Questions from Dave Lynch

One of my holiday snaps, taken while passing through Conwys

While I was away and every right thinking chap was turning his mind to gathering two of every animal and building a boat, Dave Lynch, new to this parish left the following comment. 

Dave wrote. 

"I enjoy your blog and the photos - thank you for taking the time to share it.

Based in large part on what I have seen in your blog, I am in the process of converting CCN to miniatures. My game mat is from HOTZ, and is 4" hexes. A few questions, if I might:

1. I'm planning on mounting my lads on 3" x 1.5" bases for infantry, 3" x 2" for cavalry, and 2" x 2" for artillery. I haven't decided how to account for "block loss"; what do you do?
One thought is a small laminated label with boxes that I can "check" when a casualty is taken. 

2. The rivers - did you make them, or are they commercial? Did you have to cut the pieces down to fit?

3. Going into square - how do you represent that?

Again, thanks for your efforts!"

Thank you Dave for writing and in answer to your questions. 

Spaniards on the march

I'm not a fan of casualty caps or rosters. I've written about them before and you can see how I do it here. I'm not convinced that my system would work for your setup, though I think it depends on what size the figures are and what you prefer yourself.  Lee's "Napoleonic Therapy" blog is also a good source of ideas.

The dreadful rage of water in mine ears

I make the river myself, using MDF cut to size by those obliging chaps at Products for Wargamers.  For value and speed of delivery, I can't recommend them enough. I would spend the money on the MDF rather than trying to cut it yourself as trying to make sure that everything is the right size is a purgatory. 

You can see my efforts here and here. 

I will have to update these posts, as I've found with time that the PVA warps the wood and becomes cloudy. I have tried and have been reasonably successful with using Citadel 'Ard Coat instead and just painting a couple of coats on. Thank you for bringing my attention to these. 

A Portuguese battalion, wreathed in gun smoke, forms square

My figures are based singly (I hate rebasing, it is soul destroying) and have magnetic material mounted on their bases. I then put them on a metal plate and arrange them as needs be. Usually when forming square, I just take some of them off and arrange them in something like a square formation. This usually only happens a couple of times per game, so it's no great hardship. I have been toying with the idea of dedicated square bases. 

The Battle of Albheura by Woolen

In my minds eye, I keep seeing images like the one above, but I don't think it would be practical really. A small diorama base, with flags and pennants flying would be wonderful, but I think with other armies to build and lacking unlimited money, they are very unlikely to ever appear. 

I hope these have answered your questions.