Some 1866 action

Some years ago I stumbled upon the series of wargame rules "1870", "1859" and "1866". The period soon caught me: There are plenty of well researched scenarios, the armies are the last truly colourful Western armies of History, and the variety is never ending. Within a small span of 11 years there are plenty of interesting armies to paint and play.
  I started with Austrians and Prussians, and my first French are not very far away (and I have the eye on upcoming Italian ranges). Here you have a photographic report of my first battle test using "1866". Well, as a matter of fact, I am using the latest official version of the system rules, also named 1870-Lite, which streamlines the use of several tables without losing tactical detail. This series of rules was primarily intended for wargaming in 6mm and 10mm, but I find that 28mm plays just perfect, and with no change in the game scale! What matters is that each base is around 30mm wide.. and that´s it. Depending on the scale you choose to play each particular game, one base can represent 1 batallion, half-batallion or about 1/4 batallion. You just play with the official distances for each game-scale. Here you can see 1 Austrian brigade (6 infantry batallions + 1 jaegers batallion), plus 1 regiment of 3 batallions and a second jaeger batallion, preparing to defend a ridge against a similar sized Prussian force that is coming out of a wood. I am sorry I don´t have artillery yet, and the Austrians are going to miss it very much...

As you can see, my austrian standards have yet to be painted and flags posted. On the other hand, the Prussian standards you can see ARE finished: The old flags of some regiments were simply vanished with the years.

Check out those austrian officers: North Star´s 1866 28mm range is full of great character figures, specially officers.

It was just a first try, but the rules worked great: They have a lot of tactical nuances, they illustrate well all the differences between different troop types, weapons, command (including doctrine) and nationalities, but everything using a quite moderate amount of modifiers. The rules are not the best written for clarity (reading all the errata and designer´s Q&A is a sine quanon), but once you take the grasp of them they are fast, historic and fun. The following pic was taken at a very advanced stage of the game. At the end, both sides morale gave in simultaneously: The austrian command gave the order to retreat, while at the same time the prussian command gave the order to stop the attack. Austrian losses were about 50% higher than those from the enemy, even if they were on the deffensive, but that is to be expected when you fight with Austrians without artillery support against those needlegun armed devils.

Hoy tenemos un batallón de jaegers austríacos, con su apariencia típica en 1866. Sin duda las mejores unidades de infantería del ejército austríaco. He intentado sacar el máximo partido a los 2 tonos de grises del uniforme, oscuro el abrigo y claro el pantalón. Llaman también la atención las brillantes plumas negras de gallo. 

Here we have a batalion of austrian jaegers, in their most typical dressing during the 1866 campaign. The best infantry units in the Austrian army, no doubt about it. I´ve tried to get the most out of their sombre uniforms: Dark grey greatcoats and lighter grey trousers. The shiny black plumes give them a lot of character.

Como suelo hacer con las tropas ligeras, he colocado 3 miniaturas por peana para que puedan "respirar". Como referencia básica he usado el reglamento "1866", pero también planeo probar una adaptación del Regimental Fire & Fury.
As I use to do with light infantry, I´ve put 3 minis per base instead of the usual 4. As a basic reference for building an army, I am using the ruleset "1866". I plan to play with it and also with an adaptation of Regimental Fire & Fury.

Una de mis gamas preferidas es la de 1866 de North Star. Esta seman se ha anunciado su compra a un fabricante aún no revelado, así que temporalmente no se podrán comprar. Espero que el nuevo propietario le insufle nueva energía a esta gama y vuelva a sacar novedades a buen ritmo. Lo ya disponible forma una de mis gamas favoritas tanto por la calidad del modelado como por la enorme variedad de poses y cabezas. ¿Argumentos para jugar y pintar el periodo 1859-1870?: grandes batallas, información detallada accesible, variedad y vistosidad de los uniformes.

Se presenta aquí, aún sin haber recibido la bandera, el 41º Regimiento de infantería alemana del Imperio Austríaco, 1866. Aún falta el suelo y el estandarte, pero me han gustado tanto las fotos que no me he podido resistir. Como puede verse, he intentado extraer el máximo contraste de los abrigos grises. Algunos chacós van cubiertos con una funda encerada impermeable brillante que también da un buen efecto.

Por cierto, aprovecho para recomendar la calibración de su monitores a los que no lo hayan hecho ya. La calidad de los colores es muy superior. La calidad que veo en mi monitor doméstico calibrado es mucho mejor que la del monitor si calibrar que uso en el trabajo (imagen demasiado fría-azulada).

One of my preferred ranges is North Star´s1866. Just this week, North Star has announced it is now sold to a new owner, so there is going to be an hiatus in availability. I hope the new owner puts new energy into it, releasing new miniatures soon. So far, the range is very varied and of very high quality, with varied poses and heads. Why would you paint and play 1859-70 armies?: Big and small battles, detailled info already available, varied and dashing uniforms!

Here you have, still waiting for their flag, the 41st Regiment of german infantry, Austrian Empire 1866. I still have to put the flag and do the ground, but I am so happy about the pictures I couldn´t resist. As you can see, I´ve tried to extract the greatest possible contrast from the dark grey greatcoats. Some shakos are covered with a shiny waterproof cloth: That is realistic and intended.

BTW, if your monitor is not calibrated, you should know that is a priority for any serious aficionado! The pictures look much better in my calibrated laptop at home than at my uncalibrated set at work (white is too cold-blueish). On the other hand, my Xperia S phone color is also fine, but other phones I have seen suck...