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Saturday 23 May 2020

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.

21 comments:

  1. 19 down and 5 to go, it always get's easier for me when there's just one batch left. I think you may well win the race but with all that firing practise and one mean SOB of a sapper you may regret getting there if the competitive spirit tips over into bleu-sur-le-bleu.

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  2. Ah Rob, but don't forget I already have a 2nd battalion!

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  3. Hi IAN- The Guards look excellent -well done! You'l soon have them in Battle. Cheers. KEV.

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  4. Hi Ian

    You are making good progress. I would have to paint 24/7 to catch you up. I like the idea of painting units in tandem as it lifts my painting mojo.

    So as I was wondering what is next on your painting table ?

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  5. Ian - umpiring the virtual game was less demanding than I expected - how come I can't keep up any kind of momentum in a solo game for more than an hour, then? Is "synergy" the missing ingredient? Perhaps it's Lucozade?

    I was still up for tidying everything away by teatime, so something's working! I'd better watch my step, or the wife will get me to cut the lawns.

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  6. Mark, well I did have quite a head start! Next I'll be painting some more stuff for my Boer War project but after that it will be a British infantry unit. I'll give you a heads up when I'm about to start if you want to paint in tandem. I would expect them to take around five weeks to complete!

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    1. That sounds interesting. I have a few British units in the pipeline that I keep putting off.

      Which figure code(s) are you painting ?

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  7. Tony, I must say you put on a good performance especially when we were giving you vague instructions like "move the unit on the hill" you must've burnt at least 1000 calories!

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  8. When you line them all up like that they look like a sort of 'TV Magic' special effect, as much beloved by Pam's People and Dr Who, etc., in the 70s.

    I think you won this race back in 2014. Mark would need to paint another whole battalion to beat you now. Your Old Guard Grenadier Brigade is promising to be sensational!

    Yours
    WM

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  9. Marvellous looking fellows!

    I would be interested to see another Grand Review for the Emperor after these fellows are finished.

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  10. WM - that photo does have a certain 'hall of mirrors' look about it!

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  11. Matt - a review will be in order once the lads are finished and based!

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  12. Mark, they are all in the charging pose.

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  13. Wonderful photo Ian, really crisp painting of the black lining. Glad the Zoom game went well, very interesting.

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  14. Thanks Lee, the Zoom game was a lot of fun but hard work for Tony I think!

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  15. Those Old Guard are grumbling along nicely Ian...
    Here’s to a parade...

    Tony’s game does seem to have worked rather well...

    All the best. Aly

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  16. Beautiful guardsmen Ian. I saw Tony's post about the game, sounds like it went really, really well—even if you did all run him off his feet!

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  17. Thanks James, I believe Tony has recovered sufficiently to consider running another game!

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  18. I heard you did Black Bob proud, Ian. Now it hadn’t occurred to yours truly that virtual game meant somebody else throwing the dice. Now you have my attention. Oh yes, and the guards are nice too. But don’t let them near any nasty Prussian canon.....

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  19. No worries Nigel I will keep the Guards in reserve and let the line infantry do the dangerous work!

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  20. I've done some board games on video conference - works fine as long as both ends have access to the stats. I can see that C&C would work fine.

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