The Napoleonic Wars – Playing the Period
29th January 2000, Comments Off
Let’s give Boney a damned good thrashing!
Napoleonic Wars in the Journal
It began with a false start. Wargaming pals badgered me into trying the period, and in the end I opted for the British in the Peninsula. I painted up the 3rd Foot (“The Buffs”), but then the project ran out of steam. I suppose it was all those fiddly facings
After a bit I started again, this time because of a forthcoming game organised by the “League of Gentlemen Wargamers”. This time I built up an Anglo-Portuguese division of around 350 figures.
Later on, I decided to build up a second “Napoleonic” army, this time a Russian one. Suddenly found I had twelve battalions, not counting cavalry and guns. I’ve now got twice that, and hordes of Cossacks. I suppose its the doughty but ill-led infantry that do it for me, plus the heavy reliance on artillery, and all those rapacious Cossacks…
Next they needed opponents, so I painted up a French army, which now stands at about two dozen battalions, including a few French Allied ones. I rather like the French too, with their elan, their fancy uniforms and their cool flags. Recently I sold off the Anglo-Portuguese, to concentrate on my Russian and French armies. two matched forces should be enough, right?
I’ve tried fighting this period in a number of ways, but I don’t really enjoy those games where a single stand represents a battalion or a brigade, and you can refight Leipzig or Waterloo with just a few hundred figures . Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy refighting big battles, but I mean games where you’ve got a few thousand men on the table!
I also like smaller scenario-based games – the sort of thing you find in those scenario books by Charles S. Grant, where each unit has a role to play, and isn’t just there a little cog in a bigger machine. That’s why I prefer rules with figure ratios of 1:20 or 1:30 or thereabouts.
Lately, I’ve settled on having battalions of 24 figures, while my cavalry ride around in 12-man regiments. This wasn’t really a conscious choice- it just evolved that way, as we landed up playing a lot of games with these more standard-sized armies. Probably Black Powder had something to do with it.
What really appeals to me is the visual aspect of this period. After all, it is probably the prettiest one of them all, when soldiers looked like peacocks, meaning that figure painters are in their element. Games look great and they have style – “Napoleonic” style and spectacle – by the bucket-load.
Our rule sets of choice change a bit as we want to try out new ones, or run a slightly different style of game. I like General d’Armee , while Over the Hills has also been popular in the club. Both sets are slick, fast-paced, and give a good game. The latest one we’ve been trying out is Keith Flint’s Shadow of the Eagles, which is really easy to pick up and fun to play.