Muskets for Vicky

 Hi all,

Last year, Queen Vicky's day saw a solo game of Pikeman's Lament.  This year, we have a (slightly belated) game of Maurice against an actual opponent!  Having a rare sunny, but not too windy, day here in the wilds of Atlantica, I lured the Juras up to Casa Monkey for a trial game, using my old 6mm stuff.  I took the glorious French, he took perfidious Albion, and the fife and drum played while the dogs chased each other around the back yard.

Photos generally taken from Albion's perspective - thanks, Jura!

As this was a learning game (he'd played some of Sam M's games before, but not Maurice), I kept it simple.  We skipped the set-up phase, I put his Brits in a defensive position with the French attacking, all units were Trained, and we limited ourselves to one National Advantage and one Notable apiece.  

British and Hanoverian lines

The glory of France arrayed

B&H horse.  I think these were the impetuous ones.

Highlanders, garrisoning a random town.

With a selection of notables from which to choose, Jura opted for Cameron von Muller, whom he promptly attached to his artillery, and familiarized himself with his NA, which gave him an advantage on defense.  Handy, as he was defending ;)

I took my old stand-by Augustus von Thiesling

And for the French, a la Baiyonette!

Opening moves of the game, after an indecisive bombardment by both sides, was a lumbering advance by the French infantry towards the nearer of the two villages, countered by what should have been an entirely predictable event.

As long-time readers of the blog may recall, it's become something of an institution that whenever I play Maurice, I inevitably have the "That's not on the Map!" card played against me.  The tradition was upheld this game, in that Jura used an Intelligence card to pluck it from my hand, and promptly played it against me, dropping a rather inconvenent bog right in front of the advancing French infantry.

That card.  That damned card.

Now we have to do it the hard way.  And under fire.

This rather suddenly stalled what would, no doubt, have been a epic to be sung for the ages, as my infantry now had to negotiate the bog on their way in.  Activations in Maurice are by "forces", which are composed of the same class of unit (eg., infantry), in the same kind of terrain.  Dropping the bog meant that every time a unit advanced through it, not only did that unit become disrupted (which would require activations to rally), but also that the said unit would now comprise a different force.  This slows things down quite a bit ;)

Cavalry move to threaten the flank

But are repulsed

I got a bit of revenge when Jura advanced his cavalry to threaten my infantry milling about in the centre.  I played a "Heat of Battle" card on them, prompting a rather rash charge through rough ground (a ploughed field)  into the front of my infantry.  Bear in mind, Maurice is an 18th game; these are NOT Napoelonic cavalry, and disrupted horse (because of the bad going) attacking a prepared infantry line (pew-pew), don't tend to fare well.  His didn't, anyways ;)

I then made the cardinal error of NOT removing that card from the deck (which is an option), and on the reshuffle, Jura drew it, and played it to make one of my infantry attack his garrisoned unit.  Not quite as disastrous a result, but it still threw me off ;)

Sauce for the goose

Trying to bring more fire to bear on the garrison.  Didn't help

After the attack on the garrison degenerated into a musket duel (with the advantage to the dug-in troops), I finally managed to negotiate the bog with a few infantry regimaents.  With the day coming to a close, I pushed forward a poorly coordinated attack in the centre (mainly because I wanted Jura to see what an infantry clash would look like).

I believe the officer in command of this attack was a certain "LeRoi Jaunquins"

Battered and disrupted on the way in, raked by musket fire, my poor lads were no match for a counter-charge by the English, who dispersed the two leading regiments.  While we still had some time in the game, and both armies were some ways away from breaking, real-world time constraints, and the lack of tactical options (it would take a while for me to coordinate a cavalry attack) led me to ask for terms, which were offered in a most gentlemenly manner by my opponent.

Jura seemed to enjoy himself, and has been searching out a copy of the rules, which has me hopeful of more games.  If so, I'm delighted, as the SYW / 18th c. is one of my favorite periods (possibly my favorite), and I love Maurice.  We'll start layering in some of the additional elements - more varied units, the set up phase, and ideally, a campaign, but for now, I'll settle for a potential regular opponent.  Many thanks to Jura for the game, and fingers crossed there will be more in the future.

I've got a bit of a backlog of painting stuff to post - nothing major, but small updates to a number of projects.  I also lucked into a large lot of on-sprue Pike and Shot infantry from Warlord, and am cudgelling my brain over what to do with them.  The logical thing would be to use them to add to an existing project (most obviously, the small Royalist force I did for Pikemans' Lament), but I've visions of a 30YW force dancing in my head.  From what I gather, the Warlord figs are really designed for ECW (they lack the flamboyance of the French or Spanish of the period), but maybe some Swedes or Dutch?  My sympathies in the 30YW tend to lie with the Catholic powers, however, so I'm not sure.  any advice or suggestions will be considered.

FMB

French Progress

 Hi all,

It's been a relatively productive month, albeit one where I didn't seem to manage to grab many pictures, and throw up a post.  Part of the aforementioned progress has been on the HYW French for Lion Rampant, as I've now got full units of Crossbow, Spear, and Horse to show off:

Such is the retinue (to date) of Sieur Jean de Cerf.  It's a bit of an homage to my old buddy in NFLD (who ran the Geektactica blog).  T'was he who put me onto Impetus, mostly via his inspirational 15mm HYW stuff.

I've played around with basing a little, with cavalry mostly single-based (although there's one in there that's double), and infantry based between 1 and 3 to a base.  Lets me do a little bit of vignette play, while still giving me lots of flexibility on casualty removal, etc.

I did my crossbowmen as Genoese.  Digging around for colours on these proved challenging, at least in terms of "official" colours and livery, but I did find there's a close association between the cross of St George and Genoa, so went with that, white smocks, and leggings in colours that would tie them to the rest of the army.

Spear were done in a range of colour combinations, but with their livery tied closely to the men at arms in Jean's immediate retinue.

These are my first Perry plastics, and I'm in love with the kit.  Loads of variety, and the figures are realistically human proportioned.  Looking forward to playing around some more, and maybe working up some heavier infantry for the French, or more knights.

Short term, I think the plan will be to try and get a few units together for the English, so I can get in at least some small games over the summer.  I've been picking away at other projects - some 6mm, some more ancients and ECW, and finally got around to grabbing the most recent Ork codex, so they likely see some time in the queue, along with on the painting table.  Until then, stay safe and well.

FMB

Experimentation, Calculation, and some French

 Hi all,

Bit of a mixed bag today.  Some pictures of the test figures I did for my Perry French (loosely based on the livery colours for Jean de Bethencourt, more on him in another post), along with some hobby rumblings about productivity, project planning, and realistic expectations.

First "test" minis for the 100YW French.  A man at arms, and some scruffy spearmen.

I've been caught in a bit of a loop lately, with the Magpie very much in the picture, thinking about possible projects.  In addition to the ones that are at least semi-active (currently 6mm Naps and 7YW, 28mm French HYW, Vikings, and Covenanters, 28mm Bolt Action, and at least 4 GW projects), I am pondering 28mm English HYW, Saxons, Successors, my much ignored Carthaginians, and god knows what else.

I quite like the Perry kits.  Tons of options, cross compatible, and with a little attention, capable of tremendous variety.

The reality is, of course, that I can't possibly do all the things.  I am probably trying to do too many things already, if I'm being honest.  Or at least, too many things at once ;)  So, I figured it might be worth thinking through what I could realistically accomplish over the next few years, and compare it to what I might want to do.

The figures are, in terms of proportion, quite "fine".  Slimmer and more human than the chunky, heroic style you often see.

Last year, I managed to paint something on the order of 200/50 foot/horse 28mm or equivalents.  That's pretty productive, at least for me, and represents a kind of "peak" opportunity.  Despite the various dislocations of Covid, working from home, the lack of a commute, etc., meant that I actually had more opportunity to paint than under "normal" conditions.  So, say around 200 figures as a reasonable, productive, but not overly ambitious production for the year.

Even compared to some older Perry sculpts (I was hoping, for eg., to mix in old Bretonnian models), they're not a good fit - at least side by side.

While I'm not temperamentally inclined to long-term planning. I can at least sort of imagine a state 5 years from now.  Given the estimate above, it's reasonable to think I could produce about a thousand figures in that period. Vikings and French HYW account for about 120 of that total (figuring a Lion Rampant force at about 60 figures per).  I probably have the same number of GW figs waiting for paint, across all those projects, or a bit more - say 150.  I'd like to bring my Royalist force up to the same size as the Covenanters, and grow both.  That's another couple hundred figures.  I'd like to finish off my 6mm Russians, match them with French, and add to my SYW.  Call that another hundred or so.

I've been experimenting with multi-figure basing on rounds.  A few people on the Lion Rampant FB group put me on to it, and I really like the effect.

So, just the projects that (at least right now) I'd be really interested in pursuing, total up to between 550 and 600 "figure equivalents", give or take.  Realistically, about three of my five years.  Just the Lion Rampant forces alone would take up a significant proportion of the next year, with any balance easily absorbed by Covenanters and GW.  Adding any additional project (like the successors army I keep thinking about) would thus either have to wait a couple years before I could reasonable expect to begin work on it, or would have the effect of stringing out existing projects over a longer time frame. 

The Spearboss.  I figure he's a little older, a little richer, and has had time to get some decent armor.

The latter, at first glance, seems like death to a project.  Pretty much every one I've ever abandoned has ended up in boxes or sold because I stretched it out over too long a period, and never got enough done to really game with them (something I'm concerned about with the Carthaginians).  However, as I look back, quite a lot of my "active" projects have stretched over multiple years, and have gone through fallow periods.

If nothing else, this will be a chance to work on my metallic techniques.  Aiming for some smoother finishes over time, I think,

If I started something new, say successors, it's probably realistic to say I might devote half of my remaining "5 year potential" to the project, maybe 200 figures (with the rest eaten up by expanding existing forces, new shiny things, etc.).  With smaller units to start - say 16 figures, that's about a dozen or so.  Which is actually not too bad.  Possible, anyways.

Assorted scruffy lads

The side my opponent will never see ;)

Overall, I think the lesson is a new, major project isn't realistic in the short term, at least without it displacing something I'm currently using, and want to accomplish.  But in the medium term, it's viable.  So maybe the goal is to stockpile resources towards that possibility, look for deals / sales, etc. and in the meantime, enjoy what I've got in front of me?  What kind of crazy advice is that? ;)

Inaugural Blucher

Hi all,

Took advantage of a bad weather day to commandeer the dining room table, and run through a trial of the Blucher rules, by Sam Mustafa.  These attracted, I think, a fair amount of attention when they came out a few years back, but for those of you unfamiliar, they're his latest run at big-battle rules for the Napoleonic period.

Glam shot for posting purposes ;)

Units are brigade to division sized, and they're designed to handle the really big battles of the period.  They're also the rules system. for which I've been painting and basing my Napoleonic Russians.  I've had the rules for a while, and picked up the cards back around Christmas, but have only now gotten things out for a game.

Laying out the armies.  Cards act as a partial blind.  You know something is there, just not what it is.

Blucher is designed to be played with or without miniatures.  Cards can serve as both an introductory game mechanic (so you don't need completed armies prior to play), but also as a partial blind in the earlier stages of the game.  I put together some quick and dirty forces (3 core Russians vs. French, with 8 infantry, 3-4 cavalry, and 2 guns apiece), slapped down some terrain, and deployed.  Due the limitations of space (I think next time I'll break out the big cardboard underlayer), the front lines deployed close enough to be discovered in the opening turns.  Part of me has been thinking that smaller bases might have been a more practical approach for the game (in that table size keys off of of unit footprint), but if I'm doing napoleonics, I'm in it for the spectacle, so bigger bases are more fun.

My poor old camera.  At least part of the pic is in focus ;)

To give some structure to the game, I had three areas operate as objectives - the two "towns", and the crossroads.  The basic idea was an attack by the French to seize a crossroads and river crossing, with the Russians moving to prevent it.

Russian main line revealed by encroaching French.

The early stages of the battle saw the French pushing towards the Russian center, and the crossroads, while their cavalry corps tried to turn the Russian right flank, and envelop.  The French did try to advance on the Russian left, but found it harder to coordinate the attack on that flank.



That flank attacked was stymied by an absolutely courageous defense conducted by a brigade composed of battalions from the Perm and Sievsk regiments, who ended up holding off a sequence of attacks by waves of cavalry throughout the whole game.  "Prepared" infantry, while immobile, gain significant advantages in combat vs. cavalry, and the French inability to coordinate infantry and cavalry together (partly due to terrain), meant they were able to hold the flank.

View from the French left.

Attrition in the centre built up, while on the Russian left, both armies were able to eventually coordinate, and the French closed to skirmish distance.  They held their ground, and began a steady harrassing fire of the Russian line.

On the Russian left.  The Tsar's men take the hill, but the French move to challenge.

Some of the mechanisms of Blucher began to assert themselves at this point.  Artillery effect is essentially ablative; your guns' firepower degrades over time, as ammunition is used up.  The effect is that while artillery can wear down infantry, or if concentrated do real damage, sooner or later, the infantry has to move in.  This happened in the game, with both sides eventually using up their ammo, and retiring their guns.  Meanwhile, on the right, the Russian brigade still held the line.

Someone is getting a medal.  This brigade held off successive charges from the French cavalry from dawn to around 2pm.

On the left, the French advantage in skirmishing (they get a bonus, as the Russians do defending in combat), took it's toll, wearing down the brigades anchoring the Russian line.  Two of them broke, and the French moved in.  In the centre, fire and combat, plus the damage done by artillery, was wearing down both sides.  The French had an edge in infantry, but the casualties to the French cavalry compensated, and both sides were getting close to their breaking point.

The Russian cavalry reserve deploys.

At this point, the Russians activated their reserves.  Blucher allows units still "hidden" to make a reserve move in the game.  As long as they don't come too close to the enemy, units can rapidly redeploy in a single turn, and become revealed.  The Russians did this to their cavalry, partly to block the French cavalry's attempt to go around the stubborn Russian brigade blocking them, and partly to hold up the French attack on the left, which was gaining momentum.

The Russian left starting to falter.  After a slow start, the French pushed hard here.

Things were getting tense.  Several Russian units were on their last legs, and if the French could push an attack home, it was likely the shaken brigades wouldn't hold.  On the other hand, the French cavalry had shattered on the Russian right, and the remnants were driven off by the Russian reserves.  The next army to lose a unit, would lose the battle.

Artillery exhausted on both sides.  It's down to the PBI.

Can the cavalry ride to the rescue?

The Russian brigade anchoring the right is hanging by a thread.

Then the French unloaded a rippling line of fire, and the Russians, stouthearted as there were, blinked first.  Puddin', who was acting as my dice roller and general advisor, rolled a trip six for one French unit, knocking out a Russian brigade.  Their whole line recoiled, and the Russians gave up the field.

Never let the 8-year old roll the dice.  Unless she's rolling for me.

Undone by skirmish fire.  I assume the general was hit, and the whole brigade panicked.

This turned out to be a ripper of a game - despite it being a rather clumsy learning experience, and not really planned out at all.  The game seems to really be about army coordination; getting your bits to act together is really important, but a constant challenge.  It feels like you're coordinating an army.  The MO mechanic (a blind dice roll acts as a limit to action, but isn't revealed until exceeded) means you are constantly having to prioritize what parts of the battle need the most attention.  Combat is attrition-based.  Your units wear down to the point where they can become vulnerable, and if you don't have reserves or a second line, a whole wing can collapse with shocking rapidity.

Left-centre at end of game.

On a knife edge.  One more turn, and those Russian cavalry would have cracked open the French on the Russian left.

There's also a ton of untapped depth to the game.  I barely touched army building, terrain, and the scenario was strictly instrumental.  There's what looks like an excellent "campaign" system to set up battles - sort of a strategic mini-game informing the tactical game on-table.  There's also the sheer depth of the period itself.   It was also surprisingly conducive to solo play; the dice introduce enough randomness that whatever side you're playing has to react to events, and with a larger table I think the impact of the reserve option will be more evident.  Definitely glad I picked the rules up, and I will keep building towards a full army.

FMb