Seven Years War at Partizan

 Sorry for the lack of posts this last few weeks! I have been very busy getting the, Seven Years War, demonstration game ready for the 2nd Partizan show in Newark. 

The game was a fantastic success at the show but that wasn't just down to all the painting, modeling and collecting part. My fellow 'Bodkins ' members Simon Chick, Andy Mill and Nichol Murray were fantastic at engaging the public and playing the game when possible. They were true ambassadors for the period and the hobby of wargaming !

We used the 'Valour and Fortitude' rules with a few modifications that we felt represented the period. For example.. We only permitted one bn gun per brigade and for them to only shoot at musket range (as a support close weapon) with the bn they are attached to. We felt that giving every unit a bn gun would be too powerful and besides we wanted to use the models we had :) The Russian were given a 'Stubborn ' rule to make them slightly harder to fail morale and the Prussians were given extra movement at the begining of the game to emulate their ability to sometime out flank an enemy. Nichol Murray put all these ideas into rule mechanics and we are planing an article for a magazine.

The figures and terrain were mostly from my collection with 5 units of cavalry and some artillery kindly loaned to me from Ken Pearce's collection.  This loan realy took the pressure off me close to the deadline.

I think we had about 750+ figures on the 14 foot by 6 table. Not too packed that we couldn't manoeuvre but just enough to make it look like battle lines. I sometimes feel demonstration games don't give enough room for cavalry to game and we wanted a bit of space for them.

The senario was an idea I had after reading about the battle of Zorndorf. The Prussian and Russians both claimed victory. I wanted to play a fictitious battle set after the battle (Mostly because I wanted to use all my terrain) where a Prussian army is shadowing a Russian retreat after Zorndorf.  At the beginning of the game we rolled for casualties and ammunition limits per brigade. Then distributed them throughout the brigades. This was to simulat a bit of attrition from the previous bloody battle. No unit would start the game fresh and add a bit of reluctance to engage.

A small Russian reargard were tasked to guard a large Russian supply waggon column against an overwhelming number of Prussian's until the main Russian army could return. I have attached the scenario hand out as an image below. Again my good friend Nichol Murray took and added to these ideas and made the handouts.

The figures are Claymore Castings infantry and Wargames Foundry Cavalry.  Buildings are all from my collection. The castle was made for me by master model maker John Boadle, many years ago.

The vilkage buildings were made by the equally talented James Sharp. I made the fleece mat And other bits of terrain.

So, here it is, our homage to the period inspired by the collections of John Ray and Charles Grant's Scenarios.

'ZORNDORF THE AFTERMATH '

SYW at Partizan 2

 I still have a lot to get done for the Partizan show in October!

However,  I thought I would share the progress. 

I will be using a modified set of the March of Eagles rules by Barry Hilton. The main changes I have made are..

1)Firing/combat groups of 6 figures and not 4.

2)Brigades activate alternative rather than units.

3) The character traits are now in a fate deck that is delt at begining of turns.

4) Units take a resolve test after 6 casualties (a firing group is lost).

5) Bn guns are brigade assets and attached to units as close support. The give a unit and extra firing group.

6) A fate deck of special event cards are dealt out at the beginning of each turn.

These changes make it a longer game than the original rules intended but it fits our gaming style.

2nd bn of the 9th

 Just finished the 2nd bn of the Napoleonic Spanish regiment that I have been working on. 

These are 32man regiments for the Spanish and 36man units for the French.  The eventual plan is to have skirmishers for every bn.

Figures are Perry miniatures. The French are Warlord Games plastic with Perry Miniatures commands.

I'm working towards having the following for the Spanish.

2 x 32 figure Line, 1 x 24 figure Militia, 12 Skirmishers,  a light gun, a 12 figure unit of Dragoons and a brigade Command base.

This will allow me to get gaming using the 'March of Eagles' rules.

Napoleonic Peninsular

 Some photos to show the progress of the Napoleonic Peninsular project.

The plan is to go for a small brigade of Spanish and a brigade of French as the first step.

Spanish

 A unit of Napoleonic Spanish I painted. 1st bn of the 9th. Perry Miniatures.