Too damned hot ! .

 

Getting a bit bored with all this hot weather , I don't find it conducive to painting so I've been doing some re-basing . One of the advantages of my clear out of my wargaming room is  now I can access figures a lot easier and in the past I have been sorting out my Spencer Smith figures and basing them for 'Black Powder' - so I've got a few more done - It's an ongoing process .

Whilst I was on with my 30mm SYW I decided to set up and play a game using 'Black Powder' rules .

Old School Meets New .

I have got my copy of 'Black Powder' version 2 and decided to try it out using my newly re-based Spencer Smith figures and with the aid of  my wargaming colleague  'A' . Having glanced through the new book not much has changed and certain things explained better.

I set the terrain up and deployed the Austrians , the Prussian have to deploy on the other side of the river and cross and exit the board on one of the roads opposite .

The Austrian Commander and female 'companion' (had he paid more attention to his battle plan and less on the fairer sex he would have maybe done better).

The Prussian General unencumbered by girlfriend.

'A' deploys his troops and in the first couple of moves things do not go well for him - rolling two blunders and a series of poor command rolls , things were looking rosy for the Austrians .

Then things started to unravel, the leading Prussian battalion opened fire at close range and scored triple sixes ! - not good in any set of rules for the target  .

The Austrian battalion is shaken with excessive casualties and fails its moral test and flees ! . The Austrian left flank was overwhelmed and driven back finally leaving the table.

'A' is triumphant ! and mocks my discomfort !.

The Prussian cavalry cross on the right bridge and dominate the centre of the table having driven off the Austrian cavalry. Notice they are deployed directly in front of the Austrian artillery who couldn't hit a barn door ! .

The Prussian right flank Brigade having driven off the enemy move forward to capture the road exits and the objective of the game. After a poor start the Prussian attacks went home and the Austrians failed to respond thence losing the game. The game played in about one and half hours over seven moves and as always 'Black Powder' delivered . In the heat of the action we forgot about looking for any difference in the rules which I'm going to read through properly now.

First Fruits .

Have got a production line started for my re-basing , I put the figure in a vice and tap the penny they are based on CAREFULLY ! minding your fingers and the figure and the figure comes away .

I then clean up the figure base and glue them to the new MDF base . I am doing Prussian and Austrian units alternatively and will get enough done for a small scenario using 'Test Of Honour' rules.

My first two Austrian battalions portraying the Regiment Sachsen-Gotha . I found a couple of 'match pots' of the colour I used to paint the table so decided to use this on the bases .

They form line to protect a vital bridge . I'm pleased with the speed I'm getting through these figures and soon will have enough for a game .  

The Mother Of All Re-Basing .

Now I hate re-basing , I've mention this several times before - but sometimes 'a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do'.  My 30mm Spencer Smith SYW figures have been languishing in their boxes for too long , they hardly get used and I've decided that my 40mm home cast Syw-ish collection scratches my single figure based battles itch . So I'm going to re base them ! , a mass of MDF bases have been purchased  and here is the first unit glued up . I'm turning my large forty plus regiments into two smaller battalions each of twenty figures on five bases these can be used for 'Test of Honour' and 'Black Powder' and put back together for 'big battalion' games . I will report on progress …….

Charity Shop Find.

On Saturday I was dropping off some unwanted paperback books at a charity shop and on the way out I glanced at their books , now I've never found anything worth reading on their shelves - lots of copies of  'The Da Vinci Code' (so many that they have stopped taking them in , 'Fifty Shades Of Gray' is also popular for dumping, the lady behind the desk told me !) and Mills and Boon romances , but I noticed there were a few Osprey books so I gave them a looking at. Most of them were ones which I already had or was not interested in - but - there was a copy of the above rules , I was vaguely aware of them as my mate 'B' had a copy and had mentioned them - so for £ 3 I thought I would get them and have a look .

I was impressed by their simple mechanisms , very O.S. and simple , as there was a small scenario in the back of the book I thought I would give them a quick try using my 30mm Spencer Smith figures.

My Spencer Smith are individually mounted on pennies , but I found the MDF sabots I originally got for my Napoleonics so used these , three bases per unit , total of eighteen figures per battalion . Honours of War don't use figure removal so it doesn't really matter how many figures you use. Here we see the Austrian forces moving up to attack the bridge.

The Prussians prepare to hold the bridge . Sadly the bases rather jar colour wise ! , may have to do something about this if I go with this rules system.

The Prussian Artillery have a commanding hill top position . I have read that the artillery rules are a bit overpowered so I will have to keep an eye on them whilst playing the game .

The game starts , the Austrians advance and deploy as the Prussian artillery open fire ! . Too be continued ...........

Thinking The Unthinkable .

I've been thinking ! * I have SYW both in 30mm Spencer Smith and 40mm Prince August home-casts both designed for play Old School battles , the reason for this is that I started doing SYW with the 30mm Spencer Smith using Grant's rules and then discovered the thrill of home-casting 40mm .

Off late I have been thinking this is a bit of an over-kill and started wondering about turning one of these collections into more main stream gaming using 'Black Powder' rules which I enjoy playing in other eras and collections .

The problem is which one ? , I can see that both ranges have their advantages and disadvantages - I would turn each Infantry Battalion into 2 Battalions on five bases for BP and the Cavalry into half Regiments .

There would be enough figures in each existing organisation to do this with maybe extra Standard Bearers needed . It would mean re basing (shock horror !) , but the 30mm are based on pennies and you can get sabot bases in MDF for them to fit into , the 40mm are mainly on bases of 6 figures which would mean more work however I could easily cast up any extra figures myself . Hmmm ! I need to take the dog for a walk to think about this .

* when I was at work and somebody said " I've been thinking" my work mate Arty Buchanan used to say - " you are more likely to get into trouble thinking than not thinking"

The Moulds Arrive.

The moulds have arrived promptly from Prince August and I'm hoping to get some figures cast from them in the next few days .

Featherstoneian Seven Years War Rules (First Draft).

Here are the first draft of my Featherstoneian SYW Rules , there are bound to be spelling mistakes and things wrong with them , but I'm off to try them out with a small game to see how they play .

Featherstone SYW Old School.

 I've had more thoughts on 'Featherstoning' my Seven Years War figures . My Spencer Smith O.S. SYW figures were built for Grant's rules in big battalions and I think to convert them to a Featherstone adaption the units only need to be about 24 figures and 2 officers .

The task would be to alter the existing Featherstone Horse and Musket rules to make them more 'in period' . Here we see the Austro-Hungarian Regiment 'Count Joseph Esterhazy' redeployed as a 24 figure unit with 2 officers .

The Austrian Staff meet and are enthused by the prospect of getting used more on the table top .

The Austrian General Scarlotti meets with the British General Sir Toby Beltcher to discuss the alterations to the rules . Will be giving the subject some thought over the next few weeks , I want to keep the basic mechanisms but alter them slightly to reflect the period . Off on holiday soon so will take the oppertunity to get my ideas down on paper. 

A Video Of My SYW 30mm Collection .

This is a video I did quite a while ago on my now defunct blog , showing my 30mm Spencer Smith Seven Years War figures - I hope it works !?.....