Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Napoleonic Problems Part 2

On my other blog I was telling of my problems finding a suitable set of Napoleonic rules with which to play games using my 28mm Foundry figures (http://tinsoldieringon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/napoleonic-problems.html) This has been highlighted by reading 'Incomparable' a regimental history of the 9th French Light Infantry during the Napoleonic wars . I am usually very careful what I read on the military side of things as it can send one off on a tangent ! but I fell into the trap as the book is very good and so I began thinking about my abandoned 28mm armies . Having the weekend to myself somewhat I sat down and listed all the various Napoleonic rules I have tried over the years and scored them out of 10 , to my surprise the rule set that seemed to tick the most boxes was - General de Brigade ! . The only problem was my collection was originally designed for a 'Old School' type system and the individual basing and paint jobs reflected this .

 
So I thought about re-basing them ! - I HATE  re-basing ! , then I remembered the movement trays I had got from 'Warbases' which would hold penny sized figure bases . I decided to do a bit of an experiment so I coated the figure bases and the trays with a fine layer of 'Basetex' waited till it dried and dry brushed it and add static grass.
 
 
Here is the result, I will leave the figures a high gloss but redo the bases as above .
 
 
Another photo of the first French regiment done - 65th Ligne. This is going to take a while but I think it will be worth it in the long run !.
 
 
A group of Generals meet to discuss how they will perform under the rules. I have had the new edition of the rules since they came out a couple of years ago but have not really sat down with them to study them properly , although I played the old edition a lot about ten years ago -a good set of rules but it is important not to let the games get to big as this can slow them down . So myself and 'A' are planning a small game this next weekend to try them out again - I hope to report on a successful game , Too be continued .......
 
 
 
 
 












2 comments:

  1. When that seems to have worked out pretty well! Great solution.

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  2. I recall a few years ago a group of Christchurch wargamers trying our G de B rule set. Unfortunately I think we were a bit overambitious, playing what amounted to army level games for a set whose command level is implied in its title. Games took several evening sessions to complete.

    We ought I believe to have been alerted to this by the scenarios in the back of the rule book, all interesting in their way, but all quite obviously 'set piece' set ups, something like:
    1. Solignac's attack upon Ventosa village in the Vimiero battle;
    2. Davout's attack upon the Raevski redoubt at Borodino;
    3. Imperial Guard attack at Waterloo.

    All these were combats within battles, all were clear cut attacker/defender situations, none featured much in the way of mounted troops. These scenarios, and a number of features of rules design (don't ask me now: I haven't seen the rule set for six years, at least), led me to draw certain conclusions as to what the designers were aiming at.

    In one of our fictitious campaigns, the first battle was something of an encounter battle between an Anglo-Austrian force and a large French army in the wooded country a few kilometres south of Ratisbon. My entire Austrian Army (of slightly fewer than 400 figures at that time) made up about half the Allied force, and we were outnumbered by the enemy. Huge battle. I think it took 4 evenings to fight it out (on Dave's 12ftx8ft table), a serious drawback if you really want a campaign to kick along and you have only two evenings a month available. Mind you, a Division of 36- and 48-figure battalion columns does have a certain... presence, shall we say?

    It strikes me, then, that whatever the virtues of G de B (and the visual spectacle is not the least of them), this is not a rule set to adopt lightly without due consideration of the time, space and materiel you have available.








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