After seeing all the good looking blogs used by gamers her on the forum, I decided I should try it. It is still a work in progress as I attempt to master WordPress. 

Here is my refight of Königgrätz 1866 using Blody Big Battles. Our group is planning to play this scenario this coming Saturday (20 September) with a few changes. I hope you enjoy the report.

https://themanchurianwar.com/2025/09/14/koniggratz-1866/

v/r  Jeff

What a nice looking setup. Having acquired Austrians to go with my Bavarians and Prussians, Koniggratz is a future project for me, along with the other 1866 battles. I am pretty much into C19th warfare, having collections from 28mm down to 2mm covering the Peninsular War, Denmark 1848, The Crimea, the Franco-Austrian War, the American Civil War, Denmark 1864, the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War and the Pacific War.

Yes I am enjoying the late 19th Century period. Many historical wars/battles to choose from, plus room for some fictitious campaigns. I have 1864 and 1866. Debating whether to build an Italian Front 1866 armies. As you know, I am currently awaiting my first round of RJW figures. I am planning a RJW battle for my October game and RJW will be a focus for the near future. 

Not too much difference between the Savoy army of 1859 and the Italian army of 1866, so you could get several scenarios out of it, especially if you then use some ACW as Redshirts.

I love what you're doing, Jeff.

Just be aware that the 19th century is a very large rabbit hole. If you're not careful you can end up with a Portuguese army for 1891. (At least, I did. I think I only ever used it to fight a fictitious and improbable British invasion of Madeira.)

Our oldest ally - were these fictitious British led by the fictitious King Donald of Scotland, the one who replaced the Lion and the Unicorn with Cheetahs?

"Our oldest ally!" - that's exactly what my opponent's dad said when he came to pick him up from the club. In fairness, we were teenagers and the battle was generated by some tiny 0.1% chance or something from a table I'd created to randomise who was at war with who that week.

Just be aware that the 19th century is a very large rabbit hole. 

Agree, but that is what makes it attractive. In a large way it is an unexplored terrain for many wargamers. 

I am not necessarily driven to add more armies. My idea is to have others in our group to add armies. Most of the group are into skirmish battles and larger scale figures. A large battle for them is DBA or the like. So I need to offer enough variety to get some of the group 'hooked' on the period and 6mm in general. 1864 and the RJW are my main interest and I rather stay with those armies. If the group began to add other armies in the period, great! If the group decided to try 6mm Napoleonic or some other period (horse and musket), I would build an appropriate army to play. 

The only reason I built the 1866 armies was that I could leverage the 1864 Prussian and Austrians to offer more variety in my attempt to generate interest. It is why I hesitant to build a 1870 French Army as I would prefer someone else to build one.