More Grumblers and a virtual wargame

First up, it looks as if reducing the number of figures in a painting batch has increased my productivity as this week, I have completed a further 6 of the Old Guard Grenadiers including an officer and sergeant. At this rate I should romp home in the “race of the Old Guard” (click here), famous last words no doubt.

Looking menacing, 19 Grumblers of the Old Guard done and dusted.

Yesterday I was privileged to take part in a virtual Command & Colors Zoom game hosted by the reclusive Foy himself (ably assisted by Tony). It was a great success and was the next best thing to being in the room with Tony, Goya and the toy soldiers. Tony had put a lot of thought into how to run the game, not just the scenario but also the camera angles and lighting and it went without a hitch.
 

A screen shot of the action at the Coa. Tony had set up a camera at each end of the table which together with the map he provided gave ample coverage of the game.

Tony has already covered the game on his own blog (click here) but suffice to say it was another of those C&CN games that went right down to the wire. The result was a 7 to 6 victory for Goya’s French forces after 14 turns of play. Top marks to Tony for staying on his feet for 3 hours, moving all the troops, throwing all the dice, and keeping track of markers while Goya and I slouched over our keyboards at home with a mug of coffee. I’m hoping we will get to do this again.

Mustn’t Grumble

Painting the Grenadiers is still feeling a bit like wading through treacle at the moment. The current batch, just completed, brings the unit to just over the halfway point. I think I am conscious that these are very special old castings that deserve my best possible efforts.

It would probably be easier if I painted them in smaller batches as doing six at once hasn’t really worked as the paint tends to dry out on the palette along with my enthusiasm. I decided I’m going to paint the rest of the unit in batches of four.

There have been no Napoleonic games of late as Tony, Goya and I are of course confined to barracks. We had been hoping to have a stab at a C&CN Leipzig scenario, but I guess that will have to wait. However, we have been experimenting at bit with Zoom and hopefully a small virtual game may be in the offing soon.