I am looking to create a french force for Mud & Blood that would map to the battle of Verdun (late 1916). I have miniatures that I bought from Mini Figs USA but I am not happy with them.
Does anyone have a recommendation? Can WWII French be used? Are there differences beyond the uniform color?
Also who makes troops with VB launchers? Especially some that are sold separately.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sharp Practice Game - Debut of the East Southhamstershires
Had a great game of Sharp Practice yesterday. I umpired and played the late arriving French Cavalry while Mark played the East Southhamstershires. Jim played the naval landing party and Dan (of Foxhole Terrain fame) played the French Legere. We also had a new player, Cody, who took over Jim's Naval landing party when he had to leave.
Dan and Cody both had never played SP before. Cody observed for most of the game and took over when Jim had to leave. Both picked up the game very quickly. What was interesting was seeing the players choices with utilizing formations or not. At the start of the game, no one used formations. But both British players (Jim and Mark) then switched to line formations to engage the French. Dan used all of his big men separately to move individual groups forward and engage.
French Advance through the village
The Naval gun fires on the advancing French
The naval gun only had a few rounds to fire and it put quite a pounding on the French troops. I attempted a modified rule to attempt to open the opportunity for friendly fire. It did not work. Back to the drawing board.
The French movement on the British in the woods
The French troops that moved into the fields got stuck in the fields. With only a level 1 big man to motivate them, they did not make it much further. Those troops did not have much of an effect on the game.
Choosing to not use formations, the various french groups soaked up lots of shock.
The casualties mounted much quicker on the French as the individual big men were focused on engaging the enemy rather than removing shock. The British used the lesser big men to remove shock and allowed the men to fire on their senior officer's activation or on the Tiffin.
British line engages the French
Unfortunately for French, by the time they attempted to form up, the damage was done. At least four groups of French were sent fleeing off table, two big men were badly wounded and another two (including the senior officer) was captured.
The French cavalry arrived too late to have a significant effect on the game. The best they could offer is to cover the infantry's retreat. All in all, it was an excellent game.
A big Thank You to Mark who remembered to bring a camera. All the pictures included here are his. I look forward to the continuing adventures of the East Southhamstershires.
Dan and Cody both had never played SP before. Cody observed for most of the game and took over when Jim had to leave. Both picked up the game very quickly. What was interesting was seeing the players choices with utilizing formations or not. At the start of the game, no one used formations. But both British players (Jim and Mark) then switched to line formations to engage the French. Dan used all of his big men separately to move individual groups forward and engage.
The naval gun only had a few rounds to fire and it put quite a pounding on the French troops. I attempted a modified rule to attempt to open the opportunity for friendly fire. It did not work. Back to the drawing board.
The French troops that moved into the fields got stuck in the fields. With only a level 1 big man to motivate them, they did not make it much further. Those troops did not have much of an effect on the game.
Choosing to not use formations, the various french groups soaked up lots of shock.
The casualties mounted much quicker on the French as the individual big men were focused on engaging the enemy rather than removing shock. The British used the lesser big men to remove shock and allowed the men to fire on their senior officer's activation or on the Tiffin.
Unfortunately for French, by the time they attempted to form up, the damage was done. At least four groups of French were sent fleeing off table, two big men were badly wounded and another two (including the senior officer) was captured.
The French cavalry arrived too late to have a significant effect on the game. The best they could offer is to cover the infantry's retreat. All in all, it was an excellent game.
A big Thank You to Mark who remembered to bring a camera. All the pictures included here are his. I look forward to the continuing adventures of the East Southhamstershires.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Preping for a game
I am planning on running a Sharp Practice game this weekend. I have spots for four players. So far, I think I have all of the pieces that I need. The only thing remaining is to make some cards. Normally I go for poker chips but there is something fun with using cards. I will try to get some started today.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Miniature Reviews
Below are a series of Miniatures reviews that I have posted over the past year or more.
Posts in this series:
Dark Ages Early Saxons
AWI Buildings
Hovels Buildings
Comparison - Blue Moon and JR Miniatures Terrain
Peter Pig AWI
Posts in this series:
Dark Ages Early Saxons
AWI Buildings
Hovels Buildings
Comparison - Blue Moon and JR Miniatures Terrain
Peter Pig AWI
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Joe Legan's War Stories
Following the publishing of his Platoon Forward, Joe has offered up a spot for folks to publish their stories utilizing Platoon forward. So far it looks like it will be nearly as much fun as Joe's regular blog: http://platoonforward.blogspot.com/.
His linked scenario system is great fun and built for solo gaming. Since I never use things as they are out of the box (or rarely do), I am bending it to fit Sharp Practice. My first campaign will be a normal Sharp Practice (*gasp*) campaign. You can read about it here: http://platoonforwardstories.blogspot.com/.
Well that is it for now.
His linked scenario system is great fun and built for solo gaming. Since I never use things as they are out of the box (or rarely do), I am bending it to fit Sharp Practice. My first campaign will be a normal Sharp Practice (*gasp*) campaign. You can read about it here: http://platoonforwardstories.blogspot.com/.
Well that is it for now.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sharp Practice Thoughts
I am looking to get in a couple of games of Sharp Practice in the next couple of weeks. I have a full company of British Line Infantry (64 men plus Big Men) and a full company of French Legere (72 men plus Big Men). What would be the largest size game that one could think of doing with SP? My goal is to have 2 Companies of Legere Chasseurs and a half Company of Carabiniers and Voltigeurs. Then Three Center Companies of British Line plus one Flank Company. Would this be too large to wield on a 6x4' table?
What is the largest games you have managed?
What is the largest games you have managed?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
TFL Scenario Contest
Once again, TooFatLardies is running a scenario contest. I am looking forward to seeing the results. All scenarios need to be turned in by April 15th. So dust off your crayons and get to scribbling before tax day.
I hope that there are a large number of entries. I am working on a Napoleonic SP scenario. What is everyone else working on?
I hope that there are a large number of entries. I am working on a Napoleonic SP scenario. What is everyone else working on?
Back to the AWI
Just received an order I placed to Peter Pig last week. That was very fast delivery. I guess the Royal Mail issues from December are over now (lets hope).
I picked up their pack of dead AWI troops (5-59). There are three different poses and they include several figures with floppy hats that would be useful for militia dead. They look like they will be great fun to paint up. The next pack I picked up was the "Happy Workers" pack (5-54). Again very nicely cast figures. They will make for a nice civilian addition to AWI games. There is a little flash left on some figures but not enough to discourage me form buying more. These along with the Blue Moon F&IW minis should give a nice mix of civilians.
Also in the order was a set of sheep (21-35), some Oxen (21-33) and some dead horses (21-59). The dead horses seemed like a good idea to use for cavalry charges in SP as horses can be killed while the riders live to haul off their saddles and wander away. Now I remembered, I hate painting horses. The sheep look like well sheep. They will probably see more use for my Dark Ages games. Why not pigs instead? Ah well, I run a kosher farm. The Oxen are rougher casts than the others and the horns are separate pieces from the oxen themselves. I will reserve judgment on these until I paint some.
I picked up their pack of dead AWI troops (5-59). There are three different poses and they include several figures with floppy hats that would be useful for militia dead. They look like they will be great fun to paint up. The next pack I picked up was the "Happy Workers" pack (5-54). Again very nicely cast figures. They will make for a nice civilian addition to AWI games. There is a little flash left on some figures but not enough to discourage me form buying more. These along with the Blue Moon F&IW minis should give a nice mix of civilians.
Also in the order was a set of sheep (21-35), some Oxen (21-33) and some dead horses (21-59). The dead horses seemed like a good idea to use for cavalry charges in SP as horses can be killed while the riders live to haul off their saddles and wander away. Now I remembered, I hate painting horses. The sheep look like well sheep. They will probably see more use for my Dark Ages games. Why not pigs instead? Ah well, I run a kosher farm. The Oxen are rougher casts than the others and the horns are separate pieces from the oxen themselves. I will reserve judgment on these until I paint some.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Saxon Comparison
I just received two packs of miniatures from Syr Hobb. They are two command packs from Outpost Wargame Services. The Infantry command pack is rather nice. It has a Saxon with a war dog, a drummer, two officer types looking focused, a shaman and a standard bearer.
The picture is not too clear but it gives some idea of what they look like. The shaman's pose is fun. Reminds me of the Cornwell "Arthur" books from his description of their gyrations prior to a battle.
The Cavalry command pack was disappointing in comparison to the infantry pack. There were 3 mounted figures. all the horses were in the same at rest pose and the riders were all the same figure. The only difference was if they held a spear or a standard. The standard is nice. It is a bulls skull with a banner looking item beneath it. I will definitely use the standard bearer but I am not too sure about the other two. In my opinion, the Splintered Light mounted Saxons are far superior.
As noted, I already have a decent collection of Saxons from Splintered Light Miniatures. I took one more bad picture to compare the two lines. The SLM standard bearer in the picture is at a disadvantage as I did not glue the skull to the standard yet. I also placed the shields from each of the manufacturers next to one another. The Splintered Light shields are much larger than the Outpost ones. Not sure which is more accurate but I like the look of the larger shield.
The Dark Age rules are really shaping up. We have a tentative title now: Grim Men & Sharp Swords. Much better than the nonsense I had earlier. The title was Gary's idea so he gets the credit there.
Up next will be revisiting Sharp Practice with Napoleonics. I wonder how the rules will work as written.... :)
The picture is not too clear but it gives some idea of what they look like. The shaman's pose is fun. Reminds me of the Cornwell "Arthur" books from his description of their gyrations prior to a battle.
The Cavalry command pack was disappointing in comparison to the infantry pack. There were 3 mounted figures. all the horses were in the same at rest pose and the riders were all the same figure. The only difference was if they held a spear or a standard. The standard is nice. It is a bulls skull with a banner looking item beneath it. I will definitely use the standard bearer but I am not too sure about the other two. In my opinion, the Splintered Light mounted Saxons are far superior.
As noted, I already have a decent collection of Saxons from Splintered Light Miniatures. I took one more bad picture to compare the two lines. The SLM standard bearer in the picture is at a disadvantage as I did not glue the skull to the standard yet. I also placed the shields from each of the manufacturers next to one another. The Splintered Light shields are much larger than the Outpost ones. Not sure which is more accurate but I like the look of the larger shield.
The Dark Age rules are really shaping up. We have a tentative title now: Grim Men & Sharp Swords. Much better than the nonsense I had earlier. The title was Gary's idea so he gets the credit there.
Up next will be revisiting Sharp Practice with
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