What is the collective noun for 6mm figures?

I don't know, but this is what it looks like:

A  mess of guns and some cavalry.

Sorted out some of the infantry on this tray.

More troops - mix of French, British, Austrians, Spanish, Portuguese and ?.

I like these guys - British rifles by Irregular (my guess). 

More troops.

And still more.

But wait, there is more.

Even sprayed out they are two layers here and each layer is of multiple bags.

James of the ANF was the source of this bonanza and at least some of these belonged to his dad and Tony (I won't say any more on their source as I don'y know the details - perhaps James might contribute via the comments).

I have a soft spot for Heroics and Ros having used them to build a 6mm army in the early 1990s.

What to do with them?  With my first army I based them for Napoleon's Battles using 15mm basing, but my current thinking is to go for big bases for Blucher.  At 3.5 inches wide and 2.5 inches deep a big base provides an opportunity to host a good number of 6mm figures in an attempt to represent the brigade formation used in Blucher (at least I hope it does).

So, here are some potential configurations: 

I'm currently reviewing blogs and forums and anything else I can find to get ideas.  There is a lot of inspiring and informative stuff out there.

One of my first decisions will be do I build for a specific Order of Battle (the 100 Days being an obvious one) or do I go generic (and if I go generic do I need to be flexible or do I have enough just to create bases in a good variety of configurations).

Whatever I do I want to avoid anything that is fiddly, mounting troops on plinth like bases and overpowering the resultant bases with labels.

ANF Waterloo - Part 3

Third day's play and another four or so turns ticked by, things hang in the balance with the Allied right barely gripping the table edge.  Over on the left things are a little better.

One of Vandeleur's Light Dragoon Regiments saw an opportunity to charge a weakened unit of Cuirassiers.

It went bad...

Talk about things going bad, it was contagious with the massive French right hook finally starting to make progress and close the pincer on Hougoumont.

The French heavy cavalry (and that massed artillery) has the Allied left flank pinned.

The Prince of Orange tells Muffling to get the Prussians moving if old Blucher wants a crack at grabbing the Corsican Ogre's chamber pot.

Jacquinot's cavalry are harassing the Prussians.  In the distance the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte can be seen burning, going up like a paper tissue.

Vandeleur tries again.  In what was a very sneaky bit of gamesmanship, the Nassau in the fortified farm of Papelotte were told not to fire least they hit the Cuirassiers and convert the stagger to a casualty, just robbing the combat of a -1 factor on the French.  Was it the right thing to do?

The Prince now has a Prussian sapper as an aid (a very old conversion of mine, re-lifed for this game, but purely for show, although he could be put to work on improving the dots on the dice).

The Second Dutch Belgian Division and Vivian's cavalry are slowly moving to link up with the Prussians (if they are still there).

Yep, some Prussians cowering in the bottom left hand corner.  Note Jacquinot has turned his cavalry round to face them.

The first round was a tie with both sides rolling a one.  If the Nassau had fired and caused a casualty that would have been the end of the Cuirassiers, but of course, if the French hadn't the -1 this roll would not have been a tie.  The next round saw the French annihilated when they again threw a one but the mighty Light Dragoons threw a four.  Better still, the French heavy cavalry division then failed its morale and fled the field.  Things just got better when the Light Dragoons rallied back.

So, sneaky tactic worked!

Now we get moving and Jacquinot is forced to turn his cavalry back to face us - his division's morale is wavering.

Picton gets his troops ready for... For what?  They are stuck on defend orders and have enemy approaching their right flank.

Apart from the Dutch-Belgian division on the very top right hand corner, the rest of the Allies on the right have been pushed to the very edge.  

The forces in front of the Allied left, with Plancenoit in the distance.  There is only the French 4th Division and what's left of Jacquinot's cavalry.  However the Guard Light Cavalry and a Heavy Cavalry Division are fighting the Prussians.

The Prussians and Young Guard made a race for Plancenoit and now each hold half.  So things are not too bad, except there is a table edge here that is proving a bit problematic as well.

Fingers crossed that I will be able to make the next installment.  That is the 18:00 turn.

Nude Chariot Racing

Last night at the club I indulged in a bit of nude chariot racing.

I took the Gaul from Dave B's extensive selection of racing chariots.  I had thought to make my own from the Airfix Roman set, but wrong scale.  Still tempted though...

Bringing up the rear, probably best place for nude charioteers.

I finished the first race!  Meant I went from raw novice to novice.

Some people took the whole nude chariot thing to mean bare chariot.

The second race went badly when some B pushed me into the centre and I crashed.  Luckily I escaped with a minor injury and limped to safety, declining to try and jump on some of the passing chariots.  In this race Mark B had been killed in chariot crash (he hadn't been wearing his seat belt).

Last race and I finished last, but at least I was still alive.  Marty had crashed in this race and then someone had run him over.  Ouch!

Kiev to Rostov - Turns 39 (Part), 40 and 41

And still the weather stays fine...

The pocket has been formed and Soviet troops starting to surrender.

End turn 39.  The Axis are having supply problems, but have trapped a good number of Soviet units whose supply problems are just about to start.

The bulk of the Soviets in the pocket are now out of supply at the end of Turn 40.  The Axis are meeting with mixed success in being able to totally close the pocket.

End of turn 41.  There had been an extensive series of low odds Soviet counterattacks, but it came to naught.

An interesting bit of play down south, the Soviets are just delaying as there is precious little defense behind this point.  The Axis have had to send troops to the Crimea and it might just be worthwhile the Soviets sending some reinforcements this way...

That's it for five hours play today.

Latest Acqusition

A bit of an impulse buy, but these figures flashed up on Facebook and after a bit of hoop I got access to the Historical Wargames Exchange and claimed these lovely painted AB figures.  The detail achieved by Ian Hemmings is magnificent.

Sadly I will need to rebase them for Napoleon's Battles and I might do a bit of shading to give them the stamp of ownership.

These chaps - yet another yellow faced formation - will do fine as Hanoverians.

Even the piping on the collars!  Wow.

And a casualty maker to.

I could keep these for Songs of Drums and Shakos, but it might pay to make them into skirmish makers, not that I play with that advanced rule (brigade skirmish formation).

If that base is an inch square I don't need to rebase him.

Foot artillery and I need horse...

I'm short on commanders.

A lovely French unit.

And a sapper!

The regimental laundry attendant used Omo with these guys.

Foreman material to be sure.

And more Prussians - bound to come in handy.

Just love the detail.

Best of all I used money from my mum's estate - I am sure she would have approved.