French Revolutionary Wargames 1789-1802: January 2019

Wargame Rules, Ratios, etc

RAISING MINIATURE ARMIES FOR THE LATE 18TH CENTURY

I am very keen to keep my wargame rules as simple as possible, yet capture the character of the 1790s. Morale dominates the games as the opposing sides are very different. Most of the French troops are 'levee' battalions, which I have chosen to base in column as their ability to change formation on a battlefield must have been limited, nor do I believe their volley fire had any great value. Of better quality, able to change formation, will be white-coated regular and blue-coated volunteer battalions, aided by a fair number of skirmishers. The British, Austrian, Dutch and German armies are often outnumbered, but they maintain the discipline and order of typical 18th century armed forces. Interestingly, French revolutionary cavalry have little in common with their later Napoleonic counterparts, the former are few in number, often poorly mounted, and no match for those in the service of the Allies. All figures are 28mm in scale, using a 1=25 ratio.

Tuesday, 1 January 2019

MY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (Christmas Project)

On Christmas Day I was inspired to start a suitably appropriate project, to build a Russian Orthodox Church. It was a year ago that I picked up a wooden container in a charity shop for £1, and it was obvious the lid would be quite suitable for something eastern, and perfect for something Russian. The following photos are pretty well self-explanatory. The completed model is not really dateable as it has features from several periods in Russian history, but as it was my intention to not only capture my interest in the State of Muscovy, but also my love of Christmas, I don't think it matters. The green roof is inspired by a 17th century Russian palace, the dome is very 16th century, the yellow walls are 18th century, while the woodwork ornamentation is medieval. Together, they make a very colourful ornament on the war-games table. Additional costs were £3 for the yellow paint, and £2 for the glass taken from a broken lantern in a charity shop. With additional paint and glue it came to £7 total. Being pleased with the results, I took time to cast up some Orthodox Christian crosses. For the record, working on and off, I completed this project at 11.45am today, New Years Day. Hope you all had a great Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!

Michael