The Annual Report

🍾🥳 HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🥳🍾

It was the night of the Grand Armée New Year's Eve party.

Emperor looked at the banner and said "...Bonne Anrèé... Bonne ANRÈÉ ...don't they teach them to check their spelling in school these days Bonhomme?"

Henri shook his head, "they are too dependant on AI, sire!".

Napoleon rolled his eyes and said "what is the World coming to?"

Well, it is that time of year to be reflective.

It has been a very different hobby year compared to previous ones. I have deliberately slowed down my painting volume on the basis that I already have enough figures and armies. My intention going forward—I occasionally slip back into "corporate speak" despite leaving that world behind—is to only buy figures required to finish existing projects. The one caveat is that I may add the occasional unit to an existing army if something special catches my eye (and, of course, all of this goes out the window if I win the lottery).

In terms of painting productivity, the annual results show a dramatic drop. I completed only 330 foot and 64 mounted figures. While some might think, "that’s a lot," it is dwarfed by my 2023 totals of 1,423 foot, 132 mounted, 34 guns, and 8 pieces of equipment.

However, my scratch-building productivity soared this year with a couple of commissions and several buildings for sale. Using the recognised calculation of "painting points" (5 pts per 28mm foot figure, 10 per mounted figure/gun/equipment, and 10 per hour of scratch building), the breakdown of points by project is as follows:

The listed Ottoman expansion project, did not proceed.

A graphical breakdown is:

Comparing the year to previous years it stacks up, but is still only the eighth largest in the 12 years I have been keeping records and if the scratch built are removed it would be the lowest production since probably 2004. But, that was the intention.

This decrease in painting productivity has been offset by a dramatic increase in games played, reaching a total of 43—likely my highest game count for any single year. This boost has been fueled by my retirement, which has enabled me to play extra games with retired friends, as well as a renewed interest in solo play. Solo gaming has allowed me to develop a narrative side to my hobby through The Adventures of Henri Bonhomme.

Henri's adventures provided a great deal of fun, not only through the varied games themselves but also the hours spent creating and fine-tuning the backstories. These narratives have encouraged me to pursue storytelling even further in the coming year. While Henri’s adventures have run their course (and I’m not sure there is any artwork left in Europe for him to purloin, anyway), there are other characters in other eras waiting in the wings.

So, what are the plans for 2026?

First, there are more buildings in the pipeline. The current set of ruins needs to be finished, and a second lot will likely be worked on in parallel. There will also be another batch of buildings for sale.

I have already begun writing the backstory for a new adventure, as mentioned above, which should see the light of day around February. Additionally, at some point in the first quarter of the year, the final purchases for the Franco-Prussian War armies will be made—specifically French cuirassiers and generals, along with some Bavarian cavalry and artillery.

Finally, I have a few ideas for short campaigns in development. 

We shall see how it all pans out.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all. The Emperor wishes you and your families a happy and safe holiday.

Last Game of the Year

On Sunday we played the final group game of the year. I organised a Napoleonic game based loosely around the Austrian invasion of Bavaria in 1809 - very loose really since the armies were a mix of 1809 and 1813 uniforms, but it made for a game that didn't involve the French and allowed a number of units that rarely escape their boxes to get on the table.

I set up a faulty open table with rolling terrain, a few small woods, a couple of small farms and a village. I wanted an encounter action that developed naturally rather than just have both armies simply march onto the table from the edge. So the game would start with a small advanced guard from each side arriving on the table, just three or four light units. They would jockey for position for three turns, after which the main bodies would arrive. All the troops of each side would arrive on the one central road on their table edge and could then use the march move idea that I introduced to our gaming back in October (link) and have fine tuned since.

The Austrians arrived first and their advanced guard consisted of a hussar regiment, a jäger battalion, a grenz battalion and a horse battery.

They quickly secured a knoll on the right centre of the table.

The Bavarians countered with a brigade of chevaux legere and a horse battery, securing their left near the village.

The boys on the wurst wagon were singing Christmas carols "... 🎶The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay, And the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day...🎶"

On turn four the Bavarians arrived, throwing one division to the left and one to the right.

"Standhaft bleiben, Männer, vorwärts!"

Next the Austrians poured onto the field with one division securing the knoll and facing off against the Bavarian cavalry. The second division sent two brigades to the left to dominate a significant hill in the center, while one brigade shifted even further left to try to flank the Bavarians. 

The Austrian cavalry at first moved two brigades to the right to cover the deployment of the infantry from the threat of the Bavarian cavalry.

But as soon as the infantry deployed the Austrian troopers were redeployed to the left, where the open terrain was better suited to cavalry operations.

When the jockeying finished the Austrians on the left struck first. Three battalions stormed forward and struck two Bavarian battalions. The Bavarians broke and the Austrians broke through on to a battalion of Bavarian jägers.

However, the jägers held and then drove off the Austrians. The Austrian cavalry then surged forward, smashing the jägers, now disordered after their combat, and driving back a regiment of Bavarian horse.

Action then moved to the centre where six Austrian battalions, two of grenadiers, three line and one landwehr. The grenadiers were met by a wall of Bavarian gunfire and musketry and forced to retire, but the other four battalions surged forward. Despite the Austrians pressing home the assault the Bavarian line held.

The Austrian centre fell apart. Only the landwehr battalion held the line, the remainder quitting the field. They managed to move a couple of battalions from the right to plug the gap, but only two battalions and two batteries from the artillery reserve held the line. A small brigade of cavalry was also available but things were looking grim.

Unknown to the Austrian, the Bavarians were in poor shape themselves and with a strong force of Austrian cavalry overlapping their right were not keen to press the issue.

Action then moved to the Austrian right. Here the Austrisns held a precarious position on the knoll. The Bavarians launched a couple of disconnected attacks that were easily repulsed. In desperation the Grenz battalion charged to stabilise the position.

The Grenz attack failed to drive the enemy and the fight continued. Eventually the Grenz got the upper hand a drove the Bavarians back. The Austrians then attacked other Bavarian units on this flank and met with success. Suddenly things were looking bad for the Bavarians and several battalions quit the field.

The Austrian guns were then free to open on the Bavarian cavalry that were threatening their flank and began to knock it about.

It is here that the battle ended. Both sides were exhausted, but the Bavarians had been forced back.

So ended my game number 43 for the year, my highest ever game count.

Here are a number of 'leftover' images that I couldn't find a home for in the description. Again thanks to John for many of these images. Sharp observers will note the inclusion of figures by Perry, Minifigs, Hinchliffe, Old Glory and I think even a few Hinton Hunt, showing the fantastic legacy of our group.