Although the blog has been quiet, the room itself has been a hive of activity and aren't I glad the room is insulated! It has been cold outside! I've been busy with both WWII and Napoleonics. I tackled Napoleonics first as I had over 50 Btns to base and flag. These included the Jaegers, Grenzers, Landwehr and 24 Btns of Hungarian line and 6 of Grenadiers. The line are in 186 man Btns (60 man in old 25mm language). All the Austrian infantry are completed and I have the cavalry to get sorted out.
I then switched to WWII. I completed a German Mot Div of 3 Regts that has some novel attachments and at this very moment I'm labelling a British Infantry Div having already labelled a British Arm'd Div and Independent Tank Brigades.
Lots of aircraft have also been painted for the Russian front, but they can still be used in the West as there was little allied aircraft (my current excuse!).
Here is the first picture
I picked this one for a few reasons. To the right, you can see a French foot battery. For this scale, I am using gun for gun. I've also changed the base widths. I did quite a lot of work to find out actual widths of formations and as with everything else there is a compromise. But not a huge one. Above the guns are French columns attacking. Again, the point of note is that in 10mm, the depth of the Btn is greater to the width when compared to basing in 25mm scale. Does it affect the game/rules. No, the only mechanism that needs to be watched is when executing retreats. In 25mm scale, a Btn in column, if retreating, will clear a Btn immediately behind it in that is also in column. In the above scale, it won't. Does it matter. Not really, if I find it becomes "important" in game play, there are simple quick and easy remedies.
On the left, note the Austrian Btns in line. Proper 3 rank lines. In close up, they really do look impressive (I need a lottery win to get new camera lenses).
I picked the next piccy to highlight something different. On the left you can see a cavalry regiment in column of squadrons with another between the woods. Cavalry no longer move around as single squadrons, they act a regiments. There will be an exception to this when I've play tested cavalry skirmishers which I want specifically for encounter games and also against irregular cavalry (read that as cossacks really).
The villages worked well. They look good and we worked out the firing mechanics. Villages are now defined with a defence factor and a definition of how many figures fire from each side. This worked very well.
One aspect that I have never touched on is storage.
Each tray you see will typically take 12 Btns of infantry or 3 Regts Cavalry. They are purpose made, both length and width from good old simple laminated hardboard. As it turn out, the gaps you see in the trays above are now all filled. If you look between the tables towards the stool, you will see, on the right, 2 major shelves. Underneath, on these shelves, are storage racks into which the trays slot. It makes good use of space and all the terrain is also stored using a similar approach.
The last game we played was a small/medium game but I chose this piccy to show what a Division of infantry, massed in column, looks like. The Austrians to the left are about 10 Btns, the French coming into picture from the right are a similar size. One thing this scale does do is give a real feel for the masses. It looks really good (some might think I'm bound to say that, but it does!).
The last piccy is here because it shows a Cavalry melee which is Brigade sized on both sides. Nearby troops sit in square, unsure on how this will all turn out.
The current combat system is the same as in classic 25mm with adaptions for numbers, but I will be migrating to a different system. It will be quicker, but I don't think it will be any less exciting, but play testing will tell all. Talking about the rules, my plan is to have a working copy later this year and if it goes really well I'll publish them.
So, its all still go! More later, probably after Easter unless there is a clamour on the blog for more information on anything specific.
