Hello all

So ive seen lots of nice armys and models but know nothing of the period at all. Who fought who and when.

Can anyone reccomend a couple of good books to give me a headstart into it.  Preferably not Osprey, i know they have good info i just dont like them.

Anyway, thanks in advance.

Brian.

PS yes i know im looking into yet another era before i get my WW2 stuff sorted, , but ive been told a wargamer isnt a wargamer unless he has multiple projects that arent moving

Quote from: count_zero99uk on 24 August 2010, 09:20:13 PM
Who fought who and when.

Napoleon. He fought everyone else. Until the Russkis destroyed his army - from which he never recovered.

QuoteCan anyone reccomend a couple of good books to give me a headstart into it.

John Gill's Thunder on the Danube series gives you a pretty good headstart on the period. It's about Napoleon's Austrian campaign. Just look em up on Amazon or eBay.

Quote[..'.] ive been told a wargamer isnt a wargamer unless he has multiple projects that arent moving

That's why there are so many boring wargamers' blogs. People expect to 'motivate' themselves by maintaining a blog on their 'leadpile'. Which is usually all it is: a leadpile, even if painted...

Cheers,
Aart

Chandler 'Campaigns of Napoleon' would be a pretty good starter.
Digby Smith 'Charge' specific to cavalry actions but they cover the whole period.
Pop over to the Napoleon Series too

http://www.napoleon-series.org/

The Napoleonic Wars cover a big slice of European history and geography and as such are rather a complex subject to come into "cold".

If you can get hold of a copy then "Napoloeon's Campaigns in Miniature" by Bruce Quarry is a pretty good overview of the nations, armies, weapons, tactics and campaigns of the Napoleonic wars but may be out of print.  The book also includes a set of rules which are very detailed and help put the information in the other sections into context. 

However IMHO the rules are overly detailed and complex and although they were the only set I used for years I never liked them, especially the morale section so while they're an interesting read I'd use Black Powder as my rules of choice.  Interestingly BP is a great set of rules but they are very light on historical background and presuposes some knowledge of the subject, as such they would be quite difficult to just pick up and use.

You could try 'Lasalle'. Sam Mustafa is offering them as a downloadable pdf for $16. Worked out at about £10.50 for me.

The rules are battalion level and don't need a large investment in figures.

Chad

Thanks for the advice, ill see what i can get hold of.

Just to clarify, its the history not the rules im looking at at the moment.

Cheers.
Brian.

Mark Urban's "Rifles" and "The Man who Broke Napoleon's Codes" will give you a decent flavour of the Peninsular - very accessible and easy to read.

Gunther Rothenburg's overview "The Napoleonic Wars" is good as well, from the Cassell History of Warfare series, with good campaign & battle overviews with nice pictures, maps etc - it's only a couple of hundred pages so you won't get bogged down in detail! It's a nice hardcover too and is good to dip in & out of...Amazon has it here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Napoleonic-Wars-Cassell-History-Warfare/dp/0304352675/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282734177&sr=8-12

Quote from: count_zero99uk on 25 August 2010, 10:55:56 AM
Just to clarify, its the history not the rules im looking at at the moment.

Thought so. Of course to everything there is a shortcut  

Cheers,
Aart

It really depends on which end of it you want to have the start, middle bit or last 100 days,
location - Peninsular, Russia, Italy, Eygpt Belgium etc, etc it is a wide, wide, wide area. If this forum post had been here at the start of the month I sold my whole napoleonic book collection at a car boot sale so there would have been something there for you. not really got much left now, I will have a mootch to see what is left, there might be some stuff on the peninsular wars and I know I have my huge book on Waterloo.
Cheers
Stephen

Ok.

You could try the Hourtoulle books.

If you can get them at a reasonable price they are good value. They cover specific campaigns (although they are pro-Napoleon) and at the same time give orders of battle and useful uniform information for the opposing armies. You can kill three birds with one stone, so to speak.

As has been said elsewhere, there are many many books available covering various periods. For example, George Nafziger produced three books covering the 1813 campaign from start to finish.

Chad

I think what ill do is go to that big building in town with the people who smell funny, i think its called a library .

Im sure they will have something, some off these books are in the 30+ pound range which is a lot to poor ole me

Thanks all for the advice.

Have a look on Amazon. Some of the Hourtoulle are available for under £20.

Also check out Caliver Books. They have second hand books at reasonable prices.

Chad

Found the Mark Urban books on Ebay cheap, so now waiting, thanks for the advice

For History, also very good,

Esposito & Elting : A Military History and Atlas fo the Napoleonic Wars, this and the books by Gill will give you a very good starting

Condensed version leading up to Napoleon.

As the French people were starving, Marie Antoinette told them to eat cake.  The French people rose up and guillotined the aristocracy even though the average height of a Frenchmen was somewhere between 5'3 and 5'5 (IIRC) due to 20 years or so of starvation.  The resulting chaos produced a fanatical generation ready to overthrown aristocracies everywhere while beating off neighboring aristocracies attempting to restore the divine order.  All the French needed was a leader.  Then there was Napoleon.

I would recommend David Chandler's "Campaigns of Napoleons" as a good introductory book on the wars.  The balance between infantry, artillery and cavalry probably produces one of the most interesting tactical battlefields ever.