63 figures...and counting!

I got a chance to go over BAR, and I must admit to being intrigued. The idea of maneuvering a 63-figure battalion has me itching to give this a try. However, until the Landgraf's drafts arrive, I will have some of the Prussian battalions demonstrate to me.

A note about the rules: they are not presented in the common manner. After the introductory information, unit composition, and army building guidelines the rules are laid out alphabetically. Yep, that's right, alphabetically: from Aides de Camp to Wargames Tables.

This is not a criticism, just an observation. The rules are intended to be played with the Quick Reference Sheets, and not the book. But I wonder that this might be a set that needs to be taught by someone experienced with them, rather than learned straight from the book. Hopefully I will get a chance this weekend to try.

I almost broke out Microsoft Excel to start scheming my armies. Oops, don't let the Landgraf see that! But I have always been a little like Hal Thinglum in his sadly defunct MWAN, in that planning, plotting, and scheming new wargames armies and their organization has been a big part of my enjoyment of this hobby.

Now the tough decision will be to rebase any of my existing figures!

BAR Arrives!

Woo hoo! Break out the reading glasses and the RSM order forms...more to follow later tonight (I hope!)

Flaky Flakiness...

Do you have the wargamer's ferret syndrome? Where you chase after bright new shiny things even though you have plenty of projects awaiting completion?

Right now I'm waiting to receive my copy of Bill Protz's Batailles de l'Ancien Régime 1740-1763. Once I have that, I will put in my RSM order, making sure the figures will meet both the BAR requirements and our local rules.

BUT in the meantime I've ordered a copy of Might and Reason, and several books about the American War of Indepence. This all started when I picked up a copy of Washington's Crossing from the library. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and am now casting about for another Lace Wars book that would be a good read. Any suggestions?

So I have also been browsing online AWI resources, and admiring the Perry Miniatures AWI line. So many figures, so little time!

The Patented Flash a Bright Light in the Opponent's Eyes Trick

Snickering made the mistake of asking for more pictures. I trolled the hard drive looking for pictures of the SYW toys, but didn't find much.

Except for this one photo of the Landgraf's favorite general, maneuvering his troops while blinding the enemy with reflected light! :)

Another interesting fact: I always assumed "Fedora" was an Italian term, but it turns out that it was really the name of a Russian female character!

The Army of Brunswick (Hesse-Fedora)

Here's the plan. Using RSM figures, I want to build the entire army of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, usually known to English readers simply as "Brunswick."

I intend to use RSM SYW Prussian figures from Dayton Painting Consortium.

I want the figures to be dual-use: 24 figure battalions for our club SYW rules, and 60-figure "Big Battalion" rules a la Charge! and The Wargame, or the soon-to-be available rules from Bill Protz, Batailles de l'Ancien Régime 1740-1763, or BAR for short. I will use two battalions of our rules to form a single unit in BAR.

Here's the proposed structure:

Type	Brunswick name		Hesse-Fedora name		Figures
Infantry
	IR Leib (2 bn)		Leib (Bogey’s Own)		60
	IR von Imhoff (2 bn)		von Blaine		60
	IR von Behr (2 bn)		von Spade		60
	IR von Zastrow (2 bn)		von Earle		60
	GB von Stammer (Leib/Imhoff)		von Dobbs		48
	GB von Redecken (Behr/Zastrow)		von Parry		48
	Jagerkorps (3 “brigades” of 85 jagers each)		??		24
Cavalry
	Garde du Corps (1 company)		Les Noirs		12
	Karabiniers		von Marlowe, Der Grossschlafen		24
	Dragoons		von Gunn		24
	Hussars		von Steele		24
Artillery
	2 light companies (1 gun/reg)		von Leland, von McCloud		4 guns, 12 figures

Note this is draft, especially since I have not seen BAR yet!

My main source is R. D. Pengel 's German States in the Seven Years War 1740-1762: Supplement: Brunswick-Luneberg (Hanover), Hessen Cassel, Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Schaumberg-Lippe. This lists several other infantry formations, including a Leib-Grenadier-Garde, which I have not found elsewhere. Does anyone know if these are really different units, or just renamed previously existing ones? I know the book by Bill Biles considers at least some them to be renamed.

Either way, this is a serious amount of lead and will take a while to accumulate.

In the meantime, here's a pic of my armies in action at a club night.

Gaming at the Local Store

Where do you do most of your gaming? I know lots of people with game rooms, or other places at home, where they can lay out fantastic settings for their battles.

Lone Star Historical Miniatures-San Antonio does most of its gaming "out." By that I mean we meet at either a local game store, or in a restaurant. Meetings are usually weekdays after work. Currently, the group meets Tuesdays at Dragon's Lair, and some of us meet Thursdays at a local restaurant, EZ's.

In both cases, games have to be relatively portable and quick to set up and tear down. For the most part that means felt battlefields. Thus the bright green fields as seen here.

I have recently invested in some of the "European Fields" mats from Hotz Artworks. Although intended more for an aerial game, I think they work better than monochrome felt.

Either way, they allow us to get to the game faster and play longer, before the establishments kick us out at 10 pm.

SYW Austrians

My idea for the Austrians is to have about a 25-33% numerical superiority over the Prussians. But as my interest in the period or specific units waxed and waned (“Oooo! Look at the pretty facings on THIS one!!”), I have not kept well to the plan.

1st Brigade (3 battalions)
	IR1 Kaiser (2 bn)
	IR Rot-Wurzburg (1 bn)
2nd Brigade (4 battalions)
	IR7 Neipperg (2 bn)
	IR14 Salm-Salm (2 bn)
3rd Brigade (4 battalions)
	IR12 Moltke (2 bn)
	IR37 Esterhazy (2 bn) (Hungarian)
4th Brigade (3 battalions)
	IR16 Konigsegg (1 bn)
	IR42 Gaisruck (2 bn)
Cuirassier Brigade (15 squadrons)
	CRiii Modena (5 sqd)
	CR12 Serbelloni (5 sqd)
	CR4 Ferdinand (5 sqd)
Dragoon Brigade (10 squadrons)
	DR9 Savoy (5 sqd) (not yet complete)
	DR31 De Ligne (5 sqd)
Artillery Brigade
	1st Artillery Battery
	2nd Artillery Battery
	3rd Artillery Battery (not yet complete)

Again, the base battalion is 24 figures on four stands, plus another stand of grenadiers. However, I have not converged the Austrian grenadiers and therefore a four battalion brigade of Austrians is 120 figures strong, as opposed to 96 in a similar Prussian brigade. In addition, IR1 Kaiser is over-strength at 72 figures and is therefore brigaded with my Wurzburg battalion which has no grenadiers.

Figures are predominantly Old Glory, but include Hinchliffe, Crusader, Front Rank, and Falcon.

The Austrians field 14 battalions compared to 17 Prussian, but have 420 figures compared to 408 Prussians. Still, I need to beef up the Austrian infantry. They do enjoy a substantial cavalry advantage of 25 squadrons to 14.

Flames of War and Standing Like A Wall

I hope to make a larger post about H-F tomorrow. In the meantime, here's the "miniature gaming news" segment of the blog!

Thursday I played a pick-up game of Flames of War with two friends from LSHM. Tigers and StG IIIs make short work of Shermans. Yawn. I'm tempted to just sell it all.

And I bought Ioannis' PDF rules, "Standing Like A Wall." I really enjoy Ioannis' website, and recommend it to anyone who likes to look at nicely painted miniatures, or with an interest in the Seven Years War. Well done Ioannis!

Ed

SYW Prussians

I'll be posting more about Hesse-Fedora, including the first initiates of the Grand Order of the Maltese Falcon in the coming days. But right now, I've only got time for a description of part of my SYW project:

SYW Prussians

My current SYW project grew out of the SYW games played at the local club, Lone Star Historical Miniatures. LSHM uses 15mm figures and home-brew rules adapted over the years.

But several years ago I got hooked on the spectacle of 28mm gaming, especially using “Big Battalions.” I decided to start a Napoleonic project, but in the end opted for the SYW instead. I have been acquiring figures for several years, and have now amassed a pair of substantial armies.

1st Musketeer Brigade (4 battalions)
	Infantry Regiment (IR) 5 alt-Braunschweig (2 bn)
	IR 9 jung-Kleist (2 bn)
2nd Musketeer Brigade (4 battalions)
	IR 13 von Itzenplitz (2 bn)
	IR 18 Prinz von Preussen (2 bn)
3rd Fusilier Brigade (4 battalions)
	Fusilier Regiment (FR) 35 Prinz Heinrich (2 bn)
	FR 36 alt-Münchow (2 bn)
4th Grenadier Brigade (4 battalions)
	Grenadier Battalion (GB) 13/18 von Finck
	GB 5/9 von Billerbeck
	GB 35/36 von Scheckendorff
	Standing Grenadier Battalion 1
Cavalry Brigade (14 squadrons)
	Cuirassier Regiment 8 von Seydlitz (4 sqd)
	Dragoon Regiment 6 von Schorlemer (5 sqd)
	Hussar Regiment 4 von Puttkamer (5 sqd)
Artillery Brigade
	1st Artillery Battery
	2nd Artillery Battery
Other Troops
	Frei Battalion Le Noble

Battalions are 24 figures on four stands. Each musketeer and fusilier battalion has a fifth stand of grenadiers, which are converged to form the grenadier battalions listed. Sadly, I wasn’t paying close attention when choosing units, and the grenadiers don’t all match historically. IR5 should be with IR20; IR9 should be with IR10; IR13 should be matched with IR26; and IR18 should be with IR15. I did get it right with the fusilier regiments, as FR35 and FR36 actually did form a battalion under Major von Scheckendorff. The Standing Grenadier Battalion 1 is made up of the grenadier companies of its historical counterparts: Garrison Regiments 3 and 4 and the “New” Garrison Regiment.

The cavalry is made up of 6 figure squadrons, with 3 figures to the base. My original intent was two stands per historical squadron, keeping a 30:1 troop ratio. However, I made a math error along the way, and while the dragoons and hussars both have 30 figures, my Seydlitz Cuirassiers have detached a squadron somewhere en route and have only 24 figures present and ready for duty.

The artillery consists of two batteries, each of 2 model guns with 3 gunners per model.

The figures are a mix of Front Rank, Foundry, and Old Glory.

The entire Prussian force is therefore 17 battalions, 14 squadrons, and 2 batteries.

The genesis of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Fedora

The cadet branch of the ruling house of Hesse-Homburg, due to irreconcilable differences over the proper type of headgear, has exercised their right to assert their independence from the rest of the family. Effective immediately, the Landgraf Humphrey Bogart von Hesse-Fedora declares his principality independent of Hesse-Homburg.

The secession is expected to be peaceful. In fact, when questioned, the current Landgraf of Hesse-Homburg replied, “Who? Did what?”

Nevertheless, the Landgraf of Hesse-Fedora (the troops call him “Bogey”) has announced the raising of an army and the launching of a navy so that he can both provide for the defense of his realm, and procure lucrative contracts from Britannia, the Imperium, or Gallia.

Immediate plans call for the raising of the Leib Regiment of infantry ("Bogey's Own"), the Garde du Corps, and the construction of the gunboat “Santana.” Major General Richard von Blaine has been appointed Inspector General of Infantry, Major General Philip von Marlowe Inspector General of Cavalry, Oberst Richard Leland Inspector of Artillery, and Captain Philip Francis von Queeg made High Commissioner of the Admiralty.

The Landgraf's economy is based on large herds of sheep which are used to produce high-quality felt for the principality’s primary industry: hat making. Also, wine from the Nahe Valley provides suitable distraction to the felt- and hat-makers.

Other gaming

Placeholder for miscellaneous gaming, including fantasy using Games Workshop Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game and Warhammer Fantasy Battles, or Hordes of the Things, plus any other relatively one-off projects.

World War II

The placeholder for gaming the Second World War. I have always had an interest in the naval side, and recently got interested in Mongoose Publishing's rules Victory at Sea. On the land side, I have a passing interest in Flames of War, and also in some 28mm skirmish gaming with Combat Command.

Napoleonics!

My first era of wargaming, and the one I to which I always come back. Right now I am deeply involved in a large 28mm game to be presented at MillenniumCon 10 in Austin, TX. For specific details, see the Huzzah! blog.

Seven Years War

This is a placeholder for gaming the Seven Years War, including fictional games in the spirit of Brigadier Young's Charge! or Charles Grant's The Wargame.

War of the Spanish Succession

This is a place holder for stuff about the War of Spanish Succession. Right now I'm not really set on rules, but have based my figures for various sets.

Ancients

This is a place holder for my stuff about wargaming ancients, using De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) or Warhammer Ancient Battles (WHAB).

Welcome to my Miniature Wargaming Blog!

Hello,

I've always wanted to have a journal to record all of the myriad miniature wargame ideas, plots, and schemes that I come up with. And the couple that actually come into existence.

So that's what this will be: a journal of ideas, old and new, together with links to things I find interesting.

So pull up a mouse or some other pointing device and look around. It's just getting started, so it will take some time for me to add things.

See you around!

Ed