It's amazing how fast the year has flown by. Lots of good games played so far this year with Sharpe Practice II predominating.
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| Ah, Spain! What a great place for a battle |
The Peninsula has been fought across, down, through and across again! We tend to play large multiplayer games of SPII (really 3 or 4 side-by-side games) where we all have our own Leaders and act on the card draw. For example, a Red Leader 1 card means that we each get to use our Leader 1 (if we are Red of course).
A lot of games have been with my friend Gavin who is definitely a "more is better" gamer hence the large number of figures, players and the 15ft x 6ft table we play on. And you will never see an unpainted figure on the table in our games. We enjoy the look of the game as much as the gameplay. Scenery is important too, lots of lovely buildings (Gav's again) used but most of the figures in these photos are mine!
The lads from Odin's Night club have been involved in a number of the big games, along with a variety of other "gentleman gamers".
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| Experimenting with double size units |
As well as the big games we have been experimenting with tweaking unit size, mainly for visual impact. Those French columns sure look impressive in double size! Easy enough to do, each casualty takes off two figures, that way you get a bucket o' dice experience too!
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| Look at that column! |
The 'thin red line' facing downs the hordes of French conscripts makes for an exciting game. In this particular scenario the British cavalry are shown at the point of breaking through the French supporting unit which you can see fleeing near the curve in the road. The British held, Napoleon's boys ran. Cracking game.
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| Pumpkin helps with the painting |
I have been painting pretty consistently this year (for me) getting through British Light Dragoons, Light Infantry, Line Infantry and various bits and pieces. Always with the help of one furry painting buddy or another. Sometimes the generously shared fur gets in the way of a perfect paintjob but meh, c'est la guerre.
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| Brigade Lights in progress |
I have been adding to my Napoleonics armies steadily too so my painting queue keeps getting longer (funny how that works) and I especially like the Brigade miniatures figures I have picked up. Lots of character. Perry Miniatures and Warlord Games metals have made their way onto the pile too.
Gavin and I have been playing a fabulous Dawns and Departures campaign in the Peninsular, with superb (and hilarious) moderation by Man Cave Paul. Some of the Hornblower/Sharpesque "despatches" (orders) between our named leaders have been nearly as fun as playing the game. Next round of the campaign is about to start as the first phase played itself out.
We have made a slight tweak to the casualty recovery chart, sliding eveything one dice pip into a deadlier outcome. We just felt that not enough attrition of forces was happening.
I can't wait to get the next game underway.
