Tuesday 16 August 2022

Napoleonics - a love letter

I've been thinking a lot lately about the wargames that I have most enjoyed in my 35 odd years of 'proper' wargaming (using rules and dice and stuff). And the ones that constantly pop up in a cloud of nostalgia are those with small figures in set formations. My solo Crimean game fighting over the Ford on the Bugaroff  and the ACW Chickatachee campaign are two of those from recent years. Going back a little ways we had the Frankenberg campaigns. And there was also a series of French Revolution solo games that I can't seem to find anywhere. And then there are the Napoleonic games, going all the way back to pushing around Airfix and Esci figures on green cardboard bases as a 12 year old. One battle I always remember is using a British brigade to hold off a French Division during a campaign set in New Zealand. It was fought at (tabletop) Karapiro and was an epic defence that I remember every time I drive past that area.

I may have started off with WWII toy soldiers, and used them as WWI toy soldiers, but discovering Napoleonics was the big wargaming moment for me - the point of no return where playing with little men was going to be my hobby for life. At the same time as starting gaming with them I delved into the world of Napoleonic history, devouring everything within reach. Napoleon became an object of fascination for me. I kept a history of his life beside my bed, alongside Charles Grant's Napoleonic Wargaming (both of which I picked up in a second hand book store) and delved into them frequently. I wrote and rewrote rules for me and my friends to play, and I was ALWAYS the French. The childhood admiration for Boney would fade somewhat, but certainly not my love of the period. When I went to Europe for the first time, Waterloo was a non-negotiable battlefield tour, much to my wife's discomfort - it was December and it was windy. But I stayed up that Lion mound for a long time, imagining the fields filled with men, horses and smoke.

I have tried multiple times to build Napoleonic armies in 15mm, 28mm and 6mm, and they have all failed. I just couldn't work out exactly what I wanted to do. What rules to use? Big battle or divisional or skirmish level? Early wars or later wars? Peninsular or Europe? The choices discombobulated me every time. Which is why the release of the Black Powder Epic Battles has nagged at me. Divisional level, linear battalion, small scale British, French and Prussian armies. It should be a no-brainer. But I have failed to build these armies so many times as my attention wanders, or I get sick of painting the British (the lace on their coats does my head in). Yet, my 12 year old self wants to do this. It is screaming at me that this is what I have always wanted.


The French Army - I can do this!

So on Napoleon's birthday (well for a couple more hours - we are a day ahead on this side of the world), I have come to the conclusion that the time has come to take the plunge and buy the British and French starter sets.  I will chart my painting progress here. Wish me luck. Help keep me on track. Give me encouragement. Let's see if I can finally do this.

Nate

8 comments:

  1. That is a big plunge to take Nathan, but a worthwhile one - nothing looks more spectacular than a table of Napoleonic armies. My own Napoleonic obsession started in 1978 when I took the plunge and built a Russian army, why Russian I can’t really recall…maybe because there was a BBC adaption of War and Peace about then or maybe it was to create a point of difference to all the French and British armies at the Auckland Wargaming Club…but the Russians have featured strongly in my Napoleonic gaming over the years and I have built two 28mm and three or four 15mm armies…along with French, Prussian, British, Spanish, Bavarian, Swedish and Ottoman.

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    1. You have a prodigious output Mark. My problem is getting a couple of units in and changing my mind about what I want to work on. Hopefully I can get these Napoleonics finished!

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  2. Looking forward to this. I started a slow-grow 6mm project for Blucher, for similar reasons. The trick, I think, is to find that balance between not rushing it, but not letting go either.

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    1. Sounds like good advice and I have plenty of other projects to break this one up with.

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  3. Good luck with this Nate! One of our gaming mates Chris is midway through the French and Brits but he is planning the other nationalities as they become available. His plan is to have enough figures for both sides of a battle involving two or possibly three players per side...it's not something he will be unveiling soon! I have been tempted to do a British Division but I have far too many other projects on the go, I don't need another!

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    1. Thanks Keith. Ideally I want to have a division a side with some extras (Highlanders, Old Guard etc). We'll see how that goes. But yeah - not something that is going to be ready in a fortnight!

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  4. Best of luck to you, and looking forward to your progress.

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