Thursday, November 17, 2022

Seven Years War

I am looking to work on a scenario supplement for the Seven Years War. I am looking to model actions by small detachments instead of recreate any grand battles. In my search for sources, I found the amazing http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/ site. This gives great information on uniforms but not the tactical inforamtion I was looking for. In 2019 I found a book by De Jeney, The Partisan; or the Art of Making War in Detachment. Then yesterday, I discovered Grandmaison's book, A Treatise on the Military Service, of Light Horse, and Light Infantry, in the Field, and in the Fortified Places.

Both of the books were translated close to the time of when they were written. I am a quarter of the way into the de Jeney book. The original author claims 25 campaigns served in the period, all across Europe. He offers recommendations on force sizes and provides uses for them. His recommendation is over half the force should be mounted.

So far this is proving to be an interesting excersize.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Next Projects

Now that the War of Jenkin's Ear supplement is complete, I am looking for the next projects. I will hopefully get some games in with the supplement but I am looking towards the next ones.

ACW Naval

I am keen to try naval landing scenarios. I am using 1/600 scale miniatures. So far I have a couple of painted ships. I am trying to decide if I want to go with Peter Pig infantry or something like Pico armor for the landing forces. I think this could make for an interesting game. The naval miniatures that I have are for actions that occured on the Atlantic coast from Virginia to South Carolina. What is limiting progress at this time is some research and a 3d printer. I have STL files but currently no printer to use. But I have my letter in to Santa already.

Thirty Years War

Here I would like to have a skirmish game about the size of Sharp Practice forces. The rules I want to use are up for grabs. I have a handful of miniatures so far but none have seen any paint. Ultimately, I'd like some Holy Roman Empire, Ottoman, Swedes and Germans. I am looking for good books about skirmish actions in this time period. Not having that much luck so far.

Seven Years War

Another period that I have started and not done anything with. I have a couple of Prussians and Austrians. Some I purchased painted. I will use Sharp Practice for this. I do have a good book about skirmish actions that I need to finish reading. Ultimately, I would love to have an Ottoman force as well that I could use with Napoleonics as well.

WWII

There are several possible directions here. One that currently interests me is the fall of Dessau in April of 1945 by the US 3rd Armored Division. This is largely due to my Mother being in the city at the time. I have her account of the American occupation. This will require me to get some child troops given the state of the defenders at the time. My Mom wrote of Hitler Youth training with panzer fausts and one of her friends died when the one he was training with exploded on him.

The other campaign that interests me is the 3rd battle of Kharkov. I have put off looking at this with the recent troubles that the city has befallen with the Russians. But I am still interested in doing the campaign.

Another area that I considered doing was part of the Italian campaign. Possibly following the jewish Brigade.

Lastly, possibly the Tunisian campaign. This is one campaign that I have done no research into. The terrain could prove to be a challenge.

Yom Kippur War

Lastly, a What A Tamker campaign set in the Golan would be interesting. I have a few tanks for this and given What a Tanker, this would be enough. If I end up with a new 3d printer, I would create a bunch of wreck models for it.

Anyway, there are my thoughts for next year. I'd like to hear if there were any of these that interest you.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

The War of Jenkin's Ear supplement is Released!

I have settled on a final cover. The product is released to the PayHip Site. The product includes a history of colonial Georgia and the War of Jenkin's Ear in the colony. It has some rule modifications for To Covet Glory and some adidtional rules for Sharp Practice to complete the scenarios. It includes ships stats for a number of additional vessels and an All At Sea campaign modeled after the Rich's article from the 2013 Christmas Special.

The historical scenarios include five scenarios modeling actual and hypothetical actions before the Spanish invasion. These include four for Sharp Practice and one for Kiss Me Hardy. There are nine scenarios covering the Spanish invasion of Georgia. These are divided into four Sharp Practice scenarios and five scenarios for Kiss Me Hardy.

In addition, there is an outline for a campaign dealing with the Spanish invasion of the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1741. Some suggestions for additional scenarios from the time period, and instructions for assembling the Scout Boats, Piraguas, Fusta, Galliot and Galley 3d models.

I would like to point out that this would not have been possible at all without the help of many people. Rich and Nick at TooFatLardies have created some exquisite rulesets that provide toolboxes to create with. Jonathan Jones who playtested the Kiss Me Hardy scenarios and provided pictures of their fantastic miniatures. Mark Luther for testing out my Sharp Practice scenarios and also sent in pictures of his fantastic terrain and miniatures. I really wanted to use his picture of a wild pig attack against the Georgia Highlanders. Tom Davis and Brian English encouraged me throughout the two plus years to work on this.

Click the picture of the cover below to go to the webstore.

It is also available on Wargame Vault.

A print version will be made available through Amazon by next year.

Sunday, November 6, 2022

War of Jenkin's Ear - Approaching the Finish Line

After working on this for so very long, I think I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. In doing my research for this, I came across this and have since lost the source for it. To the creator, I'm sorry I have not given you credit. But you produced a meme that made me laugh.

At this point, the book is 138 pages and included linked scenarios for Sharp Practice and Kiss Me Hardy using the To Covet Glory modifications. There is a bonus campaign for the War of Jenkin's Ear in North Carolina. There are suggestions for how to do a combined arms campaign of your own modeled after the Spanish Invasion of Georgia. Lastly, it will include the STL files the I created for the vessels in this campaign. These include a Fusta, a Galliot, a Galley, a South Carolina Scout Boat and a Piragua.

I am still trying to sort out a cover. This is my current attempt.

Edit: This is a followup attempt that I like better.

I will look for other alternatives but for now, this is what I have.

Friday, November 4, 2022

War of Jenkin's Ear Update!

Had a good day editing. I have it narrowed down to just six images left for the final product. For that, I have the fort painted and ready. I need to paint up a shore battery that I already have. In all, this is the closest I have been to releasing this.

Of course I got distracted. I found a scenario that I just had to work on. As it turns out, there was a naval battle during the American Revolution that occured right in the area that the War of Jenkin's ear book takes place. It will make a nice smallish scenario for To Covet Glory with three vessels per side.

That will be released soon as well but may be absorbed into a campaign that I have wanted to do for a long time around the Third Invasion of British East Florida cullminating in the Battle of Alligator Creek. Stay tuned for more on that later.