Piles of Old Lead

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post and not much progress has been made - work and life conspiring to occupy my spare time!

My latest news is the receipt of my Perry plastic British, at long last!!

Over the next few days I will be having a good look at these and documenting the assembly process to compare with Victrix.

First impressions are excellent. The figures are moulded in grey plastic and look very clean and well proportioned. The castings are very crisp and clean too, the detail on the figures is excellent, and ,I would argue, are an improvement on the French set.

Having made the decision to get back into Napoleonics I have also been  trying to decide on which rules to use. I am very keen on DBA for ancients wargaming, particularly BBDBA, and would ideally like something similar.

The DBN version, however, simplifies the feel of the period far too much for my liking, losing much of the tactical feel of the period. In my wisdom I plan to now write my own adaptation to try and get the type of game I want!

As part of this decision I have spent the last few weeks trying to decide on unit sizes for both the main protaganists. I have finally settled on the following battalion sizes:

• French:    3 x 40mm bases, 4 figures per base in 2 ranks, 12 total
• British:     4 x  40mm bases, 4 figures per base in 2 ranks, 16 total
• Austrian:  5 x 40mm bases, 4 figures per base in 2 ranks, 20 total
• Prussian: 3 x 40mm bases, 4 figures per base in 2 ranks, 12 total
• Russian: 3 x 40mm bases, 4 figures per base in 2 ranks, 12 total

These unit sizes will allow me to fight battles with several divisions on an average size table whilst still manouevring in line or column. By applying DBA principles a simple, fast flowing, game is envisaged. Command and control along DBA lines will be a key aspect.

Another bonus is that these small unit sizes will allow me to get 3 French battalions per box of Perry plastics (topping up the command figures with metal figures), and

the same number of British battalions out of a Victrix box, again with additional command figures. A brigade per box!!

Thats the plan so far. More updates over the next couple of days.