French Army 18mm AB

earlier this year I had the mad idea to replace my entire 28mm collection with 15mm. The 28's were absolutely beautiful (mostly painted by Scott MacPhee), but the size and basing scheme was starting to frustrate me. Plus I wanted a table that looked more like armies than skirmishers.

So, I sold my massive 28mm Napoleonic collection and purchased 5 new Napoleonic armies from AB Miniatures in 18mm. (French, British, Austrian, Prussian, and Russian). Luckily for me, Scott was just coming back from a stint as a teacher and was available to paint these.

There may be a handful of people on the planet that could come close to his quality of work. There are zero people on the planet that could produce that work as quickly as he can. In less than six months, he prepped, painted, and based a massive French army at a '10' quality level.

Here they are, in all their glory, on my gaming table.



































Thank you, Scott!  These guys look amazing.

Little Wars and Borodino

I attended Little Wars Friday and Saturday this year. The show looked great with lots of attendees, many really great looking games, and the usual solid vendor area support.

I ran my Borodino game on Friday night (5pm - 9pm) and Saturday (10am - 2pm).

FRIDAY
Friday night's game was fully attended (6 players + 1 last minute add-in). The battle started in the south between the Russians and the Poles near Utitza. The French player was very aggressive and pushed the Russians back with heavy losses.
They then opened fire with the grand battery on the fleches, and launched a large-scale infantry assault in the center led by Davout.

The French attack quickly overran the first two fleches, but the Russians immediately counter-attacked and re-took them. The French then fed in more troops and drove the Russians back out. The casualties mounted, especially for the Russians. It started looking like the French players were going to break the Russian army quickly.

The Grand Redoubt (Reavsky)

The only unit on the table that I painted and based from scratch.

The Russians then launched a massive counter-attack capped by a 'Glorious Charge' card. The two units that charged were Dragoons and Cuirassier. They drove back the remaining infantry and over-ran the entire Grand Battery. This startled the French players, who thought that they were going to cruise to an easy victory. After a few more turns, the French were able to win, but the final score was 14 Russian units eliminated (14 needed for the win), and 11 French units eliminated (out of 13 needed).  Very close game and fun. All players seemed to have had a good time.

SATURDAY
The game on Saturday was both similar and very different from Fridays. The French team started out by inflicting many casualties on the Russians and opened up a huge lead that looked insurmountable. However, the fighting raged on both flanks instead of the center. The Cossacks led by Uvarov in the North charged across the stream just West of Borodino and were violently repulsed. In the South, the battle swayed back and forth around the Utitza mound, but the Russians took the lion-share of the losses.  By the time that the action died down and the two sides separated from each other to regroup, the French only needed to inflict 2 more unit losses on the Russians to win, and the Russians still needed to inflict 10.
Then things started to turn around:
An artillery dual began in the center with the Russians getting the best of it. Their guns were nestled safely in the fleches and on the high ground behind them while the French Grand Battery was in the open.
The French commander decided that it was time to launch his attack up the middle to finish the battle. The stream running in front of the fleches slowed the advance down just enough to allow the Russian artillery to rake the French ranks and break up the orderly formation.
The French pressed on, sensing that the Russians were bled white and on the verge of collapse. In truth, however, the Russians were ready and waiting with a powerful counter-attack. As the French attack flowed around the fleches in an attempt to close with the Russians, the Russians met them with a powerful combined-arms attack that drove the French back and crushed their will to continue the fight. The Russians had pulled off a miracle comeback and won the battle!

Credits:
Figures are Perry, Front Rank, and Foundry

Painting:
Russians by the esteemed Scott MacPhee
French: Mostly Fernando, some by Paxx88 and Artmaster Studios, and a few by me
French Allies: Paxx88, Artmaster Studios, Roger Murrow

Basing: Scott MacPhee, Paul Niemeyer, me

Assistant game judge: Paul Niemeyer (Thanks Paul!)


Here are a few of the highlights from Friday's games (My phone ran out of power on Saturday before I could snap some more...The Alamo and Omaha Beach games were unbelievable!):

Little Wars was fun as always. I am so thankful that there is a show like this so close to home.

Gen Con 2013 - 1775: Rebellion

I had the opportunity to put on my giant version of 1775: Rebellion (see the July post for details of the game) at Gen Con this year.  I ran it at noon on Saturday in the Miniatures area.  Here are some pictures:

 My buddy Jacoby helped me set up.  Thanks Coby!

The game is ready!

 Close-up of the Connecticut Militia and Regulars.

 Team America prepares to play their turn.

 They opted for an early Southern strategy.

 ...and took Georgia and South Carolina.

Team Britain countered with a robust attack from Canada and New Jersey.

After escalating battles around New England and the central colonies, the Americans won a couple of climactic battles to secure New England, and then used this as a base to drive north and win the game by a narrow margin.

The game took three hours as both sides were very deliberate in making their moves, but the quality of the strategies that resulted were very strong.  The momentum swung back and forth a couple of times.  All-in-all a fun day.  I really like this game and am glad to have a premium version of it.

Borodino in 28mm

I've been working on the Borodino Project for quite a while.  It required units of French Allies including Saxons, Bavarians, Poles, Italians, Wurtemburgers, and Westphalians, as well as the main French army and Russian army.

Well, after more than a year of planning, buying buildings and terrain (Total Battle Miniatures); figures (Perry, Foundry, Front Rank, Paul Hicks, Calpe, Elite, and Westfalia); and contracting with some of the best figure painters currently working (Scott MacPhee, Artmaster Studio, Roger Murrow, and Darren Smith [Paxx88]), the game is finally ready to see the table.

Here are some pictures of the setup (though I am still waiting for a few units to arrive).

The town of Borodino is at the bottom of the picture, and the view is south. The Grand Redoubt is just south of Borodino, and the Fleches are at the top of the picture facing the massive French deployment.

The French forces south of the river (Ney, Junot, and Davout's Corps) prepare to launch the initial attack on the Russian Fleches.

The Fleches.

Poniatowski's Polish Corps prepares to move through Utitza on the way to attack the Russian left flank.

The Russians wait for them on the mound.

French Chasseur skirmish line in the woods north of Utitza.

Russian Opolchenie Militia wait behind the woods.

Another look at the French massed for attack.

And their Wurttemberg allies.

The center looking at the Fleches and beyond.

Vive le' Emperor!

Davout wishing he could re-direct the attack to his right.

French Cuirassier ready to go.

The French left looking at the Grand Redoubt and Borodino.

The cannon's muzzle in the Grand Redoubt.

Eugene's Italian troops on the French left.

Bavarian Infantry wasn't at Borodino in any numbers, but I've added them to Eugene's Corps.

The Russians wait for Eugene past Borodino in Gorki. Note: Uvarov and Platov's cavalry north of the River.

Russian artillery prepared in front of Gorki.

Kutusov and his staff watch the battle unfold.

Skirmishing flares up as the French attack begins.

Russian Hussars.

...and Cossacks in echelon behind them.

Russian Dragoons.

Russian Cuirassier.

Pas d' Charge!  The attack begins!