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 have used until now (december 2015) the 3rd
Edition with all the optional rules, but I was 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.
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Craig Taylor and Bob Coggins (january 2009) |
In the last two years there were some new movements in the NB field.
Bob Coggins sell the authoring and copyright of the rules to
Javier Gámez, a Spanish wargamer from the
Balearic Islands. Bob authorized and guided Javi in the new
modifications, until his death in July 2014. At last, and after many,
many incidences (there is an interesting history behind NB-IV to be
accounted by the protagonists)
Napoleon's Battles Marechal Edition, a.k.a. NB-IV,
was launched in August 2015. The new edition was received with mixed
feelings, because of
two main changes introduced by Javi (and authorized
by the late Bob Coggins), namely (i) the penalization for the passage of
lines and (ii) the increased difficulty to rout only with small and
artillery fire an enemy unit deployed in a B.U.A. (Built Up Area. These
changes, as well as other minor ones described in the
NB-IV web site, seem very reasonable and I expect
will be adopted by the users of the rules.
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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.