Hi everyone. I just wanted to flag up a set of Napoleonic rules which I am currently developing, called Shadow of the Eagles.
Some of you may know me as the author of Honours of War, the Osprey set for the SYW. Around a year ago I decided to tackle the Napoleonic period with the objective of producing a set that was simpler than most of the current main sets, would sell for less (no coffee table books!) and that also included some solid background for new players.
Partizan Press have recently agreed to publish the book, and we're hoping to have the rules for sale around Christmas this year.
So I wanted to ask for any Napoleonic gamers (or potential Napoleonic gamers) to join me on the development and playtesting site and contribute your thoughts and suggestions. The current version can be downloaded for free:
https://groups.io/g/eagles-shadow
You do have to register, but it's very simple. You don't have to do a playtest (although that would be great), just reading through and coming up with any initial thoughts is also fine.
I hope you can join me in the journey to producing a really solid and successful rule book for this flagship period.
Keith Flint.
Will do. I will concentrate on the Revolutionary period that I have been studying for about 2 years.
Sunjester - Fancy trying the Little Wooden Men with these?
Do I have to join the group?
Joining the group allows you to access the rules, plus give any feedback etc to Keith.
Interesting, I'm not yet a Napoleonic player but interested in getting into the period in the future so this comes at a good time.
@ Last Hussar - as Steve says, the short answer is yes, if you want to download the rules and join the discussion. It's an email group, so you do need to enter an email address and get approval from me to join.
I'm assured by those who know better that 'groups.io' are very kosher indeed, and no security or personal data issues are at all likely to arise. And I haven't refused to allow anyone to join so far!
@mmcv - you're just the kind of guy I'm looking for.
Quote from: mmcv on 29 July 2020, 07:27:10 AM
Interesting, I'm not yet a Napoleonic player but interested in getting into the period in the future so this comes at a good time.
A true wargamer -
no period is quite off the menu. I approve.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 29 July 2020, 08:56:49 AM
A true wargamer - no period is quite off the menu. I approve.
Most wargamers are slappers, if its the only offer going on that club night, they will take it.( and possibly regret it in the morning ) :) Saying I am not playing "Gorka Morka (other lower calibre wargames are available) " again. Only to do exactly the same thing the following club night - Much like an inebriated Essex girl on a Friday night. ( Inebriated girls of other counties are available). :)
Are you implying an Essex girl would ever be sober on Friday evening?
I'll sign up as I do plan to do a Napoleonics project and though I like the Portable Napoleonic Wargame that I have used it is maybe a bit simple at times.
Quote from: Keith57 on 29 July 2020, 08:21:42 AM
@ Last Hussar - as Steve says, the short answer is yes, if you want to download the rules and join the discussion. It's an email group, so you do need to enter an email address and get approval from me to join.
I'm assured by those who know better that 'groups.io' are very kosher indeed, and no security or personal data issues are at all likely to arise. And I haven't refused to allow anyone to join so far!
groups.io is the replacement for Yahoo groups except for the fact it works.....
Keith
I assume you want comments on the Group site and not here.
Chad
Quote from: FierceKitty on 29 July 2020, 10:13:06 AM
Are you implying an Essex girl would ever be sober on Friday evening?
Having grown up in Essex
sober come in many forms from "I am completely sober as I have only had 1 beer" to so drunk the girl in question has a "Sh*g card" similar to the 18th century dance card, but an Essex girl equivalent. :d
Quote from: Keith57 on 29 July 2020, 08:23:26 AM
@mmcv - you're just the kind of guy I'm looking for.
Yes grabbed a copy of the rules and reading over the introduction it does sound very much like it! I'll give it a proper read through in the next little while and while I've no Napoleonics to playtest with, I have some 2mm Crimean War troops in progress that could be shoehorned into service for some test games down the line.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 29 July 2020, 08:56:49 AM
A true wargamer - no period is quite off the menu. I approve.
So much history, so little time...
@ Chad - yes, all comments on the io group please.
@mmcv - my own solo playtesting has been done with SYW figures. Luckily I have friends with Napoleonic armies.
@FierceKitty and Orcs - I hate to be PC, but can we leave the Essex girls thing alone? I'm here for the wargaming stuff.
Cheers, Keith.
Quote from: DaveH on 29 July 2020, 10:21:54 AM
groups.io is the replacement for Yahoo groups except for the fact it works.....
I know it's easy to sneer, but I was a member of a dozen or more Yahoo! groups and never had a problem.
Although I rarely used the web interface - just treated them as email lists.
Raider4 - I started out using a Yahoo group for this set of rules (as I had done for HoW), but found Yahoo sadly in decline. Posting photos appeared to be impossible, and there were other very basic glitches. I was glad to see that groups.io offered a rather more useable alternative. The last I heard, Yahoo were closing down. Or rather, their groups were closing down.
Yeah, the caveat to my statement is they worked fine, until Yahoo! decided to basically shut them down, what, two years ago now?
Yes - they decided to stop hosting groups, all stored files and photos went by december.
I enjoy a bit of Napoleonics, have signed up, and look forward to the day when I am approved.
Contrast with the tiny goblin's school "Portal".
Still attempting to get a working account after 4 weeks trying.
Some organisations should not be let loose with advanced technology.
If anyone who has applied to join the group hasn't been approved yet, let me know. As far as I know all applications should have been processed.
Thanks, Keith.
I'm happy to endorse the choice of groups.io. Yahoo effectively shut down my BBB Yahoo group in December, so we migrated everything to groups.io. That all seems to be working fine, plus we got a surge of new members.
Keith, best of luck with your new rules!
Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/
Thanks Chris. The continued interest in BBB is a tribute to their quality and originality.
Well, thanks, Keith. I can say the same for HOW. (I've been reading up a bit on Frederick the Great lately - might have to get John M to lay on another HOW game for us, now the OWS club is back in action!)
Chris
Following the successful demise of the Rubarbian Forces in our PBEM (see BatReps for AAR) how can I not join this group? Application sent in and awaiting entrance ;-)
I'm wondering what the acronym will be for these rules? Gamers love to identify their rules with TLAs etc:
SoTE
STE
SOTE
"So-Tee"
Keith's Nappies
Does it need the historical background?
Quote from: Last Hussar on 15 August 2020, 09:53:23 AM
Does it need the historical background?
I think it will, these may be the only rules a non-Napoleonic Gamer has. Imagine someone from the 40k Universe landing at Waterloo with no background as to what's going on ... probably think it's a rather aggressive Morris Dance with all those uniforms and wooden sticks.
I've found the historical overview useful.
I do wonder why these are put into rules - who buys rules for a period they know nothing about, especially given the amount of stuff for free on the internet.
Quote from: Last Hussar on 15 August 2020, 11:55:02 PM
I do wonder why these are put into rules - who buys rules for a period they know nothing about, especially given the amount of stuff for free on the internet.
It can surely be a good way to introduce yourself to the period you think you may be interested in. Some historical periods, especially 18th-20th century, can suffer from information overload to the uninitiated and knowing where to even start can be daunting. Having a flick through a rule set with some interesting background and scenarios gives you a good summary and a starting point to start digging deeper. And the rules provide you s nice framework to work from and build out from.
If by free stuff you mean rules, then there usually for those already having background knowledge so meaningless to someone without knowledge. If you mean general historical information, then knowing where to start to find what's relevant and interesting can be difficult. There's so much. But if the relevant bits are easily laid out and there's a particular summary that peaks interest then that gives you a starting point.
Having the info in one place and quite concise is handy for me. I have a broad overview of the period and several old school wargaming books too. Even so, I still like to have it.
Including some historical background, in a section which I call 'Wars and Campaigns', has 2 functions.
Firstly, a basic background to the 23 years covered by the rules, in particular indicating a structure around which the military events can be understood. The Napoleonic period is hard to get to grips with for a newcomer.
Secondly, the section acts in place of army lists. It is intended to show how the various armies changed over time, i.e., how the balance of tactics, command, doctrine and quality altered between the various campaigns and so how it affected the result of those campaigns. In wargaming-speak, this section is where a good deal of the 'period flavour' is injected. The rules themselves articulate some of this, but the differences between, say, the Revolutionary period and the 1805 campaign are significant and should be part of any set of Napoleonic rules. This the 'Wars and Campaigns' section sets out to do. It does so in a fairly basic way, I'll admit, but the effort is necessary IMHO.
Writing this historical section has been as time consuming as writing the rules. I hope to get a reasonable initial version online in a few weeks.
mmcv - thanks for your response, by the way. You have indicated much of my reasoning very eloquently
QuoteThe Napoleonic period is hard to get to grips with for a newcomer.
One of the reasons I've been put of this 'period' for so long.
QuoteSecondly, the section acts in place of army lists. It is intended to show how the various armies changed over time, i.e., how the balance of tactics, command, doctrine and quality altered between the various campaigns and so how it affected the result of those campaigns. In wargaming-speak, this section is where a good deal of the 'period flavour' is injected. The rules themselves articulate some of this, but the differences between, say, the Revolutionary period and the 1805 campaign are significant and should be part of any set of Napoleonic rules. This the 'Wars and Campaigns' section sets out to do. It does so in a fairly basic way, I'll admit, but the effort is necessary IMHO.
This is so important IMHO as an aide memoire as it were to the changes over 23 years. I know those steeped in the 'period' will find it too basic or unnescessary, but you can't please all the people all of the time.
Having a Historic background in rules makes good sense to me
Keith's explanation above of how he has made use of it in his rules makes even more sense
We, experienced gamers, are inclined to forget just how much we know and take for granted about warfare and different periods
Quote from: Dave Fielder on 15 August 2020, 08:05:13 AM
I'm wondering what the acronym will be for these rules? Gamers love to identify their rules with TLAs etc:
SoTE
STE
SOTE
"So-Tee"
Keith's Nappies
SotE
If Age of Eagles is AoE then the acronym falls out quite straight forwardly.
Well, 'Keith's Nappies' is definitely out. Dave, it's hard to believe that you were joint winner of the 'Most Gentlemanly Wargamers' award at a prestigious wargaming show last year.
Dave Ryan has quite a good idea - he calls them SHADOW, Post of Honour are POST, and HoW are HONOURS.
SotE has been my choice so far.
Version 9 is now available for free download. All comments and questions appreciated.
https://groups.io/g/eagles-shadow
Keith.
Hi everyone. Just a note to say the rules are in production now. Publication expected in March. I also note that Pendraken are extending their 10mm Napoleonic releases.
Well done Pendraken! And may I recommend a rule book to use when you lovely people have your collections painted...
Where will we be able to read a review of the rules?
Not known at the moment. I'll try and point members in the right direction when the time comes.
I like HoW so look forward to trying these out.
Edward
Those interested in the latest should see:
http://keefsblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/shadow-of-eagles-nearly-there.html (http://keefsblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/shadow-of-eagles-nearly-there.html)
All the best everyone!
I'm looking forward to giving these a run out Keith, as and when we are able to meet up:)
Also nice to have the website and forum go live and hope to see nice AAR's etc there.
I have to admit to being a complete numpty whenever IT raises it's head. After BBB migrated to Groups io I was unable to follow. That particular format made no sense to me so I was unable to work out how to find what I wanted with out going through all 3 million original posts.Just had to admit defeat. Thank goodness HOW has a dedicated website.
Being hardback it should be able to go toe to toe with other heavyweight rules in the melee phase. Always take a hardback set of rules to a knife fight.
Well, it will aid my defences when your 'buffalo horn' attacks happen when we can meet up ;) :D.