Terrible French Food Killed Napoleon

Finally, rounding out a series of four posts concerning themselves with Napoleonic warfare (and wargaming), I found this gem of an article about the death of Napoleon.

I bet it was seafood. I knew that Sharpe and Harper had nothing to do with it.

Tags: napoleon

Infantry Company at Waterloo

A great posting of an article about a Highlander (73rd) company at Waterloo is available at the Research section of the Royal Welch Fusiliers website.

The company discussed is a Grenadier company, and much of the detail is taken from the memoirs of a soldier in the company, a Corporal Thomas Morris. Although later in life, he wrote a book about himself and two relatives called "The Three Sergeants", he himself never rose above the rank of Corporal.

The Article is quite informative, and if you are a fan of Infantry Warfare or Waterloo, or Highlanders, or Grenadiers, or Napoleonics then it is worth a read.

Tags: napoleonics

The Napoleonic Series

There is an extremely informative website called the Napoleonic Series, that has (their own statistic) over 10,000 articles, maps, charts, diagrams and plates describing all aspects of the Napoleonic Era (especially from a military perspective).

Navigating the site can be a bit tricky, but there are certainly some real gems to be found.

For instance, say I am interested in researching the Saxon Army, from the early (1805) period. A quick look in the "Military" section under organization, and scrolling down to Saxony, I find a link to Uniform Plates of the Saxon Army: 1805-1806.

Wow.

Tags: wargaming

Knötel Color Plates

Knötel Uniform Plates

I have a wonderful copy of the Knötel uniform study book, translated into English from the German. However, what I am lacking in that book is color prints.

Here is a website (linked to above) that has the color plates. Wonderful resource.

Tags: miniatures

Pirates

Raid on Tortuga are a set of Pirate Rules that I wrote some years back. They were in response to a number of other pirate rules that we played, are are somewhat streamlined compared to "Blood & Swash/Thunder & Plunder" and "All quiet in the West Indies". Both of those are good rulesets, I just like doing some things different.

Maybe I'll get a chance to run them sometime soon (like this decade).

Tags: miniatures

June 28 Gameday - big success

We had a board game day at the Turnitsa house on Redbud, this past weekend, and it was a smashing good time.

Attendees were:
Marcy
Carol and Bob
Jon
Justin
Elliott
Sharon and Alan
Anita and Chuck

We played a couple of games, some new, some old.

Elixir (fantasy card game of French design, published by Mayfair) - this was pretty good, but seemed to drag a little. We did have a lot of players (7) in this one.

Through the Desert (with four players) - one of my favorites - most of the players were noobs, or had only played once a long time ago. I think this one works better with three, but that's just me.

Ticket to Ride Europe (three players) - always a good game.

TransAmerica (three players) - Carol took a nose-dive in this one. Fun, but spectacular disaster for Carol.

Colosseum (four players) - Alan and Sharon got there just a little too late for him to join in on Colosseum, but next time I think he would like it. We enjoyed it (I won - breaking Jon's winning streak). Cool game.

Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers (five players) - Not enough Fishing Huts at the end, but it looked like it was pretty close.

Finally, the evening ended up with Boom Blox being played on the Wii.

I would have loved to play some more board games, but due to the sore-throat I brought back from Scotland, my voice gave out, so the only thing I had left in me was hacking and wii-ing.

Missed Games, that I definitely want to try in the very near future - Thurn und Taxis, Memoir 44, and BattleLore.


Tags: boardgames

Random Squid Encounter Generator

Every GM needs the ability to generate a random Squid encounter in most roleplaying games. This set of handy charts pre-supposes that the squid in question is capable of flight through the air, and of surviving out of water. Other than that, all details are determined from the following tables. Unless otherwise directed, determine a random character to be the focus of the encounter, and then roll once on each table, and let the good times happen.

Type of Squid?

1. Micro-Squid (1d4 inches long), 1d12 squid
2. Normal Squid
3. Normal Squid, in Appearance, but intelligent and capable of speech
4. Brightly Colored Squid, (1d4, 1 lime green; 2 hot pink; 3 electric blue; 4 shifting colors)
5. Really Big Squid (2d12 feet long)
6. Humongous Squid (1d100 feet long)
   

Where is the Squid?

1. On the ground, near the player (random direction, 1d6 ft away)
2. In the clothes of the character (1d6 - 1-3, pants or skirt; 4-5, shirt; 6 hat or helm)
   
3. Floating in the air, near the character's head
4. In a previously unknown nearby pool of water
5. Appears in mid-air 20 feet above the character, and falls on him
6. Squid appears in a dimensional crack (random direction, 2d20 feet away) and is driven towards the character by a servitor being to an elder god

Squid Special Abilities

1. Burst into flame
2. Secretes special oils that will grant the ability to perform pleasing, artistic renditions of Kuo-Toa poetry and love ballads
3. Squirt special ink that is invisible and can be seen through.
4. Emit psionic ink that negates all thought, magic, mental powers, and free will within 1d6x10 feet
5. Squid will "gate" in 2 identical squid every 3 turns, beginning with the 3rd turn after appearing. Additional squids have this same ability, but all other attributes should be diced
6. Squid has a glowing organ, that while still alive, will attract any members of the opposite gender to the character holding the squid
   

Squidquest

1. Escort the squid to the nearest salt water source, reward will be blessings from the priesthood of the high squid church
2. Curse of the squid - character has all limbs transformed into squidly tentacles - must defeat the squid in man-to-squid combat in order to remove the curse
3. Squid (and now his new friend, the character) are pursued by fanatical members of the anti-squid squad (bearing powerful weapons and abilities, and bent on the destruction of all squids and their allies)
4. Squid is the key to a dimensional portal that will EITHER be used by an elder god seeking to destroy reality, or the servitors of a promethean power that will help protect this dimension. Only the squid knows for sure.
5. The secret order of Hamis knows of the squid's value in opening the lost temple of Dev'Menkis Dev'Mall in the salt desert. The squid must be kept alive.
   
6. No quest, the appearance of the squid is the random and capricious act of a harsh universe