Die Kriegkunst for sale?!
I've had a look inside the front cover of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy, issue #29 and seen a "Meet the family!" advertisement. The particular family are "Dave Brown's General de Brigade - and rules based on the General de Brigade system" with the various rules and scenario books illustrated and listed. All very well and good but (and there was always going to be a "but"! :roll: ) also listed is Die Kriegkunst - Wargaming the Seven Years War for 14.99 pounds. Is this really available, or has someone jumped the (battalion!) gun? If, as I suspect, this is a load of old cobblers then any update on when this ruleset will be available. The latest I've seen from Angus Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames site http://www.edinburghwargames.com/SYW.htm is Spring (of the northern hemisphere variety) 2008, just before Salute. Of course prior warning of publishing is not a bad thing if you live in New Zealand and are after Caliver Books normal free postage deal if ordered before publication. :lol: Salute von Peter himself

Hi Peter, Was wondering the exact same thing myself whilst whiling away some time in my hotel in Sydney. Desperate to get the final rules as we have been fortunate enough to be one of the fringe play-testing gamers out in the Antipodes here in Perth. Angus has promised an update before the end of January on his site. When is Von Peter's getting an update as I am desperate to see some of your latest goings-on? Cheers Carlo

Hi Peter, Surely the Great Von Peter has injured his knee whilst riding down those damned French at the head of his Silesian Hussars!!!( Calpe of course!) That same beautiful Russian SYW has had many outings mate and no, unfortnately I have not been able to track down Paul since we last spoke. Pity as I have a stack of figures I would love him to paint over here. In fact they often battle Mike's British (I know, I know!) which I think he got from Terry in NZ as well. For those who have not had the pleasure of Von Peters Wargaming madness, take a moment and visit what is one of the most entertaining and visually pleasing sites that I have come across. I can still see you smiling over that cup of coffee in that cafe in Wellington on that rainy afternoon as we looked at photographs of the Wargames Holiday Centre refight of Austerlitz. At least you will be able to get a bit of painting in between taxi bookings for the children. Hope you are feeling better very soon. Cheers Carlo

Hi Peter, Your guilty conscience about not updating your site over Christmas makes me feel a whole lot better about my inaction at Befreiungskriege 1813-14 over the same period. At least I had the excuse of mass illness at my house! Still, I've started to post again now and even picked up the paintbrush this week. BTW - I'm interested in seeing how your casualty markers are progressing because I've got some on the go too. How are you going to base them? I've been thinking about ordering some octagonal bases from Litko. Then I'd be able to indicate the number of casualties by having the relevant numbered side of the base in contact with the unit. Good luck with the swimming, Martin

You mean something like this: and this; Glen

Yes Eugene, that's just the sort of thing I have in mind. The only difference for me would be that I use thinner bases so I'd have to put the numbers on the top surface of the base rather that round the sides. What size are those octagons? Litko does 1-inch and 2-inch ones. Annoyingly I suspect one will be too small and the other too big (for 28mm figs).

msk, You hit the nail on the head, they are 1.5", I created a paper template at 1" as I thought that would work but 25/28mm figures are just too big. A 2" base would be larger than the normal French Infantry company base, might be okay with your Prussians though plus it would give you plenty of room to add those extra touches. Glen

Just as I suspected. Great minds think alike because I also cut out paper templates to see which might work best. I think I'll be going for the two inch ones. Although they'll be on the large side, I'll need a bit of extra space for the numbers. Plus some finishing touches are indeed tempting - the odd broken wheel from a cannon etc.

I have just started using Octagonal bases as well to represent casualties on the units. Slightly thinner than those shown, however I tried numbers and my sign-writing skills failed me. What I have done instead is to base and flock the marker as normal and paint some white dots on the raised bits of tallus and clumped sand on the surface close to each side. This gives the appearance of kicked up stones etc. Then I have ensured that the bayonet of each casualty figure is pointing towards the five side to give me a quick reference amongst all the dots during a game. Has worked very well so far and I will post a photograph as soon as I return home this weekend. I did see something that gave me the inspiration being used from a great bunch of blokes who were putting on a great looking 1812 game at the Sheffield Triples two years ago. Cheers Carlo

Dear Eugene Your Cuirassier victim is a complete deadringer for yours truly after a good days gaming. I am immensely impressed!!! Cheers Maturin