Dug these Old Glory 28mm figures out of the box last week and painted them up. I will add a few foot , crossbows etc at some point. Other than the command figure the Duke of Orleans the rest (unlike my Otterburn Knights) are generic though I did use bought transfers for the shields and painted over them so they must all be somebody!
Probably should have done more with the basing, it looks a little bare.
Dave.
Now I don't consider myself to be a dinosaur regarding new developments in the hobby but of course what dinosaur would admit or even maybe realise that a dinosaur is what they are. I, like everyone have their own preferences related to wargaming, I like well painted figures but am not so snobby as to being bothered by what others can manage to paint up (draw the line at unpainted however). I will give most rules a fair go but period feel and ease of play are preferable to adding up columns of plusses and negatives. I do love good looking terrain, having a realistic table top to shove those well painted figures around comes pretty high on my should have list. What floats some peoples boats doesn't necessarily float mine and of course vice versa, priorities in gaming are rightly different for each of us and so it should be. It would be a boring old life if that weren't the case.
For some people the historical feel of the game, the flow of the rules and the end result is everything but the look doesn't matter. For others lining up thousands of 28mm Napoleonic figures from one side of the table to the other has them squealing with delight. It takes them three hours to set it all up, the ten people invited roll dice to no tactical purpose what so ever and they spend the rest of the day packing it all away again. Really?
Now to my point, I have looked at the Bloody Big Battles rules set for a number of years now. I have plenty of 15mm Franco Prussian War figures, more Austrians half painted up and I love the period. I have not really settled on a set of rules that I love. I tried the adapted version of Fire and Fury years ago and still want to try Age of Valour which is Fire and Fury based, I even attempted to adapt General de Armee/Pickets Charge to the FPW period see here and found quickly that rule writing isn't my forte!
So back to Bloody Big Battles. I checked out the internet, forums, blogs and of course the page dedicated to the rules, enthusiasm abounded regarding the playing and feel of the rule set but here is the nub, every photograph of games being played looked crap! bits of felt, rivers and roads that didn't connect. I know, I know Dave you snob I can here you all saying and well maybe yes but only to my own preferences as stated above, the people likely had a great time and good for them.
So I got over my own prejudice, finally bought the rules and boy am I glad that I did. Neal and I have only played them for one scenario Froeschwiller 1870 but they are great. Again based on the Fire and Fury system the rules are historically accurate, flow well and just, well, feel right. I won't go into too much detail but for instance, you look at a potential 12" move for infantry and initially think that's a long way in this scale but terrain slows you, your movement die roll may affect you and then if your opponent decides to fire at you he/she can pick any point during your advance at which to commence fire. If you don't reduce the enemies fire power then there is a high likelihood that your unit will at best be pinned in situ getting the proverbial s***e kicked out of it. Cleaver stuff.
Excellent rules, particularly for large encounters, hence the name!
Here's a few photographs:
Enjoyed this so much that I'm looking seriously at completing the Austrian 1859 army I have.
Dave.
Been a while since I posted. To be honest photographing and writing up such a large 10mm Napoleonic game in the last post is time consuming and put me off for a while, but it being Xmas and all that I thought I'd better do a catch up.
So some pictures of more 10mm ECW, a mixed bunch and a little surprise at the end!
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| Sir William Fairfax's parliamentary a large battalia. |
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| Lord Saye and Sele's large parliamentary battalia. |
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| Sir Gilbert Gerard's royalist battalia, pike heavy. |
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| The Gentlemen Pensioners cuirassiers, a small cavalry rgt. |
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| Surprise sheep, which ever side they want! |
I did paint up a third 28mm Napoleonic French battalion but I guess plenty of those have been put on here before so maybe another time.
Well a very Merry Christmas to anyone out there, it's an odd sort of world we are in at the moment and wargaming isn't the most important thing, but it does provide a little bit of pleasure, so what's the harm.
All the best for 2023 ladies and gentlemen.
Dave.
The final act, the desperate struggle reaches a climax.
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| In three different sections of the field three Russian brigades all require 'Falter' rolls at the beginning of the turn, all had 'ADC's' attached but not one needed them, all passed on a roll of a five or six. Well hard these Russians! |
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| However the following turn their fortune ran out, the Russian brigade behind the contested redoubt having been forced to remain in square formations for a number of turns because of the presence of the French heavy cavalry finally broke leaving a huge gap in their lines. |
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| Boquet's and Toulouse's final attacks to break the Russian lines. |
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| Buquet's brigade over running the redoubt. |
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| The centre of the field with the Russian cuirassiers attempting to cover the gap in the middle. |
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| A weakened Russian right still fending off the French. |
By twenty minutes past four in the afternoon after seven hours and twenty minutes of fighting (22 turns) though the French had finally forced a break through both sides were exhausted. Huge casualties had been suffered and as I was back to work next day I thought that this was an appropriate juncture to call it a day.
The Russians had three damaged cavalry brigades left to cover a withdrawal while the French, though in possession of the field having achieved their objective of taking the redoubt and clearing the road would have been too fatigued to pursue too hard, especially as their cavalry had been roughed up as well.
I have wanted to fight a battle on this scale for a good while now and the completion of this 10mm collection allowed me to do it at my own pace during my two week holiday. Fighting both sides was fine but photographing and writing it up for this blog made it a bit of work but work which I have enjoyed. I may have over egged the pudding as they say in how in depth the report was but as I have said in the past I do this sort of write up so that in my more senior years I may have something to look back on!
General De Armee is a great set of rules with which to fight a battle with on this scale, if I had a criticism then it would be that I feel sometimes brigades in a force are able to do things all at once most of the time. I know a 'Hesitant' brigade result restricts things but I still was able to push forward two divisions towards the Russians for most of the time. Some way of being forced to hold a brigade or two back would be better.
The other thing is that the charge, melee system and skirmish are a bit clunky, when written this set of rules was the best thing I had found that IMO represented Napoleonic warfare up to that point in time. I believe David Brown is working through improvements in those systems and hopefully will publish a second version of the rules.
The rule set Soldiers of Napoleon is really good for a couple of brigades each (and handles skirmishers particularly well) but would not manage a battle of the size I have just covered.
Many thanks to those of you dedicated enough to have ploughed through all of my ramblings, goodness knows what I will do next but for now I'm off to lay down!
Dave.
After four hrs of fighting both sides are exhausted, having suffered great loss, there is still an opportunity for a French breakthrough on their left centre and artillery is in place to attrite the Russians.
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| The Russian cuirassier brigade got slightly the better of the encounter with their French opponents but ended up 'Faltering' just the same. |
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| Exhausted the French heavies rally behind their own lines. |
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| Russian horse artillery unlimbers to cover the withdrawal of their cavalry but immediately suffer heavy casualties faced with three French batteries. |
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| French 3rd battalion of the 15th Rgt succeeds in taking the Pavlovski Grenadiers in the flank routing them immediately. |
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| Two other Russian battalions flee with them, the brigade 'Falters', can the French succeed in exploiting this crisis? Note the three French battalions pressing in through the woods on the Russian right. |
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| We are all aware of the Russians defensive abilities and stoicism, steady volleys crash into the three French battalions. |
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| Two routs and a retreat. |
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| This was the opportunity lost, the 'Faltering' Russian brigade rallied and after moving forward to exploit the gap in the Russian lines this French battalion sat on the flank of the Russian line. It failed to charge! |
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| The Russians real backwards but still manage to form a defensive line to face the advancing French. |
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| Both light cavalry brigades are spent but the Russians hold the hill on their left. |
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| The intended French thrusts for the next few turns. |
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| The situation at three in the afternoon after six hours of fighting. |
