Sidi Rezegh using BKC 4 leads to questions of scale and spectacle

Carrier Platoons of the Motor Companies shelter in a wadi, Sidi Rezegh.
Two carriers to carry a 'platoon' looks far better than one, though they only count as one for hits, etc.

As you know, I'm very lucky in that I have a war games room with a permanent table. This means I can leave games set up between weekly gaming sessions enabling big battles to be fought out over two or three weeks. All well and good but, sometimes I wonder if this arrangement leads me to be a little over ambitious to the detriment of some of my games.

II Battalion 104th Schutzen with engineers in tow (red edged bases) attack the Second Escarpment, Sidi Rezegh. 

Getting down to cases: Battles in the desert in late 1941 tended to be 'Brigade Group' affairs, or larger. Sometimes several hundred tanks could be operating in what might be regarded as my war gaming table space; to a degree, to my mind, I have to think 'Big Battle'. The battle at Sidi Rezegh on the 22nd November 1941, for example, involved four 'battle groups' (200 tanks) operating on a battlefield measuring about two miles by three. We are currently playing that scenario using Blitzkrieg Commander 4 rules and the game looks great but, so far, we have played just 5 turns in about 5 hours. My scenario has 112 Blitzkrieg Commander combat units fighting it out, and that is a lot of units for a one player a side game.

22nd Armoured Brigade (depleted) begins to arrive, Sidi Rezegh.

The mechanics of BKC 4 can handle games this size, for sure, but the dice rolling on multiple activation takes a lot of time to get through without the help of many hands. We have had several dozen units activating three or four times each turn - a single battalion rolling 100+ dice in a turn has happened at least four times: A big, two player, BKC game equals a slow turn game, and there is no getting around that fact. I like the level of detail and easy game mechanics in BKC 4 but, twenty units a player would be much better than fifty plus.

A13 command stand representing Brigadier Davy, 7th Armoured Brigade, Sidi Rezegh

The problem is, I don't want to play tiny bits of actions - which is certainly doable - because I want to see how one bit of the battle interacts with the other bits. I've never quite got on with scenarios which have narratives that go something like "...and there is a massive tank battle going on just off table to the west but, don't worry about it, it will not affect this action...."; though, inevitably, that kind of scenario is sometimes the only way to do an action. 

A15 Crusader in racing to the rescue, Sidi-Rezegh.
Those red and white Operation Crusader stripes will give the Germans something to aim at!

As I said in the first paragraph of this post, sometimes I think my ambitions are to the detriment of the game. The answer is easy, just hard for me to swallow.

German command stand representing Major General Ravenstein, Sidi Rezegh 

Having recently reassessed how I'm going to tackle the 'Peninsular War' project going forward by 'downsizing' the size of my divisions, I'm now pondering a scale reassessment for my Operation Crusader 1941 non-project (it's not a proper project, it's a 'now and then' sideline). 

25 pdr in action, Sidi Rezegh.

Currently, I'm playing my WW2 games at a figure scale of about 1:5 with about ten model tanks to a tank battalion and a dozen or so infantry stands to an infantry battalion. Now, I'm wondering, if big battles are my intention, should I halve my numbers and go for a figure scale of 1:10? Are five strong tank battalions big enough? Five or six 'units' are normally big enough for a 'command' but, are five or six stands?

Looking north east, Sidi Rezegh. End of turn 5.

The downside is obvious. Can I bear the loss of aesthetic spectacle? As a game, I think it would work much better if the game involved less stuff. Can I square my circle?

PzKpfw IV D, Sidi Rezegh. 

More upsides to downsizing: 

• Downsizing would mean I have enough tanks to field the whole of 7th Armoured Division, representing about five hundred tanks and its supporting units, including the hundred or so 25 pounder field guns, at the same time (there would be no room to manoeuvre, even on a 12' x 6' table, but I could do it). 
• It would mean I could field the best part of a British infantry division when required to do so. It would also mean I could field two Panzer Divisions (15th and 21st) instead of only one, which would be quite useful for some scenarios. 
• It would mean I could probably afford to add the Italians to the collection, at divisional strength, at some point in the future - I probably couldn't afford the painting time or money otherwise. 
• It would mean a more open battlefield, my desert (table) would start looking much bigger and more open, like a desert. 
• It would mean I have surplus stuff (some of which is already painted) which I could sell to buy Italian stuff - now, that's a definite upside!

But, the loss of spectacle.

Brigadier 'Jock' Campbell's HQ, and officer commanding 4th Field Artillery, Sidi Rezegh.

Do I keep things as they are but keep the option to go half scale when required, or do I plumb for 1:10 and go for it, full steam ahead? 

Oh, the loss of spectacle.

10.5 cm L28 howitzer. Something meaty for close support, Sidi Rezegh.

Strokes beard. A lot to ponder. At 1:5, the spectacle is 'ambitious'.

On parade, the teeth of 15th Panzer Division at 1:5 (approx).

RAC Weapon Training Pamphlet 34: Fire Tactics (1940)

ROYAL ARMOURED CORPS

Weapon Training

MILITARY TRAINING PAMPHLET

No.34

PART 4:  FIRE TACTICS FOR TANK 

COMMANDERS AND TROOP LEADERS

1940

Some years ago I bought this on ebay. As it was available for general sale and it's probably been declassified I'm going to risk breaking regulations by publishing photos of it, in full, here. If MOD wish me to take it down I will, but until then, or there's a knock at the door....

It makes for quite an interesting read. How much of it was followed and how much went by the board after first contact is hard to say. From a BKC player's point of view, it might lead to house rules on fire concentration.

All photos will enlarge if you click on them.

Blitzkrieg Commander 4, and 'Artillery Drift'

Set up to go, QRF, counters, artillery zone templates and festive clock

Over the Christmas break I set up and played my usual solo Christmas game. This time I chose to re-fight the Second Day at Sidi Rezegh (22nd November 1941) scenario I set up as a demo game for Fiasco 2013. I will not bore you with the details except to say that the Germans won comfortably. However, I will dot this post with photos of the game.

Turn one - yummy!

I decided to play it using Blitzkrieg Commander 4 available from Pendarken Miniatures. Leon kindly discounted me a copy last year at Fiasco and I promised to post a review, so here was my perfect opportunity to test the rules at my leisure.

The initial set up

Firstly, let me say that I was always a big fan of BKC because they are set at just the right level of command, level of detail for the kind of games I play and, most of all because, the command and control mechanism neatly covers a multitude of sins (training levels, fog of war, etc.) in a very simple, play friendly, way.

The MMG battalion of Group Knabe, with heavy artillery support from Belhamed, going up against 1st Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps.

The multi-functional command mechanism basically allows for units to act once, more than once, or sometimes not at all. To activate an 'order group' of units you roll two, factor modified, dice: If you score your command value or lower you can act with the unit, or units, under command once, then you can try to get them to act again, and each time the score required decreases making it harder. This means that better troops with better command generally get to do more each turn than those with lesser abilities. 

My first ever game with BKC was a 1941 German versus Russian game and I just loved how this simple mechanism so wonderfully reflected the difference in the tactical ability of the troops involved - I was sold.

Gotta love, or is that Gotha love, 88s! This one is modelled firing without fully deploying off its wheels; it's a great little model (by Battlefront FoW).  

In that first game we used BKC 1, later we played the second edition which improved on the basic game. Some years later BKC 3 came out and the less said about that edition the better; except to say that Leon pulled out all of the stops to redeem the situation with refunds and the publication of BKC 4 -  well done Leon. 

My first impression of BKC 4 was a good one. They are clearly written and well laid out. As far as I can see, most of the wrinkles that were in BKC 2 have been ironed out and I don't have a real quibble about anything in the rules except for the artillery rules but, this is nothing new. I have a problem with nearly all WW2 artillery rules.

4th Field Artillery Regiment - it's HQ in the background plotting solutions.

My problem with the artillery rules is this. For as long as I can remember, most WW2 artillery rules have comprised the following three concepts.

• You call for (request) artillery support, usually via a FOO / FAO. This usually involves a dice roll.
• Then, you dice for how far the artillery rounds fall away from the target point, most usually by moving a barrage zone template a 'dice rolled distance' in a randomly determined direction. What I call, 'Artillery drift'.
• Then, you dice for damage inflicted on targets in the zone.

I have no problem with the first and third concepts. They make perfect sense to me. However, 'artillery drift' is simply a load of tosh and does not represent how artillery works in any meaningful way. Why 'artillery drift' rules have become so fashionable is a mystery to me because it's a total load of (excuse me) bollocks! Artillery lands where it is called, it basically lands on target! Let me clarify that bold statement with an explanation.

My understanding is this. In WW2 an FAO would call up for artillery barrages and concentrations. He would give the co-ordinates for the strike to the battery. A firing solution would be worked out. All of the guns would set to that solution but only the lead gun would fire. The FAO would watch for, and then correct, the fall of shot. The battery would re-calibrate its solution, all guns would re-set, then the lead gun would fire again. If the shot was still off target the lead gun would fire until its shot landed on (near) target, with all the other guns adjusting their firing solutions to match the lead gun (but, importantly, not firing). When the lead gun ranging shot fell on or near the target, and only when it did, would the FAO call "Fire for effect", at which point the all of the battery would open fire, laying down a concentration of shells (25 pdr batteries usually fired 5 shots each in quick succession without correction) then cease firing. As the guns in the battery were all the same, all had the same firing solution, all were firing the same ammunition and all were fairly close by one another, the shots all landed in the prescribed barrage zone. From memory, of the shots fired into a zone only about 7% went wild and fell out of it. Such was the accuracy of modern artillery. Barrage zones certainly didn't land all over the place, missing the targeted zone completely! Note I said targeted zone, not target point.

If we look at the three basic rule concepts again:

• Calling for fire is the request and the ranging in, which could take quite some time, especially if more than one battery was being directed at the same time: The Germans suffered from this more than the British, the latter tried to bring fire down quickly with a wider spread whereas the Germans tried to bring theirs down in a pin point concentration; in BKC this is nicely dealt with by having different templates for 'barrage' and 'concentration'. Failure doesn't mean that nothing happened, it just means that the batteries are not ready to 'fire for effect'. 
• Artillery drift is a load of rubbish. My solution is this. Place a marker (I use a blast marker based on a two pence piece) on the target point. Roll the request dice and note if any successful roll was odd (1,3,5), or even (2,6,8). If the result is even you place the template, if it's odd your opponent does. It always basically lands on target, near enough and is, IMHO, a more elegant way of doing things.
• Dicing for damage is the important factor in determining the effect of artillery. Not everything in the artillery zone will be hit and damaged and this is where that test takes place - it should not be done using some random rule to make it miss the point of aim completely. 

The German player has placed his 'ranging shot' blast marker before rolling for the request. The German FAO successfully requests his artillery support and makes an even roll. The German player (rolling even) places the concentration zone template (6" wide circlet of piano wire - barrage templates are square): Two guns, two transports and an A15 are in zone (see below) - dice for hits and damage! If they had failed to request artillery the ranging marker would remain in effect - I make artillery easier to acquire on second request at the same point.

Now, if you are going to go down my route, you will need a 'blunder' mechanism. Lo and behold, a perfect one already exists in the standard BKC 4 artillery support rules. This is how artillery lands where it is not supposed to: Blue on Blue is rarely a product of bad mathematics and poor ranging shots; Blue on Blue is more readily explained by target misidentification - it lands on target, but the wrong target.

Rant over. 

It's not really a dig at BKC as such because BKC simply follows what has become de rigueur for a lot of WW2 artillery rules. I don't get annoyed any more, I just sigh and change them.

To recommend certain things about BKC's approach to artillery: I like the differentiation between artillery barrages and concentrations, and the request / blunder mechanism is basically sound and fit for purpose.

21st Panzer arrives

Will I make more changes to BKC 4? Yes, but not so you would notice much in game play. 

For instance, I play in 15mm and I have a large table so, I've increased all centimetre measurements by 50% and converted to directly to inches (E.g. 20 cm in the rules becomes 30 cm; 30 cm is 12"). 

I've reduced the artillery zone templates down to 6" (150 mm across) but count everything touched as in. With the way I do the artillery now this makes sense. The standard rules count something as in an artillery zone if at least half its base is in; I don't particularly like adjudicating if half a base is in; I prefer adjudicating if the template touches a base: if it does it's in. 

Now that the template no longer drifts, careful measurement of 'drift' distance and direction is no longer needed: the players simply place the template over the blast marker as desired and there can be no argument as to what's in or not (see the pic with artillery concentration template and blast marker 2 pics above).

I've changed or added a line or two here and there in Quick Reference Sheets (which I've re-done and got onto 2 pages rather than 4) to better suit my personal views on warfare in the Western Desert - I don't game anything else set WW2, except as a guest gamer, so my changes are quite specifically for Western Desert November 41 - mid 42 (at the latest). 

7th Armoured Brigade - old cruisers and A15s. On day one (at Sidi Rezegh) they started the battle with over 150 tanks - on day two they had just 28 runners left! I've decided not to do smoke: Caualties will be removed henceforth as I found I was arguing with myself over LOS and cover provided by burning hulks! (Plus, white smoke doesn't look right).

I've re-set this game to be played by The Lads over the next couple of Wednesdays. Hopefully, I will manage a full report on the action so you can see how BKC 4 handles over 50 units a side with ease.

So, apart from changes to the artillery rules, would I recommend Blitzkrieg Commander 4? 

Yes, in a heart beat! 

Blitzkrieg Commander 4 are great set of rules for large action, combined arms, WW2.

X-Wing Scenario: A TINDER MOMENT

As a Birthday treat I went to see the latest Star Wars film. Of course, I loved it and, as usual, it immediately led me to drool into my X-Wing cupboard. Indeed, it also led to some new purchases - the arrival of which are eagerly anticipated - including a well priced Tantive IV. In all likelihood, I'll never get to play with most of my X-Wing stuff as interest among 'The Lads' isn't that strong, and I'll be left to examine my X-Wing miniatures (about 80 of them) alone, muttering "The Force is with me; I am with the Force."

I also remembered a scenario I'd written (largely based, it must be said, on one already done by Fantasy Games) back in April 2019 but which wasn't played or posted here. It was planned to be a trilogy. However it's been so long since I started it I can't exactly remember the original story arc. Perhaps I'll get round to writing two more episodes later.

As I haven't posted much recently, here it is, even though it's possibly out of trilogy sequence (no Star Wars surprise there then). Not my usual fare or interest, but I love a bit of Star Wars every now and again.  

BTW: Happy New Year, everyone!

Home made debri, escape pod and asteriod - all essential aesthetic additions for this scenario and partly why I wrote it.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away……..

………Rebel agent Tinder Caress switches frequencies before she tries the comms once more. “Come in Esege, do you read me? Come in Esege, are you out there?”

Sitting at the back of the escape pod, hands tied behind his back, Moff Diver scowls, then snarls between his teeth “Not going exactly as planned, is it, Tinder? You’ll never get me out of here, my men will find us first and then you’ll pay dearly for this.”

“I hear you Tinder. This is Esege and we have you on long range scanners. Tinder, do you have our prize?” splutters from the comms.

“At last! Yes, I have him but there’s a problem. The escape pod is not responding to the helm. We’re adrift! And the ion radiation gauge has gone off the scale.”

“That follows.” Esege replies “You’re adrift in the Tandoori Asteroid Belt. It’s been a dumping ground for toxic waste for years and it’s spicy in there to say the least; we’ve seen it before and we have a solution. Hold tight Tinder, help is on the way. Keep your prisoner safe, he has information that makes him too valuable to lose.”

“Well, we’ll be here. We’re not going anywhere.”

An hour or so later, Moff Diver asks “May I stretch my legs?” 

Tinder nods, reminding him she is not to be trifled with by raising the muzzle of her blaster. He stands and moves towards a small viewport. As he does so the comms crackle into life once again.

“Tinder, we are almost with you. But damn it, Tinder, we are picking up enemy ships on our scanners. Man the helm, kid. We’ll give you engine power as quickly as we can. It will be sporadic, so stand by. Tandoori here we come: It’s squeaky bum time!”

At that moment Tinder and her captive see a green streak of imperial laser fire flash by the viewport. Moff Diver turns to her “Your mine now, scum.”

Tinder brings her foot up hard into his groin, sending him cringing to the floor. As she moves to the helm controls she adds with a curt smile “I’m just wondering how disposable an asset you are to your friends. Are they here to recue you, or kill you?” Moff Diver’s jaw drops slightly - that possibility hadn’t occurred to him……

Star Wars Fact: Moffs: In the fifth year of Emperor Palpatine’s reign, twenty Moffs were appointed as Sector Governors of the First Galactic Empire, answerable only to the Imperial Ruling Council. The Emperor’s favourite, Wilhuff Tarkin [see Peter Cushing] was appointed Grand Moff in the same year and was given command of the Death Star. Moff Diver is a fictional creation of my own.

Victory Conditions

If the rebels get the escape pod off the ‘exit to safety’ table edge (see deployment picture) before the Imperials have managed to destroy all of the rebel ships, the rebels win the game. Otherwise, the Imperials win.

Neither side may attack the escape pod carrying Tinder Caress and Moff Diver.

The Escape Pod

Tinder’s escape pod’s systems have been badly effected by ionising radiation emanating from toxic waste dumped in the Tandoori Asteroid Belt. The solution is to override the systems in the pod with the systems in the rebel ships.

To do this, a pilot must:

• Carry out TARGET LOCK on the pod during the ACTION phase. 
• Carry out an override action during the COMBAT phase by discarding the ship's TARGET LOCK: Assign 2 override (SCANNER) tokens to the shuttle. This action counts as the ship's attack for the phase. 

The pod can have a maximum of three tokens at any time. If the pod has override tokens, Tinder (pilot skill 0), can activate the pod for movement at the start of the ACTIVATION phase by discarding one token. The ship can only use the 1[↑], 2[↑], 1[↰], 1[↱] templates.

In the event of unforeseen damage being taken by the pod, it has 3 hull tokens.

The Tandoori Asteroid Belt and Ionising Debris Clouds

More home made debri - I posted about this when it was made, see the X-Wing label in the sidebar

The shape, size and position of obstacles (asteroids and debris) is defined, as per standard rules, by their token. The models of asteroids, debris clouds and their bases are purely aesthetic additions.

Asteroids are defined and treated as per the core rules.

Debris clouds are treated as asteroids with the following exceptions. On collision with a debris field the pilot immediately receives a STRESS token. One ATTACK DICE is rolled to determine damage: on a damage­ result the pilot receives one ion token; on a critical damage result the pilot receives one damage and one ion token.

Imperial Reinforcements

Keeping it nice and simple, especially for 'reserve elements', is often best.

The Imperials always have the benefit of almost limitless resources to throw at any problem and this one is no different.

When an Imperial ship has been lost by either imperial player he will roll a single ATTACK DICE for reinforcements in the END phase of each turn. On a FOCUS result a reinforcing ship will arrive immediately. Reinforcements arrive within a range 3 radius of any playing space corner; they arrive facing toward the centre of the playing space.

There are a maximum of six reinforcement TIE fighters (flown by Obsidian Squadron pilots @13 points each) and a single Lambda Class Shuttle (flown by an Omicron Group pilot @21 points) that are close enough to reach the battle area in the time available. No ships have upgrades. To determine a random order of arrival the pilot cards for these ships should be shuffled and the deck placed face down; as a ship arrives its pilot card should be taken from the top of the deck.

Set-up, Initial Deployment Zones & Squadrons

I really did do all of this and then not play it. I even set it all up and took photos of it!

The playing surface for this game is 4’ x 4’. Eight large asteroids (using 18 tokens) and three large debris fields (using 5 tokens) have been deployed in this area.

Tinder’s escape pod has been deployed centrally and approximately 60 cm from the ‘exit to safety’ table edge but without a clear run to it - the rudimentary turns permitted to the pod will make the journey much longer.

Each side will begin in corners of the playing surface that face each other diagonally, one player’s ships in each corner. Ships must be initially deployed within a range 3 radius of their assigned table corner (the picture shows all ships deployed to their maximum radius).

The Imperial players have Sabre Squadron which comprises four of the best fighter pilots at the Empire’s disposal, flying well-armed, very fast and nimble TIE Interceptors. Black / Onyx Squadron is a combined task force of two lightly armed but nimble TIE Fighters and two more heavily armed TIE Aggressor escort ships mounting twin laser turrets (360 arc of fire) and missiles.

The Rebel Alliance players have Blue Squadron, led by Ten Numb, comprising three very well-armed and strongly built and shielded B-Wings; whilst all have proton torpedoes, Ten Numb’s ship is also fitted with a Flechette cannon. Esege Tuketu’s K-Wing strike force combines a K-Wing and two X-Wing escorts. The X-Wings are fitted with the usual proton torpedoes and carry R2 D2  astromechs for in flight repairs (Note: R2D2's abilities are not unique for this scenario). Esege’s K-Wing is armed to the teeth with an assortment of weaponry and specialist crew, including bombs, mines, torpedoes and its standard armament of turret mounted lasers.

The picture above shows the layout for this scenario.

·       Tinder’s escape pod can be seen in the centre of the battle area.

·       The edge allowing Tinder’s escape pod to exit to safety is marked with a red line.

·       The four squadrons have been deployed out to their maximum radius. Deployment formation can be changed prior to play providing the radius is maintained.

Other Notes

The rules for X-Wing version 1 can be found at this address: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/support/SWX01_XwingCoreRulebook_lowres.pdf

It covers most things except the specific rules for bombs and missiles. Bombs are dropped immediately after the ships move dial is revealed. Connor Nets are dropped as an ACTION. 

Missiles and torpedoes are fired in the COMBAT phase. The effect of special weaponry is detailed on the squadron reference sheets below.

Two ACTIONS not covered in the rules or, except by their symbol in the ship’s action bar on the squadron sheets, are SLAM (available to the K-Wing), and BOOST (available to TIE Interceptors.

• SLAM ACTION: (Sub Light Acceleration Motor). To SLAM, choose and execute a manoeuvre on the ships dial. The chosen manoeuvre must be the same speed as the one executed this round. Then assign the ship with a weapons disabled token which is removed in the END phase.
• BOOST ACTION: To BOOST, choose and execute a forward 1; or bank 1; or turn 1 manoeuvre.

If you want a more detailed breakdown of the fleets, I have them as MS Word docs from the Squadron Builder site. Let me know (drop me an email - address in side bar) but, the points totals were as follows:

Sabre Squadron: 79

Onyx / Black Squadron: 50

Blue Squadron: 71 pts

Esege Tuketu’s K-Wing strike force: 71 pts

The Peninsular Project - A new plan for OOB, and why.

This is a shot of a recent game in progress.

Progress with my Peninsular War project is painfully slow and I haven't managed to add a new unit for a couple of months now. When I get the time they do come in spurts of half a dozen or so units in quick succession, so the quest goes on. However, I've reassessed where I'm going with it and I've downsized the overall numbers to get it finished. A few months ago I began looking again at my overall aims. 

When this project first started my aim was to build the armies based on actual brigade structures, with brigades that contained the right historical units: For example, I planned on building British First Division with all of its component brigades and battalions, with large units where appropriate. This plan soon hit the buffers - it was a train wreck with few survivors. 

Another shot of the game from further back. The game is using all of the figures I currently have painted - 32 units plus artillery and command: The battlefield isn't crowded.
For those who follow this blog, the windmill and pigsty are also both present in this battle - note I've darkened the roof of the windmill with a 'wash' and it looks much better.

Looking at the size of my table, it soon became blindingly obvious that with divisions averaging ten to twelve battalions, I would be limiting myself to fighting battles with two divisions a side at most. I was also looking at a collection of around forty battalions, per side, simply to get the right overall mix of troops: This was especially true for the Anglo-Portuguese.

Then, quite by accident, I found my road to Damascus. I was reading the OOBs for Fuentes De Onoro, in the Osprey book of that name, and I was mentally noting the manpower in each division: They had roughly 4,000 to 7,000 men each. Now, the numbers four to seven are something akin to Goldilocks numbers when building armies for Piquet games because, in my opinion, four to seven units per command group is about as perfect as it gets - not too big, not too small, just right. Blinding flash of light! 

2nd Legere (left) and Municipal Guard in white coats (right). Typical 24 man units based on 45 x 45. The beads negate the use of roster sheets. The beads on the left are a bead for Defence Die modifier and the number bead indicates the units 'division' command group; the bead on the right is the Combat Die modifier: Red = Down 1, Green = No Change, Blue = Up 1.

If I built divisions containing one 'battalion sized' unit for each 1000 men not only would I be getting my comparative man-power ratios correct, I'd also be getting divisions of four to seven units each, and I could be fielding four or five divisions a side - and that's almost proper army strength. 

This was looking good, and it suddenly got a lot better when I realised, because the number of units in a division sank to just over half what they should be, the number of unit types to make up the divisions also fell dramatically - I could do the British Light Division with just four specialist units, rather than the eight specialist units I'd previously been looking at.

When it came to the French, for me, they were never as problematic as the Anglo-Portuguese to begin with. By and large, most French infantry look pretty much the same (including most of their flags). In my opinion, to field French armies for the Peninsular, you just need the right ratio of Line to Legere, enough foreign units to give them the multi-national 'Empire' feel, and a couple of units of converged grenadiers for 'special occasions'. This means, with a dollop of fudge, if you get the ratios right, you can serve up just about anything fairly easily. 

French 1st Hussars and Polish Vistula Lancers facing British 14th Light Dragoons advancing through an orchard.

Cavalry, on the other hand, were always going to be a problem for me. You need quite a few units for both sides because of the variation of obvious types: French dragoons don't pass for Polish Lancers, and British cavalry can't pass for Portuguese, etc. However, looking at a unit of cavalry, representing 500 troopers, it soon became obvious that, although I'd still need to purchase the same number of units, I could do more with them. Still a plus for the divide by a thousand method.

There was one other bonus to using the 'thousand man divisor', though this only became evident quite recently: It's to do with artillery units. Looking at the unit frontages for men in line (in my Waterloo Companion) compared to that for a battery of guns, my planned two gun batteries were going to be far too wide. A battery of guns would have a frontage of roughly one third that of a thousand men in line. My infantry units have a frontage of 180 mm, my guns have a frontage of 60 mm: Now is that job done or, is that job done? One gun batteries - I already have too many!

A one gun battery with limber - in this shot the battery has been silenced as is being withdrawn before it gets overrun.

So, my plan is formalised. After my next order arrives (for Christmas), I'll have just eight more units to buy: Four more infantry units and four more cavalry units. I'll have just over half left to paint.

Then I can start thinking about the Spanish and the hidden extras such a baggage trains, etc. Maybe, this project doesn't have an end.

My OOBs, for the Anglo-Portuguese and the French, will be as follows:

British

Highland Light Infantry (71st Foot) with a heavy four stand skirmish line deployed.

Working on a basic 5000 strong division of five units (three British and two Portuguese) and enough extra units to do the First and Light Divisions, plus artillery and cavalry support, my Anglo-Portuguese army will be as follows:

Infantry: 27 'battalions': Line units are 24 figures strong plus 4 extra figures to put out as skirmishers; light units are 24 figures plus 8 - 10 figures to put out as skirmishers. 

1st Division: Guards x 2; Highlanders x 2; Highland Light Infantry x 1; KGL x2; British Foot x1.
Light Division: Light Infantry x 2; Rifle Battalion x 1; Cacadores Battalion x1.
Three basic infantry divisions each comprising: British Foot x3; Portuguese Line x2.

The glaring omission in the above list is the lack of specialist troops for 7th Division (The Mongrels). This is for two reasons. Firstly, I would need an additional five or six units to make this division possible as a stand alone entity and, frankly, time and cash are in short supply at present. Before making the British army any bigger, I'd like some Spanish, at least enough for an allied contingent, and the £200 I'll save not getting troops for the 7th Division will go some way to helping in that regard. Secondly, Front Rank don't make Brunswickers yet but, I know these are planned - when they come out I'll think again.

Because of the way I'm using the '1000 man divisor', Cacadores battalions attached to the Portuguse 'Brigades' will not be fielded as separate units. They will be fielded as extra stands in the division's general 'skirmish line'. All told, there will be an additional 30+ figures in a 'general pool' of extra skirmishers representing these types, though not all will ever be needed (for aesthetic reasons I'll have a mix of 95th, 60th, KGL lights, Oels jagers and Cacadores stands).

British 1st Dragoons.

Cavalry: 8 'regiments' of 12 figures each. 

Dragoons x4; Light Dragoons x2; Hussars x1; Portuguese x1.

At a pinch, the Portuguese could be used as an extra unit of British light cavalry but, looking at the numbers in historical OOB, this mix seems to cover most eventualities. Although the light cavalry might have been more active on campaign, in most field battles there seem to be just as many heavy dragoons present. As I said earlier, cavalry are a problem because of the different mixes required. In numbers terms there were never that many of them in Spain, so I'm loathe to purchase more, just for variation, than this.

British and Portuguese infantry, with artillery support, coming into action.

Artillery: 8 guns in total, each with 4 crew. 

British Foot x 4; British Horse x 2; Portuguese x 2; Limbers x 4 (including 1 horse artillery).

Not every gun will have its own limber (they take up too much table room and are generally removed when not in use) and these will be 'general pool' additions. As noted, this is too many guns but, I've bought them, I'll paint them, and in some scenarios (where I will use a different troop scaling method) two gun batteries will not go amiss. 

Officers: There will be eleven command stands in total.

There will a 'Commander in chief' stand of four figures, six divisional command stands of two figures each, and four one figure command stands (cavalry brigades and an engineer).

Grand Total Anglo-Portuguse:

Totting that up, that comes to 971 men, 8 guns, 4 limbers and 131 horses. I've painted just under half.

French

French infantry in line.

Working on a basic 5000 - 7000 strong division of five to seven units, plus artillery and cavalry support, my French army will be as follows:

Infantry: 28 'battalions': Line and converged grenadier units are 24 figures strong plus 4 extra figures to put out as skirmishers; Legere units are 24 figures plus 6 figures to put out as skirmishers. 

Legere x 8 (5 French, 3 Foreign); Line x 18 (12 French, 6 Foreign); Converged Grenadiers x 2 (French).

My French infantry, if anything, are too colourful. The army can field French, Italians, Irish, German, Nassau, Poles and Swiss - in blue, white, brown, green and red coats; but mainly blue. The French infantry will be a pretty thing to behold but, though all served in theatre, it's not historically accurate as a combined force - it really has become a painting pretty things, thing. 

Very pretty!

Cavalry: 8 'regiments' of 12 figures each. 

Dragoons x4; Chasseurs a Cheval x2; Hussars x1; Polish lancers x1.

The notes for the British cavalry apply just as easily to the French. If anything more so because, the French fielded more of it and with greater variation. I might add one or two more unit to this list, including a unit of Imperial Guard cavalry for re-fights of Fuentes De Onoro, but maybe I won't. As per British 7th Division, in any event, extra units can wait until after I have some Spanish.

Artillery: 8 guns in total, each with 4 crew. 

 Foot x 6; Horse x 2; Limbers x 4 (including 1 horse artillery).

Notes as per British. 

Officers: There will be eleven command stands in total.

There will a 'Commander in chief' stand of four figures, six divisional command stands of two figures each, and four one figure command stands (cavalry brigades and an engineer).

Grand Total French:

Totting that up, that comes to 975 men, 8 guns, 4 limbers and 131 horses. I've painted just over half.

Combined infantry, cavalry and artillery working together under one commander. In this game they are all part of  'French 3rd Division' (note division number beads). Note: In this game the Chasseurs have been attached to 3rd division from Corps.

So, there they are, my OOB and my reasons for them. You can see that I'm not exactly a purist when it comes to Napoleonic gaming. However, I believe my proportions and ratios are just about right, and all encompassing, in a pretty general kind of way. 

Using my chosen representative scaling, I should be able to come up with lots of balanced scenarios and, being able to field four or five infantry divisions, even play quite sizeable chunks of some of the big historical battles; though I realise that I'm a fair way off being able to do the whole of most of them. 

If memory serves, at 1:40-ish (1 infantry unit to 1000 men), I would need 34 infantry units and 10 cavalry to do the French force at Fuentes De Onoro, and somewhat more than that to do Salamanca. That presupposes I have a table big enough to do battles this big in the first place - and I don't.

More than anything, I suppose, it was my table that decided the maximum size of this collection. My table, at most, is 15' x 6' and more usually 12' x 6'. We are playing battles with thirty-two units (plus artillery) at the moment and there is plenty of room. I think somewhere between forty and fifty-ish units will probably be more typical in the longer term. This means, after setting up a typical game there will be up to thirty units that could vary the compositions of the forces still in the cupboard. In campaigns, having lots of units never goes amiss, so I can see a time when the whole of at least one side will appear on the same table at the same time.