Tactical Napoleonic Battle

1st Corps British Napoleonic Infantry.

Over the last weekend we were introduced to a great set of new Napoleonic wargaming rules, 'Tactical Napoleonic Battle', design by Andrew Parr of Sydney. The rules are still in the play testing stage however they have been written well and are enjoyable to play. The rules are designed around having a small force or Brigade, consisting of a few infantry battalions, a battery of guns and maybe some cavalry, but the point system will only allow max of ten infantry battalions (with nothing else). The game can be played on a dinning room table, which is how Andrew has designed it and lasts for a little over two hours, depending on how well you have read and learned the rules.

Front Rank Highlanders, painted by Leroy Simpson, hold a town section.

A heavy cavalry brigade arrives on the flank of a french line brigade.

British Elite Miniatures Royal Horse Artillery pound the French as they advance forward.

The starting army size for the game is 500 points and this can be spent on the different classes of infantry, cavalry and artillery. Points are also sent on upgrading those units for higher moral or elite statistics. The combined force also receives a overall commander for free and if points allow you can buy another sub-commander. The commanders allow you to move your troops, who are in the command radius of 6 inches, without penalty. The units out of command have to take a moral role to carry out any other function other then firing. The placement of the commanders is vital for the tactics of the games and to get the other side thinking on how to deploy his troops and where it would be most effective to place his commanders.

Front Rank Spanish infantry guard the allied flank.

British Command stand, painted by Leroy Simpson (all figures are Elite Miniatures)

Casualty markers, used to designate the number of unsaved hits on a stand.

After paying for your troops you can then decide on which type of commander who will have to lead your army, this will depend on the nationality of the forces used. Next you picked a nationality trait for the army, which for the British might be that it is a professional army. This will allow then to have a greater chance of scoring a hit when rolling during the shooting phase. There is also design for reserve forces, which depending on how many troops you have on the board must be placed off the table until rolled for. Flank marches can also be used by any Army, remembering that this is just a small battle between small forces and not part of a great battle.

Elite Miniatures Brunswick Leib Battalion.

The French reserve cavalry brigade moves past the supporting artillery.

We played three small battles over the weekend. On the first day were games consisting of the five hundred points and on the second day we played a bigger game, increasing the total points to 1200. Everyone who played, John Williams, Brian Buskell, Jeff Smith and Myself, enjoyed the games immensely. There was no arguments, no indecision's on the play of the rules and lastly there was laughter throughout all games. Finally I think Andrew has designed a great set of rules for the period and when they come publicly available they should definitely be added to your collection of rules to try out.

NORCON 2008

Just a short message to let all gamers, in the North Queensland area, know that NORCON is coming up soon. The Convention is only small and is put on by the Twin Cities Gamers Association http://tcga.games-exchange.com.au/ and is held over the May Day long weekend 3rd to 5th May. The competition games include 40K, Fantasy, Flames of War, Magic the Gathering, 8 ball Network PCs and all types of board and table top games. There will also be two demonstration games been played on the Saturday and Sunday. First day is a Warhammer Ancient Battles demo game and on Sunday a Napoleonic demo game. Both will be hosted by Elite Miniatures Australia.
There will also be a number of retailers in location on the day and they will be Battleline Scenics (http://battlelinescenics.com.au/), Elite Miniatures Australia http://www.eliteminiaturesaustralia.com.au/) and possibly Gerry Webb from Castaway Arts (http://www.castawayarts.com.au/) might be putting on a Sudan demo game, on the Saturday. The NORCON location will be the Heatley Sports Centre, Heatley Secondary College, Fulham Rd, Heatley. Any other detail can be found on the http://tcga.games-exchange.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=6&Itemid=28 website.

Hope to see you there.

Just heard tonight (22 April 08) that NORCON has been postponed until later on in the year. I will post another notice when the convention is on again.

Cheers

15mm Napoleonics

I know for some gamers out there, me included, no matter the size of the figures you will always want to play with then if there is a game on and then when you do, you often find yourself thinking about buying new figures. Luckily for us, here in Townsville, there is no need to buy the figures as our good friend John has a massive collection for all to stare at and if we are lucky, we get our greasy hands on them and play a little. This is what happened last weekend. I happened to be over at John's looking at his collection and dropped the hint that we should not let these figures go to waste. Two days later the figures were on the table.

Johns' collection includes about 84 battalions of Austrians (majority 24 fig units), 20 battalions of Russians, 30 battalions of French, 6 battalions of Polish, 4 battalions of Saxons and 4 battalions of Baden troops, plus more cavalry then you can poke a stick at and of course numerous batteries of guns. I think after spending two hours setting up and sorting out the units the Austrians/Russians consisted of three corps of Infantry, two heavy cavalry divisions and three brigades of light cavalry. The French, fielding a much reduced force, consisted of two small infantry corps plus the Imperial Guard (Napoleon came on in turn ten), one heavy cavalry corps and two light cavalry brigades.

The game itself was played during one afternoon and carried on for one evening. In all totaling about six hours of gaming. We had no real scenario except it was sometime in 1813 and the French were grossly out numbered and fighting desperately. The rules used were 'Shako' (still waiting for Shako 2 to come out), which made for a quick and smooth game. Unfortunately I played again on the loosing side (French) making my run of losses to four in a row (even when I try bending the rules). Anyway there is always next time.

The figures are a mix of Old Glory, AB and Minifigs.

Photo's of Scott's Great Deluge Game - 'Brisbane Muster 08'

These are the photos of the great Deluge game that Scott Robertson put on for the Brisbane Muster. The game took up the center piece of the whole gaming area. Fantastic figures and painting, all accept a small number painted by Scott over the last two years. It was a very impressive game with very impressive figures. Two slightly different games were played each day so some of the pictures may seem odd.

Enjoy.

The Brisbane Muster - 2008

Back on line, sorry for the delay on getting anything back up on the blog. My excuse is that my camera has finally died and I have not been able to take any shots of the numerous games we have been playing. However I have been able to borrow one on a few occasions and have taken a few snaps. The images you see today have been taken with Kevin Jowett (Battleline Senics)camera - thanks Kevin for sending them up.

North/West Frontier hosted by Gerry Webb

This is the third year that the 'Brisbane Muster' has been running. The convention is the mastermind of Gerry Webb (from Castaway Arts). There is no entrance fee or fees of any kind to that matter. The convention is there just for the boys to put on a few demo games and for the local retailers to show off and sell there new stock.

ACW by Kevin Jowett.

The demo games were numerous, Scott Robertson put on a great Cossack/Polish game as did Gavin Shanks in a of game of Doctor Who. Gerry put on a Afghan/Northern Frontier participation game, using the 'Sword and Flames' rules. Kevin Jowett's demo/participation game focused on the American Civil War, plus there were other demo games starting with WW2 Rapid Fire, another Doctor Who game (with the rats in the London sewers), WW1 demo game and a demo game involving the hunting of dinosaurs.

Doctor Who with Gavin Shanks.

The convention was held, as it is every year, over the Easter Weekend on the Saturday/ Sunday and is held at the Chifley Hotel, right in the heart of the Brisbane Mall. Numbers through the door, for the whole weekend, only probably tipped 100 people but that was enough to have an enjoyable two days of steady gaming and socializing. Retailers included Castaway Arts, Battleline Scenics, Battlescape books and miniatures, Elite Miniatures Australia and Fernvale Specialty Scenics.

WW1 Demo game

Scott Robertson's Cossack/Polish demo game.

Next year the 'Muster' will be held on the 11th and 12th April 2009. If you live in the local area then have a look at Gerry's site http://www.castawayarts.com.au/ and turn up next year, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.