"La BRICOLE": Wargaming the Napoleonic Wars in Miniature

Bonjour, Bricoleurs!

I've been mulling over the rules for the competition, and would like some feedback from you rank and file out there before posting them "officially".

Competition Rules:

The category is as follows:

Any line or militia unit (or units) from any army in the Napoleonic Wars. A very broad category, but no guards or elite troops. Just the bread-and-butter of any given army. Light infantry is okay, but no elite rifles, for instance. If in doubt, check with me first!

20- 28mm: a minimum of 18 foot miniatures, or 12 cavalry, or three guns.
15mm or smaller: a minimum of 36 foot miniatures, or 18 cavalry, or six guns.

Personality/ command stands are welcome, but in themselves would not count towards voting unless accompanied by unit or units meeting the above criteria.

Miniatures can be in metal and/or plastic (either soft or hard). All are acceptable. Must be your own work, not "outsourced".

Entries must be unpainted at the time the contest officially starts. The miniatures may have been cleaned and primed at the start of the contest, but should not yet have had any paint applied. Start a thread with your project target and a little background, and post photos of the miniatures as they are before you start painting them. You should be prepared to give photo updates on progress from time to time- every few weeks or so is fine. This is to stimulate both discussion and, hopefully, some excitement!

The competition would officially be launched on January 1st, and is to last three months. Photos of the final entries to be submitted no later than midnight, Tokyo time, March 31st.

Voting to take place within the week after the deadline, and the winner announced then.

At the closing of the contest, those who participated will be allowed to cast two votes for the winner (I'll set up a poll). Entries should be assessed in terms of quality of painting, basing, and presentation.

Depending on number of entries, we may have a run-off, but I'll announce that in good time before the end of the competition.

There will be prizes, but TBA- I've a few leads and ideas but nothing fixed yet. Remember this contest is not about prizes, but about sharing our work and encouragement! Be positive and constructive with criticism. La Bricole has always been a friendly place, and I'd like it to remain that way.

I'm concerned whether people think that the numbers of minis I proposed for each category are reasonable or not, and I'd welcome any discussion on that. Regarding deadlines, I thought that three months is a reasonable time, not too long or too short, but you all know my painting speed! If anyone thinks the deadline should be brought forward or pushed back, make your case here.

I'll be posting the official notice for the competion next weekend, and will be promoting it on various other fora out there. So if you want your input on the terms of the contest, please be sure to let me know your thoughts this week, as after that it will be too late.

Those rules sound fine to me, Robert.

My only concern is the minimum number of figures per unit; as our rules are played at the 1:60 scale, we average around 10-12 figures per infantry battalion, rising to 15-18 for Austrians. As I'm not planning on painting Austrians I was wondering if my entry could be 2 units of infantry instead of the suggested 1.

Just making things difficult, I know!

There's always got to be one for special pleading, eh?

Seriously, though, these look quite reasonable. Given the stated intent to be as 'inclusive' as possible, some room for 'creative' application of certain rules should certainly be well within the judge's remit.

Greystreak wrote:Given the stated intent to be as 'inclusive' as possible, some room for 'creative' application of certain rules should certainly be well within the judge's remit.

"Creative" is the word! Russian autocrats + rules = moral manoeuvrability!

Two units are fine, Rosbif. The minimums refer to miniatures, there is no mention of units (I've now changed the wording to make this clear). I just wanted to level the playing field, and thought it more fair if some kind of balance was factored into the competition. I would imagine that 28's take a lot longer to paint than 15's (although I may be wrong?), and larger units for sure need more time to complete.

Sounds good to me. 3 months is enough and 18 figures is ok.

Count me in.

Hi,
Yes I was a little concerned about the 36 figures for 15mm.
As I use GdB and I'm painting up Russians, Prussians and Saxons and the battalion size are 32.

On a personal note I was keeping my fingers crossed for an earlier start due as I have plenty to paint and free time from mid to late December however I am sure I'll get something done.

I'll just post what I can and enjoy the fun, it's all good.
Cheers
Paul

Lieutenant Hausmann wrote:Hi,
Yes I was a little concerned about the 36 figures for 15mm.
As I use GdB and I'm painting up Russians, Prussians and Saxons and the battalion size are 32.

Good point, and as GDB a popular set of rules for 15mm gamers I'll drop it to 32, as four miniatures are a small enough margin. That's the lowest I'd be inclined to go, though.

Lieutenant Hausmann wrote:On a personal note I was keeping my fingers crossed for an earlier start due as I have plenty to paint and free time from mid to late December however I am sure I'll get something done.

I'll just post what I can and enjoy the fun, it's all good.

If others don't object, Paul, I can't see why we couldn't allow early starts. But of course your deadline would have to be set forward accordingly to keep it fair.

Napoleon at War (18mms) unit sizes are 28 (including skirmishers). Not pleading for another change - in fact I don't think the slippery slope is a good idea. I'll just paint two regiments

FleetfootMike wrote:Not pleading for another change - in fact I don't think the slippery slope is a good idea. I'll just paint two regiments

Good man!!!

No worries here either Robert,
I'll aim to get a couple of battalions of the same nation done and or with command base plus the start date will be fine. I'll just proceed on other figures until January.

It's the taking part that counts anyway!
Cheers
Paul