(No not you Donald, you crack on with the day job, mate…)
Would you like to help play-test a bunch of Sharp Practice scenarios for the 100 Days campaign featuring the original – and iconic – "Men in Black"? You don't need any actual Black Brunswickers, just as long as you have a mix of close order groups (8 figures) and skirmish groups (6 figures), some Big Man, and 150 or so cavalry that you can easily – and recognisably – split into two opposing sides, you can participate.
Figures can be any size/scale, material, or manufacture; you will just need a minimum 6 feet by 4 feet (1.8 metres by 1.2 metres) table/playing area, or a close approximation, for 28-40mm figures, or 4 feet by 3 feet (1.2 metres by 0.9 metres) for 10-20mm figures. No artillery is required as the Brunswickers' stuff didn't reach the battlefield until almost dark, and the French guns are all handled off-table. However, you will need (a) a bevy of beautiful, bucolic Belgian buildings for two scenarios; and (b) a fair few trees! (Did I mention the 150+ cavalry?)
Obviously, I shall also be play-testing each of the scenarios myself and it will be interesting to see how others approach the tactical problems that I anticipate that these will present. Especially the massed cavalry one (I did say 150 figures, didn't I?).
The final versions of the scenarios will be published – hopefully – in the 2025 Too Fat Lardies Special, to be read in conjunction with the two articles already up on the Perry Miniatures website. On publication, the article will acknowledge you and your group in helping to finalise whichever scenario(s) you tested. The only rules you must agree to are to :-
• Play the scenario to a finish at least three times
• Communicate the results/comments to me before the end of September 2025
• NOT publicise the scenario, or your results, in any way whatsoever, outside of your play-test group, UNTIL the article is published (after that, you/your team – can do what you like with your findings).
Proposed Scenarios –
• QB1 – Control it like a Boss(u) OR "If you go down in the woods today" Part The First…..
(Avante Garde v. French skirmishers in the Bois de Bossu)
• QB2 – Nasty case of Greenflies on the Namur Road
(2nd Light Battalion shoot at the French in some woods)
• QB3 – Death of a Duke
(Leib Battalion has to rescue their wounded leader from "no man's land")
• QB4 – Tripping the Light (Cavalry) Fantastic
(Hussars take on the 6th Chasseurs a Cheval in mass gee-gee-on-gee-gee action)
• QB5 – "Walky round the gardens, like a Brunswicker…..
(3rd Line Battalion defends the gardens of Quatre Bras against all-comers)
• QB6 – To infinity – and beyond! Well, to Gemioncourt Farm, at least…..
(2nd Line Battalion, supported by the Leib Battalion, join the evening Alllied counter-atack)
• QB7 – Thyle will be done
(2nd Light Battalion and 95th again, this time attacking a village – and hopefully just shooting the enemy this time)
• QB8 – The night before the morning after…..
(3rd Light Battalion get spooked by the dark)
If you are interested, post on this thread – include a suitably camouflaged Facebook or email address/link and an indication of which scenarios you would prefer – and I will message you in due course.
Thank you.
[* Yes, it is actually a real word! It means a lover of all things black, from the Greek words melas (black/dark) and philos (love).]
ponders nirvana.