Message to the Centurions Mail Group

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended Saturday’s Napoleon’s Battles Game at the Levee Café in Hastings. We had eight players (Fitz, Joe, BJ, Crow, Elliot, Dave, Jim and myself), I am fairly certain everyone who attended had a good time and there was a resounding request to do another game soon.

It has been a while since I have organized and run a larger game, we used to do it all the time, but I was too involved in running other events, so some things did not go as smoothly as I would have like. I have learned from it and will attempt to apply those things to the next game.

As I am a problem child when it comes to cameras, Fitz and Joe have provided some pictures of Friday and Saturday's action which once organized and notated will be added to my blog.

We have scheduled another Napoleon’s Battles game for the last weekend in February at the Levee Café. We will be using the 1813 stats and army organizations but instead of using a set scenario will be a little bit more dynamic using a system we talked about to build scenarios. Several of us are fleshing out the system and hope to have the final rules in place shortly.

On Friday Evening, February 27, we will be setting up the Terrain, pulling figures and hopefully doing the first few moves. Than on Saturday the 28th we will be doing the big games. Yes I said games.

Another change is that we hope to be using the Third Edition of Napoleon’s Battles; we have been informed that they should be available starting next week.

Several individuals have asked what they can do to help for the next game. As always painting figures is a big help. If you’d like to volunteer to paint something up and need some help choosing drop me a line and I can point you at several interesting choices.

As always everyone is welcome to come down and play all figures will be provided. However for the event in February there will be a hat for donations to cover the rental cost.

Jeff

The Leipzig Game - Friday

I made my way to the Levee Cafe at 4PM yesterday. Meet with my younger brother Brian who helped me arrange the tables.

I was caught a little off guard as the tables were not what I was expecting. The tables were divided into two sizes. Six 8' x 36" and 8 8' x 30" rather than the 6' x 30" I was anticapating. So I had to rearrange my layout.

I screwed up the green cloths I had purchased earlier in the week. I though I bought two 6' x 12' and one 6' x 9' table coverings but it turns out all three were 6' x 9'. Again more rearranging.

I had purchased brown electrical tape to lay out the roads as I could not find the brown masking tape. The electrical tape was difficult to work with as it had a tendany to stretch and contract at in oppertue times. So it took a couple hours to do the lay out.

For the rivers I left the 1 inch wide blue masking tape at home so I had to cut the 1 1/2" tape in half to do the streams.

Afterwards I began pulling troops. I got through the French Guard and three French Infantry Corps when my head began to hurt. So I went off to pull the Austrians and paint their bases.

Just as I got started painting bases Crow showed up. I never look a gift horse in the mouth so we put him to work putting labels on the French Bases.

So as Crow work hard on the base labels, Fitz painted his bases green and I flocked mine we listened to electorica trance and busted hump for several hours.

Jim had to drive back to his place to pick up the Russians he left at home.

Crow left at midnight and I was kicked out closer to 1.

I have to remember 4 stands of Austrian Landwehr and 1 stand of Austrian Heavy Cavalry.

Figure Count

Below is my letter to Fitz with my figure count.

My Counts as of Tonight
French
1 4 Figure Command Base
3 3 Figure Command Base
5 2 Figure Command Base
18 1 Figure Command Base
8 1 Figure Command Base (Detail Work Needed)

Old Guard Cavalry
5 Grenadiers-a-Cheval
5 Empress Dragoons
2 Gendarmes
5 Chasseurs-a-Cheval
6 1eme Lancers
1 Mamlukes

Young Guard Cavalry
2 Grenadiers-a-Cheval
2 Empress Dragoons
2 Chasseurs-a-Cheval
2 1eme Lancers
7 Guards d’Honneur

Guard Infantry
6 Grenadiers a Pied
6 Chasseurs a Pied
5 Middle Guard
11 Young Guard

Guard Artillery
4 12#
5 6#

Cavalry
15 Cuirassier
2 Carabineers
4 Light Cavalry
4 Light Cavalry (Detail Work Needed)

Line Infantry
210 Line
37 Light

Artillery
14 12#
4 12# Detail Work Needed
4 6#

Italian
1 2 Figure Command
1 1 Figure Command
4 Guard Infantry
9 Line Infantry

Confederation of the Rhine
15 Line Infantry

Saxon (1809)
5 Heavy Cavalry
1 Light Cavalry
4 Grenadier
7 Line Infantry
2 Line Infantry (Detail work needed)
1 12#
1 12# Detail work needed

Austrian
1 4 Figure Command Base
4 2 Figure Command Base
14 1 Figure Command Base
14 Cuirassier
29 Light Cavalry
12 Grenadiers
86 Line
16 Grenzer
10 Jager
4 landwehr
12 12#
10 6#

Russian 1798
4 Cossack
9 12#
6 12# Need Detail Work
4 6# Need Detail Work


Russian 1810
TBD

Russian 1813
TBD
11 Cossack

Prussian
22 Landwehr
4 12#
11 6#


I have far more Austrian Figures; however as that is the Maximum we need for this Scenario that is as much as I listed.

For the Russians I have a large number of Figures for the Russo-Swedish War of 1810. All these figures would need to be mounted.
Additionally I have a large number of Figures for 1813 that need to be mounted again (originally mounted on card stock that is falling apart).

If you can send me a final list of what w are short I will focus on completing the detail work on that.

We are down to one Week

Too many people who don’t understand my fanatical behavior when it comes to whatever I do or in this specific case my almost obsessive behavior towards miniature gaming they really have no clue what kind of an undertaking it is to put on a big game. When Jim and I decided to put on a large Napoleon’s Battles game because we had already schedule the weekend off for MGCon I really thought we were a lot closer than we are.

We won’t be able to do exactly Leipzig and I am okay with that. Rather we are going to do a close approximation of the first day with some substitutions of some units. I am fairly certain that both Jim and I will have a very good time setting up and playing the game. There will be great stories to tell after the game no matter what the outcome.

Today I started doing a troop pull and final counts. I may need to paint a few figures over the next week so this pull helps me get everything in order.

What I discovered:
- I actually have enough Austrians to do all Four Corps and the Two Reserve Corps, in Shako even.
- I have a large number of French Stands that need to be flocked
- I wonder where the Italians went.
- I know I have more painted Saxons

I also hope that my order from Fernando ships early this week. Knowing my luck it will arrive next Monday. Not that we really need anything from the order since it is primarily Austrian and French Light Cavalry.

I’ll have to call Tom Zwirn this week and see if the Cossacks I sent to him for painting are done. Be nice to get the Cossacks since I believe they will really help determine how the game will turn out. Yes Schwarzenberg (aka Me) has a plain for the Southern Front. Strange after hours of looking at it, it all comes down to about a half-a-dozen dice rolls.

What a way to spend the day

I spent much of Sunday mounting and rebasing Austrian Napoleonic Figures.

From previous shipments to and from Fernando Enterprises:

• Kaiser Franz Infantry Regiment
• Erzherzog Carl Infantry Regiment
• Deutschmeister Infantry Regiment
• Freiherr von Schroder Infantry Regiment
• Erzherzog Ludwig Infantry Regiment
• Furst zu Liechtenstein Infantry Regiment
• Freiherr Reisky Infantry Regiment
• Freiherr von Klebeck Infantry Regiment
• Freiherr von Zach Infantry Regiment
• Graf d’Aspre Infantry Regiment
• TBD Infantry Regiment
• TBD Infantry Regiment
• TBD Infantry Regiment
• TBD Infantry Regiment

The reason I have four TBD Infantry Regiments is that I made a mistake in painting. I painted up Freiherr von Hiller (IR2) as an German Infantry Regiment rather than a Hungarian and repeated said issue with three other Regiments. I have to figure out what I can do with the units if I can use them as other reigments (that I haven't already got painted).

Figures that I rebased:

• 10 Austrian Heavy Artillery Stands
• 15 Austrian Light Artillery Stands
• Kiaser Franz Hussar Regiment (12 Figures)
• Stipsic Hussar Regiment (16 Figures)
• Dragoon Regiment #4 (8 Figures)
• Dragoon Regiment #6 (8 Figures)

I was shocked at how time consuming this project is. I suppose takening the time to make sure each base is properly labeled and organized correctly isn't helping the process.

I have four more regiments of Infantry to base up, which were painted by Fernando, and about 200 figures of Grenadiers that need to find a base.

In addition I got about 300 Figures from an Empire Corps that need to get rebased. This is going to take some more time.

Things to do for the November 22nd Game.

• 60 Cavalry React Markers
• 120 Disorder Markers
• 120 Rout Markers
• An undetermined number of Casualty Markers
• Table Rental
• Setting Up Terrian
• Mount Austrian Figures

November 22nd - Commands

French
Fitz - Napoleon
Joe Z
Noel

Allied
Jeff J - Schwarzenberg
BJ
Joe K - Blucher
Jack A - Right Wing Austrians

TBD
Elliot

Others I haven't heard from or are in the maybe catagory.
Trevor
Violence
Steve V.
Tom Z.
Jeff K.
Jimbo

More Cossacks

Well BJ has found 4 stands of Cossack Infantry. I think that puts us at 24 of the 70 stands needed.

I know I have a bag of Black Sea Cossacks sitting around my place somewhere, heck I bet they are half painted. That would be like seven more stands.

Cossacks for Nov 22

Joe Knight has informed me that he has 12 Stands of Cossacks, giving us 20 out of the 72 Stands or so that we need.

In addidtion, Bart says he will paint up a few. He actually pulled out his paintbrush and worked on a few French line Infantry yesterday according to his greatredoubt blog.

Now if we could some how find a few French Allies...

1809 - Saxon

For the November 22nd Game we will be using my Saxon forces in the 1809 Uniform (Bicorn) for the Game.

I have all the required figures.
12 Saxon Heavy Cavalry
12 Saxon Light Cavalry
16 Saxon Infantry
16 Saxon Light Infantry

1813 Austrian - Figure Count

I spent the evening counting figures for our Leipzig Battle on November 22nd.

For the entirity of the Austrian Command I am short:
20 Prussian Light Cavalry - Which Fitz owns
12 Austrian Light Cavalry

That's it.
I need to touch up a few figures and base up a few figures, and 24 Hungarian Innseructo will be used as Grenzer.

I was worried that I will need to use some of the 1809 Uniformed Austrians, but they are not needed.

I do have to visit the Austrian Generals and probably will have to add a few figures to my collection for that.

ReCON Date Move

Originally posted to the Minnesota_Miniatures_Gamers List last night by George Hord.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Minnesota_Miniatures_Gamers/message/6076
********************
the VFW has switched us from the 15th to the 22nd of November.
let me know very quickly if you can't make it
sorry for the inconvience everyone
thanks in advance
george
********************

So it seems that ReCON now falls on the same day as our planned Napoloen's Battles Mega-Battle in Hastings.

It is extremely unfortunate that at such a late date George was forced to change the date of this Fall ReCON to Nov 22nd.

With the date change I would now be available to attend ReCon; however I have at this time already paid for the room rental at the Levee Cafe in Hastings for the 21st and 20th of November so I am planning on going ahead with the Napoleon’s Battle mega-game even though it now coincides with ReCon.

I have already spoken with Fitz who has indicated that he plans at being at the game in Hastings as well.

I have also sent a private note to George letting him now that even though these two events coincides I will be doing the NB game. I feel bad that we could pull between 10 and 15 people who usually attend ReCON to the NB game, but I have already paid for the room and the additional space and setup time on Friday really allow us to do a big game that we can't do at ReCON.

Troop Count

As part of the planning process for the November 22nd Game Fitz asked me to count my appropriate figures. It is not something I should do because I am always amazed at what I find. So here is my list in 15mm Napoleonics in Stands mounted for Napoleon’s Battles or similar.

Austrian
24 Heavy Cavalry
23 Light Cavalry
22 Grenadiers
76 Line
18 Grenzer
12 Jagers
40 Landwehr
4 Heavy Batteries - 8 unmounted
2 Light Batteries - 12 unmounted

In addition I have 64 Regiments of either 6 or 7 stands in the 1809 uniform that are currently unmounted.

British
4 Guard Heavy Cavalry
5 Heavy Cavalry
24 Guard Infantry
48 Line Infantry (including Highlanders)
15 Rifle
6 9# Heavy Batteries
12 6# Horse Batteries
2 British Rocket Batteries

Brunswick - 1815
2 Heavy Batteries
2 Horse Batteries
16 Line Infantry 8 Line Infantry Half Painted

French
For now I will just say TOO many.

Hanoverian – 1815
72 Landwehr
24 Light
64 Line

Italian
4 Guard Infantry
12 Line Infantry
6 Light Infantry

Prussian
22 Landwehr Infantry
4 Heavy Batteries
7 Light Batteries
2 Howitzer Batteries

Russian
8 Jagers
24 line
4 Militia
7 Light Cavalry
6 Guard Heavy Cavalry
1 Light Battery
2 Heavy Batteries

Saxon – 1809
8 Heavy Cavalry
8 Light Cavalry
4 Grenadiers
8 Line
4 Light

Follow up to the Minnesota_Miniatures_Gamers Yahoo Group

*** The original message to the Centurions Mailing List was also forwarded to the Minnesota_Miniature_Gamers list. The following is a followup based upon a couple of questions I received.

As a follow-up....

As usual with a Centurions games there is no experience with the
rules are necessary and there is no cost to come to the Levee and
play in the game.

I am covering the cost of the room and the other associated costs.
There will be some snacks and beverages provided but I am not
currently planning on covering the costs of the meals.

We will have a break for supper somewhere around 6PM, give or take an
hour, it will be at a natural break inthe game. You can either grab
a meal from the Levee or find something else nearby.

Before November 22nd, the Centurions will be running a couple
Napoleon's Battles game on our regular weekends at the Source to help
get people acclimated to the rules again. Bob Coggins, one of the
principal rules authors, assures us that the 3rd Edition will be
available very soon so our plan is to use that edition of the
rules. However since NB III is not yet released we have a backup
plan to use NBII which while out of print many of us own.

Fitz and I will be hammering out some scenario based rules over the
next few weeks to cover the fact we are planning to have 20 plus
corps of figures on the table. Those rules will be posted beforehand.

A focus point of this game is the maneuver and deployment prior to a
large scale battle. It is our hope over the first couple hours of
the game that we will be able to watch build up occur and than once
the battle begins watch the transfer of men as reinforcements move
about the tables.

With that in mind we have discussed a schedule of what we hope
happens.
Before the convention Fitz and I will do the preliminary map
movement. We are thinking of starting map movement a few days
after the Battle of Dresden (Aug 26-27, 1813).

On Friday evening while at the Levee we will pull out the big map of
Central Germany and doing the final map movements there. Once the
final map movement is done we will set the table tops and start
placing troops out.

On Saturday morning at 10AM we will have Officers Call and begin
moving figures. Depending on the layout and spacing the initial
turns should move fairly quickly. Our goal is to do a turn every 10
to 15 minutes until contact. Which we are hoping occurs around noon.


If you have any questions about this event please let me know I'll do
my best to get them answered.

Jeff Johnson

Follow up to the NAPSBATTLES yahoo group.

--- In napsbattles@yahoogroups.com, PZBOB@... wrote:
>
> have a gamemaster or god - helps to prevent useless arguements ,
> keep rule lawyers in control

We actually are going to have two of us senior players, Fitz and I have done this routine for years, I'm the rules lawyer he is the lets throw dice guy so we are very balanced. We have lots of practice making larger games at least appear to those on the outside work.

> plenty of dice

I keep a couple of dozen dice in shakers around and oh yeah they limit certain other anomalies as well.

> at least 3 rule books should be present

If 3rd Edition is available we will have at least two copies, 2nd edition we have about four copies between Jim and I.

> make sure EVERYBODY knows what optional rules are beiing used ,

This is my pet peave so I work very hard for people to know which rules will be in play. I like to post charts. They get posted to our web-groups as well.

> plenty of beer too ,espec sam adams ,

We will be playing in the upstairs reception area of a local resteraunt, so we gopt that covered.

> artillery range sticks if the optional range table is used ,these
> can be made way before the game and used at any game ,

We have for years used clear plastic templates from the original box set, I keep thinking about switching to range sticks but haven't.

> each side /team should be balanced in terms of knowledge and ability
> with the rules ,it will last longer and more fun for everyone
> rather than have 1 side dominate and other side not having fun

I'm a big fan of doing this. Fitz and I flipped coins to see who was going to be the overall commander on each side and than we will preassigning people based on experience and ability to one side or the other.

> ,keep the game moving whille playing ,ie no watching "saving
> private ryan "

Another of my pet peaves, we are playing a game lets keep the game moving. I have stop watch for movement, plus we will havee a few time outs per side. If you are going to go smoke, eat, bio, or even get a breath of fresh Minnesota Air do it at the approperate time cause I ain't waiting for you.

Letter to NAPSBATTLES Yahoo Group

Okay later in the year we will be running a largish NB game in
Minnesota and I am curious what rules people are using for:

Fatigue (Forced Marches)
Supply
Messengers
Orders

Is there anything else I should be thinking about for something on
this scale?

Thanks in advance.

Jeff Johnson
St. Paul, Minnesota

Letter to the Centurions Mailing Group

Everyone:

After much discussion and debate Fitz and I have settled on the game for over the weekend of November 21-23 at the Levee Cafe in Hastings MN. Okay so the debate lasted a grand total of 15 seconds, we did however discuss a number of other finer points of our plan and that took time.

We will be playing a rather largish game of Napoleon’s Battles in 15mm using the 3rd Edition if it is available by than otherwise 2nd edition will be used. The game will be set in autumn 1813 Campaign in Central Germany at a point between the Napoleon’s Incomplete Victory at the Battle of Dresden (Late August) and Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Nations Leipzig Saxony (Mid-October). It is our plan to deviate from the historical campaign and setup a historical based what if scenario.

The plan is that Fitz and I will do the initial map movement before hand, with some final map movement to be completed on Friday Nov 21st. After the movement is completed the figures will be placed on the board in their starting position.
The actual game will start on Saturday Nov 22 at 10am and go until either one side or the other is defeated or our personal morale is broken, figure midnight.

The idea is that the game starts about 1 day before a big battle (or series of smaller battles as the case maybe) and that the players will have to maneuver their armies around to get into the best position they can for the actual battle.

Fitz will be the overall French Commander, you know that short dead dude named Napoleon, while I will be the overall allied commander, or at least the person nominally in charge of the allies.

We have a number of sources listing out the Order of Battle for the Autumn Campaign and our plan is to basically ignore them, well sort of ignore them anyways. Rather we will be assembling proto-typical Corps structures using the historical organization that occurred, which means simply we don’t want to argue over the accuracy of the sources so we will just throw out some troops using the real generals, since at least most of the sources agree on who is commanding what.

Our intent is to have 13 French Infantry Corps and 6 Cavalry Corps vs. up to 22 Allied Infantry Corps and 9 Cavalry Corps. There are a couple more French Corps running around Germany at the Time as well as the Hanseatic League which might get pressed into action.

The tabletop battlefield will be about 24 to 30 feet long and at least 12 feet wide. This should allow for some space for the units to maneuver and function without anchoring themselves to table edges; or as Fitz so nicely put it, a reason to have cavalry.

We will be adding a couple of rules for the game:
Fatigue Rules (IE if you march you army all night what penalty do you face).
Supply Rules – Each Division will have a marker depicting it supply train, figure a supply wagon, artillery caisson or other similar marker.
Messenger Rules will be in place.

If you are interested in playing let us know.

We are looking for a large number of allied figures, both French Allied and Coalition Allied for the game. Fitz and I think we have the French Covered (so we can do Vitoria as well as Leipzig at the same time) but the Allies we have a small shortage. Fitz has a few Prussians and Russian and I have a few Austrians, Italians, Prussians, and Russians from the latter campaigns as well as a few Austrians, Saxons, and lesser French Allied for the 1809 Campaign that might fill in if needed. So if you have anything and are willing to bring them let us know.

We will be doing some sort of lunch and dinner at the Levee Café as well as having some beverages available.

I am working on hotel accommodations as even I don’t want to drive back and forth from Woodbury, so further information on that will be forth coming.

November 22

Without MGCON to keep me busy on November 22nd, I have rented space at my brother's restaurant, The Levee Café, in Hastings MN to run a larger game. Actually I rented it for Friday night and all Day Saturday. http://leveecafe.com/default.aspx

The plan is to set up the game Friday night and run a largish game all day Saturday.

We haven’t decided exactly what game to play, the leading contenders are 25mm Napoleonics (using our Wilderness Wars Variant) , 15mm Napoleonics (Napoleon’s Battles III or Horse Musket and Gun), and 25mm American War of Independence (Wilderness Wars). As we get closer I suppose a decision will be easier to make.

I would like to do more 25mm Napoleonics, but Joel Gregory will be unable to attend (Hastings is just too far for him to travel) and Tom Zwirn is well Tom Zwirn and mostly AFK these days. That leaves us with Jim Fitzgerald’s and my 25mm Napoleonic figures, roughly 20 Battalions of French, 4 Battalions of French Allied which isn’t enough to run a big game.

As a default game we have 15mm Napoleonics in the background, I am pretty sure that we could make a pretty good size game in that, considering how many figures we have for that period. But it isn’t 25mm.

The other game we talked about is a 25mm AWI game, here I got a few figures for the period (about 1700 painted figures) but in this case it is not the in-period for our groups currently.
So with all that Jim and I will figure something out.