My first game of Soldiers of Napoleon, who would have guessed it would go so badly! 
https://madlemmey.blogspot.com/2022/08/soldiers-of-napoleon-review-and-my.html

Interesting, is the basing a problem?

I've heard good things about these rules, but am trying to stick with my core sets these days...

Quote from: Steve J on 26 August 2022, 08:47:04 PMI've heard good things about these rules, but am trying to stick with my core sets these days...

Quote from: Ben Waterhouse on 26 August 2022, 07:39:55 PMInteresting, is the basing a problem?

Only if you aren't playing a gentleman like Neil!
There is no real basing conventions per se, and, as ever, I had started my force for other rules before the guys at the club brought out their armies to try the rules. It was my main question about the rules to club members was 'what's your base sizes?' Thankfully, my 40mm x 3 means a 4 base unit matches their 4 x 30mm, I just put a marker down when I lose my first base! If I want bigger units I will buy some bases that are 30mm wide so my extended units match theirs.

Good stuff, Will! I enjoyed that.    

Tried them on Thursday, woked well enough but need another read through.

Very enjoyable read Will, thanks.

I am reading them at the moment and expect to have a first game next week. I had one issue and that was that it appeared impossible to move a Brigade as a single formation. I queried this on the FB page but got no help from the author. However another member of that group, who had also had the problem, suggested a house rule and use a 'directing battalion'. One other point is that in some situations it will not be possible to use actual brigade organisation from OOBs, for example the large Prussian brigades of 1813, which the author said would break the command and control rules.

Quote from: Chad on 27 August 2022, 08:30:21 AMI am reading them at the moment and expect to have a first game next week. I had one issue and that was that it appeared impossible to move a Brigade as a single formation. I queried this on the FB page but got no help from the author. However another member of that group, who had also had the problem, suggested a house rule and use a 'directing battalion'. One other point is that in some situations it will not be possible to use actual brigade organisation from OOBs, for example the large Prussian brigades of 1813, which the author said would break the command and control rules.

Yes. Agree with that last point
We also discovered post game that to use the grand battery off table artillery cards you need to have a grand battery!

Quote from: Chad on 27 August 2022, 08:30:21 AMOne other point is that in some situations it will not be possible to use actual brigade organisation from OOBs, for example the large Prussian brigades of 1813, which the author said would break the command and control rules.

I'm not familiar with these rules but Prussian Brigades were the equivalent of Divisions anywhere else and I'm curious to know how they'd break command and control rules.  An infantry regiment of three battalions equated, more or less, to a brigade elsewhere.  Any rules that prevent you using historical OBs are, it seems to me, fundamentally flawed.   

Since it's a divisional level game, you could use each battalion classed as a regiment, with the regimental command acting as brigade command. Just think the rest of the formation would rather fill your point allocation! 
Will watch with interest. Have 1806 rissians, but the lure of 1813+ is strong!

The idea of regiments instead of battalions might work, but the whole basis of the rules is battalions. My issue, which was answered by the directing battalion, was that with a Brigade of 6 battalions the card system for orders made it unlikely that  an order could be issued to each battalion in one move to enable the Brigade to move as a whole. The cards show the number of orders that can be issued ranging from 2 to 6. However, the number of cards relative to each number of orders is not the same and produces a form of probability bell curve of those that will be available. The '6' order card is as a result at the low end of that probability.

Overall I like some of the concepts and am looking forward to trying them

Brigades varied in strength enormously, from as few as two battalions occasionally but there are plenty of examples, throughout the wars, of Brigades, of all nationalities, with 6 battalions sometimes more.  Far from being unusual, six battalions is almost the norm. 
Orders at the tactical level cascaded down from Division, to Brigade, to regiment and battalion by means of verbal instructions, drums etc.  I can't see how the number of battalions would make much difference as transmission of orders downwards would be more or less simultaneous.  The only issue might be the distance between commanders at each level but while waiting for orders Divisional commanders would have their Brigade commanders close at hand, and similarly COs would be physically close to their Brigade commanders, and they would be close to their battalion commanders precisely to facilitate transmission of orders as quickly as possible.  In the days before radio they had to be and the order should reach each battalion at the roughly the same time, regardless of the size of the Brigade.  It was not a case of a aide going to each battalion telling it what to do. 
Once set in motion, these formation were essentially 'fire and forget' in nature and they'd carry on with their orders until they accomplished them or were stopped from doing so by the enemy.  A directing battalion was the one on which the others dressed while moving, it wasn't relevant to the passage of orders. 
In the case of the Prussians, their Brigades of up to nine battalions in three regiments were combined arms formations, exactly like Divisions anywhere else.  The Prussian infantry regiment of three battalions was the tactical equivalent of a Brigade and I'd treat them as such.
Hope this helps resolve the issue.

John

I agree entirely. Unfortunately the rules do not appear to work in  that way.

a) The order system does not allow for the regimental command but rather bypasses or assumes it exists.
b) There is no provision for continuing orders. Units (battalions) can only be given  1 order each turn. You can issue an order to the same units next turn but then you receive a disruption based on the confusion caused by the 'speed' of having to receive another order.
c) Command distance does impact the number of orders that can be given. Greater the distance from the Brigade commander the fewer the orders that can be

I may be being overly concerned about how they are going to work and will have a better idea when I play them.

I largely concur with the above suggestions. I've never written my own Napoleonic Rules but I have given it thought. One of the first questions that arose was deciding what my basic table top manoeuvre unit would be; the brigade (like Fire & Fury or Napoleons Battles) or like most rules (Soldiers of Napoleon), the battalion? Then there was, what size? Reviewing orders of battle was not as helpful as I thought it would be; there's "the Prussian issue" whose 1813 "Brigades" are effectively "Divisions" and the fact that other nationalities' brigades and battalions "varied enormously" in size and composition

Eventually I came up with the term, "battalion group" (BG) and I think this is the most helpful way to define a table top "brigade" in Soldiers of Napoleon. 

This way, the player has the flexibility to make the regiment or the actual historical brigade the higher table top formation - a much easier way to solve national and historical differences when converting historic formations to the table top.

For Soldiers of Napoleon, perhaps another house rule limiting a table top "brigade" to a max of 5 battalions would help minimise the order problem Chad mentioned. In addition to making a regiment the table top "brigade" if desired, such a rule would allow the player to field BGs like the large 5 battalion French regiments in the invasion of Russia (which, if you examine French 1812 OOBs, were treated as brigades in their own right and commanded by a Général de Brigade, anyway).