Friday, January 26, 2018

Waterloo Project Update - New Guard Units Completed

The march towards Waterloo continues - with light at the end of the tunnel!  I already had completed units of Young Guard and Old Guard Foot Artillery before heading down this path.  I plan to add a unit of Middle Guard in the future (ordered from Perry, but will not be done in time for DundraCon).

In the mean time, I've taken pictures of the completed units that fill out the "Guard Corps" for Waterloo.  I'm really happy with how these all came out - I've always wanted an excuse to do all the cool looking French guard units, but until now I really couldn't justify the time and effort to do it.

Pictures below ...

Old Guard Chasseur a Pied

Old Guard Chasseur a Pied

Old Guard Grenadiers

Old Guard Grenadiers

Marines of the Guard

Marines of the Guard

Empress Dragoons

Empress Dragoons

Grenadiers a Cheval

Grenadiers a Cheval

Guard Chasseurs a Cheval

Guard Chasseurs a Cheval

Guard Lancers

Guard Lancers

Guard Horse Artillery

Guard Horse Artillery

Guard Horse Artillery

In other news, the talented and most excellent David Skibicki has completed the Waterloo mats and posted a couple of pictures up on his blog (http://spudnick080.blogspot.com).  Re-posted below ... I have to say David really outdid himself on these mats - they look great!  They arrive next Thursday and I'll promptly be getting all the terrain staged on it (everything on the terrain front is complete).

You can see a picture of the scenario map below ... great to see it put into reality.

Scenario map - oriented in line
with the picture below.

Oriented with the map above.  Papelotte
would be int eh rectangular clearing
on the nearest edge.

Looking from the other side.  Hougoumont
would be in the near side clearing.

Steady progress is continuing.  I'm down to just 18 line/light infantry units that are on bases, but still need to be textured, painted and static grass/tufted.  The end is nigh!

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Empires at War Napoleonic Rules v3.0

Hey all.  With Waterloo pending I've gotten around to getting all my major updates into the Empires at War (EaW) rules.  I am starting to work on the army lists that go along with this - which will likely lead to the addition of some more special rules.

One major conclusion that I've come to is that the Kings of War morale system - while interesting - just doesn't work well for morale.  It is very static and doesn't account for many situations.  I decided a different approach was needed for morale and leverage the method I've used for issuing orders to units.  I really happy with the updates - especially since a major task was to make it easier to use the quick sheets (e.g. consolidate commonly used info into tables).

If you want to check out the rules you can download them from here.






Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Waterloo Project - More Battlefield Extras

More progress this week and a quick post to cover it.  I finished all the initial battlefield extras that I wanted to get done for Waterloo.  Now I need to get back to finishing basing infantry and cavalry units.  Pictures below of a few things:  artillery crews working to replace the barrel on a gun chassis (howitzer), an ammunition caisson, and Napoleon's personal staff.

Still waiting on word that the mats have shipped - looks like I'll not have them or the weekend.  I did order 12 additional volley fire lights from Warlord games (I have 16 now ... so this brings me up to 28).  I originally used regular cotton balls for the lights, but pillow cotton is lighter, reflects the lights better, and maintains shape better.  So, I'll try to replace the original lights cotton and get the new lights done.  So ... much ... to ... do!

Anywho ... pictures below.












Sunday, January 14, 2018

Waterloo Project Update

The march towards Waterloo continues!  Basing is in full swing.  Dan Kerrick was nice enough to swing by today for a few hours to assist me with basing.  My focus this past weekend was on finishing up a bunch of battlefield extras.  The mats for Waterloo look like they'll be done this week.  Hopefully I have them in my possession before next weekend so I can stage all the terrain and determine all the specific deployments.

Took some pictures of the completed extras.  In addition to what is below, I'm working to finish up a ammo cassion team, Napoleon's personal staff, and artillery crew with a large pulley system removing the howitzer barrel from a gun chassis.  I'll post pictures of those when completed.

Anywho --- getting there ... pictures below ...

Supply Wagons

A selection of casualty models
(I have 60+ now)

Field Forge - Changing horse shoes.

Field Forge

Ambulance/Medical Staff

Ambulance/Medical Staff

Ambulance/Medical Staff

Ambulance/Medical Staff

Ambulance/Medical Staff

Ambulance/Medical Staff

Ambulance/Medical Staff

Muskets and backpacks.

Staff writing orders for ADCs.

Staff writing orders for ADCs.

Staff writing orders for ADCs.