Completed units French Army for Marengo

For my initial spend of about $100 I have 6 units of infantry, 4 artillery, 6 stands of cavalry and 10 bases of skirmishers. These turned out better than expected as i am not a great painter. At Historicon I picked up more Cavalry, Napoleons HQ, more infantry, and the Wurstwagon kit from HaT to act as supply markers.

Nemesis

We had a 4 player game recently and it was the first time I played. The game is on par with Dead of Winter (zombies). There are several roles to play which we selected randomly. Jack's role: Soldier, Kyle's role: Bounty Hunter, Jerry's role: Pilot, My Role: Engineer, We started off with personal goals. Mine was to send the ship to Mars if the Alien nest is not destroyed, and if it is destroyed to go to Earth.

The board is set up with fixed locations that hold random rooms, and each room contains an encounter token for an event when entered. As I was an engineer I could open and close doors which can delay aliens or deter the rest of the crew. Why would I do that? Each player may have conflicting goals. So it may be necessary to lie to the crew or sabotage parts of the ship. Since I am the engineer I went to the engine room to see if the engines were even functional. I did check them and since I wanted to go to earth or Mars I wanted them working. I had to repair 2 of the 3 engines. This actually hurt me as I could not make it to the bridge the entire game. Since I was not able to destroy the nest and no one else was interested in the course to Mars

The first Alien contacted was an adult. It encountered Kyle who was able to escape with minor injuries. As I had a shot gun with only 2 shots I wasn't iuntested in fighting. Each contact is randomly generated from noise tokens. You could face a small creature, adult, breeder or the Queen. They appear when a location gets 2 noise tokens placed. When I was checking the engines an adult popped up, luckily I was with the soldier and together we killed the creature. I did get wounded and recieved a contamination card. Since you only get 5 cards per round you don't want these as they keep you from drawing needed items and abilities. Although you roll dice to hit and damage the aliens each creature draws a card to determine the maximum damage points it has, and breeders and queens draw twice. This means it may be easier or harder to kill each time.

a Another reason I avoided the bridge is that an adult Alien appeared and stayed there. Since they move randomly you don't know if they will leave or move toward or away from you. This is what stopped me from going to the bridge to reset the course to Mars.

After turn 10 the cryogenic room allows you to re-enter the sleep pods. If you enter too early you could lose as the ship can catch fire, blow up, have more engine faliure, so you are encouraged to enter as late as possible. If necessary you can also leave by life pod which shoots you safely into space for possible victory. At this point you may want to go near life pods as they can be accessed after turn 9, unless you have a key to enter earlier.

As the game progressed I was trapped near the engine rooms as the cryo room was on fire with aliens running around. I wasn't able to enter the sleep pod and I couldn't make it to a life pod. Id ied horribly being ripped to pieces as was Kyle. Both Jack and Jerry were able to escape and win meeting their objectives. In summary it is a fantastic game with loads of tension. I would definitely play again. The play time was about 3 hours and the time flew by.

Early Napoleonic French Army Progress

 There are 6 infantry units, 5 skirmishers and 4 artillery batteries painted but the bases are not finished.

I have enough figures for 5 more skirmishers and another infantry unit, and I have not started on the cavalry. This is a pretty good force for the money. The force will have 6 units of 24 figures, 4 artillery and 17 figures of light cavalry. 

Figures                         $71.62

40mmx40mm Bases:   $18.50

Shipping:                     $19.95

Total Spend                  $110.07

French Army 1800-1806	Qty purchased	Cost
HaT 8297 French Command	1	6.99
HaT 8296 Early French marching	1	6.99
HaT 8062 French Line with Officer	1	8.99
HaT 8229 French Arty 1805	1	8.99
Shipping		11.40
Total		43.36
Bases 40mm x 40mm		18.5
		61.86
	Hobby Inc 6/20/2022
Italeri 556080 Light Cavalry	1	15.09
HaT 8297 French Command	2	11.78
HaT 8146 French in Greatcoats	1	12.79
Shipping		8.55
		48.21	110.07

The Infantry are a mix of wearing great coats and standard uniform. This would reflect a mix of regulars and conscripts through each unit. From what I have read there were one battalion of regulars and 2 battalions of conscripts in each regiment at the start of the Italian campaign. 

The artillery looks better than I thought they would and are bigger than expected. 

Next purchase

I have found heavy cavalry (Italeri Prussian Cuirassiers Set 6007) that can be used for French Cuirrasiers and Marengo. I will look for them at Historicon. Early French Cavalry had the bicorns from what I could find in research. 

Early French Artillery and First Infantry Unit based

 

I am finishing painting up the last of the infantry.  I am now starting on assembling the artillery as I ase the infantry and wait for the glue to dry.

 

I like the packaging. The figures are sculpted very well and there is some excess flash to remove. The soft plastic cuts easy so you need to be very careful removing any excess. On figure requires assembly to add variety to each gun crew. 

There are 4 canons to assemble, and they are a little tricky. The best way for me to build them is to glue half of each liber with the center support and let them dry, then glue on the other side of the limber, followed by the axle, wheels and barrel.  I did notice these are really large guns. The wheels are almost head high to the figures. 

I painted the Infantry figures and am selecting the marching poses to build the first unit.  I mounted them on 40mm x40mm bases and have a 24-figure unit completed and two command bases done to start 2 more units. I placed another order for 2 command boxes and a box of French in overcoats.  The overcoat figures will have less detail to paint and help speed up the completion of units. I decided to leave the eagles attached to the standards, they are a small detail, so they aren't too noticeable. 

I definitely prefer the gray primer over the white. Dry brushing white over gray looks much better. The bases are 3mm thick and cost $18 for 100. 

I will hold off placing the other marching figures on bases as I want to mix those wearing the overcoats with other figures not wearing them. The Demi brigades were campaigning hard, and I wanted to give a less conforming appearance.  

I will be keeping track of total costs and will post a sheet later. This project will take a long time, I feel better about using the less expensive 1/72 figures now that inflation and gas prices are hurting my wallet and my 401K is tanking, Besides I like collecting them. 

Figure Cost

HaT 8297 French Command Box   $6.99

HaT 8296 Early French Marching $6.99

HaT 8062 French Line 1805.           $8.99

HaT 8229 French Artillery 1805.   $8.99

40mm x 40mm bases x 100           $18.50

Project cost to date.                         $61.86

Early French Batch 1 from HaT

 

I received the Speedpaints and started on the figures. I used Highlord Blue which works great with a white undercoat. 

The White Speedpaint isn't necessary with the gray primer and white dry brush. I am using white primer on the next batch to see which method is better. 

From my count I completed:

28 Marching 

9 Command figures (Standard bearer, drummer, officers, Sapper)

14 Advancing pose figures

3 Firing figures

8 Loading Figures

The Plastic Weld does work for assembly, but takes 30 minutes to cure. The figures will come apart if moved so using PVA to hold pieces together is still required but it is less messy than Super glue which dries in a hard brittle crust. 

Battle of Cooch's Bridge Playtest- Muskets and Mohawks.

 Rules : Muskets and Mohawks (2 Hour Wargames)

Figures: 18mm Blue Moon

The Rules are a skirmish level horse and Musket with a built in reaction system that also has rules for unknown units or Possible Enemy Forces (PEFs)

My son and I did 3 turns to test out the unit sizes, positioning, flow of rules and table lay out. 

I need to develop or find Quick Reference Sheets or Players Aids as we were constantly searching for charts, available actions, firing ranges, involuntary movement definitions, etc. I had to forget what I knew about chain reaction and approach these rules as a different set. Reactions are not as plentiful from movement as they are in the other sets from the company. 

I decided to use an off board set up for the British forces and have them enter. I wanted to recreate the ambush of militia against the British. I need to give more room for entry and on table set up or move back the ambush points. The British were bottle necked too much on entry. I also need to add hidden units for some of the militia. The PEF rules will help hide actual forces and give the Dragoons something to recon in the opening moves. 

 As each unit gets one action per activation and firing is handled differently between formed vs, unformed units and volley fire vs fire at will I was not sure how lethal firing combat would be.  The Dragoons suffered 2 casualties and retired from my failed checks against being shot at (1st check) and receiving casualties (2nd check) thereby getting stuck on the board edge. The Hessian Jaegers had a similar problem. My poor rolling resulted in a traffic jam. 

The Jaegers marched in unformed formations making them harder to hit but they lose the ability to volley fire. They suffered few casualties and were unable to close the charge to clear the militia (again my very bad rolling). 

The militia in formed line was quite effective. Each time I could not close the charge and received punishing volley fire which would have been much worse if I was formed up. 

The colonial regulars enjoyed open space and were able to march unimpeded (even Double time) as they were more than 24"away from enemy units. General Maxwell was moving into position very quickly as the Americans won initiative each turn. As you only get one action per tur you are very concerned about getting stuck in a vulnerable position which is why I really like these rules. 

The militia volley cleared the Hessians as I focused too much on charging. I should have fired but in these rules, if you don't reload after firing, you can't move. It cost an action to reload, after which you have to wait until next active to do something else. You have to focus on movement or firing so as I had to keep moving I wanted to keep firing at a minimum. 

Failing to close the charge meant the Jaegers stayed pinned against the board edge reinforcing the need to give the British more room and keep the game manageable. Units retire a full move so I need to move the action inward to the center another 10 inches. 

While units do receive some casualties from fire they are more likely to move after losing a figure or two. I brought the British light infantry on the table on turn 3. The Jaegers were barely moving and were getting outnumbered. I may break up the militia into 5 man units as well to make them a bit more fragile on the next playtest. They were taking hits but repulsing charges too many times which didn't feel right, but I was getting out rolled as well.  The British light infantry was also repulsed by a stubborn militia unit. 

The Jagers rallied and formed line and released a volley that finally sent the militia running. I finally gave up on punching through with melee. 

I also brought in 2 Grasshopper guns (3 lb guns) and more Jaegers to clear the militia from the woods. The militia units all did a great job in standing against the British charges. I needed to outnumber the target unit 2 to one to get bonus dice to use in fire combat. 

 It was at this time we called it quits. We learned a lot about the rules. They are easy to remember once you do something you really don't need to look it up again. 

What I need to do to playtest again is 

1. Get a quick reference sheet printed. 

2.  Give the British a bit more room to move, the 18 inch musket range means I can move back the colonials and still achieve the  ambush effect that kicked off the battle 

3. Use hidden PEF placement and give the Dragoons a recon range of 12" to find hidden units using cover (infantry has a 6" range). PEF's can move about the board until discovered. 

4. The British had infantry columns close behind (Howe was marching the entire Army North) so random reinforcements are not required. Decide on what turns the Artillery and light infantry enter. 

6. Move the game away from the table edges. 

7. Try 5 figure militia units instead of 10. Perhaps add random reinforcements for militia to appear randomly. 

8. Give Hessian Jaegers a charge bonus as they preferred to melee with their hunting swords to clear militia in this battle. 

As for the rules they do everything I need them to do and are simple; they just need organized. Units are not likely to be wiped out by volley fire, they are more likely to move away. I lost 1 or 2 figures per volley. I think a few more test runs are needed. I may even develop a mini campaign as Colonial Dragoons skirmished and were out gathering Intel on British movements in and around Elkton when Howe landed.  

 
 

HaT French Infantry update

 As I watch my 401K fall into oblivion, I am glad I went with the cheaper plastic kits. They are really looking good, but the assembly is driving me toward a therapy session. HaT did great with the kits as the quality is really improved. The rifles are painted for the test unit. I used Citadel Morningfang Brown, who the hell names these paints. The paint covered well. 

The hair was then done with Gorther Brown. I plan to wash later to darken it all in. I did add a flesh wash and will wait to see the results when it dries. 

I then painted the plumes on the Grenadiers. I am staying with red as Voltiguers were not available this early in the period. I used Citadel Flesh Tearer red contrast paint. The red is a bit darker than I like so I need to hi-light which I wanted to avoid. I hope the red can also be used for the piping and cuffs but I don't know if the paint can do it without bleeding into other parts of the figure. The Contrast paint may be too thin for trim work, 

I did use Citadel steel paint for the barrels and will use Nuln oil to give depth. If it seems like I have a lot of Citadel I do, as my son used to play 40K.  Since my order form Miniature Market did not arrive I am now working on assembling the command figures, then dry brush after a gray primer coat. It took way too long to assemble. The soft plastic was difficult to assemble and some of the pegs on the figures were a bit too long for them arm to fit, especially on the standard bearer. I have never hated a figure as much as I hate this one. 

I took off the peg on the body and glued the arm with flagpole direct on. It was so difficult I was thinking of buying on in metal. The heads also had problems staying on the body. It was an enormous pain in the ass. I have 3 more to do so maybe it will work out. 

The detail on the command kit is really good for the money. The downside is the assembly as the plastic doesn't want to hold. Superglue alone is nor sufficient. I am looking to get glue specifically made for plastics from Loctite on my next trip to Lowes.