My Experiences so far with Horse & Musket Era Wargaming

Well, it has been just over six months now since branching out in to Napoleonic wargaming. Like I have said before, Napoleonic history is nothing new to me, but wargaming it is. I have learned many things about the tactics and doctrines, dress and motivations of the armies - especially the 1812 era French and Russians. It has been a great learning experience to be sure. However, I have also learned something about myself; my hobby interests. For one, I have discovered that this period/era has tickled my imagination like no other to date. I am not quite sure why this is really. Perhaps it has something to do with all the recorded drama I have at my fingertips - all the great historical references and such. Not that the other periods I am interested in are devoid of such. For some reason this era has caught my imagination like no other. Secondly, it has made me consider periods outside Napoleonics but still within the historical horse & musket era - the American War of Independence (AWI) for one. The AWI is an era that has always been part of my life, having grown up in a colonial home, being saturated with the Bi-centennial celebrations of 1976, and being directly involved with Colonial reenactment through fairs and such - my mom was very active in such events. I collected tons of little  toy soldiers of the AWI as well, and oh boy did I fight some awesome battles! All in all, this whole Napoleonic project has really opened me up to a whole new set of experiences within the hobby of wargaming. In fact, I have already began working on my next big project - yes, the American War of Independence! I recently started a new blog called Flint & Feather Wargaming, which will cover my journey through the early wars in America during the 18- early 19th century. But I won't get too deep in to that project here as this blog is all about the European conflicts of the horse & musket period.

Russians advance.

As for Napoleonics itself I have really had a blast so far. Trying out all kinds of rules sets, exploring the different conflicts and armies, as well as the major characters of the wars, has been amazing. I have a lot of friends to thank as well for adding to my inspiration. Many of my fellow gamers interested in the era were always quick to help me out with small details on uniforms or battles. I am really thankful for these guys. I often find myself relaxing from a long day by just setting down at my wargame table and having a go. No points, no real scenario, just moving my little guys about engaging in battle. Perhaps it is just the newness of this period for me. Maybe; maybe not.

French deploying with the rise of the sun.

 At the moment, I am looking to deepen my knowledge of the 1812-1814 campaigns, on land and sea. So many great books and references out there. For rules, well, my quest for my "go-to" set continues. I have tried a number of them so far, most finding a permanent place on my bookshelf. However, I have yet to try them all, and still the quest continues. General de Brigade  holds a lot of promise at the moment however. I pretty much have discovered that the tactical level of battles - that is where battalions are the basic unit, and formations changes rules the day - is where my main interest seems to be. As much as I love the grand sweep of divisions and corps on the battlefield, it is in fact the lower level of detail that gets me inspired the most. The "in your face" level of combat is just so exciting to me during this period. So, onwards I go. Lots of exciting rules yet to try.

Again, the French move out in the early morning hours. Battle awaits.

Anyway, just though I would post some of my observations on my experiences so far. I am pretty excited to be exploring the hobby again. Bottom line is that I am loving this period a great deal. So stay tuned my friends. More goodness is to come.

~K

March Attack and Other Bits

Over the past couple of weeks I not only managed to finish off a four stand unit of irregular Cossacks but also had a great time playing a setoff rules called March Attack, by Crusader Publishing. This battle was pretty big and used most of my collection so far. Played on my standard 6' x 4' table using the mixed ground Cigar Box mat I really enjoy.

Saxon and French columns assault the Russian defenders.

My Russian Cossacks as well as some other minis I finished off recently :)

The rules worked out really well with divisions moving under various orders to capture objectives, defend objectives and otherwise lend support to each other. One aspect of the rules is that it allows for large battles at the battalion level - in other words your basic unit on the tabletop are battalions. The rules have an almost perfect balance between large scale grand tactics, and small scale battalion tactics - there are unit formations like column, line, and square that can be adopted.

Bloody fighting at a farm defended by the Russians. The small red dice are used to track current CV levels - the
combat value of units.

 All in all I really enjoyed the battle. It played very quickly and I caught on to the rules after only a couple of turns in. Granted, the rules seem confusing and look cumbersome but really they are not. The concepts are actually very easy to grasp and the rules are indeed well explained and written. Take note however, these rules may not be to every ones taste. There is no point system or army lists, and the rules do make use of written orders for divisions - which I really like and use with all my SOLO games anyway. They do force you to plan ahead and come up with a plan something I feel is critical in SOLO gaming.

The Russian defenders are reinforced!

I will be playing these rules again for sure. I do have to admit however, I am more of a fan of the gritty tactical level with BIG unit sizes - March Attack units are only two stands in size! SO no, these are not likely to become my go to set of rules at the moment. Yes, the quest continues. However, I must admit that I really am enjoying the Black Powder rules at the moment. Very fun and has some nice details.

The fighting was brutal but the French and Saxons managed to break the defenders after a long fight.

French under Davout assault the heights defended by a division of Russian grenadiers.

Russian and French columns about to collide.

Units in March Attack are two stands in size, allowing you to represent column, square, or line formations.

Some Plans for the NEW Year

Well, after some adventures with my Napoleonics (which I am quite happy with at the moment) I am itching to get going with some plans for my ancients hobby. First up I have quite a ways to go expanding my Gaul and Polybian Roman armies. I try and add a new unit for both every week or so, and so far so good. The painting continues.





Some of my completed ancient armies.

Hosting some LIVE plays over on the Tabletop Commanders has been a blast. Recently I did some Blucher games and learned a lot about how to improve the quality of the videos. For those not in the know, a LIVE play is a game session played LIVE over Google+ Hangouts. For more on this check out the Tabletop Commanders link here on my blog. Anyway, I will be planning a Basic Impetvs battle next month for everyone. Been a while since I last played this awesome system. Although L'Art de la Guerre  is my rules of choice for ancients wargaming, Impetvs will always have a place on my bookshelf. Regardless, stay tuned for that as I will have more information on the details of the event - and results - later.
Another thing I want to finish is my last DBA campaign between the Gauls and the Romans. If you check my past posts here on the blog you will notice I never got around to finishing that last campaign - I think we did two battles so far? Anyway, I definitely want to pick that up soon as well. That campaign, by the way, is a playtest of our two-player campaign rules we have been working on. You can find the latest version of that in the files section here on the blog.

As far as what NEW projects I want to get to this year, I am not so sure. My options are plentiful, that's for sure. I still want to build some NEW armies for the early dark ages, as well as some early Greek stuff. However, first up will be the period that has my attention the most, which is the early republican Roman ear. I already have a start on Later Seleucids and Numidians, two armies which I will be expanding soon. Carthaginians and more Successors (Ptolemaics and/or Macedonians?) will eventually be in the works as well. But again, my hands are full with my current plans, so I will not get ahead of myself yet. Oh, and there is of course my massive re-basing of my Feudal English armies as well! As many of you might know, all these miniatures were mounted for Impetvs. However, I have since lost faith with that mounting system - the bases are just too big and clumsy for me as I like lots of terrain on the table. SO now I am re-basing everything over to the DBx standard. This will take some time.

King Henry III of England: mounted and ready for battle!

Some of my Impetvs based feudal English in need of re-basing.

So there it is; plans for the year - or at least the coming few months. I hope you all stay tuned as I get more and more done and add some awesome content to the blog.

Napoleon is Coming... and Progress to Date

Well, after a long road painting up almost 1,000 10mm Napoleonics in three months, I am drained! What a challenge. Even though I have yet to reach my goal I continue my efforts of getting these little French and Russian armies completed - is an army ever really completed?! Anyway, I am quite happy with the results so far. This of course is my first go with 10mm scale miniatures, and all I can say is, if you want a mass look to your units, without losing lots of detail in the models, try 10mm. In addition - and this is a big one for me - they paint up fast! Can't beat them when you want to have lots of big units on the table.

 

The NEW Russian card deck for Blucher has arrived!

Rules-wise, I have pretty much decided that the Blucher rules are for me. Compared to what else is out there, the fact I can set up battles quickly, play out a mini-campaign, and not worry about weird rules mechanics, says it all. I will continue to play these rules and have many more planned scenarios and LIVE events to host on G+ Hangouts - always a blast!

Saxon's open a deadly fire on the advancing Russians. Units/BW's were only 3cm in this battle.

Next up on my painting table are some Cossacks! I have a full unit all ready to be primed. I should be getting to the actual painting before the end of the week I hope. This is a good thing as my Russians really need more cavalry units on the table.

Cossacks!

I also have a nice Napoleon model that I want to base up, not to mention a Kutuzov to face him. Of course a bigger base will be used, with lots of interesting models to set beside him. We shall see what I can come up with.

Napoleon I

Anyway, stay tuned for more Napoleonic goodness in the coming weeks. I have lots of interesting things to try - and NEW rules to have a go with as well.

Saxons once again fending off a Russian assault. Again, this was a battle with smaller sized units on a small table (2' x 3').

The French.

The Quest Continues...

Played a lot of Blucher over the past few weeks. I have to admit that it is truly a great game. An excellent balance between realism and playability; simulation and fun! Even though I have been playing other games off an on, I keep coming back to Sam Mustafa's awesome set of rules. I highly recommend Blucher if you have yet to give it a go.

In other news, I will be spending a little more time on Black Powder over the coming weeks. Already I have been building my army lists and scenarios I want to try. I have played these rules a few times now already, but have yet to sit down and have a real battle. So, this has become my focus for the month. Expect to see some BatReps/AAR's soon, as well as plenty of pics of my soldiers in action :)

 

 

All in all I am quite happy with my foray in Napoleonics. The 10mm scale is absolutely grand. They paint up fast and look fantastic. No turning back for me now!

 

Here are a few pics from my recent battles, including some awesome battles with the Tabletop Commanders on Google+ Hangouts. Always great fun.

The quest to find my "go to" rules for Napoleonics continues, with Blucher  in a dominating lead. Stay tuned for more good stuff

Russians and French go at it over on Google+ Hangouts. In this case me and Vince - and all the other TtC's -
square off using the Scharnhorst rules to set this battle up.

Ney, on a white horse to the left, leads an assault on a Russian defended hill. Ney would take that hill.