Monday, December 3, 2007

Bits and Pieces



There were a couple of items of interest that I wanted to point out in this picture, which I posted yesterday in my after action report of Langsdorf. Here we see Bill Protz (left) and Brent Olsen (right) having a good time attacking and defending, respectively, the redoubt.

Movement Trays: Take a close look at the British regiment in the lower left corner. Brent brought these figures with him (all 400 miles from Minneapolis to Milwaukee) and wanted to use them in the game. You will note that they are mounted on round washers and affixed to a magnetized base that Bill provided. So Brent can use his British regiment for skirmish wargamers, or he can put them all together on a magnetized movement tray, as per above, and employ it as a "big battalion" in our BAR games. This is a great illustration of the flexibility that single mounted figures on magnetic movement trays provides. All that Brent has to do to play different rules sets is to change the frontage of his movement tray. It's a great system: simple but flexible.

Monument Hill: In the background, if you take a closer look (remember to click on the picture to enlarge it to full size), you will see a couple of monuments sitting atop the wooded hill. The hill basically forms a backdrop to the playing area (no troops allowed on this hill). We call it Monument Hill and we all place our own personal victory monuments atop the hill before the game commences. Bill got this idea from Peter Young's "Charge" book. In fact, the faded brass monument on the far left was Brigadier Young's personal victory monument. He presented it to Bill when he visited the Brigadier in England back in the early 1980s. Bill has been kind enough to construct victory monuments for each member of our gaming group, with the caveat that you have to win a battle in order to get your first monument. Thereafter, wins a recorded with the presentation of a little plaque that you can glue to the side of the monument.

The painted back drop is left over from the days when Bill ran his model railroad outfit in the basement. It has since been converted back to its original use as a wargame emporium. I for one, am grateful to have such a large gaming area to play on.

Winter Quarters: Langsdorf was probably the final battle of the 1757 (2007) campaign in the War of the Saxon Duchies. Now it is time for everyone to retire to winter quarters to repair their armies, replenish the existing units with new recruits, and add another regiment or two. With the onset of Winter, I rather enjoy retreating to my basement lair, turning on some period music (Bach, Mozart, various Prussian and Austrian military marches, bagpipe music if I'm painting Highlanders, or even a little bit of Old Blue Eyes/The Chairman of the Board/Frank Sinatra or a little bit of Johnny Cash. My musical interests are rather eclectic, to say the least.

All Maxed Out? It occurred to me that the amount of space in my car trunk (or boot, for those of you in the UK) is the deciding factor in determing the size of my Prussian/Hesse Seewald army. I store my figures in large plastic stackable drawers, measuring 2 feet wide by 3 feet long. I can fit about five battalions in each drawer. I can only fit 4 of these plastic cases in my car trunk. So if three of the drawers are filled with infantry (15 btns), that leaves only one drawer for the cavalry. I think that I can fit about 120 figures per drawer, or my two 60 figure cuirassier regiments. I can fiddle a little bit and put some cavalry in smaller stackable boxes (that won't tip over) and place a few of them in the back seat of the car, all trussed up in seat belts (imagine that!), but that's about it. So I guess that my Prussian army is complete, for all intents and purposes. Well, I might add a few more units here and there to use only in the annual Big Battalion game, but I really don't need any more Prussians.

So, it looks like Austrians are next on the painting table for 2008. Either that, or some more British or maybe even 1805 French and Austrians at 1:10. Wouldn't that look awesome?

4 comments:

  1. Dear Der Alte
    I beleve you have written some skirmish rules called Kleine Kreig. I would be most interested in getting a copy - where would I find them ?
    Many Thanks
    P.S I look forward to seeing more of the Austrians in the coming year!

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  2. I like the idea of winter quarters, building up forces for the next campaign and soldier's tales of the last one.

    Thank you for a site that always generates interest.

    Duke of Baylen

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  3. Don't forget: you can jam more Prussians into the glove compartment. At least a Squadron of Dragoons.

    Greg

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  4. Fantastic that you have Brig. Young's own monument!

    Sounds like both of us will be delving into much white/gray paint this coming year as I too prepare to increase my Austrian contingents!

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