Black Powder, Battle of Dresden, 1813 - My First Game in 2026!

Wrapped up a very nice Battle of Dresden game using Black Powder. There were 7 players, 4 commanding the Allied army, and 3 commading the French. It was a close battle with lots of back and forth action, especially between cavalry. Small skirmish units were able to occupy the smaller buildings in the center of the table. We played 6 turns ending with a very close French victory. They held their positions around the city, although their cavalry brigade on their right flank took heavy losses. 

The Allies were allowed to go first, since the French were already in a defensive position in the city. The Russians made the first move by advancing well into musket and cannon range. They wanted to force the French out from their positions.

French left.

French Dragoons and Lancers forcing Russian infantry into square.

French Carabiniers and Cuirassiers on their right.

Russian infantry advancing.

French infantry within the city defenses.

Prussian Dragoons and Uhlans advancing.

Austrian and Prussian cavalry advancing in front of their infantry.

French heavy cavalry in combat with Prussian Dragoons.

Center of the battlefield. 

Around turn 5.

Austrians attacking the French right.

Russian infantry awaiting movement orders (they had a few failed command rolls).

Russian Grenadiers. 

Russian Uhlans charging into French Dragoons.

Prussians advancing in the center.

French and Austrian infantry clash. 

Action on the French left. 

It was great to finally get all of the models onto the table - including the large buildings that were put together last year. The players, most of whom have only played Black Powder once or twice before, all said they had a great time and enjoyed the game. I think the rules are great for fast play and we were able to get 6 full turns in within about 4 hours. A great start to the gaming new year! Thanks for stopping by and hope you all are doing well!

Battle of Dresden, Black Powder Game Setup

Tentative setup for the game on Friday. Wanted to see how the troops would fit on the 10x6' table top. Kind of cramped, but we'll see how it works out - right now, I have about six players showing up. Most have played Black Powder at least a couple of times, if not more.

The game as noted in the title is loosely based upon the Battle of Dresden. Added a little stream to slow down the Allied advance a bit as they outnumber the French.

The French are in and around the city and have their artillery in defensive positions.

Russians on the Allied left.

Prussians in the Allied center.

Austrians on the Allied right flank.

French left. The French do have a few more cavalry units which may not be historically correct, but throwing all the figures on the table for this game.

French center - with Napoleon himself in charge.

French right with Guard units and heavy cavalry. This side should be quite powerful for the French. EDIT: I moved the cuirassiers and carabiniers along with a lancer unit to the French right - to be led by Murat.

Well, so much for now - will post an update once the game is played. Thanks for visiting, and hope you all are off to a great start in the new year.

Happy New Year! & Garrison Hungarian Grenadier Skirmishers

First completed project of the year 🙂 Just a small batch (6 figs) of Hungarian Grenadier skirmishers for an upcoming 1813 game. These are the same 3D resin Garrison figures painted last month. Just modified them a bit by scraping off the gaiter buttons and painting the cuffs with points. They're mounted on 20mm washers, and then in pairs on magnetic topped 40x30mm bases.

These are the "replacements" the ebay seller sent me since the first set had half of the figures with broken or missing parts. They arrived on the last day of 2025, and I started on them yesterday using the usual method of block painting followed by Minwax stain. I did go over the white straps after the staining to make them more visible on the off white coats.

The trouser strips and knots should be in alternating black and yellow, but at this scale, just yellow looks better, IMO (and easier to paint!).

The lacing on the back of the bearskin is also painted for effect, rather than accuracy. The top lacing should be a zig zag or wavy pattern, but didn't want to spend too much time on it, only to have it look worse.

The tray has the rest of the skirmishers for the game which will be based loosely on Dresden, rather than Leipzig. At least that's what I'm planning on for now. The game will be in a couple of weeks, and already have about 6 players saying they'll make it. Only about half of them play Black Powder, so it's an honor that they committed to it.

So much for starting off the new year - wishing you all the very best in 2026!

Small Painting Project - And Merry Christmas!

Been awhile since I did anything hobby-related, so painted up these 3D print resin Austrian Grenadiers last night. They are from Garrison Miniatures off of ebay. A very simple paint job, followed by Minwax staining - the latter really helped define the white straps on the off white clothing.

They were packaged well, but a couple had broken off bayonets when they arrived. Another one had the scabbards for the bayonet and sword missing - it looked like it was left off during the printing? Oh, and as I was painting them another figure was missing the butt end of the musket. I used spare parts from other kits to fix them. Anyway, the seller is sending me another set, which I'll paint up as Hungarians in blue trousers.

Pictured below next to a Victrix figure on the right. They size up well.

Pictured below before painting. Note the darker gray bayonet and scabbards on the two center figures - these were the one repaired. In fact, the guy with the added scabbards was the one that was also missing the musket butt. Maybe this one didn't get enough resin during the printing? I dunno how the process works so not sure.

Oh, the reason for these figures was to add a few more skirmishers for a game next month - first game of the year. It'll be based on the 1813 Campaign - maybe something loosely based upon Liepzig. I pulled out the figures a couple of weeks ago to see how many units would be involved. Here are the pictures.

French. 15 24-man battalions of infantry (including a couple DOW), and skirmishers; 9 8-fig units of cav (light, med, and heavy); and 7 cannon. I might add a few more cannon.

Russians. 10 24-man infantry battalions and skirmishers; 4 units of 8-figure cav (medium and heavy); 6 cannon.

Austrians. 6 24-man units of infantry (prior to adding more skirmishers); 2 8-man heavy cav units; 2 cannon.

Prussians. 6 24-man battalions of infantry and skirmishers; 2 8-figure units of medium cav; and 2 cannon.

Should be enough for a 6-player game using Black Powder. The French will have less infantry and artillery, but slightly more cavalry. Anyway, just a little eye candy prior to Christmas, Lol! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year!

Northern Front Gameday

Just got back from a small game day gathering up in Shoreline - about 30 minutes or so (without traffic) above Seattle. It was great to see old friends and make new ones - although there wasn't a big turn out possibly due to this being scheduled on the same day as the annual Christmas Rampant gathering at Bruce Meyer's place in Gig Harbor. In fact, this was first time I didn't attend the game day at Bruce's. I made the conscious choice to show support for our northern brethren who usually have to make the hour or more drive down to our area in Tacoma. Having so few players, GM's decided to play in each other's games. An unplanned benefit was being able to play in more games than usual. I not only hosted my own Lion Gate game, but also played in an L’Arte De La Guerre and What A Tanker game. It was first time playing ADLG, but the GM was very experienced and made the game quite enjoyable. Well, enough with the long intro, here are pics from the event.

My Lion Gate One Hour Ancient & Medieval Skirmish game set up for the first period. After playing in the ADLG game, the GM for that game and another player and I played in this game.

I ran an attacking/invading warband against to defending warbands. The HTH rules worked out really well - if the defender beats the attacker's initial "to hit" score, the defender makes a counter attack. I survived a lot of attacks this way, and inflicted hits on the attacker.

The Grave Circle worked out great for putting dead inside - to keep track when doing the end of turn unit morale tests.

The ADLG game was based upon a Punic War battle (forgot the name of the battle). I command a Roman force, and along with another Roman player, we ended up defeating the Carthaginians. According the GM and my co-Roman player, a lot of the rules, particularly movement, are similar to DBA. The GM also said it has elements similar to Armati. I am unfamiliar with both rulesets, and played maybe a game each many years ago.

I ran a Hetzer in the What A Tanker game in the afternoon period. I had very good saving rolls, but terrible hit rolls. Ended up having my Hetzer destroyed at close range by a Sherman.

The GM provided some really good gaming aids.

Here are some of the other games from the morning and afternoon periods. The Ravens Feast game set up was quite impressive.

Ancients, To the Strongest below.

WWII Air Combat using Wings of Glory below. It was based upon a Japanese resupply mission.

Flames of War North Africa game below.

All in all a great time, but it'll be interesting to hear how the NHMGS BOD will determine if this is something we'll want to do in the future. Mainly due to the cost of using the space, and the turn out. This was set up by Kevin Smyth (A Gamer's Tale) as he's our go-to events coordinator, and it was supposed to be a sort of replacement for our Museum of Flight game day - which was cancelled (indefinitely) by the museum. Thanks for stopping in, and wishing you all the best.