Borodino: 7 September 1812 (Village of Borodino)

I thought it would be a good idea to recreate some of the Napoileonic Command & Colours scenarios as wargames using the Neil Thomas rules so I chose this one from the C&C Expansion#3 which simulates the attack on Borodino village by Eugene.

For each unit of blocks I substituted a unit of figures on my board. I think it looked pretty good and seemed to have the right feel in terms of deployment and scale.

I played through six or so turns and the French were in the ascendancy by the close of the game. This is when the cat made an entrance and I had to tidy up. 

 

The Napoleonic rules worked well but I dropped the activation rules after the second turn as they were a bit too much for the large number of units involved. The natural ebb and flow of the game seemed to generate enough friction. 

 

I will need to devise a control mechansim for these large battles. This will probably be a modified form of the Leadership mechanic in the Nineteenth Century Rules.

Here are pictures of the closing stages with the French in control of the village but not over the Kalatsha River.

 

Command & Colours Ancients: Battle of Pharsalus 48BC

I managed to setup a game of C&C Ancients using my combo Expansion 2 & 3 box set. This is a scenario from the Roman Civil Wars and portrays the classic showdown between Caesar and Pompey.

 

The Pompeian army was superior in numbers with lots of cavalry but lacked the quality of Caesar's crack legions. The combination of the Julius Caesar rule and the Julian legion created a potent fighting force.

Inititially the Pompeian cavalry assaulted the Caesarian flank but this met stiff resistance and the attacks were largely repulsed.

The Caesarian forces then went on to eliminate the seven units required for victory in fairly short order so it wasn't a long game. This proved fortunate as the cat soon got in on the act.

And into the box!

My Collection: Napoleon At Bay, The Campaign in France 1814 (1978)

While I was browsing the games in the bring and buy section, during my recent Claymore visit I came across another Kevin Zucker designed game, this one released by Tactical Studies Group way back in 1978. Like my other purchase it was only £5 and in very good condition for it's age. It's not a boxed edition but was in a zip lock bag.

The cat wasn't too impressed. It likes a box to snuggle into! 

 

My Collection: Napoleon's Last Battles (1976)

This is the latest addition to my collection. It's an old SPI Quad game brought out in 1976 - Napoleon's Last Battles. I picked it up for the princely sum of £5 at the bring and buy section of my local wargame show, Claymore, in Edinburgh.

It's been on my wish list for a while so I was delighted to get a copy and at such a great price. The game simulates the last four major battles during the Waterloo Campaign: Ligny, Quatre Bras, Wavre and Waterloo.

I set it up to see if the counter inventory matched the individual game setups.

I only got so far until the cat decided to provide assistance.