"Hanau" basing style prototype

A good wargaming buddy, Seth from Seattle, and I (and perhaps other crazies who want to get in the fun) are involved in a project to do the Napoleonic Battle of Hanau, late 1813 for its 200 anniversary.

This battle has Napoleon and his wrecked army retreating to France after the massive engagement of Leipzig and the Austro-Bavarians are attempting to stop and defeat him. 

With the idea that all the new plastics being produced light in weight and thus the wargamer could put many on a single stand easily and combined with a simple set of rules based, at least on principle, upon DBA; we originally thought of huge stands and many figures.  But sobering (but literally and figuratively) to the fact that it would involve both massive out lay of money and painting, we cut back much to create 6" wide bases of hardboard with approx 10-12 figures for ordered infantry, representing some 1,000 men.  Rules which employ a single base concept such as Impetus comes to mind as does La Grande Armee among others.

Here are the first of the bases I have quickly done up.  I hope I will like them as I have already purchased much of my French forces already!



We have debated whether to go white for the label area or a more muted color.  The white has the advantage as being white - easier for all to get the shade correct - and perhaps gives the impression of a boardgame chit which is essentially is.  The rules will certainly produce a very stylized tactical game but should be good for the convention setting. 


The holes are for the 'recoil' marking for which gribbage pegs will be used.  Since these are Old Guard, I get to drill many holes; Seth's Bavarians....not so many..... <grin>

The figures are 28mm Victrix plastic figures, with some conversion; mainly in making the cross belts as I did not put on the backpacks and adding a couple of Perry heads etc.   These are my old "Plauche's Battalion" ex of my War of 1812 collection.

While we have agreed on 12 on a base for formed infantry, I did not have enough and do not want to paint more for these units.  As all French units were extremely understrength during this battle, I feel I can get away with it!  While the formed "battalions" of my Old Guard will be at 12 strong, most other units will be only 10 strong as that seems to be a good number to take advantage of the way the plastics are packaged.  They should look very depleted verses the Allies full strength masses.

Siege of Fort Meigs - part 2

Upon landing on the far shore to advance upon the British batteries positioned across the river from the fort, the militia commander, tried to sort out the ill-disciplined short-term soldiers.   Eventually he had a line of troops move toward the batteries themselves while a large contingent moved in a mass toward a small group of Natives firing from the forest.   While the Native fire proved very effective (rolled a 9 for only a couple of stands firing but that was enough to create losses and disorder on the volunteers, them being 'raw' and all!).  The militia return fire and subsequent combat had the militia chasing the Natives deep into the woods. This would prove a big mistake as the Natives now came on with numbers and with the help of good dice rolls (I have certainly noticed I seem to have huge dice roll differences for combat or firing producing dramatic results in these solo games)
Of the some 800 which went into the woods only some 150 were to run back to their boats. [raw and worn troops facing Natives in woods, gave the warrior defenders an overall plus 30% advantage even without my favorable dice!]

Meanwhile, the other militia units had quickly overrun the British batteries but now faced companies of the British 41st Foot whose solid volleys broke the volunteers and had them follow their compatriots running for the boats. 
The broken ground of the batteries prevented a follow up of his success, so the British commander did not further the charge. 

Thus this tabletop action followed the course of the historical engagement exactly.

I have yet to game the small action which occurred on the fort side of the table.  I may game that another day but I now really must get back to the table and join Tecumseh to prevent the Old Glory warriors murdering their captured Knuckleduster frontier militiamen!

The mass of American militia moving out from the boats (figures are 'advancing Frontier Militia' by Knuckleduster, 28mm.  Bases are 40mm square.  Painting by me, in my "impressionist" style)

Drawn deep into the woods, the American volunteer militia face the bulk of the warriors

Some of the volunteers who have taken the British batteries

The British 41st Foot retaking the batteries.  (Old Glory Napoleonic 28mm)

Tents - a quick note

Before I get back to the battle set up on my table, a quick note about tents and the small details which seem to make a difference.

As you will have noted in the photos from the previous post, I placed tents both within the American fort and at the British camp.  Not much of a camp without tents actually.  That is why I have made the effort to have many, both in 15mm and 28mm on hand to be used on the tabletop.  Adds much to the visual appeal I feel.  While there have been several companies which have produced them in resin and recently the Perrys/Renedra have produced a set in hard plastic, I have gone the wargamer cheap route and I have created a bunch in wood.  I have been fortunate to find triangular strips of the correct size from construction sites (always a good place to find wood for buildings and bases also).  I cut these to an appropriate size and ta da, tents. 

However, when I did the first ones, I did not sand the edges.  In the following photo you can see how this tent doesn't look quite right as the angles are all sharp and not rounded as if the tent canvas were stretched around a round tent pole.  A subtle change to be sure but if you compare to the following photo, you may notice the more realistic rounded edges. 

Of course, this is only possible if the tents are indeed wood (I add an additional photo of the underside to prove the fact!)  Of course, not many would stare, as I did, at them and at the close distance at which I took the photos but the additional work to sand the corners I feel do make a difference- the sacrifices I do for the hobby! :-)

I have a large number of 15mm tents which I took the time to hand sand the edges to get the good look.  They are now, that we are finally getting some good weather, primered and awaiting an off-white paint, the black area to give the effect of an opening of the canvas and 'stretch marks' which cap off the correct look of a good tent.....

an early version with 'sharp edges'

a later edition of my tents with the more realistic rounded edges to represent the canvas stretched over round tent poles.  The 'stretch marks' are just simple lines of paint.  I did not invest much on these as I found I probably should have done more sanding of the sides.  Their bumpy surface did not allow especially straight lines!

My tents made from solid pieces of wood.  The previous model is shown flipped over.

I highly encourage wargamers to invest in tents, either homemade or purchased, as all games can be enhanced by their presence on the tabletop.

Siege of Fort Meigs (War of 1812)

I won't bore you with the details of this actual War of 1812 affair (look it up on Wikipedia if you must...) but the British are besieging Fort Meigs on the Maumee River. 
The Indians under Tecumseh and the British under Procter are trying to take the large American fort. 
Here are the initial photos of the table set up.

Fort Meigs.  Note the transverses (seen here as gabions) to lessen the effect of the British cannon fire.

The American artillery battery within Fort Meigs.  The British batteries are seen across the Maumee River.

Unknown to the British, these are Kentucky Volunteers who have landed on the north side of the river with the intent to take the British batteries. (as a note: while most of my collection is Old Glory, these are Knuckleduster miniatures which I quite like)

Some of the thousand or so natives who are assisting the British invest the fort.

An overview of the initial deployments, this photo shows the fort (top), the Kentucky contingent (right) advancing against the British batteries (center), and the British forces which include the 41st Foot and militia are forming up at their camp (lower left).  The British battery on the south side of the river is also seen (upper left).  The natives in the woods are noted ( lower right.)

Useless Info is better

I find myself always reading about military history, uniforms, or battles rather than other stuff like electrical circuits, drywall application, or computer programming.  Not very useful in the long run but it's my heroin....

I found this old Larry Leadhead cartoon in the archives which is, well, certainly based on my real life.