Suggested Napoleonic Ruleset

[Batu Khan]

Hello all!

Up to now, we have been playing Napoleonic warfare with Black Powder rules in our club. While I enjoy the rules, I was wondering what you guys play and do you have any rule set to recommend. Something compatible with 10mm and rules featuring a unit=battalion-regiment is a plus, but not a necessity.

Thanks...

[pierre the shy]

There are a lot of different choices out there for Napoleonic rules.

Have you looked at Volley and Bayonet Batu Khan? They originally came out in the early 1990's IIRC correctly but a 2nd revised edition was printed fairly recently.

We have played a fair few games with them with 6mm and 10mm figures and find they give a very good game. They have a number of different scales available (We have used them with 1 base = 1 brigade to refight Austerlitz and Boridino as well as the much smaller wing scale where 1 stand = 1/2 a battalion to fight AWI games. Have to say that Paul's AWI refights of Camden and Guildford Courthouse were two of the most enjoyable games I have ever played.

I would recommend them very highly.

Cheers
Peter

[petercooman]

I use napoleonic wargaming by Neil Thomas.

Nice and Simple!

[Nick the Lemming]

I prefer Bluecher.

[Fenton]

How about Field of Battle

[paulr]

There are a lot of different choices out there for Napoleonic rules.

Have you looked at Volley and Bayonet Batu Khan? They originally came out in the early 1990's IIRC correctly but a 2nd revised edition was printed fairly recently.

We have played a fair few games with them with 6mm and 10mm figures and find they give a very good game. They have a number of different scales available (We have used them with 1 base = 1 brigade to refight Austerlitz and Boridino as well as the much smaller wing scale where 1 stand = 1/2 a battalion to fight AWI games. Have to say that Paul's AWI refights of Camden and Guildford Courthouse were two of the most enjoyable games I have ever played.

I would recommend them very highly.

Cheers
Peter

Seconded, V&B are a fairly simple set of rules that present a lot of tactical challenges to the players and are much more subtle than they first appear


Guildford Courthouse was certainly a highlight of my 40 years of wargaming, in part because of the impact seeing a refight of the battle had on my start in the hobby

[Aksu]

Hullo,
For large games 1 element = brigade I like Blücher, for grand tactical 1 element = battalion I like  a lesser known set March Attack by Crusader games http://www.crusaderpublishing.com/MarchAttack.php
I started miniature wargaming with plastic Napoleonics in 1977, and ever since I have been looking for an elegant set of rules for an era I fell in love with. So far those two seem to fit my bill.
Cheers,
Aksu

[toxicpixie]

I'd third BLucher (simple, generates an asymmetrical game with a short mini-campaign/march approach to set up, which feels like a proper Napoleonic ARMY LEVEL game when you get on table. Each base is a Brigade). For Divisional-Corps level, I do like Shako! from Arty Conliffe - battalion as the manoeuvre unit, you need to set a plan first and then it's bastard hard to deviate from it unless you're French on a good day!

[Batu Khan]

thank you everyone! I will definitely take a look at what each of you suggested.

[far4ngn]

I like the feel of General de Brigade... I like rules to have figure removal, I have Black Powder but it just didn't feel right.

[Genom]

I'm not particularly into the gaming the period (I was put off at an early age) but I like Sharp Practice 2 for it's more narrative feel.

[Zippee]

For me,
I like:

Sharp Practice II for games with a company or so per side

Lasalle for games with around a division plus per side

Or Le Feu Sacre III for games with a corps or two per side

Or Blucher for army level games

[Westmarcher]

Something compatible with 10mm and rules featuring a unit=battalion-regiment is a plus, but not a necessity.

Field of Battle is a good, slick game that uses assorted dice and card activation but being 28mm orientated needs a slight adjustment to the base sizes and measurements for my 10mm and 15mm armies. Like Black Powder, it also covers a wide period in history of around 150 - 200 years so very useful for other eras with a few minor period specific adjustments. Loads of Napoleonic  games to find on Gonsalvo's Blunders on the Danube blog/website - his group use them almost exclusively for Naps* and have their own Nap house rules. Peter Anderson (Gonsalvo) provided me with a copy and I can forward these to you if you wish. Other games can be found on the Wargames History and Sgt. Steiner blogs plus of course the author's own website, Wargames and Stuff.

Shako is also good. Looks very Napoleonic with skirmishers, columns, lines and squares without being complicated. Used to play it years ago. In days of yore, I was tempted to write my own rules to capture what I thought was the essence of Napoleonic warfare. The guy who wrote these appeared to have read my mind! As Toxicpixie mentioned, once your divisions get moving it's can sometimes be difficult to deviate from the plan in time to react to your enemy. I still recall one game when my opponent completely wrong footed me with a divisional attack of 6 battalions. Orders are not instantaneous (mind-reading and radios not being very well developed in that era) and any chance of being able to counter the move in time looked bleak. My only hope lay with two cavalry regiments to engage and delay them. Thankfully, the result was beyond all my expectations; the attacking battalions were forced to form square, two of them broke, others quickly followed and the attack was shattered.

I've also read good reports on Le Feu Sacre, one of the Two Fat Lardies games (I even own them but have never played them). To get a flavour of how games go, have a look at Fat Wally's Wargaming blog for loads of battle reports.

* they also appear to like Snappy Nappy.

[toxicpixie]

Good stuff on Shako, Westmarcher

I well remember one game where my side got completely sucker punched - we'd developed a good attack (as the Spanish, no less!), grinding a gap in the grimly out numbered French defenders, when they were forced to start counterattacking prematurely. Ah ha, we thought! And committed our reserve to crush them. Only for other units to move in, pocketing our attack and crushing it with a  cunningly crafted set of timed orders!

I wouldn't have minded so much if I hadn't used the same trick against the same opposition the day before in Arty Conliffe's WW2 set, and sucked most of the Italian desert armed forces into a horrific cauldron of direct fire 25pdr's closed off with Cruisers

[abikapi2]

We are satisfied using Le Feu Sacré, by Toofatlardies and Le Grognard 2 By Piquet for grand tactical scenery.

Stefano