Camp VIP begins tomorrow

Tomorrow is the first week of Camp VIP.  I have twelve young wargamers signed up, plus two terrific assistants.  We will begin with an American Revolution game in honor of July 4th.  It will be based on the Battle of Brooklyn where George Washington's Continental Army took on the Howe brothers and their British and Hessian soldiers.  It should be an interesting game.  The Americans will place down cards indicating the deployment of their brigades followed by the British.  There will be some "dummy" cards just to make things interesting.

Historically, the war could have ended here if the British had been more aggressive.  The Americans were decisively beaten and driven from the heights and their backs were against a river.  But a well times storm and some stellar leadership by Washington say the Continentals escape into the night, literally under the noses of the Howes.  The American cause would live on to fight another day.

I'll have reports each day, hopefully including pictures of the action.  Stay tuned.

Picton's battle ends

Picton's battle came to a clearcut conclusion today.  The French were overwhelming winners.  However, this should not be a surprise as the British were vastly outnumbered in infantry and had no cavalry to offset a brigade of French lancers.  None the less, it was a decisive victory.

On the last turn of the game, French skirmishers pulled off an upset when they pushed back the vaunted 95th Rifles on the right flank.

On the left, a battalion in line routed the last British battery.  This would leave the supporting infantry on that side of the field very vulnerable.

It was in the center, though, that the truly fatal blow was struck.  French lancers routed a Hanoverian battalion, which in turn forced a brigade moral check.  The result was that the entire Hanoverian force was forced off the table and the allied center was completely destroyed.

Picton's battle

French Lancers destroy the British center

Three French battalions aren't up to the task of pushing out the 42nd Highlanders from the chateau.

One British regiment is not able to hold off three times its number on a hill on the left flank.

With a long weekend I put together another Napoleonic battle.  Picton's divison of three brigades is trying to hold off portions of two French infantry divisions and a brigade of lancers.  After six turns things don't look good for old Picton.  His center has been shattered and his left has been driven back by superior numbers.  Only on his right are his men holding their own.

Happy Easter

 A happy Easter to one and all.  I had a wonderful time with my church family today celebrating the most important even in human history.  He is risen!

HMGS PSW convention 2011

casualties mount in the center

fire fight rages

huge cavalry battle on the flank

This past Saturday I took two of my camp VIP students to the HMGS Pacific Southwest spring convention in Glendale.  We put on a SYW game pitting three Prussian brigades against three Austrian brigades.  It was a very close battle, but in the end the Austrians were able to hold on to all of their objectives, so they were declared the winners.



Victrix figures

I have made some good progress on my Victrix project.  Here are some pictures of my finished units, including British artillery, French line and guard infantry and some highlanders.

British foot artillery

French Old Guard grenadiers

French line infantry

92nd Gordon Highlanders

These have been fun figures to paint.  Despite the detail required, I have enjoyed painting the highlanders the most.  I am almost finished with a second regiment and half way done with the third.  So to date I have painted a total of 240 infantry figures, 15 artillerists, three cannons and three caissons.

A new project

I have picked up some figures in a larger scale.  The detail is amazing and they are really fun to paint.  They Victrix Napoleonics in plastic.  They have to be assembled, but this allows for a tremendous variety of poses and conversions.  I am getting pretty good at putting them together, and at about sixty cents per figure, they are very reasonable.  Here are a couple of shots of the first 150 that I have completed.


British line and highlanders