Schlaup's Farm: A Seven Years War Sharp Practice Game

It's been a while since I took out the Too Fat Lardies Sharp Practice rules, and I wanted to give them a try with some Seven Years War figures, and they worked surprisingly well.   I was also reminded of how well the chit/card format works for a solo game.

I dipped into my Prussian and Russian collection to put two small forces together.   I didn't use any points, just picked two small forces that seemed appropriate for the Seven Years' War kleine krieg.

The Prussians got a light cannon, a group of 8 hussar skirmish cavalry, a group of six jaeger rifle armed light infantry, and two groups of musketeer line infantry.  They had four Big Men: a Lvl 3 in overall command, a Lvl 2 with the cannon, a Lvl 1 w the line infantry, and a Lvl 2 with the Jaegers.

The Russians got a group of 8 hussar skirmish cavalry, a group of six musket armed skirmishers (Pandours), three groups of 8 musketeer line infantry.   They had three Big Men: a Lvl 1 with the hussars, a Lvl 2 with the line infantry, and a Lvl 3 in overall command.

After Turn 2 some of the opposing forces are on the table, shattering the peace of the Schlaup Farm and its inhabitants. Prussians on the left side.  I wish I knew why I insisted on fighting end to end and not side to side.   I randomly selected the Prussians as defenders so they get to deploy a little further forward from the jump off points.

The two opposing groups of hussars looked at each other and growled.  It was the Prussians who got the first card and elected to charge at the canter so they catch the Russians standing.   Since the Russian hussars are classed as irregular cavalry I thought about giving them the evade option but as I read SP, that is only allowed to troops classified in the lists as skirmishers.  So it goes badly, the Prussians lose 2 men and their Big Man is wounded, going to a Lvl 0, but the Russians lose half their 8 men and are thrown back with lots of shock.  The Prussian hussars on the left are by Front Rank, I don't have any idea who made the orange chaps on the right, some of my earliest painted figures.  Falcon, maybe?  Dunno.

Scharf's Rifles arrive and take up position behind a stone wall, which I count as light cover because it's only breast high.   This was my first time using these figures and this troop type.  In SP their rifles take 2 turns to reload but outrange muskets by 12", so they are useful troops best employed at long range.  They do have the evade characteristic which is handy because they are few in number, and a 6 figure group is more vulnerable to shock than an eight figure.   In SP, these troops can reduce their reload time to 1 action (the action cost for smoothbore muskets) instead of the usual 2 using the Tap Reload rule, which states that "This is a poor choice in the long-term as it causes damage to the rifling on their weapon, however, in extremis, it may be an attractive option" (p. 43).  However, the rules don't state what effect this damage might have and how long before it takes effect.   Probably a factor in a campaign game.  These are Foundry figures as featured in my previous post, and they are having their maiden action.

More light infantry action.   The Russian jaegers (I'm calling them pandours) take up position behind a stone wall and await the Prussian line which are slowly making their way forward through a muddy field.   Unlike the Prussian jaegers, the pandours are musket armed, so their only advantage on the table is that they are classed as skirmishers and can also evade.   It was a mistake leaving them to face the Prussian line alone.  Even with the benefit of light cover from the stone wall they are outgunned six muskets to sixteen, with no range advantage.  I should have tucked them inside the farmhouse, but they might have been lost to me from a bad looting test - quite likely, really, given that these are rough and wild troops.  

One thing I like about SP is the random events, which can occur if three command cards or chits are drawn.  In this case, a random event happened to the Prussian line infantry.  Their Lvl 1 Big Man stepped in something awful and, since he is evidently a pomdaded and perfumed sort of fellow, his Command Rating fell from 1 to 0.  He would need to get to the courtyard, find a well, and wash.   I got a good snicker out of that.

As mentioned, the pandours should never have been left that far forward.   They inflict a little shock on the advancing Prussians and their stinky leader, but the Prussians stop, present, and unleash a first volley that kills two pandours and sends the rest reeling back with lots of shock.  So a lesson learned.

 

But what about the Russian line infantry?  They were stolidly advancing up the centre of the table.  The Prussian light cannon got a few shots in, killing a few and causing shock, but according to the Russian SYW army list I was using, Russian line have the "Stoic Serfs" characteristic, which allows them to "ignore the first point of shock for each round of fire received or round of fisticuffs".  A very useful ability that rings true to accounts I've read of battles like Kunersdorf (which had its anniversary ysterday!).

So the Russian line continued to advance at a slight oblique towards the stone wall held by the jaegers, and being careful not to show their flank to the hussars, who in turn were reluctant to face that mass of bayonets.   

At this point I stopped taking photos so I'll briefly describe the outcome.  The pandours fell back and were out of the fight.  The Russian Lvl 3 Big Man was lightly wounded trying to rally them.  Meanwhile the Russian line infantry pushed up to the wall, firing at the evading jaegers and killing two of them.   Their advance carried two of the three groups in the formation over the wall but the third group was now separated from their comrades by the right angle of the wall, so I ruled that they were broken off from their formation.  Leutnant Stinky, having disposed of the pandours, broke off one of his two groups and along with the cannon they made life miserable for the exposed group of Russian musketeers, which lost three men and took a lot of shock.

The depleted Russian hussars thought they might sneak around the barn and catch their nemesis in the rear, but the cards went against them, the hunters became the hunter, and in a second melee the Russians lost two more men without doing any damage.  The survivors were out of the fight.  The Prussian hussars had nothing between them and the Russian deployment point, so they galloped up, captured the cart of fodder and vodka, and with the Russian morale rapidly collapsing, I called it a day.

Things I learned:

1) I was reminded how good SP is for solo play.  As long as I can play a complete turn, I can leave it and come back to it when time permits without forgetting a unit that hasn't moved.

2) I use chits but I really need to make some playing cards, the chit pull is awkward and the way I've painted the MDF chits, they tend to stick together.  Also, I allowed myself to put the Tiffin chit back in the cup if it came up too quickly and only apply it the second time.

3) Light infantry and skirmishers are fun to use but the caveats described above apply.  They are too vulnerable to be left in the open.

4) Cannon are fun but don't expect too much of them.  Rolling ten dice is a pleasant experience, and it will cause some damage, but with two actions to reload and one to lay the gun to get the extra dice, it means that a cannon will at best fire every second turn.

5) Formations, formations, formations.   Two, or better yet, three groups of lined infantry in formation, ideally with a subordinate leader to help reduce shock, are terrifying to face if handled properly, and their first fire is a veritable Death Star.   However, they are easily disrupted by bad terrain.

6) Don't forget that a Big Man needs to spend a Command Action to activate a group or formation he's with.   It's not automatic.   It was one of those details I'd forgotten from previous games.

7) A little terrain goes a long way.  I think the table I set up had a good mix of terrain to troops.

One final thing, I mentioned that I was using Sharp Practice army lists for the SYW and yes, I have lists for the Russians and Prussians but I'm blessed if I know where they came from.  If you'd like them, let me know in the comments and I'll send them to you.

Cheers and blessings to your die rolls!  MP+

New Grenadiers and Jaegers for Der Alte Fritz

I have a little ritual when I finish painting a horse and musket era unit.  I like to "muster it in" to the army I'm currently working on, and so, having shown you the Prussian grenadiers finished in my previous post, I wanted to stage a little parade with their compatriots from IR3 Anhalt Dessau.  Together they will represent the 3/6 Von Kleist Converged Grenadier battalion, which is drawn up for inspection here by Der Alte Fritz.

Frederick and his glittering staff watch the regiment pass in review.  As a converged grenadier battalion, they would not have carried any colours.  Almost all of these figures are by Foundry, a few of the staff are from the Front Rank / Gripping Beast line.

A six stand unit in 28mm is large for the average table, to be sure, but it's my preferred unit size and works well for smaller battles.  For a larger fight, I use three stands to represent a foot regiment and two stands to represent cavalry, so it works.  Here Frederick has the regiment gathered for an inspiring speech, in which he calls them a parcel of rogues and tells them to earn their laurels in the thickest press of the battlefield, etc etc.

The King's eye is caught by a grenadier answering the call of nature.

"Sirrah, a grenadier should know better than to be caught in an exposed position!"

"Yes, sire, but rest assured I fight as fiercely as I piss!"

"Hmm, should I flog this rascal or promote him?"

Frederick pauses to chat with two pioneers and urges them to keep their axes sharp and clean.

Next on his itinerary, the King watches a demonstration of light infantry tactics by a newly raised regiment of Jaegers zu Fuss.  Captain Scharf of the Jaegers puts his green coated men through their paces.

The King wonders if hiding and skulking behind walls is quite becoming of soldiers.   However, he is soon impressed by the sharp crack of their rifles.  "Perhaps they will be useful against those verdamnt Croats!"

Historically there wouldn't be much call for light troops in a game depicting a pitched battle.  However, a skirmish game, especially one set in the kleine krieg with jaegers, pandours, cossacks and hussars cries out for a unit like ... Scharf's Rifles.   OK, I'll get my coat.

So these jaegers, like the grenadiers, are Foundry figures are painted mostly using Foundry triad system paints.

Many thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

MP+

Of All The World's Brave Heroes, There's None That Can Compare To The Prussian Grenadiers!

 Some talk of Alexander and some of Hercules 

Of Hector and Lysander, and such great names as these.

But of all the world's brave heroes, there's none that can compare.

With a tow, row, row, row, row, row, to the Prussian Grenadiers.

Apologies to any British grenadiers out there, but it seems a good song to celebrate finally finishing these lads.  They are the second half of an order to Wargames Foundry in the UK last year (currently my go-to range for the Seven Years War), but the poor fellows got tucked away half painted in preparation for our move last November, and I've finally dug them out of a box and pushed them over the finish line.

These brave fellows are painted to represent the grenadiers of the Von Retzow regiment, or the Grenadier Garde, as per Kronoskaf.   Together with a contingent of grenadiers I painted last year, they will form the 3/6 Von Kleist converged grenadier regiment.  Once I finish a skirmish currently occupying the table, I'll post a parade photo of all the grenadiers assembled.

Extremely terrifying and competent NCO.

Pioneer.  He came in a set of Prussian grenadier characters.  I've been trying my hand at painting eyes, he looks like he has the thousand yard stare going!

Another character figure.  Private Horst is falling out to do what we all have to do sometime.   A fun little vignette figure to tuck away on the battlefield.  He'll probably catch Frederick's eye and get a tongue lashing!

Very happy to get these fellows finished and hopefully christened in battle soon, where they will doubtless fare as poorly as all first time units do!

Cheers, thanks for looking, and blessings to your brushes! MP+

Painting and Assembling the Warbases Prussian Merchant's House

Hi friends:

This series of photos is mostly intended as a visual diary of a recent build of a Warbases MDF house, but might be of interest to some readers looking to make their models a little more interesting than the plain MDF.

This building is from the Warbases Napoleonic Prussia range of 28mm MDF kits, I've built several and they are nice buildings, a little large for big battles but they work well for skirmish games.  This one is the Prussian Merchant's house.  It's a two story building with a stone first floor, a timberframe second floor, and a peaked roof with gabled windows.

My first step was to paint the stones on the first floor.  I know they aren't really bricks, but I thought uniform brick red colour with offwhite mortar would work well enough, and while I've painted stone different colours of gray in their other kits, I couldn't really be bothered this time.  I guess the brick effect works well enough, even if they are oddly shaped bricks.

 The kit comes with a base that is scribed to represent paving stones, so I painted them two different shades of gray.  The outer walls are glued on and went together fairly well, with some rubber bands until the glue (I use white carpenter's glue) dries.

Inner walls in place and while it's unlikely they'll ever be seen on the table, doing them properly was quite satisfying, rather like painting the inside of the cockpit of a plastic model aircraft.   I at least know it's done.  :)   

The wooden ground floor door came out well, I used an AK wood tones paint set with some FolkArt Wrought Iron craft paint for the bars and handle.

The next step is to make the second story walls look interesting.  I wanted a stucco or plaster effect so I watered down some Wood Putty and used an old brush to layer it into the sections that are conveniently outlined on the MDF as being between the lines where the timberframe part will go.    I was careful not to get too much on the latter parts so the timberframe bits will fit neatly.   Once the wood putty was dry I painted it with a craft paint Buff colour and then a bit of a sepia wash.

Once that work is done and the doors and window frames are painted, the timberframes are glued on and clamped until dry.   While drying, the second story floor is painted using AK wood paints.  Again, I'm happy with the result, even though it won't be seen much.

The kit includes a nice little staircase up to the second floor.   The individual stairs fit into recesses in the wall and attach on the other side to the single piece staircase frame.   The railings were simple and I gave the landing some attention with the AK wood paint.   The roof was a challenge, it was just four pieces of plain MDF with the tiles etched into it.  I wanted a more three dimensional effect so found some plastic model railroad sheets in my stash, cut them to fit the roof sections, glued them on and them attached the roof.

The two dormer windows were a bit of challenge, I don't have any WIP photos of them.   Once the roof was on, there were some gaps between the sections that I filled with bits of MDF sprues.  The whole thing was then painted with craft Burnt Sienna, washed with an umber wash, and drybrushed with red paint.

The finished piece scales well with 28mm figures but does make them look almost small.   It's not a wee building!   In a large battle with many units on the table, you wouldn't want many of these structures on the table, but as I said above, they look great for skirmish actions.

I hope this post gave you some ideas on assembling and painting MDF buildings, or at least sold you on the Warbases product.  One minor complaint is that the buildings don't ship with instructions. but you can find them readily enough on the website.  

Even though working on a building like this takes time away from painting troops, the end result is worth it and it enhances the overall look of the table.  I'm happy with the final result and would certainly recommend the Warbases kits.    I might look at an STL file for another building but the painting work would be about the same.

Blessings to your brushes and craft knives.

MP+

Steppe Scalawags Sortie! - More Cossacks for Seven Years War

 Continuing my painting streak by slowly turning out more Foundry 28mm Cossacks for my kleine krieg Seven Years War project.  

On the right, the Cossack commander rides beside his blonde son, who is headstrong and hoping to prove himself in Dad's eyes.

Most of the paints used here are from the Foundry triad system.   I'm especially glad that I invested in their horse paints set.

One-Eyed Yuri, despite his eyepatch, can hit a rabbit or a Prussian jaeger from the saddle at the gallop.

New vicar arriving in the parish.  Father Berserki is feared by everyone except the Ladies' Garden Guild.

Dismounted cossacks ready to pillage and annoy.

I'm now about half way through the Cossack project.  Painting irregularly dressed figures slows me down, I think a lot about the colour palettes and try not to be too repetitious but OTOH painting them is more enjoyable than working on 24 musketeers in the exact same uniforms!

Hopefully we'll see these scurvy fellows on the tabletop soon.

Cheers and blessings to your brushes,  MP+

The Duellists in Miniature

I'm no Ridley Scott and these figures are not Napoleonics, but this is a set of Seven Years War officers who have chosen a particular conflict resolution path.  With pistols, which is one way to settle a dispute.

Both gentlemen wear the obligatory flouncy shirts.   The sculptor has made their calves quite buff, so they obviously don't skip Leg Days at the gym.

Some of the assembled witnesses that are included in this Foundry set (CIV004): seconds and a referee.   I've taken some liberties in painting their uniforms.   Once I enlarged the photo, the head on the fellow in the middle made me think of the muppets, and now I can't unsee it.

These figures will also be useful as Big Men, staff officers, and command groups.

More Seven Years War figures coming soon.   Cheers and blessings to your brushes!

MP+

Foundry Grenadiers and Happy Civilians for Old Fritz

 Recently finished and mustered into service with the Prussian army are these 28mm Foundry sculpts, grenadiers painted in the uniforms of the Anhalt Desau regiment as per Kronoskaf.   They will eventually represent the 3/6 Kleist converged grenadier battalion once I get the grenadiers from the Von Retzow regiment finished.

I had a terrible moment when I was spraying these figures with Windsor and Newton matte varnish, I was working too quickly and picked up the black primer can by mistake.   It took a split second to realize my mistake but by then I'd done enough damage that I had to essentially repaint the exposed side of three figures.   I will never do that again!

According to Kronoskaf these fellows had yellow piping on the cloth backs of their mitres, I opted for an ochre-ish colour which isn't that visible in this photo but which looks good enough for me.

The new troops are inspected by Der Alte Fritz and found to be satisfactory.

Two finished Foundry SYW civilians also done in this batch.  Magda the camp follower has big natural apples, and Johann would give his other leg for the king if he could.

Hurrah boys!

I should get these fellows on the table and give them their baptism of fire.   Thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

MP+

Scurvy Scruffy Steppe Soldiers: Foundry Seven Years War Cossacks

Galloping in from the east are these two Cossacks, badly needed light horse for my Seven Years War Russian army.   I have ten more to paint, but these two were the first off the painting bench.   They're part of Foundry's Cossack range of figures.  

 

And some Cossacks on foot, based individually for kleine krieg games, probably using Sharp Practice rules.  The cottage is a Warbases kit, with some of my own touches.

Consorting with the enemy, a friendly Prussian.  Prost!

The whole Cossack crew pose at their rented vacation cottage.  They gave it a bad review,  five torches, as in they each took a torch and burned it down - said that the towels were scratchy and the WiFi was bad.

Thanks for looking, and blessings to your brushes!

MP+