Army Lists and Other Campaign Ideas!

So now the Peninsular War collection is growing into one that now offers potential to do some more interesting stuff around campaigns and "what if?" scenarios I have been turning my mind back to some of my early ideas around the subject and re-crafting a few of them together. This aspect of the hobby is something I am sure we all dabble in at times; it is the full three course meal of the hobby, providing that all important context to our games and for me is a never ending series of possibilities and something I never tire of playing with. In addition it gives a focus to collection building plans and so I thought I would share my own thoughts.

I was really sorry to see the change of direction decided upon, earlier this year, by the "Napoleon at War" designers to park the Napoleonic project whilst turning their efforts towards the American Civil War. I like many others were looking forward to the release of further campaign books to follow on from the Waterloo release to include the 1813 Campaign and a talked of Peninsular War Campaign book.

I was never one of those who was enthused about turning Napoleonics into tournament play "Flames of War" style gaming, with contrived mechanics to produce a simplistic win/lose style of game often devoid of historical context. That said the lists produced by these design concepts seem ripe for application to a more thoughtful use and can be an aid to scenario design without getting hung up on points balanced games (Wellington and Massena didn't seem to bother much with points and always strove to bring on an unbalanced battle favouring them).

So in the best traditions of "adopt, adapt, improve" I have spent a bit of down time producing my own game lists worked out using Carnage & Glory unit definitions and points and adapting the principle of normal-strength, over-strength and under-strength units which I thought was a very clever mechanic to allow gamers to produce standard looking units that model these characteristics without having to use different bases combined with multiple combinations of numbers of figures.

The idea of applying points to units has its supporters and detractors and I think the idea has its place more for guiding the wargamer who wants to create historically based formations than those who are more interested in "power-gaming" and creating "uber-armies". When the historical principle is applied to the grand campaign model, points can allow interesting scenarios to be created around a limited number of figures that can give a game context and enable the tabletop battle to be translated back into the campaign situation. In addition as we are talking about a campaign situation, we are not concerned with "game balance" as just like their historical counterparts, both opposing commanders will be striving to maximise or minimise the advantages of the their position versus the opposition. Obvious one sided contacts can be dealt with on the map, but the larger more interesting contacts can be constructed using the lists and fought out on the table.

Earlier this year I picked up a copy of the revised edition of "L'Empereur Napoleonic Strategic Game" rules by Albert Walton, that offers the chance to play your Napoleonic table top games within the wider scope of a major grand campaign such as the Peninsular War, very much in the mode of a Battlefront "Firestorm" WWII campaign.

I have long toyed with the idea of bringing Mr Walton's campaign game together with the army lists of Napoleon at War and the game mechanics of Carnage & Glory (C&G) and see what hybrid monster I could create by mixing up their respective DNA.

The lists above are some of the early drafts of formats to include the French, French Allies and Spanish and the map below shows my adaptation of the L'Empereur map for the Peninsular War campaign module plugged into Cyberboard. The various flag pieces show the different army groups dotted around the peninsular in June 1808 with Dupont's "doomed" expedition down in Granada (Hex G4) and Junot's tenuous and out of supply hold on Lisbon (Hex I2), with the Spanish held fortresses of Cuidad Rodrigo (Hex I3) and Badajoz (Hex H2) sealing him off from the other French forces clearly standing out, together with the supply rout from France via the other French controlled hexes and those closest able to take a waggon marker among those mountains soon to be crawling with guerrillas.

The forces yet to enter the stage are shown with the French allies gathering in Bayonne (Hex K5) and Perpignan (Hex K6) together with Napoleon and his Guard set to arrive in September and the British under Wellesley and Sir John Moore set up to arrive in August and October respectively. The former French allies in the form of the Spanish army groups can be seen gathering their strength following the Madrid uprising in May with the large armies under Blake (Hex K3) and Castanos (Hex G4) looking to pose the first threat to the extended elements of the French invasion force. The map encounters generated would then be ready to be translated into a tabletop clash using the lists above and C&G.

My forces are not yet complete with the Talavera collection set to enable most of the formations shown above to be modelled as required, and Bassecourt's regular Spanish division together with Albuquerque's Cavalry will provide a good core of figures to field the Spanish, leaving the Portuguese and some French allied formations (Italian & Neopolitans) to be built next year on the completion of the Talavera project.

One other idea I am toying with is to include an "events" process to add that little spice of un-predictability. The L'Empereur module sets up troop levels with withdrawals and reinforcements based on the historical record and it provides a simple campaign engine if a bit too predictable. The addition of some limited theatre level events could add a little more variation for players to deal with.

So my Napoleonic Grand Campaign ideas are gently percolating behind all the big battle mini campaign stuff, just as it should be, plus I have been putting together some "adopt, adapt, improve" paper based rules for those days when I haven't got the lap top to hand; but that as they say is another story for another post.

Man at War Announcement

I have just picked up a post from Mike Whitaker on his blog "Trouble at T'Mill" about an announcement  from Man at War.
http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/napoleon-at-war-announcement.html?showComment=1425546317872#c7801717008579355926
http://www.manatwar.es/

I got into Napoleon at War, the rule set, from its concept and was really taken with the clever ideas that underpinned the rules. My figures are based appropriately for their rules. I really thought they would make the whole era of the Napoleonic Wars more appealing to the new generation of players brought up with Games Workshop and Flames of War; in that they simplified the whole thing about putting these armies together and the abilities that made the armies different without being simple and meaningless.

Bringing Napoleonic wargaming down  to divisional level with ready to paint units that look like units (very FOW) was a great concept to attract these newer players. Personally, I could have done without the list building, points collating, how do I win in one move, aspects (very FOW) and I was disappointed that the range of figures were not compatible with other large 15mm/18mm ranges. For us players with collections already established that was not a great move. However, the FOW principles made commercial sense, and I have a feeling that once a lot of players have grown tired of the competitive scene, they are still left with a love for the period and move on to more scenario based games.

In the last 18 months it was clear that the founders of the business had lost their way; with numerous requests from forum contributors for updates on next product release plans and the continual requests for rule clarity explanations (a must have if you intend to compete!). This in turn led to frustrated followers to turn to developing their own lists in an attempt to take the initiative and move the game on.

Anyway, to use an old business cliche "we are where we are" and it seems that Man at War are going to move into American Civil War with new input into the company and plans to use this to support on going work with the Napoleon at War rule set. I really do sincerely wish them well and hope this will salvage, what I still consider to be a good, possibly great, with a rewrite and better use of English, set of rules.

I will watch the situation with interest and fingers tightly crossed.

Napoleon at War Basing Guide

Following a request for more information on the bases I use for my figures, I thought it might be helpful to post this link to Mike Whitaker's basing guide PDF

You can buy plastic bases for the Napoleon at War system, but I get mine cut in MDF and I like the look so have continued getting them cut to order. The bases work equally well for other systems and as you can see I use them for Carnage & Glory II games I have run.

The standard battalion would be six infantry bases with two skirmish bases. A light infantry battalion would be the same but with two extra skirmish bases. A standard cavalry regiment would be four cavalry bases. An artillery battery would be three bases plus a limber for my British and four bases plus a limber for my French (three bases for French Horse artillery batteries).

The command bases work to a common theme with a brigade commander mounted singly on an infantry size base, a divisional commander plus aide on a cavalry base and then you add another figure for a corps/army commander.

The basing system produces a "grand manner" look to the units and, as I say, is flexible enough to be used for other systems

Vimeiro Scenarios for Napoleon at War

So you're sat on a beautiful palm clad island in the Indian Ocean sipping your "Pinacolada, well actually a "Virgincolada" since I packed in the alcohol, with no access to a painting table and some figures. Well what does any self respecting war gamer do. Get the computer out and start designing campaigns and scenarios ready to be tried out when back from paradise.

So now I'm back I can post a variation on a theme by adapting my previous Vimeiro Lite scenarios for use with Napoleon at War. The set ups and order of battles are the same but with victory conditions, timings and objectives set up for NaW. The two  scenarios are for Vimeiro Hill and Ventosa.

French attack en masses Vimiero Hill

The scenario design is based on historical positions and orders of battle so unlike a throw together Napoleon at War scenario the forces are not balanced with points, just what Junot and Wellesley had to deal with. So you will just have to see if you can do any better than them!

British defence at Ventosa Farm

The scenarios can be downloaded from "My Scenarios" section. As always constructive feedback welcome.

Rolica Scenario - Napoleon at War

As promised I have put together and play tested my Rolica scenario using "Napoleon at War" rules, yesterday at the Devon Wargames Group - Battle of Rolica where I have posted a full game report. My intention is to put together a series of scenarios based on British battles in the Peninsular War using these rules and "Carnage&Glory" and making them available for others to try.

So to start the ball rolling I have created a Scenario link where you can get the Pdf for the Rolica game we ran yesterday.

Having only played this once, I don't see it as the finished article and I would be happy to get constructive feedback. I will aim to replay it again with a view to improving the original draft.

I hope you like some of the pictures from yesterdays game, with lots more in the game report.

Also check out my previous post from December 2012 on this blog where I discussed the thoughts behind the design of this game.

Napoleon at War, Campaign Manual, " The Hundred Days"

I finally got myself a copy of the first Campaign Manual, for the Hundred Days Campaign of 1815, and for those who haven't seen this book yet, I thought I'd give my first impressions.

The book is paperback, not hard back as the rules. My experience of paperback rule supplements has been coloured by my experience of the offerings from Battlefront, where the process of trying to open the book at a certain place and folding the spine back to maintain that page as you make notes or something, the book quickly loses its original shape, and pages start to come loose. This quickly necessitates a visit to Staples to remedy the situation with a spiral bind!!!

This being said, the quality is very good, with a nice glossy cover and page style, that is very attractive.

The book starts with an introduction to the campaign, the manual and how to use the lists contained. The overview of the Hundred Days Campaign is a three page summary of the events and key personalities involved.

We then have the core of the book which are the details you will need to model the armies of this period, starting with the French. The format is the same for each of the armies involved, with a briefing on the personality commanders and their special attributes in the game, the lists for the different types of Divisions the army could field on the table, and a colour uniform guide for those forces. For those unfamiliar with Napoleon at War army lists, you can see the generic lists in PDF available on the Napoleon at War site to get an idea of the format.

As you would expect the lists introduce new forces to the table with different special abilities, that are designed to capture the feel of the armies involved in the campaign. So the French have five lists, consisting of the Infantry Division, Young Guard Infantry Division, Imperial Guard Division, Light Cavalry Division and the Heavy Cavalry Division. Like wise the Anglo-allied Army have four lists, the British Infantry Division, the Netherlands Infantry Division, the Brunswick Infantry Division, and the British Heavy Cavalry Division. Lastly the Prussian lists include the Infantry Brigade and the Cavalry Reserve Brigade.

The book then concludes with a chapter on scenarios from the campaign, Quatre Bras, Ligny, Hougoumont, Ney's Charges and Placenoit.

The "Quatre Bras" scenario is based on the counterattack of the British Guards, which re-captured the Bossu Woods. The "Ligny" scenario sets up the final attack of the day by Napoleon with his Old Guard attacking in to Ligny and the Prussians, with Blucher commanding the Reserve Cavalry, desperately trying to hold out for nightfall. The "Hougoumont" scenario is the classic attack on the prepared position, with the Guards defending against Jerome's Infantry assaults, allowing the French to try out the new "Sappeurs" rule when assaulting buildings, whilst trying to burn the defenders out with howitzer fire. The "Ney's Charges" scenario, recreates the massed cavalry assaults on the allied lines in the afternoon of Waterloo, with Ney trying to force an Allied retreat from the ridge. The final scenario "Placenoit" recreates the assault by the Prussians on this village towards the end of the battle of Waterloo with a mix of Prussian infantry types getting "up close and personal" with the Young and Old Guard.

All the scenarios are built around the six turn scenario of a classic Napoleon at War encounter and make these very playable entertainment at an afternoon at the wargames club.

I think this book is a valuable addition to my library, and am pleased with the content. Speaking as someone who has a passing interest in the Hundred Days and would probably only build a few units for that period, this book gives me an easy to follow data base to quickly put together appropriate units and set up some interesting scenarios. As a Napoleonic Grognard, I have more detailed sources of uniform info and orbats available to build on the resources in this book, but the lists and ideas contained within also provide useful information for constructing campaign forces and are a useful summary of the important aspects to be considered when fielding armies of this period.

For the newcomer to Napoleonics, and particularly for someone specifically interested in building the armies of the Hundred Days, this book is an excellent resource and I would have been very happy to have had this alongside my copy of Bruce Quarrie's  "Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature" when I first started playing Napoleonics many many years ago.

If you haven't yet looked at Napoleon at War, then do so. I often see them characterised as "Flames of War" for Napoleonics, which is not a label I would give them. Yes the "points based lists and pre-packed  units of figures" model of business do seem very familiar, but as someone who wouldn't play FOW from choice, if I had been influenced by that description, I may have been dissuaded from trying these rules out. I think they have a lot to offer the Napoleonic player who wants to capture the look of a Napoleonic battle combined with the character of the armies that took part and the aspects of each that made one army very different from another.

The rules, figures and the campaign book are available in the UK from Battlefield Models and Paul Mews offers a first class customer service when ordering your stuff.