Wednesday, December 16, 2015

A Prussian Conundrum.

lately I've not been painting much, but what i have been painting has been mostly sci fi. But last night's Lasalle game( battle report is in the works), got my Napoleonic juices flowing again.

I was hit by another bout of insomnia last night, so i decided to pull out some Perry Prussians to paint.  I completed half a battalion(including the command) and realized I had no flags to use for them. so I set about looking for suitable bits to make my flags.

the research is a little sketchy. i was mostly relying on pictures on warflag with a few places cross referenced.
1st east Prussian infantry, 2nd battalion?

The first 2 flags I've done are teh 2nd battalion of the 1st  and 2nd East Prussian Regiments( 1st and 3rd infantry regiments, respectively), i think. The 1st battalion flags(Avancier fahne?) seem to be essentially inverted colours. so the 1st east Prussian 1st battalion flag would be white field instead of black,  teh eagle would be gold, with the white around it black.

2nd East Prussian Regiment, 2nd battalion?
the order of battle I'm using for the force i chose is the from the Battle of Leipzig.  Army of Silesia, Prussian I corps, 2nd Brigade. under the command of General-Major Prinz Karl Von Mechlembourg-Strelitz.  depending on the source there are 2 or 3 battalions each of the 1st and 2nd East Prussian regiments.  but in my research on flags I've only seen mention of the 1st and 2nd battalion. so which flags would the 3rd battalion use?

Unfortunately I'm currently unemployed so my sources are a little lacking at the moment. any help anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.




Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Settled in Edmonton and New Room Set Up.

I've been in edmonton for 2 months now.  Things are starting to settle down a bit.  I've managed to get most of my gaming stuff unpacked.  and i've picked up some display cases and shelves to equip my " computer cave".

the 4 utility shelves arranged along the 12 foot wall. 
my  computer desk is in the opposite wall at the end.

The week after we moved into the new house,  Home Depot was having a sale on black plastic utility shelving.  $27 per unit.  I grabbed 4. they are 18" deep and 36"(3') long. they fit perfectly on one wall, as the wall is 12' long.  nearly all my miniatures, terrain, and supplies fit on them. On the opposite wall there is an alcove that is 6' wide, and 32" deep.

The Alcove, After furnishing

I picked up 2 Detolf display cabinets a few weeks ago form Ikea.  I was back down in that area last week, so I picked up a pair of Dioder lighting kits.  This past weekend I was in Canadian Tire and they had a bookshelf on sale that perfectly fit the space I had left over.  My books finally have a home!

so with that my little room is complete.  I bought 4 folding 6' x 2.5' tables, which i can set up in the main basement area(rec room) for games.  My only problem at the moment is that i don't have a gaming mat big enough to cover all the tables.  So now i have to come up with a plane for a 5'x12' gaming mat!  Always a major project in the works!


I have done some painting in the last month.  I painted up a unit of 8  foundry continental Infantry for the forthcoming  AWI project, using Muskets and Tomahawks.

first unit of the 2nd Pennsylvania regiment
 I've found after several playtests that using the "varied" unit sizes in the main book doesn't work well.  Because of the way the rules represent firing,  a max sized unit of 12 line will crush an 8 man  of rangers, or any other irregular force(other the light infantry).  sure, irregulars have better firing, but if the line unit has 50% more fire, the better to-hit is irrelevant.  now this is more pronounced in the more irregular forces (rangers, Couriers de bois, various riflemen, militias etc)which are limited to max units of 8, or sometimes 6.  i know many of these units are supposed to be weaker then line units, but in many cases they were not, specifically in the north American theater, where la petite Guerre was so common.  but the morale system, coupled with the high casualties rate from fire, cripples units of 6-8 in often a single volley.   my simple solution is just to keep everything in units no larger then 8(few units can be smaller then 8 anyway). this levels the playing field, and lets the point system balance all other differences, in my opinion.


Thursday, June 25, 2015

More Napoleonic Game pics

I mentioned tehre would be more napeolonic game pics, so here tehy are.

These are from 2 games in November/December in which I introduced 28mm Napoleonic wargaming to a couple of Gamers from the local game store.

The first game was played in my basement with Fred, a local proponent of Historical Gaming at Black Knight Games

The game was a bit smaller then normal due to the limited size of my basement table, 4"x8"

the game was a close fight. but the Russians eventually won.  I unfortunately don't remember a great deal more. most of the pics are of the setup, as after that i was caught up in the game. as per usual a forgot to take pics after that.

Initial Deployment

Russian Line

Russian High Command

French Line

French High Command

French Cavalry Brigade

Russian Cavalry Brigade

 the second game was roughly a month later.  We played up at Black Knight Games. there were 6 players once everyone showed up.  By that time Fred had finished a brigade(!!!) of highlanders from Victrix, so I replaced a Russian brigade with them so he could use his new shiny figures.

We used terrain boards from Black Knight and I bought along all the other stuff.  Black Knight has an Excellent selection for a store, but it's  predominantly focused on Sci-fi and fantasy terrain because that is their bread and butter.

 I'm a perfectionist regarding terrain so I just can't have Warhammer Fantasy-style buildings for my napoleonic games. It would seriously drive me nuts.  I don't judge other people based on their on their choice or quality of  miniatures or terrain, , but if I run a game, I want it too look good(to me).  That's just part of MY miniature hobby.

Initial Deployment

Fred's British Highlanders

Highlanders engaging the french left flank

On the right, Russian infantry attempted to outmaneuver the Baden Brigade
the fight in the middle
Initial cavalry engagement on the right flank

Baden Hussars engage remaining Russian Cavalry, Lithuanian Uhlans

The pivotal areas of combat were the middle and left flank. on hte left,  Fred launched his highlanders in wave after wave of attacks at Dan's  French line.  unfortunately the french weathered the attacks and eventually broke most of teh highland brigade.

In the centre  Jon's french line and Legere loosed several devastating close range volleys upon Matt's assaulting Russians. the combat sea-sawed back and forth  but the french managed to get the smallest of advantages.  on the right flank, the Russians were outmaneuvering the Baden infantry. immediately to the right of them the french/allied cavalry looked to have the advantage over Russian cavalry, but eventually the heroic Lithuanian Uhlans won the day.

 It was a good close game and everyone seemed to enjoy it.   The rules (based on field of Battle) are a little unorthodox for  new historical gamers, but  they are relatively easy to learn and flow nicely.



Wednesday, June 17, 2015

April Napoleonic Game: Better Late then Never!

The last year has been a very busy time for me.

Starting in November busy meant starting renovations.  We are selling our house and moving out west.  I've done msot of teh major renovations my self.  I refinished 2 bathrooms,  refinished the 3 season portch, put a new backs plash and counter top in the kitchen,  and sanded/filled several of the old plaster walls that were not well finished.  we also repainted every room in the house.  I also did a bunch of electrical work.

since last may I've not played many games.   between may and november there were almost none,  and between November and March there might have been 6 games.

anyway, while I was going through my camera SD card, i noticed about 3 or 4 sets of pictures. Over the next few days I'll be sorting tehm and posting pics.  There probably won't be much AAR as i don't have much memory of a few of these games. 

These pics were taken by Fellow gamer Mike at the end of April at a napoleonic game i put at at Martin's house.  the game was conspicuous because the allies(Austria and Russia) almost didn't get out of their deployment zone before the french made it to them.  but in the end, the allies almost came back to win. Almost.  Their army Morale didn't quite hold, and when it look liked the french army would shatter and run, the allies did instead.  it was a hell of a close and bloody battle though.

and now, the pics






this battle also featured some stellar closing fire by the Austrain and Russian lagers.  in no less tehn 2 cases, a unit was broken by their fire.  in one, a French heavy cavalry charge was leveled by a close range Austrian Jager rifle volley.  the Austrian jagers were definitely teh msot devastating unit in this game, the broke or routed 3 units with fire.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Muskets and Tomahawks: First Impressions

last Friday I was invited to Muskets and Tomahawks at a friends house.  So I packed up my Indians and rules and headed out.
initial setup of the board

We arrived just ahead of the crowd(there ended up being 8 of us), and Craig (the host) had set up a wonderful looking table.  He included a log cabin settlement at one end of the table, and a  Indian village(which you may recognize) at the other end.  Taking both the settlement and the Indian village were the french Main objectives.  the British had to keep them.

British regulars and grenadiers defending the settlement

No one had played the game yet, but several of us had the rules handy.  Dan and I had read them thoroughly. Fortunately the mechanics are fairly simple.

Jordan's Regulars and grenadiers stare down 2 units of
my Indians

Before we deployed our troops, we all rolled a side plot in secret. by pure coincidence, 2 of the french chose Dan's provincials as the target/source of their side plot.  then Dan deployed right in the middle of the table. as a result the game sort of revolved around Dan's provincials.

Mike's Regulars and My Indians Take potshots Dan's Provincials
 I had gleaned early on that my Indians had no chance crossing open ground against Jordan's grenadiers to get to my objective beyond, so I helped kill Dan faster so I could then get Mike's line units to help me. 
Dan's Provincial Line watches as him provincial lights get
wiped out by Canadian Militia.
However in a rather ironic turn of events, my Indians Charged and killed Dan's officer(Colonel Washington figure), not knowing that  doing so kept the other 2 players from completing their side plots.  which is fine because by the time we finished going after the provincials, neither of the remaining regular french infantry at hand  had enough strength left to oppose the British regulars in town.  so i didn't get my objective either.

My Indians Prepare to charge Dan's Provincials
 In the end 2 French players were wiped out along with 2 British players.  the remaining french converged on the Indian village and took it after some fierce fighting by the defenders. we called it a tie since both sides occupied one objective.


Overall the system was fun.  I did find that musket fire is ridiculously deadly. Especially when coming from a firing line. Two suggestions made were to drop the lethality of muskets, carbines and pistols to 4+ instead of 3+. Not a huge change, but potentially enough.  It would also have the side effect of making artillery slightly more potent. which might not be a bad thing because the general consensus from the net is that artillery looks pretty but is kind of useless most of the time.  We were also thinking, that for our games, we might remove the rolling for additional casualties on a recoil. For irregulars and Indians this would keep them from evaporating after a single volley most of the time.

Dan and I are going to try this set of rules out with our imaginations. So we'll see how that goes.



Monday, March 2, 2015

Moving Sale and Off to Cold Wars

As some may already know, I'm planning on moving to Alberta some time this summer.  the exact time depends on how long it takes to finish the renovations on my house, and for the house to sell.

These renovations are one of the reasons I've been so inactive on the Blog lately.

as such I've been looking at alot of my gaming stuff, and am getting rid of things i have not used in a long time.

I'll be taking the following items to cold wars this coming weekend, and then anything that does not sell there is going to hotlead with me later in March(along with a few things I won't be taking to cold wars)



first thing up is my Modern collection.  I'll be selling my iraqis and British, plus all my vehicles.

infantry: $32 per squad of 8(all squads of 8)
Vehicles:
Resin Vehicles $30 Each
landrovers/humvees 2 for $30  
Plastic tanks $10 each

anyone buying large lots can probably get a bit of a deal too.


i have 
TAG Iraqis. LSloppy Jalopy Vehicles. not everything pictured
3 squads of Iraqi Republican guard
3 squads Iraqi regulars
4 squads of Fedayeen
1 BMP1
2 BMP2
3 BTR60BP
1 BRDM-2
1 AML -90
3 Plastic T72

TAG British, Not everything pictured
4 squads of British Infantry
2 Mortar teams
1 GPMG team
2 British Para squads
1 SAS Squad
4 Warrior IFVs
7 Land rovers
1 FV432 Peak Turret
TAG Deltaforce and Humvees. Forces of Valour Blackhawks
Closeup on Delta Force
1 Plastic Challenger

24 USMC
2 Delta Force Squads
2 humvees
1 Stryker
1 plastic  M1A1 Abrams
2 Forces of Valour 1/48th Blackhawks
1 FOrces of Valour 1/48th Apache


All my Desert Terrain(pictured below)


Pinkish Foamcore buildings(4) $15 each
Small Buildings(4) - $15 each
Medium buildings(3) $25 each
Compounds(3) - $40 each
Parking Structure - $100
Palm trees(6, 3 built, 3 unbuilt) $10
Rock formations(2)  - $5 each
Forces of Valour 1/48th Helos
Picture of All terrain set up.
 



Larger of the 2 Compounds. both have removable roofs
Big Parking Structure - 16"x18"x9", 4 peices
 
32x Old Glory Romans.  looking for $3 per figure
Random box ofWarmachine  Cryx.   3 Privateer rulebooks. 
I'd sell the whole box for $50 OBO

Lot of old Ronin: Duels and Ronin: war rules and figures.
half a dozen large Ronin mecha, serveral small ones,  serveral sprues of
tanks and aircraft.  lots of extra weapon bits.   $20 for the lot.

 WINGS of War WW2:
Deluxe boxed set(complete rules, all expansions and 4 planes in one box) $30
A6M2 Reisen  $10
F4F Wildcat $10


Zvezda Ring of Rule Undead Romans (each legion box is 20 legionnaires plus 4 archers)

1 Cursed Legion box, unopened  $15
1 Cursed Legion box  assembled and painted(24 figures) $20
3 Cursed Legion Box, loose on sprues $10 each
1 Cursed Cavalry Box, opened partially assembled (8 figures)
1 Cursed Artillery box, assembled ( 1 CarroBalista and 1 Onager with undead crew & mantlets)

If you have any interest in reserving anything for pickup at Coldwars, let me know in before Wednesday night.  You can find me on facebook using the badge on the right isde of teh page,  or email me at

stephen(dot)thomson81(at)gmail(dot)com

We can arrange pickup some time during the weekend.