My Toy Soldiers & Me

ANTIETAM/SHARPSBURG (II) (First move) I am experimenting with my home rules

A word of advice… I am doing my own thing so do not expect to enjoy this (the pics maybe)…

A bit of an explanation (not excuses)… I have a lot of ACW Rules, even 6mm specific one’s but SOLO wargaming is not on the designer’s minds at all… I understand and not complaining at all… I can not BID against myself (see POLEMOS) the best presented are ALTAR OF FREEDOM (one cheer for the USA chaps of Little Wars) but I have to make adjustments to play them solo…

NOT that I will use them as my basis at all, but I mostly agree with several concepts… let’s mention an example… BRIGADES of UNION and CONFEDERACY had NOT the same number of men at all… one bigger one medium one small whatever… if McClelland had 82000 men present at ANTIETAM and Lee (around 44000) and the number of brigades is lets say 45/37 something has to be done to “adjust” the numbers. The numbers in each brigade of the Confederacy has to be “reduced” to get the desired balance of forces (I will try to do this with small coloured dices in the rear of each Brigade). YOU have been advised! I am still experimenting.

To avoid an absolute GOD attitude in which I will represent each Commander in Chief (both sides), each Corps Commander, and even Divisions and Brigade decisions… some way to introduce “chance” “fog of war” and “several impromptus” must be decided by the turn of a friendly (or NOT) card… more in next chapters or Posts… got plenty of those cards (as you will see).

BUT

It is a big BUT … my main approach to enjoy myself is acknowledging the fact that everyone of those little toy soldiers KNOWS perfectly why he is there… to fight the enemy… everyone of them is holding to his musket and saying his prayers… but he is determined to fight it out! (So no need to encourage them at all to do their business… they know)… When those Armies met it is for deciding an outcome (Lee’s first Invasion… say no more… read History… no place here for History lessons)… (McClellan worried to lose the engagement and permit the fall of Washington!… always too worried by the numbers of the enemy!).

If you follow this posts you will see my trial and error… I do not care to make mistakes… I am learning myself!

So there you are… enjoy the eye candy!

Hooker’s Corps moving into the fray (there is no fray yet of course… but they are searching for trouble if you know what I mean)

Lateral view (North limit of North Woods).

Jackson is deploying his extreme left and Stuart’s cavalry is kept back in reserve.

Eagle Eye view of Jackson’s Corps on the Confederate left flankl

Gavin Holiday’s Toy Soldiers (but the last pic! Timothy Hyndman’s Own)

Couldn’t resist posting some redcoated Toy Soldiers as seen in Facebook on the William Britain’s Group.

Always thought they were the best Toy Soldiers around when I was a kid…

So…

Enjoy!

Antietam/Sharpsburg 1862 (6mm) My Own for once! (I)

At last! I could do it…

Finally I must say the choice (difficult) I did to sell my 25mm Collection and go 6mm has payed off! (I know not everyone’s taste 6mil) what you lose in uniform detail you gain in playable surface for the scale… same table… but lots of room to manoeuvre if you know what I mean…

A couple of thousands of minis but it does not look crowded at all. Mainly Baccus and Rapier minis (mainly painted by Robert Jackson (90%) and Turbil Miniatures), Leven and Baccus buildings (REVEILLE by Daniel Hodgson), Trees are Baccus as Bridges and “fields”.

I will use this FIRST Wargame to develop my Own House Rules (SOLO or MULTIPLAYER) mainly adapting and reforming mecanisms of POLEMOS (BACCUS) ALTAR OF FREEDOM (Little Wars TV) Fire&Fury… and what not!

Making the river is quite cheap. And the woods are not “compact” I can move the stands of tress to make them passable. The Cornfield has no corn because I do not like troop stands floating over scenery… MY taste!.

Interested in the concepts movement, attrition, spent forces, General’s limitations, and mainly Historical Reenactment, Fictionnal Wargames with more freedom will come later.

Absolutely satisfied (if such thing exists) with the layout and minis… at last Armies look like Armies and terrain is wholesome…

I will probably do a movement a day not decided with 1/2 hour or whole hour’s span of time of a wargame period… will remain experimental for a while until satisfied. Trial and error etc.

Enjoy! (I do)

No Armies yet… just a peaceful countryside…

Union Forces in place (not yet deployed)

Burnside and Porter (and general reserve)

Union Center to Right flank (anticlockwise) Sumner, Franklin, Mansfield and Hooker.

Full UNION view (Times of arrival or engagement NOT simultaneous)

My Old Wargames table (permanent once retired)

Ready to Start I guess… (On the right lower part Hill’s forces coming from Harper’s Ferry)… not yet “on the table”.

Confederates Center and Right (Bloody Lane with the rail fence)

Jackson’s left flank with Stuarts’s Cavalry.

Franco Prussian War 54mm OLD SCHOOL WARGAMING!

Nothing is so spectacular as the Franco-Prussian War for wargaming the Old Style… still gaudy uniforms… you are in command (instead of those incompetent French Marshalls)… and not the gore of the XXth Century.

The other alternative is Dorking of course… but that was really improbable… BUT… fantastic alternative for gaudy redcoats!… the book is not really compulsory reading (I have it and did… but not indispensable to wargame the period… The Riddle of the Sands come true etc.)

Enjoy!

John Firth’s Lancers “suite”

This is not the first time I Post John Firth’s work… I just love them figures!, tastefully painted and crafted in a variety of positions.

You do not need much more figures to have a very nice “ensemble”.

Enjoy!

Dilley’s (Senior) art works

Always have admired the work of the Dilley’s (father & son)… even bought the book (the original one in e-bay or amazon second hand shops… not sure exactly) done years ago and it is a treasured one in my collection.

I do not paint in mat, more Toy Soldier Classical gloss varnish for me… but as with Military Modeling I do appreciate CRAFTSMANSHIP!…

So…

Enjoy!

Unusual Toy Soldiers

Not ALWAYS the same endless images… those Austrians are excellent Toy Soldiers… but also are that Heliograph party.

So…

Enjoy!

Franco-Prussian War 1870 Diorama

I do not remember what I intended to post today… but I found those pics in Facebook and they come handy!… oh dear!… what level of artistry… it really it is like being there…

Dioramas are not my own personal experience but I admire them.

I did not retain the name of the artist or club… will rectify this omission once I dig it from the pile of info. Done… posted by Wolfgang Meyer… the maker of the minis is not him though… 42nd Black Watch Miniatures by Massimo Costa. (1/72)

Alphonse de Neuville like if you ask me…

Enjoy!

All periods have their charm!

Let’s broke a lance in favour of the less known or represented periods!

Today is an example of French troops… always pestering Europe and elsewhere Napoleon or not… a great tradition of campaigning the french have… not always successful but constant again and again and again…

I am at pains nowadays to get the correct 6mm minis for a Crimean British Army… they simply do not exist so you have to do with proxies and an alternative paintjob… why I do this when I am spoilt for choice?

Because I am a wargamer and collector. That’s why… stubbornness to the fore!…LOL

Enjoy those in big scale!

Wargames

In a reflective mood today… must be early Spring…

What is the real purpose of wargames?… war? (not at all)… a friendly atmosphere is a cherished thing… games? (we do not really want to lose at all I guess…)… in a game there is always that possibility (we all agree)… so… it is really puzzling in a way…

I thought when I first wrote a book about my toy soldiers that History was the main propeller… not really so sure nowadays… I still do collect Toy Soldiers mind… even my wargames minis are more a “collection” than the real thing…

Why I did spent so many hours painting Napoleonic 25mm MINIFIGS in my middle years?… probably (read surely) it was more escapism from daily work than anything else… why Waterloo? (Tons of easy available info about it!)… nice uniforms?… maybe… with years and years I realized how much of it was British Propaganda!… I would have been mad (if a Prussian) the way the tale was told… no offense intended for the steadfast British Infantry mind!

As for the French… what do you want me to say?… a Military Machine that only “conquered” (as all conquerors) the land their soldiers walked through… their were a real nuisance for nearly a quarter of a Century across Europe (and even Egypt!)… Revolutionary ideas shocked the conservative monarchies… they will later adopt them matter of fact (the ideas not the revolution)… but using Force (brute) to spread “light and sweetness” (thank you P.G.Wodehouse) does not work at all… look at the silly intents to convert to democracy: theocratic or autocratic states or regions of the modern world… such nonsense!… It is very difficult to export ideas and make people (very different cultural people) to abide to your “superior knowledge” (LOL)…

It is a strange world we live in… thankfully we have the music!

I do not know if it is really apropiate to say Enjoy!

Maybe better REFLECT! (a bit at least)…