"What Should Alte Fritz Paint Next?" Topic

OK, so I have too much lead and not enough time to paint it all in time for my big Old School Wargamers mini convention in October. I'm wondering what I should paint next from the following list:

[1] 5/20 Prussian Grenadier Btn (48 figures)
[2] HR5 Black Hussars one squadron of 12 figures
[3] Eureka Saxons (60)
[4] Crusader Hungarians (54) the Arnold Schwartzenegger regt, judging by the build on these fellows.
[5] Crusader Austrian cuirassiers (24)
[6] DR5 Bayreuth Dragoons – 3 sqds of 12 (36)

I can go in any direction and have no personal preference (well, I do prefer Prussians, who am I kidding) so I thought that I would throw it open to the peanut gallery to decide.

How about My Kitchen?

from the list I vote for Saxons. But if we can go off the list I'll second Pat's kitchen.

The wunderbar Saxons mien lieber and not those vile Black Hussars!
Votre Ami,
Bill

I would split up the grenadiers into companies, for relief. Do one at a time in betwen the others. Ditto the Black Hussars.

Then, start with the Saxons, as I suspect they are a brand new contingent. Best to have many understrength and weak contingents than one strong one.

I have always wanted to do Austrians, by the way, but they are already "done" in one guys 15mm AoR armies, and no one else in our group does 25mm 18th c, except for Pirates.
The Hungaian regiments are way kewl, and they are always a project in the future.

How about Frei Korps Von Kliest?? Good to look at! More like soldiers than outlaws!! Might confuse a novice Austrian opponent as to friend or foe, and maybe usefull for the skirmish idea! Good sized units in your scale too! Musketeers, Jagers (rifles?), Hussars,Dragoons, maybe a couple of light guns?? Add a nice sized btn of utterly worthless double blues and , Presto, a good subordinate command. But, of course, don't let me influence you to start up something you would have any regrets about!

Hmm, since GEBill really really dislikes those Black Hussars, they might be moving up fast to the top of the list in our early returns. They require some assembly and need pin swords, so that is keeping them from being my slam dunk first choice.

Keep the ideas coming lads.

None of the above! Don't waste your time on those items. Paint ACW stuff. It makes perfect sense to me.

My Master Bedroom also needs painting, ut I wanted to see how you did on the kitchen first…

I'd vote for Saxons – They got moved down on my painting list in favor of Swedes (but still not until winter). We need Saxons…

saxons nice colors

Does this mean you actually get to finish what you start – meanwhile, without starting a dozen other projects?

Or starting a project then stopping part way through to work on/finish something else?

Could never work that way myself.

Eureka Saxons!

I just got some samples from Nic and they look great. I don't know what all the fuss is about. These boys may be slender and well proportioned but they are tall.

Anyway I fancy painting the samples for fun.

Anyone got an online refernce for nice SYW Saxon uniforms. Nic sent me one musketeer (tricorn), one fusilier (short mitre), one grenadier (tall mitre).

Thanks
Walter

How about something for the AWI?

Go for the Austrian Hungarians. Very colorful (for Austrians) and something fun to try to do, especially if you haven't painted any before.

After that, I would go for the Prussian Grenadiers. That particular unit was fun to paint (though I'm doing much smaller number of figs).

As an aside, I paint 4 or 5 different things at once to keep from getting bored. Maybe paint all at the same time???

Erik

Um, no Civil War or AMERICAN REVOLUTION figures are on the drawing board at this point. I'm strictly looking at SYW/WAS figures to paint.

After my Big OSW game in October, it will be back to 72 figure Napoleonic units or maybe the start of my Sudan Campaign figures (60-72 figurs per regiment).

Alte Fritz

You know I bet there are some folks who read your last comments and think you are just joking around!

Nah, I'm old, I'm grumpy, and I like my battalions big and bad. There comes a time in your life when you run out of table space with 20 to 24 figure regiments. So the only thing to do is go from 1:30 to 1:20 and finally to 1:10 like I do. It seems like all of my armies are now 1:10 (American Revolution, Civil War, Napoleonics and SYW).

No joking, if I may say so, but Docdennis1968 you raise an entirely understandible, germane and logical comment. There is an interesting and more than pleasing shift in tactics, awareness of tactical doctrines and implementation of same on the table and in the sheer stunning panorama when using large units that has been lost over the decades.

Young/Lawford, Grant, Gilder and Featherstone knew this. Since their moments in the sun, unit dynamics downsized in almost everything to explore different ways to play wargames. At first it was Grand Tactical which enjoys great popularity now. In recent years skirmish has come a lot more to the fore for other understandible reasons. Bravo to both BTW.

What has almost been lost are the many advantages of multi-brigade wargaming with larger units of 48 or more miniatures. For a few advantages:

Visually stunning. Try merging units and see.
New, different and fun tactical dynamics/problems.
Less record keeping. (Fewer units)
Terrain stuff is more is scale.

We don't all need to raise 48 man battalions and such unless we want to. However the Grand Tactical enthusiast has the unique opportunity to experiment by merging several battalions together in two or even three ranks to give it a try and look see.

Bon Chance,
Bill

Scrap the list, then buy the entire line of RAFMs Riel Rebellion, plus, some extras… And begin…

eureka saxons get mny vote then the bayreuth dragoons

cheers
Matt

Saxons, then the Cuirassiers, then Pat's kitchen…

Greg

Hmm, there seem to be a growing number of requests for the Kitchen. This is very troubling to Alte Fritz.

Only after the Saxons, Fritz.

Greg

Did the Saxons have kitchens?

As a wargamer with six options, has Alte Fritz lost his D6?

Quick easy solution

Saxon field kitchens were painted in Hoflivrée until 1 April 1754: lemon yellow with sky-blue fittings. After that date the equipment was re-painted red with blackended fittings. Cooks had kept the red uniforms after 1734, except for those who came from the electoral court and were authorised to wear court livery when on active service. Toques white for both groups.

… and I vote for the Bayreuth Dragoons – in white coats!

ge2002bill

Saw some of your earlier outfits (FIW) at some long ago SYW Convention I think! Was a very impressive display indeed! I am sure that your latest project is even more so!! I love the "big Btn" concept personally, and hope more and more gamers will investigate it and many may join in! There are many factors that make it a positive approach as you listed earlier. If I may add one more concept that might appeal to some. Having a smaller number of larger units also contributes to the player developing a stronger , almost emotional, bond with the particular unit, it's battle history (wargaming) heroic charges, stubborn defensive actions or even shamefull routs and defeats!! This may seem a bit silly to many gamers, but for me, tabletop history is an additional benifit to total enjoyment of the wargame experience. Hope the project grows and grows. With Alte Fritz involved that is likely a certainty!!

Musketier: you must be reading my mind. I was thinking of painting the Bayreuths in the WAS white coats. This is spooky.

Fritz: I would say that great minds think alike, except that we obviously disagree about acronyms…
As for DR5, how else to paint them than in their Hohenfriedberg colours?

Well after you have finished creosoting the back fence, might I suggest the Saxons?

Hello docdennis1968,
I agree with you entirely. An attachment grows when one commands smaller numbers of larger sized units. By contrast I have something like 30 battalions of 1812 Napoleonic Russians at 16 miniature each. I don't have the same attachment to them. Easier to throw away in battle I suppose. Something like that.
Cheers,
Bill

Another benifit to the "big Btn" concept of a period is related to the tendency of "some" gamers and collectors to "overbuild" a particular army or armies way past the practical utilization of units on hand in games. Some don't mind this, of course, since it does give a lot of variety of choice for different scenarios. Some, however, (like me) want to "play with all their toys" too much!! This can lead to not enough room and the need to make the games multiplayer to such a degree that things get uncontollable! One btn of 80 is easier to manipulate than 4 units of 20 and less time consuming and confusiing! I realize that it not for everyone, but just another reason that the "big btn" concept works for me!

I recall a French versus Austrian Nappy grand tactical game from 3-4 years ago. I had 30 battalions, a dozen gun batteries I think and attached cavalry forces. Plus there were command control distances to adhere to modified by Austrian negatives and French positives or else! I was Austrian. I expended a lot of energy and metal stuff just to keep things in order and identify units too. It was a good thing I was up for this game. However, it was too much to handle in retrospect. I had a good time BTW. It was a two-day game. I think we Austrians either won or drew the battle. Tah dah!

By contrast in Drums of War Along The Mohawk or Batailles de l'Ancien Régime, I hardly ever command more than a half dozen units. Usually I play the cavalry commander anyhow. Easier.

Cheers,
Bill

It all goes back to "Fritz's Rule of Sixes" which states that "6" is the maximum number of maneuver elements that an individual can comfortably handle in a wargame. I think that I wrote about this in Historical Gamer magazine circa 1992.

Another vote for Bayreuth Dragoons in white coats- you need to keep the WAS momentum going forward.

I do NOT ask that you paint any room in my house (although I extend an open invitation for you to come over and remove the flash and molding seams off all my Napoleonic French minis if you are really looking for something to do after DR5 is done).

Alte Fritz
Rule of sixes

When I built (over built) my ACW armies (about 4 times) I found that a brigade of 4 to 6 regts plus a 2 or 3 section btry was just fine for ease of play for each person. When I tried out Fire and Fury this transferred to a very large Division with an arty btn or two smaller ones. Since I used a 1 to ten or slightly larger ratio, I still had scads of figures and not too many units to keep track of. The visual mass effect was pleasing (to my eye) and the flow of the game was made easier.

The "big btns" with limited numbers of units concept will not appeal to everyone I know, but our mutual and individual experiences with this way of wargaming holds much merit. We should try to intoduce it to as many gamers as we can, because there will be many (not a majority) but many ,who will discover its several positive aspects and join in!

I wonder what type of shading effect Alte Fritz would use in the kitchen? Would he black prime first?

Alte Fritz would probably hire his favorite house painter, Boris, to do the job. Boris is cheap and fast and only charges about $200 USD per room. That is a bargain.

I'm zeroing in on either the Bayreuths in white coats or the grenadier battalion.

I still reckon that numbering the options and throwing a D6 was the obvious thing.

N.B. He's allowed re-rolls until the one that is subconsciously the one he really wants to do wins.

I have 60 Elite Miniature figures painted up as IR27 (in two 30 figure battalions) I'd be willing to part with for the right price.

Thanks InFocus, but I like to paint my own figures these days. Early in my wargaming life I would send it all out to be painted, but now that I am older I seem to want to take my time building armies and paint them myself.

Darn, I guess I'll have to bring them up to the SYWA convention so they can join in on someone's game, if I can make it this next time. But it was worth the try. :-)