Using 40mm semi flats for wargaming

Which rules do we use?

'Old school' wargaming.

The new PA range are a development of original HE semi-flats, which were the work of Holger Eriksson, who also sculpted the Spencer Smith range of figure. These figures feature prominently in classic wargames books such as ‘The War Game’ by Charles Grant, or ‘Charge’ by Brig. P Young & Lt. Col J.P Lawford. Both of these books are still available in paperback reprint - but if you can afford it treat yourself to a second hand hardbacks - they look so much better on the bookshelf!

Both of these use large units, which certainly look very impressive, however they are a lot of work - and you will need a big table!

A display game using large units of 40mm ‘Karoliner’ (mostly) figures.

We dallied with 'old school' rules for a couple of years, but found them 'hard work', needing a lot of time, and we rarely finished a game - so we don't use them much now. The thing is though that I really do want them to work - perhaps I just need opponents with lots of time on their hands?

More recent rules-sets

Having given the 'old school' a fighting chance we decided to go for more recent rule sets.

Field of Battle

Initially we used  ‘Field of Battle’ (FoB) by Brent Oman; we already used them (along with 'Shako') for 15mm Napoleonics, and they work fine with the semi flats. These are an interesting set of rules based on the Piquet rules system and use a variable move sequence which is card driven.

Maurice

More recently we have been using  'Maurice’ by Sam Mustafa; these are a fun set, and again the action is card driven. They also contain a simple campaign system. A ‘lite’ version of Maurice is available for free download from:
  http://www.sammustafa.com/honour/downloads/

Both sets have their places, Maurice is best for just two players, whereas FoB can be used with multiple players on each side.



Both of these rule-sets work well with small units of 16 infantry and 8 cavalry, and can still look very impressive. This could be either Maurice or FoB - the troop scale and basing is the same.




There are many other sets available - we have settled on these two.........for now.

Basing and organising figures into units

You might think that 40mm figures need a big table to play on, but that isn't really the case. As the figures are semi-flats,  the width is no more than full-round 28mm figures, so a 20mm  wide base works well for both infantry and cavalry. The bases do need to be a bit deeper than for 28mm, and we have found 30mm for infantry and 60mm for the cavalry to be about right. This is a period of linear warfare with relatively shallow battle lines, so the deeper bases aren't really a problem. The figures have been designed to fit neatly into units on these base sizes.

After a lot of heart searching, I decided to base up the figures so that they could be used either as a single 32 man unit......

.... or two 16 man units, which is all they have been used as so far.

I must do a battle report.................

Russian Infantry Update

Progress and Plans

Sorry the blog has been quiet for a while, a combination of a busy time at work, a quiet spell on figure production..........and us having a new puppy!

I had a long chat with Chris Tubb (the sculptor) a few days ago to discuss the plans for the Russians, and also the range as a whole. He confirmed that Prince August are committed to the range, however production of new moulds will probably continue to be relatively slow, as this is just one of many projects he is working on. The intention is to get the Prussians, Austrians and Russians finished (infantry, cavalry, lights and  artillery), and then move on to the British and French, provided the demand is still there.

Russian Infantry

Next up will be the Russian infantry, these were discussed back in April (no point rushing - these are 'Old School' after all), and the proposed four moulds below hopefully cover many of the things we discussed back then. 

The plan is for all of the bodies to be musketeers (the grenadiers should have a belt pouch, however this is barely visible on the figures so not worth additional moulds - it can be stuck on or painted if necessary). Similarly it is not currently planned to produce any Observation Corps figures, By concentrating on the musketeers we can provide bodies for advancing and march attack in both summer and winter/parade uniforms. There will also be some new command figures in poses similar to those in the Hungarians, these can (with a bit of work) be used to add variety in the Prussians and Austrians.The provisional listing (it depends what will fit in the moulds) is:

3109 – Russian  officers in winter/parade uniform

• Officer in winter uniform, pose similar to Hungarian NCO
• Standard bearer in winter uniform, as an officer similar to Hungarian (as with the Hungarian, standards were probably carried by an NCO, but the officer is added for variety - the Prussian can be used if an NCO is wanted)
• Officer’s head - tricorn, curls, clean shaven.
• Guards’ grenadier/leib company head - grenadier with feathers
• Musket for officer
• Sword for officer (if space) 

3110 – Russian drummer and NCO

• Drummer in summer uniform (can use Prussian for winter)
• NCO, pose similar to Hungarian to carry a pole arm or musket
•  Musketeer’s head - tricorn with bow , straight hair,  clean shaven
•  Grenadier’s head – helmet, straight hair & moustache
•  Partisan for NCO (I know they generally carried muskets, but it seems a waste to add another musket, as there is already one with the officer, so use this for parade/guards).        

3111 – Russian  musketeers/grenadiers in summer uniform

• Rank & file body (summer uniform) - advancing
• Rank & file body (summer uniform ) – marching
• Arm for march attack with and musket
• 2 x Musketeer’s head - tricorn with bow , straight hair (campaign),  clean shaven
• Grenadier’s head – helmet, straight hair & moustache 

3112 – Russian  musketeers/grenadiers in winter/parade uniform

• Rank & file body in winter uniform advancing
• Rank & file body in winter uniform marching, this could be in a more upright 'parade' pose..... but will it look OK with the more active command?)
• Arm for march attack with and musket
• 2x Musketeer’s head - tricorn with bow , curls,  clean shaven
• Grenadier’s head – helmet, curls & moustache

Progress so far

Below are the greens for the first 3 figures. The officer looks fine, but the waistcoat on the drummer and infantryman is a bit too long, so will be shortened.

Once the Russians infantry are done - Austrian cuirassiers!

As always comments welcome.

One point I really would like feedback on is the plan to have the march attack figure in winter uniform in a more upright pose - would it look OK with the more active command figures?