Tuesday 15 July 2014

Polotsk revisited

I am still looking at Command and Colours Napoleonics, specifically whether to invest in some hex terrain. Well, being fairly careful with money I have cobbled together a cheapo version - featuring the grid pattern of the moment: the squex - just to check it out a bit more before committing.


I went with Polotsk again for no better reason that it saved me printing off another set of instructions. I opened a different box this time round so the French are fielding some Polish allies. The Russians now have a second proper militia unit straight from the painting table, but are still using mounted jaeger as heavy cavalry. I have switched to using markers to indicate the strength of units rather than losses, but line and light infantry are still differentiated by formation.


Once again I shall run through it solo, mainly as an attempt to get my head round the rules. My previous attempt partly succeeded, but a lot of energy was wasted trying to work around the lack of hexes. The photos are even worse than usual because I misplaced my camera during the Tour de France. And the hills that look like they are paper plates turned upside down and painted green are in fact exactly that; they work rather well for single hex hills.



2 comments:

  1. Your solution looks good to me and I rather like the look of your 'squex.' The grid lends itself to an Old School feel reminding me of a photo out of Morschauser. I like that!

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  2. I've just taken a look at the photos of Morschauser's set-up in Featherstone's Advanced Wargames. Funnily enough I think that, apart from the grid itself and the gloss paint job on the figures, the resemblance comes from the fact that we've only ever seen his games in black and white. The matting I used to draw the grid on - chosen entirely because it was free - is a sort of grey/brown that would look pretty much the same in a monochrome photo. I think if I'd used a green base then it wouldn't have struck such a chord.

    Any old school aesthetic feel is an accidental by-product of my doing it on the cheap (which of course makes sense when one thinks about it) except for the gloss varnish; I've always taken the view that toy soldiers should look like what they are.

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