BLOODY BIG BATTLES MEETS KRIEGPSIEL

Command Post Kriegspiel Blocks configured for Bloody Big Battles Prussian (1866) Divisions on a Konigratz Kriegspiel Map (printed out about half size). 

 

In this post, dear readers, we do a quick meander to a work in progress: melding Bloody Big Battles (at half scale) played on Kriegspiel (half scale) maps--and/or other kinds of maps....

 ...Forward March Studios hybrid 3D maps were one of the main inspirations for this idea. I highly recommend that you visit their site for more. 

The recommended base in Bloody Big Battles is 1" (25mm): At 13mm, the Command Post Kriegspiel Blocks work out to half scale BBB--and the rest is history.  Above is a portion of the Southern section of Konigratz map, with the Saxons & one div of the Austrian X Corps defending vs three Divisions of the Prussian Army of the Elbe. 

It was only a happy coincidence that this particular situation map is mounted in a poster frame.  I had only picked up the poster frame as a cheap source for large plexiglass sheets to lay on top of maps (an idea taken from the Forward March Studious "how to" tutorial on creating hybrid 3D maps).  However, at half scale this does work out nicely to a 4 foot x 6 foot playing area, so could become a handy standard to pop playing maps into frames (and they could be easily transported and stored when not in use as well).

Miniatures rules rarely work well with the undulations and schema of real terrain (even the most realistic of our wargames layouts is stylized to fit figure stands and systems).  Thus, I intend to do some highlighting and marking of terrain to help manage movement and other game mechanics.  This is where the plexiglass comes in. This is one departure that I am taking over the process outlined in the Forward March Studios for marking terrain. Where they suggest permanent markers, I am going to use water based paint pens.  Watching an artist's youtube video on oil vs water based paint pens, I saw that water based paint pens would leave a durable enough mark on plexiglass to stand up under gaming, but then would easily be wiped off afterwards.  I'm still working on how and what to highlight (probably going to clarify towns, river crossings, and major elevations...patience, dear readers, this is an initial work in progress after all).

 

Rather than using stickers, I decided to paint the KS blocks. This gives me greater flexibility on use given that the engineers, pontoons, infantry, wagons, artillery, and limber blocks are all the same size in the Command Post sets (it's only  the stickers that are differentiated). The cavalry and the skirmish detachment blocks are the only other sizes. I ordered a white set, a gray set, a red set, and a French blue set--they can, of course, represent any army. In this case, the Prussians are blue on gray, the Saxons are the light blue on dark blue, and the Austrians are the dark blue on white. 

A close up of the Prussian blocks.  Each block has a tick mark to indicate the front of the base. Units in road column are depicted by placing the blocks the long way on the road with alternating facing.  The lead two divisions are in column of march (per BBB).  I added the white line on the blue on gray blocks to help differentiate the dark blue from the gray. 

A Saxon division deployed on line as per BBB.  The skirmish block indicates that there is one base with skirmish capability in this division. To the right, you can see an unlimbered Saxon artillery battery (pretty straightforward representation). 

I'll be working out a few more things to play BBB at the half scale on a map like this. Right now, I'm thinking of using calipers to measure moves and ranges. Failing that, I may come up with some measuring sticks--less fiddly than trying to do half scale measuring with rulers. I'm also thinking of coming up with a more simplified means for doing movement distances, something that is based more on the posture of the unit and the combination of terrain types in movement route than trying to tick off each terrain piece encountered...but that's all just very preliminary.  I'm hoping to have  test game next week: more to come!

 

Excelsior!