In Praise of Joy and Forgetfulness….

An oldie but definitely a goodie!

In many ways I have that well known Bon vivant, wit and raconteur Conrad Kinch of Joy and Forgetfulness fame to thank for the inspiration for this post and so it is in his honour this is dedicated to.

It is June once again, and so inevitably the looming spectre of the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo taps me on the shoulder and reminds me of games and Napoleonic projects of years gone by. I have mentioned ad nauseam of my fondness and long term interest in the 1815 campaign, beginning with my first painted army of Airfix figures and Bruce Quarrie’s rules - the orange Airfix magazine guide version - and followed by a 15mm collection and a set of rules called Le Petit Empereur and more recently the 28mm Del Prado collection. All of these have sadly gone and so my Napoleonic adventures are now limited to boardgames. I flirted with the Command and Colours system but for a variety of reasons it never really pressed all the buttons for me. There is however, one game that most emphatically does - Napoleon by Columbia Games.

The map “Charleroi. By God that man does war Honour!”

The game itself was originally produced by Jedko in the early 1970s and was then picked up by Avalon Hill. From them it went to Columbia Games and was launched in the early 1990s as a 3rd edition. Subsequently to that a 4th edition appeared and currently a 5th edition is under development. 

The game uses blocks for the units and as is customary with Columbia games, the blocks are set up so that your opponent can only see the back and not the side with the current strength or indeed, the types of unit itself, infantry, cavalry or artillery. The units use step reduction to record combat losses and this is shown by rotating the block so that the correct strength point is at the top of the unit. Strengths range from 4 to 2 steps, depending on the formation type. Movement is on a point to point basis - the points being villages - and if both sides descend on the same village the units involved are deployed on a battle board for the tactical phase. I have played this many times and it is a wonderful game with the fog of war and with both sides operating under asymmetric pressure - the French needing to get to Brussels whilst keeping the allies apart, the allies needing to join together to defeat the Corsican ogre.

The tactical battle board

I owned the 3rd edition but disposed of it when the 4th came out. This was a mistake as far as I was concerned as the 4th edition reduced the units in the game by merging some formations so as not to crowd the map. I could never get as enthusiastic with the 4th edition and so when the chance can me up to get a copy of the 3rd I leapt at it! 

The respective orders of battle featuring unit strength points. Note that the units are nominally divisional sized.

Some years ago, before the Portable Napoleonic Wargame came out, I had it in mind to refight the battle using the block armies and based on the order of battle used in the 3rd edition. I drew up the order of battle and recorded the number of hit boxes per division sized unit based on the strength points from the game. The idea was to use the game as the scenario generator and then fight the resulting battles using my block armies on the tabletop. It was with this in mind I commissioned Warbases to make some movement trays for the block armies.

As an aside I fought the battle itself using the long departed Del Prado collection and a square grid based version of Waterloo A La Carte! The original version used an 8 hex by 6 grid whilst my squared version used a chessboard. It was huge fun despite being rather cramped as the figures were a little on the large size for a 60mm square.

Thanks to the reminder about Waterloo from the esteemed Mr Kinch, I have added the whole Waterloo with blocks project back into the pile of things to do at some point. Certainly using the block armies with movement trays (these will have the appropriate formation names on them for identification purposes) and 3D terrain will certainly look rather splendid in a Kriegspiel kind of way.

Yes I know there are far better books on the subject than these venerable stalwarts, but to a callow youth of twelve years old they were the gateway into a lifelong hobby. I would never part with either!

It also means that I will have to watch Waterloo again, as well as rereading a couple of my favourite books on the subject. How we suffer for our hobby eh?

The Waterloo campaign has given me much joy over the years - admittedly probably longer ago than I would like - and so it would be easy to overlook or even forget the fun to be had attempting to outdo Napoleon or Wellington. One thing is certain though, I am grateful to Mr Kinch for putting me back in touch with roots so to speak.

He really is a super fellow.

The Nelson Touch

An oldie but goodie, as some might say - at least I certainly would!

Wargames set during the age of sail have given me some cracking games over the years. Initially I mangled to refight Trafalgar using the old SPI game Frigate and then moved on to Wooden Ships and Iron Men. I have never fought this most famous of sea battles using models but who knows? Maybe one day I shall! Having said that, I have a couple of up to date boardgames covering the battle and campaign which need to see the light of day - the prospect of painting up umpteen ships of the line is a daunting one for sure!

I have a modest collection of books on the naval dimension of the Napoleonic Wars - including Mark Adkin’s opus The Trafalgar companion - but not the book you see in the picture above. I recall reading this years ago - mainly because the author wrote the splendid book on the battle of Waterloo: Waterloo: A Near Run Thing. Trafalgar: The Nelson Touch is written in very much the same style as the Waterloo title in that it is an account of the battle heavily laced with anecdotes, diary entries and extracts from letters etc from those that were there. It is not a detailed account of the battle in the same way that A Near Run Thing  was not but it is a cracking read all the same.

I am really pleased to add this title to the collection and again, who knows? The Portable Age of Sail Wargame with scratch built models anyone?

Hmmm…. ;-)

The Eternal Napoleonic Enthusiast

Loads of Command and Colours block and card driven goodness - just as well I am currently, to use the theatrical expression, ‘resting’ as there are an awful lot of blocks to be labelled!

Back in the early days of my wargaming career my main passion was the Napoleonic Wars. This coincided with the release of the film Waterloo and of course, the Airfix 20mm range. I suspect that many a wargamer of a certain vintage could tell a similar tale! The years have rolled by and historical periods have come and gone in and out of fashion during my wargaming journey but the Napoleonic Wars was always there or thereabouts, waiting patiently for the command, “Now’s your time, Crook!” (Or something similar….).

Now that I am staring down the barrel of premature and enforced retirement following my recent redundancy, my planned bout of ‘front loading’, aka laying in gaming supplies for the additional spare time I will have (even allowing for the ‘to do’ list of domestic chores!), has proven to be one of my better decisions. The material you see in this post is a direct result of this.

Whilst no wargamer will ever admit to having everything they need I am happy to say that I am probably closer to this ideal than I have been for many a long year! I think that main reason for this is that I have made a number of decisions that have shaped my collection in a more orderly fashion based upon, dare I say it, that which I am most interested in as opposed to those occasional bouts of whimsy - ‘ooooh shiny! - in the face of something new and tempting.

1815 from the strategic angle and of course a naval game - I also have a copy of Wooden Ships and Iron Men lurking around, together with S Craig Taylor’s splendid grid based ‘Ship ‘O the Line’

The Napoleonic Wars has just about everything I need from a historical period gaming wise on both land and sea. Everything from skirmishes with a handful of figures up to army level battles with the added bonus of a healthy and rewarding naval side. There is no shortage of printed material as well as a healthy selection of fiction based on the period. Chuck in the occasional foray on the big and little screen and you have it all.

Since moving away from the Isle of Sheppey in 1977 as a dyed in the wool Napoleonic gamer I have tried just about everything else from the time of the Pharaohs to ‘Cold War gone hot’ type games and so Napoleonics kind of fell by the wayside a little as I explored many new and shiny things. Some of the latter have stayed with me - especially naval and aerial - but always there was that gnawing away at a corner of my soul, a reminder of glorious days gone by as armies of painted plastic 20mm Airfix figures went into battle, marching to the tune of Bruce Quarrie’s rules to do battle amongst the Merit trees and walls, repurposed Airfix Waterloo Farmhouses and pan scourer hedgerows. 

I have no plans to paint any Napoleonic figures anytime soon. I have everything I need for tabletop battles via Command and Colours (I have the whole lot) and my block armies for anything higher level. I am undecided about skirmish level games but who knows? Maybe the brushes might come out at some point but certainly not in the immediate future. In fact, the only thing that is likely to be painted anytime soon for the Napoleonic wars is most likely to be ships.

Now I had planned to explore age of sail gaming using scratchbuilt models in the same way as I did for the ACW. This idea is still hanging around but for now I am looking at something rather more ambitious - simply because I should have the time to do so.

What does this all mean?

I had always promised myself that I would go back to the Napoleonic Wars in a meaningful way - my brief foray into the Del Prado collection was a pointer in this direction - but the biggest obstacle was always the land side and painting a collection to use. With the benefit of experience, coupled with the block armies, Command and Colours, the Portable Napoleonic wargame and my planned excursion into naval using models I can at last give the period the attention it deserves. 

A Waterloo Footnote - Literally!

The front cover of the digital version….

….and the contents.

The footnote to page 4 - I cannot help but be delighted by this!

A short while ago mention was made of a book that was freely available on the net written by the esteemed author and historian, Charles Esdaile. The book was entitled Wargaming Waterloo and at the time I thought ‘Oooh, goody!’, downloaded it onto my IPad and then proceeded to forget about it!

Imagine my surprise and delight then, when my old friend Bob Cordery emailed me this morning and drew my attention to the footnote on page 4 of the text (see the picture above). So I am now contained in a footnote in an academic publication about gaming one of the most famous battles of all time that coincidentally happens to be a personal favourite of mine!

I had no idea about this and so naturally am rather pleased to be so noted. I did chuckle at ‘The many projects developed by Crook’ part of the footnote - I wonder if the esteemed Prof. Esdaile knows how many of these projects I have started or more importantly, how many I have finished!?

The three blog posts can be found here:

Waterloo A La Carte….Game Number 56, Part 1

Waterloo A La Carte….Game Number 56, Part 2

Waterloo A La Carte….Game Number 56, Part 3

I should also point out that the above idea was not entirely original in that I adapted a similar hex based concept designed by ‘Old Trousers’ of ‘Numbers, Wargames and Arsing About’ fame. The idea was originally mentioned in the following blog post:

“Yes, Wonderful Things!”

Hard to believe this was four ago - the figures have long gone and so I now have another method of getting my Napoleonics fix, but more of that at a later date.

Many thanks to Bob Cordery for bringing this to my attention!

Napoleonic Flights of Fancy

Six bags of Napoleonic goodies

A short while ago Bob Cordery was getting a supply of the hard plastic figures used in the US version of the board game Risk. These are also the figures that were available in the Napoleon’s Wars series of board games produced by Worthington Games. When he asked if I wanted to ‘piggy back’ off his order I jumped at the chance and so the figures duly arrived yesterday morning.

Infantry, cavalry and the rather heavy looking artillery piece

They come in six colours and there are sixty pieces in each pack - twelve cannons, twelve cavalrymen and thirty six infantry. More than enough for a Portable Wargame style set up with an ‘imagi-nation’ style twist. I have no immediate plans for these chaps but it is good to have them in store so to speak. 

The figures are very generic looking with both the cavalry and the infantry sporting what looks like a stovepipe style shako. Definitely suitable for any purist offending wargamer to use!

More on Napoleon’s War: The Hundred Days

The second game in the series that includes the Russians and the Austrians along with more French. The rules are an evolution from those in the 100 Days set and fix a couple of contentious issues. Luckily BoardGameGeek has some files that ring the changes!

I took a peek at BoardGameGeek yesterday evening in order to flesh out my knowledge around the Napoleon’s War series published by Worthington Games. It was certainly time well spent!

The Gates of Moscow set was a standalone game that included the Russians and Austrians (in green and white plastic respectively) and the game featured the following battles: Marengo, Austerlitz, Aspern-Essling and Borodino. The rules were the same as for the 100 Days although a couple of things had been changed in the light of playing experience. There are a few useful files on BoardGameGeek that ‘ring the changes’ which is handy and yes, I have downloaded them!

Worthington also released two Battle Packs that each featured four scenarios and map boards but no figures. Battle Pack Number 1 featured the following battles: Alexandria, Jena, Auserstadt and Busaco. Battle Pack Number 2 was focused on the War of 1812 and so included the following four battles: Queenston Heights, Chippewa, Bladensburg and New Orleans.

Mark Cordone pointed out that the figures are in fact the same as those included in the US version of Risk which are sadly not available in the UK.

The core system is fun in a Portable Wargame/Command and Colours way and it captures the flavour of combat in the period rather nicely. The use of action points which can be adjusted on a random basis each turn by a dice roll regulates movement and combat with a little more freedom than the card driven Command and Colours system. At least one does not have the situation of having a handful of command cards for the wrong sector! Personally I am happy with either system though.

The only downside I can see is that the game has been sold as a battle refight system in that the map boards are solely designed for the featured battle. There are no terrain tiles to customise the playing area or to do ones own thing although that would certainly not stop most gamers I know (myself included!)!

The map hexes are 40mm across the flat sides and it would not be beyond the capabilities of most gamers to produce terrain etc that could be used to supplement the maps.

In Conclusion

For me there is certainly some mileage in this system in terms of what it could be used for. A good example would be to use Command and Colours scenarios with the Napoleon’s War rules and troop types as the former are readily available on the net to download from a variety or sources.

I like them as a stripped back alternative to Command and Colours.

Back to Waterloo

Worthington’s Games take on the Waterloo campaign of 1815

The rear of the bo which should give you a flavour of what is to come

The 1815 Waterloo campaign is one of my perennial favourites with a fondness for it going back to the days of Airfix armies, Bruce Quarrie’s Airfix Magazine Guide and THAT film. There is something about it that never ceases to inspire me although in many ways elements of it have always remained tantalisingly out of reach - primarily I suppose because despite all of the ink that has been spilt over the years about the campaign and the battle we only have a series of educated guesses as to what happened and when. I have dabbled with using figures and played numerous board games on the subject over the years and even attempted a version using Waddington’s Campaign as the basis. I also nearly took part in a 54mm Little Wars inspired refight so it is safe to say my interest in Waterloo is well established.

I noticed the above game advertised on one of the Facebook Marketplace groups and so I immediately made a beeline for it. 

The game uses a system that is very much Command and Colours light in that there are similarities to Richard Borg’s design but without the use of command cards. Instead of blocks there are three armies made of up of generic looking figures presenting infantry, cavalry and artillery made from hard plastic and scaled at between 15mm and 20mm. The armies are red, blue and grey and I am pretty certain that a follow up volume included the Russians in Green and Austrians in white. I also believe that there was a standalone expansion book that covered the war in 1812 against the USA. I will check BoardGameGeek later for confirmation. The game contains map boards for Wavre, Ligny, Quatre Bras and Waterloo itself. There are also some counters for use to differentiate troop types - skirmishers, heavy cavalry, horse artillery, that sort of thing - as well as for the three main commanders. The rules are very straightforward and games are expected to take between an hour or two.

The scenario cards - note the reinforcements for Quatre Bras and Waterloo….

The figures

The rules, play sheet and the counters.

The use of generic troop types means that the figures (120 in all) would be eminently suitable for a Portable Wargame style set up and when used in conjunction with any of the commercially available plastic figures for the period a pretty nifty set could be raised. I am not about to do that anytime soon but it is handy to have the wherewithal if required. In the meantime though, I will be able to easily get my Napoleonic Waterloo period gaming fix in a simple but effective way.

Certainly this is one I am pleased to have in the collection and I will look to try and tack down the expansions etc in due course.

A Portable Waterloo Wargame?

 

“I can't believe my ears. You all stand before me, waving a piece of paper, crying 'abdicate, abdicate!' I WILL NOT! I WILL NOT, NOT, NOT!” (A similar scene played out at Number 10 Downing Street earlier in the week methinks….)

A thought occurred to me after the blog post before last concerning the Battle of Waterloo. Some years ago I owned a copy of the third edition of Columbia Games Napoleon - a block based game covering the Waterloo campaign. The game was organised at division level meaning that there was a block per divisional level formation or for smaller formations combined for ease of play. It was huge fun and when a battle arose from the map movement the blocks involved were transferred to a battle board to resolve combat. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I drew up a roster based on the order of battle contained in the game with a view to gaming the campaign at some point, probably using my block armies. My thinking was to use a block per strength point so in effect a typical infantry division would have 3 or 4 blocks. It was all good fun planning this but for one reason or another it never got off the ground.

A quick glance at the order of battle and immediately the Portable Napoleonic Wargame suddenly looms large!

Sadly the electronic version of the file has long gone so the sole printed copy I have is all that remains but I figured that posting the pictures of the same would at least make it available to anyone that would be interested. I may yet get around to using these as intended - I had this fanciful notion of drawing up a 6ft by 4ft map of the campaign area and taking it from there. Something for my retirement I think!

French Armee Du Nord Central Reserve

French Armee Du Nord Left and Right Wing

Anglo-Dutch Army of the Low Countries

Prussian Armee Des Niederrheins

I may get around to this rather ambitious undertaking at some point but there are no immediate plans to do so. There is something about moving units around on a map that taps in to the inner commander in us all in a way that figures or models never can - at least that is what I believe and it was part of the rationale behind my block armies.

One day perhaps.

The Enduring Appeal of the Napoleonic Big Battle

 A ‘big battle’ set of rules for, well, big battles….

There is something of the operatic epic about many of the battles of the Napoleonic wars. Colourful uniforms, dashing cavalry, determined grenadiers, stoic infantry squares, the crash bang wallop of the artillery and plumed and resplendent generals and ADCs darting hither and thither whilst great lines of skirmishers harry, hassle and annoy in equal measure. Then there are the personalities - the rock stars of the age - imposing their will on the battle in question and leaving their mark, for better or worse, on the canvas of history. It is fair to say that in many respects history became legend and legend became myth - and the course of the history of the Napoleonic wars is replete with copious amounts of both.

During the life of this blog I have often mentioned my fondness for the 1815 campaign in Belgium. Waterloo exercises a peculiar fascination for me ever since I first started wargames back in the early 1970s. In fact my 1815 Allied army made up from Airfix figures and organised as per Bruce Quarries's Airfic Magazine guide - late morphing into Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature - is one of the few armies I have ever painted to a state of relative completeness.

For me there is something about this campaign that I just do not seem to be able to get over - nor do I wish to! 

It is all about the big battle. For my Napoleonic adventures (aka 1815 with perhaps a side hustle in the shape of the 1812 Russian campaign) I wanted to fight (and still do) big actions involving divisions and corps. From a practical perspective - by this I mean in terms of playing space - I am limited to a table of 6ft by 4ft but in all honesty I prefer to fight over a much more compact space, say 4ft by 3ft, or even 3ft by 2ft. Clearly using  this small size of playing area  means using either smaller figures or fewer numbers of anger figures or even dispensing with using figures at all. I fully appreciate that the latter option may come across as heresy for many gamers but certainly not for me!

Several levels of Portable Wargame goodness

I have been inspired by the large scale Napoleonic rules in Charles Wesencraft’s Practical Wargaming as well as more recently, Volley and Bayonet by Frank Chadwick and the Portable Napoleonic Wargame by Bob Cordery. In fact the latter has been taken to a quite remarkable level by Mark Cordone. If you check out Bob’s blog you will see what I mean as Mark organised a very effective refight of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig using Risk figures - and Napoleonic ‘big battles’ do no come much bigger than that!

I really thought I was on to something with the Del Prado collection for 1815 but something about it did not sit right with me and so it was disposed of. To be honest I am thinking that for the scale of games I envisage fighting using figures is probably less of an issue - especially as the block armies work just as well along with 3D scenery. Something to think about going forwards anyway - and with implications for the ACW project as well.

When I saw that Osprey were releasing the set you see at the start of this post it was only going to be a matter of time before I acquired a copy. Absolute Emperor are also well supported by a dedicated Facebook group and there are certainly plenty of good ideas contained therein. There is absolutely no hurry with any of this as the ACW remains front and centre. Having said that the thought of a minor diversion into Belgium during 1815 would be hard to resist - except that I will.

For now anyway….:-)

Napoleonic Forward Planning

Useful reading material for a future project - but which one?

 My plans to undertake a Napoleonic naval based project using a combination of Black Seas models and 15mm figures for the land elements are kind of in hand although I do not expect to be doing anything towards it until the new year. I have two possibilities to consider, the first of which would enable me to use much of the scenic material (still yet to be acquired) that will be used with the 17th century pirate set up - namely Caribbean looking. The second idea - and the one I originally planned to tackle using 20mm figures - featured the Eastern theatre of the Spanish peninsula circa 1810 and later. I do not profess to be an expert in either so I am relying on the two books you see above to provide me with some useful background. 

From a practicality perspective I am thinking that the Spanish option would be easier to organise - certainly from the perspective of suitable figures if nothing else - as well as being different from the Caribbean. Finding suitable models for the forces involved during the earlier years of the Napoleonic Wars, especially pre 1805 and ‘overseas, colonial types’ may prove to be challenge larger than I would care to take on. Bearing in mind that the land forces will be modest - I am looking at combined arms style operations, raids and similar - I may be able to ‘wing it’ in terms of figures but will have to wait and see.

For more information on the two books see below - front cover and then the rear.

I have plenty of time to think about this particular project and indeed, the ships will be tackled first in any event. I want to enjoy the experience as the ships I fully intend rigging and finishing them to as high a standard as I can. This is why there will not be too many of them!

Caribbean Dreams

There be pirates....

 One of the great and enduring things about the blogosphere is the willingness of others to share ideas and offer thoughts and opinions on matters of personal lofty contemplation. In my last post I mentioned about the choice I was facing between two projects - pirates and the Napoleonic Wars - set in the age of sail. I am unable to decide between them as, in truth, I would really like to tackle them both despite the similarities. Both will involve a small number of ships and a land element - the latter being Portable Wargame sized.

After carefully thinking about it I think I may have found a good compromise - and the comments from my previous post have certainly helped to point me in what I think may be the right direction (thank you chaps, as ever much appreciated).  

I will be tackling both the pirates AND the Napoleonic Wars set against the backdrop of the Caribbean.

The plan at this stage is to use Black Seas for the latter and Oak and Iron for the former as far as the ship models are concerned. I would have liked to have built these myself but for a variety of reasons it makes more sense for me to use what is readily available rather than starting from scratch. Although I am not a huge fan of 15mm figures as a rule I will be using this as the scale for the land stuff - the Peter Pig ‘Pieces of Eight’ range being the first post of call. I will need to think about the Napoleonic land side but that will be later rather than sooner but I have been casting covetous eyes at the range available from Stonewall Miniatures - they are really nice! The Napoleonic ship models I fully intend rigging and so this will be a slow burner - especially as I have something else to fit in beforehand and in advance of starting either of these two related projects.

Once I have the last of the ACW ships built I shall look to paint up the Oak and Iron ships from the base game - I may need to add to them at some point just to round out the variety of sip types available - which will at least enable me to indulge in all manner of piratical shenanigans. I have a cunning plan in respect of the troops for this so will be needing to get an order for Peter Pig together sooner rather than later so as to strike whilst the iron is hot.

Needless to say with this reshuffle there will be casualties. I shall be parking the Russo Turkish War naval set up to one side. I am not abandoning it but it will have to wait before I can tackle it as I really want to get some age of sail games in.

A Nautical Conundrum

Warlord Games 1:700th scale metal Schooner Squadron 

It has been a busy few days with lots of domestic stuff ongoing - much of which has been rather challenging  in one way or another. Despite this the grand sort out of the man cave has begun and whilst there will be some gaming related disposals overall these will be quite limited. It is more about making the contents of the man cave far more accessible and above all, organised.

I have been landed with a rather delicious dilemma though. My recent acquisition of a pristine copy of Warlord Games Black Powder naval variant Black Seas (courtesy of the Jolly Broom Man) has given me much pause for thought. I really enjoy age of sail games and indeed, my plan was to try and build some ships for the period using my MDF system. You may recall that I had a copy of Black Seas from some time ago but to be honest I was not hugely taken by it. The models are lovely but at the time I did not feel confident enough in my modelling skills to do them justice and in any event I was distinctly underwhelmed by the rules.  Even then my thoughts had centred on my favourite set of rules for the period - Ship ‘O the Line (the forerunner of the board game Wooden Ships and Iron Men by Avalon hill) from way back in the 1970s. 

I had plans for tying in the low level naval action - primarily frigates and smaller - with some land operations and so acquired a selection of 20mm nautical types together with marines with a view to tackling some combined operations on the Eastern front of the peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. It was grand scheme overall but for a variety of reasons it kind of fell by the wayside and so the embryonic forces were quietly disposed of.

Now here is the thing. For some unknown reason I now feel far better prepared to take on assembling, painting and even rigging the models from Black Seas. I can only put this down to the confidence gained as a result of my ship building - I realise this probably sounds rather quaint but I really feel in some way empowered by the experience. The number of models involved will be small and therefore far more manageable. Even the land elements would be quite modest in terms of numbers - we are not talking massed Napoleonic armies after all, effectively naval landing parties or raiding forces.

My problem is that I also have a liking for something pirate based as in the typical 17th century version. Again, I would be looking to tie in the land side for this and I also thought about making my own ships for the project. 

My dilemma is simply that I am unable to choose between them as I cannot really justify having two conceptually similar age of sail set ups. The Napoleonic Wars would have a certain degree of regularity about it in that I would once again revisit the land dimension and the naval games would be really enjoyable. I would even look forward to making the ship models - they are really lovely in my opinion and worthy of my best efforts (including rigging). The pirate side would be a little more anarchic for sure but again, overall would offer a similar types of experience.

Crucially I now have the ships for the Napoleonic period and gaming wise it is far more of a known quantity. I also have a better starting point than previously in that I can position the land side far more efficiently - meaning I can do it how I like rather than attempting to work around an existing collection. Black Seas comes with three frigates and six brigs and so for my plans merely needs at this stage a further frigate. I note that gunboats are available as well as Schooners, Cutters and Bobs Ketches so at the lower level as far as ships are concerned the project is well served. I could not see me heading to the dizzying heights of first rate ships although a box of 74s may be in order at some point....

But what of the pirates? This really is a tricky one as I would enjoy getting some pirate ships organised as well as fighting some of the raids in the Caribbean. There is plenty of choice as far as figures are concerned and the anarchic nature of it all has a certain whimsical charm for me. Besides, we are talking about pirates here....

Of course, let us not forget that French privateers were very active during the Napoleonic Wars....

I need to think about this some more although it must be said that the Napoleonic Wars does have its nose in front, or should that be bowsprit?

The Parting of the Ways

The end of an era - and the start and support of several new ones! 

I have been busy of late with work, ship building, tinkering with rules and assembling WoFun stuff. I have also caught up on some reading, tidied the man cave once again, posted out a whole lot of disposal stuff and indulged in the odd splash of retail therapy. There is also another task I am engaged in that should come to light in due course so I will say no more at this point.

Mention of disposals leads me conveniently into the reason for this post and the clue is of course the picture above. These are now heading out the door meaning that my sole involvement with the Napoleonic  Wars will be the old perennial favourites of 1805 afloat and 1815 in Belgium. Naturally I shall keep my copies of The Campaigns of Napoleon as well as The Anatomy of Glory but that will be it for the period.

The books you see above are very modestly priced as follows:

Wellington’s Army and the Sharpe Companion - £7.50 each

Everything else EXCEPT for the Atlas of the Peninsular War - £10 each and the aforementioned atlas £25

Note that these prices to not include postage. If anyone is interested drop me an email roguejedi@btinternet.com.

Meanwhile, back to the ships!

Even More on Eric’s Napoleonic Collection

It is not Napoleonic but it does have a bearing on this post

I have to say that sorting out this portion of Eric’s overall collection has not been a pleasurable experience! Frankly it is a mess. There are jumbled units, figures off bases and guns, crews and limbers residing in separate boxes. Throw in the usual Eric mixture of manufacturers - usually within the same unit - move on from the period in question (as Eric did), dispose of a big chunk of it, put the remnants into boxes and store, throw in several house moves and voila! You have me reduced to a gibbering wreck ‘Trying to make some of it all, when you see it makes no sense at all.....’ I should point out that in no way am I blaming anybody for this, least of all Eric, but time and circumstance have conspired to make a pig’s breakfast of what must have been originally a truly magnificent collection.

It has been a real effort to sort this lot out but I think I am finally getting a handle on it. In truth a lot of bits and pieces are moving on to their new homes but there is still a fair amount of stuff left. Luckily this can be partially offset by the fact that my Del Prado collection can make use of the old and unloved - a quick rebase, a touch where needed and lashings of gloss varnish Will hide a multitude of sins! I have been wading through what I thought was the last of it  - the aforementioned and thrice cursed artillery - when I came across a box of cavalry, specifically French Cavalry.

Line Lancers, two regiments of Dragoons (note the 24 figure unit - proper ‘old school’!) and some Hussars

More Hussars and some Line Chasseurs a Cheval and one of the numerous mounted command figures

These appear to be a mixture of Lamming and Minifigs S Range and despite the prolonged period of storage are not in bad shape at all - certainly nothing a dab of superglue here and there, a rebase and lashings of gloss varnish wouldn’t put right. Assuming that no buyers can be found for them then I shall take a few figures from each to add to my Del Prado collection - bearing in mind that my cavalry units are anything from 2 to 5 figures strong. I have to say that I am quite excited at the prospect of adding a few of Eric’s figures to me collection and it would be good to see them take to the tabletop once again.

Now the photo at the head of this post is that of a book I have read many times in the past but have been without a copy until very recently. It is quite superb and it is a theatre I would like to explore in rather more detail. Eric served in Burma from late 1944 I believe and during his retirement years when his wargaming moved into WW2, he amassed some truly Eric sized armies. The painted collection  - which Bill assures me is enormous - will be the next up for disposal but there was also a fair amount of unpainted stuff. Eric was very fastidious at organising his units and so boxes of figures with the name of the unit and all the required figures was a major help when I was sorting it all out.

The last unpainted army of his was for a 1944 14th army and in true Eric tradition this is complete with the usual range of manufacturers, all the appropriate supporting arms and organised down to platoon/section level. His rules of choice were, I believe, Rapid Fire which are a very ‘Eric’ style set.

Where do I come in?

Well, I have been looking out for a WW2 project that would not be too armour heavy and would be a little off the mainstream. I wanted primarily an infantry style set up so the theatre certainly ticks that particular box. For vehicles there are of course those wonderful Japanese tanks as well M3s amongst others for the allies. The fighting was intense, brutal, up close and personal and with little quarter asked or given. Horrible stuff in respect of history and very challenging to work effectively on the tabletop. For my tank battle fix I would naturally be looking at Europe and 1:600th - the desert would be fun but everything I have is for the former.

To be honest I could take an expanded Portable Wargame sized force out of the number of figures that Eric had amassed with it scarcely making a dent in the entire collection and so this is my plan. I have some Japanese on order and will think about the vehicles in due course. The Japanese force will be key as they can take on plenty of other armies so the prospect of tying this in ultimately with island hopping and Flat Top (bring on the US) is a compelling one. 

It would also be in a small way a tribute to the man that made this all possible.

More to follow in due course.

More on Eric’s Napoleonic Collection

A mystery unit that after investigation turned out to be French Garde D’Honneur. In my Napoleonic set up there are 2 or 3 units worth present!

The uniform plate from volume 2 of the Funcken Napoleonic titles

The sorting out of the remnant’s of Eric’s Napoleonic collection continues apace - it is a pleasant diversion in the evenings - and homes have been found for a goodly chunk of it. There is a fair bit left  but I have Carte Blanche to cherry pick any bits and pieces that might take my fancy to add to my own collection. In truth this would probably only be of use to someone that uses small representational units a la Command and Colours or the Portable Napoleonic Wargame so infantry units of 3 to 5 figures, cavalry of 2 to 4 or artillery with a gun and two or three gunners are perfectly acceptable.

The figures that are left over seem to be a mixture of classic Minifigs and Hinchliffe although some others are present - Lamming for example. There is a lot of stuff that to be honest is probably beyond saving but given that this collection has for the most part been in storage for nigh on fifty years and has undergone numerous house moves it is hardly surprising. The figures that remain that I shall be using will be rebased, refurbished where needed - mainly dusting - and given lashings of gloss varnish. It will be good to get some of these veteran warriors on the tabletop once again.

The infantry units that are going to be used in this way consist of Nassauers, Brunswick Avant Garde Jägers,  Old Guard Grenadiers in Greatcoats and Highlanders. There is also a lot of gun crews - British and French - that could be used, not to mention a selection of gun models on a truly biblical scale!

The rather dashing unit at the top of this post - the Garde D’Honneur had a rather short service life being raised in 1813 and disbanded the following year. They were originally the sons of the wealthy and ‘nobility’ that volunteered to help address the crippling losses that the cavalry sustained during 1812. The volunteers supplied their own mounts and equipment and initially there were around 15,000 of them bringing some 20,000 horses. Originally they were known as Lifeguards but thanks to a high rate of desertion this was downgraded to Garde D’Honneur. They served with the Imperial Guard but did not have guard status. Although not around for 1815 this is a lovely looking unit that is too good not to use!

Thoughts on the Del Prado Collection

Del Prado Polish Guard Lancers - very nicely painted by Old Painter Bob from the original Dutch Lancer figure

First of all I hope everyone is well and thriving. I have been a little on the quiet side for a few days, not for anything serious, just that we have been rather busy on the domestic front. We Are embarking on refurbishing and redecorating our lounge which has meant ripping out two sets of units, sanding around 35 square meters of flooring (only 25 of which are the lounge, the balance being the hall and the home office) and lots of filling and painting. I have been tackling a few gaming related projects but nothing too onerous.

The main thing I have been involved with is reorganising my collection of Command and Colours Napoleonic blocks. I recently took delivery of the blocks from the base game and several of the expansions courtesy of that very nice chap ‘Lee so my collection now consists of virtually three complete sets. You could be forgiven for asking what could I possibly want with this amount of blocks but there is a method in my madness. I am fully prepared to fight some truly humongous Napoleonic battles - Leipzig anyone? There is a further expansion pending that covers this type of action in more detail and includes not only named commanders but also some extra units - highlanders, KGL and French Allies so the series should be complete.

On the subject of the whole Napoleonic thing I have been giving my Del Prado collection a lot of thought. The upshot of this is that I think I may have missed a trick with it. I based up the entire collection on individual bases with the intention of ensuring that I had the maximum amount of flexibility in respect of the rules I could use. This is perfectly sound and practical but it does come at a price. I have been thinking about the collection in terms of units rather than figures and this means not only numbers as well as organisation of command elements etc. This is not a problem as such and indeed I have mentioned often enough about what I want to add in due course - extra units, command figures etc. These are very much staples in respect of raising armies in most quarters but it does raise the question of what figures to use. I have more or less answered that one but it will require a certain amount of time, effort and resources on my part.

I have allowed the collection to take on a life of its own and in a much larger way than I initially intended.  If you recall my original plan was to stick to Command and Colours (1 figures = 1 block) or the stylised unit approach of the Portable Napoleonic Wargame. I seem to have moved away from this idea, presumably because of the ‘Ooh shiny!’ Nature of seeing all this Napoleonic loveliness in the man cave.

In retrospect I think I would have been better off sticking to my original plan as it would mean that the collection would remain within reasonable bounds. I am a huge fan of what I would call smaller wargames as my gaming needs are now firmly planted in the 5ft by 3ft table bracket. Anything Portable or grid based will hold sway so the forces used will be smaller - certainly smaller than the way the Del Prado collection is heading!

Anyways, to cut a long story short, I am planning to reorganise the collection along the lines suggested in the Portable Napoleonic Wargame. It will be usable for other rules but the key thing is the collection will have an initial focus rather than trying to be all things to all men.

Tumbling Dice 1:600th figures alongside Travel Battle buildings and Renendra bases

I have also been looking long and hard at my 1:600th collection and there are a few ideas that are gradually coming together. No details as yet but suffice it to say there will be a post in due course. What I will say though is that they will involve Travel Battle and the Portable Wargame in various ways.

“Yes, Wonderful Things!”

Small, manageable and I even have the figures for it. It will be pretty straightforward to organise and a good primer for a larger version at some point

It has been a week of reflection; a week to regroup, rethink and above all, to reinvigorate. It has taken many paths - support from friends and family, plenty of fresh air and being busy and just letting thoughts wander where they will, unfettered by self imposed obligations or responsibilities. Plenty of sleep - although still unsettled I have been able to substitute quantity for quality - and sensible eating and drinking have all helped.

Life goes on.

The Del Prado collection is now in its new quarters which means that I can work on it as and when I want to rather than feeling obliged to do so. It will be at a much more sedate pace which will be far more readily enjoyable. I have pottered about with some scratch building which is something I have missed doing and is wonderfully therapeutic. It is scratching a particular itch and is something I want to do more of. No details as yet but suffice it to say ships will be featuring.

I also took advantage of not feeling particularly energetic to tackle something rather mundane but curiously satisfying in the man cave. I suspect that I am not alone in having a vast library of photocopied rules and magazine articles, either obtained by our own devices or from friends, that has been acquired over time. I decided that sorting this lot would be a good idea and so I spent a very pleasant and inspiring afternoon doing just that. There was a veritable rain forest of stuff, most of which had never been used since printed and in some cases going back some 20 odd years. It was hugely enjoyable consigning most of it to the recycling although whether or not I will regret it going forward is another matter!

I will not bore you with a detailed list of what I found and kept but there are a couple of highlights - the Howard Carteresque ‘Wonderful things’ of the title of this post. A couple of years ago I managed to get a PDF version of the BattleLine age of sail wargame rules Ship ‘O the Line. I was really pleased to get these but the PDF did not have a copy of the Armada period supplement. Well, I found an earlier photocopied set that were given to me by Mr Fox that had the said supplement! I was really pleased with this as I had the in mind for something.

Another thing I found was a set of rules for relighting the battle of Waterloo on an 8 x 6 hexed grid. The system is called Waterloo A La Carte and for the life of me I cannot remember where I got these from. If anybody recognises the map please let me know.

Finally there was a pile of stuff based on a WW2 campaign set around some imaginary Greek Islands which, given my interest in the region, was a welcome find.

It was a simple thing to get done but I am very glad I was able to do so. In many ways it has enabled me to reset my hobby mojo so that it is once again enjoyable rather than being a chore.

I also have a lot of people to thank for lending me a degree of perspective.

Onwards and upwards, or something like that.

Planning a Paint Conversion....Part 2

On parade and in the garden! The Del Prado Lifeguard figures before I get to work on them. The two separate figures are officers and the three with as yet unpainted bases are the new arrivals fromBob Cordery.

There has been a little bump on the road as far as painting figures is concerned as I have been involved in some 1:1 scale artwork in the shape of our downstairs cloakroom. Why is it that he smallest rooms prove to be the most problematic? We have had masking tape disasters, bubbling paintwork and various other minor but irritatingly time consuming problems. We are on the last of it though so I can get back into some real painting tomorrow. Spending hours in a cramped position with a 1” or 2” brush does not really inspire me to pick up something smaller at the end of the day!

The fellows you see in the ‘before’ shot are the Del Prado British Lifeguards which will be the first paint conversions from the collection I will be tackling. It is fair to say that these are probably best described as ‘based upon’ rather than historically accurate. Still, there is potential to make, if not a silk purse then at least a canvas shopping bag from the sow’s ear of a figures that comprises the rank and file trooper.

The plan is quite simple and I have listed the steps I shall be taking to spruce these up - and these are in no particular order.

1. The horses will be uniform black (with white in random places)
2. The saddlecloth will be painted in the correct regimental colour and to a similar standard to that of the original figure.
3. The small blanket roll will be painted in the correct colours
4. Six figures will have a new jacket colour of dark blue
5. When completed the figures will be gloss varnished and the bases matt.
6. Where possible the correct collar colour will be applied.
7. The two officer figures will have some additional work in respect of details of trim where possible.

To be honest there are parts of the figure that are going to be nigh on impossible to address without some extensive repainting and surgery. The biggest issue in this respect are the cross belts - I am not convinced they had these but in having them the front part of the tunic is effectively masked so there is precious little room for the yellow trim. I was toying with the idea of drafting in some plumes from somewhere to finish them off but would not know where to start looking for such.

From Ugo Pericoli’s Uniforms at Waterloo. My Blues officer figure will unfortunately have similar horse furniture to his Lifeguard counterpart - no doubt he would sniffing disdainfully at the notion but sadly need must and all that!

When completed I will have two British Guard cavalry units they will look closer to the real thing than they currently do but they will still be ‘based upon’ rather than strictly accurate. This does not bother me as they are purely representational after all!

Planning a Paint Conversion

A short photo shoot whilst soaking off their bases - British Lifeguards by Del Prado, the subject of my first paint conversion. The picture is of the figures as they were originally available

The fellows you see above were kindly donated to me by Bob Cordery to bring my contingent of British Lifeguards to 13. There are two officer types which are actually the same figure but with a different saddle cloth and horse colour. My plan is to not only repaint six figures into the Horseguards  (the Blues) but also to address the more obvious errors on the original figures. Once completed the plan is to have two six figure units - the Lifeguards and the Horseguards.

This is (in theory) quite a straightforward undertaking but it will be a good way to get my painting ‘eye’ back in before tackling some more involved work. This is also the reason I am currently working on something unrelated to the Del Prado collection but a useful exercise nonetheless as it will also help to get those figure painting muscles limbered up after what has been a very long time.

All will be revealed soon.

I hope....

Renovating Old Figures....Part 2

The regiment in all its glory - now the real work begins!

Work on the Minifigs French Dragoons progresses. The bases have been carefully cleaned up as far as possible - luckily the filler used was very thinly spread - and I have taken the opportunity to get he figures on their new bases. These will give me something to handle them by whilst I am painting them.

As well as replacing the green I also intend freshening up the black and white areas. The metals appear to be OK for the most part so will need little work.

It is funny that even something as simple as placing these venerable warriors on new bases seems to have given them a renewed sense of purpose. I hope that my efforts will do them justice!