The Spanish Game



For our first game of Black Powder I took a battle from Moore's retreat to Corunna in 1809. It was probably a typical rearguard action where the British set a defense along a ridgeline and fought to delay the French for a day so the rest of the army could escape.

For our game the French had eight Infantry Battalions and one Foot Artillery battery. We skipped the opening Cavalry moves as only two British cavalry squardons have been aquired so far. The British deployed nine battalions of foot and two foot batteries.

The British deployed far forward on the table, defending the small village on the right with one battalion of infantry and two companies of rifles. They placed artillery to support the left and right of the line. The second British Brigade was posissioned behind the ridgeline to the upper right.

The French deployed into two Brigades of four battalions each with the artillery in the center. Our plan? Advance and push the English out of the way, a plan Mr. Miller (the British player) called the sledgehammer approach.

The French left moving forward to make contact. The French right failed the first two command attempts and sat there. Dice plagued the French all day.

The British right, anchored on the far hill and supported by artillery on both flanks. We do have a few miniatures left to paint.

The French right finally gets into the game. We try storming the town...apparently a very difficult thing to do, as I spend the rest of the game trying to do it. Khan, the other British player, rolled very well and the one lone highland battalion stood fast even with seven casualties. They just wouldn't break.

On the French left we attacked up the hill, forcing the artillery to pull back. Unfortunately, that was the last good news the French had on that flank.

The Highland Brigade came flying over the ridgeline and smashed into the French line. Well...to be honest it did take a couple of turns. The French left starts to collapse. The French right is still fighting to gain a foothold in the village.Casualties are starting to mount.

Thre French left are in trouble and would be retiring in the next move. The right flank is being pushed back by the advancing Britsh lines. Did I mention my dice were ****ing me? Yeah. Really.

Pretty much the story all day. "Jean-Louis! Are you ok?"  "gurgle gurgle gurgle....Hhhhhhhhh..."

But we learned quiet a bit about the game mechanics and the next games will be better. AND,...in history the British may have defeated the first attack, but behind that lead division?

Yup. Another French Brigade.

Viva l' Napoleon!

The Division in Miniature.

The 3rd Division of 1st Corps in 28mm. The only thing left to do is paint two squadrons of cavalry. A few switch hitters, there are two Light Battalions instead of two Line Battalions (to be changedwhen I get them) and two Dragoon units rather than Chassuer a' Cheval units. Again, once I get them they will be changed out.

On a six foot table they take up the entire width, and then some. Now I did up the number of stand of artillery from one stand per battery to one stand per two guns, but for the game I will go by the rules and have only one stand.

I feel pretty good about 'almost being done' with my Napoleonic project. When you realize I started painting 25mm Napoleonics almost 20 years ago and on and off over that time have worked on them you may think that I've been wasting time.

Since I started in 1993 as a 2LTin the Army stationed at Fort Rielly I have been gone almost seven years(by my wife's count) and have never given up the plan of building and playing Napoleonics.

I also have almost as many British troops, although not as many painted. If I had only worked on French I'd have almost have 17 battalionsof foot and six squadrons of cavalry.

More painting to do, more soldiers to buy, more games to play.

Fielding the Black Powder Army

So...trying to field an army given a set of rules is a pain in the ass. Black Powder makes it even more so by not really telling you what the units stats should be, or anything about their organization. That is because the rules are for a WIDE range of time, and by creating a detailed 'Army Builder' list, a la LaSalle, they would have to publish another 200 pages.

SO...you have to make it up yourself. Which is fine, but annoying.

OK. So I got a bunch of French painted up and now I am going to build an Army for this coming Sunday's game. SO...here we go:

Going historical, I am going to pick the 3rd Division of the French 1st Corps at Waterloo.

The 3rd Division was commander by Division General Baron Pierre Louis Benet de Marrognet. woah...what a freakin mouthful. I'll have to work the Staff reatings, agression, decisiveness and Independance ratings out when I figure what the fuck they are.

The 1st Brigade was commanded by Brigade General Antonine Nogue. The Brigade had two regiments of two battalions each from the 21st and 46th Line. The 21ere Ligne was the unit I used to reenact a billion years ago. All four battalions would field about 24 figures in 1:20 scale.

The 2nd Brigade was commanded by Brigade General Jean George Grenier. This brigade also had four battalions in two regiments, the 25th and 43rd Line. All four would field 24 figures.

(note- 1st Corps didn't all arrive at Waterloo so it is a little short handed, but easy to field in miniatures...that and the fact the 21ere is in it makes me want to field it)

The Artillery was commanded by Captain Jean-Louis Emon and feilded 6 guns.

The Cavalry Brigade was commanded by BG Adrien Francois Bruno and had six squadrons, three from the 7th Hussars and three from the 3rd Chassuer de Chaval. Each of these would field 24 figures on the table, in two units of twelve.

So, that's the plan right now. Eight battalions of infantry, four Squadrons of cavalry, and one battery of guns.

I'll post the pictures from Sunday's game either Sunday night or Monday.

Have a good one!

"Hey...is that a Starbucks over there?"

The French Army

Completed to date:

The Division Commander recieves a report from a Dragoon officer.

The figures are Elite miniatures for the Div Commander and Aide, and Perry's Dragoons kit bash.

The First Brigade is now completed save for flocking a couple of bases. This unit has five battalions, one light and four line. The bulk of the figures are Perry's plastic French Infantry, with one battalion being a Front Rank unit. The Brigade Commander is an Epic miniature.

The Second Brigade is still in progress. The first four battalions are complete, although the Bavarian battalion will be part of the Third (foreign) Brigade. I still have two more units to paint for this brigade to be complete. The Commander is again an Elite Miniature.

The Foot Guns. I just recieved a pack of French Artillerymen...in Egypt. Once I get the right figures the guns will be complete. The figures are a mix of Elite, Connessiur, and Old Glory.

The Cavalry Brigades still ahve alot of work to go. There are two units of Hussars and Dragoons, each with a Brigade Commander. Once the infantry is complete, these guys are my priority.

The Heavy Cavalry Brigade and Horse Artillery. They will have another battery when complete and at least one more Heavy Cav unit.

So far I am very pleased.

Black Powder, LaSalle, and Napoleon.

We are getting closer to our Campaign game of the Napoleonic wars. I have been working on both a French and British army using Black Powder as our rules. I have a copy of Foundry's Napoleon rules as well as Sam's LaSalle.

Our group has chosen to use Black Powder. The units are smaller, 24 figures per battalion, and are based similar to my armies ( based per In The Grand Manner). I am finishing up the last two battalions of French for the second division containing five battalions of 36 figures. Four battalions are Perry's Plastics, and one is Front Rank metal figures.

The first division is a mix of Old Glory, Elites, Victrix, and Connessuer figures.

I have finally started an Old Guard Division using the Victrix plastic figures. The box contains 60 miniatures making two battalions of 30 figures. I will paint them up at the fisrt Regiment of the Guard Grenadiers.

I have modified three extra figures from the Victrix French infantry box to make up for a shortage of figures. Although the Old Guard box has 60 figures, you get four standard bearers, four officers in the same pose, and four drummers. I've converted one regular infantry figure as a sapper, added a regular infantry officer and a drummer.

When completed the OG division will have two battalions of Grenadiers and two of Chassuers of the Guard.