Tweaking the Blog

Blogger now allows pages, so I've taken the order of battle I'm using for my French off the sidebar, and made it a separate page.  

The tabs can be found just below the blog header, so just click on the relevant tab if you're interested.

The Book Fairy...

...has been busy leaving goodies under my pillow recently.  It's been a bumper month for reading material. 

In painting terms, this month has been quiet on the Napoleonic front.  Our club is having a games day on the 27th, and I'm slated to put on a WW2 game pitching my 20mm Russians against Japanese in Manchuria using the Blitzkrieg Commander rules.  There has been quite a lot to prepare- finishing up tanks, minis, and working on terrain- so I have put the Napoleonic wars on hold until then.  I can do this without feelings of guilt, as gaming is gaming!

But being put to one side is not the same as being forgotten, and indeed there have been a number of developments which are making me itch to get back with "the program".

First off,  I did a book trade with "Greystreak"- an active member of the WD3 and La Bricole forums.  He is a fellow Russian army aficionado, and is of course a painter très extraordinaire as many of you probably well know.  In exchange for me sending him a duplicate copy of Wirtschafter's From Serf to Russian Soldier, he sent me a copy of Gill's 1809- Thunder on the Danube.  

I already have Gill's earlier book on With Eagles to Glory, and as with the previous book Thunder on the Danube is an excellent read- almost enough to make me want to do the Kaiserliks in their helmets.  But discipline shall prevail.

Secondly, this past week I received some completely unexpected gifts from my good friend Kris.  Kris is an ex-pat Canadian who is now living and working in Frankfurt, Germany, and is an old gaming colleague from way back when we were wargaming at Dave Smith's place up in North Vancouver.   

We are veterans of fights over many a miniature battlefield, and the last time I visited him in Germany we had a great time touring an actual 1:1 scale battlefield; that of Bergen, fought in 1759 during the Seven Years' War (and which resulted in a victory for the French- Bravo!)

Kris has a considerable collection of figures from the Seven Years War and the Thirty Years War,  and now it seems that he has caught the (invariably terminal) Napoleonic virus.  

It must have been a particularly virulent strain of the bug as clearly it was leaving him feverish; he was kind enough to order me not just one, but two books.  The first was Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814 by Dominic Lieven.  I received a note saying this one is on the way, and I'm really looking forward to reading it. 

When I learned he had sent me a copy, I was of course at a loss for words, and then- as if one book wasn't generous enough- it turns out that he also ordered me another which I received just the other day.  

And I haven't yet been able to put it down:

It didn't take me long to see why he thought it worth sending me.  Quite aside from the most deliciously fattening eye candy- wargames pornography, in fact- these are a set of rules very much in the spirit of the games our group used to play back in Vancouver.

The basing conventions are very flexible, and I'm already looking to trying them out with some of my Napoleonics, or even some ACW figures I have kicking around with no current purpose in life.

Thanks so much, Kris- your generosity is very much appreciated!  I can see these rules may be getting a lot of use with our club here in Tokyo!

*****

Finally, I've been in correspondence with the editor of what I consider to be the best wargames magazine out there about the possibility of an writing an article for his mag.  It will be a nice change from the work-related writing I do, so I look forward to the challenge!

 *****

Update- I just answered the doorbell to find a courier standing there with my copy of Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814.  Some good reading for me ahead, but first I've got to get that WW2 game ready to go!

 

Decisions, decisions.

This post is something of a digression- more of a rant, perhaps- and certainly it is a very personal view.  But I'm finding myself wondering if it is worth renewing my supporting membership at The Miniatures Page, which is up for renewal within a week or two.

Now, there is much that is good about TMP;  It has become a main focal point of the online wargaming community. It is a major source of Hobby News, and there is some good discussions on various message boards.  The membership is, by and large, very motivated and helpful.

So I keep telling myself, but I find myself wondering more and more whether it is worth my wanting to "ante up" with a supporting membership.  Recently, I've realized that I've been finding my visits there just as frustrating as they have been rewarding.

Just looking at the Napoleonic boards alone, there has been a steady stream of what to me have been fairly inane- and at times clearly trolling- topics being posted ("What if Napoleon had the 7th Panzer Division and Cruise Missiles at Waterloo?"  "Was Ney really an Ottoman spy?"  "Did Mother Nature make a pact with Beelzebub and Wellington to defeat Napoleon in Russia?").  And it seems to be the same few people who feel compelled to post them in the first place. 

And we still have the petty cat fights that seem to infect Napoleonics like no other boards, and which still seem to infest the place like ants at a picnic  (although say something glowing about FoW on the WW2 boards and see what happens).  Take this recent thread for example.  Round up the usual suspects, shall we? The smaller the stakes, the nastier the fights.

Then there is the increasingly "Hit-and-Run" political commentary which seems to have gotten more and more common since the end of the Current Affairs board.  Now, I'm not averse to political discussion, and used to dabble on the CA boards myself regarding international issues.  But I liked having the opportunity to go there- or not to go there- as I pleased, and having politics for the most part being quarantined from actual wargaming boards.  

Having  people make throwaway political comments on wargaming threads annoys me because:

• Often I go to hobby sites just because I want to get away from politics and the "real world".  That's what a hobby is all about.
• I can't comment on what I feel are the more outrageous remarks without risk of either being Dawghoused (not that it matters, mind) but- more to the point- without derailing a thread any more than it has to be.
• I really don't care about, say, US domestic issues such as Medicare, any more than most Americans would if I posted diatribes against some tax policy here in Japan.
  

Yes, there is the complaint button, but I don't want to act the snitch and would be a lot happier if Bill Armintrout just found some reliable moderators to deal with such shit as it came up, and do away with the Dawghouse altogether.  Much better to just quietly delete posts or  threads and, if necessary. lock accounts without the spectacle of a virtual Bloody Assizes which provides entertainment to the Masses.  Who'd complain?  After all, "Bill's house Bill's Rules!" remember?  

Friction and nastiness emerges on any forum. But in comparison- and while allowing for the smaller membership- I feel that the moderators of WD-3 have handled such incidents much more quietly and much more effectively, and to the ultimate benefit of the forum itself, without the need of any "Dawghouse".  

In short, TMP would be better off without it.

With all the new rule sets coming out these days, there has been an almost steady stream of intense disdain and contempt that some people seem to bring towards differing wargaming approaches and rule sets which they may dislike or disagree with.  Especially- God help them, those from large and clearly successful companies. All this talk of rubbish rules and "fanboys" just makes me shake my head in wonder.  If you don't like a product,  just  don't buy it.  It really is that simple.   Why waste time slagging a product off, let alone slagging off those people who do like it?

No-one is forced into anything in this hobby.  I'm a Front Rank fan, and I personally I don't have any love for The Foundry, largely because of their policies regarding shipping charges.  But neither do I feel compelled - as some people do- to post gratuitous and unsolicited comments on TMP  advocating that someone would be best off selling their whole collection of Foundry stuff and replace it with Front Rank.  (Iannick wouldn't listen anyway!)

Bottom line, I just don't enjoy the place as much as I used to. 

I cannot help but to feel that there has recently been a rise in the level of bloody-mindedness, intolerance, and just plain bitchiness over at TMP, enough to push the envelope of my comfort level as a paying supporter.  

The kicker recently was when I realized that I have been finding myself hesitating before posting anything on TMP these days.  Before hitting the "submit" button, I start to wonder if it would be my turn next to have the balloon of enthusiasm rudely deflated by some cranky killjoy.  That, or someone would take umbrage with me over my use of the word "kepi " instead of "forage cap" (regardless of the terminology of what 90% of other gamers use, especially those for whom the ACW is not a main interest- like me!).

Typing all the above, it looks as if I've probably answered my own question, although I still have a week or so to decide. I'd miss the private mail function, and communicating with some fine people out there.  But I find myself spending much more time on La Bricole  and WD-3 these days, and posting a lot more often there than I do on TMP. 

It may be that my money would be much better spent on things like getting my Russians painted! 

M. le Capitan's log, update 02/04/2010: In a classic case of hope triumphing over experience, I've decided to renew my supporting membership for three months, and when it next comes up I'll see how I'm feeling about things then.   In the meantime, I'll just do my best to avoid reading any thread over 50 posts, which is usually a sure sign that something stupid is going on!

8th Division, IIIrd Corps- revisited!

I have been working steadily on les bleus, but progress slowed down somewhat due to a return to work after the holidays, and painting the ironwork on the 6pdr gun carriage is taking more time- and patience- than I had anticipated!

Nevertheless, the last two companies of the 1/28eme are just about ready for varnishing and basing.  I always paint the metallic parts-  musket barrels and bands, shako plates, sword hilts, and so on- last.  And this takes time, concentration, and steady nerves.

In between the nerve-wracking bits, I've been working on my next French infantry unit.  I was going to work on the 2/28 Legere. But after all those advancing figures in dark blue I felt it might be time for a change. 

For variety- and balance, as I need line as well as lights- I decided that instead I would work on the famed "Soixante-neuf"- the 69eme Regiment de Ligne.  

Veterans of Jena, Eylau, Wagram and Spain; and famous-in my mind at least- for their presence in a whole series of mid-19th C. wargames which we had fought back in Vancouver before I came to Japan.

 

The "Soixante-Neuf" (Maybe I should go for thinner bases?) 

This will be a change in that these figures- almost all Front Rank (but can you spot the stranger in the back row?)- are in march attack pose. My idea is that all the light infantry regiments will be in advancing poses, while the line will be in march attack. Put it down to greater élan on the part of the lights.

*****

In trying to decide on a suitable line battalion which would be carrying an eagle (as I had already mounted one on the standard bearer's pole), I spent some time again going over the orders of battles which I had to hand for Brayer's 8th Division.  

Now, French orders of battle for 1813-1814 seem to be somewhat akin to snowflakes; no two are completely alike.  

So I set myself the following strict academic standards in order to better evaluate which order of battle to rely on:

• Which order of battle is based on the most verifiable historical primary sources?
• Which source is given the most credence by  learned, highly-respected military historians and experts?

But after considerable research, reading and thought, I decided that two further criteria were needed. Criteria which would trump all other considerations: 

• Which lets me field the coolest units?
• Which gives me the excuse to field the most eagles?

Not a lot of fun, after all, in having a force consisting mostly of duffer 4/5/6th battalions, all carrying nondescript battalion flags on plain poles.  Think about it; where would be the literary appeal of a title such as; "Sharpe's Battalion Flag Mounted on a Pointy Stick"? 

No; to me a French force needs eagles; Eagles are Napoleonic.  Les soldats courageux fight- and die- for their eagles, as much as they do for their Emperor.   

Eagles ARE France.   

Therefore, mesdames et messieurs, eagles I will have.  

With that in  mind, I made the decision to go with the order of battle found here, and to make the blithe assumption that all the battalions referred to are first, second and (in the case of the 22eme de Ligne) third battalions.  All first battalions will carry eagles, as will my light cavalry.  End of story.

To some, this may seem like heresy, fantasy, disrespect- or even criminal.  Should my taking such liberties with History bother them too much- well, they may feel themselves free to leap into the River Seine in outraged protest. 

The new order of battle for my 8th Division can be seen on the sidebar at right.  The nice thing is that it includes the names of the regimental colonels.  I always like to be able to personalize my wargames figures!

Dulce et Decorum Est...

Soldat Jean le Malchance "takes one for the team"...

The winter painting offensive is going well.  My finished output after a week of let's-get-down-to-some-serious painting.   This is what I have finished and based so far, but there are about a dozen more who are now not so far behind, and then the 28eme Legere will be- gasp!- COMPLETED!  Now there's a thought.  

For the fourth "company" (i.e. stand, for GdB) I wanted a little vignette, so I used a falling wounded figure in the first rank, and as he falls backwards his musket takes the shako off from the soldier behind him.  As the unfortunate M. le Malchance wreaks havoc in the line, the company officer attempts to restore order in the ranks, damn yer eyes...

"Soyez braves, mes soldats!"   
"What's to fear from a little canister?  En Avant!!!"

The startled figure in the back row was a bare-headed infantryman in greatcoat, but I hacked a covered shako off a spare figure (which had lost its bayonet when one of my cats knocked it off the painting desk- grrrr!), and in fifteen minutes with the help of some epoxy, a drill and a paper clip I had modelled myself a guy with his shako falling off.

I'll get around to texturing the bases once all the figures for the battalion are done.  Next up for the finish line is a pair of skirmishers and the third company.  These will be followed by the last company stand, the final two skirmishers for the battalion, and the 6 pdr. gun and crew.

And then it's time for some green; the 7eme Chasseurs au Cheval  with their natty pink facings, and for a change.. Russians!

Teaching "un vieux chien" some new tricks!

Voila Claude Deplussis, soldat of the 28eme legere.

I finished him today along with the rest of the 4th Company.  All have been given a protective coat of strong semi-matt varnish (hence the shine in the picture), and tomorrow, once the varnish has time to dry thoroughly, I'll take them outside for a few passes of matt spray varnish and mount them on their base.

Again, the picture doesn't do the figure justice.  A much darker, richer blue in real life and the cockade on the shako didn't come out very well on my cell phone camera. 

Nevertheless, this particular mini is something of a departure for me, as I tried a different painting technique with the ochre campaign trousers.  I'm pretty happy with the result.

I usually paint in all the shadows and line in the details.  Not as subtle as what some painters out there are capable of, and the "toy soldier" look is not to everyone's taste.   

But it is an effect I like, and it is reminiscent to me of the Peter Gilder and Phil Robinson figures that graced the pages of the early issues of Miniature Wargames.  And it does stand out nicely on the tabletop.  

The problem is that it is a time-consuming technique.  Washes would have made the job a lot simpler, but I have had no luck with using washes in the past.  They always looked terrible once dry; the colours would leach, and darker colours in particular tended to dry a whitish mess whenever they pooled in crevasses.  

I therefore decided to give up with washes, and to just do everything the hard way by painting in shadows, and lining in details such as deep creases and cross-belt lining.

But the method is too slow given the amount of figures I need to paint.   I need to speed things up somehow, and after checking some blogs and posts on line I decided to give washes a second chance, and to try my hand at what I call a "modified dip" method.  

First, I applied a coat of matt (actually satin) brush-on acrylic varnish over the area I want to wash.  When dry, I then took a small amount of the paint I wanted to shade the area with and mixed it in with some more varnish and a little water, and presto- it did the job nicely!

Now I want to experiment a little more with the technique, but it does seem promising.  I'll still keep largely to my traditional painting style with the lined-in detail as I do like the effect, but it looks like I may be able to take some much-needed short cuts when possible, and speed up production accordingly.   

Step by Step!

It seems somewhat inappropriate to celebrate Christmas with plans for sabring and canistering one's fellow man to eternity, but these are only toys so I think I can be forgiven the indulgence.

With the slew of new Napoleonic rules on the market recently, I have thinking for a long time now about what I want from my Napoleonic gaming experience, versus how practical it is to achieve it given my current output (which while slow, has really been gaining momentum of late, in part thanks to...black undercoat!).

I have decided that I wanna game Nappys, and that I wanna game soon.  For now, that means skirmishing and small actions.  As I've mentioned previously, there is some interest in this in our local group, so it would seem to be a good idea to take advantage of any kind of interest at all in Naps that may be out there, and see if it can't grow in time.  

So who knows; maybe in the future we will be having games like this one.  For the time being I need to set my sites on a smaller, yet equally entertaining, level.  I need to be thinking small actions like this.  

 

A semi-skirmish scenario, rather like the old Sword and the Flame games I played and enjoyed years ago which we used for the French and Indian wars.  I should see if anyone has done a version for Napoleonics- or I could just go with Sharpe Practice for a while.

The issue of rules brings me back to the other thorny issue of basing.  Years ago back in Vancouver we started out doing the French and Indian War using small numbers for skirmish games- a dozen Rangers here, twenty French militia there and a battalion or so of regulars- but as time went on the games grew, we morphed over to the European theatre, and before too long we were gaming huge actions- and I mean huge.  All with the legacy of individually-based minis, which was a real headache in so many ways. 

This time I'm just going to stay the course with  the 1:20 ratio GdB style basing for line and regular cavalry, with irregular and skirmish companies based individually.  Formed units will just have to use rosters for casualties.  I don't see it leading to too many problems.  

Taking this route will still allow me to game the bigger battles should the opportunity ever arise.  But as I add units, and hopefully hook others who begin to add their own units to the collection (no excuse not to, with all those new plastics on the market!), the whole thing may snowball. 

So it's back to basics, and I wonder if anyone out there remembers the "Stepped-up Situations" from Don Featherstone's Battles with Model Soldiers from way back when?  This is my version, some forty years later!

Anyway, back to the painting desk.  But first, a heads-up for people to check out Doc Smith's excellent blog, and I respectfully doff my shako to him for his nice comment about my masthead banner.