League Of Augsburg Mini Campaign Part 2

 Following on from my first battle recorded here the second battle of the campaign has the French launching a surprise attack on the League of Augsburg Allies. This will use the OHW Scenario 11  Surprise attack with armies generated by OHW rules.

I have changed the rules from the first battle as it did not allow the infantry to charge. I have modified the OHW Pike and Shot rules by including skirmishers and artillery, both fire D6-2, do not run out of ammunition, and artillery cannot move once they have fired.

Morale will be represented by units having to roll a D6 + current casualties <15 to move unless they move directly away from the enemy. That is, you are always allowed to run away. Army morale is represented by giving up once only two units remain.

The Battle

Note that only the woods and the swamp/lake 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 background and the French are in the foreground.

The Alliance rolled up 4 infantry units, 1 skirmishers and 1 artillery.

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

Victory conditions: Hold the cross roads at the end of turn 15.

Start of the battle

The Alliance starts with two units on the board, with two more arriving on turn 3 from the road on the left and the final two units on turn 9 from the road at the top of the table. The French all arrive on turn 1 from the road at the bottom of the table.

End of turn 1. The French are on the table. Skirmishers are heading around the left and right flanks while the infantry move up the road to clear it. The artillery will move to behind the lake and fire from there.
Red puffs represent casualties received and white puffs are units that have fired.

I won't go through each turn as that would be a bit boring.

End of turn 3. The French have deployed and started firing but have already received a few casualties. The skirmishers have made good progress on both flanks but Alliance skirmishers have entered the wood to oppose the French ones.

End of turn 5. Both sides have lost one infantry unit in the center but another French unit has had to withdraw due to high casualties. In the woods the French are winning the skirmish battle but this does not get them any closer to the cross roads. At the cross roads the Alliance has opened fire on the French skirmishers who will need support to hold on.

End of turn 9. The French have pushed past the Alliance artillery aiming for the cross roads. The artillery exchange fire with the French getting the best of the exchange. Near the cross roads the French skirmishers hold on while the Alliance infantry approach.

End of turn 11.  The French are struggling with little chance. Their only hope to quickly destroy enough Alliance units to make their army collapse but with only 4 units to the Alliance 5 that will be hard.

End of turn 13. The French have won the skirmish battle in the wood and turn to attack the Alliance artillery. But it is too late and the Alliance soon destroy the remaining French infantry unit forcing the French army to retreat.

A tough battle for the French as the two skirmisher units are not very strong in attack. Also my French plan was flawed. I should have concentrated on destroying the Alliance artillery with the skirmishers instead of entering the woods for a pointless battle.

Still lots of fun to move the toys across the table.

Next battle will be OHW Scenario 18 Counter attack as the Alliance seek to regain the initiative.

I wonder.... a post about AI

This is just a post about a random thought I had regarding the increase in blog views and subsequent return to normal numbers over the past few months. 

I noticed that many of the blogs that I follow have said that the significant increase in blog views, presumably related to AI, have now returned to normal levels. 

I have also seen that two of the wargames sites I check in on, Wargames Website and Wargame Vault, had introduced a check to see if I was human or a robot. Obviously millions of robot views will increase the workload of the servers on which your website is running on. This I presume causes an increase in cost or other negative impacts.

As Google runs millions of blogs they would have seen an enormous increase in the traffic on their servers and therefore increased costs. Would they implement some technical solution to stop this?

As there are many AI models, all of which need to be trained, it seems odd that they all stop looking at blogs at the same time. Unless of course the only one looking at blogs was Google's and they have decided that blogs are of little value.

Is this a conspiracy theory? Probably. But not a very interesting one.

Better content to follow. 

French Napoleonic Part 6.... 54th Line Infantry

Another regiment of line rolls off the painting desk. I seem to be able to paint one regiment a week so hopefully it will all be "over by Christmas"  😂

Thanks to Norm's advice on the last post I have also been able to correct the faces on the light infantry, cavalry and artillery so they are less pink blobby and more detailed.

The only thing that I am not a happy with* is the edges of the flags. I need to go over where the white of the paper edges shows.

* actually one of the many things I am not happy with but the only one I think I can fix. 😁 

Here is the glorious 54th 

Hopefully I have got the shako pompoms the right colours.

Advancing in two ranks

Viva le Emperor ... charge the perfidious roast beefs

Figures 10mm from Pendraken as is the flag.

Painting Progress

 60 of        300 Line Infantry        10 units of 30        Completed 20%

33 of        55 Skirmishers              5 units of 11        Completed 60%  wow!

30 of      60 Cavalry                    4 units of 15        Completed 50%   getting there

9/36 of   9 Guns with 36 crew.                                Completed 100%    YAY

3 of        5 Command stands.                                    Completed 60%

French Napoleonic Part 5..... 28th Line Infantry

I have started painting the line infantry. I was not that happy with the results for the light infantry so have used a lot more contrast paints when painting these an I am much happier with the final product. No blobby pink faces for starters. 😂 

In 3 ranks.
The faces look a lot better, as do the trousers. The jackets are painted with normal paints.
I am going to change the colour of the pompoms on the shakos to a different colour for each base as apparently each company had a different colour. One base will remain red as this was used by the grenadiers as will the command base.

In 2 ranks

In column 

As the British hope to see them, running away. 
The curled blanket(?) and back pack were also done in contrast paints giving a better result.

Figures 10mm from Pendraken as is the flag.

Painting Progress

 30 of        300 Line Infantry        10 units of 30        Completed 10%

33 of        55 Skirmishers              5 units of 11        Completed 60%  wow!

30 of      60 Cavalry                    4 units of 15        Completed 50%   getting there

9/36 of   9 Guns with 36 crew.                                Completed 100%    YAY

3 of        5 Command stands.                                    Completed 60%

French Napoleonic Part 4

 Rather than posting unit by unit, today's post includes the next three Light Infantry units painted plus some command stands.

Three command stands

Marching

Firing

More marching

And if you ever wondered about some of those complex moves, here is how AI thinks they would have been made.   The old side step to keep the enemies of France off balance.

Figures 10mm from Pendraken

Painting Progress

 0 of        300 Line Infantry        10 units of 30        Completed 0%

33 of        55 Skirmishers              5 units of 11        Completed 60%  wow!

30 of      60 Cavalry                    4 units of 15        Completed 50%   getting there

9/36 of   9 Guns with 36 crew.                                Completed 100%    YAY

3 of        5 Command stands.                                    Completed 60%

Norm of battlefieldswarriors suggested I paint a playable army before completing the whole project (which is an excellent idea) so the next four units to be painted will be line infantry.  

French Napoleonic Part 3

 Another unit of French completed.

Cuirassiers again...

Not great --- contrast paint for horses and normal paints for rest.

Obligatory animation.... 

Figures 10mm from Pendraken

Not a great result, will win no awards, but another 15 figures done.

Painting Progress

 0 of        300 Line Infantry        10 units of 30        Completed 0%
0 of        55 Skirmishers              5 units of 11        Completed 0%
30 of      60 Cavalry                    4 units of 15        Completed 50%   getting there
9 of        9 Guns with 36 crew.                                Completed 100%    YAY
0 of        5 Command stands.                                    Completed 0%

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.

Perfect Painting Procrastination Plan

 Per my last post, I have 450 or so Napoleonic French figures to paint. So obviously I need to get straight on to that and start painting. But just as obviously as this is too big a job to do and so I must find something easier to do to put it off for a little while but still feel productive.

My purchases earlier in the year included some eight different Sci Fi infantry packs that I was going to test paint and this is the perfect excuse to do something without actually being very productive. So here they are with their Pendraken name and imagined paint scheme. All painted with contrast paints.

Each has been painted with an idea of a different force in mind, taken from various movies or genres.

Probably not that interesting to anyone but a useful resource for me 😁

Theocracy Regular Infantry .... Painted as dystopian soldiers somewhere in the wastes. The lighter brown scheme is good the darker one not so much.

Collective Power Infantry... Painted as a regular force for a dystopian nightmare. Both the grey and green look OK, although the grey is probably a better fit for the theme.

Collective Regular Infantry... More dystopian forces. Both come up OK with the brown for the waste lands and the grey for the cities.

Free States Regular Infantry... Finally something different. Movie themes. Aliens and Starship Soldiers, In green they look good for the marines in Aliens and in grey OK for the marines in Starship Troopers

Emperical Regular Infantry .... Tried to paint them for advanced Prussian and British VSF, but not a good result and better just using my existing forces.

Corporate Regular Infantry.... a bit of a China theme here. In grey it looks ok but the red is not great.

Emperical Power Infantry.... painted for star wars proxies, the black is not good as any detail is lost,  but the white comes off ok.

Griffon Regular Infantry... more potential star wars infantry in white are good, not so sure about the grey for starship troopers although some detail comes out clearer.

Matching the cards to the Pendraken names.

Anyway a useful bit of time spent and gives me something to think about as I work through the French Napoleonic hordes 😂

What have I done!

 As usual, an epic plan finally comes to realisation, and I have to confront the enormity of my decision. 

I decided that I needed to build armies for the  Napoleonic period. The small Dutch army has already been completed and obviously I need a much larger French army to beat them plus the purchased British army.

You plan an army or a new period and it is all fun and games until you have the figures ready for painting and you realise the job you have ahead of you.

So here it is:

300 Line Infantry        10 units of 30

55 Skirmishers              5 units of 11

60 Cavalry                    4 units of 15

9 Guns with 36 crew.

5 Command stands.

Optimistically, based on my speedy painting of the League of Augsburg armies, this should only take three months, give or take a year 🤣

One day I will think about it before I place the order, but not yet!

It is a bit like having children. "We are going to have so much fun playing with them." 

Somewhere and sometime there must be someone who knows what they are doing, it is NOT me. 😂

Expect to see a whole lot of poorly painted French Napoleonic's on the blog for the next six months.

Nemo and the Nautilus

 Another random army to add to the completed projects list. Nemo and the Nautilus and his soldiers.

Inspired by the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen's depiction of Nemo I decided to add Nemo and his force to my VSF collection.

As detailed in my post on the "Anti-Colonial Camel Corp or Sudan Dervish Army" I received a double delivery of a Pendraken order that Leon of Pendraken kindly suggested I keep. This doubled my Nemo inspired army, which is a good thing I thought but maybe not on reflection.

Here is the inspiration for the army.

Nemo and crew

Nautilus and equipment

 I have created the following army from my purchase.

Five line infantry units supported by five skirmisher units. All based as my other VSF armies.
Four armoured cars, two command units and the Nautilus.

Nemo command unit

Skirmisher support unit

Out of focus line units - not much better in focus I am afraid.

Armoured cars and slightly better shot of the line units

Nautilus - protected cruiser

Close up with Nemo on the bridge

Well, not particularly interesting. I used contrast paints for the army and the deck of the Nautilus.

I have to admit that my purchase of these was not well considered. The army is quite boring only having three elements as I did not buy any artillery or cavalry. A defect partially corrected by the armoured cars. I think it will be playable  but I really have to think more carefully in future about my purchases. Having retired I do have more time to plan my army purchases and hopefully I will not make the same error again. Although I am still considering the wisdom of the Chinese VSF army I purchased earlier this year and thinking I need some troops more recognizably Chinese than the 1905 Japanese army I purchased as proxies. 

I am also annoyed with my purchase of the ship. I have to stop buying these types of models as they are rarely, if ever, used, and cost me money and time assembling and then painting them.

Figures from Pendraken.

237 figures or vehicles painted

1 Large model completed. This is actually a Protected Cruiser built by the Chinese after the first Sino-Japanese war. It is 1/144th scale so perfect for 10mm figures and a lot cheaper than the Nautilus submarine that is available in the same scale. Also probably slightly more useful.

A good reduction in the unpainted lead mountain but a somewhat unsatisfying result. I do hope I get some use out of them.

Next up, I am not sure. I may return to posting once every two weeks.