General de Brigade battle report in 18mm- lots of pictures

I was invited to play an introductory game of General de Brigade, using my opponent Gorillamo’s magnificent collection of 18mm Napoleonics from AB Figures. Each figure represents ~20 men, so a 36 figure unit is a 720 man battalion.

I was the French Divisional Commander, with a strong brigade of infantry defending a village from Prussian forces. I had a second brigade of light infantry coming from a random flank at a later point in the game.

Gorillamo had a brigade of militia leading his attack, followed by a second wave of regulars.

Defending brigade of four battalions and artillery;
flanking brigade of two battalions

Light infantry battalion

Line infantry battalion

Artillery (9 pounders, I think)

The village, facing the Prussian axis

Divisional and Brigade commanders confer

Defensive setup. Two battalions forward with skirmishers deployed,
another one in the village, and one in reserve with artillery on the ridge.

Prussian Landwehr militia

Prussians advance with three Landwehr columns abreast

Four regular battalions follow the militia

Artillery harasses the Landwehr

The Landwehr columns deploy into line
as my flanking force arrives to my left

The Prussian flank wheels to face the French light battalions

Musket fire is exchanged

The light battalions deploy in line to reduce cannon casualties

The lines meet in melée

The Landwehr are repulsed as the regular columns approach

The French lights reach the Prussian flank...

... and force them to recoil as the regulars approach the village.

Two Prussian columns strike the village!

The Prussian flank is in trouble!

Prussians take the village and force out the defenders

Game end- the village has fallen,
but there are two French light battalions in the Prussian rear

Effects with LensFX iOS app.

15mm WW1 French infantry and support

Completing my WW1 French, these are soft plastic figures from PSC. My painting technique was heavily influenced by James White's lovely Peter Pig French. I've based them on 15mm washers and used Vallejo Dark Earth Paste with a VJ US Tan drybrush.

First, les poilus.

Squad supports: Elites, grenadiers, marksmen, and Chauchat LMGs.

Hotchkiss MG teams on 25mm washers. I redid the front tripod legs using green stuff and 1mm plastic rod, as the original sculpts just had a flat triangle.

Crapouillot ("Little Toad") 58mm Trench Mortar teams.

Flamethrower! I hadn't done this before- I soaked some foam foliage in black paint and PVA, then drybrushed white/ yellow/ orange/ red.

Ammunition handler and engineer.

Officers and spotters.

Staff Officer- this is a metal figure from PSC's original Kickstarter. I based him on General Foch, and think he came out well!

75mm artillery- two white metal pieces from Battlefront on 40mm bases.

On ne passe pas!

Foch Poster source

Perry TravelBattle

I wasn’t long into the Analogue Hobbies Paining Challenge when I unexpectedly acquired a secondhand copy of the Perrys’ TravelBattle. It tickled my paint gland and so I took a detour into 8mm Napoleonesque figures.

The Red Army

Defending the farm

The Brigade Commander studies the battlefield

Guns lay on their targets

Heavy cavalry wait in reserve

The thin red line

Blue columns

Blue elites

A grand battery

Blue cavalry

Blue commander

Blue army

Light cavalry scout a cottage

I say Napoleonesque as the two sides are identical sculpts. I followed Aly Morrison’s lead and painted a Red force and a Blue force, with blue and red facings and flags respectively. I haven’t seen any White or Green forces, but they or others could easily be done. The figures have a lovely toy soldier aesthetic, which influenced my simple basing scheme.

But wait! There’s more! TravelBattle also includes a 10x20” game board with roads, hills, fields, woods, and buildings.

When I got this secondhand, the red force had already been assembled. Painting crossbelts on the second row of troops is not fun...

Next week I'll put up a little battle report and my thoughts on this game.