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Thursday 2 April 2015

Kronoskaf - website of the month!

(Note 03/04/15 - I have added some more photos at the bottom of the post)


Project Seven Years War

First of all thanks to Richard Couture at Kronoskaf for making my blog his 'Website of the Month'; and welcome to any of you who have used the link to get here.

If you are interested in home casting 40mm Seven Years War figures, and the Prince August range in particular then please follow this blog, and contribute by making comments. Prince August are developing this new SYW 'wargaming' range taking into account feedback from this blog, so your comments do matter.

If you are interested in the Seven Years War, and have not yet found the Kronoskaf site then you really must make a habit of visiting the site - it is a real gold mine of information:

http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw


A game using Maurice

I had another game with the 40mm figures at the club again on Tuesday, and took a few photos. This time I managed two decent shots before the flash came on without me noticing.

This time we played with the Maurice rules, basing to these rules and Field of Battle is pretty much identical, so we use them for either, depending on what we fancy.

We used every one of the 17 new range infantry units I have managed to paint. The armies represented Austrian (with some Russian help) and Prussian (with Saxons). For those of you who use Maurice we added some national characteristics as follows:

  • Austria; 'Artillery Acadamy' and 'Cavaliers' giving them an edge in artillery and cavalry.
  • Prussia; 'Lethal Volleys' and 'Oblique Order' making their infantry both more maneuverable and more effective in the firefight.

Unfortunately I did not take enough photos to track the progress (I always get too tied up in the game), however a rough sequence of events was:
  • The preliminary Austrian bombardment with their 'superior' 4 guns was spectacularly ineffective.
  • The initial Austrian infantry assault (the Austrains were the attackers) was driven back by the 3 Prussian guns, who must have had laser rangefinders. (Including a second humiliating rout by the Russian grenadiers!)
  • A Prussian cavalry attack around the Austrian left was driven back by an infantry line
  • An Austrian cavalry attack around the Prussian left was initially successful but the stumbled up against some previously unseen bad ground (the ;'Not on the Map!' card being played and terrain placed in front of them).
  • A final push of the Austrian infantry in the centre broke the Prussian army morale (we did not even realise it at the time as we had worked out the break points wrong), but only by 'beardy' use of the last cards by the Prussian. 
Overall result, a very enjoyable draw.

Some photos.......


Austrian infantry centre ready to go (grenadiers confidently marching out to their doom in the distance).



Prussian infantry and guns waiting for the assault.


Guns on left of Prussian centre (Karoliners painted as Prussian)



Austrian  artillery firing without bothering loading the balls (Karoliners painted as French - waiting for new SYW artillery!)



Hungarian infantry assault Saxon grenadiers - result was misery for the Hungarians.



A view from behind the Austrain centre,



And then I forgot to take any more photos!

Some more photos..................


BUT, my opponent Paul Scrivens-Smith (see his blog http://scrivsland.blogspot.co.uk/ ) has just sent me some photos he took, These give a better overall view of the battle, I have added them in below:











And as a play - how about black and white?



19 comments:

  1. This is how it's done! Lovely.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks - I think the new PA figures have turned out well, and hopefully will stand the test of time.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Have you tried Maurice, they are great fun?

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  3. We are now at the first anniversary of the release of the Prussians. The above photos show just how much has been accomplished in the first year of this range. Prussian, Austrian, Hungarian and Russian infantry are now all available. Good work all around by yourself and the folks at PA. I look forward to the addition of the cavalry this coming year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Russians aren't actually released yet. They have been delayed to try and sculpt and fit in some grenadier belly boxes, which then means we need to get them to the painter for the figures on the packaging etc, but worth the wait I think.

      I have not seen any of the sculpts for the cavalry yet, I will post photos when there is something to discuss.

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  4. The russians look really great and will be worth the wait I'm sure.
    Alan

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  5. Alan
    Thanks. I have added in some more photos which my opponent took. They give a better view of the whole battle - and even show some cavalry!
    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  6. Super game, really shows off the new PA figures

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steve
    Just gorgeous stuff! I am in awe and green with envy.
    Well done!
    Cheers, PD

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovely game and figures! Very nostalgic and classic!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fantastic once again, Steve ! Nice to have two sets of photographs to drool over. I'm very enamored of your style of painting and mounting the figures. Must try flags in the rear rank that way, it looks quite good.

    Pity about those craven grenadiers though, eh ? ;-)

    Steve

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    Replies
    1. The painting style came from the fact that I have never masted applying highlights (I use ink washes on my 15 and 28mm), mostly due to a lack of patience, and now my eyesight is not what it was. However for what we are doing I think it is the right look.

      I considered texturing the bases, but again decided that plain looks best. It is possibly more time consuming as:
      - Figures with badly cast bases have to be rejected.
      - The base edges have to be cleaned/filed square.
      - No excess glue on the base tops.
      - It takes 3 or 4 coats of paint to get an even coverage.

      I started putting the standards (and NCOs) in the rear ranks as I use small units, and I wanted to get a good proportion of muskets in the front (the command are individiually based).

      Steve

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    2. A couple of other things on the bases:

      I always use laser cut MDF, they have a very neat edge, and an accurate fit.

      The movement trays are from:
      http://www.productsforwargamers.com/close_order_movement_trays.html
      they are accurate and inexpensive.

      The figures have magnetic sheet below, and the movement trays flexi-metal sheet, which is why they stand a bit proud of the base (they are not all done yet). If in UK the best source is:
      http://www.abelmagnets.com/
      buy the A4 sheets.

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  10. Really nice looking game. What are the frontage of the units? 150, 160mm ; very impressive. I also liked the little disorder markers behind the units painted the same colour as your bases. I'll use that idea myself.

    Also, it's really good to see a report of a Maurice game. We enjoy our games up here in Perth, and it's great to see a good report. I read Paul's report too, and was glad to see I'm not the only one to get caught with "That's not on the map".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom

      Thanks - the infantry and cavalry are all on 20mm frontages, so in units of 16 & 8 respectively that gives 160mm wide units - so a 40mm base width in Maurice terms (same as 15mm)!.There is more in a post dated 21st December.

      The markers are in frames from 'Minibits' (I use the 10mm with the 40mm figures), I also get the laser cut bases from them:
      http://www.minibits.net

      Steve

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  11. Dear Steve, i have discovered a fantastic painting but urgently Need to contact Michel Petard or Robert Couture- do you have their contacts? Please email me (you will like the painting) at horsch@arndtart.com Best Nicolas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nicholas

      If you are trying to contact Kronoskaf there is a contact link on their navigation page.

      Steve

      Delete