what's napoleon's battles?
I am in Napoleonic Wargaming from 1980's. From then until now I have
buyed, tried or used many different rule-sets: Grant's rules (The
Napoleonic Wargame), Quarrie's rules (Guide to Napoleonic
Wargaming), Empire II, III and IV, Brigade!
(a computerized set from Eagle Software), Napoleon's Battles,
Volley and Bayonet, Grande Armee, Age of Eagles and many others (I
am a compulsve rule-sets buyer!).
When Intenet arrived to my home (1996) I hear of a Napoleonic rule-set
named Napoleon's Battles of Avalon-Hill and designed by Craig Taylor
and Robert Coggins. I was then making a
transition from Empire style games (very detailed and veeery slooooow)
towards brigade-sized ones, by the simple expedient of usig my Empire-mounted
miniatures at lesser (for both men and terrain) scales. However, a
first and avid lecture of Napoleon's Battles lead to the fully re-mounting
of all my miniatures to accomodate they to the new scales and thus, I
entered in this new age in which all the major actions of the
Napoleonic era (well, almost all) could be played in my table game.
In the last ten years I have solo-played many battles with Napoleon's
Battles, modifying the rules when necessary in punctual situations. I
use now the 3rd Edition with all the optional rules, but I am always
interested in new mechanisms introduced in other sets such as Age of
Eagles or Grande Armee, in order to incorporate them to my gaming.
In this 'Napoleon's Battles' section of this web you can find house-rules,
modifications for solo gaming and a series of Scenarios I have solo-played
in these years, including
Scenario pdf.file and a graphical account with pictures. For the
making of the Scenarios I have used the amazing "Nunez Tables" found
in the
CSGA NB page.
The next step is to integrate Napoleon's Battles with some Campaign
mechanism allowing to play the battles in a logical sequence. My first
attempt is the refight of the Campaign of Leipzig (Autumn 1813). The
project imply the painting of new miniatures and the use of the
boardgames 'Four Lost Battles'
and 'Napoleon at the Crossroads' from
Operational Studies Group. You can watch the state of the
Project at 'The Leipzig Project' or
in my PROJECT
LEPIZIG BLOG.
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Craig Taylor and Bob Coggins (january 2009) |
