Gloucester Minicon - 29th January 2012

Just short of a month to go before the first outing of our Zulu War Adventure and Paul from our club has produced an excellent poster for our participation game...

It really captures the feel for the period and game.

Feel free to drop by and see us on the 29th.

Matt Varnish Frosting... A solution ?

Aaaarrrgggghhh the Wargamers greatest fear, having spent several hours paintng up another unit for my Egyptian Project, I thought I would give them a coating of GW Purity Seal to protect my time and effort only to find the Matt Varnish has left a frosting effect all over them....

Reading several websites,forum boards and checking in with guy's at my local club the Evesham Wargames Club.

I am led to believe that this can be caused by high humidity, overspraying from to far way or a bad batch.

I could put it down to weeks in the Egyptian desert but I would like to find a solution to this or at least a remedy to lessen the effect.

I have tried Testors Dull Coat, GW Purity Seal and Humrol Matt Varnish and all at one time or another seem to have the same effect so this "frosting" does not seem limited to one brand and none of my research seem to have a clear answer despite many people experiencing the same issue.

Advice prior to spraying seems to come in a varienty of guises.

1. Warm the figures prior to spraying.
2. Warm the can.
3. Shake the can vigorously at least 5 minutes.
4. Spray at room temperature.
5. Spray far away
6. Spray lightly
7. Spray a few at a time

Ditch spraying and revert to Brush on Varnish.

I am tempted to try Krylon Matte Finish (if I can get hold of it in the UK?) or Army Painter Anti Shine Matt Varnish to see if they deliver a better result.

None of the above solve my issue so I set about exploring the solutions available.

1. Over coat with a second coat of Matt Varnish.
This appears to be a popular solution but in this case had little or know effect on the colouring, it did start to lose the depth of the figure. I suspect though this is due to the lack of actual casting depth in the plastic model.

2. Apply a coat of Thinner or Nail varnish remover.
This did not work, I applied it with a cotton bud and rubbed the effected area, it dried only to return the same effect as before.

3. Apply a brush coat of Matt Varnish.
This had the impact of dulling the effected area but the colour still suffered some discolouration.

4. Apply a brush coat of Gloss Varnish.
Having never been a fan of this type of finish, I need to pay a visit to the habby store for a can of this, it appears reading other blogs and forums that this has a mixed impact working for some but not for others.

5. Apply a ink wash over the figure to lessen the effect.
This did lessen the efect and was easy to apply given the type of figures effected, but I can see this being a problem for more detailed figures or where the desired effect is for bright uniforms, such as the Napoleonic Period.

6. Apply a coat of Olive Oil

Now this I dismissed out of hand as one of the those crazy ideas a kin to repainting the whole figure or dropping in paint thinner over night. But I had little to lose as none of the others seemed to be having the desired impact. But it actually worked!!!!

I applied it with a small soft paint brush and left it for several hours and it maintained it's colour depth, I rubbed the figure on the flat areas to try and wipe it away and it still retained a sheen and not trace of the frosting.
You will need to do this to also remove the excess oil.

I thought it might leave the figures a little greasy but it does not appear to, I even wiped the figure in a cotton rag to see if it picked up and traces of the oil nothing or at worse no different to the oil left on figures from your own hands after extended gaming, I even rubbed the flat areas with my fingers to try take of the coating and it still retained it's brightness.

So for me this solution seems to work and after 25 years of gaming it's the closest yet to return them to their original finish... Thay have a slight satin finish to them but blend well with other figures in my collection.

Could Olive Oil is a solution that has plagued wargamers for several years.... Try it for yourself.

Thoughts and comments welcome.

Sharp Practice Zulu War Modifications.

Zulu’s Wars in Sharp Practice.

Set out below is a summary of the amendments and in house rules made for Sharp Practice and Terrible Sharp Sword Rules by the Richard Clarke and the guy’s over at Too Fat Lardies. These have been used by our club the Evesham Wargames Club to run a number of large scenarios based in the Zulu Wars of 1879.

Zulu Warriors.
Zulu infantry Units are broken down into 3 Unit Types.
Zulu Skirmish Unit.

A Zulu Skirmish unit should be 10 men strong and armed with fowling pieces. Zulu Infantry are poor shots and must spend every other action reloading.

Zulu Infantry Unit.

A Zulu Infantry unit should be 15 men strong armed with Assegai thrusting spears. The Zulu’s are aggressive in Fisticuffs and carry Big Choppers.

Zulu Regiment.

A Zulu Regiment should be between 30 – 60 men strong armed with Assegai thrusting spears. The Zulu’s are aggressive in Fisticuffs and carry Big Choppers. A regiment will be made up of between 2-4 elements. Between 3-6 men in the formation will be armed with fowling pieces.

Zulu Experience.

Zulu Troops are categorised as per Terrible Sharp Sword (page 7) however Greenhorns are able to skirmish and none of the Zulu Troops receive the pluses for musketry. Zulu’s from the first invasion are Determined; troops from the 2nd invasion are Downcast.

Zulu Blinds.

A Zulu unit that enters a terrain item can revert to Blind in the next turn. When moving out from the terrain piece they can split into two blinds, one representing a fake and one the genuine unit.

Zulu’s move at 1d6 + 3 per action.

They may spend one action Hunkering Down which improves there cover class by one grade. i.e. None becomes light and Light becomes medium.

British Regulars.

All infantry Groups should be eight men strong. They are in the main Acceptable Shots and are armed with Superior Rifles. British Troops are classed as Triumphant in terms of belief.

Random Event Cards.
A set of random event Cards are available on the Too Fat Lardies Yahoo Group.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Toofatlardies/files/Sharp%20Practice%20Colonial/

Hand to Hand
When in Close Comabt all rules apply as per the TSS rule book, however we have limited the number of figures fighting, so for examaple British Troops in Open or Skirmish order will be out numbered by a maximum of 4:1, whilst a British Infantry Section in Close order can only be out numbered by a maximum of 2:1 per figure.

Big Man Allocation.
British
8 Man Section – Status I/II Big Man
Status III/IV Big Men range from Colour Sergeants to Senior Officers.
Zulu

Zulu Big Men are allocated on a ration of 2 Big Men for every 3 Units fielded. Typically each force will also be allocated a senior commander or induna this commander will typically be one grade higher than the most experienced Big Man.

Pike & Shot & Zombies

This is what happens when you don't have a game for a few weeks and you don't have the time to paint the backlog slowing building up in the garage. Your head gets turned by other things..... Now I have a reputation at our local club for always doing some strange periods well this one looks no different....

Any rule book that's opening line is.

"Do you have a bunch of ECW figures hanging around not doing much? Do you have a gang of undead eaqually underused??" Has my attention.

Several months ago I painted up a couple of boxes of Mantic Zombies and Ghouls but I have yet to play them in anger, I also have a couple of blisters of Foundry's Elizabethan Sailors which have been tucked away in a draw since at least 2007....

The rules call for a small number of miniatures, about half a dozen survivors and two to three times as many zombies, I figured I could get the Sailors finished as a short distraction from the on going Ottoman army.... where purchases are once agina out stripping painting.....

PSZ struck me as a bit of a change from the usual Zombie fests that we have at the club and gives me a chance to play out some smaller evening games with a few figures and some nice terrain.

The thought of a land filled with the plague and the belief in witchcraft seemed appealing.

The game is set in the Thirty Years War era were the world is pitched into darkness where a 'New Plague' has resulted in the dead rising.

Each player controls one or two characters each, with an umpire handling the zombies.

As well as the usual walkers there are a number of special types you can include such as friends and family members that your character might hesitate in attacking.

Having read through the rules there looks to be some nice mechanisms, characters have actions per turn, which reminds me of the old Combat Zone rules, where you have to decide to spend your points on moving, firing or other actions....

A random desk of cards is included which results in characters tripping, misfiring or seeing Zombies around ever corner, a nother nice touch is accusations from other players. As a result accusations of; cowardice, theft, murder or infection you might be forced to separate yourself from the rest of the group or face trial after the game.

Firing is split between damage and impact, characters are required to roll over the distance in order to hit, characters have to decide to spend actions on ensuring they hit vs the damage they might do if hit..

I have been playing ATZ for a number of years where the Z's appear to be slighty tough to fight off once in combat, in PSZ they appear to be a little weaker, unless they "grab" and hold you when their numbers start to tell..... However if you spend all your actions you could simply out pace them and run away....

Movement for characters with little armour and weapons is very fast.. however each item you carry/wear carries a weight score which slows you down, Plate Armour and a Broadsword for example can have a serious impact on your speed each turn although the ability of a single Zombie doing you harm is very slight.

The rules have an RPG feel to them with each character holding a number of stats, Lifepoints, Endurance, Strength, an interesting stat is 'Geist' - the zest for life. This factor goes up and down in relation to events on the table. A high score allows you to re-roll certain failed actions where a very low score indicates your character has given up his will to live and my offer himself to the Z's... 

Geist can be transferred from one character to another to gee them up, put the Geist of one can pull the whole group down...

You are encouraged to hunt around on the table top looking for stuff as resources are limited and with under 20 rounds for your musket you need to make every shot count.

I hope to have a small batch of Sailors finished in a couple of weeks and perhaps a test game before Christmas.

Starship Troopers - Bugs!!!!

Updating the blog and I found this entry stuck in draft...

Sunday Night saw the first outing for the Mobile Infantry and the Arachnids, for me Starship Troopers falls into the category of Zulu, Private Ryan & Last of the Mohican's, at one stage in the life of your wargaming hobby you just have to try and game it....

Mark had been finishing off his Pig Iron's Armoured Infantry, whilst I spent the last couple of weeks putting together a bunch of Plastic Arachnids....

Would you like to know more?

The Scenario.
During the Battle of Klendathu a platoon of Mobile Infantry are sent forward to hunt for a missing walker and for evidence of Bug activity in the area, the unit consists of two sections of Infantry and a command elements within an APC.

The table.... The Mobile Infantry will be moving on from Right to Left, they decide on a wide frontage to provide them with the best opportunity to spot the powered down walker.

Moving with Caution through the bush, the MI look for signs of bug activity....

First Section feels the ground tremble as a bug hole opens up just off table and a stream of bugs burst forth heading straight for them. The MI are out numbered 2:1

The bugs up close....

The MI duck back and seek a defensive position in the high ground hoping to thin the charging horde before they get to close.

In the centre of the table a second bug hole opens up right in front of the commanders APC just has he and his command debus, caught in the open the HQ section is able to fight off the lead bugs before diving back into the APC. It was going to be one of those nights for the bugs.

1st Section begins to run low on ammo but have reduced the horde of bugs to one or two, the supporting fire from 2nd Section really helped to stop the wave of bugs (together with some really bad dice by the bug player...)
The retreating APC can be seen in the background with a bug still clinging to the armour plating.

2nd Squad take cover behind a cluster of rocks and throw everything they have at the approching horde despite a couple of bugs closing with the MI they are able to defeat the assault by the bugs without a single casaulty. A job well done by 2nd Squad.

A supporting platoon are ambushed by a further wave of bugs bursting from a bug hole to the right of the MI.

A number of the Squad are killed but their sacrifice buys time for the other squad members to form up and pour fire into their attackers...

With supporting fire from the high ground out of shot the last of the bugs are defeated.

A great nights gaming completed in under 2 hours using the THW rules 5150.

With a further 20 Warrior bugs to paint and a unit of fliers I expect a tougher battle next time for the MI....

Creating a participation game Part 2

Sunday night saw the first trial game for The Death of Louis, Crown Prince of France, the Evesham Wargames club first venture into participation gaming at a Wargaming show.

I felt it was important to play through the scenario to iron out any issues and to tweak any rules that may be needed, 3 players put their hand up for a game two of which had limited exposure to the Too Fat Lardies Rule Set, which made it far easier to replicate a show enviroment.

I had earlier posted a couple of question on the Colonial Wars Yahoo group which unfortunately prompted a response from Tim at the Staines Club.

http://staineswargamers.org/swhome.html

Tim reminded me of a game I had read in one of the wargames magazines several years before, that they had put on and helpfully explained some of the mechanisms that they had used in their participation game, where each player completed to escape from the Zulu hordes, a nice mechanism where by the Zulu's only go after the closest figure.... brillant and just what I was looking for.
It would give the game a competitive edge.... Thanks Tim perfect inspiration...

We played two test games each one lasting under an hour.

Game 1

The British walked on mass to the donga, an ordered fighting retreat with only for one groups of three to be left behind and swamped  by the Zulu's.

Game 2

A more competitive edge with one of the players spending the first turn saddling their horses before racing for the donga leaving the other 2 players to fend for themselves.

The feed back from the guy's was that the game had the right tension and lasted just long enough to keep people interested, the closest figure target was a great way of the using the initiative cards so key to the fun of the Too Fat Lardies Rules.

There were some key learns to tweaks to make before the next outing.

1. Add a couple of additional breaks in the Kraal would stop the British and the Zulu's being funnelled to the same spot on each game.

2. Perhaps even turning the enterance to the rear of the table would provoke a different feel as player break out?

3. We decided on not telling the players it's a competitive game until they have deployed their forces...

4. It might be benefical to have some clear factions, FrontierJackets, Scarlet Jackets to allow players to remember who they were?

In terms of tweaks to the table and required painting a number of extra's are still needed.
Single dismounted horses.
Who on earth makes 25mm saddles?
A camp fire.
More Rocks need for the Donga.
Change the Lichen terrain to Coconut fibre the Lichen gave it to much of a jungle feel rather than veldt.

Handouts and rule summaries will be needed together with some spare measurement tapes.

Plenty to do before the show date of the Sunday 29th January.

Creating a Participation Game

Having decided that a participation game is the best way of advertising the club and engaging with potential interested gamers, we set about thinking about the type of game required, it had to be a period that represented the clubs interests, but also a period that people would know and want to play.

When considering how the game should be run, I thought about my own experiences around shows, much time would I be prepared to give up to play a game, rather than wandering from stall to stall browsing 45 Minutes to an Hour seemed about right...

However it has to be said that I have only ever played one participation game in over 30 years of gaming !!!!

So the task was to find a scenario that would last under an hour, give 3-4 players a full role to play and obtain a reasonable result at the end....

Various ideas were put forward, Wings of War, Western, Naval, none of which gave a true flavour of the club. Over at the Evesham Wargames Club we have been playing a variant of the Too Fat Lardies Sharp Practice Rules adapted for  use in the Zulu Wars, we played a large all dayer over the summer, between the club members we have a large collection of figures and terrain, but perhaps more importantly a number of players know the rules back to front to allow the game to flow really quickly.....

The Zulu War is full of encounters of the valiant British fighting off the massed hordes of Zulu Warriors, how do you translate that to 4' x 4' table in order an hour?

I have just finished reading a couple of books about Napoleon in Egypt which sparked the idea for the Scenario. The Death of Louis, Crown Prince of France. Something historical, a small number of figures with a definative outcome - escape or die trying.....
Hunting around the web I found on a great link to a scenario for the Rencounter rule set by Ed Allen http://www.angelfire.com/sd/scarvie/louis.html which had taken the story and conveted it to a wargames scenario.

Set out below is the proposed handout on the day, I wanted people to be aware of the scenario but also aware of the background. The Too Fat Lardies rules are perfect for this as lead characters be come Big Men and have a real part to play in the scenario.

Set out below is the proposed hand out and background, I planned on having this on display around the table together with handouts detailing the scenario and club details.

Setting

Louis Napoleon, Prince Royal of France, had come to serve as an aide-de-camp to General Chelmsford. The Prince had been living in Britain after the Franco-Prussian War. He was a dashing young man of 23 years and rumoured to be a possible match for Princess Beatrice – Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter.

General Chelmsford was nervous about the responsibility of having such a personage on his staff. He gave orders that Louis was never to leave camp without an officer and an escort. Lieutenant Jahleel Brenton Carey, had been educated in France and quickly befriended the Prince Royal as he spoke very good French. The young Napoleon was assigned to help Carey with his tasks of the surveying of the terrain in front of the advancing British army.

Napoleon became restless with the chore of mapping and was keen to gain some fighting experience. On one such mission, the pair were met by half of their escort. The other were not available. Reasoning that a proper escort could be formed by rounding up six troopers from the scouts out in front of the army, the group set out on their mission.

The group rode out to the limit of their assigned reconnaissance. Stopping at a small deserted Zulu camp on the north bank of the Ityotosi river, Louis suggested that they let the horses graze and the troopers take a break and make tea.

Lunch over, the patrol stood by their horses to mount. Louis was about to issue the order, when a volley of rifle shots rang out and a group of Zulus charged out from the nearby scrub.

Aftermath

Terrified by the noise, Rogers' mount bolted, and he got off only one shot before being stabbed by an assegai. Carey, already mounted, followed by Willis, Grubb and Cochrane, galloped straight for the donga. Abel managed to mount, but was shot in the back and fell. Le Tocq dropped his carbine, dismounted to retrieve it, and remounted. As he fled he saw Louis running alongside his own horse, trying to get into the saddle. Gripping his saddle by the holster and running with the animal, Prince Louis slipped and unhorsed ran a few yards before turning to face his attackers.

The young Prince met his death bravely as the group of about six Zulus fell upon him. He was struck in the thigh by a thrown assegai, which he pulled out. He charged the Zulu’s firing his pistol twice. He missed, and a second thrown assegai stopped his charge. The Zulus advanced and were seen stabbing over and over again.

The rest of his troop looked on, in the distance and when they returned to the camp and reported what happened Lieutenant Carey was charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy.

Victory Conditions

Escape off the North side of the table, taking as few casualties as possible. If five or more British figures (including the guide), or the Prince Royal, are killed or left behind, the game is lost.

Forces

Louis Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France

Lieutenant J.B. Carey, 98th Regiment, D.A.Q.M.G.

Sergeant Willis, Natal Horse

Corporal Grubb, Natal Horse

Trooper Abel, Natal Horse

Trooper Cochrane, Natal Horse

Trooper Rogers, Natal Horse

Trooper Le Tocq, Natal Horse

Zulu guide

The plan is to have a dry run at this weeks club night, testing out the scenario and timings with a couple of players who have not played the game before.
The challanges are converting Sharp Practice to single figure units?
Will the game be long enough or to short?
Can we get it to feel like a Victorian Adventure?
Is it engaging enough?

Perry Miniatures Sudanese Tribesmen - Maghribi Tribesmen

I have a reputation for always picking odd periods and Napoleonics seems to be no different, playing Ottoman Tuks is challanging not only are they quite brittle on the table they are also quite difficult to buy an army straight off the shelf.

I think that tends to be the attraction, I like the fact that I can source from several manufacturers and no two units are the same.

Having been tempted by the latest releases from Perry Miniatures - Plastic Sudanese Tribesman but not really wanting to get drawn into another period....

I figured these chaps could double up as Maghribi Infantrymen for my Ottoman Turk Army.

The Maghribi Tribesmen were described as the most backward and poorest people of the Ottoman empire so they should make great cannon fodder for the Napoloenic Campaign.

Whilst the rifles are far too modern I doubt they will stick around long enough on table for people to notice.

I suspect I will paint the remainder up as Nile Arabs just in case I end up trying out the Sudan....

Demonstartion Game vs Participation Game ?

Just back from Warfare at Reading, over 85 Traders and over 20 demonstration and participation games, it got me thinking about our own club, as a rule my local club is a shy club made up of regular guy's. we turn up on a Sunday unpack our figures, spend 4 hours talking all things gaming and then go home again, however in recent months we have seen a slow decline in numbers which prompts the question how do you get more members...

Several months ago a suggestion was put forward by one of our members regarding our interest in taking part in Gloucestershire MiniCon to be held on the Sunday 29th January 2011.

This is a collaberation of several Clubs from the local area, Evesham, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Redditch was the intention of bringing several games together on one day.

It prompted me to think about what's the best way to promote interest in your own club, having committed to being there on the 29th do we put on a participation game or a demonstration game?

To be honest demonstartion games leave me some what cold, having spent many a Sunday driving several hours to a show and wandering from stall to stall I often find myself drifting by the various games on display. These normally contain some great looking terrain and nicely painted figures with 4 or 5 people patrolling their table and doing everything they can to avoid eye contact with those wandering past.

There often seems very little engagement with fellow gamers and more over very little knowledge of the USP's of the various rules, figures or terrain on offer, on a number of occasions you almost feel you have interupted a regular club game as players.....
What must a member of the public feel?

So it strikes me that participation games must be the best approach, I don't want to go off and grab several memers of the public off the street and drag them into the sports centre and force them into a game nor do I want to become a babysitting service whilst Dad goes off and buys figures, but I do want to make people feel welcome and want to take part.

I want club members to take the time to explain the game, rules, the scenario and what makes it so much fun to passersby.

We need to remember why we are there.

1. To have a day out away from the wife and kids playing Soldiers?

2. A spending spree to save on postage and packaging?

3. An advert for our own club and a chance to recruit?

In order for the participation game to work we should  have details of the scenario available, what needs to happen to win, what rules we are using and what figures are needed to play the game.

We need fliers for our club and details of where and when we play, but perhaps more over we need to interact with those people who pause to look.

So what next - A period that people know well and a game that will last under an hour......

After much consideration we decided on a scenario from the Zulu Wars....
Here's a clue - Scenario details to follow.

Something New - 28mm Riot Police vs Mantic Zombies

A whole day of painting, no kids, no jobs round the house - Just a paint brush and a pile of lead to catch up on. These have been needing a few finishing touches for a while and with a planned Zombie outing at the Evesham Wargames Club tonight I thought it was high time I got them table top ready.....

The Police are from Offensive Miniatures, I have a bunch of rioters to do, but these will do nicely for a couple of early our break games I have planned.

The Zombies are from Mantic Games, I have a bunch of your regular run of the mill wandering dead, but I figured these would do for any period rather than just the 1950's onwards....

Full AAR report to follow after tonights game, as a teaser the survivors will be looking for these guys.....

Something Old - 28mm Japanese

You know those occasion posts that just set you off down a completely different path and distract you from the project in hand..... Well here's one.

Thanks to a posting on our club discussion group at the Evesham Wargames Club where we discussed the correct flesh tones of Japanese Infantry. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eveshamwargames/ 

I ended up unpacking the WW2 Japs that had not seen the light of day for a year or two. My painting style has changed quite a bit a with the introduction of washes and more attention to the basing and the original Japs looked a little below par.

So I thought it was high time they got a revamp, they should not take to long to complete, Devlin Mud wash and some highlights on the face and hands together with a Matt Varnish and some addition basing materials and the first squad is done.

With the introduction of IABSM3 I am hoping to have these hitting the table some time soon.

The figures are mostly Westwind with the occasional Battlehonours thrown in for good measure.

As always comments welcome.

6 Months in the Wilderness

6 Months have passed since we last gave the VBCW an outing so I thought it would be time to dust off the waring factions and the British Civil War in Worcester, over on the campaign blog a full AAR can be found. http://vbcw1938.blogspot.com/

The scenario follows elements of the Severn Riverside Wharf Labours Federation (SRWLF) and a covert operation to receive a consignment of weapons, the scenario was from the Too Fat Lardies suppliment - Triumphant Standards - Scenario Nine - Running Guns to the Rebels.

Ottoman Turks - First Outing

Sunday night saw the first outing for my Ottoman Turk army, I wanted to save them until I had a few more completed but better to get the curse of freshly painted figures out of the way..... :-)

Rather than a stand up fight we used Platoon forward from the Too Fat Lardies to generate the encounter and terrain I am impressed with this booklet as it's a great way of creating a quick scenario.
We agreed on approx 70 figures per side my Turks are slightly smaller at 8 figures per section which should make them slightly brittle when compared to the more westernised units at 10 figures per section.

First up a chance to test the Ottoman's against the old enemy Russia.

The scenario called for me to raid Russian territory and inflict greater losses than inflicted on me.

The random terrain did not fall in may favour a wooded ridge line to the Russian rear and a built up area to my left hardly the perfect terrain for cavalry....

An early success for the Turks they spotted two Russian Sections on the tree line separated from the main Russian body that I suspected were holed up in the town and the large compand to the left.

I got carried away, I think it must have been the varnish or the primer of the unpainted united drafted in to bolster Turkish numbers.
I charged the Mamelukes and Ottoman Cavalry into the Russian Formation holding the ridge line, the modifiers for light cover made it tough going for the Turks and they bounced off having made little impact on the Russians.

I received a number of Cavalry the shock was light. The Turkish Cavalry headed 24" to the rear to regroup.

It begain to dawn on me that I lacked fire power, half my infantry force were armed with sword and spear and the musket unit were poor shots, the Russians unmasked themselves and began to march out from the compond.

 If I could get my swordsmen in to the tree line perhaps I could roll up the flank whilst the Cavalry had another crack at the Russian Infantry before the troops from the Town formed up?

It was not to be as quick as I moved to the right the Russians shadowed me. My cavalry had reformed but I could not tempt the Russians into the open.

My Musket unit was now engaged with the Russian's advancing from the town, but were out gunned and out flanked, in the last throw of the dice they ditched their muskets and closed for hand to hand only for half the unit to stall.

Time to call it a night.....

Still at least the curse of newly painted figures should be out of the way.