You may be cool...

...but you'll never be Napoleon conquering Egypt on the back of a camel cool!

'Avance, mes enfants!'

In between setting exams and marking assessments this week I sneaked a couple of hours with the paintbrush to paint some of Lancashire Games' Napoleon in Egypt range.
In my last order I picked up the pack of French generals and the French archaeologists vignette pack. When they arrived I just couldn't wait to get paint on them, and stopped doing my job, and also interrupted painting Craig's German grenadiers, to get them done.

Napoleon on said camel, led by a local entrepreneur.

A better view of the camel guide

'Dig there, my good man.'

'Why don't you try picking up a shovel?'

'I just dug this up. Want to make a sketch?'

'Why not? I have no idea what it means though.'

Not hot enough to put up the parasol yet.

The archaeologist pack. Missing is a French Grenadier that acts as a guard, but I just wanted the archaeologist bases for my plans.

I loved these figures, and they were very easy to paint and are full of life. My decision as to whether to invest in the Italian campaign or Egyptian campaign has been finally sealed. I just have to save up the $200 to get the figures that I need for the project!

Nate

Project Management - can we get something going?

I think that the extent to which Facebook has replaced blogs in the wargaming community can be seen through the lack of draws, memes and other community events, and it is a bit of a shame. I don't know if we are going to ever recapture that period a couple of years ago when it seemed every man and his blog (see what I did there) was having a giveaway or nominating someone else for an award of some sort. The six by six challenge is fun, and it has brought my attention to a number of new blogs. I'm hoping that I might be able to spark the blogosphere into life again by getting people that read this (am I being too presumptuous to use the plural there?) to post a project management list. This originally came from Prufrock over at 'Here's No Great Matter', and I thought it would be interesting to look at what people's ideal 'realistic' project list would look like. He explains the list thus:
'Looking at all of my unpainted or half-painted stuff, I've been trying to think what I would be satisfied with. By satisfied, I mean feeling that I would never need to paint another thing again, except perhaps to replace something that broke, or to get an extra unit of something here or there for a particular occasion.'

Picture blatantly taken from here

So what will this involve? Well, quite simple really. You make a Project Management blogpost which includes a list of projects you have / are working on / one day realistically intend to be working on. In the post you link back to the blog of the person that you got this idea from, like I have with Prufrock, and these instructions. That way we might get a chain effect of people discovering new blogs that they hadn't been following before. Or maybe just a bit of community bonding like the 'good old days'.

So, to keep the ball rolling, here is my project list:

Ancients:
15mm  Peloponnesian War: Spartans and Athenians
15mm Fall of the Roman Republic: Marian Romans (x2), Spanish, Gallic, Parthian

Renaissance:
15mm Great Italian Wars: Spanish and French
15mm Samurai
28mm English Civil War
10mm Dutch Wars of Louis XIV

Horse and Musket:
15mm Marlburian: English, Hanoverians, Hessians and French for Blenheim era
28mm Marlburian (skirmish): Confederate and Bourbon for Spain
15mm Seven Years War: Prussians, Austrians and Russians
28mm French and Indian War (skirmish)
15mm French Revolutionary Wars (currently not yet purchased and a toss up between Napoleon in Italy and Napoleon in Egypt)
15mm Great Paraguayan War
15mm Franco-Prussian War

Moderns:
15mm 1914 WWI
15mm 1985 WWIII

Sci-Fi/Fantasy
28mm Weird War Rome skirmish
28mm Superheroes
28mm Star Wars

1/2400 Naval - WWI

This is a long list, but as many of the armies will be DBA or skirmish, the whole lot can realistically be completed in the next few years. Well, assuming I get back behind a brush sometime soon. It's been over a week since I was getting some consistent painting done! Interestingly, none of the above are currently 'finished', although there are a number that I have enough painted figures to play games with. I think if you have finished a project, you should probably indicate that.

Nice-to-haves that don't make it to the list would be Napoleonics, Vikings and 1918 WWI.

So will you take up the Project Management blog challenge?

Nate

Excited

Just as I thought I was almost over my 'oooh shiny!' addiction. This looks like the most important wargaming item in my 2018 calendar! More here.

And while I'm at it, I figured I might as well share another couple of recent things that have been completed since getting over my illness.

First of all - I completed my collection of Practical Wargamer magazine. The last four missing issues from my collection were filled in by Caliver Books. I loved this magazine when it was going, and I still love it today. An endless source of inspiration.

I was going to lay them all out, but they wouldn't fit on the table, so here is the stack.

And from the side, which gives a better idea of how many there are.

A few extra units for the Great Paraguayan War have fresh new coats of paint:

Brazilian regular 2nd infantry unit

Brazilian Voluntarios.

Argentine National Guard battalion.

These guys are all from the Freikorps 15mm American Civil War range. The Confederates in gum blankets make great volunteers in ponchos for the Brazilians.

As I am about to receive my 15mm Seven Year War Russian army from Old Glory 15s, I thought I would buy a few bits and pieces to finish them off. Now I needed some Cossacks, Horse Grenadiers and generals, and only 1 gun each for the Prussians and Austrians, but by the time you factor in postage and the extras that I didn't really need from the US (no point buying a pack of 6 guns when you only need 1), I couldn't really go with OG15s again. So I thought I would try some Eureka minis. These duly arrived nad they are beautiful sculpts, but...

My Old Glory general next to a Eureka general.

Old Glory dragoons next to a Eureka Horse Grenadier

And another shot from the front.

 The Eureka horses are HUGE! Now I could justify that the Horse Grenadiers are heavy cavalry mounted on big horses, but I still think that it would bother me. And the argument doesn't work for the Cossacks riding ponies that tower over the other cavalry. The generals won't necessarily be on the table right next to other horses, but I just can't bring myself to have them on the table with the difference in size. It offends my OCD.

Old Glory artillery on left side, Eureka (not finished yet) on right.

On the other hand the foot figures are a perfect match, the Eureka figures being maybe a little thinner.
So I've now ordered the same mounted figures from Irregular Miniatures - generals, horse grenadiers and cossacks. They may be a tad smaller than the OG15s, but if their 7 Years War figures are the same size as their Great Northern War figures that I have, they should actually fit together very well. I've also ordered limbers for the Russians from Irregular as well, and was always going to, so I should have just done this in the first place.
Let me know if you'd like the Eureka mounted figures - free to a good home.

Nate

I didn't think they'd have the Gaul!

The flu refuses to remove its claws, but I am feeling a bit better. Well enough to finally go back to the paints and complete my Gallic army for DBA. I've been beavering away at the matched pair of Marian Roman and Gallic armies for a while behind the scenes, in order to play out the last four DBA games in my 6 x 6 challenge.

Family picture

I set the table up in the lounge this afternoon and deployed the two sides. The Romans were invading Gaul - no surprises there, and so the arable terrain was selected without a built up area but with 2 plough instead. These were good going for the whole game, as was the gentle hill, and in fact, only the difficult hill presented any rough going. There was a woods, but it didn't make it onto the cluttered table corner that was rolled.

 The two sides lined up facing each other, the Gauls with three two-deep elements of Warband, the Romans with a second line which included the general.

 Both sides advanced in a fairly standard way - the Gallic cavalry sensed an opportunity on their left and charged into the Roman lights holding the hill. The Cretan psiloi were removed, but the Numidian Light Horse stayed stubbornly fighting on.

 In the centre the Gallic chieftain burst through he Roman line, although the rest of the Gauls were all pushed back.

 The Romans advanced their reserve to pin the Gallic chieftain while the rest of the Roman army continued to push the Gallic Warbands back.

 On the Roman left, first blood was drawn, and the legions prepared to close the door on the Gallic flank.

 The Gallic cavalry which had attempted to do the same to the Numidians were surprised with some extraordinary fighting skill, the light horse recoiling its surrounding elements.

 Now the Romans decided to deliver the coup de grace, charging into the Gallic chieftain.

 But the Chief has his blood up. Another element of legionaries goes 'poof' and in the other promising Roman attack where they had closed the door, the Gauls fought off their attackers! And totally out of no-where, a fourth element is lost to the Gauls on the right flank, where all previous combats had been going one way.

 VICTORY!

 The casualties.

The damage to the Romans was mostly done to their legionaries, which is quite different to where they used to lose casualties in DBA 2. In that game the aim was always to try and take out the supporting elements. I have to say, I am impressed with the ability of the Gauls to fight in DBA 3.0. I can't recall ever seeing a game where they were able to carve their way through the Roman line so effectively in the previous edition. The double element +1 and auto-kill on Blades makes them lethal with just a little luck. I probably should have held the Roman reserve back a little and moved it so that the centre element, which also happened to be the general) was opposite the Gallic Chieftain, so they could have got a 6 vs 3 match-up, but that is all learning. A rematch goes without saying.

 'The blood of this chicken has brought us victory!'

'Come on Porcius, let's get out of here.'

Nate

More pics of French troops holidaying in the Med

Again, just painting. I've been hit with yet another illness in the space of a month. Can't wait until this winter is over!

 This time it is some regular infantry. First up, the 18e ligne in their red jackets and yellow facings. I have to admit, the black pouffes are a bit boring though. To give you an idea of size, the bases are 30x20mm. You can make out the level of caricature on these guys, which makes them very easy to paint, and as I said in the previous post, gives them some real character.

 I'll be adding a flag when I can get back to work and access the printer.

These marching figures are from a different regiment, the 85e, with blue facings this time, and much prettier pouffes on their hats. I like the neck curtains on the chap on the right and the drummer, they serve as a good reminder of where these guys are meant to be operating.

Right, I'm going to crawl off and resume my role as an invalid.

Nate

Napoleon in Egypt - a bit of painting

A while back Allan from Lancashire Games sent me some samples of his new Napoleon in Egypt range. The idea was to paint them up and do a blog review. Jonathan over at Palouse Wargaming Journal (second time in as many posts I've linked to you, Jonathan!) was given the same opportunity and beat me to it by, oh, I don't know, 4 months or so. His review is very good - comprehensive about the range and his painting is enough to inspire anyone to want to put a project together with these figures.

Well, I got there eventually, although I've still got a number of figures to do. Here are some snaps:

Artillery crew, with a Napoleonic 12 pounder also made by Lancashire Games.

 The figures are very easy to paint. In my rush I forgot to do the brass ends on their scabbards, and on reflection the strap for the gourd should be brown, not white, but I'll fix those up. I also got the cockades wrong. White on the outside but then red and blue in the centre. I will touch these things up later.

Two members of the 2eme Legere.

 The same comments as for the artillery also apply to these chaps, in terms of my painting.

 And some alternate angles for viewing.

So what do I think? First of all they are big and chunky, and this is obvious from the photos. There is a certain amount of caricature in the faces and hands, and the muskets are very fat. If you are an anatomical purest, then this range is not for you. However, the caricature makes them very easy to paint, and gives them plenty of personality. I can almost hear them talking to each other (right, that's it, he's lost it), the artillery officer shouting at his crew to get ready, here come the Mamelukes again!

I'm going to invest in an army of these guys, and a matching bunch of Mamelukes. Nothing too major, forces suitable for One Hour Wargames scenarios is what I am thinking at present, but it is such a colourful and flavourful period I am hooked.

The range is available here, and there is another 24 hours or so left in their current sale.

Nate

Kolin

This is the last day of the school holidays and I am gutted to say that I am still getting over a flu that started on the first day! At least now I am only hacking my lungs out, not like the first week where I couldn't get off the couch. Needless to say, all of my holiday hobby plans went right out the window. No games and a very limited amount of painting. But today was Mike's birthday, so I set up a Seven Years War game so he could come around and play. Then it turned out that he had a client who could only make it today, and so had to be at work. The fates hate me. Luckily, John finished work early and this afternoon we got five turns of the game played.

Kolin has been fought out by Jonathan Freitag several times, and can be found on his blog here. I used the exact same set up that he did, in an effort to see whether the Prussians had any chance at all. My plan was to fulfill Frederick's original intention of an oblique attack to the best of my ability - attack on the left and take Krezcor town and hill. From there, hopefully I could move onto the defensive and ride out the arrival of the Austrian reserves. Good plan, eh? Well, not so much...

The view from Frederick's position

The initial deployment. The Austrian reserves will come on from the top right of the picture. What you see is what you get for the Prussians.

The Prussians initially gain the upper hand on their left.

The lines close up.

In the end the Prussians decide to launch their right hand cavalry into the fray as well, hoping to win a knock-out blow before the Austrian reserves arrive.

The Prussians struggle to make any progress in the face of the Austrian artillery

The situation at the end of the game. The Prussian cavalry on the right have forced the Austrians into an awkward defensive position. In the centre Bevern is frustrated by the Austrian artillery battery.

On the Prussian left a space has been cleared for the Prussian Cuirassiers directly under Frederick, but the Austrians are rallying and are unlikely to be an easy nut to crack.

So, although we could have played on, it was unlikely that the Prussians were going to change history.
Honours of War are a very good ruleset, but it has been a while since I last played them. There is also quite a difference between playing solo where you can make mistakes and playing an opponent who wants everything to be how the rules say. Considering John had never played them before, he adapted very quickly, but two of us playing such a big battle with the rules the second time out was probably a  bit ambitious. I'm going to play a few smaller solo scenarios and make sure that I have the rules down-pat for the next time I play an opponent.
In terms of the Kolin scenario, I think the design has too much artillery. I've seen it mentioned before that artillery is powerful in these rules, and batteries even more so. The Austrians effectively held the centre with their two gun battery as the supporting infantry fell back around them. Charging artillery frontally can be suicidal, but is doable, but not when two guns are firing together. The same for the poor Grenz defending the foremost village. They were kicked out in the first turn by the Prussian battery. I wouldn't mind trying the scenario again with less artillery.

Nate