Friend of General Haig, Kelly, has been building up a collection of Warlord Epic Napoleonics for a little while. To make things extra difficult for himself, he has chosen the 1813 campaign as the background for his armies, and also decided to focus on the Saxon and Prussian protagonists. This has meant he’s needed to make lots of conversions to the Warlord Epic Waterloo Prussian and French ranges. We’ve been so impressed by this Epic ‘madness’ that we suggested to Friend of General Haig, and Warlord supremo, John, that we should bring Kelly’s collection to this year’s Warlord Open Day. He agreed, and so Kelly, Jerry, Pete and Andy mk. 1 made the Wargamers’ pilgrimage to the Lead Belt.
After a Friday night enjoying the beer and curry based delights of Nottingham we arrived, if not bright, then certainly early, at Warlord HQ and set up the battle of Gross Beeren 1813 in the outdoor marquee with the various other demos.
This battle sees a smaller Saxon / French force trying to hold off a much larger force of Prussians. The table looked splendid once set up. Friend of General Haig, Jerry, had done a spectacular job of the terrain, and Kelly’s armies looked truly epic laid out ready for battle. The big Epic battalions look fabulous and really give the impression of a Napoleonic battle.
There was a lot of interest in the game, the armies, and the terrain. We had a great day talking to the Open Day visitors, and the Warlord staff, about all things Epic, Napoleonic and Black Powder. It was also great to meet up with online wargaming buddies and assorted wargaming glitterati in attendance. James from Shakos and Sprues, Martin from 7th Son, The Kaiser and Wooly Mike from Modelling for Advantage, Dan from Wargames Illustrated, and Mr. Peach himself from Peachy Tips, all dropped by over the day, and I’m sure there were more that I’ve forgotten (sorry!).
The Open Day itself seemed to be a great success and generated lots of interest. There were plenty of things to see all day, and we were busy talking to people until after 4pm. We each managed to grab some time away from the table over the course of the day, and I always like the chance to visit the Warlord design studio. I was really excited to see some fabulous looking 28mm 17th Century Poles that are in the pipeline. It was also really nice to meet the Warlord in-house painters and pick up some tips.
What about the battle? Well we did manage to play a turn or two during the day, mainly to keep the table interesting, and also to demo the rules to people interested in how the Black Powder rules system works. The Prussians came on very gamely, but the plucky Saxons and French launched several spirited counter attacks that had some success in holding back the black and blue horde. The superior Prussian numbers eventually overcame Saxon/French pluck and things were looking bad for Reynier’s forces by the time darkness fell.
So, another Open Day in the bag for the FOGH. We had a fabulous day out. Hearty thanks to John and all of the Warlord staff for looking after us, as well as making the Open Day the brilliant, positive wargaming event that it continues to be. We can’t wait to be up in Notters again!
