1809 Valour and Fortitude Napoleonic 93

 I asked if anyone wanted a Napoleonic or pike and shot game in the club whatsapp group and got a positive response, so at the last club we had a game of Valour and Fortitude.

My opponent plays 40k sixth edition and Necromunda but fancied having a go at Napoleonics and is a military history buff, which is always helpful. As it was a learning game I didn't use the latest edition of V&F but used the one I'm comfortable with. Two brigades apiece 250 points each, he chose the French, one brigade with three line units, a unit of artillery and a unit of hussars, the second brigade had three line infantry units, a unit of artillery and two units of dragoons. I had the Austrians with two brigades, one with three units of line infantry, a unit of landwehr ,one newly painted unit of hussars and a unit of artillery, the other brigade had three units of line infantry and two of cuirassiers. He rolled higher and chose to be the attacker,so set up second and went first which with the French, being in assault column, occupied two of the objectives, the built up areas imediately, the less defendable bridges were left.

I assaulted the farm with predictable results , the French dragoons moved to my right flank and his hussars to my left flank, we traded artillery shots in the middle of the table, I took the odd hit, I was wearing down the unit in the built up area but he swapped them for a fresh unit . One unit of dragoons moved towards the centre of the table so I thought Id attack and take the little advantage I had with my hussars but the dragoons were just victorious and the newly painted unit were destroyed. That dragoon unit charged the infantry unit  in front of it  and was succesful, meanwhile an infantry unit and the other dragoon unit removed the last line unit in that brigade. On the other flank both units of cuirrasiers headed for the enemy while avoiding artillery cross fire, the French infantry advanced and a lively melee ensued, both units of cuirassiers hit the hussars with predictable results , then hit a French infantry unit in the flank, as this was the last go I occupied both bridges, so honours even but with the last melee between two line infantry units I failed a valour test, followed by failing a fortitude test giving the game to my opponent!

Great fun, nice to get the German buildings out and the figures, we both enjoyed it and he's up for another valour and fortitude game or indeed other historical games, it took a bit longer than two hours because there was quite a bit of explaining but all good.

Next up, another AAR, some dark ages, Italian wars, Napoleonics or terrain!

Best Iain

Pretty in pink, Palazzo Lucia and bits and bobsterrain 33

 So just squeezing into the summer of scenery, here is an mdf TT Combat Palazzo Lucia that I got at Salute a long time ago, I think they still sell it? I have assembled and painted it up for the Great Italian wars primarily, I thought it might work well for the villa of Bicocca  as we seem to be working our way through the  various historical battles.

Clamped together while drying and sorting the scrap into useful components, some of it went into ox carts! Waste not want not, there is after all a war on! I gave it a wash of stone colour, then tried to match something like the buildings from the Ursula cycle which are from the end of the 15th century, begining of the 16th, so good for the Italian wars, black wash, terracotta wash, pink wash then picked out with a lighter stone colour all emulsion paints ,mostly tester pots or left overs, the stone colour I mixed for the front of the house!

Little bit of flock around and about but really a primarily urban build I guess, pretty happy with this handsome little villa, as I have been with almost all the TT Combat stuff. As you can see, some 100 years war figures being worked on for Agincourt and sneaking in, hopefully I'll finish my 25mm Crecy/Poitiers project started in the 1970's before them!

Theres also a work in progress of some stone walls Ive been meaning to do for a while.

Here they are finished! They're inspired by some I saw ages ago on Olicanalads blog, individual stones glued with pva, althoughI used gorrilla glue woodworking pva so the drying time was a bit more rapid. Emulsion ,black wash,brown wash, wet brush with a lighter stone colour, flock.

I also took the opportunity to do a bit more work on my stone circle, in my haste to complete them I'd finished them a la 1980s GW,eg monolithic dark grey for stone, which was always meant to be a base, so I've wet brushed them with some stone colour and then  did a black wash followed by a brown wash followed by moss on the stones.

I think they're better for it, what do you think?

That's it for terrain Tuesday and the end of summer

Next up? Maybe Napoleonics, dark ages or Great Italian wars?

All the best 

Iain

War carts for Ravenna Great Italian Wars 58

 At the battle of Ravenna Pedro Navarro a Spanish commander came up with the idea of war carts, multiple guns on wheels with shields and spears to defend them, to add a bit additional strength to the infantry. Ive always been interested in them and as there arent any historical images of them I've tried to invent something that would suffice, made out of bits and bods I had lying around. I had some duplicate pieces from a hinchcliffe organ gun, a number of mdf wheels that I picked up from warbases, some aluminium and plastic tube,mdf offcuts, balsa wood, Perry plastic pavisses and some polearms from the same source, some old glory polearms, a couple of 15mm chariot bodies and some GW muskets which together with some old glory Swiss artillery crew( together with a few Foundry Swiss) gave me these war carts.

I used the late medieval ribauldquin as some form of inspiration, wrought barrels would be relatively easy to fabricate I thought? Outside of Ravenna, I'll just use them as light artillery.

A fun bit of scratch building, I went for red and yellow as Spanish colours but I still think they're generic enough.

Next up,I've got an Italian pike block, some archer cavalry on the go, a Napoleonic unit and some dark age units unfortunately no terrain which I'd hoped to add to my pontoon bridges for the summer of scenery, maybe next year?

All the best

Iain