Thursday 9 December 2021

Napoleonic's in 15mm - surely not!

Yes I know I'm generally a 6mm or smaller guy and I have very limited experience with horse and musket gaming, but.   A friend from the re-enacting world passed away a pre-covid and left me a bequest.  Because of the covid restrictions and my own health situation I only picked them up from his executor last weekend.  Almost 600 Anglo-Portuguese and French  infantry, and 150 plus cavalry with artillery and a couple of supply wagons.  All painted to a decent standard and with a pair of display cases to boot.  So I should really do something with them I suppose.

Having the figures led me down that rabbit hole which is Napoleonic uniforms as I tried to identify what I had.  The Anglo-Portuguese are reasonably straight forward but the French, oh dear.  I have figures with Plumes, others with Pom Poms and Carabinier companies for Light Infantry battalions in Bearskins as well as shakoes.  Let's just say it's been a steep learning curve working out which figures belong with which formations.  I think I have my head around it now.  Cavalry is just as bad plus I have rogue unit of Spanish Dragoons that don't seem to fit anywhere in the rest of the Orbat!  I'm sure I will get the hang of it the question is whether a future of slow and steady decline into button counting now awaits me. 

3 comments:

  1. Napoleonics...my personal worst nightmare - that and trying to follow the dynastic ins and outs of the war of the roses. Too much minutia for me I'm afraid.

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  2. Ah the dynastic ins and outs of the WOTR! The longest campaign I ever took part in was a play by mail WotR one. The core of it was understanding which lines to ‘do in’ and which ones to control, marry or kidnap! Thankfully one of my friends knew the dynastic ins and outs extremely well.

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  3. Well that's rather nice, your late friend was good to remember you like that. Don't become a button-counter, just get them on the table sometime and give them some use! Nice simple rules, perhaps - how about Bob Cordery's Portable Napoleonics, or one of the several sets in Paddy Griffiths 'Napoleonic Wargaming For Fun'? And don't forget to show us some pictures!

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