Borodino = majestic

[ChrisBBB]

Hard to believe that 6mm figures on 6'x4' could provide such a sense of grandeur, but just … wow. Here's an AAR with a few pics that won't even begin to convey what an epic, tense, gripping, see-sawing, magnificent game this was:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2023/01/borodino-majestic.html

[vtsaogames]

Looking forward to the scenario book! Just for a tease, how many stands of infantry/cavalry/artillery did the French have?

Of course, the Fencibles would do this in 15mm, with lots of cotton smoke.

[DivisMal]

Really impressive! And so many little men

[ChrisBBB]

Thanks, chaps!

The French had 67 infantry, 20 cavalry and 12 guns; Russians 81 infantry, 19 cavalry and 15 guns.

Chris

[jon_1066]

Great looking figures and sounds like a fun game.  I have two quick questions / comments about the presentation - why are the figures not based (just on the bare mdf?) and why is the scenery so ... erm ... unspectacular?  The little guys obviously got a lot of attention and time spent on them but it looks like the scenery is tossed together with stuff found out the back of a haberdashers.  Presumably that visual aspect is not so important to the group?

[ChrisBBB]

Fair questions, Jon. Certainly the aesthetic is important to our gang. I highlighted this in my essay on the "High Quality Gaming Experience":
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-quest-for-high-quality-gaming.html
and we have some very fine craftsmen in the group, outstanding painters and modellers and scratchbuilders. See eg Colin's galleries on his "Colin the Wargamer" blog:
https://colinthewargamer.blogspot.com/p/gallery-napoleonics.html

However, time is not infinite, so it's a question of priorities. In Mark's case, he researches and writes a lot of historical scenarios, and time spent basing or modelling is time not spent on scenarios. That's why his bases are still bare mdf and why the terrain is functional rather than model railway layout standard. The scenery is not 'tossed together' - au contraire, it is carefully pieced together to get the historical terrain right - but I don't suppose it will be featuring in any glossy wargames mags!

Bottom line is, the scenario and the gameplay are more important than the board and the counters (figures).

[ChrisBBB]

Also check out Matt Bradley's "Pushing Tin" blog to see some really beautiful BBB games: figures, terrain, markers, the lot.
https://pushingtinwargames.blogspot.com/

[jon_1066]

Thanks for the replies.  I guess I didn’t comprehend fully the set up, as in it is one guy putting on a game for all?  Therefore difficult to furnish everything to the highest aesthetic level. To bastardise meatloaf, 5 out of 6 ain't bad.   I certainly couldn’t provide a quarter of the troops for such a game.

[ChrisBBB]

Yes, that's right, Jon. Typically, one of the gang will lay on a game, terrain and troops and all; sometimes one of us will set up the table and another will provide the armies. Mark churns out the armies and scenarios at a prodigious rate - he painted up a ton of Tyrolean militia just for his wonderful one-off Xmas game last month - so we can forgive him for not flocking his bases. Mine's a similar story to Mark's, in that my terrain is functional rather than beautiful (though one of Ken Reilly's Yarkshire Gamer podcasts has finally shamed me into getting some nice rivers made to replace the blue felt that has served me so well for decades).

[fred]

I’m glad Jon raised this point - and in a much better way than I would have.

I find there is a massive difference between photos of a game and playing a game. With photos all you focus on is the look - and with small scale figures the terrain becomes a major part of the look. But once you are playing you are involved in the game and the scenario and interaction as well as the look.

I did a couple of things to improve the look of my games in photos, the first was to get a modern printed mat, this gives a much more varied look to the table, than the older single green flocked mats, or the earlier felt cloths. Not that cheap but gets a huge amount of use.

The second was to make some bases for area terrain - for these I basically replicated what I do for unit bases, just larger. So took rough ovals of MDF, covered them in sand and brown paint. Dry brushed, then added clumps of flock. I avoided using tufts on these as I thought they would just get squashed in storage. These then look much less monolithic when used for bases for woods or other area terrain. I know with BBB you are up a couple of levels of representation so it is more forests that cover very large areas. Perhaps with these sections of printed mat might make a more interesting base for forests, than green felt.

But I also very much get the point that there is a limited amount of resource, be that time or money to create a game, so there has to be some things done first.

[ChrisBBB]

Good comments, thanks, Fred. Your terrain suggestions are on my own get-round-to-it list.

[vtsaogames]

It should be noted that Chris, in addition to designing the BBB rules, is also the author of many excellent scenarios, so we can see where his energy goes first.

[ChrisBBB]

Thanks, Vincent, very kind of you to say so. Actually these days it is translation that consumes my every spare hour - Clausewitz, Austrian official histories, etc ... I think last year I only wrote one scenario. (Though it was an important one, Chancellorsville, which was not easy, took a lot of work. I think I cracked it. We'll find out next weekend.)