Some pigmenting completions

Oberst (Colonel) von Brause looks on deep in thought – what wine should he have with dinner tonight? Meanwhile an Adjoint (staff officer) deals with an incoming ADC who is replete with a jaunty white plume so that any casual observers can identify him easily.

Two of these figures have been sat sitting partially pigmented on the pigmenting table for literally years. If The dear reader would peer intently at the rear/second image below they may perhaps notice that the blue on the ADC – the figure with the white plume touching the corner of his bicorne – differs slightly from the blue on the other two figures. It is more obvious in the flesh! All figures were painted from the same paint pottle. The ADC was painted so as to be available for a game or two. The others were (partially) painted later to complete the command stand proper … but the blue came out more purply! Now this was probably self inflicted by von Peter himself who had probably originally not shaken/stirred the paint enough but it was REALLY ANNOYING!!! 🤬 And besides von Peter himself preferred the ADC’s blue. Several remedies were attempted all to no avail. So being of a particularly weak character von Peter himself studiously ignored the two partially painted figures and assigned his efforts elsewhere. It must also be said that a painting slump also contributed to the delay in completing the pigmentations but let us not detract from the story.

Anyways and whatever all is now complete and the local Saxons now have a proper command stand to lead them which is only right and proper. Calpe Miniatures of course.

A new Casualty Marker has also been provided for Oberst von Brause to deploy as necessary …

Above: a casualty (marker) for the Saxon 1/Prinz Frederich August Infantry Regiment has been deposited outside the from door of an Orthodox church

And just so the 1813 Allies don’t feel left out a couple of Casualty Markers have likewise rolled off the stuttering production line. This time Prussians for the Fusilier battalion of the 3rd East Prussian Infantry Regiment and a Musketeer for the 1/3rd East Prussian Infantry Regiment …

A game or two

The festive season saw The son & heir challenge von Peter himself across the gaming table. These were introductory and training games using General d’Armee 2 rules and as such some sections of the rules were not used, e.g. C-in-C Commands were not used. Overall the rules worked well and in the main quickly absorbed by their human masters. The games were played in the garage as The son & heir and partner have commandeered Bastion No. 2 – the gaming room.

The fist game saw The son & heir deploy an Austro-Prussian alliance against a Bavarian-Saxon-Polish-French force. Whilst von Peter himself sorted the figures The son & heir sorted the terrain. This is why there are Prussian landwehr fighting through a Russian village should any of The dear readers should be curious. Some images …

Above: for some reason von Peter himself likes this image. Polish infantry occupy the nearest portion of the village whilst Prussian landwehr occupied the farther neighbourhood. The Polish artillery in the foreground are trying to deter an out of shot Austrian brigade from advancing.

Above: zoomed out from the prior image. The Poles and Prussians are preparing for an extended ding-dong through and around the village. The Prussians would eventually prevail as the Poles initial good showing would falter. Saxons guard the left flank of the Poles and the aforementioned Austrians are in view. Austrian Grenzer and Saxon jagers  are skirmishing between the lines.

Above: a yet more expansive view of the early stages of the game.

The second game saw an Russo-Prussian alliance fighting a slightly reorganised Bavarian-Saxon-Polish-French force. The table was set up with 2 villages, each held by a brigade from one belligerent or the other. All other brigades would enter the table randomly based on a die roll each turn and from a random part of their baseline. Simple thought von Peter himself as he placed his on table brigade in a defensive posture garrisoning his village. “A-ha” thought The son & heir who promptly set up his garrison brigade in an attack on the other village posture!!

Above: partway through turn 1 of game 2. Rather than garrisoning his village The son & heir has his Polish brigade storming off to attack the village of von Peter himself. von Peter himself is desperately trying to realign his defences. And worse The son & heir in a distinctly underhanded move has rolled well for two of his reinforcing infantry brigades which have come on right where he would have wanted them. von Peter’s off table reserves are too busy preparing their breakfast to worry about anything else.

It’s not all bad for von Peter himself. The dice show his first round of Prussian skirmish fire. Five “6”s, a “4” and a doesn’t count “1” whilst under a “Skirmishers!” Tasking. The son &heir needed to remove one of his skirmisher stands before it got to shoot back and take a Discipline Test … which he passed … mutter mutter.

The propaganda committee working on the behalf of von Peter himself strongly suggests that the less said of the remainder of the game the better. Every time a glimmer of light would appear it rapidly got snuffed out. Oh cruel fate! The game ended when with two faltering brigades von Peter himself failed to roll a single ADC out of a potential five!!* The battered brigades did not survive their resultant meeting with “Sauvè qui Peut!”. To any non General d’Armee 2 players the prior two sentences will be meaningless. Suffice to say they were somewhat detrimental to the chances of von Peter himself rescuing the game.

* as has been pointed out – thank you David Brown – if we had been playing the C-in-C Commands I could have used the “Chief of Staff” C-in-C Command … assuming that I had any C-in-C Commands left. But we weren’t. We will be next time.

Suffice to say that both games were enjoyed by all involved. So much so that The son & heir has all but painted an Italian battalion.

Thinkings

The games have however reinforced what von Peter himself already knew …

1. casualty markers are desired for all units. Using dice as a substitute aint pretty and does nothing for the aesthetics though they are potentially easier for all to see. But this is arguably a good thing. Should one target a unit out of several just because it is nearly “worn”
2. likewise dedicated skirmish stands for all battalions are required
3. decent storage where units can be stored as brigades would be a huge step forward. The current collection has outgrown the available storage solution and having some of the collection stored in a display cabinet and ad hoc containers just isn’t helpful
4. we played on a table tennis table. Whereas this used to be permanently set up in Bastion No. 2 it now needs to be folded / unfolded for a game … and it seems to have gotten heavier over the years! It’s 9 feet by 5 feet could be a little more generous and in an ideal world it would be considered as too low.

Items 1& 2 will be a slow progress but it is underway. Items 3 & 4 are longer term and will need some deep thinking assigned.

A final note: many of the images above are “clickable” to reveal a larger and clearer image.

Enough.

Until we meet again …

Salute
von Peter himself