Looking at Command and Control again

In the comments in my first post about this topic  (You can find it here >Small but Perfectly Formed: Command and control in wargames.<) Rob pointed me in the direction of a long out of print set of rules which had looked at the same points I was mulling over.  These are 'Napoleonic Rules for a Large Scale Action with Small Scale Miniatures'.  The rules were published in 1980 and had come up with a set of mechanisms to cover pretty much the exact issues I identified.  No point reinventing the wheel I thought and promptly hunted down a copy on Scribd.  After a read through and some note taking I was in agreement with Rob, almost half a century ago the same issue had come up and been solved by smarter minds than mine!

(AI image) This is the chain of command...don't make me use it!

The rules use a variable bound mechanism which was in vogue back then and which has fallen out of use since but it doesn't make much difference to the C2 rules involved.  It listed change of situation triggers, possible reactions to those changes and who can act on the triggers.  It also gives guidance on ranges over which triggers can be identified.  The core concept is that command and control are exercised at separate points in the chain of command and no one  (other than the CinC) can simply issue orders to attack, unless it is for a counter attack to defend the subordinates formation.  

Each link in the chain of command consists of a superior who issues commands and a subordinate who must execute them but can determine how that is done.  Orders have to pass down the full chain of command between an officer who is entitled to give a command and the officer who executes it,  and that takes time.  Essentially this consists of time in transit and time to read and execute the order.  In the absence of new orders a formation simply gets on with the last instructions unless attacked when it is entitled to defend itself.  I rather like the simple underpinning concept of "If tell you to jump all you are allowed to do is ask 'how high'."

The basics of the rules are as follows.

1.  The game starts with the CinC writing orders for the overall objectives of the subordinate commands.  These are broken down by Corps, Division Brigade objectives as required.  I can see fun and games arising in multi player games where three or four players are acting as Corps or Divisional commanders and have to translate Army level orders to their own subordinates objectives.

2. These initial orders are followed unless a change of situation is seen by an Army, Corps or Divisional Commander.  Brigades and Battalions can only deviate from orders if forced to act in self defence when attacked.  In that latter case all they can do is defend and/or or seek new orders from above.  Only the CinC has full freedom of action.

3. Change of Situation triggers are restricted to ten cases, see the tables below.  Each one has a limited set of responses available (also shown on the table below).

4.  Most responses only allow the parent formation to change orders but that requires a message moving from them to the subordinate formation and in some cases vice versa all of which takes time.

5.  Units engaged in firefights or close combat cannot respond to changes in situation or seek new orders.  This means that generals need be able to see what is happening to their commands to be able to influence the fight as the units at the sharp end are locked in place.

Permitted Responses to a change in situation

These possible changes are not mutually exclusive.  They include options for both the affected unit and that units superior.  So (for example) the subordinate unit could go on the defensive and seek new orders while the superior commander seeing the situation could send orders to other units in response

Triggers and options

The rules don't take into account failures to follow orders correctly and other areas of friction as it seems to be assumed that orders are not open to interpretation and are followed to the letter.  While this may be the case in most situations there are always occasional  'outliers' where subordinates have ideas of their own, for good or ill!  They also don't appear to be written to cover Army through to Battalion chains of command or the freedom of action granted French Corps commanders (Q was that really a thing on a big battlefield or just while Corps were acting independently?)

That said, looking at the above I think I have enough to work with to create some simple C2 rules.  Lets see how it goes.

Command and control in wargames.

I recently came across an interesting discussion on TMP about command and control (C2) in Napoleonic wargames (it's here if you want to read it [TMP] "Command and Control rules in Napoleonic Rule Sets" Topic).  Which of course got me to thinking about how this is handled in Valour and Fortitude (Spoiler Alert - it isn't covered in any detail).  For me the lack of any certainty in C2 is a key part of pre modern wargame period and as such should be included in most rule sets.  So of course I started tinkering based upon the ideas thrown up in the forum posts.  Oh it's worth bearing in mind that some of my posts are an attempt to clarify concepts I have in my mind by writing them down in way that other people (that's you BTW) can follow.  This is one of those posts!

I have written it down so there can be no confusion! Thirteen fish and chips but no salt or vinegar on mine.  Grouchy wants haddock, Ney wants sole and the rest are cod.  Ten mushy peas and three curry sauces, and bring the change back!  Do you understand the order?

As I see it the issues boil down to:

1.  Who can give orders or change orders, 
2.  What trigger events should allow the initial orders to be changed,
3.  How many orders can be issued per turn per commander,
4. What should those orders be,
5.  How long do they take to get to subordinates,
6.  How to model failures in arrival and mistakes in applying them,
7. Who can only execute the orders.

Some or all of the above have variable answers based upon the level a game is set at of course.  A game set at army level may not use individual battalions to execute orders.  Instead it may only go down to brigade level.  On the other hand a game set at corps or a division level may go down the command structure to battalion level.  This also impacts the scope for initiative to be used as a battalion commander will see less of the battlefield events than a division command as he is busy at the down and dirty end of the fight!  That means that they see less events that might trigger a change of orders, its a kind of target fixation.  

So lets look at a full army level C2 position and go through it step by step.

1. Who can give orders or change orders

Obviously the overall commander can issue orders to any subordinate.  I'd also consider that at the other end battalion commanders have no scope to change their orders, they just have to execute them.  In between those two extremes things are a bit cloudier though.  Corps, division and brigade commanders are given an objective but have some scope to decide how to achieve that, although that reduces as you move down the chain of command.  I could see an argument for brigade commanders to be in same boat as battalion commanders

2.  What trigger events should allow the initial orders to be changed

Another obvious starting point here, if a commander isn't aware of a thing it can't trigger a change.  This is linked to my comment on target fixation.  The nearer to the fighting a commander is the less he sees of the overall picture.  Also the lower down the chain of command the less they should be focussed on anything beyond their formations objective.  I'm considering some kind of situational awareness limit on what a subordinate commander can react to.

3. How many orders can be issued per turn per commander and what should they be

How many orders can be issued a turn depends on how decisive a commander is and how long a turn length is being used.  Note that decisive is not the same as good, a commander can be decisive (i.e. quick to make decisions) and still get the decisions and hence the new orders wrong!  

As for turn length V&F doesn't define things like time and ground scale, which is an issue to my mind,  I had to do it myself based on weapon ranges in the rules compared to reality.  For 6mm figures I eventually settled in 1cm to 20 yards/paces/metres (I'm not picky at 6mm scales).  From that I could approximate turn length from movement distances.  Infantry movement tuns out to be around 80 paces/turn in line which using an average of British and French normal marching pace length and rate gives just under a 90 second turn!  For an army level game this seems far too short to me.  How I wish the designer had done some math rather than using what felt right (see my note at the end)! So lets fudge the answer and call a turn 30 minutes.  So that's how long a general has to digest information and spit out any changes to orders.  

Lets also decide that generals come in only five flavours excellent, good, average, poor and bloody useless (aka atrocious).  The better the grade the more new orders can be generated each turn.

4. What should those orders be

I'm on firmer ground here as I considered this topic when writing my pike and shot rules and one suggested solution on the TMP forum matches my view.  So initial and new orders should be one of the following:

Attack an objective [a named location or formation] then once that is achieved change to defend

2.       Defend [a named location]

3.       Manoeuvre [to a named location] if attacked this changes to defend.  This includes a retire order

4.       Reserve – Standing by awaiting an order 1-3  

5. How long do they take to get to subordinates

Another fairly straight forward aspect.  Calculate the number of moves for a horse at maximum move rate to go between general and subordinate and at the end of that number of moves the messenger should arrive.  Once the new orders should be with the subordinate roll a D6 on a 1-2 they arrive straight away on a 3-6 they are delayed dice again next turn.  Remember the subordinate doesn't know new orders are coming so doesn't know they are delayed or even that the messenger was killed on route.  If after double the transit time the message hasn't arrived the commander may resend an order as the aide has not returned and can be assumed to be wounded or dead.

6. How to model failures in arrival and mistakes in applying them

If no new orders arrive the subordinate continues to follow his previous instructions unless he is entitled to issue orders to his subordinates.  If he is at the end of the food chain tough.  Carry out the last order until the morale test lets you run away!  otherwise some kind of test to see if the subordinate has the brains to see a change is needed.  A poor or atrocious commander may also misinterpret orders.  So roll a D6; on a 1 take more aggressive action, on a 2-5 follow orders and on a 6 take less aggressive action than ordered.

7. Who can only execute the orders.

As with point one this depends on the level of action being covered by the rules.  For army level games I would suggest that Battalions have no ability to change orders so can only execute the order given.  All other links in the chain have to execute their orders subject to discretion on how to do that.  That discretion should reduce the lower down the chain a subordinate is.  For example a brigade commander might be allowed to keep and decide when to release a reserve but little else.  A division commander might be able to determine what each brigade shall do to achieve his objective but can't change the overall objective.  While a Corps commander (especially a French one) is entirely free to make any decision they see fit unless given a direct order to follow.  Allied Corps should be prone to doing their own thing especially if Spanish.

Next time I will try and put some flesh on the bones of this post by creating some rule ideas for C2 for V&F.

Notes

I found a rather useful article on line on march rates here > Napoleonic Infantry March Rates – Rod's Wargaming <.  The opinion of the author, based on Dundas' drill regulations of 1792 is that lines and attack columns did not march at different rates.  So that's a popular wargames rule trope busted.

Back from the Lake district

Not that you probably spotted that I was away!  Mrs E and I took the caravan to a rather nice caravan site between Keswick and Penrith for a few days R & R.  No TV very little internet connectivity and no blogging.  It was very relaxing.  The weather was kind and mostly only rained at night.  There is something very soothing about the sound of rain on a caravan roof, as long as you are inside the caravan at the time of course.  Our dog enjoyed the experience of running around in Crow Park and swimming in a couple of lakes and almost everywhere was dog friendly.  If you are in Keswick I can strongly recommend The eatery next to the Lakeside Theatre the food is really good and they have a few dog snacks available.

Brougham Castle Keep

Another view of the Castle

On the military front we visited Brougham Castle (pronounced Broom, so I suspect JBM has had a hand in this).  Carlisle Castle was closed while were there as it was before 10.00am and we got engrossed in other stuff (More food actually I can vouch for the chocolate cake in the Tullie Museum cafe).  On the History front we made our annual trip to Castle Rigg Stone Circle and also took in Long Meg and her Daughters as well.

Long Meg herself along with Mrs E and Mabel

Other than that we walked, drank beer and ate more than we really should have done.  It was horrible, honest.

'Surprise view' above Keswick.  Derwentwater in the foreground.

On my return my order from Commission figurines had arrived.  This consisted of one pack of Infantry in Bicornes to be used as Spanish in 1805 issue uniform or as militia, one pack of French Line with Grenadiers in Bearskins to be used for Spanish Grenadiers and French Line (I mistakenly thought it was a pack consisting of just grenadiers), two Packs of Infantry in Belgique Shakos for use as Portugeuse in Barretinas, two packs of French line in Shako, and some strips of Skirmishers and generals.  The skirmishers all seem to be French looking but at 6mm after a paint job I doubt anyone will be able to tell what style of Shako is portrayed.

I'm already wondering which packs would be the best bet for additional grenadiers for the Spanish, but won't be ordering anything until I have painted the 600 plus new figures that just arrived!  Pictures of those will follow (eventually).

Painting is back to normal

For the last few weeks painting has been a chore, not because I lost my painting mojo but because the heat made the paint go off far to quickly.  I still managed to get things done but only by dint of avoiding trying to work at the hottest part of the day.  It was the same problem with glues for basing  blink and it had gone off!  But as of this last few days we have had some very welcome rain and temperatures are actually below the seasonal average so painting is back on.

However, to paint I need good tools and I'm reluctantly coming to accept that my favourite paint brushes are coming to the end of their useful lifespan.  I can't complain they have served me well for over a decade, but their ability to hold a point has gone.  These were my first Kolinski sable brushes and to be honest they were inexpensive, given their quality, at under £5.00 a brush.  I bought some brushes from Rosemary and Co a few months back and those are very nice but I bought too many size 1 and not enough zero's or smaller.  I have to say though that I am impressed with them so far, as the points hold well even after a lot of use, and they clean fairly easily.

In respect of my painting output I have had a lot of MDF come across the painting table in the shape of the Commission Figurines Napoleonic stuff I bought at Joy of Six.  I have painted all of the British Foot I bought there, most of the French and I'm now working on some of the French mounted Dragoons.  Finding uniform details, especially for mounted types, has been a steep learning curve for someone like me with only a passing interest in the period prior to starting this project.  I used to have a hardback Osprey compilation on French Napoleonic Cavalry a few years ago but foolishly, I got rid of it as Napoleonic's were not my thing ....Doh!  Note to self never throw away reference material.

Valour and Fortitude updates

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.

£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.

Thoughts on ...Valour and Fortitude Napoleonic rules

Yes, alright it's yet another new rabbit hole, I know I promised not too, but they were free.  You know free, my favourite price point and all that.  It's Napoleonic's that historical period that I don't do, except that now there is a distinct possibility that I'm going to be doing them.  In my defence I'm doing it on the cheap and in 6mm (well you have to be able to see some of the uniforms) but I haven't become a button counter, honest.

The rules don't come as a book so there is no front cover to show you!

You know how it is, the figures looked nice at Joy of Six, they were cheap, oh so cheap and just one purchase couldn't hurt, could it?  Next thing you know I'm looking up Italian uniforms for the Peninsula War.  Which are white, by the way, I mean which genius thought that one up?  How did they ever think they could keep them white in the field, what with black powder weapons, and mud and blood and such like.  Mind you it will make painting them easy when I get to them.

On a slightly less over-excited topic though: the rules.  As you might know I have tried Napoleonic's a couple of times and simply couldn't find a rule set that clicked with me.  So while I was wondering what to do with nearly 400 MDF figures I started searching.  A couple of sets caught my eye but none of them were quite what I wanted.  Then I hit on Valour and Fortitude (lets call it V&F going forward) they use battalions as the combat formations but can be played with brigades as the combat unit with very little change and others have done that with no problems.  They have the right level of granularity for me and I could download them for free so if I find I don't like them all I have wasted is some printer paper and ink.

The rules are fairly simple, the core mechanisms are contained in four pages (three really as the first page is just the definitions), plus a page for a QRS and another two for optional rules, even then most of the optional rules cover changes for different scales.  On top of which, each army has a separate two page list of unit types, unit sizes and special rules, plus a fate table.  Game play is IGOUGO, with dice controlled brigade activations, the play sequence is Fate > Fire >  Action > Melee.

The fate phase is where the fate table comes in.  This is a set of thirteen events or traits that are triggered by drawing a playing card each turn.  Some are used at once others can be held onto and used in a later turn.  The effect of the cards is not huge and doesn’t look like it would have a huge impact on the game play.   Next up is shooting and units which have now decide to  shoot cannot take an action in the next phase.   The action phase is where units may choose to move, reform, double, retreat, assault or rally.  Any action requires the unit to pass an action test, although some fate cards can overrule this.  Double is used to bring reserves forward and does what the name suggests, allows a longer move.  Reforms allow changes of direction and or formation and can be combined with movement, while rallies can remove hits.

I keep reading that the rules feel like Black Powder light, but can’t comment to that having never played Black Powder.  All fairly straight forward really.  It's the Army sheets which add the granularity and flavour.  These cover most of the popular Napoleonic armies and minor nations, plus ACW, AWI and British Civil Wars. The rules and all the other free stuff can be downloaded from here Valour & Fortitude - Perry Miniatures.  These are currently (Late July 2026) the 2nd edition, version 3.1 but there is an update to Version 4 due any day now.

As soon as I have enough troops painted and based I will run a solo test game with my usual explanatory sub sections.  That may be a while as so far I have painted four French battalions and only one British one, no cavalry or artillery.  In fact I haven't even bought any artillery yet!

More Joy of Six purchases painted.

A dearth of posts followed by a glut of posts.  Yes my blogging does remind me of buses!  It’s a lot like my painting progress too.  I haven’t painted much of anything for a couple of months and in the last week I’ve painted 80 of the MDF infantry and nine H&R tanks.

It’s those tanks which are the subject of this post.  If you have read my post covering this years Joy of Six show you will know that I bought two KV-1’s and seven T-70’s for use in the Fistful of T34s campaign from Little Wars TV.  If and when I get around to that.

A pair of KV-1 the camera accentuates the  dry brushing effect

The H&R castings are not quite as detailed as the GHQ ones but they are nice and paint up well.  The lack of detail is partly because the H&R castings are a slightly smaller scale than the GHQ ones.  The great thing about H&R, though, is that they are sold individually rather than in packs.  Which means that I can buy exactly what I need.

A KV-1 flanked by a pair of T-70s as a size comparison

Compared to some of the other things I have been painting recently World War Two Soviet armour is a nice relaxing break!  Undercoat in white, give a single colour top coat of Vallejo Russian Uniform (a nice drab green with a tiny hint of brown to it) and dry brush with Vallejo Bone White, then pick out the tracks and exhausts and that's it done.  Easy peasy as they say.  They are crying out for some tiny red star decals but I don't have any to hand at the moment but that's a job I can pick up later.

I have tried out a black background for these shots and used the diffuser light box I made a couple of years ago.  The different background helps define the models and to my eye makes colours pop more.

The French units pop more against black.  Oh. and yes I spotted one flag is upside down!

More MDF Napoleonics

Next up on the painting table is a test unit of the British Infantry from Commission Figurines MDF range of 6mm figures.  Unlike the French figures these are not cut with shouldered muskets.  I prefer the shouldered figure outline as it gives more shape for the eye to grab hold of at arms length but it probably makes the figures a bit more robust.  My British unit will have less figures than the 30 man French one.  I'm going with 20 figures in two ranks to show the 'thinner' British line formation.  It also makes the pack go further!

These figures are trickier to paint than the previous French offerings as I have to paint in white cross belts on to the contrasting red coats.  The nature of the MDF figures means that there is almost no relief for the paint brush to follow, so that needed a steady hand and a good eye, which at my age is a big ask!  I had to go back with the red to tidy up in some cases but eventually I got them as I wanted.  OK lets be honest, almost as I wanted.  The picture in my mind's eye is always neater than I achieve in reality but I long ago learned that the difference between the two is what drives me to improve (and should be ignored when necessary).  Next time I might try to add the cross strap for the back pack as these look very 'chocolate box soldier' like.  It's probably the lack of anything which suggests the lace across the coatee's chest area that is the issue but I can't think of any way to paint them which wouldn't end in a messy splodge!

You can see the blockiness of the figures in this shot

I went with a white undercoat and first painted in the red coatees.  This stage can be as messy as you like, as everything done after this stage will tidy it up.  Grey trousers for the majority came next with the officers getting white to help set them apart.  Remember that these are painted in right up to the waistline as the coatees were cut short at the front.  This was followed for black for shakos and boots.  Then it was time for the detail.  Black backpacks and cartridge box, mid blue canteens, light grey blanket roll. brown muskets and (gulp) white cross belts.  Last was flesh to the faces and hands, your choice of turnback colour and the plumes.  It sounds a lot but other than the cross belts it is just a dash or a dot of colour where required.  The only other thing left was to paint in any shoulder straps.  It was at this point I realised I hadn't painted a drummer in reverse colours (oh buggah) so back to the painting table had to go.

It's an OK paintjob I'm sure I can do a better job with practice.

A little bit of tidying up  on the shoulder straps might help with the overall look.  I did think about adding Skirmishers to the base but decided against it for two reasons. Firstly that having a separate narrow strip that could be placed in front of the base as required might be useful in some rules and second, I haven't bought any skirmishers yet.  MDF bases are going to help with the survivability of the figures so an order will be on it's way to Warbases in due course.

For reference I found the Baccus 6mm painting guides helpful along with several painting blog posts I found online (especially Steve's Balagan).

MDF Napoleonics

So after my trip to the Joy of six show, I promised to show you my attempts at painting Napoleonic infantry.  Specifically some French infantry.  So here they are.

You can easily see the difference in colour between the undercoats used.

I had to change my normal painting style for 6mm figures as these are laser cut MDF.  Because of this, they take paint in a different way to metal castings as it soaks into the MDF.  I tried two different styles of painting, one was undercoating in white and the other in black.  I then block painted the flesh, clothing and weapons. I also added a home drawn and printed flag.  I  know this is oversized but I think recognising the flag is important at smaller scales.  I picked out some of the laser engraved detail using a very fine indelible black ink pen to give definition.

If you look carefully, you will see some of the blue coats are darker than others. Those are the figures which were undercoated in black. I'm unsure which undercoating style gives the best result, especially at anything more than close range viewing. The figures were fairly easy to paint. For those under the coated in black a stripe of white up the centre of the front of the body for the vest and turn backs and breaches with blue added to the edges is the bulk of the figure painted. It's the same system for those undercoated in white but without the need to overpaint the areas which will end up white.   I think I will stick with the white undercoat system and buy a bottle of Vallejo Prussian Blue to offset the lightening effect of the undercoat.

What really makes them pop is adding the fine detail. This includes things like turn backs on the sleeves, shako plates, pom-pom colours, backpacks and blanket rolls.  Unlike metal figures, I have not given them an ink wash as there isn't sufficient sculpted detail for the ink to pick out. At the moment these figures are not varnished but I am considering using a spray on varnish to give some protection.

Picking out some detail really helps bring them to life.

I have based the figures on cardboard (as a test) and used my normal texturing system of fine sand topped with patches of flock.  Currently, these are on a 6 cm x 3 cm base, but I’m still unsure as to how I will base them going forward as I am not yet sure which rules I will use.  That said I prefer the large unit look of this batch to the smaller base I tried first.  I think these are rather nice given that they are essentially 'thick' flats.  There is enough detail from the laser engraving to help show the edges of clothing so that gives a guide for where colours will change.  At arms length they look very little different to their more 3D metal cousins, unless you squint along the lines where they look more 'blocky'.  However, at the price point these little chaps come in at they are hard to beat.  the unit shown above consists of 30 figures and I estimate it cost under 50p including basing materials!

More Pathetic Panzers

 My obsession with pitiful Panzers continues.  This time it's the wholly inadequate Panzer I Auf B.  It has everything you want in an early war tank, or rather it doesn't.  Armour you can poke a stick through, weapons only really good against soft skinned targets and a crew of two one to drive the beast and one to do everything else.  On the plus side they had a reputation for reliability and as long as you kept them away from proper grown up tanks they were a useful recce asset and could work as a mobile pill box.

The mighty Panzer 1 Auf B

Still they are quite cute in a strange sort of way and would probably have put the fear of God into the Home Guard if Operation Sealion had actually happened.

The entire Pz1 force, I mean how many do you really need?

Castings are from Heroics & Ros in 1/300th scale so closer to 5mm than 6mm but at 75p per vehicle the price is smaller than average too.

More Panzers rolling off the production line.

Unfortunately they are not the biggest or best Panzers.  However, I have rather a soft spot for early war tanks as you will have noticed from earlier posts.  Not for me the King Tiger or even the Tiger I, no JagdTiger or Maus here.  Instead I present you with the mighty Panzer II Ausf B complete with 20mm autocannon.  All in stunning 1/300th scale from Heroics & Ros.  Apologies if you find the symbol on the air recognition flag offensive, but it's what they actually used.

The mighty (well not that mighty) Panzer II Ausf B.

In case you fear these may lack the required punch to deal with allied armour I have also added Panzer III Ausf Bs to the Panzer Army with a huge 37mm gun.  Yes, quake in your boots British Tank crews, bite your nails in fear you French Char-B jockey's, Germany's almost adequate tank force is upon you!  Plus as an added bonus it will be bolstered by half a dozen Panzer Is whose armaments are without even a 20mm autocannon.  No those bad boys only have a pair of machine guns.

The marginally more mighty Panzer III Ausf B

Actually I do have some Panzer IVs with a short 75mm lurking around, but , come on, who doesn't love a tank with armour so thin that a Boy's AT rifle is a significant threat to it's survival, eh?  It's the joy of gaming 1940 battles for us.

These are all fairly easy to paint compared to the mid and late war schemes.  Spray undercoat in white. Followed by a coat of Vallejo German grey and a dry brush of Ghost Grey.  Pick out the tracks in gun metal and the exhaust in a rust red-brown mix and that's pretty much job done.  Bases are cardstock painted Raw Umber on both sides to prevent warping, add to that a coat of heavy duty woodworking PVA and a sprinkle of fine sand and lastly some patches of fine flock.  I use cheap block paving jointing sand and a mixed up batch of summer meadow and spring grass flock.

In due course I will probably succumb and buy some mid war armour to go along with the handful of stuff I have already.  This will be focussed on mid to late 1942 for the Winter Storm campaign and onwards into '43 so I can have a couple of Tiger Is, After all it can't be real World War Two gaming without eventually adding a Tiger somewhere in the mix.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026

 So it's 2026 and we are off to the races already.  But most importantly I hope everyone who reads this has a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026.  If you are not reading this, well.......

Now to business I have completed some of the part painted GHQ armour today and the 2026 lead pile spreadsheet is updated for the first time.  Note to self perhaps I should get out more.

Looking ahead I have the main part of the next two 17th Century posts completed. I just need to add some numerical stuff and list the sources I used.  These will cover German and Holy Roman Empire forces in the Thirty Years War.  After that I'm not sure what the themes for the year will be.  Hopefully more games so more game reports.  I still have a lot of stuff to paint and base and a few things to catalogue, these are Wild West and Sci-Fi figures mainly.  So you can expect some mind numbingly boring posts of the "wot I done lately" theme.

I will be trying to get these completed this month (the two left most rows are already done)

Interestingly (or perhaps not) the half tracks (M3s I think) in the photo are the oldest castings I own (of any genre or scale) as they must have been bought back in the mid 1970's.  Trust me it shows in the sculpting and casting quality.  I suspect they are early H&R or possibly Skytrex.  They seem huge against the H&R German Kfz70 trucks so I checked the dimensions via Wikipedia.  The M3/M5/M9 half tracks were bigger than the Kfz70 by around four feet in length.  However the casting is over scale by about 10 - 12% length wise although, oddly,  the width isn't far off being correct.  I'm not sure if I should keep them as museum pieces or bin them.  I'll have a go at tarting them up and see where to go from there.

The ten I have completed are early war British Cruiser tanks A9 and A10.

British Cruiser tanks 1930's designs which soldiered on until 1941-2

The A9 and A10 pictured above were very similar.  The A9 having the two MG turrets over the driver's position while the A10 did away with those as they were found to be shot traps.

This image popped up on Face Book as 12 years ago!  The original H&R order

You might recognise some of the vehicles in the above photo as being in the earlier part painted shot!  Worse than that some are still bare metal in the lead pile.  Yes dear reader, I really am that lackadaisical about painting projects.  Lets see how many I can clear in 2026 eh?  No taking bets at the back there.  Alright put down for a fiver on not all of them!

That was 2025, that was

Another year is rapidly coming to an end and joining rather more of them than I care to think about in the rear view mirror of life.  It's been a mixed year with health problems  both for myself and the esteemed Mrs E.  Mine seem to have been dealt with fairly successfully but Mrs E has appointments, potions and lotions to be attended, consumed and applied. Hopefully in that order as I'm unsure how to attend a potion!  Wargaming and modelling life has continued in the usual fashion and as usual I have reviewed the year to keep me motivated.  The key points (and I know you are gagging to know this stuff) are as follow.

The objectives I set myself were

• Complete the following DBA armies and ideally extend them to ADLG size: 
• Early Byzantine Army (its about half way there), 
• Goths (Ostro and Visi),  
• Hunnic 
• Other Germanic types (Franks, early Saxons, Lombards etc).
• Early Moors
• Finish the year with less unpainted stuff than I started with
• Rebase my 6mm British Civil war troops
• Build a couple of 2mm armies for Strength and Honour
• Play some ADLG
• Play some Strength and Honour
• Put together some sort of AI system for use in solo games

So how did I do?

The Goths, other German types and Huns can now field a m9inimum of the full 12 element DBA armies.  The other Germans achieved this by means of proxying Goths and Anglo Saxons though.  The Moors are still short of the basic DBA twelve elements but the missing figures are in the paint queue.  The Early Byzantines stalled mainly as I couldn't decide if I should buy the new Baccus figures to replace my proxy figures.  Lets call that a 3.5 from 5 score.

I finished the year with a smaller lead pile than I started it with, even with the additional figure purchases taken into account.  I started with 1,123 6mm figures and vehicles unpainted and ended with 1,080.  But during the year I had added 640 figures so the total output for the year was 683 6mm figures and vehicles.  I even reduced the world war two 6mm lead pile by a mighty eight castings!  The 25mm plus pile of shame hasn't moved although some work occurred but without anything being actually finished.  But again it is a win.

All my British Civil War figures were rebased and some unpainted ones painted and based for the first time.  I even extended the army by moving into the Thirty Year's War with new figures.  So that is a definite win.

I also created a small Russo-Japanese War naval fleet which was not on my radar for 2025, but, you know how it is, enthusiasms come (and go).

Now we come to the outright fails.  I sort of lost interest in building 2mm Strength and Honour armies partly because I saw some of Mark Backhouse's 6mm work and thought that it would be much easier to use my existing 6mm ancients for the game system.  I abandoned the solo AI system as I found a couple of existing systems that seem to have solved the issues I was getting bogged down in, not that I have bought anything as yet.

As for playing some games of Strength and Honour or ADLG.  Well what can I say I have had a very poor year for actually getting games on the table so It should come as no surprise to find I failed these objectives.  Must do better as my primary school teacher used to say.

Overall I'm happy with what I managed in 2025, I'm not getting any younger and sooner or later will have to accept that I should dial back on my hobby ambitions, but this is not that day!  So on to new objectives for 2026.

These are:

• Finish 2026 with a smaller lead pile
• Complete the following DBA armies:
• Early Byzantine
• Hunnic
• Early Moors
• Add more TYW units
• Play more games
• Add 6mm WW2 to database
• Add 6mm WW1 to the database
• Add 20mm and larger scale stuff to the database
• Add buildings, camps and other terrain to the data base

In general I want all my collection catalogued, you know just in case some has to dispose of it without my help.  I will probably not add any further DBA 6mm armies other than those listed, although I may extend some of those I already have beyond the basic DBA lists.  It seems a updated version of DBA is on the horizon and also I'm intrigued by the concepts within the new fantasy version DBF, especially the points system so I might get side tracked there.  Come on now, you know me of old, the one constant is I can never stick to a plan!

POST SCRIPT

I managed a full recount of unpainted 6mm on hand on New Year's Eve and it was slightly higher than expected at 1,143!  But the actual movement between castings added and castings completed and based still reflects a net reduction of 43 castings.  So still a win even with an extra 63 castings on hand.

These Matilda's don't waltz

For the last few years a motley bunch of early World War Two vehicles have been lurking in the deepest dankest depths of the lead pile.  Some were almost complete with others rather less so.  In a fit of unexpected enthusiasm and looking for a break from hordes of Goths I dragged some of them kicking and screaming into the light of the painting queue the other day.  I found three packs of GHQ British armour and some Heroics & Ros Germans part painted and decided that some British Matilda IIs would be a decent place to start.  They had been undercoated (probably a decade ago if I'm honest) and had had the green and black camouflage applied but nothing else.  So off to finishing school they went.

The detail on these little GHQ castings is insane

The GHQ castings are things of beauty and deserve a far better job of painting than I can muster, but as there is only me here to do the job I set to work.  Gun metal for the tracks and a light dry brush of pale sand to pick out details and suggest a layer of summer dust coupled with a thinned wash of Agrax Earthshade later and it was on to mounting them onto some bases.  These are probably only a temporary measure as they really deserve something more robust than a card rectangle but for now I'm calling these done as I'm not going to worry about adding any 6mm transfers to them.  To be honest I don't think they look to bad for a quick paint job.

Something Panzer's don't want to meet at a billabong

I have some Cruiser Mk I A9 and Cruiser Mk II A10 in the pile also from GHQ so will probably finish those off next.

Trying to hit a moving target

This is not a post about the odds of hitting something with a projectile weapon, but a reflection on the wargaming  targets I set myself for this year.  You see they moved, I wasn't looking and suddenly my priorities changed.  Or possibly I became side tracked.  I don't have a laser focussed, hard edged focus on my targets so it was bound to happen.  This year my interest in creating 2mm armies for Strength and Honour was replaced by an interest in completing my 6mm pike and shot army.  If I do anything with those rules I will actually go with my existing 6mm armies.  My focus on DBA armies which are contemporary with my Late Imperial Romans has remained and my wish to build up some Goths and other assorted migration period Germanic types has also survived.  

As a result my painting time has been given over to painting Goth Warbands and 17th century Bavarian Cuirassiers of late.  I'm here to tell you that painting that blue and white checked Bavarian flag is damn tricky in 6mm too.  I'm reminded of the early versions of the FIFA football video game where the graphics were incapable of showing Blackburn Rover's blue and white halved shirts so they instead used an average tone of pale blue all over!  I tried I really did but I just can't get the lozenges the right shape, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  My Bavarians will have to live with some dodgy diagonal stripes on their flags.  Still progress has been made and so far this month I have finished two bases of ten Cuirassiers and three of 16 Goth foot warriors.

The Goths as they currently stand (or for the cavalry sit)

Adding those to earlier figures I painted earlier in the year gives me the army shown above.  These can be any flavour of Goth or even Vandals I suppose.  They can fight alongside a Hunnic force as allies and at a pinch stand in for Franks or early Saxons.

Hopefully this will be the Roman view of them, from behind as they retreat

This painting output has had the bonus effect of pushing me over my painting target for 2025, yes folks the lead pile is currently 30 figures smaller than it was on 1st  January.  I'm not 100% on target as I have slightly more foot figures than I started with but the amount of cavalry and miscellaneous stuff like artillery and dragoons I have completed has taken me over the total figure count target.  That includes adjusting for the number of figures bought during the year as well.

But what about the moving targets?  Well I have taken some items off the list and added a couple to it.  The plan to extend my DBA armies out to being basic ADLG army size is no longer a priority.  I doubt I will have time to finish my Hunnic or Moorish DBA forces either.  I do have all the figures for the Moors but would need to buy more Huns to get me over the line on that one.  So I have punted all those down the road for the moment.  I'm still torn over what do about the Early Byzantinian DBA army.  At the moment it is entirely made up of proxy figures, but I am very tempted to grab some of the new Baccus figures to replace the current infantry, who would then revert to their Sassanid allegiance.  I suppose I might just get the Moors over the line if I get some serious painting time in, but then again I might not as there are a lot of light cavalry to work through.

It's good to be flexible I suppose, and important to be realistic about what I can achieve over the next few weeks.  Watch this space, as they say, although it is unlikely I might just surprise all of us before 31 December comes around.

Bring on the empty horses

Apparently said by Cecil B DeMille according to David Niven and who am I to doubt David Niven.  He meant horses without riders but empty horses has a certain ring to it don't you think?  My version of said empty horses are accompanied by their riders though.  These are dismounted dragoons in a firing line.  It's a basing idea I came up with for my 2mm ACW cavalry and as I liked the resulting look I have gone for the same look for my 6mm pike and shot dragoons.  On the plus side it shows they are dragoons rather than skirmishing musketeers and reduces the number of bases I have to create, but on the downside the horse holders and dismounted dragoons are too close together.  Still I doubt anyone will complain.

The empty horses (Which would be a great name for a band don't you think)

As well as the empty horses, as a bonus, here are some full horses, AKA the mounted variant for these dragoons.  I have painted both the mounted and dismounted versions in the same style I used for the dragoons I already had, which were painted a couple or three decades ago.  It's not how I would do it now but it keeps the same appearance with the existing dragoon base they will be deployed alongside to form a combat unit.  So that's me out of the starting blocks for October's painting work.

And here they are all full of riders

The phone camera struggled with direct sunlight and over exposed the shots by a couple of stops.  I may have to play with the images and repost them.  The black background might have been part of the issue, who knows my phone camera seems to have a mind of it's own.  Strike one against AI?

Both together

Thinking about Through the Square Window (again)

I know, I know.  Using my brain twice in the one week, I'm going to need a lie down after this!  However, after my last post Gordon has been kind enough to explain his thinking behind the rout and pursuit system.  He explained that normal movement represents the slow and steady movement intended to keep troops in their proper ranks and files and pursuit is where units go on a mad dash chasing a broken foe.  This is anything but slow and steady and the troops are disordered and so able to move much faster.  My own view, supported by experience herding cats (or as it is properly known marshalling re-enactors) leads me to agree with this.  Once troops move forward in a charge their officers have lost most of their control over what they do next!

Based upon this the rules provide pursuing troops multiple moves across the full turn to simulate such events.  It also creates unpredictability which again seems right.  Rupert's Horse and their tendency to pursue and loot rather than sticking to the job in hand comes to mind.

So to clarify how I think it works I need to show a simplified version of the turn sequence.

1.  Command phase.  This includes rallying routers and pursuers (where they were in rout or pursuit from last turn) and where they fail to rally from rout or pursuit making further rout and pursuit moves, BUT not any resulting combats which happen at step 7.

2. Player one moves and shoots.  This includes declaring charges and making tests on the charging unit and the testing unit.  There is a small chance that the target may rout rather than fight melee.  They may also retire or voluntarily evade.  Player two's rout, retires and/or evade moves are now made and player one.  Player one now charges, pursues or follows evaders.

3.  Player one shoots and player two again has a chance of routing if casualties are inflicted.  Player one may pursue routers arising from this step

4.  Player two moves and shoots  and reactions are tested as at step 3 above.

5. Melee combat.  Both sides fight so both sides have a chance to retire, rout, follow up or pursue depending upon circumstances.

Ah the Victorian idea of heroism.
It probably was not this heroic and involved far more running away

The turn now ends and you move back to the command phase.

So using a pair of units who haven't been in combat prior to the current turn as an example (and only looking at things from player one triggered combats).  Nothing happens until step 2 as there has been no previous combat so nobody has to be rallied.  Units can rout at steps 2 from the being charged test or from casualty reaction tests from shooting.  Units might pursue or follow up following these actions.  Either way there is one potential rout and pursuit move originating here either from being charged or shot at.

My boys are fleeing!  Damn those dice or is it di?

Ignoring player two's charges and shooting to keep things simple next we fight melees and again there are potential routs, pursuits and follow ups.  So player two has three possible rout triggers from the being charged test, being shot at and lastly melee outcomes.  Player one also has the same three events where they may pursue the routers.

We then move to the command phase of the following turn where failing rally tests will trigger another rout and pursuit move but not combat.  Add to that the fact that pursuers will make full pursuit moves until rallied and may contact other enemies where they will fight melee immediately and make further follow up pursuit moves from those fights as required and it is clear that it is possible for pursuits to cover a lot of ground very quickly.  Just to add to the fun pursuers are classed as "not rallied" in melee combat and will run the risk of becoming out of command on multiple pursuits moves!  Gordon did say he wanted chaos once units engaged!

I'm not sure I would be keen to hang about to face this TBH

More markers!

As mentioned in the previous post I needed to create some additional markers to show when troops have; dropped their pikes on routing, haven't made their first charge (for Charging Cavalry) or are ready to fire a salvo.  These are all temporary statuses which I need to keep track of  hence the need for markers.

So these are what I came up with from left to right they are "Salvo fire available", "First charge available" and "Pikes Dropped".

The latter are used to show both where they were dropped and which units now don't have their pike for melee so I need two for each unit which routs as dropped pikes can be recovered.  I just need to glue them to some card now ready for next time.

More 6mm Pike and Shot troops

 A few weeks back I made a purchase from the new supplier of Irregular Miniature 6mm.  These consisted of some Cuirassiers, some early pike and shot (in helmets), light artillery and as a bonus a free base of sheep (of all things).  I have also been rebasing a few bits and pieces I hadn't gotten around to when I was doing the rest of my Irregular pike and shot figures.  I still have a fair number to paint but I moved these new figures to the head of the painting queue to see what they look like when completed.  The others, well that is a job for next month.  At the last count I actually have over 1,000 unpainted 6mm figures airplanes and vehicles languishing in the lead pile, so next month and quite a few months after in reality!

These figures are a joy to paint

And look just as nice from the rear

The pike and shot figures and artillery are nice castings but the cuirassiers are starting to show their age and have more flash between figures than I would like.  Rather more than I could manage to remove in fact.  Thankfully once painted it doesn't really show up too badly.  I could go with Baccus for any further cuirassier purchases but the rest of my troops for this period are from Irregular so I'm going to stick with them and maintain continuity.

The heavies!  Three quarter armoured cuirassiers

As always with Irregular's 6mm stuff they paint up far better than the raw castings suggest will be the case and I don't think they look half bad once finished and painted.  I have painted the foot as part of the Swedish Yellow Brigade, but will actually split them into two units when I add an additional pike base to give me two thirds of that brigade as it was deployed at first Breitenfeld.  The Cuirassiers are more generic TYW types who will be equally at home in several different armies for that conflict.  The same goes for the artillery.  As for the sheep they don't seem to care whether they are Catholic or Protestant sheep as long as there is grass to munch!

Artillery: smallest calibre to the left getting larger as you move right

Sheep may safely graze mainly because the Yellow Regiment is as far away as possible