Monday, January 6, 2020

L'Art De La Guerre, Bataille Empire, January WIP and More!

It's been a week since I posted last but that doesn't mean there hasn't been anything going on over here at SOUND OFFICERS CALL!  This past weekend I did get to play in a "L'Art de la Guerre" ancients game at Ken's house - that coming off the heels of a "Bataille Empire" game, by the same author, also played at Ken's house the week prior.

My Republican Romans.  Expensive troops but worth the point cost!

Heavy Cavalry charging the Carthaginian Medium Cavalry!
And no posting on SOUND OFFICERS CALL would be complete without more Napoleonics!  Below are some photos from the Bataille Empire game we played.  I definitely see the similarities now having played ADLG Ancients.  The Napoleonic games are a little more involved I think.  They remind me a bit of Shako.  That would beg the question - why not just play Shako?  Because these are new?!  They were definitely fun and gave a good, tactical napoleonic experience.  I also think the QRS and modifiers the author selected to impose are very well thought out.
Stalwart Austrians advance into the jaws of the French!



Battlelines clash in 1809!


On the painting front, I'm happy to report lots of progress knocking out an Austrian 10mm Cuirassier unit, 4 x 10mm Seven Years War units, 3 x 10mm Napoleonic units, and the rest of my US 6mm Cold War armored units (M60AE3 Pattons and M1 Abrams) for some Team Yankee, Seven Days to the River Rhine, and Battlegroup NORTHAG gaming in 2020. 

3 x single based unit stands advancing on a 2 x new Austrian units!  This picture is 173 10mm figures, 13 of which are mounted.

12 Austrian Cuirassier

Austrian Regimental Commander and 40 line troops

45 Baden Troops.

30 French Pendraken troops

45 Hesse-Darmstadt Troops


Austrian Line Regiment w/Shakos

Painted the colors!
Made HUGE progress with the MicroArmor this weekend, also, finishing up the rest of my Cold War American armor.  M1 and M60 tanks!



All of my US armor.  Just needs flock.  The ones that do have flck are the ones i finished this weekend.



And no American Cold War armor would be complete with these nasties to oppose them...

MI-24 Hind Gunships!!  The first batch!  Another batch coming soon.


And how about some Pact Armor to go with that order?
Nowhere near finished, but a full battalion of T-72s.  I have the tracks painted on 15 of them.  They'll need washed and detailed before they're based.

Heavy 152mm SP Artillery, and 2 additional BMP companies.  Now I need to get more inantry!!

Gorgeous detail on this T72!  Looking forward to some kick-a** games of Team Yankee or Seven Days to the River Rhine!

And also don't forget the SYW Troops!

Real men wear pink facings!  30 Prussian Troops painted bringing my total Prussian Regiments in 10mm up to 3 (90 figures painted)
And speaking of SYW, tomorrow for my "Neil Thomas Tuesday" I will be putting the EAGLES CHEAPER THAN BRAINCELLS (my Grand Tactical take on One Hour Wargames) on the table but for the Seven Years War and playing the OHW scenario #4 "Take the High Ground" which I randomly diced for but also happens to be my favorite OHW scenario.  Think of tomorrow's game more as an experiment for playing ECTBC with single-based unit stands.  Stay tuned!

7 comments:

  1. Wow! You have been VERY busy, Steve! So much work going on at your workbench. You are making good progress on all of your projects. Your ooutput on the Modern project is phenomenal. Super looking 10mm Napoleonics and SYW. Are the 10mm troops all Old Glory strips?

    "If Bataille Empire is like Shako why not play Shako?" There are few rules I cannot stomach to play and Shako is one of them. I just cannot buy into the design nor some of the abstraction elements of the game. Yuk. There are few games in which the figures spend more time in the box than out on the table.

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    1. Thank you, Jonathan!
      Yes, lack of posting does not necessarily indicate a lack of activity! Im starting off 2020 super motivated to finish some projects and the modern micro armor is easy to finish and we have a cold war campaign coming up, so i better have some units to put on the table!!

      In regards to B.E., i like it but it takes some getting used to (like Shako, i imagine). There are games where i really appreciate the abstractions. What i like about shako is that it seems pretty solid and can handle lots of units on the table. I can also see where people wouldnt like it.

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  2. Wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing them and inspiring many!

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  3. Busy, busy, busy! That is a huge dent in the 'list to do'. The thing about 10mm is you end up needing quite a lot of it for that mass effect and so one simply have to find a way or style to increase painting output, while keeping everything very attractive, you have hit that stride.

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    1. Norm that's the truth. It takes an entirely new technique from the 15's. I have found a way to paint the 10s quickly to the point where im happy with how they look.

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  4. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Great work on the MERDC especially.

    ONE FOUR BRAVO - CONTACT ZERO ONE ZERO FIVE - TANKS ADVANCING NOR NOR WEST

    More 7D for us tomorrow night.
    There's Reds in the air...

    The guys love those LADG rulesets, though I sense some complexity.

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    1. Cheers, Darren! Nothing about the ADLG or BE rules are "overly" complex, all of the mechanisms would be familiar to a seasoned gamer however there were lots of things that "came up" as we were playing that caused us to go back and research other rules in the book. FWIW, i had the basic mechanics down by the second turn. I liked them compared to DBA and dont really have a more involved ancients rules set to compare them to. But the experience of data mining during the game reminded me of trying to learn/play IABSM on my own without any experienced person showing me the ropes. I eventually abandoned that effort...

      Glad you liked the MERDC action! ALL WOLFPACK ELEMENTS REPORT REDCON 1 WHEN SET. BATTLE-CARRY SABOT. SIX OUT.

      once im done painti g the Soviets, ill reach out to the commanders to walk through thr rules for the upcoming campaign! Cant wait! I need more soviet infantry!!! Isnt that always the case?

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