Just a quick heads up to say that the updated version of Valour and Fortitude (Version 4) is now available to down load from the Perry Miniatures website. I have read through it and the changes are fairly minor with one exception. Skirmishers are now automatically treated as deployed which is dealt with by giving an extended shooting range to eligible units. That means that many units now have a short and long range band rather than a single range band. Units which opt to use volley fire use the short range as they are considered to recover skirmishers first before firing (well shooting your own lads is unsporting). Artillery also has two range bands, the short one to represent the use of cannister. Some other rules have been clarified, to deal with some issues the player base brought up. The one exception to minor tweaking is the big reduction in shooting values for Napoleonic troops. Units which might have had a shooting factor of 3 or 4 now have a factor of 1 or 2! This change seems to be to reflect the use of very short range fire which is part of the close assault combat. In this it is doing the same thing Altar of Freedom does and considering assaults as a mix of short range fire fights and bayonet charges.
I don't think the changes change my view of the rules as being what I'm looking for they are still fairly simple but have subtleties hidden in the special rules for each army.
On the painting front I now have eight battalions of British painted and based along with five of French. I have French Dragoons on the painting table so I'm nearly ready for a test game. The British are line infantry with a half battalion of rifles, while the French are three Line and two Light battalions. I have placed an order for more figures to include some that will become Portuguese and some skirmishers and commanders.
Now me being me and being unable to help myself I have made a couple of changes to the rules as written (in keeping with the spirit of the rules though, honest!). Firstly I'm basing battalions on a single 60 x 30 mm base. Secondly I'm using slightly less figures per battalion than the minimum that the rules recommend. It doesn't make a huge difference as the rules don't count figures other than to consider if a battalion is larger or smaller than the norm. My British have 20 figures in two ranks, while the French have 30 in three ranks. This makes depicting open order tricky so to do that I will add a 60x 15mm base of open order figures to the front of the battalion to show that status. For march columns I will just place a marker showing the front of the column and put the battalion base at right angles to normal so the 30mm edge becomes the front. While that means that the figures would be facing the wrong way it is a quick fix until I mount some figures in a column formation. I'm not sure how the rules deal with the various different attack columns frontages yet but I will get my head around it eventually. For the moment to depict an attack column I will place the 60 x 15 base at the rear of the unit. I am slowly learning about the period as before Joy of Six I didn't know that attack columns could even be on different frontages or when they were used.
One other thing I have learned is that you get an awful lot of infantry for £4.00. Even with base costs and estimated painting and texturing costs the troops below came in at just under £6.00 all in. Skirmish bases are not textured yet as I need to add some firing skirmish figures to each base, which should be with me in the next few days. Flags are home printed and slightly over scale. MDF bases from Warbases and flock, sand and glue from my existing supplies.
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| £4.00 for two packs of infantry gives me this! |
Best Napoleonic fact I have learned so far, is that Marshall Massena lost the battle of Bussaco because he was too distracted to coordinate the attacks of his three divisions. The reason he was distracted? His mistress was flaunting herself topless in a hussar uniform! I suppose that would do it. I haven't learned which regiment of Hussar's uniform it was though.
