Marshal Lannes
Elder Member
Battle of Brienne 29th January 1814...............2.30pm, ( GT 22 of 42 - French versus Allied A.I.).
Grouchy's Cavalry Corps has already made contact with Russian Cossack/cavalry screens, north-eat of Brienne. These have been badly mauled and thrown back by leading regiments of French Cuirassiers. The advance continues until two miles north of Brienne; a sizeable force of Russians are sighted astride the main road.
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A lesson in complacency
- dealing with the Russian cossacks was relatively easy, albeit they had numerous units. The lead French Cuirassiers regiments were a bit tired but morale was high.They were then confronted with an enemy force with combined cavalry, infantry and guns..............blocking the main road to Brienne.
The A.I. is also hiding numbers as I have noted that what I can see is not all that is there....the wheatfields do a good job of concealment. The French cavalry test the defence with one regiment, which in retrospect should have stopped 3 hexes further back, but an eay Cossack target lured them in for the kill. The ensuying melee was lacklustre, routing the Russians. The enemy guns opened up and dpwned 25 French Cuirassiers. Complacency takes it's first hit.
The decision was made not to engage the enemy position frontally ; especially as the guns were at the time , stacked with infantry.
Since the guns were facing North-west...... a larger force of French cavalry would move to their right flank and try to harass or engage the enemy cavalry there. Three French Cuirassiers regiments would still continue moving on the enemy left flank, ostensibly to draw fire from their guns; while the larger force of 5 French cavalry regiments would flank on the right, unmolested by enrmy gunfire.
The A.I. for some reason, decided to turn their guns and remove it's infantry support to the rear. Complacency has it's secod hit - ; as I , as the French player failed to note this, being distracted by the juicy prospect of attacking a lone enemy cavalry unit and puncturing this flank.
General de Brigade Thiry decided to charge with the 2nd and 3rd Cuirassiers regiments against the enemy horse. The Russian gunners worked quickly and effectively to open up an initial salvo of destruction which felled 50 horsemen..... the French, seeing this unnerving spectacle, before them, quickened the pace, which eased matters somewhat, losing another dozen and then finally before contact , lost a further 11 horsemen.
The final melee was favourable with a loss of 6 Cuirassiers to 25 Russian cavalry. Overall loss being 79 valuable French heavy horsemen to 25 Russian.
This is an object lesson in complacency /gung- ho attitude after initial ease of play and how, sometimes, the A.I. can be a real booger..............
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I got this a while back ; a 6mm model of the Chateau de Hougomont. This is to add atmospherics to the Company level board-game of the Battle of Waterloo.
You cannot see from the picture but it is incredibly detailed ; more so than the larger scale versions. Once painted........will definitely add a bit of colour. Considered getting the La Haye Sainte model but it just gets in the way in the middle of the field of battle whereas the Hougomont model can serve as background, placed to the west or north-west of it's 2d counterpart. Detail is exemplified by fallen plaster areas and more realistic windows /doors and other embellishments.
Only just Fine surface paint/spray primed it in Tamiya red. It was a slight mistake in the colour choice which is usually grey or white but seems to spread more thinly without clogging small detail and does not dry and then flake. Had that problem with model spray primer paint in the past.
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Difficult but not impossible..................................................................................................................................................................................----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Watched a war movie during the holidays and it inspired me to look at the feasibility of figure gaming/diorama simulation of it. Bought one item which is crucial and have been looking at other possible add- ons, which are quite numerous/available.
Once I have the initial item and it is OK........passes the Marshal Lannes, no crappiness standard ; then the Secret Project may have some legs..................all from movie inspiration.................Niiiice !...
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The State of Wargaming in 2026........................from a personal point of view and a wider perspective'. I would say that it is pretty positive/good.
Pc Gaming - I've noted that the Annual Report from Wargame Design Studio shows a steady growth in sales, which is not surprising, as they are still producing what people want......namely, expansive and historically detailed simulations from a plethora of historical periods. The cross/point between board wargames and these games is still a draw and relevant.......
Total War Medieval 3 is in production and should be conformed to the older style of games. Board-game Geek gives you reviews and the criticism of game owners, which sometimes has to be taken with a pinch of salt but you can get an inkling of any potential issues. Gone are the days of blind buying at a local hobby store which costs precious dough if you make a hasty or erroneous purchase. Done that a couple of times, when younger......
.Board - Wargaming -.... Decision Games is still out-putting; La Bataille is also churning out slowly; Independent designers pick up the mark ever so often, the main brute in this field is of course, Grognard Simulations , which caters to the cream of Wargame Nut Simulators....................I Love It !......
.Figure Gaming - There is a horde of stuff available in many scales.... I am always surprised at the variety of stuff you can get with Napoleonics 1/72.......Wurtermberg Infantry, Hanoverian,, Bavarian etc. Hat Industrie have just released a new line of 1/72 French and Prussian figures for the 1805/6 time period with appropriate uniforms and so on.
There is also the multitude of Mdf/resin printing offerings which present stuff that mainstream companies will not touch. 28mm or 1/72 scale, no problemo......personalized products are also a possibility......
Above and beyond that; there is of course, the ( Internet ) which introduces Vasl gaming into the equation.
The Internetti spaghetti allows you to interact with other weirdos; I mean, Hobby enthusiasts, who may or may not have a collection of meticulously labelled and catalogued shoe boxes filled with dog-doo
, under their beds.......................Who knows ???......" You've never had it so good ! "......
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The Battle of Kulm 1813...........Another example of A.I. sneakiness. Halfway through the battle; everything is going relatively smoothly for Vandamme and the French. An attempt to throw back Russian cavalry and guns has worked and then out of the blue, the Russian cavalry, who have so far been very lacklustre, launch two cavalry charges, resulting in 4 French units running for the hills........leaving the French left flank vulnerable.....did not see that coming at all, being pacified
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Tick ! 40 Books... As cheap as toenail fungus,...............I have only one other Peninsular war book........so it makes sense.
. This is probably not the best one but will do...-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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so some decision has to be made. This one has a strong temptation factor; mostly because I don't have it. Again , the pull factor is the scaling. 
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, tentative step............................................." For God , the Cid and Spain,...........Spaaaaiiiin ! "...... 
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