Dick Winters passes away

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The start of the 10mm Napoleonic battle: The Battle of Edificio

Hello, everyone!

Well, I played the first seven or eight rounds of my latest 10mm Napoleonic game today!  I am using my own homegrown rules, Brigades and Bearskins... I have had a lot of fun with them in the past, and while they are still evolving a touch, they generally give a good game!

So... above is the initial plan.  The deployment actually hurt the French a bit... not only is their cavalry brigade way off on its own, but it is also going to be a bit tricky to find good fields of fire for all of that artillery!  They are going to have to clear the infantry out of the way and see what can be done.

For now, the French will generally advance, with the cavalry trying to make it back to friendly lines, while the British will also advance to the cover of the farmstead and use its large cavalry brigade to try to catch and kill the French cavalry!

Napoleon moves up to the nearby farmhouse, surveying the surrounding ground as his long columns of infantry advance up the road.

Napoleon splits his force; one Guard brigade under Colonel LeRue, breaks off and heads towards an orchard on the flank, looking to greet the cavalry brigade under the command of Marshal Ney as they come back to the lines.

Ney (seen above as a blurry smear of blue at the top left of the photo above) however, is in trouble... not only is there a larger British cavalry brigade chasing him (which includes two uber-quick light cavalry units) but he ALSO has to get his men across the river, which will slow them down quite a bit!

Ney's light cavalry unit quickly gallops away from the oncoming British, but the French cuirassiers, slowed by the rushing river, begin to lag behind... Ney himself gallops back to urge them on, but the British are getting closer and closer...

And JUST as the British commander is close enough to catch Ney and the cuirassiers, Colonel Sharpe, an EXCELLENT commander, fails his "Orders" roll, and his cautious nature takes over, causing him to pull his cavalry up... maybe he is nervous about an ambush?!  Argh! Curses!  Picton gallops over to ensure his orders are followed, but it is too late; the French cavalry takes advantage and makes it to friendly lines, leaving Sharpe to redeploy his cavalry on the hillside.

 In the meanwhile the British infantry under Colonel Thayer pushes towards the larger farmstead at the crossroads, with the intention of taking and holding it and waiting for reinforcements... they should be able to hold off the French from the larger farmhouse and its outbuildings for a while...

The main French advance, meanwhile, begins to deploy off of the road opposite the farmstead, intending to give the vast number of French guns a chance to unlimber... but the commander of the French artillery soon realizes he is in a TERRIBLE position!  He cannot deploy or fire through the orchard OR the woods, and he realizes there is barely enough ground to deploy a SINGLE battery of artillery, much less THREE!  He desperately begins to look around for another place to deploy, eventually figuring that the hilltop behind the woods will allow at least one of the batteries to hit the center of the battlefield...

Finally, on turn seven, the British 1st Division, under the command of the Sir Arthur Wellesley, arrives on the field. His two infantry brigades immediately march towards the farmstead and the hill beside it.

Meanwhile his single artillery battery goes in the other direction, up the road towards one of only two hilltops on the field, and the ONLY hilltop with a nice, clear view of everything... could a SINGLE British battery end up being as effective as THREE French batteries?!

The French artillery begins to deploy, as the French Guards advance into the cover of the walled orchard.

In a few turns the British guns deploy on the hilltop, staring down at the French in the valley below them, their flank covered by Colonel Sharpe's cavalry and their front about to be covered by...

... Colonel Del Rio's Spanish infantry.  They may be sub-par, but they SHOULD be able to hold the hill, as long as they have the heavily defended farmstead on on side and Sharpe's cavalry on the other.

Speaking of the farmstead, Colonel Thayer's men finally get into position, prepared to either defend should the French come, or possibly even attack when the British Guard brigade makes it up, and possibly they can sweep the French artillery that is beginning to deploy in front of them away...

The French artillery prepares to fire...

 And that is how things stand!  Next turn will see the first shots fired!  The French are in a rather difficult spot, all things considered, with their artillery all stacked up and unable to fire, and with heavily-defended farmstead full of Brits on one flank, a huge swarm of British cavalry on the other, and a pretty mean looking hill of fields in the center!  While at the start I thought the French commander had an easy task ahead of him, I am beginning to reconsider, as the British are almost beginning to consider an attack in certain spots of the field!

So!  Come on back for more of the Battle of the Edificio!

The 10mm Napoleonic Combatants Muster for Battle!

Hey all!

Well, the combatants are chosen for my first 10mm Spanish Napoleonic fight... so I thought I would share!

Above you can see a shot of the table, all set and ready to go.  The French will deploy on the far side of the table, the British on the near side.  I will be rolling each turn to see if troops arrive... on the first turn they arrive on a 1, on the second a 1-2, and so on.  I will then randomly see WHERE they arrive out of the three entry points.

Both sides have two divisions with a total of four brigades.  Surprisingly both sides rolled up three infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade... but the similarities stop there!

First up; the French!

The French commander decided to try something a little unusual.  Rather than evenly divide his brigades among his two division commanders, he gave all three infantry brigades to the 1st Division, under the command of Napoleon himself. There were two reasons for this.  First, he figured that this way his army would stay LARGELY together... if the single cavalry brigade that made up the 2nd Division showed up, it would probably be able to stay away from the British until the 1st Division arrived, and if the 1st arrived first... well then, it would be ready to rock!  Also, the French commander rolled up a TON of artillery; THREE batteries compared to only a single British battery.  Therefore the French commander will likely sit back a bit and pound the British player the entire game, using his infantry to defend the guns.

He did roll up a pretty good set of infantry brigades too!  The first, under Colonel Canard (an above average officer, which would allow the brigade to operate a little father away from Napoleon than the rest) is an elite brigade with three battalions.  The second brigade was rolled up as ANOTHER elite brigade of three battalions, and put under the command of Colonel LeRue, an average officer.  The third brigade was made up of three regular line battalions, under an average, if somewhat cautious Colonel Vin.  And ALL THREE brigades were supported by artillery!  Yikes!

So!  Napoleon's 1st Division wouldn't be the LARGEST in terms of battalions, but it featured a TON of quality troops, and a flood of artillery.  It would have to be kept somewhat close together to be kept functioning at top shape, but this didn't seem likely to be a problem.

 
The French 2nd Division was made up of a single brigade of cavalry under Division Commander Ney.  Ney would likely take personal command of the brigade from Colonel Lebreque... while Lebreque is a perfectly capable commander, Ney has only this single brigade to be responsible for!  This is pretty good for a cavalry brigade, in that it will be able to operate totally autonomously, with no fear of failing command rolls

Now on to the British!  Like the French, the British feature two divisions, with four brigades total.  The British organized their brigades fairly traditionally, with two brigades per division.

 The British 1st Division is a real mixed bag.  Commanded by the Duke of Wellington, the 1st Division features two very different infantry brigades.  The first is an elite brigade of three infantry battalions under the command of the super aggressive (if somewhat average) Colonel Smith.  The second is a larger brigade of four Spanish infantry battalions, under the capable (and also very aggressive) command of Colonel Del Rio.  The Spanish troops, however, are of poor quality... two battalions are below average, and two are simply average.  The 1st also features the only battery of artillery that the British are fielding, which makes this a very difficult battle for the British.

The 2nd Division, under Picton, also features two brigades.  The first is a large brigade of British infantry, with four full battalions under a balanced commander, Colonel Thayer.  The second brigade is a large cavalry brigade under the command of an extraordinary (+2) commander, Colonel Sharpe.  This will allow the British cavalry to range far afield without running into too many troubles getting orders.  The cavalry is maybe the only place that the British have an advantage... their cavalry brigade is larger than the French, with an extra unit of light cavalry... hopefully for the British they will be able to use that cavalry to harass the French and POSSIBLY help level the field against all those French Guards and French artillery!

So... that's it!  I thought I would roll up the first men to reach the table... in the first turn, no one arrived, but then...

In the second turn, BOTH French Divisions marched onto the table, along with the British 2nd Division!  It was like everyone decided to show up all at once!

The French deployment was NOT ideal.  The massive 1st appeared on one flank of the battlefield, behind some low hills and some woods... not the best place for ALL of the French artillery to be placed!  It would take them some time before they got into an ideal position.

The French 2nd, which consisted of all of their cavalry, galloped onto the far end of the table... just opposite the British 2nd, which included a MUCH larger group of cavalry!  The French would have to be VERY careful not to get caught by the British, who might make an attempt to wipe out the French cavalry early while they were exposed!

And there is still the British 1st that hasn't yet gotten onto the table...

So!  The men have hit the field, and I am ready to play!

From 15mm Virginia to my first 10mm Spanish Countryside!

 Hey all!

Well, I am all finished up with my super secret ACW project, and so am moving to get that scenery off of the table and get out my newest 10mm Napoleonic scenery, which is meant to represent Spain!

First up was taking down the ACW stuff. 

It is entertaining to take it all apart... it is always fun to see the table come apart, piece by piece, field by field, until you are left with just the felt and eventually just the under-foam!  Below is a shot of the table early in the deconstruction phase...

Below is a shot of my fences, all stuck into their piece of storage foam... this doesn't count the snakerail, of course!

Here is a shot of the table once everything is gone, but the flock isn't yet vacuumed up.  It is funny to be able to see the roads!  Once you DO vacuum it all up, it DOES leave just the slightest impression of the roads, which ends up looking GREAT... it just gives you other colors that you can barely see through the full coat of flock!

Speaking of the flock, here is a shot of what I use... it is a big mix of several different types, including both coarse and fine, a few different colors, and even some ballast and the like.  The trick is that every time you dustbuster it up after a game it just gets better and better, and more and more subtle and full of different shades!

And here is my box of bushes (a few trees made their way in) for 10-15mm.  These guys are key, especially for my European battlefields, where I don't rely so heavily on fences.

So!  Here is the new table layout... meant to represent Napoleonic Spain!  The table has a few roads leading in and out, including a good crossroads at the center that will serve as a good objective.  We tried to cut on the number of trees and forests a bit, as Spain is a bit more arid than, say, France or Belgium.  We also experimented with NOT surrounding a few of the fields with bushes.

Here is a shot from the other side.  From this angle you can see the main man-made structures on the field... a large, somewhat informal orchard right at the crossroads, a very small farmhouse nearer the camera, and a larger farm compound with its own fields and orchards on the far side of the road.

Here is the first shot of the smaller farm.  The building and walls are from Timecast.  I put them all on a plastic base, plastered and sanded, and then flocked.  I am able to flock it into the table, which completely hides the edges and really makes for a nice look.  This house has a small vegetable garden out back.

Here is another shot of the small farm, this time from across the road.  Note the small path leading from the back of the house to the garden, and the longer one leading out of the photo, where the orchard at the crossroads is.  You also get a good look at my new creation, the grape vines... I think they help to give the table a very Spanish feel.




Speaking of the orchard, here it is!  You can make out the path leading from the small farm compound to the orchard. You can also see the fields on the near side of the street, and the huge boulder right at the crossroads itself! 




Here is the larger farm compound that is across the table from the farm shown above.  It is a larger house and a barn, both from Timecast.  I actually plastered the house myself, leaving exposed brick in certain spots to match the barn.  Behind the farm you can see some fields, and also a small orchard.



Here is a shot from the other side of the larger farm compound, where you can really see the fields.



Here is a closeup of the farm compound... I feel like by flocking it into the table you really don't see the edges, which looks nice.



And finally, here is a shot of the separate orchard, which for this set-up we put near the large compound.  I think the walls really turned out pretty good, and help tie it all together.  I can't wait to see some troops fighting through this place!

So!  That is the latest table... over the next day or so I'll generate a pair of forces to fight over this table!  I plan to not only have them enter at random SPOTS on the table, but at random TIMES, so it should be an interesting game!

Someone buy these miniatures from me?

Hey, someone out there... buy these Skaven from me!  Trust me, they are a nice looking unit of rats, and would do any army proud!

So... email me at grenadierguardscampaigns AT yahoo.com and buy them!:)  Name your price!

10mm Napoleonic grape vines

Hey all!

Well, I have a host of 10mm Napoleonic stuff on the way... the table has been disassembled after a super top secret Civil War project (nope, not even a single photo of it!) and has been reassembled to portray the countryside of Spain, complete with some all new scenery!

Anyway, before I start in on table shots, I thought I'd show a piece of the 10mm grape vines I was making for the Spanish countryside!  There are a few physical "traits" that I feel are very "Spain" and grape vines are definitely one.

I started off by cutting lengths of plastic card, and then drilling toothpick sized holes in it.  I cut toothpicks down to the appropriate size, and then sanded the plastic card down, both to smooth the edges and to give it a little grit.

I then sanded them and, once that was dried, gave them a good black undercoat, followed by a coat of matte varnish to help keep the sand secure.

I then went ahead and gave it brushes of a darker brown, lighter brown, and then a VERY light brown... I figured that would help with the sandy look of Spanish soil.

I then painted up the wood for the stakes the vines would be on, and pulled the vines out of foliage clumps.  A touch of glue, and voila!  Grape vines!

I'll show more of them tomorrow when I do a little photo spread of the table undergoing its transformation from 15mm Virginia countryside to 10mm Napoleonic Spain!

Harry Potter in 25mm... finished

Wow.

Finally done:)

Well, as anyone who has read anything on this blog in a while already knows, I've been working for some time on my wife's Christmas present... a set of Harry Potter miniatures in 25mm scale.

Now, there are no such miniatures around, so in a VERY kind move Soapy decided to clear enough space to take on the job of crafting the three main heroes of the books and films... Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

After a few months they got here just a few days ago.  In the meanwhile, I worked on creating a display base for the miniatures.  I wanted it to really be a beautiful piece, and really went beyond any previous work.

The display base had a few firsts for me:

1)  It was the first piece I have done in a plastic display case, requiring me to plan and matte out a large portion of it.

2)  It was the first piece that used electricity and lights... the fireplace was done using a fire LED kit that considered of three different LEDs, along with a painted piece of celophane.  I had to not only wire it all up (very simple!) but also make it able to be turned on and off with a switch I worked through a hole on the side.

3)  It was the first time I've had to match bases exactly up with a floor pattern.  The floor, which is a patterned piece of paper, really worked out well.

4)  It was the first time I had a window scene with an attempted secondary light source, so that it really stood out.  Above the windows but OUTSIDE of the wall is an opening for light... that way the outside feels lit independently (i.e. by the moon) and is not dependent on the main light source!

5)  It was the first time I've tried to paint something that is invisible!  The Invisibility Cloak, which is draped over a large armchair, was a real challenge.  Sculpted out of green stuff, I had to paint it in such a way as to give the impression of invisibility... not an easy feat!  I settled on the angle I thought it would get the most views (dead on) and then tried to paint a shelf and book through one part of it, along with some impression of brown floorboards and the pattern of the chair itself.  This was a SERIOUS challenge, but I think worked out fine.

Note The Marauders Map sitting on the floor... as a reader suggested, it looks almost as if the cloak and Map were being used on some nefarious night mission...!:)

And lastly...

6)  It was the first time I had to paint commissioned figures... better not screw it up!


Hedwig the Owl was a later planned addition, and only made possible by a donation of a GW Owl from Lloyd in Sweden!  He sent it across as a bit from his son's GW Dryad set, and it just fits in perfect.  Above Hedwig hangs a painting my wife and I bought on our last trip to Italy, which hangs in the center of our dining room.

 

The Sorting Hat, which sits under a portrait of Professor Dumbledore asleep (clearly after his death) was made with green stuff, and turned out really sharp.  The fire also turned out awful sharp.

Now, when they finally arrive, the three figures looked pretty good!

Harry was excellent.  The hardest part was capturing his good will in his face... the glasses, which in real life do not obscure his eyes, really made it tough to paint convincing eyes, which I think are essential to really getting a character across.  The casually untucked shirt and the loose tie really help connect Harry to his "prep school" roots at Hogwarts.

Hermione I thought was the best.  The hair of the sculpt really connected the piece to Emma Watson, who is the first person you think of when you visualize the brainy heroine.  I made sure to write, on the cover of her book, "Spells & Charms"... she is clearly ready to rock!

Ron looks excellent.  With his red sweather (A Weasley sweater?  A Gryffindor sweater?), along with his broom from his later Quidditch adventures, really helps tie the character together.

Here are a few random shots....

A shot of the cover of Hermione's book... "Spells & Charms".

A shot over Hermione's shoulder, showing both the writing in her book as well as the scrolls in her pouch.

One more shot of Hermione...



A shot of Harry from the front... the scar was SO carefully sculpted it was crazy:)

A shot of Ron from the side... he is a very dynamic figure, really looking ready to roll, broom out!

Another shot of Ron...

A shot of Harry straight on... notice the Gryffindor patch.

\
So!

A very, very long project, thankfully finished up.  The wife ADORED the gift (her only gift, other than an iTunes giftcard for a few songs and a DVD.)  It was a lot of fun to work on, although waiting for the figures to make their way through customs was NO fun at all.  Overall I am happy that she now has a one-of-a-kind set of 25mm Harry Potter miniatures, unique in the world.

Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by... I hope it was an enjoyable project to follow!