Finally finished these

Just stuck the last unit to their bases and just had to post a couple of piccies

The en-masse shot

and a little closer in. On the whole I'm quite pleased with these, just need to work out what to do with the 300+ that I have left over.

Dux Brit painting update

Its now been a week since I've been waving my paintbrush in the general direction of these guys and progress has been a little better than expected, but not much. Here whats been done so far.

The Romano_British, from left to right, 4 skirmishers, 2 units of Levy and the 4 Nobles

Meet the Fockers, I mean Saxons, again from left to right, 4 skirmishers, a unit of Hearthguard and the 4 Nobles.

Thats 34 done with another 48 to go.

My master plan you see is that come the end of the month, pay day, is to order another 70 foot and 20 cavalry for this lot, looks like I may just get these painted before the end of the month. Its only 24 a week needed, then I can finish of the Napoleonics. The new load are not just to provide the bulk of the reinforcements needed for a Dux Brit campaign but to provide a bunch of units for a game of the other Dux, Dux Bellorum, which is just a fancy version of DBA, using the movement trays as units, so 6 figs per unit and about 10 units per army.

Last weeks Napoleonics game

Last weekend me and Mexican Dave had a trial run at Ganesha Game Drums and Shakos, Large Battles. it been a week now and I'd like to post my thoughts on this ruleset. As I wasnt entirely sure that we didnt get things a bit wrong, I tried them out solo during the week and taking my time. Well unsurprisingly, we got quite a bit wrong, Brigadiers have to be activated, just like any other unit, we were just skipping this, and yes, it does make a difference. Once activated (as usual, you can choose to go for 1,2 or 3 activations) the ONLY things that these activations can be used for are, either move the Brigadier OR do a group order. The group orders are for units within his command range, you MUST then roll 3 dice using the Brigadier's Quality and the resulting successes is the number of activations available to ALL the units commanded. Providing that he hasnt rolled a turn-over with either of these rolls THEN he can go on to ordering single units outwith his command range using the units quality.

The other major thing we were getting wrong was the combat dice, on tied rolls we were replacing tied dice with unused dice, they arent replaced, the unused dice is ADDED to the tied roll, subtle difference but in the solo play through it made a massive difference.

So apart from the foulups noted above, the rules gave a VERY fluid game, it looked right, a battalion in line does look like a thin line. Battered units were able to withdraw for a chance to reform and recover, something I've never seen before, a big plus.

A couple of minus points did come up though, Dave complained that there didnt seem much point in the French being in Attack Column, and he's right in a way, once you get in close, they would be better off in line. The second minus for me is that Infantry arent forced to go into square when enemy cavalry are about. Both these could be addressed with house rules, but I'd like to play it a few more times before resorting to that.

In short, these will now be my go-to set of rules for this period, it gave a fast moving game with twenty units a side, it looked right, and all on a 6ft x 4ft table, highly recommended.

My Dux have landed

Well I was doing so well with my Napoleonic painting too, out of the 23 Infantry Battalions, 11 Cavalry Regiments and 12 Guns, I still have to paint 1 Infantry Battalion, 1 Cavalry Regiment and 2 Guns. Then it all went pear-shaped, the postie brought this lot.

Thats not bad, considering one lot (the movement trays) were from a company in Fife, the next county over, and the figures were from a company in the USA. They were ordered at the same time, go figure that one out.

Next came the wargamers excitement moment, tipping the figures out of the bags and drooling over them. Then it hit me, a real OH CRAPPITUS!!!!!!!! moment, seperate shields, oh no, I detest seperate shields, even on 28mm figures never mind 15mm.

So it looks like my Napoleonic project is on hold for a week or 3 while I stick this lot together and paint them.