French Napoleonic Part 2

 Another post of my painting of the French army. This time a unit of French Cuirassiers.

First up the obligatory (and lots of fun) AI animation.

Still working on all the aspects of this.

Now some still pictures like a proper blogger posts.

Figures all from Pendraken's 10mm range.

Horses painted with GW contrast paints but the rest in standard acrylics.

Another 15 figures off the unpainted list.

Next up, not sure yet.

French Napoleonic Painting Part 1 of n

 I have finally got myself going with the French Napoleonic Painting Pile.

Starting with Napoleon's favourite arm.... the artillery.

So nine guns and 36 crew painted. I am off to a flying start.

Guns painted with GW contrast paints. Blue is also a contrast paint but does not really show any difference. The rest are all standard acrylics.

Not very exciting but the first finished!

Close up of three guns

And now, following on from Norm's post about the Nauk Nauk app.

The guns firing

And a bit of a blooper!

I think that these are lots of fun and the best use of AI yet. Even my mum was impressed 😂

Next up some cavalry

Figures all 10mm from Pendraken

League Of Augsburg and Mini Campaign

 After painting my League Of Augsburg armies earlier this year I received countless demands (actually 2) that I play a game soon with them. Therefore, bowing to the peer group pressure I have devised a small mini campaign for the armies.

The Battle Rules

All games will be played using the One Hour Wargame (OHW) Napoleonic Rules. I am using these rules instead of Pike and Shot because I want to use my artillery and skirmishers. For each battle the two sides will roll on the OHW tables for their army composition.

To make it a little more accurate for the period infantry can't form squares and artillery can't move. Also units with 9 or more hits must roll a D6 to activate. If the total of the die roll and their hits exceed 15 they cannot move forwards, they can run away.

The Campaign Rules

Premise behind the battles. The first battle must be fought to a conclusion, that is, a definite winner.  The attacker in the second battle is the winner of the first battle as they have the initiative. This battle must also be fought to a conclusion as who wins the battle determines the subsequent and final battle.

To win the campaign one side must win all three battles for a decisive victory and end the war. Otherwise with only two wins you have the advantage in the war in the following year, that is, just bragging rights.

Losses are not carried over from battle to battle. Each side starts with a full army for each battle based on the random OHW army tables.

Battle One OHW Scenario One  Pitched Battle   This battle sets the scene of the campaign with the winner having the initiative as the attacker in the following battle. 

Battle Two OHW Scenario 11  Surprise attack

The winner of Battle One becomes the attacker here

If attacker wins go to Battle Three B

If defender wins go to Battle Three A

Battle Three A Scenario 18 Counter attack

If the defender wins Battle Two they counter attack.

Battle Three B Scenario 15  Fortified Defence

If the defender loses Battle two they are on the ropes and make a final stand. The attacker needs to win this battle to win the campaign.

The Battle

Note that only the hills are the only terrain that impacts the game. The rest is just decoration to make the battlefield a little less sterile. The edges of the battlefield are the woods on the left and the river on the right.

The Alliance forces are in the foreground and the French are in the distance.

The Alliance rolled up 3 infantry units, 2 skirmishers and 1 artillery.

The French rolled up 4 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery giving them a more powerful force.

I have made a short video (not using AI so pretty rubbish 😂) that shows the battle with all its glory and includes sound effects so make sure to turn your sound on and up to 11  😁

Hopefully it works but I wont be surprised if it doesn't  😂

Here are some close ups of the action as the video is pretty ordinary.

Setup with the Alliance in the foreground and the French in the distance.

End of turn 1. Both sides advance and French artillery gets first blood on some skirmishers

End of turn 2. Both sides' left wings move to contact. The Alliance artillery gets some hits on some French infantry

End of turn 3. Fire fights erupt across the battlefield. The French cavalry attack but are repulsed.

End of turn 4. More firefights across the battlefield.

End of turn 5. On the alliance right after taking a beating the Alliance skirmishers retreat  from contact. Only one French unit follows up as the other fails its activation roll. On the alliance left one alliance infantry unit is destroyed but casualties are mounting in the French units.

End of turn 6. From the Alliance left, another alliance infantry unit is destroyed but so is the French cavalry. On the right one skirmisher is destroyed and the French infantry successfully move forward.

End of turn 7. More firefights with units on both sides getting close to destruction.

End of turn 8. One French and one Alliance infantry unit are destroyed. The Alliance skirmishers run behind the hill to avoid near certain destruction. With only two units left the Alliance must vacate the field to the French who claim victory of King Louie the X. 

So fun to play with the newishly painted figures and on to the next battle.

Thanks for reading.