Sunday 17 January 2010

Progress



Or lack of it. Another week gone and not a figure painted. I don't know where the time goes. Hopefullythe weather will improve and with the days getting longer I may be able to squeeze in some brush time. Glancing around the various websites and blogs on wargaming, it is interesting to see how themes for 2010 are beginning to develop. Will this be the year that plastic 25/28mm overcomes the established order of metal figures and becomes the figure of choice for the majority of wargamers? Will Napoleonic interest shift to the Peninsular now that the 200th anniversary of the 1809 Danube campaign has passed and there is a lull before the 1812 anniversary comes around. On this point wouldn't it be a boost to have a proper film made of the Russian campaign, War and Peace was ok, but miltary interest was intermittent. It would be nice to think that someone, somewhere, would be willing to bankroll a film of the campaign on the same lines as that produced for Gettysburg. That is, of course assuming, that they could avoid distorting history in pursuit of'the 'storyline'. Surely the events and characters involved are enough, without the need to embellish them?
Other thoughts for 2010; will the current wargames magazines continue to be published, faced with electronic options. Also will the hobby continue to flourish, surely the treadmill of figure production will eventually become self-defeating as increasing numbers of ranges chase a static or decreasing amount of wargamer pounds. We all (or nearly all) have boxes of figures waiting to be painted, some of us (I include myself here), probably (?) already have more figures than we can ever paint. Is the demand still there?





Here are a battalion of Austrian Landwehr holding a redoubt during a recent game based on the action at Tarvis in Eugene's campaign against archduke John during 1809. The Austrian position was in reality hopeless, they were outnumbered, outflanked and unsupported. As you may expect the refight went very much as history, except for the exploits of the Austrian light cavalry. They held the right flank (path of retreat) against the French light infantry, overunning two battalions. They then defeated twice their number of French light cavalry, before falling back in good order.




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