NEW Perry General Store and Pontoon Bridge!

NEW ARRIVALS IN THE SHOP!

First item is this lovely little false front store from the talented hands of the Perry Brothers.

Based on the same kit as their North American farm house, this little gem is "all kinds of handy".
Easy to assemble and a steal at $24.00. You can find it here:

http://www.architectsofwar.com/northamericanstore1800-1900.aspx



Also in today is the fantastic new PONTOON BRIDGE from Renedra These easy to build kit is only $12.50. Its easy to combine several to make a longer bridge too!


You can find it here:


http://www.architectsofwar.com/pontoonbridge.aspx



And don't forget the Renedra Gravestone set which we have just been restocked on.



You can find that right here:


http://www.architectsofwar.com/renedra28mmgravestoneset.aspx

French and Indian Black Powder game

The French and Indian War Table

This past Saturday saw a change in plans. We had originally scheduled more play testing for our forthcoming ACW skirmish rules- American Uncivil War, but many of the figure samples had not yet returned from Salute in the UK.

Not wanting to let a scheduled game session get wasted, I decided to dust off my 10 year old French and Indian war collection and give it a go with the Black Powder rule set. With both Barb and I having been rather ill the last week, I knew my energy level would be a bit down so I tried an experiment. Normally, I am the referee or "game master" for the games we host. This time, I set both sides up to be identical in force composition, even carefully arranged the table for "equality", opened the rule book and pretty much said "have at it guys".

Overall the game went pretty well, I think. In between episodes of chasing my grandson around (one of my favorite activities) I kept coming back to the group and checking up on how things were going. The guys seemed to enjoy the game overall. I did note that there was some low key squabbling, something we rarely see on game night. Interesting. I was also amused that about halfway through the game one of the players thought they were heavily outnumbered - funny that.

There were 8 regular infantry battalions, 2 guns, and several units of light troops like Indians, Gauge's Light Infantry, Rodgers Rangers, and so on. This was a BIG battle for the theater and period.

Black Powder always gives a fast and dynamic game. I think this period with the number of skirmishers and the large forested areas tested it to its limits. I can't recommend it without modification for the French and Indian War unless you are doing one of the rarer "straight up" and more European battles like the Fall of Quebec. Black Powder DOES give a good game, and once it has been played a few times, it's easily picked up by anybody and makes a solid set of rules for a club or group that doesn't commonly use a referee.

For more on the game, you can visit the Lair of the Uber Geek at http://lairoftheubergeek.blogspot.com/. Miles was the French commander and won another victory against his nemesis, Dick.

Here are some pictures from the gaming table:

Some Ladies prepare for the battle by loading muskets in the tavern

The Center of the battle with the lines clearly visible


Skirmishing between Gauges Light Infantry and some Indians in French Service



The French let go with a mighty volley at the approaching Britsih

The French view of the Beaver Pond as the British Light's advance

The French Forces surge on the left flank, running the Brits off eventually

The French commander packs his forces into "Fortress Stomewall" as the British advance

The British view of the heavily weighted French left flank

British Light Infantry advance through the woods with native guides

British on the March observed by a scout in French Service

British reinforcements arriving via the lake

British Advancing

Terrain is by Barb's Bunker and Architects of War. All the forests have removable tops for access. Figures are by Old Glory, a few Perry Miniatures, and some old odds and ends.

Thanks to all the players. I am looking forward to another game soon.

Hail, Hail Caesar!

The beautiful Hail Caesar! ancient rules have arrived and are in the shop and ready to ship.

You can find them right here: www.architectsofwar.com/hailcaesarrulebook.aspx

Our price is $40 USD plus $6 Shipping.

Look for Ancient Army Deals from us to go with it coming soon.

The book is hardback, 187 pages, and stuffed with fantastic pictures.

Many New Items, Another 30 codes!

We have been getting shipments in fast and furious and are just catching up with getting them into the webstore.

The items include Bolt Action Polish, more Chindits, German support packs, and more....

We have the new Roman Mounted General (he has sold out so fast that we never could get him on the site but we have plenty now), Thirty Years War Swedish Cavalry and more...

Almost all of our in-stock Perry metals are up with a shipment coming soon including the new Prussian metals as well as the new European Army Range and the new French Napoleonic metal.

Coming very soon- More Warlord, Renedra Pontoon Bridge, and more Perry goodness...

The Prussians Are Here!

The Perry Prussians have arrived!

Well, the first box of plastics anyway. They are really, really nice.

Orders yours quick and send them to Waterloo before Wellington's line breaks!

You can see them here: http://www.architectsofwar.com/allplastics.aspx

To the Sea with Odin!

We have the Revell Viking Ship back in stock!

We are very happy to have the Revell 1/50th scale Viking Longship back in stock after not being able to get any for the last four months. It's a perfect fit with the Gripping Beast metal and plastic vikings we carry. Easy to put together and well detailed, its a steal at only $22.00.

See it and all the Viking stuff here:

http://www.architectsofwar.com/vikings.aspx

Recent Napoleonic Game, Part 3, Little Stuff and Rules (scroll down to start at part one)

Here are some more pictures from the game and this is the last post (Part 3). . I'll throw a few thoughts at you about the Rules and the Little Things.

A Perry French ADC looks at a giant card thrown down on the battlefield.

The French Approach the Village French in Reserve

Some Portuguese Lads keep building the works to protect the bridge heads, even as the Allied force moves out to engage the Sir Frog.

Part of the British baggage on the move

The Rules- I'll start by talking about the rules.

I have always wanted to play Napoleonics, but I never found any satisfying rules until Black Powder came out. I will say I have enjoyed playing the ACW with Johnny Reb, but that was a long time ago. Most Napoleonic rules always seemed to be too complex, and well, too anal for me. (no offense to anyone intended- just personal choice).

Out of frustration and a desire to play games in the Peninsular with 28mm models ( I like the spectacle of 28s), I started trying to do my own rules in pre-Black Powder days. I started by reading everything I could. After reading Oman's Peninsular War series (That took two years!) and many, many other books, I decided that what I wanted most of all was something that played quickly (big battles were a must), reflected the period well and allowed things like battalion level skirmishs and the like. I also new I wanted it to "feel" as if you were taking on the role of at least a regimental commander...A tall order.

I also work hard on the painting and modeling end of the hobby and didn't want a table full of markers/indicators and was also tired of playing games with dice frankly. The roll of dice sometimes becomes the focus rather than the interactions of the troops. So...

I came up with Gentlemen of Rank. It's a card driven game with a single sheet of tables to control movement and firing with the emphasis on command control. The cards allow random elements to come into play and, I believe, really give you the sense that you are trying to control your troops rather than the "odds". Almost everyone that has played has liked it. We used Gentlemen of Rank for this game and it worked very well. Now, it's designed first and foremost to reflect Wellington's battles against the French, but I am hoping to apply it to my next "new" interest which is 28mm ACW games on the Grand Scale. Maybe, someday, if there is enough interest, I may publish it. I hope to put on a game using it at this year's Historicon, but we'll see what time and circumstance allows. In the meantime, Black Powder is very well suited for this type of large multi-player gaming, so give it a try if you haven't already.

The Little Things

Yes, Divisonal Column in 28mm can be mighty impressive, but I like the "little things" too. I think they add alot of character to a game, and a big part of what miniature gaming is about to me. So, if you look at the pictures, you may or may not see a Donkey Mill pressing olives, a little Taverna scene with a Portuguese Officer pleading to get married, camps, a poor Portuguese man hung by the French, peasant refugees on the move, and more. These make great little breaks from painting hordes and hordes of core troops. There is usually plenty of room to place them in the odd unused corner of the table. You can always move them out of the way if need be. One great thing about having these little scenes is they are perfect when I want to play skirmish games with Mr. Sharpe. I urge you to do at least one or two "little things" no matter what period you play. They are fun, usually quick, and make a good game display special.

So there you have it. A simple little Napoleonic game. I hope all this typing has been of interest to some of you. Please feel free to comment, and if you want to know more about anything, please email me via customerservice@architectsofwar.com

Cheers,

Ernie

Recent Napoleonic Game, Part 2, The Game Table

This is Part 2 concerning our recent Napoleonic game. I thought some of you might be interested in my gaming table, etc. The basic table is 5 x 10 feet. Around the walls, 4 feet or so from the table edge, on three sides, I have built two shelves, one on top of the other, 15 inches apart. The lower shelf is the exact height of the gaming surface, and we call it the "back table". It is flocked and reversible to do both "grass" and desert. We use the 'back shelf' to stage reserves, have camps and sometimes use as a "road" to a spot on the table. The top shelf is used to hold "dead" troops, troop transport boxes, etc. It's now frequently in use for storage of our inventory of Perry and Warlord box sets! I can and sometimes do, connect the "main table" with modular side pieces to get different battlefield shapes. Obviously you have to still allow people to walk around, but I have been known to make "duck unders" and make players play in the 'hole' as we call it! Some of the areas I have used for this are indicated in red. This has proven to be a very flexible arrangement that has allowed me to do lots of different kinds of battles with flanking manuevers and what not that would be very difficult on just a center table. I like it so much, I can't imagine doing without it now. Of course not all games use the auxiliary areas. This is a picture of the main table and the 'back tables' "dressed". Between the two shelves I have put up a simple backdrop painted sky blue with some clouds airbrushed on.

Another view from the Napoleonic game. Here you can see the "drink" rail that runs along both sides of the main table. It's mighty handy for keeping beverages off the terrain and catches all the dice, rulers and other things. This allows the "decorated" table to remain free of real world objects. I find that far more pleasing than a brillaintly painted unit of French obscured by a beer can! Here is the 'back table' in use. This is the British camp. It's only 18" deep, but I put terrain and hill panels up against the backdrop. I model these so that I 'force the perspective' making the scene look much deeper than it actually is. The backdrops are curved in the corner to not distract the eye and ruin the scene with a seam. I really like to get down at the troop's 'eye level' and look across the table. The background makes it look like the miniature landscape goes on forever. It helps me feel it's an actual battle in miniature rather than just a "game".

Under the shelves, I have installed a variety of lighting for the 'back tables'. It starts with simple dimmable cabinet fixtures. I also added blue 'rope' lighting for night effect games. There are also some individual orange lights scatterd about that are activated by sound sensitive switches. I often play sound effect files I make myself to accompnay games. When large explosions occur, for instance, the lights under the table pulse to the sound, giving the effect of artillery or bomb blasts. I haven't had a night game for awhile..sound like I should!

Lighting over the main table is important. I have two banks of dimmable spots and a center section of blue spots for "night games". They can be moved if I want to put more light on specific scenery features to 'highlight' them. I have some special spots on hand that will tie into the sound system, but have not yet put them over the main table.

This is a good shot of the side tables. The "shelves' are built like trays. The panels drop into them and can be flipped over. As I said above, one side is grass and the other sand. All this turned out to be pretty easy by using door panels and brackets from Home Depot. Door panels come in a variety of widths and are easy to cut to length. If you buy damaged ones (no issue for us gamers) they can be quite inexpensive and save alot of time. This is an old model railroader table trick.

This scene is only 18 inches deep but looks much deep. I bought some cheap paintings of an Italian village (at Target I think), cut them out and added some flock. I just lean them against the backdrop and put other scenery in front.

The path going up the hill is modeled so it gets narrower at the top. This, plus putting smaller trees in the back and bigger ones in front, really helps the forced perspective illusion. The larger building in the front really plays off the smaller ones in the painting. It looks like the village is a half mile over the hill, but in reality is only 6" or so from the modeled building. When reinforcements "arrive" on the top of the hill, it really looks as if they have rode in from the town.

Having lots of terrain and figures is great, but not so great if you don't have adequate storage. I have two closets I can use and they are stuffed. These cheap roll around drawer cabinets make storing and setting up figures a snap.

The shelving in the top of the closet holds buildings and terrain.

Under the table, I store my terrain panels.

I am lucky to have the space for all of this. It does enhance our gaming experience quite a bit, but even in smaller spaces, alot of the theories should still work.

Recent Napoleonic Game, Part 1, Do's and Don'ts

Recently, we played a large 28mm Napoleonic game set in the Peninsula (my favorite period for the last few years). Rather than write a turn by turn battle report, I thought some pictures, a report on how the "game" went as an event and some notes about the gaming room might be of interest. I'm doing it in parts so its easier to put on the Blog. There were ten players for the game, with 21 battalions of French infantry, three units of cavalry and a dozen guns with limbers from my collection. My friend, Miles, brought another 7 battalions of French infantry, some more guns, and some cavalry. The British force consisted of about 16 battalions total, mostly my collection, with a few nicely painted units from Mike and Dick on the British side. French battalions are typically 36 Infantry for the French and 40 for the British though this can vary by battalion, just like the real units. All of my units were origianlly conceived and are based on the actual units present at Fuentes de Onoro. The figure 'ratio' is designed around 1 figure equaling 20 men. The French and British both had overall Commanders "controling" the sub- commanders in actual charge of the troops. Each side had five players. We played the game at my house on my gaming table which made its "public debut" in the Black Powder rule book a few years ago. Everyone seemed to have a very good time. I thought it went well, but some things could have been better. I'll talk about all that after showing a few pictures. For more about the game, you can also visit Miles' Blog here: http://lairoftheubergeek.blogspot.com/. Almost all of the models were either the older Perry miniatures from the Foundry range or thier newer ones in both metal and plastic. There were just a few from Front Rank, Victirx, and Old Glory in the mix as well. All the terrain was either Architects of War, older stuff from my personal collection, Renedra, and a couple of Old Glory buildings that I believe are now OOP. We are hoping to release, thru Architects of War, some buildings suitable for the Pennisula at some point this year. For rules, we used a house set called Gentlemen of Rank. More on that later.

In short, the British Force under Wellington had its back up against a river with only two bridges at either flank available for reinforcements or escape. The French were out for the crossings, but were mostly interested in smashing Wellington's mixed force of British and Portuguese for good. The French certainly gave the British a pounding. The French plan was to demonstrate on their left flank, thrust forward through a village on their right where they became bogged down fighting Britsh light infantry, and thrust the main part of their force right at the British Center. Despite deploying all the elite units the British had, the combined effect of French cavalry pushes and a massive divisonal column did the trick.

French infantry are stopped by a unit of British rifles using a stone wall lined road to best advantage... This is on the right flank of the French line. Here are some British Infantry moving in from the British right, rushing past the center of the British line. The lads on the hill were in square having just repulsed two waves of French Cavalry assaults. How did they get those Belgic Shako's in the Penninsula anyway? French Hussars galloping about on the left flank of the French Assualt. They look dashing, but didn't engage in this game. Their demonstrating along with several French infantry battalions seemed to hold vital British reinforcements from the center.

The Dreaded French Divisional Column smashed right through the British. It was interesting to see the tension of the commanders in the middle. The British, intimidated by such a huge force marching right at them (who wouldn't be!) and the French Commander, worried his whole column might break on him...

Here you can see the British on the Right flank moving towards the French Column in the center. Alas for the British, it was too late.

The British Right Flank. Nicely organised and looking sharp in their ranks, they saw no real action in the battle.

ANOTHER column of French moving up in support of the first. They weren't needed...

• 
  
  So some Do's- Like I said above, everyone seemed to have a good time. The table, 14 feet by five with the "back tables" (more on this in the next post) was stuffed full of nicely painted , well lit models and terrain. My awesome wife, Barb, fed us all her homemade lasagna and there was plenty of soda and beer on hand for everyone. We did our best to provide a comfortable enviroment and a party like atmosphere. I think those things can make an ok game great. It's just 'good hosting'. I am fortunate to have a supportive spouse. Miles brought along a big pile of snacks and Chris brought homemade chili. Most of the gamers brought drinks to their liking. We finished the evening with a quick coffee and some brownies. Can't go wrong there. When I invite people over to game, it's important to me that they enjoy the evening regardless of the quality of the game (though I do my best). The size of the table, the quality of the painting, nor the number of troops are not the most important aspects of a good game. Common courtesy and good hosting helps alot with this. I want them to come back you know... This is a social hobby.

• 
  
  Some Don'ts- Well, the biggest mistake I made was being "rusty" with the rules. Though I was fortunate that all the participants are really nice guys and quite patient, being confused as the referee or gamemaster didn't help them understand the game at points. I hadn't put on a game of this scale with these rules for a long time, so next time I'll bone up with a little game before hand. The second biggest mistake I made was not "tweeking' the scenario so that all the players got a more even handed experience. All the action happened in the center and the right Flank of the French line. Poor Steve and Chris, the players on the other end of the table, just spent the evening looking at each other and shuffling their troops around. They were very gracious about it, but I should have made sure they had roles that got them more invovled. It could be considered "historically" accurate I suppose, but spending hours playing a game where you only get to fire a shot or two isn't the point to me. Thanks Steve and Chris, I'll do better next time! The last bit is about having a game that scales to the players experience. The British Commander had never played the rules before and found himself right in the middle of running four other players, figuring out the rules and fighting off a massively larger force. The British were commanded by Dick, a relatively new accquaintance of mine. I chose Dick becuase I have come to know him as an experienced gamer and a nice guy. He was incredibly gracious given the circumstances and a very good sport. Thanks Dick!

Final verdict-A good game that could have been better.