Enlighten me. Why is the SYW superior to Napoleonics?

[Matt J]

Steve, check out

www.kronoskaf.com

It has everything you need.

[John Cook]

Steve, check out

www.kronoskaf.com

It has everything you need.

What is this site?  My antivirus software prevents access on the grounds that "The site is listed as a malicious site that may be stealing identity information, plant viruses on your machine or do other harmful things."

[FierceKitty]

Perhaps this link:

http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Main_Page

[steve_holmes_11]

Steve, check out

www.kronoskaf.com

It has everything you need.

Bookmarked, plenty of reading there.
That should elaborate from "who was on which team" to the sort of stuff that we wargamers need to know:
* Structure of the battles and main tactics.
* Army organisation.
* Varieties of cuffs and numbers of buttons on them.
* Flags.
* Development of the bricole throughout the war 

Many thanks.

[Westmarcher]

Some good stuff here also:-

http://royalfig.free.fr/index.php?/categories

[see under 'Drapeaux' (flags) and 'Uniformes']

I found this site before kronoskaf. I used the flags section to paint my Pendraken Prussian and Austrian cavalry flags (which I won't do again in a hurry).

p.s. Steve (Holmes), I've p.m.'d you on Honours of War.

[Leman]

The two sites obscure battles and not by appointment also have some very useful SYW material. NBA also has some very nice  flags to resize and print.

[Westmarcher]

Thanks. Interesting resources. 

[found these links]
http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com
http://obscurebattles.blogspot.com/p/battles-by-year.html

[John Cook]

Perhaps this link:

http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Main_Page

That is a very useful site.  Many thanks

[John Cook]

Why does one have to be better than the other? 

I've been into Napoleonics for more than fifty years and the first thing I'd ask, is which 'Napoleonic war' are we talking about.  The Treaty of Amiens is usually considered to be the point marking the end of the French Revolutionary Wars and the start of the Napoleonic.  This means we can forget about the First and Second Coalitions.

So, if we accept that we mean wars against Napoleon's Imperial France then we have Third to Seventh Coalition, all of which are separate and different one way or another.  Then there is 'background activity' in the form of the Peninsular War from 1807 until 1814, British expeditions to South America in 1806 and 1807, Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 and the War of 1812-1814 in North America.

The only sensible approach is to consider these individually and any attempt to conflate them into a single wargaming period, even if confined to Europe, is a recipe for madness I'd say.

Uniforms didn't change nearly as much as people perceive.  There were no substantive changes until around 1807 and they were far from immediate.  Similarly the variety of uniforms, as far as I can see, is not significantly greater than those of the Seven Years War.

The Seven Year's War is not my forte but it too was equally global in nature, was it not?  The war in Europe seems to have almost as many separate wars going on as the Napoleonic Wars.  Furthermore, how can the SYW in Europe be considered in the same breath as the French and Indian War and the war in India?  All completely different in nature and scope to my layman's eyes.

I would probably not commit to gaming the Seven Year's War in Europe, but I have always fancied the Indian theatre as a smaller scale alternative in entirely different terrain, with a completely different opponent.

They Napoleonic and Seven Years War are not better than each other.  They are just different.  Both are global in nature and have plenty of 'sub-plots' going on that are different again from the mainstream European theatres.  You have options of massive battles to small engagements, including the occasional amphibious operation.

One thing they do have in common though are iconic leaders – Frederick the Average and Little Boney.

[FierceKitty]

  The war in Europe seems to have almost as many separate wars going on as the Napoleonic Wars.  Furthermore, how can the SYW in Europe be considered in the same breath as the French and Indian War and the war in India?  All completely different in nature and scope to my layman's eyes.

The most farsighted politician England has ever bred thought otherwise.

[Chad]

John

Could not have put it better. I am doing the 'fallow' period of the French Revolutionary Wars which incorporates elements of both those referred to in the basic discussion.

Chad

[John Cook]

The most farsighted politician England has ever bred thought otherwise.

Was he a wargamer?

[Leman]

No, he did it for real.

[Kiwidave]

<flippant mode>on</flippant mode>

   Maybe because SYW takes less time to type/say than Napoleonics? 

<flippant mode>off</flippant mode>

[Dr Dave]

Hang on: " Then there is 'background activity' in the form of the Peninsular War "

Why is the Peninsula "background"?