"Der Alte Fritz's Big Btn Game Set Up" Topic

I have posted some pictures of the battlefield depicting the set up of the terrain and the initial positioning of the defending Prussian army. This game will be played next Saturday October 10, 2009 with 17 players signed up so far.

link

Since the game will be played in the HUGE basement of one of my friends (where all of the Grand Manner games are played), we had the luxury of being able to set up the terrain and the troops a full week ahead of time. This means that we can pitch right into the game once all of the players arrive. It saves a ton of time on the pre-game set up and saves the game master a great deal of stress.

I am really excited at how the terrain turned out and the gobs of open space that we will have on three 6ft by 28ft tables.

click on the link to view the pix and then click on the pix to enlarge the view.

cheers everyone!

Fritz

I can't wait for the full write up of the battle. It is always interesting to follow you campaigns. Thanks

Awesome!! I can't wait for the battle report!

Don't forget that when I retire for good (i.e. the second time) I will be inviting myself over for a game like this!

Great setup Fritz. Hope you have a fun game.

Huge and very impressive.

v nice set up.
i notice your table is v long and narrow.
do you use some sort of approach to battle movement/manoevre phase?

Wow! That's impressive.

Thanks,

John

That's a lot of lead! Very impressive set up. Hope the game goes well.

That game looks super. Thank you for sharing.

Looks like your in for a grand time. Looking forward to AAR's.

Inspiring as always – good gaming!

We have three tables, parallel to one another. The gaps do not exist, so this can cause some fog of war when you see a cavalry regiment or artillery battery on the other table, and only realize at the last minute that you are really inches away from it.

Both sides will start on the back table and move into contact on the center table. The owner of the basement venue, Keith, is finishing up some of the hill terrain pieces that will be placed on the center table and block line of sight for both armies.

Thats CRAZY good! I cannot wait for a Battle Report!

DAF,

Simply a fantastic lay-out. Maybe one of these years the Carpanian and Courland contingents can make the march up from Mississippi.

Jim

I admire the dedication for painting all those miniatures. That is a _huge_ task. Painting that many tends to get 'old' after a while even though you love the period.

Great job.

Beautiful buildings, especially the Schloss.

The parallel table method is used at the Wargames Holiday Centre, where the playing space is 27ft x 15ft and divided into two 27ft x 6ft tables and one 27ft x 3fts. As DAF mentions, you get surprised if you allow your attention to lapse.

No matter how many times you repeat that the gaps are not real (just for access) no matter how many times the players say "I understand that" and nod their heads, I have NEVER YET been involved in one of these split table affairs(a wonderful concept IMHO) where at least one guy forgets at a crucial time how close something else is to his flank or something! I did not exclude myself either!!

DAF,
Inspirational, as usual.

Yes, we borrowed the idea from the Wargame Holiday Centre. I visited the WHC twice in the early 1990s and it has forever changed how I like to wargame. I've borrowed many WHC concepts for my own games. I too have fallen victim to 'gap blindness' more times then I care to remember. It makes for a fun game.

Virtually all of the buildings including the Schloss were made by Herb Gundt. The Tagewerben village buildings were made by Ian Weekley.

I never get tired of painting new figues for these armies. We have three people painting regiments: Bill, Randy and me so the other two fellows do most of the French while I focus on the Prussians and British. I also have a dozen Austrian infantry and about 200 cavalry, but these will not be used in this particular game.

I have switched over to painting large Napoleonic units of late, but after setting up these tables, I feel the urge to paint some more tricorns again. I basically have all of the Prussians that I could ever want to have or use in a game of this size. This project started in mid 2005 and was basically completed at the end of 2008. I haven't painted a single Prussian in 2009.

I could add a few more light infantry and light cavalry to the collection, and maybe another regiment of dragoons for the Prussian side. From this point forward though, it will be mostly Austrians and British figures joining our forces.

"I basically have all of the Prussians that I could ever want to have or use in a game of this size. This project started in mid 2005 and was basically completed at the end of 2008."

Sounds me. I have a few armies that are really too large to ever use on one table apart from a monster sized table like the one in the photo. I'd say 99.99% of the time you'll never need even half of them but… I can't help myself painting more.

Usually I switch off painting some other era when I get burnt out and then switch back when a big game or a particular book gets me all juiced again. It borders on fanatical but that's the way I paint. Some day I will complete my Army of the Potomac Gettysburg army in 25mm one to one scale. THAT would be cool. Only 80,000+ miniatures to finish! The first 300 were easy so I'm almost there! Woo hoo!

"I haven't painted a single Prussian in 2009."

Slacker!! ;)

"I haven't painted a single Prussian in 2009."

I've taken up the cause. Since July, I've completed painting two 60 figure big battalions, 2 gun crews, 2 mounted colonels, and additional standard bearers to break down the 60 figure units into four 30 figure units. Of course that is a drop in the bucket. My unpainted pile of Prussians is currently another 8 big battalions, 10 more guns, limbers, and 8 twelve figure cavalry squadrons. And then there are the other nations and the extra stuff I still need for the Prussians…sigh.

It is the large battle spreads I see on people's blogs and linked here that keep me going. Thanks…I think.

Goldwyrm: you are making very good progress. As you have noted, you have the flexibility to break the battalions into 30 figure battalions, which gives you twice the number.That is the beauty of the flexible basing systems that we have been using in our armies. Our BAR rules work just as well with 30 figure btns as they do with 48 to 60 figure battalions.

Avidgamer: you are right, I am a slacker. I might paint a Prussian artillery crew before the game on saturday. Then we have our annual light infantry game in December so I will be adding to my von Kliest freikorps before then.

I am envious, Fritz. That looks like a lot of fun – both in prepping and playing.

Best,
Steve
cavalcadewargames.com
nycjadie.wordpress.com

Fritz – so how many figures did you paint for this in that 4 year span? It looks impressive. I'm sorry I won't be able to attend.

Great stuff!! Big battalions like Chas Grant used.

hussarbob1746.webs.com

Tonight, I painted 6 more Stadden AWI artillery crew as Prussian artillerists to use in the game.

Hello Fitz

Love the photo shot of the French guards brigade at the end.

Forward the gentlemen of France!

cheers
Edward

Maybe Fitz or Bill can answer this?

Ref Batailles de l'Ancien Régime, do you think they can be adapted to suit the age of The Sun King from the Dutch War to the War of the Grand Alliance?

cheers
Edward

I know my friends Brett and Fitz are looking forward to going down there. You've a great set up down there.

Ref Batailles de l'Ancien Régime, do you think they can be adapted to suit the age of The Sun King from the Dutch War to the War of the Grand Alliance?

I think that it is doable. None of the game mechanics need to be changed. You would probably want to add some provision for using pikes in a melee and maybe water down the musketry effects a little bit and make artillery darn near unmoveable after it unlimbers. I recall that in one of our Jacobite rebellion games this year, that Bill made up some pike rules on the fly to cover the situation. I think that each pike man counted as two figures in melees.

Missed your inquiry Louisbourg Grenadiers,
I'll second Der Alte's remarks,
Bill

Thanks Bill and Fitz

cheers
Edward

ps: looking forward for the battle report.