April 18th - "Crisis on the Danube"

On April 18th the Centurions will be hosting a 25mm Napoleonic Game at the Source to commerate the 200th Aniversary of the "Crisis on the Danube".

The Battles of Thann (Teagun-Hausen) (April 19), Ratisobon (April 19-23), Abensberg (April 20), Eckmuhl (April 21-22), and Landshut (April 21), or "The 4 Days in April" Campaign. I suppose we would also include Ebersberg (May 3) in the Mix.

I am tempted to use the revised version of Horse Musket and Gun for the Game, but will fall back to Napoleonic Commander.

Okay in reality i would like to do Napoleon's Battles, but I figure that will get shot down in heart beat; so I'll just go with a lower level game.

Napoleonic Skirmish - revisted.

Over the past week and a half I have had a number of continuing conversations concerning Napoleonic Skirmish, specifically 25mm Skirmish; and I feel that I should take a few more minutes and attempt to clarify my positions.

If you are interested in Napoleonic Skirmish, great I look forward to seeing all your figures painted and see how your game is played. Please don’t ask me to rebase my figures so *I* can run a game that you are interested in. This is your project not mine. I’ll probably play a game or two but I do not currently plan on painting anything up or running any games.

If you ask me for my opinion on your project don’t be shocked when I give you *MY* opinion. I don’t think I have ever sugar coated anything in my life (except maybe some cereal) and I am not about to start now.

Many suggestions that I have heard *AREN’T* skirmish in my mind. Just because you singly mount a few figures doesn’t make it a skirmish game. In a skirmish game you control each figure individually and each figure can do a unique action during the course of a turn. Many games require your units to operate in unison, all move, all fire, all reload, and so on and so forth; how is that skirmish? Other games your fire factor is figured by the number of figures so it is pointless to shoot single figures.

Other games are designed for you to put so many figures on the table that there is no way you could operate it as a skirmish game and actually get anything done.

Other suggestions that I have heard involve the concept of a “heroic skirmish” game. You know the games where your unit of 10 figures of Sharpe’s Rifles take on 250 Spaniards and win easily.
The best response I have heard to this is the fable of the sandwich.

Two brothers watch their mother make a delicious sandwich. The first
brother asks their mother if she is making a second sandwich and she tells them
no you have to share. So she hands the first brother a knife and tells him
to cut the sandwich in half. He is greedy so he makes on half larger than
the other half. Than the mother turns to the second brother and tells him
he can choose which half of the sandwich he wants.

This is the issue I see in this suggestion. One player only wants to paint up a dozen figures while expecting the other partner in the game to paint up several dozen figures just so they can lose on a regular basis. How is this fun for the other player?
Now I understand that in some cases an individual is such an avid painter that painting up 100 figures is nothing so they paint up the entire project and chose to always play Sharpe’s Rifles. But what happens when another player show’s up with his “Sharpe’s Rifles” how will that work?

Several people have suggested using a skirmish game to use figures they are painting for a battalion level game. IE As they paint up figures for BAR-Napoleonic use those figures for a skirmish game. Sounds good, but I have several questions:
BAR Napoleonics, at 1:10, is going to require 72 figure French Battalions and 144 figure Austrian Battalions which is well just a little large for most people. Why not play at 1:30 where many people are already playing in the twin cities. The games are more manageable and still have the massive formation look. Plus you don’t need a gym floor to refight a small engagement.
Second at 1:30 you need 120 to 150 figures for a brigade (small command at Battalion Level) compared to 120 (plus) figures to play a skirmish game (the ones that many people suggest anyways) so ummm you have already painted up virtually everything you need to play a battalion level game we are already playing. How is this using your figures sooner?

Another issue that anyone who wants to take on this type of project is how do you get people excited about it? Most of the people I have heard from are looking for a partner in crime so to speak. The issue is their vision is such that they don’t match up with other people vision. (Mass Skirmish vs Heroic Skirmish vs Early vs late vs pass through project vs…..)
As I have stated this is not a project that is going to excite the masses no matter how you paint it. This is a project that one maybe two people are going to have to do and hopefully get four or five others to play. I am willing to play a game or two, but I am not at the moment willing to paint up units for historical Napoleonic Skirmish.

Now as I have repeated stated one of the interesting options that many of the historical players often over look and shake off, flintloque.

Flintloque has several nice advantages to it:
It isn’t historical, no arguments over what is or isn’t historical in the game, it is all Fantasy.
To me it is the it is the most playable “skirmish” set of rules out there. Players command smaller units (up to 50) figures but more likely 25 figures, a much more playable level.
The figures all have actions, unique actions and each figure acts independently of other functions. This figure is taking an aimed shot, these two figures are firing down range, this figure is moving over here and firing and these figures are running towards cover.
You don’t even have to play with fantasy figures, you could substitute historical figures and play without elves, orks, and other fantasy creatures and still have a more playable game than most of the historical written rules.
Heck I might be convinced to paint up a unit of Ferach Elves for the game, maybe two.

That is not to say I wouldn't make a couple of small changes to the rules, like changing the ranges from Metric to English measurements, and stuff like that to make it easier for the masses to play here int eh Twin Cities.

Why do we "DO" Napoleon's Battles at the Levee Cafe Games

It is one of the few periods that we have enough figures for that I can easily organize and we have enough interest in players to actually play a big game.

There are two or three other options on that we could do today, Fitz and I also own enough figures to run a “massive” Clan War game and a largish American War of Independence game, but I doubt Fantasy Japanese Mythos would attract a large enough crowd to be worthwhile, and interest in the AWI period is lagging locally and without other players figures (Tom Zwirn most notably) we are stuck at maybe a 12 player game.

Besides those games if we aren’t there yet with the number of figures needed to run Koenig Krieg we are darn close, but again there is a huge dependence on Tom Zwirn to provide most of the Prussian Side.

We also are probably close or getting close to number of figures needed for American Civil War
but everyone appears to be painting Confederates. Um Guys we need UNION forces. We have several thousand Confederate stands already painted, but Union maybe a couple hundred at most.

There was some discussion on a Field of Glory themed campaign or tournament set int eh Punic Wars. While no one has a completed army at the moment several of us are within spitting distance (dozen stands here, fitz needs one or tow stands). But I am left "cold" by the concept of a tournament no really my cup of tea.

Another option would be 15mm Spearhead, but again I doubt we could get enough interest to make such a game worthwhile. However I will be able to do the entire Bridge to Far Scenario in the very near future.

Levee Cafe' Game Followup - Part 2

Here are a few random or at least somewhat random things about the scenario we played at the Levee Café and my opinions on the topics:

I have/had attempted to keep the issue that George had scheduled Recon on the same day as minor or back burner issue. However as much grief as I caught about it I will be much more “open” about it this time. We scheduled our date for this game about a month before George scheduled Recon however too many people believe it was the other way around. Fitz has been an adamant about stepping on this as soon as he sees/hears it, I know think that is what I must do.

I had personally kept the much of the scenario under wraps as I didn’t want one side or the other to have any advantage outside of the historical context of the Scenario. I think that was a great plus, the game turned out very much like I had anticipated, the allies would try two different approaches to the virtually the same situation (concentrate on one board in one side and spilt forces on the other to fight on two boards.) The French would begin by being cautious and continue feeding corps into two of the boards.
In the context of the overall Campaign/Scenario they chose to do what Napoleon decided against doing, Napoleon fell back towards Leipzig and concentrate his Army. The result however was much the same, the French basically one the battles but lost the war and would be forced to retire taking the same amount of casualties just in a different series of battles.

I wish I would have given the players more options to move (more arrows and intermediary boxes) as it would have greatly increased the challenge for both sides overall.

Marching on to the boards was a challenge; of course my decision on how it would work was implemented 18 different ways from Tuesday. I obviously need to be much clearer. I had to laugh because I knew Jim who was so focused on the words “march column” would be the most vocal about the ‘rules changing’ during the course of the day and I told a couple people early on I would hear about it later in the day. I tried an approach I thought would get the least amount of abuse, of course I was wrong.
In the next game I already have a plan for a different approach; one I think will get a better result. Now to just to be clearer in explaining how it works.

The Scenario was designed for 18 to 24 players, we had approximately 36 players indicate they would be in attendance, so I figured cutting that number in half was a safe bet. We ended up with 14 players, while it was playable, it would have been a lot faster with even two more players four additional players would be even more bonus.

I got too caught up in the number of players telling me they planned on attending, so I kept expanding the scenario and making plans for what happens if everyone shows up. Thus instead on concentrating on the things I should have I was working on other things. Russian Light Cavalry anyone, oh we have 20 stands too many.

For some reason I thought we had a lot more “regular” French available than we did, otherwise I would have flocked up more bases, not that would have helped the other problems in the order of battle, but at least there should have been fewer unpainted stands.
I will be adding a few more Saxon and Italians to my forces over the next few weeks, but we need to get other German states and French Allies represented, Berg, Danes, Hamburg, Westphalia, Neapolitan, and of course Swedes for Allies side as well.
I am in talks with Jack Ladd to see how much it will cost me to get a Bavarian Army painted, I own the figures, but just like my 12,000 other unpainted figures I need to get them done and having an outside painter do it might be the fastest and only guaranteed way to get it done.

I did a lot of hinting to players about things on Saturday, next time there will be less hinting and more “Here is exactly what I think.” While I purposely avoid stopping people from mistakes (make the mistake, learn from it and move on is my attitude) in several instances it would have helped move the scenario along. And that goes for both sides.

Levee Cafe' Game Followup - Part 1

To begin with I would like to thank the people who made this great weekend possible, our spouses and significant others. With so many of us married and with children the fact that our significant others have had to spend so much additional time being the good parents to allow us to attend our “geekfest”. Without their support none of us get to come out and game.
Many thanks are also in order for those that provided figures (Fitz, Joe K., Trevor, BJ, Dave, Mark, and whoever else I may have forgotten), the Terrain (St. Paul Irregulars) and Levee Café for putting up with a group of geeks.
Finally I would like to thank everyone who participated in last Saturday’s 1813 Campaign Game at the Levee Café, hearing nothing but good things we already have a tentative plan for the next game at the Levee Café. Gaming to me is a social event and it is almost just as important to have people push figures as it is to have people paint figures.

We had 14 players playing four games on four tables and the possibility of the fifth game on a fifth table. For as complicated as the scenario was it went fairly smoothly, a few tweaks to the system are coming and for those that played if you have any thoughts please let me know.
For me it was an extremely busy weekend as I had to work overnight on Friday/Saturday to bring a crashed server back on line so I was going on 2 hours of a cat nap Saturday. As good as the games were (both visually and competitively) I had very little problem staying awake once the dice started rolling.

Overview of the French Vistory:
And I must say in the end it was a disastrous victory for the French.

The French stopped the Army of Silesia from crossing at Wartenburg, but at the Cost of 2 Infantry Corps and 2 Cavalry Corps plus un-totaled damage to the first young guard Infantry Corps that was marching on. A third French Infantry Corps was well on its way to getting wrecked. The Army of Silesia lost one Russian Corps and One small Russian Cavalry Corps. The rest of the forces in the Army of Silesia were well bloodied would be able to continue the fight. The slow grind of Prussian Artillery Grand Battery destroyed the French IV Corps and the a second French Corps was getting mauled by the repeated movement forward by the Russian Right Wing. If the Russian Grand battery could have been saved (lucky for the French it was destroyed early) the table would have been a huge meat grinder for the french rather than just a large meat grinder.

On the Torgau Board (the one ignored by the Allies) two French Corps were tied up just waiting for the Allies to show up.

On the Dresden Board the Right Wing of the Army of Bohemia captured I and XIV corps a little sooner than historically setup, but the terrain really slowed down the Allies and what Jim was expecting to do in the morning/early afternoon took all day.

On the Erfurt Battlefield Jack and Trevor were locked in mortal combat. Jack had a great plan and did everything right except roll decent dice coupled with the fact that Trevor rolled his equivalent of his decade quota worth of 10’s in one day. By the end of the day the French were planning to pull from the board, two Corps effected wrecked. I didn’t do the finally count on the allies on that board but I think only one Allied Corps was in the “wrecked” state and another was damaged but would be back in the fight in a few days.

So while the French won the day it was at an extreme price, 4 Infantry and 2 Cavalry Corps wrecked, 2 Infantry Corps surrendered out of 12 infantry Corps and 5 Cavalry Corps. Not counting the damage to 1 Young Guard Corps. The Allies lost 3 maybe 4 Infantry Corps and 1 small cavalry corps with 1/3 of the Army of Bohemia not engaged.

25mm Napoleonics

A hot topic amongst a group of local gamers is 25mm Napoloenics. After much talking, and not enough listening, I would like to try and enunciate my position as clearly as possible.

I like 25mm Figures, they are extremely beautiful scale. Regardless of manufacture an army of painted 25mm figures is damned impressive.

The problem with 25mm Figures is there is no consensus on a number of issues.

For the Napoleonic period there is no reason to mount the figures individually. In my opinion Napoleonic Skirmish is a pointless exercise. There are two problems with Napoleonic Skirmish:
The first is mission or game creep. No one wants to do a small skirmish action rather they want to recreate larger actions that are well beyond the scope of the rules. I listen to people tell me that you only need “sixty” figures yet when you listen to their plans they want hundreds. You move into the realm of an unplayable game when you go even one figure beyond the scope of the rules. If a game is a one-on-one game and requires sixty figures a side it is NOT PLAYABLE as a six-on-aside game were everyone has 120 figures.
The second is people only want to recreate “Sharpe’s Exploits”. I shouldn’t need to go any further with that complaint.
A semi-third issue, one that most over looked, what rules do you want to use? Have you read the rules you are suggesting? Yes that is directed at all three parties. If you are really interested in Napoleonic Skirmish, try Flintloque I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how the rules work and the fun you can have with the game. And heck you can even buy the figures painted.

So moving beyond Skirmish mounting the figures make the most sense in some sort of multi-figures per base scheme. It took us ten years to decide on the current schema in use and now at least three parties are suggesting other “better” plans. To those let me ask the simple question, why is your plan better than what we already have; why should I remount hundreds of figures?
Of course the only answer I have received from those three parties so your figures match up with mine. Wait you (might) have sixty figures that you are painting and I have 1100 tell me again why I need to match yours? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Finally I listen to a number of people who tell me why my “plan” and or “opinion” is wrong. I listen politely and then ask a simple question. “Do you realize that is neither my plan nor opinion you are ripping into?” I wonder how people who have jumped to such conclusions expect me to take them seriously?

What would I like to do?
I really enjoy Napoleon’s Battles. It is a nice solid system which allows me to recreate fairly large battles in a short amount of time without requiring a gym floor to play. Yes I want to play Napoleon’s Battles in 25mm. This has been my goal and objective for years. However it doesn’t necessarily jive with others in the area desire with 25mm figures. Several want to play battalion level games in 25mm and others company level games.
So it is all about compromise, and I think I have been on the winning end of those so far.
Others want a 1:30 scale game, let see if I paint up my figures at 1:30 that gives me four units at 1:120 in infantry and two cavalry units at 1:80.
In the end there are virtually no rule sets I can’t play with my mounting and everyone else is who is painting 25mm figures is working towards my end goal as well as their own. I really would like to do Leipzig in 25mm for the 200th Anniversary of the battle. But that is four years away. First we have to get through the Peninsula and Russian Campaigns of 1812.

But what about my 15mm Napoleon’s Battles Armies?
My French are actually organized at 1:30 and like my 25mm armies it means I use a battalion to be a brigade. And so on and so forth.
I have been expanding my 1809 Austrians to 1:30 as well.
In the end I should be well positioned to play lower scale games (1:30) in 15mm and my larger scale games in 1:120 using 25mm figures.

Well enough venting for now. Later all.

What's with the lack of Posting?

Sorry I haven’t written much lately, I realize my three and a half regular readers are probably pretty frustrated about my lack of web venting. Okay I probably don’t have that many readers but a guy can dream can’t he.

I haven’t done all that much gaming lately; suddenly I don’t much free time. I find that as an over exuberant parent I have my son scheduled for half-a-dozen things during the week and except for Tuesday night, which my wife works, we are constantly running from skating to soccer to Taekwondo to Parent Teacher Conferences to floor hockey. When I get home and finally convince Gunther to go to bed, or just give up, I have spent more time Fishing the Brandywine in “Lord of the Rings Online” or chasing the mythical “Chatter Ring” in “Dungeons & Dragons Online”.

So without much further ado here is a rant, I mean a couple of posts.