After a good month playing many games of One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas I got back into Commands and Colors.
I played some Ancients and Memoir '44 and then made up a Franco-Prussian War modification for Commands and Colors Napoleonics.
Here are some shots of a made up scenario...
The 6mm soldiers are from Irregular Miniatures and Heroics and Ros. Painted badly by me circa 1987.
French on the left versus Prussians on the right.
View from the French lines.
The French take the high ground on their left.
Prussians take a village. A lot of manoeuvering went on as both sides try to get local superiority.
Then the French launch a series of attacks.
With some success!.
The Prussians respond!.
On the other flank too.
Many French are driven back.
And on the French left they advance onto the ridge.
The French play their Bombard card, causing a Prussian retreat.
And throw the Prussians back from the ridge.
The Prussians launch a cavalry charge to destroy the weakened French units.
Charge!. My cavalry units are only two blocks strong as that is all that I own. I have no light infantry either. I may have to invest in some.
This French unit is destroyed.
The other one hangs on, just.
The Prussian Heavy Cavalry sweep on and destroy another weakened French unit (Von Bredow?).
The French General survives and takes shelter with his Cuirassiers.
The French then shoot the Prussian Cuirassiers to bits.
The Prussians push on against the weak French right.
And push the French from the short ridge with heavy casualties.
The Prussians then destroy the French infantry and the Chasseurs to win the game.
The French left wing had hung on.
But the right and centre were gone.
A great game with plenty of exciting action.
The modifications I made to the rules were few.
French infantry were given a 3 hex range, while the Prussian infantry only had a 2 hex range but were given an extra die in melee.
The French artillery was kept the same as the Napoleonic rules but the Prussian guns had ranges values of 332211 as in Memoir '44.
I could have fiddled about with other modifications but these worked fine for me, the simpler the better.
Today I played my first miniature war game of the year. I dug out my small Franco-Prussian War collection of 6mm figures and had a game with my homebrew rules.
The French are at bottom and left.
Outnumbered, they lurk behind the hedgerows.
6mm is not the most photogenic of sizes.
Prussian guns on the heights.
Defending the farm.
I enjoyed the game but not as much as some of the games I've played recently.
After Christmas I bought Commands and Colors Napoleonics Russians.
I played it solid for weeks, brilliant. When I wasn't playing it I was reading about the Napoleonic Wars.
Then I bought Age of Napoleon for a grand strategic game.
Loved it, played it to death too.
Despatched and in transit is Napoleon- the Waterloo Campaign 1815
Can't wait!.