Getting Closer!

Three weeks from today I'll be in Portland, Maine for Huzzah. Time is running short!

I now have the German forces almost up to the New Order, just a dozen more Bluecoats to modernize and a commander or two to base up.

One German player's Command: Battalion commander, 4 infantry companies @of 6 figures, an MG company and a supporting battery of infantry. 

Of course, now that I had realized that I needed more persistent units rather than just more units, I had to revisit the rules again.

After wasting considerable time making the rules slightly more complicated and less exciting (which was NOT the plan), a little light went on and I reverted to the good old Square Brigadier (click) adjusted for larger units. I just had to remember that the rules were Morchauser inspired, designed to get the right effect, not to show the detailed processes. If the game goes well I'll have more to say on that.

The French are ready.

I'm hoping to play a test game on Friday but certainly by Sunday so stay tuned.

Soup's Up!

That's the easy part done.

"Cookie" originally had a ladle but it broke prior to me painting him in 2008 as an Oberhilse field hospital orderly. No matter his glare will stir the soup!

The new infantry recruits have their basic uniforms and will hopefully get fleshed out and given kit tomorrow. One little problem cropped up though. I sat down at the table to visualize how the extra units would fit in. That's when I remembered that the table is only 14 squares wide. With an empty one on each end, each of the 4 German players will only have a frontage of 3 squares  on which to deploy their proposed 7 companies and supporting artillery. That sounds like wall to wall troops to me and won't do.

Now that I think about it, that and the look were the reasons that I had been contemplating using stronger individual companies that would be a bit harder to eliminate as opposed to more small companies. Technically that doesn't actually require more figures but 4 men in a 5" square does look pretty thin, and since the extras are here, 6 figures will look better!

"Hey Cookie, see all those new recruits over there? They look hungry!"

Oh, I forgot to add, the soup cart isn't just a pretty toy. As long as it is undisturbed and on table, a "support" stand allows a player to try to recover one hit each turn. If attacked it is removed and counts as a unit lost for army morale. 

Reinforcements Are Approaching the Front

• There's no way around it. I've been fiddling with the damned rules as a way of trying to avoid the fact that for a good 8 player game with the best, simplest, most effective version of my rules, I am going to need more men!

Hans, we better get the cooking cart painted up and get some soup on!

Not all that many more thankfully and the source is close at hand.

Here they come!

Instead of each of 3 German players having a full strength battalion of 4 companies, they will each have  a half strength regiment of 6 companies plus a machine gun company supported by a battery.

I'm also going to finally paint up the Zinnbrigade field kitchen I bought a decade ago to use as a  support token.

Rumour has it that a few companies of La Légion may show up in time to swell the ranks of the allied defenders as well.