Tomorrow morning I must get up bright and early and drive north to Brown Deer, Wisconsin, where our group will assemble at Chez Protz for the annual Winter Warfare game. Usually we play a grand skirmish game with nothing but light infantry, but this year we will play a set piece Russians vs. Prussians bash in Silesia. Since it is unseasonably warm in the Midwest US right now, we are forgoing the winter terrain and playing on the regular light green game mat.
"Russians! Oooh, I really hate those guys," as Indiana Jones might say.
I really do not enjoy our encounters with the Russians in our SYW games. They tend to be slug fests with lots of artillery and minimal cavalry. Thus there is not a lot of back and forth, to and fro in these games. And their artillery! They have a lot of heavy ordnance. I like fighting the French and the Austrians, but something about the Russians leaves me cold (no pun intended).
We have 11 or 12 gamers descending on Brown Deer on Saturday, one coming as far away as Minneapolis, Minnesota, so the social part of the gathering will be lots of fun. Three of the Russian players have collectively assembled 21 battalions of green coats -- yikes! I had not realized that we had so many Russians. My own Prussian team can only amass 12 to 15 battalions and fortunately we are not going to put every single figure on the table, so the Russians will have to cull down their forces a little bit to maybe something more managable like, say, a dozen battalions.
I stopped in at the local gourmet bakery and picked up three boxes of delicious cookies to help feed the mob tomorrow. A little bit of sugar always helps, although I am back on the wagon again, cutting out sweets from my diet. I had been off sugar from early September up through Halloween. The Trick or Treat candy did me in, I'm sorry to report. Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie did not help my no-sugar cause either, but with tomorrow being a new month, I'm giving it up again.
I will post a bunch of pictures tomorrow evening after the game. I have no doubt that it will be fun, despite my whining about the gobs of green coated warriors.
Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteWow, wish I was close enough to participate!
ReplyDeleteYou'll need those cookies to perhaps "bribe" the Russian command? :-)
I suspect the real Alte Fritz shared your view. It's funny about perceptions though, to me there are always too many cavalry for my taste. With the new addition my "army" is 4:1 infantry and cavalry. As high as I ever want to go.
ReplyDeleteA great joy that the group are all gentlemen who take success and adversity equally well. Even if one Russian player (blush) has a colorful view of Prussian jägers. :-)
I think my vote would also go for the western and central theaters of war in the SYW rather than the Russians. Also I prefer the half timbered houses.
ReplyDeleteOn sugery treats, Lindsay cooked a baileys flavoured cheesecake to take to friends on saturday night. I don't know if you have baileys in the US but it is a sweet creamy liqueur flavoured with irish whiskey. V moreish but v alcoholic. Thankfully we were in a taxi to get back home.
Regards,
Guy