More on DBN/Commands & Colors and some AB Cuirassiers.

I have been giving a lot of thought this week to the question of which of the two games I prefer, Commands & Colors or DBN and the answer really is that I clearly enjoy both. The added bonus of course is that my figure basing means both are eminently practical on either the folding card table or the printed hex mat.

What I am very interested in is the prospect of playing remote games and for this I am convinced that a grid based system is the way to go so to this end I'm going to explore the technology and experiment a bit. I have no experience of such so it will be a learning curve for me, but should be fun.

I will be taking delivery of some MDF courtesy of Tony Barr at east Riding Miniatures, 75mm hexes and 15mm circles.  The latter will be used as order chits for Ramekin once painted a suitable colour while the hexes are to be used to make 20mm high hills for my C&C mat. I have some 5mm foamboard sheets and these will be sandwiched between the MDF hexes, edges treated and painted and a printed image of the mat surface glued on the top, an excellent idea 'borrowed' from David Crook. I'll probably also create a few fields, broken ground markers etc.

On the painting front things have slowed down a bit this week but I have made a U Turn on the decision to stick with Blue Moon cavalry. I have nothing whatsoever against BM figures but having painted these four cuirassiers (painted as the 13th in Spain) I'm happy that they won't sit too badly beside my existing BM cavalry bases. I would not use them mixed on bases, but separately they work OK. You can see from the photo below the slight size difference, the AB's are a bit chunkier with larger heads but the horses match up well for size. I did replace the big heavy cuirassier horses with AB medium horse which helps the overall look I think. I'm happy to go forward like this.

Eureka continue to send out my orders. Latest arrivals are the first of my planned 1813 Prussians. Having seen so many beautiful Prussians on various blogs I could not resist doing them. The AB Prussians are of course superb sculpts, the initial order was for Landwehr, line infantry, jagers and a gun and crew. Waiting on some French Guard, Old Guard, Young Guard and Marins.

13th Cuirassiers with 42nd Highlanders following up.

BM Cuirassier (left) AB (right).

First of the AB Prussians for the growing lead pile.

Pleased to report that DBN are now available as a hard copy that looks very attractive. Author Alex is offering the rules at 50% off for those who have purchased the download in the previous six months. My set is on order.