"It's Alive!" aka "The Frankengame"

It may not be what you think. Or maybe it will be.

Between Andy and I, one of our favourite wargaming periods is the Seven Years War. He's been building Prussian, French, and British armies for many years and he's working on Austrians. I've got a substantial number of Russians and Austrians with my wife's Bavarians and my Reichsarmee brigade for colour. Andy has long preferred the Warfare in the Age of Reason ruleset. I cut my teeth on Koenigkrieg, but I've moved away from that. We've been using Black Powder for the period lately, but found that unsatisfying. Andy developed a hybrid set of rules using the command, movement, and ranges from Age of Reason and the shooting/fighting system from Black Powder. On Saturday, we set down to make the experiment.

Andy, Ian, and Kevin ran the Prussians. Tyler, Martin, and I captained the French. There were three roads crossing the table and the objective was control two of the three to permit your army to push on past the enemy using those roads. Ian took the Prussian right, Andy the left, and Kevin the centre. Martin was on the French left, Tyler took the centre, and I had the right with a cavalry brigade, a German brigade, and the Irish brigade.

Andy's Prussian cavalry - Hussars and dragoons
(one of the dragoon regiments was an Austrian one on loan from my Austrian host.)

Half of one of Tyler's French brigades advancing in column,

Kevin's Prussian grenadier brigade with attached artillery.
Once a gun was deployed, it could only be "prolonged" since the horses pulling the battery
would leave as they were non-militarized civilian contractors.

The Irish brigade advances in line,

Tyler's second brigade which included units of the Grenadiers de France.

The Prussians were a bit more aggressive in their advance although I almost immediately threw my French regiments of Horse (heavy cavalry) against the Prussian hussars. I had to see what would happen... and I paid dearly for it. Two of my three regiments of horse evaporated and the third was thrown back. The hussars were hurt but not destroyed. My infantry squeezed between a forest and moved up on both sides of a pond with the artillery of both brigades taking station on the shore of the pond. They couldn't be attacked but they were at long range for the entire game. Tyler pushed forward into the town and Martin threatened Ian with his left flank cavalry.

The Prussian hussars slice and dice my heavy French horse.
French Dragoons were in support, but it didn't really help.

Tyler continues to push.

... but so does Andy.

Looking down the field toward the far end of Tyler and Martin's lines.

My German brigade slip between the forest and the pond. They were soon to be slapped around.

The Irish come forward. Tyler has now deployed in line!

Kevin's lead brigade moves to meet Tyler's Grenadiers de France.

In a second cavalry action, my French dragoons were charged by Andy's Prussians.

My horsemen held their ground... for a while.
Here you can see my green-coated Austrians on loan for the day.

With my cavalry brigade "broken" and the French-employed Germans reeling from Prussian musketry and a cavalry charge, we soon realized that we were not going to stay around long. (I had made the horrible mistake of putting one of the regiments in column to move to their right. Andy hit them with a hussar regiment while the infantry was in column and tore them apart.) Using the Army Withdrawal table from Age of Reason and with one of Tyler's brigades in bad shape as well, the French were permitted to withdraw as the gentlemanly customs of the time required.

Another view of my brigades moving around the pond.

The later cavalry action on my flank.

One of Tyler's brigades move into the village.

The infamous "death ride" to destroy German Regiment La Marck.

The Prussians come on. The small figure on the right is a casualty marker.

The Irish attempt to deploy to face off against the Prussian regiments.

The hybrid rules worked reasonably well; we came to a real decision that made sense. There were some kinks, especially in the way the withdrawal table could be used. Some rethinking and some "ironing-out" will be necessary. However the experiment worked. We didn't use any guard troops or low-quality militia or freikorps units. Everything was quite regular with a few elites, usually brigaded together as the time's convention demanded. I'm looking forward to playing this set-up again.

Later that evening, my wife, my daughter, and I attended a hockey game which benefited the Canadian Mental Health Association. The "Maple Leaf Alumni" played the team of the St. Thomas Police Association which included some plays by the local "Timbits" youth hockey teams, playing against the Maple Leaf Alumns. I'd seen two exhibition games at the old Maple Leaf Gardens when I lived in Toronto back in the 1980's, but this was the first I'd seen live in 30+ years and the first my wife had seen. It was fun and it was for a good cause.

At the Joe Thornton Arena in St. Thomas, Ontario!

I need say no more.

Katie and her friend and fellow reenactor, Nia, in her work clothes.
Nia is a constable in the St. Thomas Police Service. It's the first time I'd seen her in uniform.

And... my wife's next project... Doggies and Dungeons!
D&D canine characters that can fit in a campaign with the use of special rules.
Gorgeous figures with no flash or mould lines. It was a very successful kickstarter,
but the figures should be available soon,