More Napoleonics under way

I'm getting some more Napoleonics underway.  I'm intending to revisit an old, old project going back nearly 50 years or so, to do the forces at Quatre Bras in 1815. I've done this so many times with different figures and scales and with boardgames.

However, I'm still debating which figures to use.  One thought was to part with some of the 8,000 or so 15mm Napoleonic figures I have a switch to something like only AB Miniatures.

But then I thought about actually going back in time to my old 2nd generation Minifigs. I still have a lot of them (estimated at over 5,000) and I have a nostalgic fondness for them. With a bit or reorganising, I reckon I could do the forces at 1:20 figure scale, though I might have to use Russian or Prussian substitutes for the Nassau and Dutch Belgians.

So unpainted figures were brought from boxes and set out on card trays. The weather here was quite good last weekend so I had a good outdoor spraying session. Here's the product.

Here's a close up of the AB figures. I got these to try as a test. I'll see how these turn out before maybe getting more. 

Here I have given the figures a light wash of black to highlight the detail. 

And the first test of some red for the jackets. I used Vallejo flat red for this, again just to see how they would turn out. 

Now, AB miniatures have a lot of hype around them as being some of the best Napoleonic figures on the market. They are nice, and well proportioned, but I was a bit surprised to see no lace detail on the jacket and no real definition for the cuffs. These can always be painted on, but it's still disappointing for these details to be missing.

I'll see how I get on with the AB miniatures, but I also were to get more of my old minifigs done. 

And finally, this week at the club we're planning on a game of Hail Caesar with 15mm figures, just to see how it looks. 

More later … 

Games of the year 2018

Here's a quick review of the club games I played in 2018.  In the order of most played to fewest. 

Black Power - 9 games 
Longstreet - 5 games  

No Retreat Russian Front - 5 games

Lion Rampant - 4 games

Hail Caesar - 3 games 

Great War Spearhead - 3 games 

Then the remaining games which were played only once or twice. Command and Colors Ancients, 1914, Maurice, Dystopian Wars ( a last game before I sold off my stuff ), Shako, Flames of War, Sharp (sh*t) Practice, To The Strongest, Blood Red Skies, and The Somme, Vikings and Panzerkrieg boardgames. 

All in all, not too bad for the year. The total was 43 games.    Here are some notes. 


Black Power - 9 games 

This has been the game of this year, as we embraced fun and playability and used it for skirmish games after abandoning the turgid mess of Sharp Practice. We played 4 AWI, 3 Napoleonic and 3 Great Northern War games. The AWI games were played with 28mm figures, the others with 15mm figures.  

Longstreet - 5 games  

We played these games as part of our campaign.  The Longstreet campaign system is not about taking terrain, but about you as a commander, making a reputation, getting your name in the papers and maybe even getting a statue put up in your name.  A great fun game.  

No Retreat Russian Front - 5 games

This was another campaign. My opponent and I took photos of the board at the end of each game night, so we could pick up next time.  A truly great boardgame. 

Lion Rampant - 4 games

Most of this was at the end of the year when we did our Lion Rampant tournament. Still a great fun game.  

Hail Caesar - 3 games 

We played HC with 28mm figures. All fun games, and it's only really lack of time that means we can't play more. 

Great War Spearhead - 3 games 

I played these with a friend's 6mm figures.  Good games so far, though as I get older, I think 6mm is too small for me.  

Shako - 2 games.

I still like this game, though it never caught on much with club members.


Of the other games, I said goodbye to Dystopian Wars as I hadn't played in a while. Maurice is still good to play as is Commands and Colors.  As usual with us, there are too many games and not enough time. 

And this year has started off with a game of Cruel Seas, the latest package from Warlord Games. It was OK, but I'll have to play again.  In one scenario we had a great bash with 2 small boats each, but then the second scenario was an escort to a tanker, and the tanker seemed to be more maneuverable and powerful than the MTB's.  We might have got something wrong, but it did seem oddly weird.  We'll play again though, because a couple of chaps at the club are fans of small boats in WW2.

More later … 

Game activity ongoing

Here's a brief update on recent game activity. Just to show games and painting have not stopped.  

First up, a recent game of Commands and Colors, using a friend's 10mm figures.  He also made these hex mats from railway terrain. This is the battle of Zama as seen from the Carthaginian side of the board. 

Next up is a Commands and Colors Napoleonic game. Same idea with 10mm figures on 3inch hexes. This was the battle of Eggmuhl between French and Austrians.  This is the view from the Austrian side of the field.

And some of my ongoing work with figures. First a test unit of Napoleonic 15/18mm AB British miniatures.  I'm going to test if I want to revisit an old project of the 1815 campaign, but using new figures and selling off all my old figures.

And the alternative is to rebase all my old 2nd generation minifigs. Here is a test basing exercise of unpainted figures.

Another alternative is to sell off my 15mm and move to 10mm.  Here are some 10mm test figures from Pendraken. Painting is slightly different with these. At the back are figures with a black undercoat, and at the front figures with the follow-up dry brush.  I liked the dry-brush idea at this stage as it lets me see what to paint.

And the painted 10mm.  I've tried to use brighter colours for these smaller figures. So the French tunics are a mid blue and the British tunics are carmine red.  The rifles uniforms are a mid green. The intent is the brighter colours are more visible across the tabletop.

And my Seven Years War figures stroll towards getting finished.  This year I want to get enough Austrians and Russians painted to do the battle of Kolin.

A side project is 12mm early WW1 figures from Kallistra.  These French are pretty much completed and I only have to flock the bases. 

More of my gaming activities later ...