GdB and the Napoleonic Experience: UPDATE!

Been playing quite a bit of General de Brigade. I must admit I am quite taken by these rules. They have a lot of elements I really enjoy about Napoleonic wargaming. They really take you on to the battlefield with their rich flavor and detail without bogging you down with useless rules which add little to the overall feel. With that said, I can safely say that GdB will be my rules of choice for Napoleonic wargaming. That being said however, I do plan to continue with Blucher as my rules of choice for playing larger actions on a grand scale. There are also some other rules I am not remiss to playing again for a change of pace - March Attack stands out. But all in all, I really do enjoy the level of game play that GdB represents. Truly a fun and informative set of rules to experience. So, with all that said, expect to see more content here on the Shako & Bayonet for GdB :)

In other news, I had a wonderful time hosting sessions 1-3 of the Tabletop Commanders MEGA 24-hour Paint & Chat over the weekend. What an experience that was! Although I was exhausted after the first 20 hours, I did have a blast and managed to get a bunch of things done. For one, I got a start on my encampment, basing and painting up five plastic tents which are actually HO scale! This works out for me even though I collect mainly 10mm for my Napoleonics. If you do a little research you will find many different styles and sizes of tents used by the various armies of the 18-19th c. Have a look at the pics here and see what you think.

Russians and French go at it over some Stone walls and tents!!!

A company of French line marches about camp. HO scale plastic tents - originally made by Atlantic.
Mounted on thin card and flocked.

Also completed were some stone walls I found in my attic I made way back in the 80s! I remember that all I did to make these was to crush - in a vice - some large stones from my driveway. I used superglue to put them together back then so they are like concrete! All I did was re-base them and give them a little dry-brushing. Turned out pretty good actually. I remember I scaled them for 15mm but I could tell right away I could still use them with my 10mm. So I am happy with them. Besides, I also want to stary collecting 15mm as well, so useful no matter how you look at it.

Stone wall sections. I mounted them on thin balsa wood bases, decorated with flock.

Well, that's about it for this post. Not a big update, but progress. I hope to get some more games of GdB and Blucher in soon and hope to post more AARs as well. Oh, and of course, work on my encampment will continue - going to be scratch-building the remaining tents!

Stay tuned my friends...

~K

Some New Units Started, Camps, and Basing in GdB

Well, winding down now after a pretty active week of wargaming. Had a great time playing some Blucher set in 1812 Russia. A French force - including Lannes, who died in 1809 actually - vs. a Russian army led by Kutuzov himself. Great battle. I won't spoil the outcome as I did make a video of the BatRep which you can find here at this link. In addition, I also managed to get in some Paint & Chats this week with some of the other Tabletop Commanders.

French advance on a Russian held village.

One thing I have been debating is how I will go about basing my Russians for use in General de Brigade. As some of you may know, Russians are mounted on wider bases with more figs than the French. I included some pics below. Currently all of my Russian infantry are mounted just like my French. Being a purist of sorts leads me to ponder how I will handle this. I really do love the idea of the Russians on wider bases (and fewer bases in all compared to the French battalion - sounds old school because, well... it is old school :) Still not sure where to go with this. But I am quite keen on mounting on the bigger bases. GdB is a really wonderful set of rules and I am pretty sure I will be playing a lot of games using them. However, if I do so, I then need to figure out what to so with the Russian infantry I already have based. So, I will ponder more. Any ideas, feel free to let me know what you think.

Miniatures I am currently working on in the PAINT & CHATS. Mostly all
Russians except for the French limbers.

The basing for French infantry in GdB is exactly how I base my miniatures now - although I use more figures.

Russian base sizes for GdB. My current basing uses smaller bases - same as my French.

Another project I am planning on starting soon is that involving making a camp - tents and what not - for my armies. Been looking up all kinds of pics on the net for these. I will be making these by hand of course, so any information I can find would be great. More on this project later. Needless to say, I am very excited to add a camp. All those fun little tents, flags show staff tents, perhaps some camp follower wagons, etc., will just be  a nice add to any battle.



The Russians advance to a crest line where some well hidden French lie in wait.

The French prepare to bombard the village prior to an assault.

Again, if you are interested in watching the video of the Blucher BatRep I did this week, just click this link here and it will take you to the video over on YouTube. I also made a lot more videos for Blucher and other rules, so check out my channel too :)

Till next time...

~K