For want of superlatives.....

[Atheling]

Bloody lovey work Barry!!!

http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/gallery ... ew&id=1511

Fantastic stuff.

[Churchill]

Hi Barry,

Excellent work on this regiment (Scots Grey's), might these take the field for our R2E weekender
Totally agree with your "Drilled" tag for these and I would say the same for the Light Dragoon regiments of Vandeluer's brigade, but what of the Hussar regiments of Vivian's brigade.I've classed these as "Veteran", but again this could be just a romantic fallacy as in this painting of the 10th Hussars.



Regards.............Ray.

[obriendavid]

Ray, you will find that the grading of troops is very subjective.
I have just recently had a discussion with a member of my club who suggested the Scots Grey's should be classed as vetern because they had spent the last 20 years on duty in Britain. How that rates them as vetern is beyond me but each to their own. The whole subject of grading is a can of worms that can start very long term discussions. I was talking to Barry about this subject at our last BLB playtest and mentioned that I was surprised that nobody had every queried any of the ratings he had given troops as I thought that would have been one of the major bones of contention.
Cheers
Dave

[CoffinDodger]

Barry,

Lady Butler would have been proud of you.

Jim

[barr7430]

Well thanks Gents. I very much appreciate the comments about the Greys. I don't paint as much as i used to simply because so many other things get in the way!
I do still enjoy it though.
I am half way through a doppleganger of this regiment for Dave Thomas. I think I will be 'Greyed' out by then

What seems to be starting now is the trial and adoption phase of R2E. People are past reading and now starting to put troops on the table and try them out. The feedback so far has been very encouraging and not typical of the unqualified comments seen on TMP at the beginning when nobody had played.

Rules do go through several phases:
1. Release and reaction (normally a reflex response to size, pics, format)
2. Lull where people are reading but nothing much is happening
3. Trial: games played, questions raised, more informed comment offered
4. Adoption (or Not!)

What is clear to me is that R2E will not be the default choice for Competition Gamers (Lasalle seems to be filling that role particularly in Oz as far as I hear). A recent review in Vae Victis says R2E it is not for the beginner ((well I think it says that.. my French is lousy but I got by with it). I would agree with that to an extent but not totally.. the review is again written on a read through as opposed to ap lay test like most reviews of rules).

The troop classification argument is a free for all but you are always going to have the special interest 'pleaders' who want their pet units to be Guard-Terminator-Elite-Invulnerable to casualties.

...hmm I must paint them up for the 17th April

[CoffinDodger]

Barry,

Maybe the wrong place to post this and maybe I have missed this in the rules but, does Horse Artillery require the same 200mm of "rear space" as foot artillery?

The reason I'm asking is that I would think that when they moved quickly to another part of the battlefield and unlimbered, they would not have taken all their impedimenta with them.

Regards,

Jim

[obriendavid]

The troop classification argument is a free for all but you are always going to have the special interest 'pleaders' who want their pet units to be Guard-Terminator-Elite-Invulnerable to casualties.
:

You're obviously talking about your major mistake in not rating O'Brien's regiment in the WSS with their deserved Vetern, Elite, Guard status
Not that I'm biased in any way
Cheers
Dave

[obriendavid]

Barry,
Maybe the wrong place to post this and maybe I have missed this in the rules but, does Horse Artillery require the same 200mm of "rear space" as foot artillery?
The reason I'm asking is that I would think that when they moved quickly to another part of the battlefield and unlimbered, they would not have taken all their impedimenta with them.
Jim

Jim, Mercer at Waterloo certainly mentions having all his wagons and caissons behind his battery but he was basically in a stationary supporting role. He does complain in his memoires that they all retired when the French cavlary launched their charges severly reducing his abiltiy to fire after that.

If the Horse artillery are operating in a more mobile roll covering an advance/retreat then they wouldn't normally have all their equipment with them and they didn't always operate as full batteries in that roll, sometimes only a couple of guns and their firing wasn't as effective as in a major battle. I'll let Barry make the final decision on this rule but I would suggest that if you are not shooting with all your transport with you then perhaps you should only limit their shooting to two rounds before they have to pull back to re-supply.
Ross' RHA at the Coa certainly had their caissons with them while they were supporting the Light Division in an observation role and this caused a major problem in the retreat as one of their wagons overturned blocking the bridge causing a delay to clear it.
Hope this helps?
Dave

[CoffinDodger]

...You're obviously talking about your major mistake in not rating O'Brien's regiment in the WSS with their deserved Vetern, Elite, Guard status
Dave

Same goes for Gordon O'Neill's regiment of Irish in the French service. Not that I'm biased either. Although I may have gone over the top a bit by giving them Armalites.

And there's no truth in the rumour that they both count as dense targets.

Jim

[Duke of Plaza-Toro]

Lovely stuff Barry! Breathtaking in fact.

As an aside on the quality (or lack there-of) of some British cavalry regiments in Belgium in 1815: a view I've always leaned towards is that while a few, like the Greys and the 1st Dragoon Guards, had almost no combat experience whatsoever - and the "drilled" rating is therefore spot-on, they were nevertheless, at the first point of contact, a very potent force.

Once released they were all but uncontrollable of course, but in the first clashes they had the advantage of good mounts (on average probably better than their French opponents) and judging by the frequent references in eyewitness accounts to some frighteningly brutal swordplay they really knew how to use their weapons. A legacy, perhaps, of many bored months in their domestic barracks endlessly practicing their sword drills. And this despite the somewhat indifferent quality of the British 1796 heavy cavalry sabre and its lack of length.

It would be hard to rate some of these inexperienced 1815 British Heavy Cavalry regiments as 'veterens' (as Dave's acquaintance was suggesting), but that first punch they packed was still a biggy! As Dubois' cuirassiers found out to their cost.

[obriendavid]

Even with them being drilled they still cause a lot of damage and being British they also take a lot of stopping once they start pursuing so the rules give a perfect historical result.

Cheers
Dave

[barr7430]

We'll probably use a house rule on the day for Horse artillery as outlined by Dave (That's presuming anyone is getting Horse Artillery)