Blood & Bayonets

I am looking forward to yet another new set of Napoleonic rules. 

Shocked?  Don't be. I have a chronic case of "Squirrel!" when it comes to wargaming, especially Napoleonics.

One might ask, "What's wrong with Le Petite Empereur 2 or Valour & Fortitude?"

 

Well, nothing, really. But have I mentioned, "Squirrel!"?

 

I recently backed the Kickstarter for Blood & Bayonets, which is based upon the mechanics in Blood & Plunder.  Both of these are published by Firelock Games.

 

Why B&B? I think there are two reasons B&B grabbed my attention long enough that I paid my money. For one thing I suspect B&B will have a slightly wider audience than my other Napoleonic rules. It might bring in gamers who playB&P and many of those players appear to have come from fantasy or science fiction gaming. So I might just be able to show up at my FLGS and be able to play a game.

 

But more importantly for me are the scenario possibilities. I have been a huge fan for decades of Age of Sail fiction such as the “Horatio Hornblower” series by C. S. Forester and the Aubrey/Maturin "Master & Commander" series by Patrick O'Brian. I own literally hundreds of novels on the subject.

 

One of the tried-and-true scenes from these books are variations on the theme of landing parties. Guess what B&B has? Boats, rules, and scenarios for landing parties!

 

Insert happy dance.

 

I have to admit I wasn't more than peripherally aware of Blood & Plunder until I heard about B&B. I've played in pirate-themed games but it has never been a topic that held my attention for long enough to buy toys. Once I backed the B&B Kickstarter and found out how long before the game is delivered, I bought a copy of B&P to learn the rules system.

 

Doing so led, of course, to plenty of time on the Internet. There is a small but devoted fan base for B&P. Some of the sites I found appear to have gone into neglect in 2022-2023. But Blood & Pigment is an amazing source for info about the game and the scene. Or, "meta", if you prefer. If you have any interest in B&P or its descendants (Blood & Crowns, Blood & Steel, Blood & Valor, or Oak & Iron) you should really visit Blood & Pigment.

Another excellent source of info and inspiration is the Plunder Den YouTube channel. In fact, the owner of Plunder Den has just published a video running for an hour and a half that shows a demonstration game of B&B.

 

So what do I have to bring to B&B? Quite a bit, actually.

 

When Ray and I first decided to ignore our 15mm Napoleonic armies and begin building 28mm ones, I was reading about the actions in Eastern Spain during the Peninsular War. These actions were not under the direct control of General Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.

 

The biggest Anglo-Spanish success in Eastern Spain was the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813. A combined force of British troops including King's German Legion, a Swiss regiment, and Italian units along with two divisions of British-trained and -equipped Spanish defeated Marshal Suchet's corps of French. I based my miniature army on the Castalla orders of battle, and added Italian and Neapolitan units that were under Suchet's command but not present at the battle.

 

All I'm lacking is the Spanish contingent. And some boats. And a seaside scene...

A Ride in the Car

 This morning was the first Saturday in over 14 years that I’ve awoken without a dog.

Previously, most weekend mornings followed a pattern. I would get up, not really late but certainly later than I do on work days, and do the usual morning routines. But then the fun would begin.

As I was tying my shoe strings I would sing out in a low but slowly rising tone of voice, “Niiii—iiiick. Norrrrr-ah!”

At the first “nnn” sound, two furry little heads would pop up from sleep. By the time I finished calling Nora’s name, she would be on her feet and alert, with Nick following.

“Who wants…to go…for a ride? In the CAR? TO THE PARK?!?!?”

Joyful dog yips and whines and barks would rise to a crescendo and then Nora would all but run over Nick in her dash to the doggie ramp that leads off the bed. Nick, maybe still a little sleepy and definitely more careful since he has been blind all his life, would follow his sister down the ramp.

Collars applied and a bridge leash attached, the two frisky mixed spaniels would be led to the door and out to the car. Nora is blind, too, but that never slowed her down and in her excitement to get to the car there would usually be a couple collisions with walls, doors, or my legs.

Over time and a move across the country, we have had several “favorite” parks. In San Antonio we usually took our weekend walks at Eisenhower Park or Hardberger Park. Nice big parks with paved paths wandering through typical Hill Country trees and scrub. Leading two blind dogs is much easier on a paved trail than one which isn’t.

When we moved to Maryland we found Veirs Mill Park not far from our new home. Not large, but winding through much taller trees than Texas, and ones with spectacular fall colors. But as the pups grew older Nick, especially, wasn’t able (or willing) to go the the multi-mile weekend walks. We found St. Paul Park around the corner, with a circular, eighth of a mile path just inside a border of trees and outside the center lawn. 

Even with the much shorter path, the pace gradually reduced until it was a slow spaniel mosey. But until just a few weeks ago, Nick always would do his lap.

Nora passed a year ago Thursday. She was 18. We lost Nick this past Monday, aged 17.

This morning when my eyes opened, I knew I wanted one more time to go for a ride. In the car.

To the park.

A look back at 2023

I have a kept a miniatures wargame journal since 1998. I have recorded games, figures, conventions, acquisitions, and whatever schemes were on my mind. I call it a “journal” instead of a “diary” as it is nowhere near a daily record. During the 2020 Covid-19 shutdown I rediscovered an old N scale Christmas model train in the basement. I began model railroading in earnest, and while I do not intend to cover that topic in this blog it has certainly been an enjoyable new hobby and the journal shows I spent more time with trains lately than toy soldiers.

Looking at the journal what did I accomplish in wargaming in 2023? 

A perusal of the written journal shows I only played in two games and did not attend any game shows. Usually I attend the Lone Star Historical Miniatures convention in Austin:  Millennium Con. My best friend Ray and I met in San Antonio years ago through the LSHM club. Ray lives in Georgia now and I’m in Maryland, but we try to get back to MCon every year.

In 2023 it didn’t happen. First, I had a family wedding which was going to prevent my going to Texas. Then the hotel which has hosted MCon for years basically kicked the gamers out and did so too late for them to find a new venue in time. Hopefully Ray and I will be able to attend the 2024 convention at the new location in Temple, TX at the end of October.

The games I played were between Ray and I when he visited in October. The last time Ray visited we played several skirmish games of A Fistful of Lead: Horse and Musket and a number of adventures using The Fantasy Trip. This time we wanted to play a bigger battle Napoleonic game. 

We chose the 2nd edition of the free rules from Jervis Johnson, Valour & Fortitude. The rules were first released in 2022 in Wargames Illustrated, and supported by updates and army lists on the Perry Miniatures site. The new edition was released just before Ray arrived.

I assembled two small forces from my collection. Each side had two line infantry brigades (3 battalions each for the French, 2 battalions and a company of rifles for the British), a cavalry brigade with 2 regiments, and one battery of artillery. We didn’t set up a particular scenario or even any terrain. 

The games were fast, furious, and a lot of fun! We did a few things that may not have been tactically sound (light cavalry charging fresh infantry in square!) but did so to learn the rules. They are quick to learn, quick to play, but full of Napoleonic flavor. We will definitely be using them again in the future, perhaps even putting on a game at MCon.

Ray is now designing and printing an Austrian army for V&F. Because his space is limited, he is building his infantry units with 18 figures and cavalry with 9. The figures are from Piano Wargames’ 1809 Danube Kickstarter campaign.

I bought a few new miniatures rules in 2023 as part of the never-ending quest for the “right” game. In no particular order I bought:

A Gentleman’s War

The Second Portable Wargame Compendium

Throwing Thunderbolts

Shot, Steel and Stone

Age of Hannibal

One Hour Skirmish Wargames

Actually, Ray gifted me OHSW. It has an interesting mechanic of using playing card draws instead of dice for all random number generation. 

Age of Hannibal interested me because it is a descendant (derivative?) of the rules that I have used more than any other set:  Le Petit Empereur from Chipco Games. AoH is from LittleWars TV and states “the rules are inspired by Chipco’s Fantasy Rules!” LPE, FR!, and AoH all use the Chipco mechanic of the “Morale Clock.”

Simply put, the Morale Clock determines how many units you can move each turn. As each turn is completed, the side taking the most casualties has their Morale Clock reduced. Various bad things happen when the Clock reaches certain values, and the army routs from the field and the game ends if the Clock reaches zero. As a general you slowly lose the ability to control your entire army and have to focus your effort more and more as the game unfolds.

Our club, LSHM mentioned above, played huge amounts of LPE back in the previous century. I have put on LPE games at least six times at conventions and had a lot of fun each time. And now Chipco is making noises about a new edition. If it comes out I will definitely buy it!

I mentioned Ray and his Piano Wargames printed figures. These STLs are designed for 28mm printing but can obviously be scaled up or down as desired. Lucas from Piano is very interested in the 1809 Danube campaign. So far he has released the entire Württemberg army, the Hesse-Darmstadt and Würzburg forces, the Bavarian, Austrian and Tyrolian forces for the Tyrol Revolt, and most recently began releasing French and Austrians for the main armies. He has plans to complete the French and Austrians and to add the Badeners, Saxons, and Westphalians. His figures are absolutely lovely.

Ray and I have both bought all the STLs and I currently have far too many figures that need to be painted!

Nearly seven years later...

 I would not be surprised to find out no one even has a link to my blog anymore. But, in case you do, here's what I've been doing.

The blog went into "benign neglect" shortly after I moved from Texas to the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. We were living in a completely lovely 16th floor penthouse apartment with an amazing view. We could even see the Washington Monument on a clear day. What I couldn't see, though, were my books and miniatures:  they were all in off-site storage. Of all the benefits of that apartment, "space" was not one of them. 

Fast forward to now and we own a nice home with a large finished basement. It needed a lot of work, but I included a 5' x 10' cabinet. Here you can see a game of All The King's Men 54mm AWI set up, as well as an idea how it looks without a game. 

Each of those cabinets has four pull-out drawers. On the side nearest it contains my 28mm Napoleonic collection, while the far side has the 28mm Seven Years War figures.

My best friend has visited from Georgia on a couple occasions. Ray has a couple high quality 3D printers, and together we have invested in (cough) a "few" STLs. My favorites are the ones from Piano Wargames. Lucas is very talented and his interest in the Campaign of 1809 corresponds with my favorite campaign. So far I have his Württemberg, Hessen-Darmstadt, Tyrolian, and Danube campaign figures.

Currently I have Piano's Würzburg figures on my painting table. The Hessians are next--I've always wanted to have this small army.

I plan to follow up in the next few weeks with pictures and other posts about what I've been doing and what is currently planned. Here's a hint of what's to come:

Thanks for waiting so patiently!

ACW

Wow. The new Google Pics that replaced Picasa really sucks. 

Photo review of Shapeways 1/100 scale pre-World War 2 US tanks

I've always been interested in the U.S. Army immediately prior to WW2. I have a book of tanks that was my father's that gives details on the pre-war tanks that never saw combat. When Flames of War 1st Edition was out (I played the free web version originally), there was a supplement that included stats for those very same tanks.

Recently, something made me scratch that itch and I saw where some enterprising soul has them on Shapeways in sizes from 1/100 up through 1/48. They are NOT cheap.

But I ordered one each M1 and M2A2 light tanks, and M2 and M2A1 medium tanks. They arrived Tuesday.

 

First up is the M1 Combat Car:

 

Here is a link to the digital render on Shapeways: 

 

Components

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hull

Bogies

Next, the M2A2 Combat Car, later Light Tank.

 

Here is a link to the digital render on Shapeways: 

 

Components

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assembled

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the M2 Medium Tank.

 

Here is a link to the digital render on Shapeways: 

 

Components

 

 

Assembled

 

Close up of one of the four barbette machine guns

 

 

Quarter view 

 

 

And finally, the M2A1 Medium. Note how delicate the gun barrels are. In fact, I broke off the 37mm barrel when I picked up the turret to put on top of the tank. My fault, but still easily done.

 

Here is a link to the digital render on Shapeways: 

 

Components

Assembled

Glacis

 

All of these tanks are available in other sizes, including 1/48, 1/56, and 1/72. They are by Arctic Skunk Designs by mpennock

 

I hope you find these pictures useful.

San Antonio Muster, 25 July 2015

Some of the LSHM leadership have been organizing small mini-conventions to get people to try new games. Yesterday was the second time I participated.

I brought the 28mm LPE game out. Although the "con" only ran from 11am to 3pm, I was asked to run the game twice, so we went until 4:30.

I ran four players each time, French against Anglo-Brunswick. The games were bloodbaths, as LPE tends to be. I think the players really enjoyed themselves, as their was a lot of spirited mocking of each other and cheering at the dice.

Here are the best pics I could find. First, the table all set and ready to go:

Here I am helping the players work out a combat. The line of British flags in the foreground are Ray's beautiful Foundry figures.

Hmm. Again I'm pointing at toy soldiers.

And finally, the entire attending crowd gathered behind my game for a group shot.

New figures and preparing for San Antonio Muster on 25 July

I mentioned two painting services in my last post. The one that had the problem with my order has been quite understanding and is working to fix it. People make mistakes and they are even implementing an idea I gave them to prevent it happening again.

I said I would name the other painting service after I received some figures. I am VERY happy to introduce you to Nigel Billington's Paintedsolider.net. You may have seen Nigel's work on TheMiniaturesPage.com, where he posts as "de Ligne."

Nigel is working on my Eureka, Minden and Fife & Drum figures. Here are pictures of his work on Eureka Arquebusiers de Grassin and Minden Legion de Hainaut. He did not base them at my request, as I have found that different painters' work can be tied together in my collection by having the same basing style. I think you will agree that he has done a terrific job! I'm looking forward to the Saxons, Prussians, and Austrians he has now.

Sorry for the photography. I’m crap at it.

Legion de Hainaut:

Mounted Arquebusiers de Grassin:

These figures from Nigel are filling some holes in my SYW collection, namely light troops and Prussian cavalry. I have some ideas for a new campaign and hope to post about them later.

Reduction of the lead pile has been a goal of mine. No, I’m not painting them. I find painting to be an increasingly frustrating and unfulfilling endeavor. So I shipped off a truly enormous number of figures to Nigel and other services. I still have an embarrassingly large supply, but feel I am finally accomplishing something with figures that have been around for years.

Meanwhile I have been preparing for the LPE game that I will put on at our club’s mini-convention, San Antonio Muster, on 25 July. I have placed a number of orders for bases and basing material, but they will probably not arrive in time, so I will be using the figures as is. I should at least have the primered bases seen below painted to match Ray’s British bases. Here are a couple pictures of a game that Ray and I played while he was in town last week:

We played two quick games. I routed him as the French, then he ground me down and destroyed every last one of my units when I played British. But he only had a couple left himself. It reminded us both of how much fun we have playing it.

It will be fun to introduce new players to this game next Saturday.

Happy 4th of July!

I decided that I want to try blogging on a regular basis. So I decided that fortnightly seemed about right.

So...ooo...

What to write about?

I played a demo game of the new version of GW's Warhammer Fantasy Battles yesterday. Titled Age of Sigmar, it is the new game set in the post-Apocalyptic GW universe.

To me the game plays a lot like the GW Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, only without any interesting "fluff." My reaction was a definite, "Meh." The figures themselves show an amazing amount of detail--too bad the detail is on figures that are quite definitely of no interest to me.

Then I looked at the downloads to make old figures compatible with the new game. Umm...double meh.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but GW lost me a few years ago. I refer any reader that has made it this far to my old post on the blog Ray and I share:  Ten Years of Dabbling in Warhammer

I recently received a batch of painted figures from a service that I regularly use. Sadly, this batch was short 24 mounted figures, and the infantry suffered from several shortcomings. I am at least partially to blame, as I had become accustomed to a level of service that didn't require micromanaging by myself. Mea culpa.

On another front, though, I have contracted with a new painting service (which I will name later upon receipt of figures) in order to reduce my lead pile. The service is VERY knowledgeable and communication has been great. I hope to post pictures very soon.

The last thing I will mention today is a company that makes bases and movement trays. Shogun Miniatures is a great service.

Years ago, Ray and I agreed to base all of our 25/28mm figures on 20mm squares for foot and 25mm x 50mm bases for mounted. Then we use sabots or movement trays to work with different rule sets. This was one of the best decisions I've ever made in wargaming.

Shogun makes outstanding steel movement trays in a huge variety of sizes. They also have some very good magnetic bases. Please look them up and give them a try if you need anything like this. Tell them Ed from Texas referred you.

Cheers. Time to go try to keep the spaniels calm as the locals fire off a gazillion fireworks.

Organizing and repairs

Talking about LPE on the Chipco Games Yahoo Group got me back in touch with my friend Steve S. Steve is primarily an ancients and medieval gamer (he is listed in the credits of several of the Warhammer Ancients Battles supplements), but enjoys all of the Chipco Games.

Recently Steve has been conducting a solitaire campaign using the Chipco rules Days of Knights to resolve the battles. He has been posting the results on the Yahoo group.

Steve suggested he and I get together for a game at a newly established San Antonio store, Tabletop. Tabletop’s new location is only a couple miles from each of our homes. So last Friday night we arranged to have a game there. While everyone around us played GW or Star Wars, we brought out the Chipco rules and historical figures!

Steve brought along Successor armies, but used Fantasy Rules! Tournament and Campaign Edition or FR!TCE as the rules. It was the first time I had used them, but having played LPE for so long I picked it up easily. Not enough to prevent being thoroughly defeated, but at least I understood why!

Then I pulled out my LPE armies and we had a game of that. It was a very bloody game.

Neither game was particularly interesting in a tactical way. There was little terrain (okay, there wasn’t any terrain) and essentially we lined up and had at each other. Basically, we were refamiliarizing ourselves with the rules and trying to generate some interest in historicals. We did get a couple, "Ooo ahhs."

On other subjects, Ray has been on a collecting spree. And since he’s coming out to San Antonio in a few days he has had the goodies sent to my house. So I’ve been vicariously opening his packages, pawing through the toys, and sending him pictures to tease him. Objects have so far all been Napoleonics from Warlord Games, including French Light Infantry, Guard Grenadiers, Chasseurs a Cheval, Vistula Legion infantry, paints, brushes and the free figure of Napoleon on foot.

I’ve been cleaning up and organizing my 28mm Napoleonic collection. Ray and I long ago decided to base all of our 28mm stuff singly and then use sabots to play any particular rule set. It works, but I managed to get lots of units split up into different boxes and otherwise mixed up. All are now properly sorted, but I found a lot of detached cavalry riders, broken bayonets and swords, and missing flags. Surgery is being performed.

By the way, what is the Interwebz opinion about broken swords, bayonets, and plumes? Do you bother fixing them? Only the “easy” fixes?

Coming Back

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. We’ll skip the why’s and wherefore’s and just move on to toy soldiering!

Ray and I have been gaming partners for almost twenty years. Early during our association he discovered a new set of fast play Napoleonic rules titled Le Petit Empereur by Chipco Games.

LPE was an immediate hit with our club. We could play a game to a full conclusion in an evening. Sometimes even two games. It is similar to DBA in that the basic game has a fixed number of elements (28 + a general) with each country having a different mix. There are only seven unit types:

EC – Elite Cavalry
OC – Other Cavalry
ET – Elite Infantry
LN – Line Infantry
LT – Light Infantry (in the 1st edition, these were more like conscripts)
ART – Foot Artillery
LtA – Light (Horse) Artillery

Our club, Lone Star Historical Miniatures, played in 15mm and many of the club members built armies. In fact, I have ten or so! Soon we were playing games including two, three, and even more armies. Our local convention, MillenniumCon, even hosted a hugely successful LPE tournament in 1998.

As such things go we eventually burned out and moved on to other games.

But in 2006 Ray and I were finally moving into 28mm historical games. We decided to use MillenniumCon as a deadline to motivate us to prepare new armies. Our first subject was Napoleonics. Although we wanted to play large games with big units of 24 or more infantry, we knew we needed an intermediate goal.

So out came LPE again. I ended up building a bespoke 28mm French army, but Ray did as originally planned and used his Anglo-Brunswick LPE army as a building block to larger army. At the 2006 convention we put on the game several times and it was a great success with players, both returning veterans and new conscripts. Sadly the websites hosting our pictures are gone but the AAR is at The Miniatures Page. I put on additional LPE games at 2009 ChimaeraCon and 2010 MillenniumCon.

Ray used his original Anglo-Brunswick army to expand into a 25:1 British division. Now he has decided that the plethora of plastic kits means it is time to build a French army as well. We are going to use this coming MillenniumCon as another deadline to build up our armies. I already have French, British, Dutch-Belgian and Hanoverians. I will use this opportunity to build Prussians.

But instead of just 28 elements per side, we plan to have at least double-sized armies and hopefully triple! Stay tuned to this channel as we work toward MillenniumCon!

The Ball

It was just another of those interminable balls thrown by the close friends of the Landgraf, the Graf Nicklaus and Grafin Nora von Spanielberg. Most of the guests had arrived already, and Landgraf Bogey was just about to walk away from the receiving line when the majordomo made another announcement.
“The Countess Jodylynn von Kolich-Hrvatska, and her escort, Major Edwina!”
Bogey stepped back between Nora and the Landgrafin. Looking at his wife, he asked, “Slim, is this the one you you have been wishing to meet?”
“His Excellency forgets He is in public!” Landgrafin Lauren snapped at the use of the nickname she disliked, just as Nora, having accepted the curtsy of her guest, turned to Bogey.
“Your Excellency, Countess Jodylynn von Kolich—err…”
A vision of blonde hair above a brilliant and amused white smile were quickly lost as the Landgraf’s attention was drawn to an imposing valley of décolleté. The smile never faltered as she said in a strange, Eastern accent, “von Kolich-Hrvatska, Your Excellency.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Countess,” Bogey said as he kissed the proffered hand and remembered just in time to look the newcomer in the eye. As he did so, he felt the Landgrafin’s heel dig into his foot.
“And may I present Landgrafin Lauren to you, Countess?”
Never losing her smile, the countess turned to the Landgrafin. A quick narrowing of eyes informed the countess that her beauty and figure did not impress Bogey’s wife.
“Charmed, Countess. What brings you to our modest little country? I’m sure the glittering capitals of Europe are more to your…bent.”
A quick curtsy, just deep enough and no more, and the countess replied, “Thank you, Your Grace. I am afraid that I have fled my small estate in Kentukevania. I was hoping that—.”
Just what the countess was hoping was interrupted by a great shout from Graf Spanielberg. “By Jove, Major! You’re a WOMAN!”
Silence descended in the hall as every eye turned to look at the entrance. Standing in a rich brown coat with coral smallclothes and facings at cuff and collar, the officer next to the countess was now seen to be just that:  a tall, athletic woman wearing a military uniform.

Nora, never at a loss, spoke quickly. “Major, welcome to Schloss Spanielberg. Have you met our Landgraf?”
As bows were exchanged, the countess completed her sentence. “I was hoping, Your Excellency, that you would honor me by allowing my escort and her legion to join with your army. You will find them to be, shall we say, an exceptional BODY of troops?”
The countess and major walked into the now buzzing hall. Nick cleared his throat. Nora, searching for something to add, quickly commented, “The countess was wearing such exquisite earrings, do you not think so Lauren?”
Nick answered, “Yes, most impressive.”
Nora rolled her eyes. “Dear, the earrings were higher up than you were looking.”

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And thus Countess Jodylynn’s Own, a legion of lithe, blonde, Slavic warriors joined the Army of Hesse-Fedora.