23/06/12 - Le Manchou

Started by Leon, 23 June 2012, 02:38:06 AM

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Leon

23 June 2012, 02:38:06 AM Last Edit: 23 June 2012, 02:45:29 AM by Leon
ABOUT YOU

Name:
Sébastien Bossard.

Location:
Changchun, North-East of China.

Do you have a pic?




PAYING FOR IT!

Current occupation:
Senior lecturer in French Language and Civilization.

What’s the best job you've ever had?
This one.

What would your ideal occupation be?
Owner and manager of a wargaming center.


GETTING INTO IT!

How did you get involved in wargaming?
My first contact with wargaming was with Airfix and ESCI plastic miniatures 25 years ago and Les Aigles rules (Napoleonic).




What was your first figure?
The ESCI french old guard and the highlanders.

Do you have a favourite period/genre?
For now 1870 but I am interested in many periods.

How big is your figure collection?
20 000 miniatures at a 10mm scale (1870 and a few napoleonic austrians and french), 1500 6mm (WW2 and modern), 1000 25mm (Gauls, Carthaginians, Ottomans and Timurids), 250 15mm. So around 23 000.

And how big is your unpainted lead mountain?
Not that big actually, maybe 5 kilograms.

Do you have a favourite model in your collection? And do you have a pic?
One elephant of the 25mm Timurid army, unfortunately it is in France so no pictures.

What is the most important aspect of wargaming for you?
Painting is for me very important to relax and rest, and wargaming is in my opinion the best way to study military history and to understand deeply the art of warfare.


PLANNING IT

What project are you currently working on?
My 1870 project for the next two years.

And do you have any long-term projects on the go?
A new project: the campaign of 1859 (I have the miniatures but am still searching for the appropriate general staff maps) and the 1815 Belgian campaign (16-18th of June), I already have beautiful maps to represent the whole area including Namur, Charleroi, Ligny, Waterloo, etc...I just need to print them at a much bigger scale. I am waiting for the 1815 Pendraken range. All of this is intended to be the basic material for a wargaming centre.

For campaigns, the game would be like this at the operational level:




and in case of battle like that:




I also plan to propose short games to simulate famous battles, I already have the battlefields for Wissembourg, Spicheren, Froeschwiller, Borny and I will get Rezonville in a month, etc...

Do you have any wargaming influences?
Mainly I read books about wars and military manuals and deduct my own rules from it, sometimes I also use commercial rules if they propose what I need (as for the 1870, 1859 and 1866 rules and Le feu sacré)


BUYING IT!

Do you buy scenery, or scratch build it?
I pay an artist to reproduce general staff maps to a 1/4 000 scale.

Which figure range is at the top of your request list?
The complete 1815 range.

Which individual item is at the top of your request list?
1870 French guard limber and caisson.

Which wargaming websites do you visit regularly?
Pendraken, Napoleonistyka, les forums du jeu d'histoire, TMP, Wargames Holiday Centre and a lot of others.

If someone handed you £100 right now, what would you buy?
Silver coins.

What has been your biggest one-off purchase?
The whole Italian and Austrian armies of 1859 in one single order (about 1000 pounds of value!) to Pendraken, but unfortunately it brought trouble to Leon and I because of the Chinese customs, a long story....just settled.


PAINTING AND MODELLING IT!

How many hours a week do you paint?
When I have miniatures, maybe 12 hours.

What kind of technique do you use?
White spray and then colors and then a spray of varnish.

Do you have a preferred brand of paint?
Prince August.

Do you have a painting area?  And do you have a pic?
Not really, a small space near my computer.

Have you had any painting/modelling disasters?
Yes, and not long ago. I was on my way back from the battle of Wissembourg and forgot to block the drawers of my box with scotch as I usually do and of course all the miniatures fell on the street in front of incredule Chinese people. I spent a week of hard work to fix everything.


PLAYING WITH IT!

How often do you get to game?
Before I went to China, I was playing once a week.  Now, it is 4-5 times a year but I also organize campaigns by email to test my system.  We finished successfully already 3 campaigns like that.

Do you belong to a local club?
I belonged to 'Les Lanciers de l'Ouest' of Nantes, I was the president for a few years and everytime I go back to France I go to see my old buddies and play with them.  My club will celebrate its 30 years anniversary in 2013.

Have you had any wargaming disasters?
I once tried to charge the grand battery of the French guard with a whole Russian cavalry corps, not my best moment....

Do you prefer short games or long campaigns?
Long campaigns.

Do you have a wargames room? And do you have a pic?
This is difficult in my apartment here but I bought a town house in France and plan to create a big one there.

How do you store your figures?
In boxes with 6 A4 drawers, in one drawer I can put one complete Prussian army corps, it's very convenient.

4 of my 8 boxes:




READING ABOUT IT!

What are you reading at the moment?
Souvenirs d'un zouave.

Do you have a favourite book?
L'histoire de France from Henri Martin.




Do you buy any wargaming magazines?
No.


WATCHING IT!

What are your 3 favourite films?
Apocalypse Now, Starship Troopers, Oktobr.




And your 3 worst?
Difficult to choose, there is so many of them.

What are your all-time Top 3 TV shows?
Monk, Dexter, Dr House.


LISTENING TO IT!

Who is your favourite band?
The Red army chorus (Alexandr Alexandrov period).


NOT RELATED TO IT!

What other hobbies/pastimes do you enjoy?
Reading.

What do you drive?
I don't have a car.

And who are your Top 3 Totty?

Brigitte Bardot:




Rommy Schneider:




Bipasha Basu:




Do you have a favourite quote?
'J'y suis, J'y reste!' General Mac-Mahon after his successful assault against the Malakoff tower.

If you could do anything, what would it be?
Time travelling.


8)
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

Duke Speedy of Leighton

Great interview, plans are afoot about that limber.
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

ronan

Glad to read about you Le Manchou !

I hope we'll have a drink and talk about wargames the next time you'll come to Nantes !

Le Manchou

For sure Ronan!
I will probably be in Nantes from 10th of January to 25th of February 2013.
Si vis pacem, para bellum

nikharwood


Techno

Brilliant !
And you've got the same 'impossible' dream as myself as regards going backwards and forwards through time....Wonderful concept !
Cheers - Phil

Aart Brouwer

Très sympa, Le Manchou! And what a great idea to start that wargaming center. Ambitious but .. ehm.. wholesome and relaxing, even as a thought in the back of a man's mind.

Cheers,
Aart
Sadly no longer with us - RIP (1958-2013)

"No, I do not have Orcs, Riders of Rohan, Dark Elves, Skaven, Kroot Mercenaries Battle Tech, HeroClix, Gangs of Mega-City One or many-horned f****** genetic-mechanoid arse-faced pigmen from the Purple Pustule of Tharg T bloody M." (Harry Pearson, Achtung Schweinehund!)

DancingPotPlant

23,000 miniatures collection, wow!  :o

Time well spent says I!  :P

Maenoferren

Sometimes I wonder - why is that frisbee geting bigger - and then it hits me!

Serotonin

Nice one- love the music choice!   :D

Hertsblue

Congratulations on a truly unique approach to wargaming. The maps are genuinely amazing.  :-bd Oh, and while I don't know the third lady, your first two choices figured largely in my teenage fantasies too.  :x
When you realise we're all mad, life makes a lot more sense.

www.rulesdepot.net

goat major

Great interview. Fell off my chair again at the scale of your FP project. I like the printed maps - very nice.

Never realised Prince August did paints - so i've learned something!
My blog: https://goatmajor.org.uk/
My twitting: http://twitter.com/goatmajor

2014 Painting Competition - Winner!

GavinP

Great Interview - just how do you get to do one of these?

Those maps are incredible, how much do they cost and how long do they take to do?

Le Manchou

Thank you all, I now have 440 square meters of painted maps and can almost propose the 1870 campaign in Lorraine already, I will finish the strategic, operational and tactical rules this Summer. The cost is 140 pounds per map (1m50 per 5m) and my artist can paint 3 per month.
Si vis pacem, para bellum

ronan

hey !
I found an (old) picture of Le Manchou !
He's playing spearhead ( ww2 ) I believe.. and, as usual, he keeps focusing on his main battle plan !  ;)
This was taken about 15 years ago ( may be more ?  I didn't write the date on this picture ) during our annual convention in Nantes. He didn't changed too much.. Lucky man !



I'm very upset about myself : I can't find other pictures, where he was leading our army in Borodino.
( if I remember we were ~ 20 players using 15,000 minis )

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