Te Wapen Revisited

A [recent blog post](http://awargamingodyssey.blogspot.com/2010/09/lord-of-rings-hotts-and-memoir-44.html) at 'A Wargaming Odyssey' (with a [follow-up posting](http://awargamingodyssey.blogspot.com/2010/09/te-wapen-fantasy-rules-by-phil-dutre.html) as well), brought the ruleset *Te Wapen* back to my attention. *Te Wapen* is a fantasy ruleset, heavily inspired by the game engine of [Battlecry](http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/551/battle-cry) and [Memoir 44](http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10630/memoir-44), both excellent boardgames. I wrote these rules a couple of years ago, as part of my neverending quest for the perfect rules to fight fantasy battles with miniatures. This obsession started when I first read *Lord of the Rings* many moons ago, and over the years, as driven many of my miniature wargaming endeavours. Needless to say, I don't think *Warhammer* is a ruleset that appeals to the needs of the discerning wargamer, but let us not open that can of proverbial worms.

*Te Wapen* (most recent rules, dated 2007, can be found on the Yahoo group) is actually fairly simple. It uses a hexgrid for movement and ranges, and the combat resolution is a direct derivative from the games mentioned above. The command and control mechanism went through some iterations, though. The original *Battlecry* gave the player some command cards, with which you could activate units. The next turn, those very same units could be activated again. This works well if all units are more or less the same in strength, but in fantasy games, where one unit can be a tiny battalion of goblins, and another a mighty dragon, this doesn't work that well. Nothing stops a player from activating the dragon over and over again. Moreover, the *Battlecry* or *Memoir 44* system also doesn't work that well when each side has a different amount of units (e.g. in an attack-defence scenario), since it implies that units on the numerous weaker side get much more activations on average compared to units on the stronger side.

Hence, I started looking into alternatives: more cards per turn; activation counters with each unit (a unit cannot be activated again until everything else has), etc. Also, I had to find an alternative for the 3 fronts commonly used in *Battlecry*. Many scenarios do not adapt well to the three front battlefield.

The final version of the rules uses generals (each of a certain color, and partly inspired by [**Rudi Geudens' variant rules**](http://www.tsoa.be/html/fuseliers.html)), that can command any unit in their vicinity (replacing the three fronts), and a counter activation system that prevents activating units over and over again. This worked well, and I remember we played a couple of (very bloody) battles using these rules. If I would do the whole exercise all over again, I would probably look into the command&control system made popular by *Blitzkrieg Commander* or *Warmaster*.

However, in 2006, [Battlelore](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25417/battlelore) was published, and development on *Te Wapen* sort of stopped. My own interest also shifted back towards more historical periods, resulting again in self-developed rulesets (ACW skirmish, Napoleonics, Infantry firefights), but I will keep a discussion of these for a future posting.

20mm unpainted plastic Napoleonics

Shock and Horror! We staged a Napoleonics game using unpainted 20mm plastic figures. Before you choke on your single-malt whisky and let your fine Havana drop to the ground, let me assure you we have not lowered our standards. After all, the moto of our gaming society still is 'Visual Appeal is everything!'.

However, there are times where 'perfect is the enemy of good'. One of our illustrous gentlemen members is busy collecting and painting Napoleonic figures at an alarming rate. In the mean time, we already want to try out some battles - hence the stand-ins in the form of the old faithful 20mm plastics.

Now, I don't have a strong objection against using unpainted plastics. They provide a sort of childish pleasure, almost a throwback to times when wargaming was much simpler and cheaper. I still remember my first wargaming experiments, using plastic romans as substitutes for Orcs and Elves, and using chalk to draw the battlefield on top of my study table. Fun was had by all, and I still have loads of cheap plastic figures lying around. The visitors to my wargaming garage can testify this.

About our Napoleonic battle then. The rules we use are based on the divisional level wargame found in 'Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun' by the late Paddy Griffith. As is usual in our gaming group, we amend and iterate over any ruleset till we have found a workable set of rules that fancies all players in the group. Moreover, I actually did some decent research on this one, reading up on Napoleonic battle tactics and translating my findings into the rules proper. Although is some work, it has produced a very nice result.

The pictures show our game, played on a 8 by 6 feet gaming table. Such a large table definitely adds appeal to the game, and lets you move and manouvre your troops as you see fit.

What, an update? So Soon?

So it seems it’s been a while since the last post again. Oh well, these things happen in blogging, so let’s not dwell on reasons :)

Anyway, I thought I’d give a quick round up of where I’m at project wise. First up is the GNW project, whose big showing — [Crisis 2010](http://www.tsoa.be) — is coming up with astoundingly alarming alacrity. Thanks to Alan who (re)painted (there’s a long story in those parentheses in the previous word) a boatload of Russians, the project currently stands at:

* 10 battalions of Russian infantry
* 4 squadrons of Russian cavalry
* 7 battalions of Swedish infantry, with no. 8 in the last stretches on my painting table
* 2 squadrons of Swedish infantry
* 2 guns

Apart from an increase in the cavalry and artillery, I think that I’m almost there figure wise. So, next months will see me focusing on cavalry, vignettes and terrain. Pictures of painted stuff to follow as and when.

I’m also in the delightful preparation phases for next year’s project, which I’ve decided will be the 1809 Danube campaign, and specifically the part before Aspern-Essling. This has sprung out of my painting up some [Bavarian infantry](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000364.html), and has since somehow transformed into a plan to collect / paint Bavarians, French and Austrians. The initial idea is to base my armies around the battles of Teugen-Hausen and Abensberg, which will give me choices from Davout’s III corps, most of the Bavarian army and all and sundry Austrians. I’m currently reading up on the campaign (John H. Gill’s Thunder on the Danube trilogy, which I recommend strongly) and planning the armies. Funnily enough, I already have most of the figures, both through taking advantage of various discounts at various manufacturers and through scoring Ebay for Austrians (I [hate painting white](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000333.html)), but there is still plenty to paint.

I’m planning on using big battalions - 36 figures for a French and Bavarian battalion which means 48 for an Austrian and a whopping 60 for an Austrian Hungarian recruited one (ouch - good thing I don’t plan on painting the Austrian infantry myself). Rules will have to be determined — we’re looking at home built rules (by our very own rule writer Phil), Black Powder and Lasalle. I also own a copy of Republic to Empire, but I don’t think I can ‘sell’ that to the group.

Anyway — lot’s going on, as you see :).

Wait, an update? So soon?

So it seems it's been a while since the last post again. Oh well, these things happen in blogging, so let's not dwell on reasons :)

Anyway, I thought I'd give a quick round up of where I'm at project wise. First up is the GNW project, whose big showing -- [Crisis 2010](http://www.tsoa.be) -- is coming up with astoundingly alarming alacrity. Thanks to Alan who (re)painted (there's a long story in those parentheses in the previous word) a boatload of Russians, the project currently stands at:

* 10 battalions of Russian infantry
* 4 squadrons of Russian cavalry
* 7 battalions of Swedish infantry, with no. 8 in the last stretches on my painting table
* 2 squadrons of Swedish infantry
* 2 guns

Apart from an increase in the cavalry and artillery, I think that I'm almost there figure wise. So, next months will see me focusing on cavalry, vignettes and terrain. Pictures of painted stuff to follow as and when.

I'm also in the delightful preparation phases for next year's project, which I've decided will be the 1809 Danube campaign, and specifically the part before Aspern-Essling. This has sprung out of my painting up some [Bavarian infantry](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000364.html), and has since somehow transformed into a plan to collect / paint Bavarians, French and Austrians. The initial idea is to base my armies around the battles of Teugen-Hausen and Abensberg, which will give me choices from Davout's III corps, most of the Bavarian army and all and sundry Austrians. I'm currently reading up on the campaign (John H. Gill's _Thunder on the Danube_ trilogy, which I recommend strongly) and planning the armies. Funnily enough, I already have most of the figures, both through taking advantage of various discounts at various manufacturers and through scoring Ebay for Austrians (I [hate painting white](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000333.html)), but there is still plenty to paint.

I'm planning on using big battalions - 36 figures for a French and Bavarian battalion which means 48 for an Austrian and a whopping 60 for an Austrian Hungarian recruited one (ouch - good thing I don't plan on painting the Austrian infantry myself). Rules will have to be determined -- we're looking at home built rules (by our very own rule writer Phil), Black Powder and Lasalle. I also own a copy of Republic to Empire, but I don't think I can 'sell' that to the group.

Anyway -- lot's going on, as you see :).

After painting a pink horse ...

... little girls grow up to paint SYW teddy bears:



These are two [Eureka Miniatures](http://www.eurekamin.com.au/) [SYW teddy bears](http://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_126_184_185&sort=3a), one of which is painted by me, one by my 6 year old daughter. For those with deep memories, she painted [a pink horse](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000253.html) quite some time ago and, although she selected the colours on these bears, only the facings turned out to be pink.

Anyway, the idea is to let her paint a few of these at her own pace and see what transpires.

Roman auxiliary cavalry

I still need to matt varnish them, but here are the next addition to the Romani Plasticii:



12 Wargames Factory Romans (well, slightly civilised Celts more probably) on horses, for your viewing pleasure.

Painting Log: Roman auxiliary cavalry

Right, that's 12 [Wargames Factory](http://www.wargamesfactory.com) [cavalry](http://www.wargamesfactory.com/_product_16676/Roman_Auxiliary_Cavalry) done dipping style. The figures are nice and poseable, though a few of the horses have very weird heads.

As these were not provided with shield transfers I did a very basic free hand design (a stylised eagle over an equally stylised wreath) after the figures were dipped.

Any remorse I might have felt at awarding myself full painting points for dipped figures is now completely gone, after noticing that the time you win in painting, you lose in assembling as the 12 figures took a whopping 4 hours to clean and assemble completely.

So, that's 24 points done for a total of 39 this month. Seems things are picking up.

Swedes on horses

Pictures of the recently painted stuff. First the cavalry:



And next two views of Major General Roos:





All the figures are Reiver Castings. On a related note, I have decided to follow the 1:35 ratio of Beneath the Lilly Banners ruleset (which makes sense, as my infantry are to that specification) for the cavalry. That means that the two bases (six figures in total) form an entire squadron - less figures to paint :).

Painting Log: 1st company Åbo och Björneborgs läns cavalry and a major general

The first of the Swedish cavalry are done - they're the first company (half squadron) of the (and I shudder to think in how many creative ways I'm spelling the Swedish here) Åbo och Björneborgs läns ryttare.

A company in 1:20 for Swedish cavalry regiments around the time of Poltava comes to (very roughly) 6 figures, so a squadron is 12. I'll be trying to paint a squadron for each of the regiments present in the main battle at Poltava (11 or so) - these are the first.

The figures are Reiver Castings whose horses look absolutely horrendous in the metal, but who luckily do look the job when painted and based up.

I also finished the first command figure - major general Roos, who took a third of the infantry strength of the army off to swan about trying to capture redoubts instead of bypassing them. He'll be based on a somewhat elaborate base, so he gets three points instead of the normal 2 for a mounted figure.

As always, pictures to follow, but I'm counting 15 points for these - 12 for the 6 cavalrymen, 3 for Roos. Next up is probably a bunch of Romans again, as my black primer has run out for the moment (and the Romans are grey primered).

Uncharted Seas ships

And here are the pictures of my latest paint jobs.

_The Empress' Cynical Smile_, the human flagship joining her [friends](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000306.html):



And their slightly more scruffy adversaries:



More pics of the orc ships in their own [set on Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robartes/sets/72157623355135073/). As you can see, these were again painted with speed in mind rather than beauty. Oddly fitting, for orcs :).