Der Resin Kavalier

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Winter Quarters...Almost

It is hard to believe it's been six months since I last posted anything. I must confess it has been a busy summer and early fall with several trips both here and abroad, the most notable a two-week cruise in the Mediterranean: Malta, Rhodes, Crete, Sicily, Greece, Italy, and several Greek islands. As interesting as they were, it was tiring: my fitness tracker indicated that we walked nearly forty miles (mostly uphill both ways, it seemed) over the course of the 12 days. 

I also have seen and learned more about Venetian and Maltese fortifications, as well as ancient ruins,  then I could possibly imagine (or care). Our guides were very knowledgeable, albeit a bit pedantic. Here's a picture taken in Malta:

Well, golf season is also winding down, Halloween is around the corner, closely followed by Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and perhaps one or two I have forgotten. So, we retreat to the hobby room; there are Saxons, Franconians, Swabians, and a host of others to paint, base, and organize.

As I mentioned in my last post, the old idea of a mythical campaign based on the equally mythical War of Franconian Succession (very loosely based on the actual, and mostly forgotten, War of Bavarian Succession), reappeared. The most daunting task was the rules. I've done a number of games using the classic Charge! rules, but the large numbers of figures per unit was a bit daunting.

Enter another set I've used, designed for 54's, called All the King's Men by Ken Cliffe. Unfortunately, he is no longer in business, but there is still a Facebook page, so perhaps copies can still be obtained. They are fast moving, with lots of dice, and a lot of fun. Since the units are usually 8 to 14 figures, the painting aspect is more manageable. Indeed, as the Franconians (and Hessians) wore a Prussian style uniform, a simple change in the unit standard will suffice. So, I can say with some assurance, the Franconian army is pretty much complete.

Aux drapeaux, mes brave soldats! La gloire sera la notre!

6 comments:

  1. Welcome back! I look forward to following your progress on your campaign. I have often admired Ken Cliffe's ruleset but have yet to give them a try.

    For those who, unlike me, don't keep mountains of rule PDFs clogging all of their digital devices, All the King's Men is still available for free download at Wargames Vault (https://www.wargamevault.com/product/63474/All-the-Kings-Men-Wargame-Rules) or if you don't want to sign up for an account there, a little sleuthing turned them up on the Way back Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20170222020035/http://www.allthekingsmentoysoldiers.com/ATKMRulesforDownload.pdf

    Cheers!

    - John

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    1. Thank you. I'm glad to hear the rules are still available. I actually have a printed copy from Ken. I used the rules a couple of years ago at Huzzah! with a War of 1812 scenario. I have some photos somewhere which I should dig out and post.

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  2. Seeing the world, good for body as well mind it seems.

    Sturat Asquith did a One Page, simplified Charge! variation for small units on a small table and Keith FLint put them up on his blog. Might be worth your while to have a look if you haven't seen them. Old School Napoleonics

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    1. My 2016! I thought it was last year. Distances are of course easily modified for 54's on a bigger table.

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    2. I have those rules from Keith. I've tried them with a couple of solo games, and they work pretty well. Who knows? I will probably use all three (not counting local variations)!

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  3. You are correct, it was Huzzah 2016! A memorable year; a couple of weeks later I ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks, due to a bad reaction to a vaccine. I think I prefer to remember Huzzah!

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