The Napoleonic Wargamer

More Hussar Sabretaches from BattleFlags

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:44:00 +0000

BattleFlags have been busy and have now 'filled in the gaps' in last weeks initial release, so now they have sabretaches for all 14 French Hussar regiments.

You may notice that some of the range have the tenue de campagne sabretache (i.e. the black ones) and others are the grande tenue (i.e. the fancy ones), the range will be extended to cover both as they source reliable information (good luck with that!) as Richard comments "I want to create as much choice as possible for the gamer and collector within the Battle Flag range".

Given that we know that the Hussars have a tendency for 'anything goes' in regards to their uniform a mix of tenue de campagne and grande tenue regiments, whilst maybe not completely accurate, works for me, after all Napoleonics should be fun and not boring!

Just to recap, these are designed to specifically fit the Perry 28mm Plastic Hussars. A set includes 14 sabretaches and saddle rolls and goes for GBP3.00.

As a bonus BattleFlag are currently offering to anyone who states that they are followers or readers of this blog, at point of order, free world wide shipping on all purchases of over 5.00GBP. You can't complain about that can you!

Further details or to buy click here

Flags of War - Lance Pennants

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:29:00 +0000

Flags of War have released several sets of generic lance pennants, some of which could be useful for your Napoleonic lancers and uhlans.

Priced at GBP1.75 for a set of 10.

More info click here

Battle Flags - Perry Hussar Sabretache and Saddle Roll Number Decals

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Earlier this week I hinted that their was another supplier of Sabretaches waiting in the wings, well that was BattleFlags and as Richard explains they have been somewhat delayed due to ill health but today they are ready and have stepped forward and released their first sets of Sabretaches.

From their announcement:

New 28mm French Hussar Sabretache Transfers and Decals
I have just about recovered from a bout of pneumonia of all things, hence the rather slow output of late. But now mended I will be cracking on apace.

Just before I took ill I was about to release sabretache and saddle roll Regimental number sets for Perry’s excellent Plastic Hussars. One set of transfers provides enough waterslide transfers for wargamers to decal a complete boxed set.

The sabretaches are rather prominent and an elaborate feature on the hussars and these transfers allow the wargamer to create an excellent focal point on each figure.

Battle Flags wargame transfers will give superb results every time with uniformity and detail just not possible with a paintbrush. As with all our transfers they are true waterslide decals making them extremely simple to attach. Simply cut out, soak for 20-30 seconds and slide into place.

The saddle roll numbers just add that final touch for a superb finish to your miniature.

You can purchase these and any other transfers or flags from the Battle Flag range at www.wargametransfers.com or www.battle-flag.com

They look really great and you can expect a lot more to come from Battle Flags in the very near future. I think the one sheet per regiment makes sense from a user perspective.

It's pretty amazing that in one week we go from no sabretache decals to having two different suppliers! Great work from both companies I think.

Flags of War - New 28mm German States

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Flags of War are pumping out new Napoleonic flags again and have just released a series of flags covering the German States.

Brunswick Infantry
1st Battalion - 2nd Battalion - 3rd Battalion

Grand Duchy of Kleve Berg
Regt 1-2-3 1808 - 1st Infantry Regiment - 2nd Infantry Regiment

Grand Duchy of Kleve Berg
3rd Infantry Regiment - 4th Infantry Regiment - Leib Regiment

Grand Duchy of Baden
2nd Regiment - 3rd Regiment - 4th Regiment

Nassau Infantry 1808 - 1815

More info or to buy click here.

CAPITAN MINIATURES - A new miniatures manufacturer

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:29:00 +0000

I have mentioned Capitan Games quite a bit in the past here, they are the people behind the Capitan, Brigadier and Master & Commander, as well as other, rule sets.

Well it seems they are now branching out into miniatures under the appropriate banner of Capitan Miniatures and have some very interesting plans that surely do match their tag line of 'unusual miniatures'.

From their announcement:

Capitan Miniatures has been created to bring to the wargamers and collectors, a new line of wargame miniatures with three principal basis:

1st: Individual miniatures or series of miniatures designed to play with the Capitan Games wargame rules. Our first series will be MASTER & COMMANDER, miniatures of 18mm of naval units (naval officers, sailors, marines, and embarked troops), british, french, spanish and US. The series is done to play our new game of boarding actions in the Napoleonic Wars, MASTER & COMMANDER -CLOSE QUARTERS- that will be available in brief from CAPITAN GAMES

2nd : New ranges of Miniatures and periods that has not been casted before. In these range we will start with a series of the 28mm Spanish Guerrillas Units in the Peninsular War (1808-18014), and the first unit in the series will be The Lancers of Don Julian.

3rd: Individual miniatures or series of miniatures to complete existing ranges of other manufacturers. We will start with a mini-series of 28mm French Gendarmes d'Espagne, and Spanish Cazadores a Caballo, of the Peninsular War.

The collaboration of the wargamer or collector is essential for us, if you have any miniature or period that you want to see covered for us, send us an email to info@capitanminiatures.com

Our miniatures are sculpted by some of the best miniature sculptors of the world like Mike Broadbend, and will be produced in Spain by a Joint Venture with WARMODELLING.

Although Naval and 18mm are not my "thing", the plans for 28mm figures are very interesting indeed mainly for the subject matter, Spanish Guerrillas, Don Julian Lancers, French Gendarmes, Spanish Cazadores!!!

These would be perfect for some skirmish scenarios with the Capitan rules, which obviously is partly the idea, but if you are into the Peninsular War in a big way I guess they will make good additions to your regular Spanish army.

It is refreshing to see someone new coming along that isn't just doing the same old figures that everyone else has already done, but instead is choosing to find a niche for themselves and fill in the gaps in other ranges. You have to applaud this, and I hope it turns out to be a successful venture for them. I also like they will be making them compatible with other ranges, though what those are remains to be seen, but these days you have to assume they mean 'Perry sized'.

No release date as yet, just 'coming soon', but something definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Here are a couple of shots of the 18mm greens (sorry no 28mm shots available at the moment).

For more info click here Capitan Miniatures

Perry Hussar Sabretache Decals From LBMS

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Little Big Men Studios have announced the release of Sabretaches decals for the Perry plastic Hussars.

From Stephen Hales:

I have just finished a sheet of Hussar Sabretaches to fit the Perry plastic French Hussars, I started these ages ago and only just found time to finish. At present I have only done the 7th, 8th and 9th regiments, but I will do other regiments sheets. I have tried to reflect the constant changing of the designs through the Napoleonic period as cash became an issue some designs became more simplified. So there are designs for campaign, full dress, elite compaines and trumpeters and officers were they differ from the troopers.

The image attached is low res version of the actual sheet.

These look superb quality as you would expect from LBMS, and the officer and trumpeter sabretaches show the sort of attention to detail that really marks them out, great work!

They are priced at GBP7.00 plus postage per sheet, as noted only the 7e, 8, and 9e are currently available others are being worked on.

For more info and to buy
click here

You might recall last year I covered Sabretaches for the Perry Hussars when Aldo Stucco produced some fantastic graphics for Sabretaches for the 1er to 11e Hussard Regiments designed to fit the Perry Hussars. The big plus is they are free, the downside is you have to buy some decal paper, then print and cut them out yourself. Not really an impossible task but one where if you are lazy like me you find yourself wishing 'someone would do decals for these' even if it means paying for them, I know I did!

I have recently received three Hussard Regiments 1er, 6e and 7e and was in the process of getting some decal paper when a little birdie told me that commercial sabretache decals were in the pipeline (though not these from LBMS) so I decided to wait.

I don't think GBP7.00 for three regiments is an unreasonable price, I doubt it would end up cheaper if you did it yourself using the Aldo Stucco graphics. The only problem I see is that by grouping three regiments to a sheet it can work out quite expensive in total if you don't want those specific regiments. Assuming the sheets are eventually 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, I would need 3 different sheets to cover my specific 3 regiments which means GBP21.00 plus I end up with decals for 6 regiments I don't need! I suppose the answer will be to put the one's I don't want on EBay, I can foresee there being lively secondary market in these lol.

The only other point I should note is that if you look very carefully at Aldo's graphics you will notice the sabretaches are not symmetrical, that's because the actual Perry sabretaches weren't symmetrical either, whether it was a sculpting or casting error who knows, whereas the LBMS decals are correctly symmetrical. The difference at this scale is very tiny indeed, I assume the decals have been tested and it doesn't make any difference, I don't have a problem with that.
Steven corrected me and pointed out that the LBMS decals are in fact also non-symmetrical and were based off a scan of the Perry sabretache so they fit perfectly!!!

As they say you pays your money and you takes your choice, these are currently the only commercial sabretache decals available and are well worth it in my opinion, I have no idea when the other sheets will be available from LBMS though I think they are needed sooner rather than later to make it practical to use all LBMS decals.

Warhammer Historicals Waterloo 1/2 Price Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:15:00 +0000

The "Waterloo" rule set from Warhammer Historical that we mentioned here a while back are now on sale at half price (actually all Warhammer Historical books are currently on sale). That means that at the moment you can pick up this rule set for GBP18.00 plus postage (GBP3.00 for ROW). No idea of when the sale ends but it is 'for a limited period only'.

Although at full price I didn't think this was a set worth picking up, I think at this price it's a no brainer, definitely worth adding to the 'collection'.

For more info or to buy you can click here.

New arrivals at MMPS

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:17:00 +0000

MMPS (Mabuhay Miniature Painting Service) have just restocked the 28mm French Napoleonic command figures painted by Chris Leason.

A big new bunch of French Command figures, painted by the talented Chris Leason, has arrived at MMPS.

And that's not all. We now also have French and British casualty figures that you can use as markers in your games. Same story here, I still need to finish their bases and then these will be for sale in the Bits & Pieces section of this website.

French marechals d'Empire, generals, colonels and ADC are now for sale in the Bits & Pieces section. These were all painted by Mr. Chris Leason for MMPS.

British and french casuallty markers will follow somewhere next week.

These are all mean't to complement the painted Perry plastic figures which are MMPS's main line of business. The command figures are priced at USD10.00 each and are well worth it at that price, I have a few already and I keep adding more of them whenever I place an order with MMPS. I have no hesitation in recommending them. You can see them here.

Warlord Games - Pavlovsk Grenadiers

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:47:00 +0000

WG are moving fast with their Russian range!

Although we have seen the Pavlosk Grenadiers before, now we can actually order them. They are priced at GBP20.00 per box, but remember if you are outside the EU you won't get charged VAT so that means 20% off that price.

Pre-order Pavlovsk Grenadiers

The third of our plastic and metal Napoleonic Russian boxed sets are the Pavlovsk Grenadiers.

Rewarded for their bravery on the battlefield by the Emperor of Russia they were allowed to retain their distinctive mitre caps when other grenadier regiments were being issued shakos.

This boxed set is designed to allow you to field one battalion of this very famous Grenadier regiment; the variants in the box allow you to build both musketeers and grenadiers along with a command section to lead them into battle. We have also provided a selection of flags from a number of regiments so you can get them into the action right away.

As you can see there are two types of mitre cap – the tall grenadier version and the smaller one worn by the musketeers. As with our 1809-1815 Russian Line Infantry and 1812-1815 Russian Line Infantry sets these are simplicity itself to put together as they are 3-part models…

Each boxed set contains 4 metal and 28 plastic miniatures. Also includes standard poles and flag finials. Also included are 56 metal heads so you can build them as either grenadiers or musketeers. I’ll say that again – 56 heads! Pre-order your box set here today!

Perry British Ammunition Wagon

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:22:00 +0000

Just up on the Perry Miniatures Metal Workbench a 'coming soon' British 1814 Ammunition wagon.

Quite a nice addition, will be particularly useful in skirmish games I think. The team looks pretty much the same as that in the 'limber team standing' set.

Free playtest hex based horse & musket rules at Crusader

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:22:00 +0000

Another new ruleset, this time from Mark Sims of Crusader, available electronically and free, at least for now, just not sure whether after 'playtest' they will eventually become commercial, I assume so, but as the saying goes 'make hay while the sun shines'.

With a 6' x 4' representing about 4miles by 3miles this is a grand tactical game, your are the Army or Corps commander, uses 2" hexes, and obviously you will therefore need a hexmat!!

I've been toying with the idea of combining boardgame and wargame game mechanics for quite a while and have finally put all my notes togther into a (mostly) understandable format.

The playtest rules are available as a free PDF from the downloads page of the Crusader Publishing site here.

There are 20 pages of rules (plus some sample army lists) which includes a lot of examples and the fast play sheet could be squeezed into half a page of A4 (though I've added helpful notes) so they are easy to learn!

The rules are designed to use infantry battalions, cavalry regiments or artillery batteries but to have lots of these on the table. The scale of the game is pretty big with a 6 foot by 4 foot table representing something like 4 miles by 3 miles.

I still have stuff to do on the rules but the majority of the work is done and they are a 'playable' set for anyone that has an interest in hex based gaming.

Hope Mark doesn't mind but I think his first page introduction explains a lot of the thinking behind these rules:

Why bother with yet more rules? I have always enjoyed board wargaming as much as tabletop and combining aspects of the two seems to make perfect sense to me. These rules use a hex grid to regulate movement, firing and so on but they also use tabletop mechanics and figures. Both of these aspects have their advantages and disadvantages, a few obvious examples include the ease and accuracy of measuring movement, firing or facings with hexes but the problem with an inability to ‘stack’ units in a hex when using figures.

With the above in mind there are some abstractions that players are just going to have to live with (or find another set of rules to play, obviously). The game is designed for large battles where each individual battalion of infantry, regiment of cavalry or battery of artillery is being represented, The idea being that players represent higher level commanders and are not really interested in whether the 2nd battalion of the 27th Line has skirmishers deployed or
not. The local, lower level, commands are assumed to be doing the best thing at the right time, you can even say that the die rolls for firing, melee and so on reflect how well their command is doing.

What do the rules aim to achieve? Well, if you are anything like me you have fought your fair share of battles that start with both sides lined up within artillery range, each player has their troops to command and on the first turn one side or the other begins to attack. This isn’t because an all out attack is the plan but simply so that players get something to do and so that a game has a chance of being finished in a day or evening. As often as not there is little or no manoeuvre, no time for preparatory bombardment and the idea of keeping a reserve is laughable - after all, they’ll never have time to get into the fight if you do that so why bother?

The rules that you choose obviously affect this to one degree or another but I decided that I wanted a game where there were lots of units on the table and where both sides actually had time to develop plans and fight battles as they were actually fought. Turn 1 - charge! gets a bit dull after a while.

How did I try to do this? The obvious option is to make each ‘unit’ on the table represent a larger formation. Instead of your block of troops being a battalion make it a regiment or a brigade, this is what a lot of large scale rules do.
Unfortunately a battle with 25 units on the table where each is a battalion is not far removed from a battle with 25 units on the table where each unit is a brigade. Whatever you call them - you have 25 units. Once again the rules you choose determine to what degree this applies.

I wanted a game where I could command a Corps and have that Corps comprise all of the battalions, regiments and batteries that it did historically. The game then becomes about how you deploy and use that ‘mass’ of troops. You have the scope to detach troops, keep reserves, attack multiple objective and so on, and while you are doing this the other commanders (players) are doing the same thing.

Does it work? Yes, pretty well I think, so long as you accept the fact that the rules are streamlined (‘its all factored in’ conveniently glosses over a lot of things) to allow players to manage a large number of units in a playable time frame. If you want detail you wont find it here, if you want the spectacle of a mass battle and a realistic time frame for playing you’ll ignore the more obvious ‘factoring in’. Think like a Corps or Army commander and not like a Regiment or Battalion commander and you won’t go too far wrong.

If its a grand tactical set of rules where is the Command & Control? Basically, in a nutshell - its the players. I have yet to find two wargamers that fight or think the same way. Where one is ordered to ‘attack’ they’ll go all out with every unit as fast as they can while another will carefully creep forward covering every flank and terrain feature. I guarantee a multi player battle will have at least one player tearing their hair out in frustration - ‘That wasn’t the plan!’.

Finally, these rules are still in the playtest stage, the examples may not be complete, there are some sections that still need to be updated and there are no doubt a fair few typos and possibly some contradictions where one rule has been updated but another has not. I’m always open to suggestions about how to improve things but one thing I am not going to do is add anything. To my mind the trick to writing rules is to see what you can take out and still have
a realistic, playable game - anyone can add rules to cover situations or fill gaps where the basic rules don’t quite work. So, if you can streamline these rules let me know, if you just want to add cavalry feint charges, reverse slope bombardment or overhead fire from howitzers by all means do so for yourself but its not what these rules are about.

Nothing much else to say - try the rules, if you like them, great. If not then you can’t complain - they’re free.

Tremble Ye Tyrants - Take II

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:41:00 +0000

I did a brief post on "Tremble Ye Tyrants" new ruleset a week or so back, mainly complaining about the lack of information. Since then the only additional information I have come across has been a concise review by vtsaogames on TMP with all due credit to vtsaogames I think it is worth repeating here, though you should note that this review is only based on a read through of the rules not an actual game.

I just got my copy of Chris Peers' new Napoleonic rules, "Tremble Ye Tyrants" in the mail. This is a first impression after having read the rules, no game played.

The rules are 38 pages with a glossy color cover. Inside the front cover are some photos of a very nicely painted 28mm infantry unit. The photos are nice and related to the rules. Inside the back cover are ads for other Chris Peers ‘Ruga Ruga' games. This is not the sort of coffee table book full of pictures that is standard these days but then the rules only cost 10 pounds.

The main reason the rules take 38 pages is because Peers explains his reasoning behind a lot of the rules decisions. I like that but without it the rules would be perhaps 20 pages.

The rules seem old school but with modern tastes accounted for. There are no saving throws. There is a points system and a basic scenario generator that produces either an offensive/defensive battle, an encounter battle with troops arriving on table during the game, or a set piece with possible off-table troops later on. There is no terrain generation system. That's up to the players. The game needs D6 for movement, melee and morale and D20 for shooting. You'll want 4 of each, and always prefer a high score. A peeve of mine is otherwise serviceable rules that reward a high roll one time and a low roll the next. It makes it seem even worse when you do the opposite. I'd also rather the game designer did the work so I don't have to remember which kind of roll is needed for what test. All high gets a good mark in my book.

Another peeve of mine that the rules cater to is two kinds of woods, open and dense. Many rules have good going and bad, period. It's nice to see a little more choice.

Units may be battalions, cavalry regiments and artillery batteries. But they also may be brigade and artillery battalions, without any changes to ranges or rules. There is no hard and fast time or ground scale. But musket range of 4 inches indicates 50 yards to the inch to me, more or less. At higher scales you can rationalize it as including skirmishers. Your mileage may vary. Suggested base widths are 60mm, but as long as both sides are based the same the rules should work. The rules say a good table size is 4X6 feet, larger if you can get it. Infantry and cavalry units have 4 bases each and artillery 1. I imagine that 15mm and smaller scales can be played on smaller tables by halving ranges and such.

Qualities can be assigned to infantry and cavalry. Some are dashing, some are steady and some are ferocious. There are others. Ferocious infantry can attack with cold steel any time. Other infantry must wait until their enemy has a few disorder markers on them. It's an easy way to portray the cold-steel penchant of the British infantry – who don't get a firing bonus in these rules! It's a breath of fresh air for those of us with reservations about Oman's column vs. line story. The rules treat all artillery the same, except well-led French artillery may fire while prolonging forward and British may fire shrapnel. I imagine it wouldn't be hard to finagle raw gun crews should you desire.

The turn sequence is Rally units, roll for off-table troops and move beaten, routed and pursuing troops. Player 1 moves a unit, player 2 moves a unit and so on until everything has moved. Resolve shooting. Resolve melee. Take morale tests. End turn.

Firing is one d20 per firing stand, the result most often a miss or a disorder marker on the target. Sometimes a stand is removed from the target. Artillery has a rather short effective range, but can fire 4 feet at long range. Long range fire is unlikely to produce anything other than the odd disorder marker unless the targets are enfiladed or bunched up. There is bounce through fire, which is also used against reverse slope targets. In many rules, troops on a reverse slope are impervious to artillery fire. Accounts of Waterloo indicate otherwise. Melee is one D6 per attacking unit. The result can vary from a bloody repulse to the defenders routing before contact.

There are some nice touches. I've seen many rules writers jump through hoops to solve the massed column phalanx steamroller – and even then fail sometimes. With some rules, you make an enormous massed column block which cuts through defensive lines at will. In Tremble, each unit makes its own attack. You might do better waiting until the next turn to see how the first unit did. If the turns play quickly, this will be valid. If the turns drag on then the tendency will be to put everything in as soon as possible so there can be a decision before it's time to go home.

It took several passes through the melee rules to decide that this is how multi-unit melees work. Since it's a very different concept it would help if the rules were more explicit about this. Most players expect two units on one to be a done deal. These rules presume that the attacks are not simultaneous. It is possible for a unit fighting two to rout one and be routed by the other – or to rout both.

Victory seems to be a kind of last man standing affair. But since units that accumulate too many disorder markers rout, perhaps the game ends sooner than that. If not, it's certainly easy to just hang a 50% breakpoint or other preferred mechanism on the game.

There are simple army lists. Any self-respecting Napoleonic gamer will of course disagree with some of it. I do. But my gripes are minor and easily fixed. I don't think the Tremble police will come get me if I rate post-1808 Prussian line infantry as dashing instead of steady.

Mr. Peers writes well and can spell. This is the first of his rules I've read. There seems to be a solid game in here. The proof will be in the playing.

PS – one beef – no separate QRS. There is one on the back of the rules, but you'll have to make photocopies of it. I hope they post one on the North Star site as a download so I don't have to back-fold the rules on the copier at work.

Nick also posted a response to the above review, which I think adds a little bit of worthwhile information.

Dear Sir

Thank you for taking time out to post this view of the rules. I'll get a download of the QRS on the website, that is a good idea.

Confession time, I haven't played TyT yet, don't have the armies. The figures on the cover of the book are the start of my French. But I regularly play the other sets, especially the African set, Death in the Dark Continent, and they are a bit of a hit at our regular club meet. I think it is because this series of rules are easy to follow and so you begin playing the game after one session without constant reference to the rulebook. And they are quick. Even mechanisms that seem over simple you appreciate they are so you get through the game in an evening, and actually come to the same result as a more complicated mechanism.

I've priced this latest set at £10.00 GBP in the hope people find that cheap enough to buy just to find out how they read and play.

Thanks
Nick

PS On Military Matters and Brigade Games will have the book in the USA very soon, and Dave Thomas will have the book at UK shows, including Derby next weekend.

Let me also add that Nick at NorthStar has now added a QRS, available from the NorthStar site here. Though there are some formatting issues and I think the columns for movement are reversed (I think they are revising the QRS as we speak) the QRS gives you a good idea of how the game works.

What stands out to me is 4" musket range, movement distance based on D6 so average 3.5" for line, x2 for column, x3 for horse, so short firing range, longer unpredictable movement.

My $.02, very short ranges, very simple mechanisms, plenty of movement, plenty of variability, beer and pretzels type game should combine to work well on the confined (for 28mm) 6' x 4' tabletop and could be a lot of fun to play, don't start debating the historical accuracy of any part of these rules, your missing the point if you do, this is a ruleset to just have fun with, which is not a bad thing and can fit in even if you are a regular fan of some other more sophisticated set. I could see this being a set that generates a lot for 'house variant' rules which often adds to the overall satisfaction I think.

I will still stick by my view that I believe at this end of the market they should follow the 'lardies' example and offer a pdf version of the rules. You may say, as Nick does, GBP10.00 is cheap but I can pick up a copy of 'Grand Battery' for the same price off Amazon and that is 192 pages of a proper glossy hardcover book, which is another reason I feel that pdf would be a better route. They would be a no brainer then and they are IMHO missing a big opportunity if they don't.

There is nothing in particular that these rules have that sets them apart from several others, other than they are new and accessible, I think fun is the key word here, but seemingly in Napoleonics we are always on the lookout for 'new' so might be worth giving them a try and it does make a change from the 'heavy' rules we have seen a lot of in recent years... if they do them in pdf form.

Perry Update

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:20:00 +0000

News from the Perry's on the Austrian and Russian lines.

From Alan Perry's announcement in their new Newsletter:

Up on our site (on the Metal Workbench) are shots of the first Russian and Austrian metals which will be available prior to the plastic sets.

The ranges will be extensive and comprehensive (along the same lines as our ongoing British , French and Prussian ranges) covering all branches of the armies using the most recent research.

We will keep you updated on these as well as other ranges via this Newsletter and on the site.

Bye for now!
Alan Perry

and the pic's:

You can subscribe to the newsletter by registering on the Perry site here.

Warlord Games - New: Napoleonic Russian Support Packs!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:21:00 +0000

We've seen all these before as greens but they are now available in the WG store so you can rush out and buy them if you wish.

From their announcement:

Following our superb new plastic 1812-1815 Russian Line Infantry boxed set are these two new metal packs – command and casualties! This is just the start of a comprehensive Napoleonic Russian range on the way! Cast a weather eye over these fine sculpts…

First up is this great-looking command pack. Ideally suited to armies fighting after 1812 you could easily use these as early as 1809 by swapping the drummer’s kiwer shako for one of the earlier pattern shakos as you’ll find them in the 1809-1815 Russian line Infantry set – you’ll have plenty of spares after all!

As you’d expect from us here at Warlord there is stacks of variety and options to allow you to build this pack in many different configurations and giving your army a uniform yet individual feel. As you’ll notice from the photos above, all right arms and heads are separate with the pack containing several options of each.

As you can imagine we’ll be producing a similar set for the 1809 pattern regiments so keep your eyes on the newsletter for first sighting!

You can purchase this command pack now here in the webstore.

What would a wargame be without casualty figures? Not only a great addition to your rank and file to add atmosphere to your battalions they can also be used as casualty markers for your games of Black Powder!

You can pick up a pack or two of casualties right here!

As I probably said before some of these poses do look like they were recycled from the Prussian Landwehr but I do like the drummer.

Of particular note "start of a comprehensive Napoleonic Russian range" interesting if true, WG has always struck me as not being really serious about Napoleonics, so I am very interested to see what they mean by 'comprehensive', especially with the Perry juggernaut looming large on the horizon, but as before their Russians do paint up spectacularly well!

One thing I wish, is that Napoleonic manufacturers would 'talk' more to their customers! I hate to do the "Perry are perfect" dance but at least with Perry I believe I know where the range is headed, what I can expect and some of idea when I will get it. Admittedly much of this is due to the Perry track record speaking for itself but other manufacturers don't really have this track record and I think they are missing a great opportunity to get people on board.

If WG are seriously planning a 'comprehensive' range give us an idea of what that means, not saying we need greens now but tell us the scope for the range so we can plan out where WG may fit in to our collections over the next few years ahead, otherwise I am afraid they will be all Perry.

Can't resist another pic of their Infantry...

Mouthwatering!

Flags of War - 28mm Napoleonic France 1815 Pattern

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:44:00 +0000

Flags of War continue to expand their Napoleonic range with 34 sets of French flags organised by Brigades specifically for 1815, each set contains two regimental flags, priced at GBP1.75 per set.

For more info click here

French Hussars Uniforms - Part2

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:31:00 +0000

Sort of continuing on from the earlier post about Hussars facing colors here are some pictures of the 'real thing' from the Musée de l’Emperi.

The Musée de l’Emperi is located at the Château de l’Empéri overlooking the town of Salon-de-Provence, about 50 kms from Marseilles and is said to be one of the finest military museums in the world.

You need to allow for that fact that photo's can make colors look different dependent on lighting and also that over the last 200 years the color of fabrics may well have changed, not all consistently, some may have become lighter others darker.
So draw your own conclusions.

Trooper 6e Hussards

Trooper 7e Hussards

Officer 5e Hussards

Another shot of the Officer 5e Hussards

Dolman 6e Hussards

Sabretache 7e Hussards

Shako Rouleau

Sabretache 8e Hussards

Cuff/Sleave detail officers pelisse

Officers harness ornaments

Some more information and pictures from the museum can be found here and here and here

Now I did say be wary of the color.
Contrast the above pictures of the officer of the 5e Hussards with the following pictures of the exact same uniform recreated by a company specialising in this type of thing for collectors and renactors. Particularly notice how the Sky Blue of the Dolman can appear darker in some light and also that the original appears to have probably darkened over time.

Pelisse and Dolman of a Trooper 7e Hussards (same source):

Dolman and Pelisse of Sub Lieutenant of the 8e Hussards:
(shows Pelisse with red fur and white/grey fur as it varied throughout the period)

Uniform Chef d'escadron 7e Hussards:

Napoleonic Dice

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:25:00 +0000

That's what we all need!!

The other day I saw some dice that Gripping Beast have made for their Dark Age SAGA Rules.

They look stunning, though not exactly cheap at around $20 for 8 dice +pp but after all they are custom dice, still don't you think it would be great if we had something like that for Napoleonic's.

Imagine Lasalle with different dice for each nation.

A couple of years back I did see one of the dice companies do WWII dice and wondered if they would go further but sadly no!

However the other day I came across a Polish company (neat subtle polish link don't you think) called Q-Workshop that will make custom dice for you at reasonable prices.

If you take a look at their site you will see their work is simply stunning, they can replicate some amazing detail and surprisingly it is not some tiny one man operation, they must actually be making a living out of this (don't know how lol).

Anyway don't you think that's interesting and it would be very cool to turn up at your next club meeting with your own special Napoleonic dice wouldn't it?

So what do you think the design should be, the above company can do anything from a graphics replacing the 1 or 6 to complete 6 custom sides, whatever you can imagine they seem to be able to do, and not just D6 either.

A Custom Die

Stock WW2 USA Set

Stock 'Call of Cthulhu' set

The pricing of custom sets of course varies dependent on quantity. Their stock dice, which look very cool indeed, run at around $0.75 each, your own custom (full 6 side graphics) dice though are more, they give examples of $6 per dice for a quantity of 20 (the one above) to $1.50 for a 1000, though they would quote specifically for a particular project.

What do you think, ideas, colors, graphics, nations?

Feel free to let your creativity run wild!

Update:
This is the dice sinclair talks about in the comments below.

The site is here.

Heads Must Roll!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 05:32:00 +0000

This post started out a couple of weeks ago as an idea that I thought would be great for Victrix, combine the Hanoverian, the British Lights and the Marines heads, add some Poles in Czpaka's and make them in single plastic set, cheapness of plastic etc. I thought and still do think this could be a winner for them!

Anyway I know ideas like this never go anywhere, so I doubt Victrix would be interested but after seeing the new Poles the other day it got me to thinking (again?) couldn't someone get a sculptor to maybe do a couple of Polish heads wearing Czapka's then have them cast at a reasonable price and then stick them on Perry plastic French bodies?

What do you think, would it be easy to find a sculptor willing to do just a head, and who would cast such a small volume?

What combinations do you think would be needed? I thought one with a plume and one with a plain pompom but maybe only one with plume is needed and you cut off the plume if you just want a pompom, plus a covered czapka.

I have seen some with a sunburst plate on the front (DoW?), others with a shield (Vistula?). Is this really noticeable at this scale? I have also seen the plume/pompom attached either directly to the front corner or half way down the left side, not sure about this.

The Poles wore the Kurtka a jacket which looks very similar to the Bardin uniform except the lapels don't quite go all the way down at the front, at this scale that can be fixed with a bit of paint and obviously when wearing greatcoats (think winter 1812) you couldn't see the difference anyway. So combine them with Perry's French Infantry and you can get Vistula Legion for the Peninsular War, or Duchy of Warsaw in Russia in 1812 and right up to the end 1814, but were they still wearing the Czapka or were they using the Shako?

There is a small article on Napoleon Series about the Czapka.

Much as 28mm Poles in Czapka's look wargaming 'sexy', there is the question of when and where they actually wore the Czapka. By the time the period I am interested in, currently 1813-1815, came around it appears they were all in Shako's not Czpaka's, though some say the 4th Regiment retained the Czapka until the very end, so maybe I could justify one unit. Not sure what the situation was in 1812 but I think it's the same and supposedly even the Vistula Legion in Spain were really in Shako's but who said historical accuracy was that important !!! :)

Probably explains why the Perry's were supposedly not interested in doing these heads.

What do you think? Doable? Worthwhile?

Feel free to pinch this idea if you want, but send me a couple of heads when your done :)

Oh and BTW those Poles, turns out they were for RTB it was a private commission but he will make some available commercially but warns they will be expensive.

Alternatively as I have mentioned before Offensive Miniatures already do pretty decent 28mm Polish Infantry and Lancers at a reasonable price, though on balance Hick's sculpts for RTB are slightly better I feel.

Battle Flag solves the issue of painting Tartan

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:21:00 +0000

BattleFlag have announced a new product and this is a one that I think will make a big difference for Napoleonic fans.

28mm Napoleonic
British Highland Regimental Tartan
Waterslide Transfer Kits

One of the hardest things to do when painting 28mm figures is painting Tartan, unless you are a very skilled painter it always tends to look a complete mess, I have given up trying and have a couple of boxes of Victrix highlanders sitting unopened in a cupboard.

Well what if you could buy a tartan transfer?

OK so I hear you say well great but it won't fit properly on my figures and I well have to mess around trying to trim it into the right shape and it will end up looking worse than if I painted it.

Well what if the tartan was designed specifically for your Victrix figures, you wouldn't need to mess around then.

Hard to believe?

Just take a look at these pictures.

Overnight any muppet can now 'paint' Tartan just like an expert.

I was gobsmacked when I saw these, think many people will be as well.

Quoting Richard Lowles of Battle-Flag.

I am sure that there are many gamers who have always wanted to field Scottish Regiments in their British Napoleonic wargame armies. But like me have felt that their skill with a paint brush just wasn’t up to the task of painting model soldier tartan in 28mm wargame scale. With Battle Flags latest series of transfer kits for the Victrix 28mm plastic Highlanders getting tartan right on your wargame miniature is no longer a problem.

I was attached to the Argyles and Sutherland Highlanders back in 1984-85 on a tour in Belfast, Northern Ireland and have admired the buggers ever since. The problem was always doing the tartan justice. Ended up looking more like modern dispersed camo than Highland plaid. Transfers are the best way to go with kilts and the sock tops and bonnet band are really effective. I dont know about you but this would be impossible for me with a paintbrush in 28mm.

The Gordon Highlanders are the first series of kilt kits to see release with the Cameron’s and the Black Watch to follow over the next couple of weeks.

The Napoleonic Highlander waterslide decal kits come with enough transfers to deck out five wargame model soldiers in full tartan. Each sheet is numbered so as to correspond with the sprue number of the figure in the Victrix Napoleonic Highlanders box; so Cameron sheet B1 is designed for the five B1 models contained in the box, B2 for the B2 numbered models and so on.

Each of the five figure waterslide decal kits comes complete with transfers for kilts, bonnet bands, sock tops, water canteen and backpack Regimental number. Everything a wargamer need to make his Scottish Soldiers stand out on the wargames table.

As with all Battle Flags transfers these are very simple to apply. Simply cut the transfer out of the sheet, soak in water for 20-30 seconds and apply.

Our ultra thin transfers are very easy to slide into place and fold to the shape of the model and dry out to approximately a paint layer thick for a superb finish.

The first five sets for the Gordon Highlanders are available to order now. More than enough for a complete 24 fig Regiment.

All the difficult work that tends to put people off is now in a transfer. I also include a spare swatch of tartan to allow the modeller to fix any mistakes, although to be fair the process is very straight forward. I will be adding a tutorial very soon

They are priced at GBP3.00 plus shipping for a pack of five designed for Gordon Highlanders 92nd Regiment of Foot.

For more info and to purchase click here

Run, don't walk, I would think these could sell out quick!

Now if you looked closely at the pics above you may have noticed the regimental numbers on the canteen and backpack. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get those for other regiments?

Canteens and Regimental numbers are straightforward to do so if you, or indeed anyone who reads your blog, want them just email me and I will do a set of 30 for 3.00 GBP (+P&P) any Regimental Number.

Perry Miniatures and VAT

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:51:00 +0000

I haven't checked this out for myself and so I am only passing on what someone else has reported on another website, though I have no reason to doubt the information.

It seems that Perry Miniatures now automatically deducts VAT (20%) from orders for non-EU Residents placed via their new website.

The comment mentioned in the past the person had forgotten to ask about VAT, though as far as I know Perry didn't deduct VAT and certainly with the orders I have placed with them they were well aware I was a non-resident and I paid the full price.

This is a very significant change as basically it means a 20% reduction in the price of all Perry figures for people outside of Europe.

With Perry International postage being coincidentally 20% the other way of looking at this is you are paying the full sticker price but it's now post free!

Good news for those in the US and Australia though not of much interest to UK or European readers I am afraid.

Flags of War - New Flags, New Website

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:24:00 +0000

Flags of War have some new flags and a new website (must be catching).

Hi Guys

Just to let you know that we now have a new website. With the site growing beyond what I thought it would and the reputation of it growing as well we have moved to a more advanced style of site which is far easier to use for customers.

We have a added a few new flags including Prussian Landwehr with loads more in the wings ready to go on the site soon.

Keep an eye on the site for some competions we will have over the next couple of months with some fantastic painted mini to give away. Why not go on the site and sign up for our newsletter that will be sent very soon.

http://www.flagsofwar.com

Thanks

Prussian Landwehr flags do look nice! The Flags of War Napoleonic range has over 150 flags covering British (inc KGL), French (inc Suisse, Prusse), Russian, Prussian and Portugese units.

Somewhere in the post at the moment (I hope) are some KGL Flags I ordered from them a couple of weeks back, looking forward to seeing these. Got to practice curling flags lol.

Napoleonic Wishlists

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:28:00 +0000

The other day Fons of MMPS asked a question on his blog:

I get asked all the time if I will have for instance Warlord Games plastic Russians, or Victrix metal cavalry, or Perry plastic WoTR etc etc..

The answer is that I can't stock everything, I just don't have the funds for that so I need to make choices. I make those based on my idea of what will sell in sufficient numbers and also based on customer input.

You can help me with this by telling me what you want and what you would buy if I have it. So if there is anything that you would like MMPS to offer Ready-Made and Painted just write it in a comment to this post. If enough people want a certain product we will offer it.

Cheers,

Fons

I thought it would be useful to repeat that question here as it is an interesting and important one, with a not so simple answer, and yes I was one of the ones asking about WG Russians and Victrix metals :)

Of course I would also suggest you go over to Fons and post your wishes their, at the end of the day that's what counts.

So what painted figures would you buy if they were available?

I think we wargamers are often like kids in a candy store or should I say kids in a toy store just before xmas. The first thing we see we want, until we see the next thing and the next thing etc. even though at the end of the day we are only allowed to buy one toy.

We also, in the current financial climate, have very finite budgets, not sure if its the same for you but my gaming budget is one of the first casualties when the family has to tighten it's belts.

So put this together and what do you get?

I think there are a lot of things we say we want but not a lot of things we actually will buy at the end of the day.

So first lets deal with WG.
Whenever there is a new set out we all go "lovely got to have some of them", I know at least I do, and the WG Russians did look very nice when painted up and if I had the money and if they were available and if I had nothing else to spend my money on I would definitely buy them.

So put them on the wishlist?

Well the reality is this, we know that the Perry's are in the process of producing the same Russians, the moment they are released we all will want them in preference to WG's Russians simply because, sad to say, they will be better sculpts or at least the Perry halo effect has us believing they are. So the 'window' when I might buy WG Russians is quite small, say the next 6 months at most, but that's not all, during the next 6 months I am focusing on building a Prussian army so even if I had the money it wouldn't be Russians I would be buying, and having just bought a couple of brigades of Cavalry I actually don't have any more money in my gaming budget for at least the next 3 months.

Also I hate to say this, but even if you are looking to refight 1812 there is still enough time to wait for the Perry's.

So no WG Russians.... at least not until I have bought all that I need of the Perry's and am looking for alternatives but even then I would probably turn to Victrix before I would choose WG . Sorry to say but WG are definitely 3rd in the pecking order at the moment.

Hmm but what about the WG Landwehr? Well as there is no Perry or Victrix alternative in the offing and Prussians are my next target I actually might buy some of these, volume would be low though because they are not the greatest of sculpts and they do have those awful boxing gloves on the end of their hands.

So what about Victrix?
Well it's a similar story, if the Perry's have something available I probably won't buy Victrix, at least not until I have exhausted the Perry's and my money. Though with Victrix having a much larger range their is a lot more that they do that Perry's don't.

So if I was into the Peninsula War, or if I was into the 1805-1807 period, I would buy Victrix plastic's and metals but I am not, at least not for the next 3 years at least.

However with Victrix there is a major problem for painting services like MMPS, the assembly time!! With the forthcoming Austrian Victrix have reduced the amount of pieces that make up a figure this issue may have been resolved but all the current stuff simply take ages to assemble, and time is obviously money for a business in a way it is not for us as individuals 'enjoying' our hobby. It's a major hurdle and undoubtedly would make Victrix more expensive.

Mentioning the Austrians, yes I would be interested in them, and the assembly time shouldn't be much different than with the Perry's. It's true there maybe a minor drill or uniform issue which has been highlighted by the Perry's own figures requiring changes but you have got to be a real button counter for it to make a difference and it wouldn't stop me buying Victrix BUT along with that Perry 'halo' again if there is a straight choice between Victrix and Perry, Perry wins again!

Again for me the 'window' of interest in Austrians will be next year by which time the Perry's Austrians will be out, so probably no Victrix Austrian but it's a close call. Of course YMMV.

Anything else Victrix?
Well yes, French Guard Grenadier/Chasseurs. These two sets are superb, no Perry competition either, sadly you don't need much Guard do you? A couple of battalions max.
Also there are the Hanoverian and Light head conversions, though maybe on Perry bodies. Definitely have an interest in these, though I know they would be expensive, and again low volume.

What's left?
Well really only Perry metals at this point and I will say that if Perry metals were available I would be all over them. I need them from one source or another, I just can't complete the armies I am aiming to build over the next 3 years without a substantial amount of metals and at the moment that means Perry metals because no one else is making 'Perry Compatible' metals for 1813-1815 period, if Victrix were to produce metals in this period then I would also be interested with them, as I do regard Victrix and Perry as being on a par quality wise, but as of today that is not the case.

However again there is a problem with Perry metals for painting services, because the Perry's know they can sell all that they can produce they never have had much of an incentive to discount their prices in the way other's do. Simply as a consumer I can buy Victrix and WG figures a massive 40% cheaper than I can buy Perry's. Staggering but true, Victrix and WG can be bought less the 20% VAT and with free postage which is worth another 20%. In addition the Perry's don't provide trade discounts which can run in the order of 50% in other cases. This means for a painting service Perry (I speculate) are at least double if not triple the price of a Victrix and then compared to plastics the price is just huge.

Of course then there is the cost of shipping the finished metals back to you, they weigh a lot more so would cost a lot more.

So as I have only a limited budget my demand for these would be low, and if MMPS were to factor in the same per figure margin that they get on plastics they wouldn't be making very much at all, clearly they would need to increase their margins, making them more expensive and in turn making me buy even less!!

But I would still buy them!!!

Though some more than others, here I am thinking particularly of Perry Artillery, no alternative and they are an 'essential'.

Thinks to himself, Victrix really missed a golden opportunity here, after having half done the British Artillery they could have gone on and done all artillery for all armies and had the field to themselves.. what a shame.

So in summary:
My 'real' wishlist for MMPS, beyond what they have, and beyond any and every Perry plastic set present and future, is maybe a few WG Prussian Landwehr, maybe a few Victrix Austrian Landwehr, French Guard, Hanoverian and Light conversions, a few Perry metals from time to time and the Perry Artillery.

When you come down to it, it's not a lot is it and all low volume....

Must make depressing reading for non-Perry manufacturer's.

and if you think it couldn't get any worse, with the Perry's just announcing the British Hussars for November what spare cash I have will go on British, KGL and Hanoverians Hussars all of which I can use straight away.

The above is just my own personal view, and I don't claim or believe I am necessarily representative of the average wargamer, indeed my focus is on the new 'Perry compatible' 28mm's and the 1813-1815 period. You may go for Foundry or Front Rank or others and your views will undoubtedly be different. I would be very interested to hear your views, so leave a comment here or on Fons' blog if you wish.

But remember we are trying to deal in a 'reality' not a 'fantasy' wishlist!

Perry Plastic British Hussars Update

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 14:42:00 +0000

Only Thursday I was saying to Fons at MMPS I was hoping for the Perry's to surprise us with the Plastic British Hussars being released before Christmas, a couple of days later and my wish comes true.

The Perry's have a new website, in their own words 'We have eventually entered the 21st century!', and have made a few announcements. To be honest the old site didn't bother me even if it was very basic, it got the job done and really that's all that matters.

Anyway - the news.

Russian Infantry 1809-15 plastic '3ups'
There will be two Russian boxed infantry sets, one for the Infantry (including elites) and one for the Grenadiers. The Infantry box will contain heads with the re-styled 1807 shako with cords which dates them to 1809. These were still worn during the 1812 campaign alongside the 1812 kiwers, albeit most likely in their own units. The kiwers have their full dress cords too which was typical of Russians in the field. There are also enough 1812 forage caps for all as this too was quite common practice for Russian infantry on campaign. The figures are all in summer one-piece overalls which were adopted in 1807.

The Grenadier box will contain the same pattern shakos with the grenadier distinctions and the famous Pavlov Grenadier mitre caps. The Pavlov Grenadiers were still wearing their normal grenadier uniforms throughout the 1812 campaign, receiving their Guard uniforms the next year. I've included the large 'busch' plume on the 1809 shako which was officially replaced by the thinner plume in 1811. However it's open to debate if they still lingered into 1812.

British Hussars 1808-1815
The box will contain 14 hussars, including an officer and a trumpeter. I've included five variants of head gear in the box (all figures have the
variants) which will allow you to make up British, KGL and Hanoverian Hussars from 1808 to 1815. Within the variants I've included the very tall early fur cap used by the British during the first years of the Peninsular and strange peakless castor cap which seems to have been an emergency replacement for it before the peaked shako came in. In the pictures most of hussars are shown without their haversacks and canteens, they will in fact have them on the finished models.

These will be available in November.

Austrian (German) Infantry 1808-15
All the figures in the box will have both helmets and shakos. During the 1809 campaign both were seen in the field. Although the 1808 jacket with it's swept-back turnbacks is quite distinctive from the fuller 1798 pattern, you could, if you wanted, use the figures earlier.

I have recently made some changes to the Austrians shown before. The main change is the pose the privates are in. The normal 'march attack' pose you see on most wargames figures, musket crooked in the left arm was never used by the Austrian army. Therefore I have changed the basic pose to 'Shoulder arms' or 'Schultert!' There are other changes including details in the way the equipment is worn as you can see in the photos. For example the small axe shown (even by the excellent Ottenfeld) attached to the outside of the knapsacks was actually carried inside, Austrian regulations forbidding anything (cooking utensils, pots and pans etc.) to hang from it. The photos of the groups were taken as I was in the middle of making the changes. Many thanks to Dr. Fiedrich Tuchler who's extensive research has thrown more light on the subject.

There will be 48 figures in the box. Sorry, no release date yet.

So big news is British Hussars in Novemeber, work on the Austrian and Russian greens seems to be well advanced, but remember with plastics it is the mold making that consumes a lot of time, so I would expect that we won't be seeing these until second quarter next year and a lot depends on how busy Renedra are and they do seem to be behind an awful lot of plastic sets these days not just the Perry's.

But what of metal's I hear you say...
Well some great Prussian equipment and a really oddity 1814 French National Guard Conscripts for those who want to refight the Battle of Paris.

Now all I have to do is get Fons to stock those Perry Hussars before Christmas and then I can work on 'santa' for my xmas present...

WG - Pre-order plastic 1809 Napoleonic Russian Infantry!

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:06:00 +0000

There was a sort of inevitability to this announcement LOL.

Hot on the heels of our 1812 Russian Infantry are these excellent 1809 Russians from the Napoleonic Wars!

Wearing the taller shako and with Grenadiers wearing the outlandishly larger plumes many regiments would wear this style of uniform right through to the end of the Napoleonic wars.These 3-part models (head, body and backpack/sword) are easy to build and allows you to get stuck into the painting quickly. The set allows you to build a 32-strong unit of grenadiers, musketeers or a mixture of both – complete with command group and several full-colour paper flags – as is your preference.

Take a look at the new models and tell us you don’t want to place a pre-order!

For those of you without access to the internet on your desert island you’ll not have heard about our forthcoming 1812-1815 Russian Infantry – allow us to fill you in…

Wearing the later pattern ‘kiwer’ shako this boxed set represents regiments who have adopted the latest reforms to the Russian army uniforms and structure. As with the earlier set this unit can be made up as musketeers, grenadiers or a mix of both by virtue of the separate heads.

You can take advantage of our pre-order offer for this boxed set and make sure you get yours before those lightweights who will wait for it to be released!

If that little lot hasn’t left you breathless here is the cover art for the next Napoleonic Russian boxed set – Pavlovsk Grenadiers! As with our other box artworks Peter ‘The Count’ Dennis has worked his magic perfectly. We’ll be showing off the sculpts for these in a couple of weeks all being well.

It doesn’t end there though – we have a welter of support packs for the Russians – keep your eyes on the Warlord newsletter for the first news!

Inevitable yes, but still you have to say all of a sudden WG are knocking on the door with 4 different boxes of Napoleonics and after learning on the Landwehr these are not bad at all. Ok maybe not Perry standard but I think good enough for wargamers and to be honest I use 32 man units so these are spot on, as they are mean't to be and they are available now, in plastic, you can't say that about anyone else.

Not sure where they really are with the Pavlosk Grenadiers, certainly no more than 6 months away but are secretly quite advanced and we will see these before xmas?

I have to say these Russian have painted up really well, much better than I expected, they are lovely. So if you need to get your Russians in time for 2012 then this looks like a good place to start.

With all these new sets of infantry arriving this autumn it does beg the question, who is going to be first in offering us non-French cavalry in plastic?

New Napoleonic Rules - Tremble Ye Tyrants

noreply@blogger.com (Robert) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:56:00 +0000

I must say a set I hadn't heard about till I read the announcement, but they will be carried by North Star.

The latest set of rules from Chris Peers’ Ruga Ruga Publishing will be with us next week.

Tremble ye Tyrants! is a set of rules for medium to large scale wargames set in the last decade or so of the Napoleonic Wars, or roughly between 1805 and 1815. This is the classic Napoleonic “Empire” period, including the great campaigns of Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau and Friedland, Aspern and Wagram, as well as the invasions of Spain and Russia, and the decisive allied victories at Leipzig and Waterloo. In addition to refighting these great battles, and the countless lesser ones of the era, the rules are designed to be suitable for free-form campaigns, hypothetical scenarios, and one-off competition style games using armies built on a system of points values. Tabletop armies can represent a wide variety of real life levels of organisation, from a division up to a full scale army.

Tremble ye Tyrants! is aimed at players who want a fast playing and enjoyable game with a minimum of complex mechanisms, but which retains as much as possible of the tactical flavour of the period, and makes large scale manoeuvres feasible within the confines of an evening’s game. Although designed mainly with 28mm figures in mind, it is suitable for any scale and any size of game.

We have not only improved the quality of Tremble Ye Tyrants compared to previous Ruga-Ruga books, we have managed to bring down the cover price to £10.00.

For all pre-orders placed, we are offering Tremble ye Tyrants post free world-wide.

Well I like to hear of new rules, particularly ones aimed at 28mm but as has been the case before with North Star announcement's the above is just completely meaningless blurb that could equally be applied to any and every set of Napoleonic rules known to man.

If you want me to preorder couldn't you give me at least the tiniest bit of information about how the rules are structured or what the game mechanism is like?

How bad has the quality of Ruga Ruga previous publications been that it warrants a mention that these are better and what was the old price? (Previous ones were stapled together and priced GBP12.00-GBP14.00).

Is there or will there be any PDF option, don't know about you but personally a PDF option is becoming increasingly important, I don't go anywhere without my iPad these days!!

These could be a great set of rules and if you have played Chris Peers rules before maybe you know all the answers to the above, but for someone like me who hasn't I am left frustrated by what I don't know.

To order or see more info click here.

The Napoleonic Wargamer

More Hussar Sabretaches from BattleFlags

Flags of War - Lance Pennants

Battle Flags - Perry Hussar Sabretache and Saddle Roll Number Decals

Flags of War - New 28mm German States

CAPITAN MINIATURES - A new miniatures manufacturer

Perry Hussar Sabretache Decals From LBMS

Warhammer Historicals Waterloo 1/2 Price Sale

New arrivals at MMPS

Warlord Games - Pavlovsk Grenadiers

Perry British Ammunition Wagon

Free playtest hex based horse & musket rules at Crusader

Tremble Ye Tyrants - Take II

Perry Update

Warlord Games - New: Napoleonic Russian Support Packs!

Flags of War - 28mm Napoleonic France 1815 Pattern

French Hussars Uniforms - Part2

Napoleonic Dice

Heads Must Roll!

Battle Flag solves the issue of painting Tartan

28mm Napoleonic British Highland Regimental Tartan Waterslide Transfer Kits

Perry Miniatures and VAT

Flags of War - New Flags, New Website

Napoleonic Wishlists

Perry Plastic British Hussars Update

WG - Pre-order plastic 1809 Napoleonic Russian Infantry!

New Napoleonic Rules - Tremble Ye Tyrants

28mm Napoleonic
British Highland Regimental Tartan
Waterslide Transfer Kits