More rule tinkering

The temperature turned out to be lower than predicted as it was minus 4C when we got in the car to take the grandkids to school this morning so it was definitely a good call to bring the paints indoors from the Hinton Hut on Sunday!

However, this has not stopped me on my rule-tinkering journey and having put a lot of thought into it, and finally drawing up a useful spreadsheet (I know, I know, Goya was right, don't say it!) I've determined that too much tinkering is a bad thing.

I tried adopting a D6 rather than an average die for morale but strangely this didn't really make any difference. Then I tried amending various melee/morale factors but again it didn't seem to change the outcomes. I also fiddled around with the 'morale results' table but quickly abandoned that too.

Nice to see the Brunswickers on the table (they don't get out much). The Duke of Brunswick is old school and doesn't approve of tinkering with the rules or war.

I have made some changes though, the main one being to reduce the morale modifier for winning/losing a melee from 2 to 1 (I felt the +2 to winner and -2 to loser is just too much of a variable). I have also made the 'passage of lines' test easier to pass mainly so that supporting cavalry can more readily replace a unit already engaged to their front.

The French Guard Lancers have just lost the first round of melee (that's what you get for tangling with the Scots Greys) so they are going to attempt a 'passage of lines' with the supporting Cuirassiers. It went well but then the Cuirassiers lost too.

Apart from that there are some minor changes mostly sorting out anomalies and adding a bit more clarification to some of the not-so-well written stuff. In the end it has been enough to announce a Version 8 of the rules. If you would like a PDF copy then drop me a line (there is a contact email on my profile).

Tinkering with rules

It's generally not a great idea to tinker with rules but there have been a couple of things bugging me about my Muskets & Marshals rule set that I felt needed looking at. This is mainly the morale and melee factors for 'disordered' units and 'melee losers'.

I set-up a small game to try out my amendments. Goya would say that such things should be trialled on a spreadsheet and he's probably right but I do like to see the figures on the table.

If you have played the rules then you will know that it is very difficult for a unit that loses the first round of melee to win the second round because of the cumulative effect of these two factors. So I have been experimenting with toning things down a bit to give a less predictable result.

I'm also taking a look at fighting in buildings because I have an idea to try a small Dresden type game next year and there will have to be buildings in that.

I am concious though, that in the context of an eight-turn game where infantry melees only tend to happen in the last couple of moves, a dramatic result may not be a bad idea. At this stage the jury is still out.

I was taking a look at the weather for next week and thinking it may be wise to move my acrylic paints (and the PVA tube!) out of the cabin and into the house so I don't have a repeat of last year's calamity.

Austrian Commanders

With the sudden spurt of growth to the Austrian infantry it occured to me that they probably needed a few more commanders to lead them in the field. Now, as you know, Hinton Hunt only produced one Austrian General so I've had a bit of fun with some conversions.

This is the Emperor Francis converted from FN/224 French general in cocked hat. I've repositioned the hat and removed his epaulettes. I think he looks suitably regal. I read that Francis only styled himself 'emperor' in response to Napoleon taking that title.

Archduke Charles, the most able of the Austrian generals according to Bruce Quarrie. He is converted from BN/107 British general pointing again with hat turned and epaulettes removed. 

Finally, this is a straight casting of AN/102 Austrian general in cocked hat reading map to represent Schwarzenberg. The casting was generously donated by none other than the Archduke himself. He will be able to join Mack in the map reading classes at the Austrian Staff College. Goya (perhaps unkindly) suggested that the mid-region of this figure should be a bit more portly for historical accuracy!

"Over there your highness."
"Hmm, not sure, what does it say on the map Schwarzenberg?"

This has been a bit of fun and a useful distraction from finishing off painting the 26th Schroeder Regiment but I'm already back working on them now.

26th Schroeder Regiment - Test Figures

I've mentioned before that I have struggled to find decent Austrian infantry castings for this project so for the next unit I'm resorting to something a bit different. The unit will be made up primarily of Der Kreigspieler figures with a smattering of Hinton Hunts by David Clayton.

Clayton on the left, DK on the right.

The DK's are 88/1 Austrian Fusilier Charging and were a kind donation made by Aly. The pose is identical to the Hinton Hunt version (AN/4) and they are decent castings. The Clayton figures are rather weedy in comparison and I have had to carry out some remedial work to get rid of their waspish waists and pitted bases.

You can clearly see here that the Clayton figure has been on half-rations.

The unit will represent the 26th Schroeder Regiment because who can't resist parrot green facings?

15th Szeckler Grenzers

The Grenzers are done and now paraded here for your inspection. I've enjoyed painting these as the castings are really superb first generation Hinton Hunt ones first glimpsed here on the blog. Brown uniforms were an interesting change too after lots of recent red and blue ones.

The figures used are:

1 x AN/21 Hungarian Officer, charging (DK figure converted to standard bearer)

9 x AN/25 Hungarian Musketeer, firing

1 x AN/26 Hungarian Officer, marching

12 x AN/27 Hungarian Musketeer, marching

1 x DK Austrian Grenadier drummer (with head-swop conversion)

I'm staying with the Austrian theme for the next unit but with a return to standard white uniform so I will need to break out the snow goggles for my painting sessions.

Another trip to Nigel's

Last Wednesday Tony and I were fortunate enough to be invited to another wargame hosted by Nigel in his fabulous wargame room nestling in the Cumbrian hills. The scenario involved an alternate history of the Waterloo campaign where Napoleon was trying to pass Wellington's flank to the west forcing a battle at Mons.

I was given the Allied force comprising The Prince Of Orange and 'Daddy' Hill's commands, Dutch-Belgians, Nassauers and an awful lot of Highlanders. Tony had the French including an intimidating number of old Guard infantry and cavalry. Nigel umpired and carried out numerous mental arithmetic calculations to keep the game flowing using his house rules.

What follows is not a detailed account of the fighting but hopefully enough to give you a taster of an excellent game.

A general view of the table at the end of turn 1. Tony and I both elected to move everything forward. The barn in the foreground and the house on the hill in the distance were both victory locations.

Tony and I immediately did our usual cavalry thing of drawing sabres and rushing into action. Here you can see the Guard cavalry advance. The Horse Grenadiers to the front eventually went on to win the man of the match award.

Some classic looking ordre mixte here by the French. Most of the units in Nigel's forces are an impressive 30 figures strong.

Lord Hill advances his (mostly) Highlander division. These are a mixture of Qualiticast and Hinton Hunt figures.

The view from the French right-rear. My Nassauer's are defending the woods from the advancing French columns.

The French troops come on in the same old style!

But my lads are coming on too - not in the same old style!

General Perponcher rides forward to encourage the Dutch-Belgians - hurrah!

The cavalry fight in the centre of the field was to last for the whole game but eventually the French got the upper hand.

My Highlanders prepare to counter-attack the Old Guard. Meanwhile the Sailors-of-the-Guard have occupied the house and are very unsportingly firing down on us from the windows.

My centre holds firm...

...but things don't go quite so well on my right. We called the game after 7 turns and it was a victory on points for the French.

It was a visually spectacular game as well as being great fun to play and it was nice to get to use Nigel's lovely British and allied troops. Hopefully one day we'll get to see the Archduke's Austrian forces!

Thanks to Nigel and Tony and also to the Archduchess for her hospitality. 

Flagging Again

I've finished my 'coke can' (actually Pepsi-Max) flag for the Grenzers and am quite chuffed with the result. I cut the aluminium for the flag with my craft knife and then superglued it to the flagstaff, bent it into position and amazingly it lined up first time.

I paint the flag after assembly.

The figure is a converted AN/21. Hungarian Officer, charging although I think this is actually a DK version. The flag itself is painted freehand using some pencilled guidelines. The design is a mash up of images from the internet and my own photo (below) taken this year at the Naval Museum in Venice.

I'm not sure what an Austrian flag was doing on display at an Italian naval museum because strangely the signage wasn't in english. The museum was however a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of the city being a bit out of the way by the old naval dockyard.

The rather stylish entrance to the dockyard just around the corner from the museum.

There is a quite a lot of stuff in the museum relating to WW2 and how Italian frogmen managed to blow up British battleships using manned torpedoes. Not one mention of Taranto though!

Grenzer Progress and Fun in the Desert

I've made a bit of  progress with the Grenzer figures and am pretty well halfway through the unit. I'm liking the look of these with their brown coats and blue trousers. Hopefully I'll complete the whole lot soon.

The drummer is a head-swop conversion from a DK grenadier. The flag (half finished at the back) is my first attempt at a 'coke can' flag in the style of Wellington Man.

In other news, Goya came over last week and we had a go at a 20mm WW2 Western Desert game. I've had a bit of a thing about the early period of this campaign for many years and had been gradually (very gradually) building some forces using Airfix stuff. However the advent of 3D printed vehicles has given the project a shot in the arm as it cuts out the rather tedious business of assembling kits.

Goya's Matildas defend a ridge. The closest is a resin model, the next is a 3D version from Butler's Printed Models and the last two are Airfix from Goya's collection.

The British soft-skin vehicles hunker down behind the ridge. The 2pdr Portee model is a 'ready to roll' one from Rapid Fire expertly assembled and painted by Goya.

My German infantry briefly capture Showaddy-Wadi before being forced to retreat by massed machine gun fire from Goya's tanks.

The situation at the end of play - a sort of draw.

Goya and I both like the organisation charts in the various Rapid Fire books but we've struggled to get to grips with the RF rules. We're currently rehashing a set of my own rules written 30 years ago in the hope of getting something playable and fun.

Grenzer Test Figure

This is the test paint job for my next Austrian infantry unit using the recently acquired Austrian figures. I thought I'd go for a Grenzer unit as a break from all those white uniforms and they will represent the 15th Szeckler regiment because of their rather natty pink facings that I think contrast well with the brown coats.

The figure is AN/25 Hungarian Musketeer, firing.

According to my painting source there is some controversy over when/if the Grenzer units received their 'tobacco brown' coats but the 15th are listed as one that probably did. Equally undecided is whether the Grenzers had white or black straps but I have gone with black. Production is now underway on the first six figures.

Wellington's Allies on Parade

Having recently paraded Wellington's British infantry I thought that, for the sake of completeness, I should also parade his Allies.

There are 96 Hinton Hunt figures arranged in four units.

The figures have all been painted by me except for the Nassauers (Matt G).

Hanoverians in the front followed by Belgians, Brunswickers and the Nassau Grenadiers.

The first of these units (the Nassauers) was painted in 2010 and the last (Hanoverians) this year.

I guess this effectively completes Wellington's infantry giving him a total of 12 units to call upon. This doesn't mean I won't paint more in the future (no wargamer ever completes an army) but for now I intend to shift my focus to the Austrians.

Feldbattalion Verden on Parade

So here they are, as promised the Hanoverian Field Battalion Verden. The figures are all vintage Hinton Hunt ones mustered from different sources over the last few years, stripped and repainted by me.

I love this 'casual pose' clearly they are far behind the front line.

Seems a bit unfair that the fifer and drummer have to work while everyone else is taking it easy.

1 x BN/1. Officer (charging)
18 x BN/3. Private (casual pose)

2 x BN/8. Officer (standing)

1 x BN/11. Fifer (playing)

1 x BN/12. Drummer (playing)

1 x BN/13. Ensign Regiment Colour

Here's your chance to admire the other side of that flag.

Also hot off the desk is another French General painted to represent Jean-Baptiste Drouet (Comte d'Erlon). With the 110th anniversary of Waterloo rapidly approaching I thought it was about time that this gentleman was represented on my table.

FN/244. French General in cocked hat (mounted)

I was surprised to read that d'Erlon did eventually become a marshal although not until 1843 some 22 years after Napoleon's death.

Hanoverian Command Figures

The Hanoverian Command figures are done and the whole unit is complete bar the basing which I will hopefully get around to in the next few days.

Nice to have officers with a yellow sash for a change.

The flag is another of my freehand efforts using a British Regimental flag figure as the base. I'm quite pleased with it although the lion is perhaps looking a bit more like Garfield than I would have liked.

This is the image I copied nicked from somewhere on the web - Hanover Kings Colour. There is some debate whether or not the units carried any colours at Waterloo but a unit without a flag just doesn't seem right.

When I started on this unit I prepped both a Regimental and Kings Colour figure as I had assumed the flags would be similar to British line units but apparently that's not so.

The regiment will be paraded soon then it's on with the Austrians.

The Battle of Donner-Blitzen

For the game this Thursday I decided to leave the British on the bench and give the other allied troops the chance to take on the French. What followed was the second landslide victory of the day, read on...

I setup my full 8' x 4' table and populated it with the entire French army (on the right) and the Prusso/Austro/Russo/Swedes (on the left). There were a total of 1,247 Hinton Hunt figures on the table (note to self - that's enough). The battle centred on the little known German villages of Donner (distance left) and Blitzen (foreground right) which both sides considered vital to possess.

The dice decided that Nigel would command the Prussians (allied left) and Goya the Austro/Russo/Swedes (allied right).

Tony had the French right whilst I commanded the French left.

For this game there were no general officers but instead each infantry unit had an attached 'personality' figure acting as colonel. Here we can see that the ADC assigned to command of the East Prussian Fusiliers has become an early casualty - 1VP to the French.

The French left-centre - The Guard Lancers have deployed just a bit too close to the Russian battery in their front becoming disordered as a result.

Tony and I decided to order the Young Guard to occupy the central hill (Wellington's Tree was worth 6VPs). This was a good plan except that Goya had ordered the Austrians to do the same.

On the extreme French left flank my lancers were ordered to tangle with the Pavlograd Hussars but sadly got the worst of it, they started running and kept going until they left the table.

Allied centre-right - a sight we don't often see, the field is full of Swedes (I know, but I like that joke). Goya pushes forward a mass of infantry with the Toskana Dragoons to the fore.

The view from Nigel's side of the table - the dreaded Landwehr are in reserve (more on them later).

Nigel's Uhlans clash with Tony's Chasseurs whom he neatly routs (the Uhlans were all painted by WM some years ago - nice work Matthew).

A general view about halfway through the game - there were a lot of units to command, possibly too many as it turned out. You will note that there are no skirmishers on table which I hoped might speed up play.

I get my FN5's rolling forward - 6 battalions of Fusiliers.

Hurrah! The Young Guard are on the hill  but their supporting artillery has taken a bit of a hammering.

On Goya's right flank the Moscow infantry have taken a hit from my French artillery and become disordered. Rather unusually they are commanded by Sir John Moore!

This is where things started to get a bit tricky for me - I had a rule that allowed each side to swap any front row units with their reserve Guard units. The idea was to add an element of tactical surprise but also to make sure that the Guard actually got to fight in the game. Goya threw his Guard infantry onto the hill and the Scots Grey's against my advancing infantry columns (the Grey's were there as I have no allied Guard cavalry - note to self I need some Guard cavalry).

The same scene from behind the allied line. The allies have secured the hill while their cavalry smash into my infantry.

Tony and I decided to commit our own Guard against the Prussians. The 1st and 2nd Grenadiers advance but sufffer heavy casualties from Nigel's musketeers and artillery.

The Prussian Uhlans pursue Tony's Chasseurs off table while the 9th Light infantry sensibly form square. At one stage there were 9 infantry squares across the table.

As the Old Guard advance Tony is struggling to bring up enough support. These cuirassiers were never able to get into the action.

This was a strange event - in the smoke and confusion of battle somehow La Bedoyere managed to detach himself from the Guard Marines and take command of the Prussian Guard. The Prussian Guard's actual commander The Prince of Orange can be seen lurking behind Wellington's Tree. Eventually La Bedoyere returned to his own unit unscathed.

This was not good, Goya's cavalry are making mincemeat out of my lovely FN5's. Definitley NOT in the plan.

As the Young Guard fall back our last remaining reserve are the Guard Chasseurs and the Empress' Dragoons.

Finally Nigel's rampaging Uhlans come to grief on the solid square of the 24th infantry.

The view along the allied left flank near the close of play - the village of Donner is in the foreground.

Marshal Vorwarts leads the Austrians up towards Wellington's Tree.

The Sommariva Cuirassiers ride up to support the Swedes.

As I said NOT in the plan! To add insult to injury the eagles of the 5th, 33rd and 45th regiments were captured by the Toskana's and Grey's. The French centre-left was completely broken.

The emperor leads the 1st Grenadiers in a desperate charge against the 1st Silesian Landwehr -  you guessed it, the Silesians WON the melee (note to self - I need more Old Guard)...

At the end of turn 5 we had to wrap up the game but there was no doubt who had won, final VP score was 36 to the allies and 15 to the French. It was a great game with lots of action and it was good to get so many figures out of their storage boxes and on the table. In retrospect the game was a bit too big for just four of us to handle which is the main reason we manged so few turns.

My thanks to the attending generals for coming along and making it such a fun day and to Mrs S for running such a superb field-kitchen.