"I'm going to "arteis" Tango, instead of him "tangoing" me!" Topic

I stumbled across Rafael Pardo's 'Project Leipzig' blog today, and was utterly amazed to see the many pictures it contains of Tango01's wargames armies and games.

In all Tango's re-postings of other people's work, I never realised that he himself has some really unique stuff of his own.

To me this makes me wonder even more why Tango doesn't have his own blog. It would be amazing. His style of wargaming is unusual, and would be really interesting to know more about. (@ Tango, as previously offered, I'm happy to help you start a blog, if you want)

Anyway, here is the link to Rafael's blog, filtered to show just the postings that contain stuff from Tango01:

link

And here is a selection of just a few of Tango01's pictures on Rafael's blog:

Who are those guys in the flat blue hats and the red and white shields?

They are the 'Dio lo volve' (God wants it!), a 95-men squadron of ultra-catholic volunteers raised by the Pope himself to fight the Turkish Ottomans in the 'Serengethi War'. They are a sort of Crusader, armed with cuirasses, lance, axes, swords, shields, with a long history going back to the Crusades. These big men riding big horses are a strange anachronism in this horse and musket era. Their uniform is violet with a bishop-like round hat and a cross on the breast and shield.

I understand Tango01's games are fictional, Murat5.

Those are fantastic figures and very old school, standing individually. It must have taken a long time to get them all laid out. Imagine playing a game with those, going back and forth as the battle rages.

Those are some pretty nice miniatures. Awesome paint job as well.

From Rafael's blog:

Armand [Tango01] lives in Buenos Aires and he plays big (really big) battles with his 1/72 figurines.

All the battles, take place in the context of a fictitious campaign located in Africa in century XIX. In his Ucronia, European-like powers fight [for] the control of the territory, faced in two antagonistic blocks: the Allied (German, Austrian, British, Hungarian….) and the Associated (French, Spanish…).

It is a solo-campaign, in which many of the participating generals have their personality developed, in a way similar to role-playing, so Armand is really writing a full history.

The atmosphere is Napoleonic and the tactical rules have been developed by the author. The man:figure ratio is 1:1, so Armand must move several thousands of figures in each battle.

He plays only [one] battle a year (during a full month) and spends the rest of the time, writing, painting and preparing the next battle.

"He plays only a battle for year (during a full month) and spends the rest of the time, writing, painting and preparing the next battle."

And surfing the net :)

I am going to spend a bit of time looking at the link above when I get down to Wellington this evening.

Well done Tango.

That is very cool. If Tango doesn't want to blog for whatever reason, why doesn't he post any of his stuff here?? I'd like to know the back story to all of this. I can see it being much like General Pettygree's adventures.

Astounding. Really, really fascinating set-up. It's very much in the vein of the original Charles Grant imagi-nation games.

Now that does look like some very cool gaming. I would like to hear more about Tango's 1/72 gaming as I am currently collecting Late Roman, WOTR, and El Cid stuff in this scale.

Wow, quite cool indeed. Thanks for posting this, Roly. The pics also remind me of old school Charles Grant and Donald Featherstone gaming from the Sixties and Seventies. I like big games, but my all-time favorite rules use single-based figures, so I'm always happy to see fellow mad gamers setting up and plaing miniature wargames that involving hundreds unto thousands of single-based figures.

Hi
It is a honour to hold the Tango's pictures. His African campaign is unluckily stopped but I am waiting for its re-opening!
Regards
Rafa

Great find Arteis!

And Tango, beautiful work my friend!

I'm awestruck, nice find. Would love to see more.

Wow, moving single figures and such a large number of them. Quite the effort must be involved with these projects. Way to go Tango!

Armand [Tango01] lives in Buenos Aires and he plays big (really big) battles with his 1/72 figurines.

All the battles, take place in the context of a fictitious campaign located in Africa in century XIX. In his Ucronia, European-like powers fight [for] the control of the territory, faced in two antagonistic blocks: the Allied (German, Austrian, British, Hungarian….) and the Associated (French, Spanish…).

It is a solo-campaign, in which many of the participating generals have their personality developed, in a way similar to role-playing, so Armand is really writing a full history.

The atmosphere is Napoleonic and the tactical rules have been developed by the author. The man:figure ratio is 1:1, so Armand must move several thousands of figures in each battle.

He plays only [one] battle a year (during a full month) and spends the rest of the time, writing, painting and preparing the next battle.

And surfing the net :)

My question … does he spend any time tangoing in Argentina?

I have long appreciated his posts , I hope he does not become discouraged by his distractors which I believe are outnumbered by his supporters…..Mikey

Strictly speaking I'm a 'distractor', Mikey (though I suspect you meant 'detractor'?!).

I feel Tango01 seems to mistake TMP for a personal blog instead of a discussion forum. Though the eventual introduction of the Ignore button should hopefully negate that from being a problem.

I hope my finding and re-posting of Tango's photos here shows that I (and I suspect most of his other 'distractors') don't have anything against him personally. In fact I'm in awe of his wargaming achievements, even if his posting behaviour on TMP does annoy me sometimes.

Here's another pic:

This is the only post in TMP history that Armand HASN'T posted in!

Good stuff, and I've always appreciated how many great posts and products I'd have missed if it wasn't for him… Although I do wonder how on earth he finds the time!:)

Beautiful stuff, Tango! I too would like to see more.
"Good stuff, and I've always appreciated how many great posts and products I'd have missed if it wasn't for him…"
Gotta agree with ya there, Lord Ashram!
Peter

I wish Tango would post stuff like this rather than stuff from the Hobby News section or repeating posts from the previous month or so.

Great stuff! Personally I always look forward to Tango's postings.

I officially punch Tango ' s Game – Man Card! Wow that's a hell of a lot of work and really cool.

Excellent post – and it certainly give Tango a lot more credibility as a wargamer.

Interesting how the single figures and some pea gravel gives you unique basing…

Great stuff! I love the old school feel of it all.

Now we`re all going to want a unit of those Mamelukes !

(I think they`re mameluke types)

That is a lot of miniatures :p

A beautiful work, indeed.

Sorry to be OT, but Roly you used to have a photo of a 28mm Russian Kuirassier General with ADCs you had painted on a base near what I think was a pond.
The General had on a white kuirassier uniform without a cuirass.
I'm painting a 15mm General Russian general and I'd like to use that photo of your figure as a guide but I can't find it on your blog anymore, may I trouble you to post a link to it? Thanks!

I think it is pretty cool of Tango to have all that great stuff of his own but is other people's products and projects that he shares for information and discussion. Like his work, Tango is not your typical wargamer. Thanks Tango!

Amazing war game contribution, Tango01.

So, all's well that ends well?

Good on you Tango. :-)

You are all slaves.

Why have none of you realised that Tango does not exist? Not as a human, anyway. "He" is a search engine…a computer programme that is trying to control your minds. He tells you his life story but who has ever met or spoken to him? (face to face, not over a phone…..)

No human could scan the internet daily and find what Tango claims, on obscure sites. Free your minds……..take the blue pill (or was it the red one?)

I am not paranoid. It is just that in the UK one cannot get a gun licence to defend oneself against such infiltration. (I am joking Armand, honestly………I swear……..keep it up mate)

Deadhead have you met Tangos creator

1/72nd figures being moved one at a time – that takes me back.

Yes I'd like to see more from Tango around his campaigns…

Good on ya Tango!

This is something I've been waiting to see for a few years. I can get behind Alt-history African colonialism, since it's how I entered historical gaming as well.

great stuff. I hope he does a picture report of one of his battles for us.

Sometimes, maybe a third of the time, Tango manages to post something that's already a discussion topic here on TMP. Those usually annoy me.

Sometimes, he posts something relevant (particularly when it's trade-show season) for ultramoderns.

And sometimes, he finds the most incredible minis, dioramas or other really damn cool stuff that I haven't seen.

I find that the annoyance of the first item is greatly outweighed by the other two.

And Tango, you *really* need to start your own blog to show those monster games!

Ditto the above from "lion". Wowsers.

Sorry to be OT, but Roly you used to have a photo of a 28mm Russian Kuirassier General with ADCs you had painted on a base near what I think was a pond. The General had on a white kuirassier uniform without a cuirass. I'm painting a 15mm General Russian general and I'd like to use that photo of your figure as a guide but I can't find it on your blog anymore, may I trouble you to post a link to it?

@ Abelp01 – Is it the first photo on this page?

link

It doesn't quite match your description, but is the nearest I can think of. It's not my painting work, though, but was done by Greg Simmonds (I've never painted any Russians myself).

If you want to continue this discussion, let's move it offline by using the 'Comments' on the this post on my blog.

Mon ami Arteis… finally you caught me!. (big smile)
Well done! (smile).

Firt of all, many thanks from my hart for your kindly words about my hobby miniatures.

I know I'm a bad photographer and a worst painter, but I'm prolific and enthusiastic to the end! (not only with the hobby eh? – smile).

My good old friend Rafa knows everything about my big annual battles and he allow me to put in his great blog some pictures about my units and combats.

To made a very short summary I can told you that 22 years ago I decided to began my "African Campaign" in the Napoleonic Era.

I choose Africa because is one of the Continents who most took my attention, I have the fortune to visit some countries there and even hunt on their plains. People there are amazing.

Well, my idea was to perform a long campaing arround 1815/1820 were Napoleon won the 1814 campaing which ended in an armistice signed in Fountainbleu between all the European Powers of those days.

But… the idea of war was still in the mind of all of them.

So, when news arrived about the wealth in minerals, timber, animals and land of Africa it began to draw the attention of the great powers, they soon start to sending battle units to their established colonies and in 1818 hostilities began again, BUT restricted to the black continent only.
With thus the signed peace treaties in Europe were not broken.

My "history" began with the first encounter between the first European units near the French territory (I made my own map with the colonies borders.)

This first battle (Battle of "Saint Andrew") was perfomed between one batallion of french Middle guard Infantry (The 51° named the "Impassables"), one batallion of French Foreign Legion (yes! Let me leave this historical license and so many others! (smile))(The 4° "Les Terribles") and one Company of French Old Guard Cavalry (1st Grenadiers), againt one British/Scotish batallion (The 71" Highlanders), one Prussian batallion (The 16" Jägers) one British Colonial Batallion (The 6° Territorials) and one Scotish Cavalry Company (The Scots Greys).

I still remember that battle in my own bed (king size) when my wife was visiting relatives in other province for a week.
All my friends went to see it , made their opinions and even some used the dices. (smile).
The total amount of soldiers was 750 more or less each side.

Well, then, it was impossible to stop.

Each year I made one battle and continue painting my new soldiers.

I increase more or less 1.000 to 1500 soldiers per year.

And now I have two big Armies with Divisions.

After the first battle, most of the European nations signed treaties for their participation (except Russia who has no business there and have a great plague).

They conform two big Armies.

One of them the "Allied Army" under the Command of a British General (Albert Julius Powell) with troops of Great Britain, Prussia, Austria (yes!. they have a colony (smile)), Portugal, Ottomans, Holand, Xhosas, Saxons, Swedish and some minor German states.

The other one is the "Asociated Army" under the Command of a French General (Andrée Alain Duval) with troops of France, Spain, Belgium, Italy (mostly under the King Jérome), Zulues, Matabele, Bavaria, Denmark, Polish and other minor German (Swiss) states.

My idea was to have 1 to 1 combat and I made my own rules.

My basic units were the "Companies" of Infantry with 100 to 120 men plus officers and NCO.
Each Infantry Batallion have three to five companies (mostly three) Plus one Artillery Company (110 men with 12 pieces)
Each Division have three to five Batallions (mostly four)

So we are talking about 350 to 600 men each batallion and 3 to 4 thousand men each Division.

About the Cavalry the basic unit is the "Squadron" of 60 to 90 riders (mostly 80)
Three to five Squadrons conform a Cavalry Company (so more or less 250 to 400 riders- mostly 300)
Cavalry has not independent units, they belongs to one Division.

So a Division can have three to five Infantry Batallions, one Artillery Batallion and one Cavalry Company.

Of course, it varies.

In battle I move each soldier using dices for their advance. I used dices for each soldier when their fire.
For example, if a line of 25/30 soldiers open fire againt the enemy advancing, I used a dice for each of them.
So, the result can be: "Dead", "Wounded" "Heavy Wounded" "Nothing".
Each unit has an status so it's not the same for a discharge of fire from a Militia than a Guard unit.

Then, the advancing soldiers return the fire but only who survived in the firt line.
The defenders has a second volley and the attackers no more.
Then began the melée were each soldiers have an status for his unit, rank, condecorations, etc.
Melée is funny!.

The Cavalry is very similar, but not many of the riders have firearms, so the casualties before the melée is very low.

About the artillery, I have a table with distances and quantity of ammo they can send.
In this case I used the manual sistem (by hand) using ammo from my hunting cartridges.

I used dice for the command decisions and … for anything there.

So, you can uderstand why it tooks me a whole month of battle.

About the terrain, I made mine and used a big table of 6 mts x 4,5 mts.

The last battle I did involved 21000 soldiers.

Well, I will not bore you with more details, just to have an idea.

Many thanks again for your support.

Your Argentine friend.
Raúl (Armand).

Hardcore

That's really good. Very impressive Tango!

nice collection, I recognise many of the models from my dads 1:72nd Napoleonic armies, although we use a 1:50 ratio on the battlefield! :-)

Raúl (Armand),

So the mystery surrounding Tango01 begins to unravel!!!

I have always enjoyed your posts and been amazed by just how much information you find (you must spend countless hours every day on the internet!)

You have a fantastic, HUGE, colourful collection and hopefully going forward we will see more posts from yourself regarding your own gaming / painting. There'll be plenty of interest for sure.

Keep up the good work!

Kind Regards

Mike

That really is an impressive collection of figures. And I love the imagination behind it. It would never have occurred to me to do an early nineteenth century colonial campaign in Africa but I think it is a great idea.

I just love the fact that Tango played on his bed. I'm more convinced than ever that he looks like this:

Great looking collection and impressive dedication. Peace and love, Armand!

Tango's posts are a gift and a service to the community. The occasional re-post is far outweighed by the wealth of new content he brings to the forums.

Very nice models!