Napoleonic Adventures: I am addicted

For many many years I have looked upon Napoleonic gaming with awe and wonder, yet at the same time fear and trepidation. My impression of those that walked this path was generally that of they endlessly worry over the colour of buttons and yards of lace. My fear was that I'd get the wrong shade of red on my British Redcoats and what on earth is a "flank company"? So, with an ignorance that is bliss I veered away, back in to a world Goblins, Space Marines, Dark Ages warriors and Panzer II's for a while longer; yet still glimpsing the wonder of massed ranked and colourful infantry, horse and cannon out of the corner of my occasionally wandering eye.

So, what happened in August 2014? How did I begin the dabble? A planetary alignment? Some mystical visitation?

In simple truth I just decided that I could resist no longer, the You Tube community has quite a few Napoleonic enthusiasts (or "pushers' dealing this extremely addictive genre of toy soldiers) and quite a few of these comment upon my channel and I - with a wandering eye - watch their output. During the July Painting Challenge (run by the infamous Warboss Tae) I painted rather too many Greek Hoplites .. so I was weak minded and was turned. I thought I could handle a small 10mm army, nothing fancy, 12 bases for the DBA Napoleonic variant DBN. Nothing heavy, just a quick go. But that was a fatal mistake, I had to start researching .. to find the right shade of red, the correct plume colour for a "flank company" and I started to Google ... and opened the flood gates in to the most wondrous world of Horse & Musket and the Napoleonic era.

Initially I thought 10mm would be sufficient, but I wanted more detail to paint. So I tried a little heavier stuff with 20mm, but that was not giving me the hit I needed. Before I knew it I had gone up to 28mm, buying Victrix, Perry and Warlord Games boxes .. within 8 weeks I was doing a Battalion of Front Rank.

That was me hooked, but worse was yet to come, while i was scoring from the Front Rank online store, I spotted the Confederation Of The Rhine - Nassau were my first score, their wonderful hats and facial hair, all green with yellow webbing .. wonderful to behold and then Wurttenburg, with less impressive facial hair but the hats!What fantastic hats!

I know nothing of the German states during the Napoleonic era (yet), but in a short time I will know as much as I can. This is the beauty of the Napoleonic era, there is so much information available, so much illumination to be had. The period was probably the first to be reported on in such detail to the public at large (in much the same fashion as Vietnam in the 1960's - it being the first televised war). It could be said that it was probably the first "Global" war, with Empires clashing in the East, in Africa and the Americas as well as on mainland Europe. So much activity over 20 odd years, a pivotal time in global and military history. The British, recently booted out of America, to be then challenged in their back yard by another bunch of upstart republicans. The regal states of Europe banding together against a common threat .. fascinating stuff. So, it is with no sorrow that I admit, I am now a Napoleonic addict, with a lot to learn and the rest of my days in which to discover more ... my eye, however, has wandered to the 1770's .. I shall resist, or at least try!

Here then are my Napoleonic Adventures so far, you can watch the playlist below or visit my You Tube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RingoSimpkins).