The Wargaming Depot

Yes the layout has changed

2011-11-29T13:37:00.000+10:00

In an effort to update my blog I tried out the new Dynamic templates and while they do look fantastic, they don't allow the use of gadgets such as Followers or Owner or a Table of Contents, etc. This means they are useless for a blog like mine. While trying to recover back it lost all my settings and I had to go back to this template as the template I originally used was no longer listed. Bugger!

At least I did not lose all my photos like last time I tried to change the template.

FOR SALE: Baccus 6mm Painted Nap British

2011-10-10T14:34:00.000+10:00

Got some Naps I got ages ago to compare to my Adlers way back and just now getting around to sending off to a new home.

They are painted British Infantry - 4 battalions of 6 stands of 4 figures - total 64 figures unbased so you can base them up however you want.

Looking for $32AUD plus postage (email me for quote). Can pay via PayPal.

Latest 6mm Naps units

2011-09-26T16:09:00.000+10:00

Finally finished another couple of 6mm Napoleonic units for my Waterloo project.

1st Brigade of the 1st Division of British troops, 2 x 1000 strong battalions of British Guards.

I did cheat with these a little. 90% of the figure was painted by a commission painter. I then based them and painted the unit facings, collars and cuffs and then all the plumes. Blue on gold facings with white on red plumes. Grenadier company has full white plumes and light company has green plumes.

Using the 15mm Empire basing, meant both battalions of 1000 men equates to 16 figures which when doubled out and double width makes 16 stands of 60 x 6mm figures. Very nice long units.

2nd ADF figure painted

2011-07-13T10:07:00.000+10:00

After this 1st figure:
http://wardepot.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-1st-20mm-adf-modern-figure-painted.html

I believe the base "tone" of the figure resulting from the base colour used on the uniform before the pattern of spots is too dark and too brown.

I added more beige yellow spots to the 1st test figure (on left below) and then began the 2nd test figure with the beige yellow base colour over the black undercoat (on the right below). I think it looks better.

What do you think?

This is what is should look like

My 1st 20mm ADF modern figure painted

2011-07-05T08:58:00.001+10:00

I finally got around to my test paint of my 1st ADF digger using my new Vallejo paints and the following tutorial:
http://www.ozwargaming.com/viewtopic.php?f=128&t=3761&p=29894&sid=131f4f7b1bfc7e044975c8e698aa94ef

I pretty much followed it to the "T" except for the colours used on the base which I used my normal Caramel and Beige to match my terrain and table.

Am I happy with it? NO. There is something not quite right. Maybe the brown is too prominent?

The tutorial says to use Iraqi Sand for the base uniform and then add the wash and then heavy dry brush Iraqi Sand back over. I think this is too dark. in the bottom photo I have a sample of the Iraqi Sand on the left, Pale Beige from my basing in the middle and Yellow Sand on the right. I think I will use the Pale Beige next time.

Let me know what you think.

Iraqi Sand left, Pale Beige middle, Yellow Sand right

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build TASK 3

2011-07-01T10:19:00.000+10:00

I only just made it! Task 3 was due by 30 June and while I had 30 afghans painted a few weeks back, I had not fully completed them with a few dips and painted bases. A few hours in the morning and evenings on 29th and 30th and all was complete.

So here are my 1st painted 20mm figures. Considering I have only ever painted 6mm prior to these, I think they turned okay.

So now I turn my attention to my recently reinforced (thanks to Matt at Wartime Minis) ADF diggers. With my recently acquired Vallejo paints, I am ready to paint up some Auscam. I am even tempted to now grab a unit or 2 of Australian SF minis. We'll see how the diggers turn out.

Force on Force AAR from Brisbane Muster - June 2011

2011-06-28T15:49:00.001+10:00

This past weekend I attended the wargaming day in Brisbane called the Brisbane Muster.

One of the many demo and participation games was a 15mm Force on Force game put on by Kevin and Mark. I joined this game as the insurgent player against a French force.

The scenario was that a small French recon team of 3 vehicles had been ambushed by a group of students armed with small arms and 1 rpg. One of the vehicles had sustained some damage and 2 of its crew were seriously hurt and in need of immediate evacuation. A QRF of another light vehicle and 2 x APCs with remote weapon systems were enroute to assist with the extraction of all from the site.

Meanwhile, the insurgents were attracking attention and numbers were growing.

The volume of fire the French were drawing made it impossible for the 2 surviving vehicles to man their fixed weapons and these remained buttoned up for most of the duration of the contact.

Soon after the ambush was sprung, the French QRF arrives on the right of the battlespace made up of another light recon vehicle with a 50 cal MG and the 2 x armoured APCs full of heavily armed French troops.

The lead vehicle hits some rough terrain and destroys its front end beyond repair, blocking the road for the remaining vehicles. The 1st APC veers left and into the creekbed and gets bogged while the 2nd APC moves north and around the carnage.

All newly arrived vehicles draw fire and soon all recon vehicles including the light vehicle from the QRF are either destroyed or heavily damaged. With the heavier armour of the APCs, the French begin to take the offensive to widen their area of control in order to get an evac chopper in for an increasing amount of seriously wounded soldiers.

More insurgents arrive and pretty soon the French are surrounded on all sides and fighting for their lives. The bogged APC gets itself out of the creekbed and up onto the southern bank and with infantry support, gains ground on the insurgents, clearing out a number of buildings and pushing enemy fighters back into a village.

The 2nd APC moving north spent a lot of time overwatching for any threats from the north but eventually needs to move. It pushes forward but is taken from the side by an awaiting enemy with an RPG. The vehicle is destroyed with all men onboard forced to fight their way into the cover of a high crop.

Enemy numbers are increasing and large groups can be seen approaching from the left. The French commander calls in a nearby Apache gunship which destroys a recoilless rifle coming into action and a number of insurgents. The effect of this is astonishing as the entire left side of the battlespace goes quiet from suppression by the gunship.

As more insurgents race through the village to get into the fight, the French begin withdrawing on foot along the road the QRF arrived on, leaving burning vehicles, and several severely wounded and 1 dead soldier.

As a gesture of goodwill, the insurgents take the dead and wounded to a Redcross site the next morning and disappear back into the mountains.

(more pics of a nearby Iraq demonstration by Bill)

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build TASK 2

2011-04-30T13:14:00.001+10:00

April 30 at midnight UK time is due TASK 2 of The Guild Build. This year long project commitment can be seen on The Guild forums and my entry is to build the tabletop, terrain items and opposing forces for modern ADF operations in Afghanistan for gaming Ambush Alley and Force on Force.

TASK 1 was completed in time by the end of February and can be seen in an earlier post and was simply to build a 4' x 4' gaming area out of cork tiles.

TASK 2 was the completion of a large set of terrain items including a vehicle track, canal system, compounds and fields to represent settlements near or in the green zone which is the lush irrigated areas around rivers and creeks.

Everything is scratched built using cork tiles, plasticard, foamcore, balsa, sand, hobby paints, superglue, PVA glue, painters medium paste, grape stem trees, model trees, flocks and clump foliage and a few other items.

Here are the results:

Now onto TASK 3 due at the end of June. This will be the compilation and painting of a number of taliban fighters and civilians.

As usual, feel free to comment or make suggestions.

What I did on the Anzac Day long weekend (also known as Easter)

2011-04-27T22:31:00.000+10:00

It's been a long long time since we in Australia have had a 5 day weekend. Anzac Day fell on the Monday that should have been Easter Monday and since Anzac Day cannot be moved, Tuesday was made Easter Monday and together with Good Friday, meant we all had 5 days off work. Yay!

So what did I do with my 5 days?

1st of all I got stuck into my Afghanistan terrain project for the The Guild forum. See another post for an update on that one.

In amongst that, I finally got around to organising my 6mm Adler Prussians using the new 15mm base sizes for Empire. It meant that each base would contain 2 rows of 3 figures with 8 bases being the 4 companies or 8 "zugs" of a Prussian battalion. Multiply this all by 3 and we get a full regiment.

I decided on building the 1815 I Korps to begin with.

It starts with the 12th Regiment of Infantry. Some quick research in books and online reveals this is one of the hardest regiments to find accurate info on. It appears to be a new regiment compiled from a bunch of different units in 1815. The uniform information is conflicting by the Waterloo book I have by Haythornwaite (Uniforms of Waterloo in Colour) says the 1st battalion had black jackets with red collar and white pants. It says the second battalion had black litewkas and nothing on the 3rd battalion. I also checked the French Waterloo website called http://www.mont-saint-jean.com/ and it shows black and white for the 1st battalion, the usual dark blue and grey for the 2nd and grey jacket and pants for the 3rd battalion.

I decided on a mixture. I would paint the 1st and 2nd battalions with a black jacket with red collar and white pants and the 3rd battalion with grey jacket with red collar and white pants.

The hunt for flags was hard as well. The only reference I could find was for a pre 1806 flag for the 12th regiment. That would do.

And here they are:

Moving on to the next regiment in that Corps, the 24th Regiment which was renamed from a reserve infantry regiment. This unit was all grey jackets with red collars and grey pants. Should not take too long.

See you soon.

My 2nd 25mm Figure

2011-04-12T08:08:00.000+10:00

Our new Napoleonic campaign begins soon with each player "inventing" a new German duchy or kingdom. As part of this project, each player has to grab a 25mm mounted general and paint it up as themselves on the tabletop. The leader and commander of their nation.

So here is me, The Crown Prince Max of Wellenhausen:

The figure.

After scouring the web for images of mounted Napoleonic commanders, I decided upon something Austrian or Russian but then found this image of Archduke Charles of Austria.

This became my inspiration.

And here is the result. Don't look into his eyes as he will most certainly possess you.

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build Part 6

2011-04-04T09:28:00.002+10:00

So here I am. The vehicle track is complete and sealed with water and PVA and bushes and trees have been added to the track and to all existing terrain pieces.

Here are some set up shots with some US troops staged for pics.

Thanks for all the comments so far. Subscribing to The Guild Build has certainly added that extra layer of accountability to the project. It's hard to move away from it and do something else. Plus checking out what other people have done is always inspiring and drives me on to more and greater things.

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build Part 5

2011-03-14T11:41:00.001+10:00

More terrain building.

Over the past few weeks I have been contemplating trees. Not only trees for the Afghanistan Build but for my 6mm European projects as well.

I played around with making trees from grape branches and toothpicks which worked okay but took a bit of time.

Trees from grape branches and clump foliage

I also ordered some cheap trees from 2 suppliers on ebay. These turned out a lot better than expected. When I got them all together they are quite bright and "toyish" in their colouring. A quick dip is some watered down yellow paint (the same one used in the last dry brush for the Afghan terrain boards) and they looked a lot better.

4 types of trees collected.

from the left, large from HK, small from HK, medium from Sydney, my own grape tree

All the purchased trees, HK and Sydney dipped in diluted paint and drying upright.

It feels good to get that all sorted out and I will probably purchase more from the HK supplier soon.

Next I wanted to model a vehicle track through the greenzone to add to my collection of built terrain pieces for Afghanistan. This was to be a group of 12" lengths with rises and sections or walls and which enbankments of bushes and trees.

Once again 1mm plasticard was used.

4 sections of 12" plasticard was cut with 3 of them being 3" wide and 1 of them being 6" wide. The 6" peice was to allow the track to move from entering on the left of the 3" section to the opposite corner for a bit of variety. Each piece has the track entering and exiting the same distance from the edge so any piece can be placed next to any piece.

As usual, all pieces have a 1/2" buffer around all edges where little or no modelling occurs to allow for neat placement and instant walking tracks for figures. The squiggle is the placement for vehicle marks. Walls and uneven ground was then modelled onto the plasticard.

A trial run of a small US convoy helps confirm sizing and placement.

Spakfilla is added to smooth out the features.

Medium textured clag is then added to everything in a thick layer.

The Caramello undercoat is generously applied.

The light beige dry bursh is completed.

Grass flock and some bushes are added.

A close up of the grass flock and bushes next to the vehicle track.

Next will be added some of the dipped trees but the pieces need a thick matt varnish applied for lockdown.

The rest of the week was focussed on how I would model my hills and in particular contours that dominate the Afghan landscape. The usual 1 tile hills would not do in this situation as the ground scale is just too local. I needed a way to model contours so that some of the 4' x 4' board could be on 1 level while portions of it could be on another or even 2 other levels. These contours then need to be just as flat and just as coloured as the ground level so terrain pieces can be added.

I thought of cutting up the cork boards and multiplying them out in stepped increments up to a board that may be 4 or 6 tiles thick. This would work well as the height of the higher board needs to match the build up of the terrain next to it and finish nice and flush and level. The problem is that the cork tiles are more expensive than most other products used in my workshop. There must be a way to use the multiple sheets of 5mm foamcare I have in storage.

I decided to use the same system but with 5mm foamcore. Gluing 4 sections of foamcore together creates a block 20mm high. On top of this I place a completed terrain tile. The surrounding terrain tiles are then modelled using the same 5mm foamcore to create a gradient up to that cork tile. This would result in a contour that sits 20mm higher than the ground level. Do this up one more level but adding a gradient tile instead of a flat tile and you now have 40mm contour. I think this would work well and probably is better explained with pics.

click here for Part 6 (not yet published)

1:15 ratios Cavalry sorted

2011-02-25T12:11:00.001+10:00

After receiving tonnes of feedback (from an earlier posting here) both on here, via email and the various forums I am a member on, I have decided to go with a single rank of 6 figures.

Prior to that a squadron looked like below with the width doubled out:

A squadron will now look like this. Double the width but also more figs fitting onto the base:

The figures are literally boot to boot and I think gives a good medium between the double width basing and the mass I was trying to achieve. So regiment of 480 men in 4 x squadrons will being 16 figures, they will now be 24 figures. And instead of Cavalry matching the Infantry at 1:15 ratio, they will be 1:20 ratio.

As usual comments are more than welcome.

1:15 ratios Cavalry feedback required

2011-02-23T09:15:00.002+10:00

Recently on a post where I finally came to a conclusion about the basing and figure ratios I would use for my own solo gaming, Jimbo asked the question:

"How do you intend to apply this for Cavalry?"

"It would be the same idea", I thought to myself.

But then last night I was laying awake in bed and thinking, "WOULD it be the same?"

So this morning I did some research and took some pics. My conclusion is neither here nor there and so I require some feedback from you the readers.

WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

First up is a normal 8 figure regiment of 4 x squadrons used in Empire:

And this is 1 x squadron of 2 figures or 120men at 1:60 ratio:

If I follow the same logic as for the Infantry, where I double the width and depth, I get 1 x squadron looking like:

This looks too deep to me when compared with the width. But it is consistent and true to 1:15 ratios and is true to the 15mm basing size which matches what has been done with the Infantry.

This next pic looks better to me from a proportion point of view but it is only 1:30 ratio.

A little research reveals that this may be okay width-wize. In Mark Adkin's The Waterloo Companion, he has a picture of a British square being charged by 1 single squadron of French Cavalry. It clearly shows that squadron well and truly overlapping the width of the square.

My new squadrons do not do that. BUT! This may be because a normal square would be half the width of my square because instead of being deployed in 2 or 3 ranks, the infantry would be in 4 or 6 ranks. So by halving the width of the square, my squadron would look right.

Which means a whole regiment of 4 x squadrons would look like:

If I went back to the original consistent scaling earlier in this post, this regiment should look like:

And when both units are in line:

So your turn!

What do you think? The 32 figure regiment of double rank or the 16 figure regiment of single rank? The width is good, what about the depth?

Click here to see the next part in this dicussion.

Finished a Division of French Infantry at 1:15 ratio

2011-02-21T18:01:00.001+10:00

As a follow on to finally settling the base size and ratio issue: http://wardepot.blogspot.com/2011/02/6mm-or-15mm-160-or-115-debate-finalised.html all the rebasing is complete and touchups are done. Most were debased and rebased, some were simply glued together and others had their magnet removed and then grouped together on a larger magnet. Pretty quick actually.

Then I had to go through and redo all the pom poms and plumes so their companies match correctly.

Se here we are. My 1st French Infantry Division at 1:15 ratios.

All my French Divisions are based on 2 x Brigades of 2 x Regiments with each Regiment having 3 x Battalions at paper strength of 720men. This is then adjusted for historical refights or combined for the larger Brigades in Russia. Pretty flexible. 1 x Regiment is always Legere (light infantry).

The Legere regiment leads with 1 battalion in line and 2 battalions in column of attack in support. Behind those are the 2nd regiment from the 1st Brigade and then the 2nd Brigade in column or march.

A Legere battalion in line

A line battalion in column of attack, 2 companies wide

A battery of 8 guns

A foot artillery piece and crew in action

2nd Brigade marching up in column of march

On to the 2nd Division now and then jump into a Cavalry Division.

6mm or 15mm; 1:60 or 1:15 - the debate finalised?

2011-02-17T19:24:00.001+10:00

For a while now I have been contemplating what base sizing and therefore what figure to men ratios I should settle on for my own solo Empire napoleonic gaming.

Empire is written with a 1:60 ratio in mind. So a 720 man battalion in line is simply 12 figures side by side.

This translates easily to other ratios. In the past I have played 1:30 ratios and use 2 figures for every 1 and even played around with 1:15 ratios and use 4 figures in place of 1. The problem occurs with distances. The ranges for shooting and moving and so forth.

Base sizes are just that. Base sizes. So I could in reality put what ever sized figures I want on those bases and multiple that out to the number of "figures" that would be. For example, I regularly game with a group who use 6mm Adler miniatures with Empire. For this, they half all the sizes and distances stated for 15mm figures and use the same 12 man battalions as for 15mm or even 25mm. This works well and a quick look through my After Action Reports will show massed 6mm battles involved multiple corps on either side.

INFANTRY IN 3 RANKS

Empire says a battalion of 12 figures in line for 15mm should be based 12 x 10mm wide and 12.5mm deep. I converted these from inches.

This is a total of 120mm wide x 12.5mm deep for 15mm.

For 6mm this would be 60mm wide x around 6mm deep. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 60mm wide x 5mm deep as you can see from the 1st pic in this post.

INFANTRY IN 2 RANKS

Empire says a battalion of 12 figures in line for 15mm should be based 12 x 12.5mm wide and 12.5mm deep. I converted these from inches.

This is a total of 150mm wide x 12.5mm deep for 15mm.

For 6mm this would be 75mm wide x around 6mm deep. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 75mm wide x 5mm deep.

CAVALRY

Empire says a regiment of 8 figures in line for 15mm should be based 8 x 18.75mm wide.

This is a total of 150mm wide.

For 6mm this would be 75mm wide. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 80mm wide.

ARTILLERY

Empire says each gun model is really 2 or 3 guns so a battery of 8 guns in line for 15mm should be based 4 x 18.75mm wide.

This is a total of 75mm wide and 4 gun models.

For 6mm this would be 37mm wide and 4 gun models. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 20mm wide and 1 gun model.

In reality it is hard to get 4 guns models onto a base 75mm for 15mm or 37mm for 6mm. In reality most Empire players half their gun models making the bases the same size but only 2 guns for an 8 gun battery with 4 crew on each gun model or 2 guns with a slightly smaller wide base for a 6 gun battery with 3 crew on each gun model.

There is also some research done. One of the groups I belong to built a gaming table to match a particular battle and had all the terrain sized to match the historical map. When he tried deploying a massed battery in the historical space mentioned, only half the guns would fit. This led to some extreme research being done and we all found that the basing should be halved and results in just 1 gun model with 3 or 4 crew with each crew representing 2 guns. This has been working very well so far.

DOUBLING THE FIGURES (1:30 RATIO)

Doubling could be giving everything double the figure depth or doubling the width. I think part of the whole idea of doubling the figures would be to look more like a line, long and gangly, or a column, wider than it is deep but still a massed blocked of men. To simple double the depth would be to make formations look thinner than they actually were in width.

The battalion in the centre is actually in line! Doubly deep.

The double depth just does not look that good keeping the original width.

The battalion in the centre is now in line with double the figures wide.

Doubling the width looks better. It actually means I am using 6mm figures with 15mm bases. Not a bad thing.

WHAT ABOUT MASS?

One of the advantages of using 6mm besides being so quick to paint and so cheap to purchase is the ability to use more figures in your units. For our Empire group, the advantage of 6mm for us has always been the 2 mentioned above AND the ability to field large armies on moderately sized tables. A battalion of 12 figures takes little room and allows for hundreds of these to be deployed into action.

Looking at the alternate way of taking advantage of the numbers game, we could use large units. These look fantastic. In reality we would be moving back to 15mm gaming from a table size point of view. Not that bad a thing considering my table can be anywhere from 4' x 4' to 8' x 4' which is common for 15mm gaming.

So if I can't double the depth without doubling the width, then I can do both. This is now 4x the figures or 1:15 ratios.

This looks good. 48 figure battalions in in line and attack columns

A 48 figure battalion in column of march

A 48 man battalion in square

BUT WHAT ABOUT DISTANCES IN THE RULES?

Because I am using 15mm basing, I should probably use 15mm distances and ranges. But this may feel funny when compared to the figure height being 6mm. Testing will be required. I have already ruled out using the 6mm distances as these are now way too short for the bases being used. 15mm I think may be too long. Maybe the 15mm distances in inches can be made 1 for 1 into cm and then doubled. This would reduce everything by about 1/4. So 8 inch engagement range becomes 16cm and 40 inch Grand Tactical Movement in columns becomes 80cm. Should work okay. Testing will reveal all.

WHAT ABOUT MY FIGURE COLLECTION SO FAR?

I have tonnes and tonnes of 6mm Adler in my possession. In some instances more than enough needed for 1:60 ratios to complete the formations I aim to complete. Using 4x the figures will mean slower progress (which some might say is already quite slow) but considering I would not need to make more purchases and that after moving I do have more time, this should still work out okay.

BUT HOW AM I TO FIELD MULTIPLE CORPS IN MY SOLO BATTLES?

This is a concern to me. My aim is to build armies of the main nations involved in a 2 or 3 main theatres during the wars. To begin with, I have been working on the 100 days. Now I was not intending on building the entire army of each nation, but a sample that can be used repeatedly to fill the full OOB. Afterall, not all Corps are on the field at the same time in the same place. My idea is to build portions of the OOB and when I play a battle, split the field and fight the sections 1 at a time. This makes good use of my limited space and sits nicely with the solo rules I am creating for the enemy. So the whole French army during the 100 days campaign was to be 2 x full Corps of Infantry being 8 Divisions, 1 Reserve Cavalry Corps and the Guard Corps. The Prussians were to be 2 full Corps of Prussians, and so on. You get the idea.

But can I still achieve this using 48 figure units? I probably can, but I will probably split the field a little more and reduce the number of divisions to be built. But who knows? 1 step at a time.

HOW CAN YOU FIT IN WITH YOUR REGULAR GROUPS?

Well the quick answer is I can't. And I really don't need to. The group I play with is hosted by Michael and he has such a massive collection of ready to Adler armies that we can play Waterloo twice and certainly play any battle from any time in the period. Everything is there. I have never needed to bring my troops over.

My armies will be for games hosted at my place and mostly for my own solo campaigns.

CONCLUSION

So there it is. The debate over ratios is finished and I have settled on 15mm basing with 3/4 distances and 1:15 ratios. Good stuff.

A French battalion in column on the left with another battalion in square on the right and a battery of 8 guns deployed in between.

Click here to see the next part in this discussion.

Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 5

2011-02-08T16:49:00.001+10:00

THE BATTLE OF TROUYS - 5/3/1815

The battlefield at Trouys

Click here to see the Austrian Army involved at Trouys

Click here to see the Spanish Army involved at Trouys

The French Army involved at Trouys:
1st Corps: 3 inf Divs + 1 Light Cav Div 38 guns
4th Cavalry Corps: 2 divs Heavy Cav 12 guns
Young Guard Corps: 3 Inf Divs + 1 Lt Cav Div 60 guns
6th Corps: 2 Inf Divs 30 guns

As a meeting engagement, it meant both sides had to deploy at the same time. I worked out my strategy for the battle, issuing orders to Blake for the Spanish and began deploying.

DEPLOYMENT

I have a large open area to my left which is flanked by a level 5 town (medium size). To my right is a large cluttered area of 2 level 5 towns and some woods and rough fields. I also have a Corps of Spanish which I have deployed to hold the area on the right with the towns and woods.

There is a large hill right in the middle and forward of my open area. I have deployed 1 x Corps on either side of this hill, deploying in depth with brigades all behind each other and 1 brigade wide. On the hill I placed all the Corps artillery for both Corps. That is 4 x Heavy batteries and 4 foot batteries and reinforced it with 1 foot battery from the lead division of each corps on either side. The light division of 1 corps is defending the village on my right flank with its cavalry behind in reserve while the light division of the other corps is defending my gunline with its cavalry on my right flank behind a hill before the Spanish on my extreme right.

The deployment. The Spanish are yet to deploy. Austrians on the right. French on the left.

Looking from my commanding position to my left at the town with my light troops in defence. Reserves are in column behind the town.

Still looking left I see the lead brigades of the lead division of 2nd Korps.

My central commanding position atop the main hill. In front of me is the artillery from both corps with light troops in support.

Looking to the right now and we see the lead brigades from 1st Korps.

Cavalry from the Light Division from 1st Korps holding the right of my line and linking me to the Spanish who start from the woods and town in the picture above.

Looking across at the French and the left shows a brigade of cavalry

Moving from left to right we now see massed guns supported by a division of Infantry

Across from my central command position I can just make out Napoleon himself with his staff and a division of French Infantry covered by a hill and woods.

to the right of the Emperors postion is another mass of French artillery

To the right of that artillery is another division of French Infantry

To the extreme right (French left) opposing the built up area I am deploying my Spanish allies into is a divison of French Infantry

A close up of me encouraging my men as they move into deployment positions.

Click here for Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 6

Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 4

2011-02-01T12:00:00.000+10:00

After the battle in the north, the Russians and English withdraw back across the border and out of France. With Ney dead, the French withdraw to reorganise. The Russians eventually move back into France unopposed while the English make a dash for Paris.

In the south, the Austrian and Spanish armies link up in Creuze and then move north into Cher. They are caught up by a fast moving French army which indicates someone very motivating may be in it's presence.

The campaign map with known forces in their locations

The Russians bypass the remnants of the French forces at the 1st battle and safely enter France

The English dash for Paris resting just outside of it

The contact between the combined armies of Austria and Spain and the French army in the south

Click here for Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 5

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build Part 4

2011-01-27T11:54:00.005+10:00

So a day off in Australia to celebrate Australia Day. Started off with a beautiful cooked breaky out in the mall in the glorious sunshine of Brisbane summer. It soon reached 30 degrees C so we heading back inside and threw on the aircon and fired up the coffee machine.

Today's goal - finish the 1st batch of Afghanistan scenic items for my terrain.

So off I went. They really just needed the ground cover finalised and as I had never done much in this area, I was a little apprehensive. I decided on a system of large rock, small rock, a few clusters of bush, 2 colour flock not quite to the edge and a small random pocket of water or puddle.

The result later in the day with all pieces complete and drying.

US troops use fire and manouver to advance through hostile crops.

Other US troops use the roofs of compounds to provide overwatch for their advancing comrades.

Moving through open ground is always a risk. US troops prepare to provide overwatch while their buddies get ready to move out.

Anyone to knows me knows I am always my own worst critic and a pedantic SOB! While I think these look okay, and they are my 1st real attempt and such a project, they are still not quite what I have pictured in my mind. I am by no means a very creative person. I am as logical and analytical as they come and have always struggled getting an image in my mind down on paper or even into words. I know what I want and these are not it. But at the same time I have only recently come to the realisation that most things in life are the result of an "evolution". That is, a development of a skill or situation till it becomes what we see at the forefront. Like learning to play the guitar. So I will continue with my scenic building and trust that my skills and my ability to put what I see or imagine onto the table will develop or evolve. Soon! I am also not a patient person.

click here for Part 5

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build Part 3

2011-01-26T19:30:00.004+10:00

Still waiting on Mat from Wartime to complete my ADF troops.

Spent a lot of time these past 2 weeks scouring shops and testing things for ground coverage and water but also got time to throw up a few scenic items.

My ADF Troops so far

My prototype wall section with ground cover added.

Most of my scenic items are on 6"x6" plasticard bases. These are 2 x 6"x12' bases. Both can act a stand alone item or combine together to form 1 large 12"x12" item.

My experiments with use a spackfilla type of stuff. I like it. Bit messier though!

All the pieces so far!

The nearly finished item with major rocks in place, a healthy crop and awaiting minor rocks and then final paintjob.

This next week will be spent finishing these items off completely.

click here for Part 4

Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 3

2011-01-25T11:21:00.000+10:00

The Battle of Fontoy-Flanville

The 1st contact in the 1815 campaign for France occurs in Moselle. The combined Russian and English armies meet a large French army under the command of Marshal Ney.

The battlefield for Fontoy-Flanville with defending French formations shown in blue

Here are a few pictures taken from the battle in which the Russians suffered heavily and were unable to punch through the French defenders. The English fared well after having only lightly been engaged. The French casualties were moderate but included Marshal Ney who was killed outright.

Click here for Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 4

Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 2

2011-01-22T10:56:00.000+10:00

The map of 1815 France with all its departments (provinces):

All 4 armies managed to cross the borders into France in the same week.

The Austrians crossed the border and headed west to link up with the Spanish who had crossed the border and marched north east. Scouts were sent ahead and to the north to ensure a safe link up prior to any interference by the French.

The English had landed in Belgium and marched east to link up with the Russian army as it crossed into France. The conbined armies cross into Moselle only to be confronted by a French army already partly deployed in front of its route of march. This army had no option but to deploy and fight its way through the French defenders.

Click here for Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 3

Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 1

2011-01-20T10:52:00.000+10:00

http://wardepot.blogspot.com/2011/01/campaign-1815-invasion-of-france-part-2.htmlIt is 1815. The allies have forsaken the terms of the "Treaty of Fontainebleau" (primarily due to grave concerns over the military build up by the Emperor Napoleon) and have authorised the invasion of France, commencing on the 10th of February 1815 (the earliest day feasible to all allied members due to the severity of the just past winter).

In the north gathers a large army of Russians. In the southeast a large army of Austrians. A Spanish army gathers on the border of France and Spain and an English army sails for the continent. Can the co-ordinate and use their numbers against Napoleon?

The ultimate objective is Paris, but the destruction of the French army is equally important, the strength of which still cannot be underestimated.

Click here to see Campaign: 1815 Invasion of France - Part 2

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build Part 2

2011-01-06T11:03:00.001+10:00

The 1st deadline in The Guild 2011 Build is due on the 28/2/11.

For me this portion of the project is to build a 4' x 4' gaming board out of 1' x 1' cork tiles. The top was to be painted instead of sanded or flocked so that all the scenic items can be placed flat on the board without creating shadow lines. This had been tested a few months ago with a smaller prototype of 1 tile painted and 1 scenic item modelled on 1mm plasticard. It worked well.

So here is how I created my board:

I purchased 1' x 1' cork flooring tiles from the local carpet store. I always ring them regularly and watch out for incomplete boxes they need to offload after a job is complete. This is because the tiles themselves retail for about $5 each. A box of 50 costs around $175 or $125 direct from the distributor. Not good enough. So far I have purchased a box of 37 for $50 and a group of 18 for $25. Good stuff.

For a 4' x 4' board I need 16 x tiles. But I always double my tiles to help keep them flat and so I can model in depressions and rivers and such so I really need 32 x tiles. I tried using a cheaper material for the bottom half but even 5mm foamcore ends up dearer and needs measuring and cutting. So back to 2 tiles I went.

I always lay out the tiles 1st so I can swap and change them around and make I get the best set for the top layer. That is they are all sqaure and nice and straight cut.

The 2nd layer of tiles I then trim 10mm off 2 of the edges of each tile. This is so when they go together, the bottom tile is not slighty overhanging the edge of the top tile.

Luckily the last 2 sets of tiles I purchased were preglued and when both tiles are turned in with the glue facing each other, they stick together really well. This bypassed the need to glue and press each set of 2.

Once all the sets of 2 tiles are together, I stand them all up on their edge and with a roller brush, paint the edges the top colour of my colour scheme, in this case a light beige colour.

I then lay out all the tiles as though I am setting up for a game and apply a liberal layer of my under colour - caramel - with a roll on brush. This I leave to dry for a while.

Then I come back over the top with a light brushing of the roller brush (dry brush) of light beige. This dries for 24 hrs before I spray the whole lot with a sealer, in this case a matt painting sealer I got from the art store.

All done.

click here for Part 3

THE GUILD 2011 Build Project - Part 1

2011-01-05T20:23:00.004+10:00

(click here to see all posts for this project - PROJECT 2011 AFGHANISTAN GUILD BUILD)

After being a rather active observer on the The Guild forums for a couple of years now, I have been intrigued by the various build competitions the forum administers. This New Year I decided after so much time thinking about wargaming modern Afghanistan, I would commit to whatever build they decided to come up with in 2011. The accountability of this would be the motivation I would need.

So the 2011 Build for the The Guild is a complete project for the whole year with 5 deadlines staggered throughout the year. All you had to do was submit a theme and make sure each of the 5 deadlines are met with a completed model or models that fit into the theme you chose.

I chose ADF in modern Afghanistan including terrain and baddies.

For the 5 deadlines I have decided upon:

1. Terrain Boards - cork tile 1' x 1' square. In total I aim to build a 4' x 4' table and later add in complex tiles modelling a river, dry wadi, ridgelines, hills and a canal system.

2. ADF troops - a Platoon strength formation of ADF diggers with Bushmasters or ASLAVs. I may add in a SAS Special Forces group with vehicles as well.

3. Scenic items - fields, ditches, compounds, treelines, etc. I may add an OP during this phase.

4. Taliban and Insurgents. 50+ enemy fighters.

5. An after action report of a battle using all the above and Ambush Alley rules.

I am very excited about this and hopefully this time next year will be in a position to be running local AA games with all my stuff provided.

Stay tuned.

click here for Part 2