Valour and Fortitude - 1809 French/Bavarians vs. Austrians

My buddy hosted another one of his 1809 Campaign games this evening. This time using Valour and Fortitude for rules. I only played the first version once, a couple of years ago - also hosted by my buddy, and also an 1809 Campaign scenario. For this evening's game, none of the eight players were very familiar with the rules - including my buddy who GM'd - as it was the first time using the updated version of the rules. I'm sure we missed a few things, but overall the game ran pretty smoothly. I ran two brigades of French infantry on the right flank. Another player on the same flank ran a couple of French/Bavarian cavalry brigades - one light and one medium. The other two players on our left flank and center ran Bavarian brigades. I think our left was getting battered by the Austrians, but our right flank did pretty well. The cavalry ended up destroying an Austrian Lancer regiment, and my French infantry destroyed the Austrian's best infantry brigade holed up in a village. As for the rules, they were fun to play - but again, I relied heavily on the GM and a few of the players who were reading up on the rules during game play. I pretty much got the basics down and ran with it. One thing that is unlike some of the other rules I'm familiar with is the firing phase being first; and once that unit has fired it cannot be activated to do anything else. I think skirmisher are an exception and can activate after firing, I think. There was something about not being able to fire at the same target with another unit - if I recall correctly.  Anyway, here are some photos from the game - all the figures and terrain are my buddy's. I may have mentioned it in previous posts, but for Napoleonics, he is only interested in the 1809 Campaign and has a huge collection for it.

My two French infantry brigades assualting the Austrians in the building/village. It had to be more than a building as an Austrian brigade occupied the area. The rules only allow one unit to melee an enemy, but can have supporting units for more attack dice. The average number of melee dice was 4 (before mods being added), and 3 for shooting.

French Chasseurs in melee with Austrian Lancers. They fought it out several times during the game - the Lancers eventually being routed.

Overall the game seemed to play even faster than Black Powder - that is, units break pretty quickly, especially in melee. Like Chain of Command, I don't mind playing these rules, but will likely only play it if someone else is hosting/running the game. I still like Black Powder over it, as I do Bolt Action over Chain of Command. The thing is, most folks I game with here hate (or strongly dislike) Black Powder and Bolt Action. Maybe it's because I'm not too worried about the "realism" that may be lacking in these games which others are looking for in a set of rules. In any case, thanks for checking out the blog and hope you all are doing well.

Mostly Galloping Major And A Few AW Miniatures Woodland Indians

Most of these are Galloping Major - only six are AW, which came with a French Infantry pack. Also, the majority are Hurons, and only six - the ones with only a single feather in their headdress are supposed to be Mohawks.

I used examples from Google for the face paint - so they must be historically accurate 😀. Vallejo Bronze Fleshtone was used as a base for the skin - then given a Minwax stain, followed by a light wash of Vallejo Skin Wash, and finally highlighted, again with Bronze Fleshtone with a little bit of Vallejo Elf Skintone.

These figures were quite fun to paint - although I usually prefer uniformed troops as those don't take much "imagination" to paint up. The details and sculpting of these figures are really good - and not overly complicated.

These figures may or may not be used for the Siege of Louisbourg scenario - as the few that were allied with the French left soon after arriving once the French they were with started coming down with Anthrax. Not sure if the British had any with them for this particular battle either. They're nice to have for French and Indian War anyway - I mean they are in the title.

Of course, I could dust off an old copy (first edition) of Muskets and Tomahawks too. Anwyay, glad to have these done as they are the last major "unit" of figures for this project. Thanks again for checking out the blog and hoping you all are doing well.

AW Miniatures F&IW Skirmishers

These are from a pack each of British Light Infantry, French Coureur Des Bois, and Rangers - all AW Miniatures. These were added to the order from Noble Knight awhile back when I ordered a bunch of their French Infantry.

The following pictures show them integrated with earlier painted Redoubt and Front Rank figures.

AW figs mixed in with Redoubt - the second rank of 60th Foot are all Redoubt.

Rangers mixed with Front Rank.

Coureur de bois mixed with Front Rank. Except for the AW figures being a little taller, they mix in well enough since the Front Rank figures have a lot of bulk to them.

Size comparison, left to right: 1. Redoubt, 2. AW, 3. AW, 4. Front Rank, 5. AW, 6. Front Rank. They all have pretty much the same bulky kind of sculpting - although some of the AW Light Inf legs look a bit spindly. It's interesting to see that even within the same make (AW), the sculpting style and size varies a bit. Overall Front Rank - at least these Rangers and Coureur de Bois - are shorter than the rest, but their overall bulkiness makes them fit in okay.

Next up are Woodland Indians mostly from Galloping Major and a few from AW. I've never painted Native Americans before so it'll be an interesting project - within the larger F&IW project. Until next time, thanks again for checking out the blog, and hope you all are doing well.

Chehalis Veteran's Memorial Museum Game Day

Had a great game day down in Chehalis at the privately run Veteran's Memorial Museum there. One of our gaming buddies is on the board of directors, and lets us have a game day at least once a year. I missed last year, but have been to several in the past. I was lucky play in a great Tribal game run by David, aka "I Live With Cats" blogger in the morning period. His figures are 40mm and very impressive - along with the terrain. My warlord ended up destroying a good portion of my opponent's warband before finally succombing to wounds from successive attacks by several enemy units. I did manage to secure my two objects though - destroying the warband's own totem and also have a shaman type safe until the end of the game. I'm sure David will be posting a detailed report of the game on his blog soon. It was my first time with the rules and they are card driven. That is, each player had deck of cards and it's used to activate and respond to actions during the game. The cards are also used for measuring movement - the long and short sides. Range for missile weapons is the entire table - as long as there is LOS. I was also able to finally get my Wargames Atlantic WW1 French and German figures on the table with a Bolt Action game in the second period. A captured Mk IV and Renault FT-17 from Warlord Games also made their gaming debut in the game. Here are some pictures from the two game I participated in.

The Tribal game prior to commencing. Two cards per player were drawn by the GM and had each players hidden objectives. My two were to destroy my own warband's totem and to secured the safety of a shaman (or whatever he was, as I can't remember). Then each player drew a card from their own deck and the order of play was decided by highest cards. Further cards were drawn for each unit, including individual heroes, by each player. These were used for activation or reaction.

David's 40mm figures are awesome to behold. His terrain is top notch too.

Second period with me hosting a Bolt Action WW1 game. As I hadn't played Bolt Action for some time I was a bit rusty at first, but then got into the swing of things. The Germans ended up winning by occupying more of the structures (ruins) at the end of turn 7 or 8. The Mk IV had the advantage over the FT-17 as it not only had several Lewis MMGs, but also a 6 pounder AT gun. The FT-17 only had a single Light AT gun. If I use it again I'll give it the option having an MMG. A French unit did attempt to assault the Mk IV, but it suffered a few casualties by the reaction fire from the tank. The remaining French had a fair number of hits but failed to cause damage to the tank. Here are a few pictures from the game.

French forces at the start of the game - two infantry squads, two machine gun teams, and the Renault FT-17.

Germans at the start - two infantry squads, two machine gun teams, and the captured Mk IV tank.

The terrain set up is pretty much the same way I had when I've run FPW games in the past. It seems to work well for these types of games.

The Mk IV unable to get LOS on the FT-17 in the distance.

Just an excuse for a photo op of the tank. I failed to get more of the FT-17 as it was hiding behind terrain most of the time.

German squad and machine gun team making into the ruins - this is an Old Glory building I've had for over 15 years - it has served well!

The other German squad and machine gun team occuyping another set of ruins on the opposite flank.

French squad advancing up to the stone walls for cover. They were eventually destroyed by fire from Germans occupying ruins facing them.

German squad moving up to hedges for light cover. They were able to take out the French facing them with rifle and machine gun fire.

French squad assaulting the Mk Iv near the end of the game. The failed to damage the the tank and had to retreat back. In fact, this was the only assault in the entire game - there was no infantry on infantry assaults. 

Rat Patrol game using homebrew rules. Greg the GM, came up from Portland to host this in the first period. He also ran it at Enfilade earlier in the year.

Xenos Rampant game - first period.

Chain of Command WW2 game - first period.

Napoleonic Rebels and Patriots game - afternoon period. This was run by my buddy James with his 1809 Campaign Austrian vs. Bavarian scenario. I played versions of this scenario a few times with both Black Powder and Rebels and Patriots.

Natives getting restless in the morning prior to the first period. I was able to set up my Bolt Action game on a spare table for the afternoon period.

The entrance into the display area of the museum - I've posted images of the displays in previous posts of prior game days here.

The P-51 and massive US flag on back wall.

As mentioned before, this museum is privately funded and very impressive. The displays contain a lot of personal items from service members from the Washington State and surrounding areas. It's easily accessed off of I-5 in Chehalis.

It was a great way to spend an overcast and drizzly Pacific Northwest day in a great museum with like minded gamer buddies. I was again encouraged to attend the Tuesday night games in Olympia and also have a Saga game day on Wednesday. Not sure if I'll make these, but it's always nice to have so many gaming opportunities nearby. Speaking of which, next month is another annual game day up in the Boeing Museum of Flight. Looking forward to that one too. Until next time, thanks again for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Foundry SYW (F&IW) British Infantry "Hat Men"

These are the last of the Foundry figures from the recent order. They are pretty much the same as the British Grenadiers - with tricornes instead of mitres. Also, the Grenadiers have an extra ammo pouch on the front of their waist belt, while these don't. Again, units of 12-figures - mainly for Rebels and Patriots.

The ones with blue facings are the 1st Foot "Royal Scots", and the ones with buff/yellow facings could be one of many other units with these colors. The 1st Foot were the only ones besides the 60th Foot "Royal Americans" that wore blue facings in North America during the F&IW. The 60th's facings didn't have lacing though.

As with the earlier Grenadiers, only the blue facings were given highlights.

I have a few AW figures left to paint up, and will start on them after I host an afternoon WW1 Bolt Action game at a game day tomorrow at the Chehalis Veterans Memorial Museum. My buddy who's running the event asked if I could host a game in the afternoon period as there weren't many games scheduled. Hopefully it'll go off okay as I haven't play tested it nor played Bolt Action in a long time. No big worries though as I know most of everyone who'll be attending the event and most have played Bolt Action at least once or twice before. Until next time, wishing you all the best.

Foundry SYW (F&IW) British Grenadiers - 1st (Royal Scots), 22nd, 40th, and 45th Foot

Finished up the new additions. Beside giving the flesh a wash of Vallejo Skin Wash and highlighting the face, only the blue facings were given a little highlights. This was mainly because of how dark the blue looked, and also the earlier figures with green, buff, and yellow facings weren't highlighted.

There are now four 12-man units of grenadiers representing the 1st (Royal Scots), 22nd, 40th, and 45th Foot. All were at the Siege of Louisbourg under the command of General Wolfe. The 22nd, 40th, and 45th, "Louisbourg Grenadiers" were at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (Battle of Quebec), also under General Wolfe.

And a couple more images with the units in column, more or less.

Just to prove the backs were also painted.

Next up are two 12-man units of "Hat Men" in tricornes, also by Foundry. Thanks again for the visits and kind comments. Best wishes to you all.

Foundry SYW (F&IW) British Grenadiers - WIP

These are more Foundry British Grenadiers from their Seven Years War range. They will be added to the ones painted up 10 years ago - ones acquired from a visit to The Foundry in 2013. The 12 with blue facings are a new unit of 1st Royal Scots; the other 9 (3 each in buff, green, and yellow facings) will bring up unit strength to12 figures for the 22nd, 40th, and 45th - Louisbourg Grenadiers - painted up earlier. I wanted them to be in sizes of regular units for Rebels and Patriots.

Although some may find these a bit large and "bulky" - the details sculpted on them are great. In particular the two rows of lacing on their cuffs are impressive.

After these, two more 12-man units of British "Hat Men" will be worked on. The appear to be the same sculpts as these grenadiers, but wearing tricornes. Until next time, thanks for checking out the block and wishing you all the best.