Horse and Musket: Retreat from Moscow

Yesterday my friend Michael and I had a quick game of FfoL: Horse and Musket. This time the setting had changed to the cold steppes of Russia, and the retreat of the Grande Armée from Moscow.

The scenario was an adaption of the "On the Way to Richmond" Mostly Monthly Scenario. In this adaptation the French had descended on a farm and was trying to secure supplies and burn down the farm to prevent the pursuing Russians from finding supplies and shelter. I played the French and Michael the Russians. Our forces would be made from 20 pts.

French deployment was in the farm and the Russians deployed in a forest. The French lead by Capt. Le Grand decided to split their force in two. One would take care of getting the supplies and setting fire to the buildings, while the other would attempt to keep the Russians at a distance. Le Grand, Old Guard Auclair and his two sharpshooters the Portuguese Castel and Polish Poniak moved towards the opening in the fence surrounding the farm. It did not take long before the musketry of the Russian Jaegers started to close in on Le Grand and his men. Meanwhile the three remaining Frenchmen each entered a building to search for supplies.

Disaster struck the French when Capt. Le Grand was hit by a Russian Jaeger shot and fell down lifeless. Castel was rather shaken by this and spent the next long time trying to come to grips with losing the captain and retreating further into the farm yard. Both Auclair and Poniak could also not make their musketry count and the Russians moved forward along the edges of the fencing surrounding the fields. The other French group was quick to find supplies and two of them also managed to set their buildings on fire. Now the task was to get away.

Russian advance had been swift and they were on the outskirts of the farm. Shots still rang into the farm and the French were having a hard time getting away. The Pole Poniak was then assaulted by a Russian officer and even though the officer was pushed back from the assault Poniak was shot minutes after.

The French patrol was now down to five men when the retreating Old Guard Auclair was struck down wounded. Bravely but also stupid the fusilier Barnier charged the Russian officer who had previously killed Poniak. But the Russian was prepared and Barnier was immediately struck down. The remaining French surrendered knowing that their mission had failed.

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This was another great game of Horse and Musket. We really love the mechanics of the game, and the games do not take too long, while the game does not seem to simple. Forgot to take pictures from the last three rounds or so, but here are some from our game 

Horse and Musket: Peninsular War

Had my first game of Fistful of Lead Horse and Musket yesterday. The setting was The Peninsular War. My friend Jon played a British force with Spanish support and I took control of the French.

The scenario we played had the French defending the outskirts of a larger town, while the British and their Spanish allies were tasked with attacking the town to gain a foothold.

We played the game with one of the optional rules of having single mini heroes and small groups of three (which rules wise functioned in exactly the same way as the heroes), which gave the appearance of larger forces.

This being our first game I really wanted to try out the different rules, which meant minis charging into close combat but not having enough movement etc. We quickly got the hang of the rules and had a blast with the game, we love the card mechanics and the special cards.

The game ended with a clear victory to the British, with the hero of the day being the Spanish Capt. Delgado, who twice managed to survive being wounded (Queen of Hearts making a few appearances) and swiftly defeating his opponents.

Horse and Musket did not disappoint despite me having very high expectations. Highly recommended.  

Here are some pictures from our game.

A change of tactics

Towards the end of 2017 and throughout all of 2018 my painting table has felt more like a production line as I have shifted from one project to another. During that time I have also had a few commissions, but on the whole my inability to focus on a period/setting/ruleset is the main culprit.

I have painted and sold the following armies since the beginning of the year:

Napoleonic Austrians
Napoleonic French
WW2 Blitzkrieg Germans
WW2 Waffen SS
ACW Union
ACW Confederacy

All of them were only used a couple of times, and the ACW ones were never used before I sold them. While I have always made a profit on the armies I have sold, I have lost all energy towards painting armies for the time being.

It made me think about what I really wanted to do, and the answer was minor skirmishes in a long range of settings, but using more or less the same set of rules. Having looked around, my first answer was to use Sharp Practice with half sized units, but then I came across Fistful of Lead and it's black powder variant Horse and Muskets. This I what I have been looking for. A flexible ruleset, where one can still have heroes and small units.

While I have yet to play my first game, I have started to paint some Napoleonic Peninsular War minis. Each side will consist of 4-5 groups of 3 men and 3-4 heroes. The groups will not have multiple wounds like the heroes, but rather one man will count as a wound and be removed when the group suffers a wound. This really fits what I want to play.

But have already been looking at Gringo40s 28mm Maximilian Adventure and Mexican Revolution. With units of 3 men I am looking to get between 15-20 minis per side, a lot easier to do than 40-70 that I have previously done. Other projects I can imagine is Boer War, Indian Mutiny, 1st Anglo-Afghan War, and FIW all now a lot cheaper and easier to get into with the limited amount of minis needed. I plan on using my huge collection of Gothic Horror models with the rules as well.

I will still be play Sharp Practice with my Retreat from Moscow armies, Bolt Action with my Hungarians and Russians and Draculas America, but Fistful of Lead looks to be what I have been looking for. 

American Civil War - Armies for sale

I have been busy painting and it has therefore been a long time since I last posted.

I have two armies for the American Civil War that I am putting up for sale. These are freshly painted to a very good/high tabletop standard.

The minis are all Perry plastics from their different sets. Each army is identical, with the exception that the CSA has one more officer.

The armies have been made and based with Sharp Practice in mind, but can of course be used for other games. All minis are individually based on 25mm washers for infantry and 20x45mm for cavalry.

Each army consists of the following (for Sharp Practice):

• 4 officers (1 is mounted) (CSA has 5 officers with 1 mounted)
• 5 groups of 8 infantry
• 2 groups of 6 skirmishers
• 1 group of 8 cavalry
• 1 artillery with 5 crew and 1 officer
• 1 musician
• 1 colours bearer

Total US army: 63 infantry + 9 cavalry
Total CS army: 64 infantry + 9 cavalry

I am looking to get £600 for both armies. Postage within the EU depends on the total weight, but if I can keep it under 2kg then it is £15. Otherwise it will be £35.