Saturday 16 April 2011

Naps 16.4.11

My nephew David and I decided to have a wee game of GdB today at the club. I had been well oiled the night before and was a bit worse for ware so David set up the terrain and chose the scenario. The Prussians had been duffed over in a previous battle (probably last week!!!) and had pulled back setting up a defensive line awaiting the pursuing French.

David's been rattling through some AB guard (a Christmas present from me 2 years ago, and they say I am a slow painter!!) so it gave him the chance to get them on the table.

David was expecting me to set up right across from him but I decided to defend the left corner and try to force his French troops into a narrow funnel of death!

View from behind the allied lines

Somehow I managed to not get a good front pic of Davids newly based guard!!!

The guy who's doing my loft called off Wednesday leaving me with a free afternoon and knowing David was working through some guard I headed up to give him a hand. I had cleaned up this command group for him a few months ago so it only took a couple of hours to get some colour on them.

I took the Marshal pretty much to a finish and David has added the detail to the rest. Almost done, the wee guy at the back will have a guard fanion added. I think a destroyed cannon would look cool with a Prussian casualty resting against it?


My Prussians shuffling into position to await the French onslaught.

David decided to take on my Prussian dragoons with 2 cuirassier regiments. It could have been a decisive move but with the lack of space they ended up bottled in between his own advancing infantry and the wood!

The Battlefield as the French begin their advance. My 2 cuirassier regiments were up against Davids lights. With me setting up 1st I was sure David would put his cuirassiers up against my own leaving his lights to mop up my dragoons.

Things are starting to look scary!!!

Davids 1st charge with his cuirassiers sends my dragoons into retreat unforming my horse battery and leaving it at the mercy of the advancing French! Thankfully his horses are blown and have to return to his own lines.

Then began a series of crazy dice. In the charge faze David had the chance to charge the unformed artillery and rolled a double 1! Then I rolled a double 6 from the front of the square and faltered his other cuirassiers! Once my dragoons had reformed I tried to charge 1 of the French columns and rolled a double 1! It was all a bit of a kerfuffle

In the end my 2 cuirassier regiments destroyed Davids lights and my infantry were gaining the upper hand after another double 6 with my horse battery and some high dice in melee. We probably made loads of mistakes but it was fun. We seriously need more practice as the gaps between games at times can be months.

23 comments:

Ray Rousell said...

Nice photo's love the command stand!

Paulalba said...

Cheers Ray,
Will post some pictures of the finished article soon.

Captain Richard's miniature Civil War said...

Nice looking table...looks massive

Curt said...

Napoleonic gaming in the family? Excellent! You've managed to get a lot of games in lately - good on you!

Ben Gilmour said...

I love your 15mm massed armies. They look so good on the table-top.

Sounds like another fun game; The dice gods can be cruel unless the appropriate sacrifice is made before a game!

Caliban said...

Looks lovely, Paul. Are you planning anything for the 1812 anniversaries?

kingsleypark said...

Lol about a "wee game" Paul.

Fab looking table again.

peter said...

Love that command set! Wonderfull painted minis!

Greetings
Peter

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Really lovely table and write up!

Cheers
Christopher

Paulalba said...

Thanks for all the kind words guys!!!

Cheers Captain,
It didn't feel that big after last weeks game but now that I see all the troops it was pretty big. I'm just about to post an ACW post on the club blog that you may find interesting.

Hi Curt,
My brother David, nephew David and myself all paint figures so it's pretty cool. Been really lucky with the gaming this past few weeks and I hope it continues.

Hi Rosbif,
It was a really fun game. The dice were so mad we just had to laugh. For a while neither of us could get anything to do what it should have done easily.

Cheers Caliban,
I'm hoping the guys from Falkirk will be putting on a big refight or 2 next year and I might get an invite. If everything goes well with work, life etc and my loft is finished with a bit of help hopefully we will be able to put together a good few games that can last a day or 2. I seriously need to get my finger out and paint more Russians though!

Hi KP,
I didn't actually realise how big the game looked until I posted the pics. :-)

Hi Peter,
Glad you like the figures. We have been enjoying puting our armies together and I noticed my brother and nephew have picked up the pass lately. I will post some pictures of the completed figures.

Cheers Christopher,
Glad you enjoyed it. How are you getting on with your own Naps project?

Again thanks a million guys, it's great being able to share a common interest in Naps!

Anonymous said...

The command base looks great, can't wait for pics of the finished article.
My Prussian Reserves have been finished for awhile now, just have to get round to finishing the bases off.
Got 12 French painted with another 6 ready to go. Been painting a lot of 15mm Flames of War stuff for 2 comps I had so Naps has been left for awhile. Hopefully I'll have some time this week to get back to the French.
P.S. Your a lucky git too get some games of Gdb in, I can't remember the last time I had a game.:(

Paulalba said...

Hi Neil,
Thanks, my brother and nephew were in real need of a main command base so now they don't have to keep borrowing! I figured you would be either doing FOW or 40K and that is why you hadn't posted pics of your finished Prussians. Great to hear your getting on well with the French!
We have been lucky with GdB this past month, I think it will slow down now though as the club will be closed for easter, we have the Falkirk show and I have a holiday book so I am thinking my gaming will be on hold till June.
Just started painting some AB Russian jager so with all the black straps hopefully they will paint up pretty fast?
Cheers
Paul

Paulalba said...

Hi Neil,
Thanks, my brother and nephew were in real need of a main command base so now they don't have to keep borrowing! I figured you would be either doing FOW or 40K and that is why you hadn't posted pics of your finished Prussians. Great to hear your getting on well with the French!
We have been lucky with GdB this past month, I think it will slow down now though as the club will be closed for easter, we have the Falkirk show and I have a holiday book so I am thinking my gaming will be on hold till June.
Just started painting some AB Russian jager so with all the black straps hopefully they will paint up pretty fast?
Cheers
Paul

MiniMike said...

Very cool and impressive again Paul. Reading your posts always makes me want to do 15mm as well for the massed battles. The gaming friends here unfortunately don't feel the same..Maybe they need learn how to follow blogs as well :-)
Cheers,
Michael

Paulalba said...

Thanks Michael,
Glad you like the posts. I know 28mm is great looking and I do wish I had the space to collect a nice 28mm Naps army but 15mm fits really well for us. I am sure you will be able to persuade some of your guys to do some 15mm armies too!
Cheers
Paul

MiniMike said...

I am working on it :-) For me it's time. Takes ages to finish a proper 28mm army while 15's are quicker to paint. Well, that's my experience...
Michael

Paulalba said...

Hi Michael,
I would agree that basic 15mm figures are faster to paint than 28mm but 15mm Naps with loads of detail can take just as long to paint.
Good luck with your quest to pursuade your buds to do some 15mm Naps.
Cheers
Paul

Doc Smith said...

Hi Paul

Really like your blog so I've nominated it (you) for an award thingy:

http://docsartofwar.blogspot.com/2011/04/art-of-war-gets-nominated-for-award-and.html

Pay-it-forward if you like or stick the award logo up on your blog - you deserve it in my opinion!

Cheers,
Doc

kingsleypark said...

Paul,

Just to let you know that I have nominated you for the "Stylish Blogger Award"

Your site certainly deserves it!!

RazorOne223 said...

I was going to nominate you for the stylish blogger award as Ray Rousell was so kind as to nominate me, after noticing that you have been nominated I guess that scraps that. I still love your blog though and come to see anything new you post.

Cheers

Paulalba said...

WOW!!
Sorry missed this guys, I have been a bit busy with life. Have been checking blogs but didn't notice there were any more comments on my own! Been to a party with the good lady tonight and got back late and we cracked open a bottle of red and she spotted that I had some comments!

Thanks for the nominations guys. I will try and fill out the requirements before I break for the Falkirk show and our holiday. Trying to get a staircase into the loft too before we head off!

Doc, KP and Razor1 many thanks.
Hoping to post some pics of an AB Russian Jager battalion as my last for a few weeks. 1 company need the shako cords and pompoms done as the rest are all varnished. They are all based and varnished thankfully!
Awe ra best
Paul

CarloAntonio said...

I need to let you know that I have nominated you for the "Stylish Blogger Award"

Ben Gilmour said...

Hi Paul,

Looks like others have beaten me to it, but I've nominated you for the 'Stylish Blogger Award', too. I wonder if there's a bonus prize for the number of nominations?!

Keep up the good work!