month and then sit back and enjoy painting just what I want, expect a right mix of toys.

Three Prussian Landwehr Battalions

I continue to expand the Prussians for the 100 Days Campaign with the three battalions of the 3rd Westphalie from the I Corp, 3rd Brigade. You Napoleonic experts will note that these did not get to fight at the Battle of Waterloo itself but did take part in the campaign. 

These for the most part are Adler figures but as Adler do not do a skirmish figure for the Landwehr I have used Baccus for these. I have painted up the three battalions in column as Adler just don't base well and the spacing is all wrong to have them in a two deep line though I sometimes do the Prussians in a three deep line.

As often mentioned here Adler do excellent little figures, the animation and detail make them a joy to paint but a devil to clean up. When I am finished my Prussian army will be about 80% Adler, whilst my French are about 90% Baccus. Maybe one day I will get all of both armies out and take a group shot.

I think of the Adler infantry for the Prussians the Landwehr are the nicer figures. With the mix of blanket roll and bread bag these are more interesting. Of course painting a few thousand of the buggers does take the shine off them.

I don't see me finishing them all off in the next twelve months, nor even probably in the next twenty four but you never know. I don't have much left to do with regards the Cavalry or Artillery it's mostly infantry and possibly a few command stands but with other projects also demanding time I will have to make a conscious effort to keep these ticking over.

Back To The Prussian Napoleonic's in 6mm

I continue to flip back and forwards between 6mm and 15mm each week of the Challenge and that continues with these Adler Prussians.

I am now looking to fill out the other Corp's that did not fight at Waterloo but did fight during the 100 days campaign. These are some of the more interesting of the as yet unpainted regiments as they are German-Russian and whilst wearing Prussian cut uniforms the coats were Russian Green. A nice splash of colour.

I used Landwehr figures as these seemed the best match. The regiments had the usual three battalions, two standard and one fusilier.  They are numbered 30th and 31st regiments.

As per expectations the Adler have a great amount of detail. I am looking forward to the few times I will get to use these guys. Such is the lot of strange units.

I have been having issues with my computer and am now having to use Cath's so posts are somewhat lacking until I get the computer replaced.

Adler Prussian Cuirassiers

Meant to post about these last week, seems I have been too busy painting instead. I had enough figures left to paint up a further three regiments to add to the two I already had painted over a year ago. 

Prussia had four regiments at the time of Waterloo but they were with the other army that never got involved. Mine are for a what if scenario and other earlier battles so the fifth regiment may come in useful.

All five are painted up the same so nothing much to add really. Typically lovely looking minis that are a bugger to clean up but rewarding once painted.

These have been packed away as I won't get the chance to use them for awhile. Next 6mm game will either be Ancients or Waterloo if things stay the same.

We played a game towards the end of last year with over 100 battalions of infantry and a fair amount of cavalry and it played well so we need to get the big game played out and see just how it goes.

Commission Figurines 6mm MDF Cavalry

I finally get round to painting up the Commission Figurines 6mm Light Cavalry figures I was sent over a year ago. The biggest advantage at least from my point of view these figures have is the speed and ease of painting.

If your aim is to paint up a large force quickly, or your on a tight budget these figures could be the ones for you. At wargaming distance they will look rather good, especially if you go a few shades brighter. I swapped some Adler Poles for some more Commission figures last night so will be doing a few more at some point (infantry and artillery) but not in the next few months.

So I painted the first two as Polish Hussars, the 10th and 13th to be exact. These are now part of Lee's collection as he is building up the Poles so it did not seem worthwhile for me to paint them up as well. Being Hussar figures they were perfect subjects.

Where MDF fall down for me is the flatness of the figures, somewhat 2D in a 3D world. BUT if I was painting a whole army this way then it would be less of a issue. Having seen a whole battle fought with these models I know just how good they look.

The other two bases are Chasseur Regiments for my French army and by painting over the Pellese it simply disappears. 

I have been given the idea of painting up stands of these figures to be used with Command & Colours Napoleonic's that I play with my son. Given the speed of painting and cost involved I think I just have got to have a play with it. Not sure how I will store them though...........