In place of the weekend

88 flak gun (why did I even bother with that description?) Panthers lurk.
I'm more than a little cheesed off this week-end. I was intending to head up to Mr Lander's in order to have a bit of a laugh, take lots of napoleonic pics and get in a game of crossfire with John's 1/35th collection. However, John had to unexpectedly work this weekend, so we've put it back to next week. Subsequently all you napoleonic fans will have to wait for the planned pictures of John's Russian collection. As a substitute I've put up a series of pics from a game we had a few years ago now, at the WHC using John's 1/35th kit. Many of you will be familar with his stuff from seeing the 2 demo games he has put on at Salute in the last 3 years (Sword beach and Market Garden). This was a prelimary game to D-Day where we tested out some rules and was an excuse to get the toys out. John wanted to try things out on a bigger table, so asked Gerry if we could come up and try it out there. Ged was champing at the bit to get his hands on some big panzers so off we went and the ensuing battle of Cagny was the result.

Panzer IVh and flak
To be honest I don't recall a massive amount about the game, although it went fairly historically, The Germans were kicked out of Cagny, then put in a heavy counter-attack which in turn bogged down the British, who managed to hold the town but by the end would have had to withdraw. I do remember it being a brilliant game

Whermact infantry jog through Cagny-the only troops I painted! Everything else is John's fine work
John wrote this up for an article in Wargames Illustrated in April 2006, so there are more pics there if you can find it, and detailed account of the game.

Shermans wait for the order "Driver Advance!"

John's talents (and some would say; obsession) with his 1/35th stuff is pretty extraordinary. I really keep working hard to get him back on the path of Napoleonic righteousness, so far, not much luck, but I will....just you see.

Britsh "O group" in Cagny as the Shermans roll past

It's not just the figures and vehicles that are John's work here, he did all the buildings from scratch as well. I've put in some B&W versions so you can see just how realistic some of this stuff is.

Recce regroup

Right! after that amount of arse-licking if I don't win the game next week, I'll give up!

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Some WWII bits and bobs, Nazi porn

Britannia 20mm flak, homemade emplacements
Just thought I'd sort through some old WWII pics, a lot of this is relatively old kit which I've had a while, this is all for the Germans in the med, mainly Italy and Tunisia. Theres a lot of Britannia stuff, which is "sturdy"..thats being polite for a bit crap, but they are robust if nothing else.

Generic Tigers, they will do for anywhere.
The obligatory Tigers are Hasegawa kits which are VERY simple and great value, with Lammercraft crews which are excellent. Hairnet cammo nets.

Panzer III's: again good for anywhere.
These panzer III's are mainly all Fujimi kits, I got quite quick at doing them after a while, (despite the individual track links) Again, they are primarily for Tunisia and Italy, I'm sure they will crop up in Russia from time to time. There is an accompanying panzer IV btn knocking about somewhere.

Stugs: The're great.
Finally some assault guns, these are a mix of Mili-Cast and.....eeer...some metal ones, Friend or Foe miniatures, I think. They are very nice albeit bloody heavy, plenty of crews and stowage finish them off. Good for anywhere (apart from Tunisia)


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Been busy

Westphalian Cuiraissiers painted by Neil Sheardown

I Know, I know.... I've been BUSY!

Work has taken over for the last couple of months, but the summer season has calmed down so normal service will be resumed. I haven't had a game or touched a paintbrush for the best part of 3 months. This will change this weekend-off up to Landers' for a 1/35th crossfire game, and I'll take some more napoleonic pictures. In the meantime, a couple of pics from Ged's birthday game last year (seems like ages ago now)

Gerry's Young Guard defend against Steve Scott's Austrians

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Prussian List

Landwher on the attack, Connoissuer and Elite figures

Having done two possible French lists, I suppose its only fair to do one for the Prussians (I would do one for the Russians and Austrians, but have no decent pictures to go with those)

In a way, the allies are a bit more fun. Smaller infantry btns, so a bit more flexible points wise, still the same range of troop types. The Prusskis can also have howitzer batteries which are pretty effective sometimes, plus 4 gun horse batteries. I didn't include any horse batteries for the French because they are very expensive, and 3 gun batteries are so very vulnerable, both to counter-battery fire and to being charged by cavalry. I've just seen so many ridden down over the years! 4 gun batteries are a different kettle of fish though, and they can REALLY dish it out sometimes. Few things frighten me as much on a ITGM battlefield as a well placed enemy 4 gun Horse battery, so I've put one in this list, despite the cost.

One thing you will notice is I havn't put in much landwher...Sacrilige I know in a Prussian army, but I just don't think they are worth the points saving...I'd rather have some good shooters. You could include more of them just to bulk out the infantry to get some more skirmishers,but I haven't done this.

Partly, the way I've chosen this list is from watching the way Herbert (probably the best ITGM player in the world) plays with Prussians. He tends to ignore the infantry up to a point, and utilise the ancillary stuff, doing most of the damage with skirmishers and artillery, while the cavalry just negates the French cavalry. Following that logic, I'd have only bought Landwher.

However, not all of us are quite as adept as Herbie, though its something I wish to try out in the future.

Calpe gunners on the march,painted by yours truly

(Apparently the corps commander is a freebie so the French lists should have an extra 50 points).

The basic infantry division is pretty simple, not disimilar to the French, but a bit weaker due to it being 32 man units rather than 36's

Div Co =50

1 x Landwher=32

4 x 2nd class line=192

3 x 1st class line= 192

1 x veteran= 96

24 x skirmishers= 120

6lber btty= 130

Total= 812

Much cheaper than the French divisions, but no cavalry, in Prussian styly I've kept them all brigaded together.

3 x infantry divisions = 2,436

The Extras:

1 x 12ber btty= 190

1 x Howitzer btty= 150

1 Cavalry commander=50

1 Staff officer= 25

4 x 24 Light cavalry=480

3 x 24 heavy cavalry=432

1 x 4 gun horse battery=240

Grand total= 4,003

Calpe Dragoons, again my paintjob (I really need some more of these)

So you end up with a force that is probably weaker in infantry than the French, but has plenty of cavalry and really excellent artillery

27 infantry btns

72 Skirmishers

6 artillery bttys

7 regts of cavalry

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Cheese Corps

Can't do anything without grunts. WHC action

To follow on from yesterdays blog putting together a hypothetical corps for Noels' forthcoming campaign, I've done another, also for the French. This is a fairly effective little outfit, and maximises the points system.

So:

Corps Commander = 50

1st Division:

Commander= 50

4 x 36 2nd class line =216

6 x 36 1st class line =512

1 x 36 Veteran =108

30 x skirmishers=150

3 x 6lb + 1 x How=130

3x 12lb +1 x How=190

24 x Light cavalry= 120

Total= 1,2166

The reasoning is as follows: Solid and punchy infantry component, but with 1 vet and enough 1st to do a bit of manouvering. maximum skirmish capability. The 12lb battery should probably really be a corps asset, but by having in a division then it can combine fire with the 6 lber.

Light cavalry for local support

2nd Division

Div CO = 50

8 x 36 2nd class line=432

24 skirmishers=120

1 x 6lb btty= 130

24 Light cavalry= 120

Total= 852

A cheap blocking force. Good enough to defend a position or get chucked into a big melee. Looks like its better than it is.

You won't see much of this in your campaign- French Guard Cavalry from the WHC
3rd Division

Div CO=50

4 x 36 2nd class line=216

3x 36 1st class line=216

1 x 36 veteran=108

24 skirmishers=120

1 x 6 lb btty=130

24 x Light cavalry=120

Total=960

A standard infantry outfit.

WHC French go over a wall. These are the lovely limited edition Old Glory original French infantry- miles better than anything they did since.

Therefore, the 3 infantry divisions + a corps commander have cost a total of 3,138. Each division has a cavalry component, and there is plenty of artillery. That means there is 862 pts still to spend,

I'm tempted to go for another 12lber btty, but that might be a bit over the top.

Some cavalry:

Cav commander=50

2 x32 Hvy Cav= 384

1x32 Cuiraissier=256

1x 24 Lancer= 168

Gives a grand total of 3,997

Thats 27 infantry btns

4 artillery btty

7 cavalry regts.

I'd play with that lot quite happily.

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Blog Cross-fertilisation

Blog interaction!
I've read Noel's recent missive concerning his planned campaign http://garagegamer.blogspot.com/ and so I thought I'd see what my choices might be (and why) for a points based ITGM campaign. (I'm not playing in Noel's campaign, this is just an exercise)I'm not a big fan of points based games, but this is one way of geting a decent compromise, rather than say "My 4,000 pts of French are fighting your 4,000 points of Prussians, each army has to be capable of taking on multiple opponents, I'm not sure if the possibility of multi-corps games has been considered, but thats how it could get really interesting.


Skirmishers: They are worth the points
I was involved in one years ago and I seem to remember a few things, namely that while Peter Gilder was a genius, it didn't extend to writing a points system. There are a few anomalies: Skirmishers are a bit underpriced, and at 1:10 for formed infantry if you maximise their numbers they are very (too?) effective. Lancers are a bit overpriced, as are horse artillery. 2nd class line infantry are a bit of a bargin. 8lb artillery are generally not worth the money, while 12lbers most certainly are!

Cuirraissier, are they worth the points?
Given those thoughts I decided to do a little exercise and produce my own points army as per Noel's criteria.
The brief is to produce 3, 4,000 point corps. The only proviso is that a division can't be smaller than 5 btns. I thought I'd start with the French, although a lot more fun can be had with the allies.
For this first corps I haven't been too mental and stuck to vaguely believable forces, I may later post up a "cheese corps" for maximum effectiveness.
1st Division:
Div CO= 50
1 x 36 vets= 108
5 x 36 1st class line=360
2 x 36 2nd class line=108
18 skirmishers = 90
4x6lb+1 howitzer = 130
Divisional Total= 846
My reasoning for this is as follows:
8 btns is a nice little number fo a Div co to keep in range, having 1 vet btn to contest a wood or get into firefight is always handy, the 2 x 2nd class btns can skulk about at the back (these 2 pay for the veteran). 6lb artillery is good enough, (unless you know you are up against 6 rank Austrians, 8lb's aren't worth it)

2nd class infantry, they are a bargin
So, 3 divisions such as the above give a core of 24 infantry btns and cost a total of:
2,538 points.
This leaves 1,462 points for some extras!
First off,
Corps Commander = 50
3 x 12lb guns + 1 Howitzer= 190 (got to have one!)
1 x staff officer= 25
2 x 24 Light cavalry= 240
1 x 24 lancer=168
1 x staff officer= 25
2x 32 heavy cavalry= 384
3 x veteran 36 infantry = 324
6x skirmishers = 30
(these 3 extra btns can be shoe-horned in to 1 or any of the inf divisions)

Gives us a total of 4,004 points.
That would do for my first Corps.
A solid infantry base, plenty of artillery, some decent cavalry.



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Victrix French

Two Drummers, just different heads
At Salute a few weeks ago I impulse purchased a box of the new Victrix french plastics. So last sunday I put some together.
Hmmm ...compared to the Perry plastics they are fiddly, it took me at least double the amount of time to put together a 36 man unit. Seperate heads, arms, weapons backpacks...However, the end results are probably worth it, theres a lot more life in these chaps than the Perry figures, and the sculpting is bloody marvelous. Above is one basic drummer with just a head swap, no problem having these side by side on a command stand.
The range of heads is mental! I think there are 108 different (not ALL different, obviously) heads in a box, so the variation possible is enormous.

Voltiguers, again, same bodies, diferent head/arm combos
The two pictures above are for the voltiguer company. These chaps are impressive. From the toe to the tip of the plume is about 44mm! Toe to eye is 28mm (of course)
Each picture is using the same body with different head/ arm combinations.
At £20 for 60 figures they are dirt cheap, there is a bit of a shortage of flank company bodies in a march pose (only 12) so in order to get more than a single battalion out of a box a bit of imagination will be required, but one could use 36 figures and bin the remainder and still be in the money. I've not investigated the kneeling body yet (8 of them in a box) fine for the odd skirmisher, but generally useless. There are, however, 8 officer bodies, which gives a bit of a surfeit which could be used with the Perry kit to remedy the paucity in their box..Yes, yes I know, "The Perries are in 1815 and these are in 1807 uniform, You can't possibly use them together"......Yeah, Yeah... whatever...., just watch me, and while you are about it ...Go and get a life!
There was some twat on TMP the other day banging on about how the Perry plastics are useless unless you only do 1815 with them (???)..I questioned him on this and asked whether he had seperate armies for all the different uniform variations the French had. He replied that he had. I wonder how big his collection is? 100 figures? 200?...even a 1,000?.. I'm sure he loves playing meticulous games with small amounts of figures....me? I'm a size queen..(just like my missus!!)


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