Kings of War Napoleonics

Yes its a surprise post, I'm not dead after all! Just not been in the blogging mood for a while. But here's a quick post about my foray into Kings of War (KoW) in general and Napoleonics in particular.

The majority of the figure gaming I've been doing over the past year has been 'Black Powder' Napoleonics in 28mm. While the rules are okay they never really grabbed me, but we could have a game with about 13 Infantry units, 6 cavalry units and 4 guns a side and be finished in about 2.5 hours which is pretty good for a game of that size. For a change of pace we tried out the 'Soldiers of God' Crusades rules I'd got when they were on sale as it gave me a chance to give my 28mm crusades armies a run out.

Although we found these rules were awful I enjoyed playing with the armies and I suggested giving it a go using KoW with the Kingdoms of Men list.

This was great fun and we managed to get in two games in one session. Then I made the mistake of casually mentioning that I'd heard of people using the same list as the basis for Napoleonics games. Which led me to agreeing to sort out a copy of the lists so we could try them out. Of course I couldn't find these anywhere so resorted to having come up with my own version.

We've played a few games with them now, constantly tweaking and adding or removing things to improve them. But each game has been fun to play and I don't think we'll be going back to 'Black Powder'. The latest version has included my first try at a points system and has added a few special rules to add flavour to the game.

We use the 2nd edition rules as is (with the exception that we don't use the 'Disorder' rules which don't work in a Napoleonic setting) plus some extras to fit in with the Napoleonic period. If you are interested in the list it can be found here Peter's work in progress KoW Napoleonics.

As I'm enjoying KoW I splashed out on an Ogre Mega army so I can play KoW in its intended form and hopefully I can get some ex-Warhammer players to dig out their old armies for a few games (once I get them painted of course).

Wargaming Overload Part 3

In addition to the ACW and ancients games I mentioned yesterday I've also played some Napoleonics and WW2 games.

Having made a start on assembling two 15mm Napoleonics forces 18 months ago I decided it was time to finish them up and finally get a game using the 'Napoleon at War' rules. I'd made the decision to buy painted figures rather than paint my own for two reasons. Firstly it would be quicker and second my poor eyesight and shaky hands make painting all the detail on napoleonics almost impossible. eBay buys of painted French and British armies had given me the bulk of what I needed but I was still short a few cavalry and quite a few infantry battalions. So I ordered a bunch of painted units from Stonewall Figures who offer a good range at great prices. They arrived quickly and they were soon based up ready for our first game.

Back in Feb 2013 I had a look at some options for Napoleonics rules and settled on 'Napoleon at War'. They're pretty straightforward and easy to pick up and we got a game with about 8 battalions of foot, 4 regiments of cavalry and some artillery completed in about three hours. It was fun but there were a few things I didn't like, particularly that there's no point in attacking in column as you get no bonuses and you get fewer bases for shooting so you're better off attacking in line. It sort of struck me as a Napoleonic lite game. Fun, easy to pick up but not a particularly accurate simulation of Napoleonic warfare. I think I'll go back and have another look at FoG:Napoleonic.

Talking of not particularly accurate simulations I was persuaded to have another run out with Bolt Action. Time to dust off my 28mm Russians.

It was a 1000pt game and I was facing some Germans supported by a Jagdpanther (at least my Churchill had decent armour, although its pop gun six pounder had little chance of hurting the Jagdpanther) with the mission to recover some intel from the centre of a village. After some initial sparring for position the main action started with both sides trying to recover the intel only to be cut down by fire or wiped out by an assault. Time ran out with the intel still in the village but surrounded by a mass of German & Russian corpses. The result a draw.

I can see the attraction of Bolt Action but it just doesn't do it for me. Chain of Command is still my favourite small scale WW2 rule set.

Tomorrow, amongst other things, I'll be looking at my participation in, of all things, a Heroclix tournament!

"Victory at Waterloo" arrives.

As part of my on-going attempt to replace the games I rashly got rid of when I quit gaming years ago I bought a copy of "Victory at Waterloo" on eBay. It arrived this morning and I wasted no time setting up a game.

 

On the surface it's a very simple game (the rules only run to four sides). It takes minutes to set up and the combat is fairly basic. However it requires a lot of thought to play well. The French have a limited time before the Prussians start to arrive so have to move quickly and decisively. The British on the other hand have to dig in and try to hold on. The optional rules add a lot of nice features which enhance the game, particularly the command & control rules which limit the amount of units you can move each turn. Plus it can be played solo and still give you a fun game.

 

Turn 2. The French are trying to flank the British while the British
on the other flank are trying to draw troops away from the
Prussian entry points.

I quickly set up the game and played a few moves to get back into the swing of things. I made a few mistakes but the memories came flooding back and I look forward to playing a full game soon.

Quick Review: 15mm MDF Walled Farm from Commission Figurines

A few days ago I took delivery of the new 15mm Farmhouse complex from Commission Figurines. It comes in three plastic bags with the parts already punched out, as can be seen in the photo below. The parts are mounted on an 8" x 9" base and the finished model has internal floors in two of the buildings as well as removable roofs. There's lots of nice detail on the windows and doors as well as exposed brickwork in various places to give the farm a 'lived in' look.

There are instructions on how to assemble the model on their website but it's pretty straightforward as the parts only fit in one place. I would recommend that you use a sharp craft knife or file to slightly trim the various tabs and slots as some of them are a very tight fit.

You start by assembling the three roofs.

Then you move onto the external walls.

Once that's completed you can start adding the various buildings.

The Barn

The Barn and the Farmhouse

The Stables

Once those are in place it's time to fix them to the base.

Next up are the inserts for the barn and farmhouse which provide the base for the internal floor.

The internal floors added

Lastly it's time to add a couple of cosmetic touches in the form of an outside staircase to the barn and extra detail to the gateway.

And that's it, a very quick and simple model to assemble. Certainly a lot less complicated than the 4Ground kits I've built in the past but still a very nice finished model.

I'd like to say here's one I finished earlier but the one shown below is a painted model from their site. Sadly I don't think my painting will be up to this standard.

The finished article

So what do I think of it? Well the finished model will make a great centre piece for my Napoleonics but it's generic enough to work ok for any period from the 18th century to the modern day. It went together easily, the price is good at £22.50 and the removable roofs and internal floors are a good idea. I can't see any downside to the model so I give it 10/10.

If you want one and aren't in a hurry you could choose one of these for £20 by selecting it as your pledge option in Commission Figurines KickStarter. There are also a number of other good deals on offer as they look to expand their range into 20mm and 28mm. I've pledged for some of the 28mm stuff to use for Bolt Action.

I've added a link below to one of my reviews of their 15mm WW2 buildings for those of you who are interested.

Quick Review: MDF terrain from Commission Figurines

The Re-Basing Begins

Having decided on the rules I'm going to use I've now started on re-basing the 500 or so figures making up my British and French forces. I've got three French battalions done so far and I've already got re-baser's thumb! This debilitating condition is caused by the sharp protrusions on the figure bases digging into your thumb as you try to carve away the glue and basing compounds.

I'm probably going to leave the bases bare until I've re-based all the figures and then add the scenic effects.

As I expected I've ended up with bunch of spare figures I can't use like standard bearers because the figures I bought were organised in units of 16, not the 24 I'm using. I'm also still pondering what to do with the Confederation of the Rhine units. The uniforms are too different to just merge them into larger units like I did with the French line units. I can probably make one 24 man unit and maybe one more with some judicious repainting but I may just put them all on eBay and use the proceeds to buy some more painted French figures.

Quick Review: "Napoleon at War" Chasseurs a Cheval Brigade Box Set

Since I'd finally made my mind up about which rules I was going to use I could sit down and see what units I could make with my eBay purchases and what I still needed to buy. One of the things I would need was a brigade of light cavalry for my French. I had a look on ebay to see what painted figures were available and added a couple to my watch list. But I also had a look around a few online shops for unpainted options. It was then I spotted that Northstar had some of the N@W Chasseur brigade box sets on sale at £14 instead of the usual £27.50. As the price was a bargain and the uniforms are fairly simple to paint I decided to buy a box. For those of you not familiar with this range it provides box sets and blisters containing complete units including bases for use with the N@W rules. I suppose the idea is to help people new to Napoleonics have an easy entry into the game.

A few days later the box arrived. As can be seen below the front of the box shows a nice picture of the painted up figures

The back of the box lists the contents and has a painting guide. While the painting guide is useful it doesn't show the back of the figure or the saddle cloth, so it's of limited use. It also doesn't show the elite company figures who have a busby and someone new to Napoleonics may find this confusing. Just as well I have numerous reference books and the Internet to help me out.

The figures come in a plastic tray with foam padding and have no more bent swords than you would expect with the usual ziploc bag packing you get from most manufacturers.

The figures themselves are fairly flash free, on a par with most other 15mm figures I've bought from various manufactueres. The detail is fairly crisp and they should paint up well but they are not as good as AB Miniatures or Blue Moon figures but they are cheaper. The horses look a little chunky to me especially for light cavalry, but overall they're a decent set of figures.

Before I'd bought this set I had the impression that they were overpriced and you were paying over the odds for a box set with bases and a painting guide. They're certainly more expensive than Essex figures but they're 18mm not 15mm and they also have the benefit that you just get the figures you need. No more having to buy figures in packs and having some spares left over. Now I've had a look at these I think they're pretty good value for 18mm figures and I'd certainly consider buying more. However the prices are going up on March 1st so we'll have to see if the new pricing makes them less attractive. As I only paid £14 for my box I give them 10/10 but at normal prices I'd rate them about 8/10.

Too much choice is a bad thing.

My eBay purchase of Napoleonics figures arrived last week and they're about what I expected. The painting is ok but nothing great. However there was a problem with the French army. Half of them were Confederation of the Rhine Infantry which I had not been expecting. I went back to the listing and it said Napoleon's army which I had read as French so my own fault really for not checking. But now I have a problem with how I going to base the figures as they're in units of 16 or 20 and I was planning on using units of 24 or 32. With half of them being CotR troops I can't merge the units into larger ones as I'd planned because of the uniform differences

But the basing issues don't end there. I had intended to use either the Lasalle or FoG:N rules as they both use a 40mm frontage for their bases and I could base up the figures so they could be used for both rules. But  the Lasalle army lists don't have much flexibility with regard to the units you can take and the required number of units for a valid force would mean I'd have to buy more figures.

Fog:N, on the other hand, has more flexibility in what you can take. However it is a corps level game with units representing demi-brigades/regiments as opposed to Lasalle's battalions. This has the benefit of needing fewer infantry figures as you can replace a base of infantry with a base of cavalry or artillery to represent an attachment to the unit. However having looked at some pictures I didn't like the look of the units and it didn't feel right to base units that way.

After much thought I decided to go with Lasalle as the rules seemed easier to pick up and learn and I would base in 24's and bite the bullet and buy some more figures. So I ordered a bunch of bases and got my pdf copy of the rules printed out. It was at this point that I encountered the 'Napoleon at War' rules.

I came across these on the TMP boards and did a bit of research on them. They seemed to be easier to learn than Lasalle and they were based on 24 man units, plus they had flexibility in the army lists to let me pick and choose to suit the figures I had bought. But the basing is really weird and not compatible with Lasalle or FoG:N. It would also mean buying yet another set of Napoleonic rules. So now I'm thinking about going with N@W but I've just laid out £20 for printing and bases for Lasalle. I briefly toyed with the idea of using the 40mm bases for N@W but decided against it  as I didn't want to have to fudge things to make it work.

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth I decided to go with N@W as they seem to fit best with what I want. Also I can still use them with Lasalle if need be as base sizes aren't critical as Lasalle uses base widths as the unit of measurement. So I've ordered a set of the N@W rules for £22 from Stafford Games as they were the cheapest place I found that sold them. I'm sure somewhere down the line I'll find a use for the 40mm bases I'd ordered. But I can't help feeling life would be easier (and cheaper) if there wasn't so many rulesets to choose from!

Decisions, Decisions

Now the two painted 15mm Napoleonic armies I won on eBay are on their way to me I have to think about re-basing and rulesets. From what little I can see in the pictures it looks like the French are 24 figure units and the British 16 figure units.

The French

The British

Hopefully the French will be a straight swap for whatever rules I decide to use, although I may have problems with flank companies etc. But the British will definitely be a problem with their 16 figure units if they're painted up as distinct regiments.

My choice of rules is between Lasalle and FoG:N. I have both and I like elements of each of them so I think the final decision may come down to whether I have enough figures to make armies for the lists specified. I may have a problem with Lasalle as I don't think I'll have enough French troops to build an army with the listed requirements. Of course I can always try to trim things down but I'll only know for sure once the figures arrive. At least both systems use the same basing so that won't be a problem.

At the moment I'm leaning towards Lasalle as they seem to be a bit simpler to pick up, but I'll hunt around the net for some reviews and have a quick read through both again before I make my mind up.

I succumb to the lure of eBay again!

I've been wanting to get back into historical gaming (ACW, Napoleonic, WSS, Renaissance) for a while now, but not having any figures painted up has been a problem. The majority of local players don't play these periods so that means that I need to provide both armies to get a game. Although I have plenty of time to paint figures I'm terrible at getting things done unless I have a deadline to work towards. This is usually a game I've arranged which forces me to buckle down and get painting. But having to paint two armies really means I have to have them both done before I can arrange a game. So I'm in a bit of a catch 22 situation, I don't buckle down to paint without a game arranged and I can't arrange a game until I have the figures painted.

So I've been looking at painting services but I can't justify the cost when I have the time to paint things myself. That means checking out eBay on the off chance of a bargain. That's when I spotted two auctions of painted 15mm Napoleonic armies, British and French. The French army was listed as being over one hundred and sixty infantry, thirty plus cavalry, four cannon, one ammo carriage, eight Generals, one command tent, redoubts, and barges for river crossings.

Part of the French forces

The British was bigger with over two hundred infantry, over fifty cavalry, five arty and crew, four gun carriages, nine general officers and Wellington, command tent, redoubts, destroyed cannon and a gun carriage.

A shot of some of the British figures

The painting looked ok in the photos included. So I thought if I could get them for the cost of the metal it would be a good deal. I'd decided to go to £90 for the French and £100 or maybe £110 for the bigger British force. The French army finished first and I'd decided that if I didn't get it I wouldn't bother with the British force. So with 18 seconds left the bidding was at £67 pounds and I put in my max bid of £90 and waited. I got lucky and won the army for £69 + £10 postage. A good price as it was less than the cost of the metal.

The British force was at £55 and I put in my max bid of £100 with 18 seconds to go and it sat at £57 pounds until 1 second to go when it shot up to £100. A sniper had put in a bid of £100 as well but as I'd bid first I'd won.

So over 360 infantry, 80+ cavalry, 9 artillery pieces, 18 generals plus various barges, camps, redoubts etc all painted for a total of £188.98 inc postage. Well under the cost of the metal alone so I'm pretty happy with my purchases. I'll do some pictures when they arrive.

First Impressions, Field of Glory: Napoleonic

I've had my copy of FoG:N a few days now so I thought I'd give you my first impressions.

It's production is up to the usual high standard of FoG books. It's a hardback, full colour rulebook of about 150 pages. Although it does have some diagrams explaining the rules it is mainly blocks of text which some may find off-putting. In addition to the rules there are eight army lists covering various forces in the period 1809-1813. It does have explanations of various terms and troop types but the rules assume you already have some knowledge of Napoleonic warfare.

So on to the content. Firstly although it's not exclusively a set of rules for tournament players that aspect of the game has had an impact on the rule's design. The army lists use a points system to generate 'matched' armies and it has lots of explanations of rule situations that may occur and how to deal with them. Obviously to try and deal with the antics of rules lawyers in tournaments. It doesn't have the feel of a set of rules for a quick friendly game down at your local wargames club in the way that Lasalle does. That's not to say you can't have a fun friendly game with the rules.

Secondly, it's not FoG: Ancients modified for the Napoleonic period. It does have some family similarities with things like 'Points of Advantage' but it plays very differently. It's more about command and control through the use of Command Points (CP) and Complex Move Tests (CMT) and the state of the unit (Disordered, Wavering etc). I don't have room to go into too much detail here, but I'll try and give you the gist of it.

Your CinC and Divisional commanders give you a number of CP you can use each turn. These are used to allow a unit to perform a CMT. The number and scope of CMT's is much bigger than in FoG:A and includes things like steady troops assaulting through friendlies, making a double move, activating off-table units etc. However the number of CP you get is determined by the number and quality of your commanders and could be as low as three CP. Having a low number of CP will severely limit what your troops can do, particularly if their morale/cohesion has been reduced.

So you have a game that focuses more on making you think how you are going to use what resources you have available to you to achieve your aims. It's not DBM like where it's all mm's and angles or FoG:A with it's units dashing all over the table. It's it's own beast and no bad thing for all that. You'll be worried about units being out of command range and working out whether you want to use CP to quickly move troops to exploit an opening or to make a disordered unit launch an assault on a weaken enemy near collapse. In other words the things that a general should be thinking about in a battle.

So do I like them? Yes. Do I prefer them to Lasalle? No. Lasalle 'feels' more relaxed and fun and easier to pick up and play. But I am impressed with FoG:N and will give them a serious look at some time in the future which is not something I expected.

Bits & Pieces

I spent Sunday finishing off various bits & pieces to clear space for my FoW Panzerkampfgruppe. First up was basing the 10mm Napoleonics I'd painted up on Saturday.

Austrian Grenadiers

Next I decided to build up some more papercraft terrain I'd had printed out for a while. This time from a cross-piece ruins set. As with other papercraft terrain you get lots of textures and layouts. The two shown below are the red brick ruined walls. They were easy and quick to assemble. Just cut them out roughly, fold them in half and glue, and then neatly cut round the outside and you're done. As they slot together you can pack them flat and easily carry loads of terrain.

I also did some work on the ruined buildings I'd built previously.

I felt they were a bit stark so I decided to add bases and some scatter to represent rubble and weeds and I'm fairly happy with the results.

So with these bits out of the way I can finish off my Panzerkampfgruppe so I'm ready for my game with Ben next Monday. I have the Panthers assembled and basecoated just waiting for the camo to be added. The Nebelwerfers are ready for basecoating but I'm still waiting for my PaK 40's from Maelstrom. It's been over two weeks now, I just hope they arrive in time for me to paint them up for the game.

Starting on my 10mm Napoleonics

I've been wanting to do more historical wargaming for a while. However while I have plenty of figures painted for ancients and WWII I have none painted for Napoleonics, 18th C or ACW. So I've decided to make a start on painting my 10mm Napoleonics for use with Lasalle.
I went with 10mm figures from Pendraken for price and, hopefully, speed & ease of painting and was pleasantly surprised with how much detail there was on the figures. So as usual I painted up a test figure and was pleased with the results. It was fairly easy to paint and although I wasn't being too careful with the details the end result looked ok. Sadly my camera isn't good enough to do decent close ups of 10mm figures but it gives you an idea of how the test figure looks.

I went with Austrians because I can just prime the figures white and paint in the facings, packs, helmets etc. I gave the finished figure a coat of Army Painter 'Soft' dip to pick out some of the detail and was pleased with the overall effect. When I get a regiment done I'll give them a quick spray of matt varnish to finish them off.

Normally I paint larger figures and mount them on individual squash bottle caps for painting. But I came across an excellent guide to painting 10mm Napoleonics on the Bend Sinister website. He has a guide to mass painting 10mm figures that I thought I'd give a try. A quick trip to the garage for a suitable piece of wood and I was all set.

I'd already primed the figures so I just glued them to the pice of wood and got started. The guide says start with one colour and then just do one brush stroke on each figure (eg the front of the right leg)  and then go back to the first and do the next stroke (eg the front of the left leg) and so on until you're finished with that colour. Not the way I'd usually do things but he claims to be able to paint 30 figures in an hour doing it this way so it's worth a try.

So the photo below shows my progress after 30 minutes. I have 20 figures mounted on the piece of wood and I've done the bases and all the black areas such as leggings, scabard, helmet etc. As you can see doing it this way means you miss some spots that you have to go back over later. However it doesn't feel particularly quick but as black is the main colour on the figure after the white base colour, I may be farther along than I feel.

I managed to finish the 20 figures in under two hours. I'm not sure it was that much quicker this way as I had to keep going back to touch up areas I'd missed.  Also I found it hard to get to some places with the brush so I may go back to the old way of doing them. Anyway here's a photo of the finished figures. All I need to do is give tham a coat of dip to bring out the detail.

So 20 down only 700 or so to go ;-) Then there's the Malburians and the Normans and Saxons and Vikings and I'll stop now before I depress myself. ;-)

A 'Lite' Version of FoG:Napoleonics Now Available.

Just found out that there's a 'lite' version of FoG:Napoleonics available here. I've had a quick look at it and it's quite interesting. Apparently it's possible to play as a standalone set of rules a bit like DBA. Anyway just thought I'd mention it in case anyone was interested. If you're more interested in the full set there's a review here.

A good deal on Field of Glory: Napoleonic

Just a quick heads-up that Field of Glory Napoleonic is released on Monday & I've just noticed that Amazon still have it on pre-order for £15.75 which is quite a saving on the normal price of £25.
Although I'm probably going to use Lasalle for my Napoleonics I've pre-ordered  a copy because that's such a good deal & I may use it in the future. As I've said before I'm a sucker for a good deal :-)