Gathering 10mm Forces - how to base?

I recently mentioned doing an experiment with Pendraken 10mm figures, with the core design principle being a fast assembly of forces with very minimal time spent with a paint brush. This would be about getting a functional army to the table quickly. It needed a break of mindset of always feeling compelled to paint the detail that is on the figure.

I recently abandoned a couple of the Warlord Games’ Epic projects, being over faced with a painting challenge and never seemingly being able to adjust my painting technique to the three foot rule that I think the benefits the scale, plus over time I became less of a fan of the formulaic look of ranked infantry, with each figure merging into the next - so time for a re-think.

I like the idea of the figures being based very close together, but remaining individual and then painting after basing. For speed, just undercoat in black, dry brush white and pick out highlights that the paint brush could reach, which would mostly default to the front of the front rank and the rear of the rear rank getting more attention that those hard to reach places between the ranks.

I am reminded of how many years ago I was buying ready 4 ranked bases in 6mm from Irregular Miniatures and that is exactly how you had to paint them.

Just to try this out, I ordered a packet of line infantry, one of line command, one of dragoons, one of artillery and a senior command pack. The intention was to use one pack per unit.

Per pack, Pendraken give you 30 infantry, 15 cavalry or 3 guns with crew.

So, firstly, how to base? this has been my most pressing question. In the end I just pinched my nose and jumped in, but already I am having second thoughts on the Infantry basing.

For infantry, there are 3 bases per unit on 40mm x 20mm plastic bases (Kallistra). For line, this gives a frontage of 120mm with 36 figures. Because this exceeds the pack size, I have had to create two command based (flagged) from my stash, but one of these bases will be installed in a second unit if I press on with this project.

The three bases behind each other give a good impression of an assault column, with plenty of heads in there (36). What it doesn’t do well is march column or form the ideal square, but I can get around this with markers.

Why am I having second thoughts - perhaps just two bases at 50mm frontage each might help with table constraints and going for the ‘small game’, giving a unit frontage of 100mm and being a better fit with what I have done with the cavalry and artillery. Also IF I decide to go with Kallistra hexes again, the 100mm frontage will at least fit their hex.

For the artillery, the 3 models and 12 crew in a pack, works well to give a sense of a deployed battery. These are on an 80mm x 40mm base. The black priming while based works okay with a rattle can, but is best done with two light coats to better catch the undercuts.

Note the cannon on the left has lost its barrel in action! I can’t find it anywhere, so I have replaced it with a piece of cocktail stick sanded down. I doubt anyone will notice once painted and I won’t tell if you don’t!

Cavalry - I like the look of single big cavalry bases. This will count as a single unit, regiments in big games and perhaps squadrons in skirmish level games. The 14 models here are on an 80mm x 60mm base. They are ranked in straight lines and I wish now that I had done them just slightly less formed, to give a sense of motion.

Command stand - These are on a 40mm round base, which I now feel is a tad too big, but I will treat them as army or corps commanders, so their status befits the bigger base!

Painting

To stop me doing detail, rather than painting on sticks, I mounted the figures on their bases and then primed with a black rattle can. The infantry were dry brushed twice to accentuate the white. After that I just dabbed with the paintbrush onto the accessible parts of the figures.

These are Napoleonic Austrian infantry, so they have white tunics and trousers, black boots and helmets and then yellow to the sides of the helmet crest. Muskets are brown with steel bayonets attached and exposed skin is limited to hands and face. Backpacks are brown with a grey roll on top.

All the worrying things like belts, straps, buttons, water bottles, bayonet scabbards, collar colours and other trim etc etc either  can be ignored. 

Pretty much everywhere the colours have been suggested rather than carefully detailed. An example being the yellow sides to the helmet crest. This was slapped on and then a black stripe was placed over the very top of the comb and each helmet got a ‘dab’ of black to its sides, by the end of that process, there was still enough yellow showing to give the right impression.

What surprised me was that I completed the three base paint job in 1 hour and 15 minutes. The prep, priming, varnish and ground paste are what they are, but 1:15 for a unit for the painting bit, I thought was very good. My Epic were taking around 5 hours and my 28’s for 20 figures are generally takin 13 - 15 hours!

So - with the three foot rule, I am thinking these will be fine. My worry will be getting the cavalry to look good enough, with ‘rough’ painting and trying not to have too much primer left exposed, but I’m sure they will be fine.

What next?

I don’t know really. Initially this is an experiment for me just to see if it has the basis of something that I want to take forward. I just can’t decide whether this is something I want to pursue. On the same painting tray are 9 x 28mm Austrian Jäger for skirmish stands and they look so nice and I just want to finish them and perhaps that tells its own tale.

In the short term, I could move this to a Neil Thomas style army, so just 3 more infantry units would give a 6 unit army for his one hour battle scenarios and then make an opposing army. After that, doing double of everything would give a couple of handy pocket armies.

I might just order the figures needed to make up those bases, prime them and use them as they are, while I get a feel for them on the table and can then paint them over time, as it seems that a single unit could be painted in a single session.

Resources;

Pendraken website. LINK

https://www.pendraken.co.uk/

I have another bit of web space (COMMANDERS) that is a bit more magaziney than here and is likely where the small updates on the project will appear. LINK

https://commanders.simdif.com/dear_diary.html

The Three Table Battle - not! (Part I).

This post discusses putting on a corps level action, fought over three different tables …. or rather the same table three times!

Backdrop - this is a meeting engagement during the 1809 campaign between two corps sized formations. In the first instance, it is an attempt at doing hypothetical throw down games in a structured fashion, but with the scenario generator mixing things up a bit. In time it will be applied to a couple of favourite corps actions, the idea being to simply make them do-able at home.

Battle Structure - each corps has three divisions. In our meeting engagement, these divisions are already allocated to battle, one to each table. Our battlefield can be imagined as being three tables wide, defined as a centre table and two flank tables. Each corps has one of its three divisions on each of the three tables.

Above - shows each table, relative to the other. There is potential from the Random Event table for some communication between tables during the first game.

Populating each table with a division - Each player rolls 1 D6 for each table. The die score determines the construction of their division at that location from the following list. Every Division automatically gets a Divisional Commander. There are basically 5 types of division.

D6 ‘1’ - 3 infantry brigades and 1 artillery battery

D6 ‘2’ - 2 infantry brigades, 1 artillery battery and 1 cavalry brigade

D6 ‘3’ - 2 infantry brigades, an artillery battery and 1 conscript infantry brigade

D6 ‘4’ - 2 infantry brigades, an artillery battery and 1 elite brigade

D6 ‘5’ - 1 infantry brigades, 1 foot artillery, 1 horse artillery, 1 cavalry brigade

D6 ‘6’ - re-roll the die, but add 1 battalion of light infantry to the selection (once only).

All infantry brigades have 3 units.

All cavalry brigades have 2 units.

If a cavalry brigade is selected, roll again, there is a 50 / 50 chance it is either light or heavy cavalry.

Select the Divisional Commanders attributes with a D6 for each commander.

D6 ‘1’ the commander in aggressive / decisive

D6 ‘2’ to ‘5’ the commander is average

D6 ‘6’ the commander is lethargic / indecisive

MODIFIERS to the above roll;

-1 if the division has cavalry or elite units (only one counts for a max -1 DRM)

+1 if the division has conscripts

Select the Corps Commander (you!) - Use the same selection process as for divisional commander, but die modifiers are not used.

Dress the battlefields - all three tables are dressed with terrain when first creating the scenario. Each table is divided into 6 imaginary equal areas and 3 of those areas will get a piece of terrain. Roll  3D6 to identify which 3 zones will get terrain, re-roll any replica die rolls, we want three separate zones identified, then for each of the three zones, roll 1D6 and check the result against the below list of terrain types.

D6 ‘1’ place a woods it is 50 / 50 whether the woods are heavy or light

D6 ‘2’ place a small village of 2 - 3 buildings, this counts as a single built up area

D6 ‘3’ place a medium sized hill that is gentle, blocks line of sight and only gives a small observational advantage (allows artillery to fire over friendly troops).

D6 ‘4’ place a large hill, counts as difficult terrain when moving uphill.

D6 ‘5’ place a grouping of walled fields, with ploughed land or low crops. The walls are difficult terrain and provide cover

D6 ‘6’ gives a waterway with a bridge in this location. Roll a second dice to see where the waterway runs to. Place the waterway so that it runs from board edge to board edge from the first location to the board edge of the second. There can only be one waterway per table, so just re-roll for different terrain if you already have a waterway. Do a 50 / 50 die roll to see whether the waterway is fordable (stream) along its entire length or not (river). If fordable it counts as difficult and disordering terrain - except at the bridge.

For each table, decide which player should actually lay the terrain. Both sides roll a D6, if a side has cavalry on that table, add +1. The winner places the terrain. Re-roll a drawn die roll.

Victory Objectives - Roll a dice for each terrain item just placed, for a waterway, this means the bridge. On a score of 4+ that terrain item becomes a victory point objective. A small village is ALWAYS automatically a victory point objective.

Playing the three games.

The first battle will always be the centre table.

At the start of a battle, both players roll to see who will be player 1. If a side has cavalry, add +1 to that die roll. Re-roll a draw.

A battle lasts for 9 turns. At the end of turn 9, roll 2D6, if the combined die roll is higher than the total number of units lost (both sides) so far in this battle, then a 10th turn is played. Otherwise check for victory.

The Corps Commander - starts the game on the centre table. He notionally represents a focus on where the important part of the battle is at any one time.  At the start of every turn, the corps commander is placed next to the divisional commander as a reminder that ONCE during the current turn,  the Corps Commander can cause the friendly side to re-roll their dice (for any reason). This is a one off ability each turn in which the new roll replaces the original roll. After taking a re-roll, remove the corps commander as a reminder that this function has been used this turn, he will be re-allocated back to the divisional commander at the start of the next turn.

Additionally;

When a Decisive Corp Commander is present at the battle - One friendly unit per turn has its initial movement allowance, (including when charging) doubled. The unit does not have to be identified until that actual moment of movement is reached.

When a Lethargic Corps Commander is present at the battle - at the start of the friendly part of the turn, randomly select ONE friendly INFANTRY unit on the battlefield. It cannot voluntarily move or support a charge in that turn.

Victory conditions - in a battle, victory points are earned by destroying enemy units and holding objective terrain at the end of the game. For each objective held, score 2 victory points. For each enemy unit removed from play, score 1 victory point. A draw in an individual battle is possible.

At the end of the first battle, use a dice to determine which flank battle will be fought next. 

The above rules apply to the flank battles. Once all three battles have been fought determine an overall winner. The side that has won the most battles wins the encounter, but since an individual battle might end in a draw, there may not be an outright winner.

Special Rule for the Centre battle (ONLY).

At the very start of game turn 4, EACH player rolls a D6, referring to the following Random Event Table and applying the result immediately.

D6 ‘1’ The Corps Commander moves now to a flanking table. Randomly determine which one. When that flank battle is played, the Corps Commander will arrive there on Turn 4.

D6 ‘2’ The corps Commander orders 1 brigade (you choose which one) from a flank table (randomly select which flank) to march to the assistance of the centre. The brigade will enter from the appropriate flank at the mid point along that table edge in that players friendly movement phase of this turn (4). Remove that brigade from the flank’s order of battle.

D6 ‘3’ The Corps Commander orders the artillery in the centre to limber up and move to a flank table (randomly determine which flank). Simply remove the gun battery models. When the flank game is played, the artillery will arrive limbered, on the appropriate table edge at the start of turn 4.

D6 ‘4’ If the division has a cavalry brigade, it is commanded by a hot headed young ‘Ney type’ of character.  All of the friendly  cavalry units must immediately start moving their maximum movement allowance toward their respective nearest legitimate enemy, relevant to their own positions, with the intention of charging as soon as possible in the game. They will persist at best speed until they make charge contact, even if this takes more than 1 turn and even if the move is not advisable. If you do not have cavalry in the centre, then re-roll on this table now.

D6 ‘5’ The Corps Commander has released a battery of foot artillery from the artillery reserve, randomly select which table it arrives at. If it is a flank table, it will arrive on turn 4 from the baseline when that battle is fought - add it to the order of battle. If it is to arrive in the centre, deploy it now, either limbered up or deployed within 8” of the friendly baseline.

D6 ‘6’ The Corps Commander seizes the initiative. Select one friendly brigade and allow them a bonus round of fire or movement right now, including a charge if wished. Each unit in that brigade can do something different, move, fire or charge. This is a bonus pre-turn activity and does not count towards anything that the brigade could normal be expected to do during the coming turn. Use the normal rules of play, such as pre-charge tests and return fire etc. A Lethargic Commander ignores this roll and instead treats the roll as if a ‘1’ had been rolled.

And that’s it!

This is part one of a two part post. The next post will give an overview of the three battles that fall from this process, the nature of the battlefields and the nature of the forces involved. It will be an overview of process and battle rather than a detailed AAR (phew you say!) :-)

A taster for part II;

This is the table created for the French left flank. The forces are generally similar, with the Austrian division including a light cavalry brigade and a Jaëger battalion, while the French division includes an elite infantry brigade.

The French are advantaged by having two Victory point objectives on their side of the table. Another thing that might matter is that the Austrian Corps Commander is Lethargic, so here, the Austrian Divisional commander is hoping that he won’t show up on turn 4!

I have another bit of web space (COMMANDERS) that is a bit more magaziney than here and updated more often. Link if interested.

 https://commanders.simdif.com/dear_diary.html