The Armies

I thought it would be sensible to start showing some pictures of my Armies. All but one are matched with a suitable opponent or opponents!

DBA

I used to have several 15mm DBA armies all based on DBA 25mm figure base sizes. They have now all been rebased all except:

DBA Renaissance Matched Pairs

ADLG Armies

After watching a couple of games I was really taken with these rules and decided to rebase and enlarge my 15mm ancient armies for these rules. Originally based for WRG 6th Edition, and then rebased for DBA (as with the Renaissance above) and now for ADLG! Thus far I have completed the following Armies. List has been updated for V4

Army List 182 - Feudal French or Army List 237 - HYW French
Army List 243 - Low Countries
Army List 14 - New Kingdom Egyptian
Army List 64 - Achaemenid Persian (In the process of being rebased)
Army List 60 - Classical Greek
Army List 133 - Andalusian Arab or 132 North African Arab or 204 Taifa Kingdoms
Army List 85 - Early Imperial Romans
Army List 91 - Germans or Army List 98 - Ancient British
Army List 151 or 180 Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Danish (28mm)

French Revolutionary War

I have been sitting on this army for nearly 25 years. This year with lockdown seemed to be a fitting time to get the paintbrushes out! They are based to play with Bataille Empire Rules.

An Austrian Army of the French Revolutionary Wars

French Army of the French Revolutionary Wars

Napoleonic

I have been playing Napoleonic's for about 40 years. My preference is 6mm figures as one can fight larger battles in this period. I have been through a number of home-brewed rules. The last of which was based on the SPI board game of Waterloo. Very playable.

However, recently I have been using Age of Eagles, this is a derivative of Fire and Fury. My personal view is that these are a very playable set of rules and give a good feel for the period. I have:

Austrians,
French,
Bavarians,
1806 Prussians
British.

I have slightly changed the base sizes and ground scale from Age of Eagles preferred scales to suit my own basing strategy. This is 25mm bases of 6mm figures in two ranks. Here are some examples:

1809 Danube Campaign around Regensberg - fought solo - I won :)
15 April 1809 The Battle of Munchen - A campaign game played against Matthew (report to Follow)

I have also used these to play Bataille Empire, and they look equally at home on the table using these rules and in fact are as badly commanded by myself under these rules as any other!

I now have one 15 mm Army for the Napoleonic period of the First Empire for Bataille Empire:

The Imperial Russian Army of 1812

and one 28mm which I use for Sharp Practice and Bataille Empire:

The Imperial Austrian Army of 1809

American Civil War

My figures for this period are all 10mm. I use Fire and Fury Brigade level rules.

Franco-Prussian War

I have 15mm figures:

The rule set the figures were based for was Principles of War. But I have recently used the figures as they are based for the Age of Valour (Another derivative from Fire and Fury).

Overall the game played rather well, and gave a good feel for the period and the tactical challenges players will have as either the French or the Prussians. On the one hand the range of the French infantry out range the Prussians significantly. On the other hand the Prussian Artillery is much more effective.

I think there are a couple of changes I shall make. The first is that the French morale and strength is much the same as the Prussians. However, the French mobilisation in 1870 was less effective and many of the French Regiments were short of men. The second change is that I will introduce the ability of the French to dig in.

Seven Years War

My Seven Years war collection is Austrian and Prussian 15mm. As with Napoleonics the rules I used were previously home-brewed. I am now using a derivative of Fire and Fury - Age of Honour.

The figures are all based as two man elements on a frontage of 20mm, and a depth of 10mm.

I have now taken great pleasure in playing Honours of war by Keith Flint. An exceptionally good set of rules which give you a very good flavour for the period.

First World War

Following on from the Franco-Prussian War I wanted to explore the early stages of WW1. The figures I use are 15mm, however, if I were to start again I might have gone for 10mm for both 1870 and WW1!

As for rules I have looked at lots of rules for the period. I tried Principles of War, but was not comfortable with these. Great War Spearhead looks interesting, but I think probably works better for 6mm figures. Also it is easier to get a large enough army at a reasonable price in 6mm for these rules. I have a copy of Bloody Picnic, these rules are likely to give the most period feel to a game, and nicely extend throughout the war years.

I am exploring using the final derivative from Fire and Fury - "Before the Leaves Fall". These were okay, but didn't give the feel I was looking for and didn't really reflect some of the battles I have been reading about between the French and the Germans in Alsace-Lorraine. I have sketched out some changes I am going to apply.

World War 2

I have a small Soviet and German Force, and soon to have a British force in 15mm.

In 20mm I have Germans, British and British Paras.

I now have my first small 28mm Bolt Action Force!

There is a wide selection of rules for WW2 these days. Although to be fair I did start with WRG many moons ago!

Battlegroup Kursk series of rules are good, and give a good game.

I rather like Combat HQ because of the command and control functions in the game.

I have Flames of War and I have now used these rules to allow my armies to be more competitive!

I have also explored Poor Bloody Infantry, but have yet to purchase the latest version of their rules.

I can also play Bolt Action with the 20mm or 28 mm Figures and this gives a good game.

One of my projects is to fight the same battle with comparable forces using all four of these and WRG to see how the outcome varies. Battle commences on this shortly.

Moderns

Finally my 6mm Moderns. The Soviets and British are all configured for the 1980s. Once again I started with WRG year's ago.

After this I tried Corps Commander. I rather liked these, and they were playing at a good scale and command level to give a feel for the game. I have since converted these to a computer moderated set of rules and I am very pleased with the outcome. Greatly simplifies combat calculations and record keeping.

I have recently had a trial with Cold War Commander. These seem okay, but in a recent trial game, I was not entirely happy that the Soviets were blown away within 6 moves! They do merit further investigation.

I have also tried Battlegroup Northag. An interesting set of rules, again which I want to explore further.