American Civil War

I purchased Greg Wagman's Altar of Freedom with scenario books.  The idea of putting on whole civil war battles not just part of the battle really appeals to me.  He also is using single base units.

However, I wasn't quite willing to go down the 6mm road for this project.  I didn't want to deal with yet another scale of buildings.  I'm still trying to work something out for my 28mm buildings.  But I had acquired 10mm buildings for my 15mm World War 2 battles.  The solution became obvious.  So far I've orders some figures from both Pendraken and Good Ground.

My first attempt at basing:


Seems a bit scant, more like a skirmish line.  So I stripped the bases (Litko) and tried again.























This will take me longer to paint, but I think I can manage 2 units a week.  I'm hoping to put on the battle of Perryville sometime in the spring.  The ultimate goal will to be able to recreate Gettysburg.

I'm not sure how long I will play Altar of Freedom.  It is not solo friendly, and it just doesn't seem to have the same level of excitement as Piquet - no surprises there (pun intended).

You can see the Numidians in the background getting ready for their new 80x60mm base.

Punic War Musings

Some sources:


Putting out the battlefield.


A bit like Trebbia...


The Romans cross the river...


Closing the gap



I glued my four stand units to single 120mm wide hardboard stands, this is a temporary measure as I plan to rebase (again) the entire collection to 80mm x 25-60mm to go for that Impetus look.

A String of Records

My training for the Merced half is going well.


And then...

And before that...




Finally...



During my last tempo run of 7 miles I posted 4 sub-8 minute miles, and 8:03 and well, there was a nature calls break that ruined that time.  But my pace is definitely starting to look sub-8ish.  Dare I hope for a sub 1 hour 45 minute half?

Battle of Three Rivers

For my birthday I put out the War of Spanish Succession figures again.  I need to break them in.  Mostly I just played about with my terrain until I felt I had something interesting.  The aerial view:


French on the bottom, the more numerous Austrians at the top of the photo.  French win if Austrians can't break them and cause them to leave the battle field.  Eugene commanded the Austrians, the French had Tallard.  The larger river was very difficult to cross except for at the bridges.


The Palatinate attempted the impossible.




The Austrians would ultimately force the bridge with the help of their Prussians (top left corner).  On the other side of the board the French Cavalry would hold one hill, while an Austrian command held another, and the third Austrian command came across the bridge to "pincer" the French Cavalry.  The French in the Town merrily shot away at the Austrians on the hill, but eventually would come out to help the beleaguered cavalry.



Beyond the bridge as seen on the left, the French made a final stand on a nearby hill and ultimately threw back the Prussian and Palatinate attackers.  With losses mounting, the Austrian army quit the field (lost a major morale check).  It was a close battle with both sides low near zero on morale chips.  The battle of the "Hill bridge" was the deciding factor.