Training Has Begun

 Not a lot of hobby time this week but I've started uniforming the first regiment of Hat figures.

I seem to remember a time when 1/72 were much easier to see, stayed in focus and stood still to be painted, as well as a time when I could happily paint for several hours. Sighh....

Well, do or die but I think when these are done, the next unit on the table will be 4 glossy toy soldiers.

Not Quite, Gentleman!

 Well there I was on New Year's, a little tired after a week of indulgence and too much herbal tea (sighhhh), and  there was a messy table full of the bodies of zulus and British soldiers and seamen. It seemed only right to dismiss them to their respective homes. Then I had an empty terrain staring at me.......... hmm.... I wonder how this scenario would work in a different period with different rules?

Not Quite A Gentleman's French Revolution. Note the improvised Cycle track to tie AGW cycles to OHW turns.

It has taken a fair bit of thought and a few games to manage to balance A Gentleman's War's lack of turns to One Hour Wargames scenario fixed turn limits, but,  I think I now have a good method of doing it. At least it has worked for 2 games in a row. 

What I have done is count each sides cycles. When both players have played at least as many cycles as the scenario has turns, the game is over and victory is assessed.  To make it easier to track, I quickly made a little scoreboard out of foam core and used coloured pins to advance each side as they started a new cycle. Once the first player reaches the end, that side no longer needs to track cycles. Once the other side finishes their 15th cycle, the game is over. 

Casualties were high on both sides and at last the French got to recycle a unit!

Once again the game played well with a fair degree of uncertainty. That aspect reminds me of my old MacDuff rules though with more fiddly bits and modifiers. I really need to make some period specific Quick Reference sheets for the French Revolution and print them out. 

Magically appearing on the other road (Good thing most of the French were in the new universal uniform!) the column attacked, took 1/2 the town and then broke momentarily. The Skirmishers moved in to finish the job.

More important is that like MacDuff, it takes longer to play and requires more thinking, chart checking and dice rolling than most of my current rules, especially when playing solo. Playing more often would help but isn't likely to happen this year. I'm trying to resist doing a lazy man's set of rules for my French Rev armies to use at home. There are lots of other troops to exercise! 

The Grand Finale. Three French units were in on the kill. It was nip and tuck with both Generals in the thick of it but on the 14th French cycle, the last Highlander fell along with the British General.
Vive la republique! 

The table has now been cleared and the question is: "What shall I play after I finish painting up my first unit of the new Hat ACW?" 

A New Year, an Old Battlefield

 Recycle, reuse, right?

I'm all set to try out the same scenario in a different setting: A Gentleman's War in the French Revolution.

But first, I replayed the Zulu game. It seemed to me that my last minute reversion to the old Square Brigadier play sequence had been a mistake. So I brought back my Model Major General sequence with a shared fire phase and played it again. It worked like a charm.

2nd to last turn.

This time the game lasted the full 15 turns and victory or defeat came down to the last die roll. The Zulus had over run the wagon laager and the Brits were down to 1 company of sailors, 1 hit away from extinction. The third wave of Zulus was just crossing the river but the Zulus still had one unit in melee. They scored the necessary hit but Col Hill once again stepped forward to steady them. (5,6 =cancel 1 hit, 1=leader wounded.) This time it worked. 

Damn close run thing! Maybe he will get that medal!