Second one done

 A bit slower for the second collection but at the weekend I finished the French and Friends for 1813. 

From top left the guard (somehow I wound up with enough figures to do the old guard twice), the cavalry, the young guard, then bottom left French line infantry (theres 7 unpainted divisions in the lead pile), Saxons Wurtembergers and Baden/Hesse, Polish and Bavarians.

The project hit a brick wall last night at 9:30 pm when I used my last brigade base (from a pack of 120) doing Austrian line infantry. I knew it wasn't going to be enough bases but I did think it would get me a bit/lot further than this.

First one done

 After a couple of nights work, the British are rebased.

8 infantry divisions, the light division and a cavalry division. I've left the corps and army commanders on the larger bases for visual aids on the table. I'm quite happy with how its gone and how it looks.

Off to the races

 Well, at least all the figures are painted....

And yes, thats a bag of 120 Volley and bayonett brigade bases which are not going to be enough.

The Project that dare not speak its name.

 I've been pondering something for a while now 

One of the issues that I have with Volley and Bayonet at normal scale is that it really needs a large table (at least 8 by 6). Now this is fine if you are lucky enough to play at a club, but a struggle at home to find not just the table, but also the space to use it. A smaller table ( 6 by 4) isn't really pratical as cavalry can be across in 2 turns and infantry in 3 turns. This has implications for using the Road to Glory scenario system, especially if a sizable portion of your army starts off the table.

So there are a few options. One is to buy a bigger house. Another is to move everything to a smaller base size using the word every wargamer hates, rebasing. Keith McNelly worked this out a long time ago using 1/2 size bases (so 1.5" vs 3" and the smaller bases 3/4"). Possibly proof he's smarter than he looks.. This is a bridge to far for me and my sausage fingers. As I'm also beholden to Baccus and their 20mm infantry figure frontage. Two blocks plus a bit gets out to 50mm which is 2/3'rds. A 6 by 4 table is equivalent to 9 by 6 in normal scale which is about what I am looking for. The wise sages on the mailing list said it was a good idea too, possibly because it wasn't them facing the job.

It does reduce the number of figures required on a base by 1/3rd. This is fine for the line infantry but not so great for grenadiers and other elite units. Cavaly regiment spare figures will mostly be useless if they are unique regiments (Hussars). Artillery are the worst and almost all the limber horses I have ever brought and painted will be wasted. The pain should be worth it......

So, before I could change my mind last night, I ordered $50 of bases from Pendraken. I'm guessing I have about 4 weeks to put my affairs in order before I start this project.

A couple of IHMN companies

 I've not done too much recently on IHMN, but a break from 10mm DBA for a week allowed me to finish up a couple of companies.

First up the Old Etonians. Men of erudite wit with plenty of sang-froid to face off against the enemies of the queen.

Next up is a so far anonymous group of men who are obviously up to no good (but they do look cool).

Not sure who they will be (maybe the Men In Brown?) or what sort of back-story they will have. They also need a leader figure and some supports.