Imperial Eagles

I couldn't resist posting these pictures I took this morning of an amazing eagle that perched on the fence of our back garden. Maybe its time to get back to Napoleonics. Or is it an omen of something else?

Gettysburg: The Tide Turns

I have made my first Kickstarter investment. After enjoying Eric Lee Smith's Battle of the Bulge for iPad, I decided to pledge at the "Lieutenant Colonel" level in the Kickstarter campaign to fund his new iPad game, Gettysburg: the Tide Turns. This pledge will also provide a copy of the board game being produced concurrently by Clash of Arms. 

I took the plunge to see how the whole Kickstarter experience feels. So far, so good. Expected delivery of the iPad game is March 2014. If you are interested in the ACW, you might want to look at the Kickstarter site for this game.

Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nation: Landkarte für Kabinettskrieg

I have spent much of today preparing to play my new game of Kabinettskrieg. Fitting the 17 maps of northern and central Europe together was quite a task. After fitting together the jig-saw puzzle I thought I'd make a map key to help assemble the maps more efficiently in future. I decided to superimpose the game maps on a period political map of Europe, thereby showing the states of the Holy Roman Empire at the same time. Of course this 1789 map shows Silesia as Electorate of Brandenburg territory, which it became after it was taken by conquest from the Habsburgs (Austrians) in the Silesian Wars.

Kabinettskrieg

My highly anticipated order from Noble Knight Games arrived yesterday from Janesville, WI. A banner day for a game geek, Red Sash Games' War of the Austrian Succession games Kabinettskrieg and Mistral (with additional bits) plus Clash of Arms' Fontenoy. Excellent service by the way from Noble Knight, highly recommended.

Opening Kabinettskrieg was an Aladdin's Cave moment! One whole, huge box of counters and a second huge box of maps, charts, rules, etc.

The counters alone are shown here laid out in all their glory.

I found some very appropriate quotes on Boardgame Geek to describe this game:

The monster-gamer's mega-monstergame

I consider this to be the "holy grail" of monstergaming. If I can accomplish this before I die, I will have done something momentous!

Gettysburg 150th Anniversary

In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3 1863, some of the the family watched with me the Blu Ray Director's Cut of the epic movie "Gettysburg". This is the way to watch the movie. The 17 minutes of additional footage makes a huge difference to the quality and clarity of the story-telling. 

The additional footage is most helpful in the re-telling of the first day's battle, adding a richness to the story of Buford and Reynold's defense of McPherson Ridge. It also adds depth and historical understanding to the fight for Little Round Top. A marvellous movie in its best possible form. Highly recommended.

Hard to believe that 50 years ago I was first intrigued by the National Geographic Magazine article (Vol 124, No.1 July 1963) that first captured my interest in this most important and interesting battle.

The magazine article featured the most amazing stylized 3D diagrams of the battle. These inspired not only my interest in Gettysburg and ACW history but also my life-long passion for collecting wargames miniatures.

Most importantly, I have a deep respect for the men in Blue and Gray and an abiding sadness for their struggle. Robert F. Maxwell's 1993 movie of Gettysburg captures the poignancy, bravery and drama so well. The 5,000 re-enactors who took part in the movie and the excellent professional cast make this  a must-watch movie for anyone who cares to understand the battle...and its protagonists.

Panzer I

I have just received some new images from Neil Burt at Troop of Shewe of my latest commission. To add to my collection of early WW2 AFV's, I now have these PzKpfw I's, (Panzer I's). The models are newly released Panzer I's from Warlord Games who also made the tank commander. Neil has applied his usual authentic finishes and weathering to create to the models but tells me they required very little additional modification, other than the aerials he will add next.

Of the 2,574 tanks used in the invasion of France in May 1940, an astonishing 523 were these diminutive early Panzer I's.

Fontenoy

Not content with adding the massive strategic game Kabinettskrieg to my collection, I also ordered Clash of Arms new tactical game: Fontenoy, named for the 1745 battle of the War of the Austrian Succession. I have long been a collector of Clash of Arms games, with their amazing graphics, maps and research. This looks like the best so far.

Clash of Arms has also announced a BAR (Battles of the Age of Reason) "primer" to help understand and learn the complex rules behind their game system. Well, that went in the shopping cart too. What can you do?