2 March 2024 - Catch my breath

Borodino Refight

This refight has raised issues that need addressing before I forget.

1. This project, as has been explained ad nauseum, was only ever incidental. It began as a half-pie effort to motivate painting up a seriously large volume of Russian Napoleonics acquired over the years. That I've made it to this point in time (over eight years later) where I am now attempting to play through (and eventually finish) a very large and famous historical battle SOLO says many things - mostly uncomplimentary - regarding my mental well-being and inability to curb my enthusiasm. Nevertheless, I persist because I don't really know any better. As a solo event, this very doable but there are loads of conditions that need to met in order to make the whole event run smoothly and without too much fuss - from a solo gaming perspective. I haven't really thought them through however. Which is why I've been struggling to finish the game despite setting lots of deadlines and then easily breaking every single one to the point where I now don't bother; if it happens, it happens. A very slack attitude to have really.   
2. I am not happy with FoGN 2. The Borodino refight has only strengthened that dislike to the next level. There are too many nooks and crannies within the rules that make for loads of frustrating moments that really detract from focusing and thereby comfortably playing the game. Even though I have used it as my primary go-to Napoleonic rules since introduced to it many years ago, I find that I am constantly referring to them because I am always forgetting the basic details. I am wondering if it's not really user-friendly in the first instance or I am just developing a forgetful mind. Many of its critics point out its failing many times over but I find that's more a justification for accepting their version of Napoleonic wargaming. But FoGN/FoGN 2 has always been a CORPS-level game. The visual footprint often misleads those accustomed to clouds of skirmishers in front of the battle line. Yet that is the difference made clear, and which confuses many. Or blinkers them to accept their own view of how Napoleonic wargaming should look on the table. 
   
3. The table layout itself was a cockup from the start. Two separate tables have been used because of lack of adequate space to fit the one super-large customised table. And the length and breadth are not the correct dimensions. It's too short and not deep enough. The results have been cramped displays, so cramped that it makes moving minis - even in block stands - a tiresome and often clumsy activity that requires careful management with placement.
4. The terrain has yielded a mixed bag of success and frustration.
1. The fleches need to be reworked with the double one broken up into two. There should be three. Height of the ramparts should be higher. Maybe also expand them to better accommodate the guns
2. The grand redoubt also needs reworking. Remove the front trenching altogether as it's a waste of space. The fortification needs to be larger and more "grander" even though, according to historical accounts and technical information, it technically called a battery. Blame the French to calling it that. 
3. The Borodino church looks fine even if slightly underscaled and works as a prominent landmark. Happy with its scratch-build. But reset it within a village stand next time.
4. More river crossings needed for the French who had several spanning the Kolocha which really is a river and not some shallow fordable stream as I have played it. Creating bottlenecks works for the defenders too.
5. The present flat table works well enough as it allows for a spectacle. But modular with contours is more spectacular as well as "realistic". Marking terrain features with chalk is not really suitable because there are no real distinction between the various terrain elements. And which, after a while, one simply ignores as the game progresses.
5. Perhaps the most noticeable criticism of the project has been the missing minis. I claimed to have finished them all but I was lying. As some of the batrep photos clearly reveal, there are loads of missing commanders, and even a few missing artillery and cavalry pieces. By pieces I mean figures. And yet, stashed in piles of boxes in various areas of my studio, are loads and loads of unpainted minis - infantry, cavalry, and artillery. It doesn't really matter that they're not period-specific as proxying is acceptable and even warranted if it means a table full of minis. 
6. Markers. Need lots and lots of them for the next time (if ever there is one). The ones I have are few and inadequate. I've been using whatever is at hand to convey the various levels and activities, but it would make better sense to use what's game-specific
1. Disordered and Wavering markers. I might revert to using the old laminated markers I made years back. I have lots of those but put them away when I bought my old 3D printer and started creating my own kind. 
2. Charge/Assault arrow markers. Twenty should be enough to get started.
7. This current refight is, as I am slowly realising, either a trial run for the real game done properly some time in the future. Or this is a venture that needs to finish quickly regardless of outcome. The former makes me groan within while the latter is probably close to the truth.

Glad that's off my chest. Cheers.

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