NB-4 web site

Javier Gámez, the man behind the 4th Edition of Napoleon's Battles, has updated the web site devoted to the last edition of the rules.

http://napoleonsbattles.org

Boolmark it, to see the last material!

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Napoleon's Battles 4

At last, Javi Gámez and his friends, have released the fourth edition of Napoleon's Battles also known as Marechal edition. The rule book can be buyed in Caliver Books.

The rule-book is generally in accordance with the late Bob Coggins's opinions. The rules are written in a more modern and readable flow, avoiding the sub-sub-sub-...paragraph style of previous editions. The main differences in the game rules from previous editions are:
(1) The fight in built-up areas (BUA's) is now more realistic and the change forces the attacker to make a costly hand-to-hand assault to take the village/town. This is achieved by a simple and elegant modification of the casualty assignament in the artillery fire phase, that makes almost impossible to disperse the defenders only by fire.
(2) The passage of lines is now more difficult (as it was in the real world) and prevents lightning counterattacks by troops placed in the second line.
There are other minor (but sensible adjustments) placed in the Optional Rules section. The most significant is that routed units can now rally with no general attached (with a -3 modifier)

You can follow the player reactions and the Javi's answers in the Yahoo group as well as in the Napoleon's Battles page, that describes the changes in deep.

In conclusion, a must for the Napoleonc grand-tactical wargamer!

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A new wargaming period?

After much thought, I have at last decided to carry out an old dream: to combine two seemingly incompatible wargaming periods: Napoleonic and Fantasy. Evidently, the idea is no new and there is at least a precedent: Flintloque is an old ruleset featuring British Orcs against French Elves, but it is a skirmish game and I searching for a game at divisional (Lasalle) or Army Corps (Napoleon's Battles).

A careful internet search has been unsuccessful so I am forced to introduce home-rules for my current rulesets. My first efforts will be addressed to integrate dragons as flying artillery: a mix of heavy artillery and light cavalry with more evasion capacities than horse artillery. Th above picture shows my old French dragoons with his new ally, providing them with a more fearful artillery support.
I am open to sugerences: Any idea?

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A new section in the main website

I have added a new section devoted to Song of Drums and Shakos (SDS) in Wargaming with Napoleonic Minitures, the website acting as big brother or permanent repository of this blog.
With the addition of SDS, there is now a preferred rule-book for each level of Napoleonic wargaming: Napoleon's Battles for grand-tactical (brigade based), Lasalle for tactical (battalion based) and Song of Drums and Shakos for skirmish (squad based). Only the strategical level remains without assignation, because still I have don't found an adequate Napoleonic boardgame (but in Spain we say that hope is the last thing to be lost!).
 

From now onwards, you can find see the information about SDS: rules, modifications and scenarios by clicking the 'Song of Drums and Shakos' in Wargaming with Napoleonic Minitures

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Maurice, the new ruleset of Sam Mustafa

 
The “Fast Facts”
Maurice is a delightful combination of tabletop miniatures rules for historical and fictional battles, a limitless campaign system that requires virtually no math or paperwork, and a role-playing game in which the “characters” are officers, units, and armies, whose personalities you create, and whose fates you manage from battle to battle across wars and decades.
When?
Maurice will be available in the Summer of 2012.
What Figure Sizes and Bases are Supported?
As with all Honour games, Maurice uses measurements in Base-Widths (BWs), so that you may use any figure sizes, and any bases that you already have, or wish to have. The game adjusts to accommodate your table space and collection.
What is the Game’s Scale? Is it for Big Battles or Little Skirmishes?
Maurice has a flexible scale. The game’s mechanics “stretch” so that you can use it for any scale you desire. You can play the little battles in the colonies or the American Revolution, or the great pitched battles of the European wars.
What Wars?
Maurice is intended to represent the age of linear armies, from the wars of Louis XIV and Marlborough, through the great dynastic struggles of the mid-century, to the French Revolution.
What is the Level of Complexity?
If you are familiar with previous games by Sam Mustafa, such as Grande Armée, Might and Reason, and Lasalle, then you will find Maurice to be at the same level of complexity.
Can I Use it For Imagi-Nations?
Absolutely! In fact, Maurice is the first set of rules specifically created with imagi-nations in mind. The same creation process that you can use to replicate a historical army for a scenario, is used to create a fictitious army with its own unique personality.
What Will It Cost?
Pricing will be announced in early 2012. Maurice will be available in multiple formats, both print and electronic.

The above information was extracted from the Maurice flyer available in the Sam Mustafa's web site

While the game/ruleset is released, you can try a free reduced version, Maurice Lite, also available in the Sam Mustafa's web site

Wait and see!
 

See a first review and introductory game at Wargaming.info blog

Edited November 24: This is the post No. 500! This is a long way from April 2007... See the first post

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The Latest News on Blücher

Extracted from Sam Mustafa's Honour site.

- Blücher is going to have a flexible scale, adjusted as needed for different campaigns/theatres. So in the Peninsular it will be 1 Base = 1 BN. For something bigger like Waterloo, it would be 1 Base = @1000 men, and for a monster like Dresden or Leipzig it will be more like 1 Base = @1500 men.

- All Lasalle bases will work; nobody will need to worry about basing.

- No matter how big the campaign or battle, the game will scale to a reasonable amount of space and figures.

- Campaigns are absolutely central to the Blücher concept and the campaign system will be done first.

- The Blücher campaign system is paperless. It uses card-play to keep track of things like orders, attrition, traffic, reconnaissance, weather, and even the progress of sieges or espionage. Cards allow us also to inject interesting “special events” into the the campaigns.

- The card-based system allows us to dispense with paperwork and the need for a third-party referee or umpire to keep track of everything.

Blücher will depart from Lasalle in dramatic, fundamental ways. It will share the same basing system, the same kind of layout and presentation of the rulebook, and a few of the same terms and values, and most importantly, like all HONOUR games it is intended to play in a few (2-4) hours on a reasonably-sized table with a reasonable collection of miniatures.

But it is not simply Lasalle’s Big Brother. Blücher is going to be a very different game.

Waiting to see!

Lasalle Basing

One of my recurrent wargaming nightmares is that I must to rebase all my miniatures to cope with a new ruleset. The last time that happened such thing was in 1996, when I changed from Empire to Napoleon's Battles and I don't want a similar experience with Lasalle.
Luckily, Sam Mustafa gives advice about how to recycle miniatures based from other popular systems, including Napoleon's Battles (NB). Although I use a modified NB basing with slightly bigger bases than official, an arrangement required by my 20mm figures (see main web site), the Sam's guidance can still be followed.
For infantry, my initial choice was one NB base equals to one Lasalle base. However, that leads to infantry units with only 16 miniatures, thus losing part of visual impact and joy of a tactical game. The solution is to use "virtual" Lasalle bases composed from one and half NB bases. The distortion is small as can be seen in the accompanying diagram, and only becomes apparent in the 'March column' formation that is longest (and more reallistic in my opinion). The Base Width (BW), the distance measurement unit in Lasalle, is thus 1.5" (3.75 or 4 cm).
For cavalry and artillery the choice es simpler. Lasalle requires cavalry, artillery and infantry units with similar frontages, so this lead directly to the 1:1 ratio. In the case of cavalry, the only appreciable distortion is, as before, the greater length of the March column formation. The following diagram shows the cavalry system.
The only drawback of the system is the small number of cavalry figures, eight, for unit but, according to Sam's own words, whereas infantry units in Lasalle represent 500-700 men battalions, cavalry units are "single, understrength regiments" of 300-500 men.
Whereas this solution is perfect for competition games, using balanced armies, it could be a problem for historical Scenarios, but that is another question to be considered later.

Lasalle: First Impressions

Lasalle, the first game of the HONOUR series, by Sam A. Mustafa is now available and arrived to my hands the past week,

At at first glance it looks very impressive! . The rules are presented in a 136 page hard bound book (in the style of Foundry's Napoleon) and the previous experience of the author as rule writer (and as a teacher I must add!) is visible throughout. The book is very well written and the rules are clearly explained with the help of many colour schemes. Some of you would still remember the confused writing style of old wargaming rules, such the published by the Wargames Research Group. The difference, in Sam's favour, is clearly noticeable.

In the author's own words, Lasalle is addressed to the "Moment of battle" at small tactical level: you are a divisional (or similar) commander and you must carry out your superior commander's orders without further ado. You command a small force of 12-18 units (infantry battalions, cavalry regiments and artillery batteries). The units can be small (4 bases) or large (6 bases) , and the number of figures per base is left to the player's preference. There is not a fixed figure scale: the small infantry units represent around 500-700 men whereas large units account for around 800-1000 men. In the case of cavalrysmall and large units are respectively 300-500 or 500-700 men, whereas for artillery, a gun base is two historical guns and their crews.

Sam gives some clues to convert existent basing systems to Lasalle, but the idea is to avoid rebasing of previous armies. All measurements are given in base widths (BW), so the only requirement is that both sides use the same basing system. No terrain scale is stated, but you can use the lenght of a batallion in line, as a basic measurement to deduce the extension and size of your battlefield.

The player is represented by the Commander figure, and if it was allowed, an aditional Sub-commander is also included with two cahracteristics, named Vigor and Tactics. The Command Range is used (10 BW for the Commander and 6 BW fopr the Sub-commander). However, units 'out of command' suffers only small penalizations in combat, changes or formations, Discipline tests (see below). The main effect is the impossibility of recovery and charge/countercharge movements. The Commander (i.e. the player) has not any characteristics: the Sam's approach is that you, with your inherent qualities or defects, are commanding the force.

The troops are defined by Esprit in Valiant, Reliable and Shaky, and by Discipline in Experienced, Amateur and Irregular (grenzers, baskhirs, etc...). There some special characteristics: Shock, Pursuit and Lancers for cavalry and Guard for all branchs of service. The guns are Foot or Horse and also Heavy, Medium or Light (with a possible howitzer designation). The Discipline is important because there are some instances under which an unit must take a Discipline Test.

The allowed formations for infantry are the habitual: Line, Attack Column, Square and March Column. For cavalry are Abreast (line), Waves (column with a two-bases depth) and March column. For artillery: Limbered or Unlimbered. Skirmishers are shown as markers, small two-figure bases, used to shown the Skirmish level (0-3) of the unit, that may improve your success in a fire-fight. Terrain can be Open or Rough as well as Dry or Mud. The Cover can be Hard or Soft. Hills must be defined by the players. There is the habitual Table, covering all variations.

The Moral aspect of the units is covered with the Disruption concept: when the units suffers from fatigue of battle, it acquires disruption and becomes less-able to perform and more likely to break. When an unit suffers a number of Disruptions (DISR) equals to its number of bases, it breaks and is removed from play. The units can remove disruption by Recovering.

No time scale is stated. Lasalle is played in alternating turns for each player (igo, ugo) and each turn is sub-divided in four Phases, in a way somewhat different to the current habitual systems.
1) Reaction Phase (you react and shoot). Defending units take reactions. Options include a change of formation, countercharging, fall back or fire.
2) Combat Phase (you defend in combat). Resolve combats including retreats and advances.
3) Activity Phase (you move and recover units). Move units (including charging) and make recovery attempts.
4) Status Phase (Moral etc). Remove markers, enter reinforcements and check army morale

An unusual characteristics of the Lasalle book is that chapters do not proceed in the above sequence. The author has used a more pedagogical approach:

1) Activity Phase (third sub-phase)
Movement. During the activity phase the "moving side" player selects a single force and moves each unit of that force. Movement allowances (measured in BWs) depend on unit type and formation. An infantry unit in Attack Column line, for example, has a full movement rate of 2 BWs. Changes of formations and maneuvres are addressed in a standard way, and some Troops may need to pass a previous Discipline Test. The Charge movement, i.e. the move to contact with the enemy, is also regulated.
Recovery is based on Discipline tests. A die is rolled but if you unit moved, you must add another die roll, and another more if it is near the enemy. All die throwns must pass the test.

2) Reaction Phase (first sub-phase)
You have a chance to react to the moves made by your opponent at the end of his previous turn. The possibilities are: About face, Change Formation, Countercharge, Fall back and Fire. Fire does not require a Discipline test, whereas the other reactions may need one in some occasions.
Fire combat occurs during your own Reaction Phase, i.e. before you move or charge into combat. Lasalle uses a simple Kill Dice system. You roll a number of dice (one for infantry base or roundshot firing gun, or two for canister firing gun) attempting to score a 4+ on each die. Each success inflicts one hit. At the end of fire, hits are translated into Disruption markers, using the adequate table. There are modifiers in fire combat for cover or having a better Skirmish value, or for certain other situations (firing roundshot at a square for example). At long range artillery may score Bouncethrough hits.

3) Combat Phase (second sub-phase)
After the Reaction phase, you must to resolve combats. During yopur turn, your are always the "Defender".
Combat. Units must be in base contact and each side rolls a number of dice attempting to score hits. If one side scores twice as many hits as the other a Decisive result has been reached. Otherwise the result is Inconclusive. The number of dice of each side may be modified depending on the situation, type of unit, formation and terrain. For example, Guard units add 2 dice whereas the units must subtract one die for each Disruption marker. Units may to halve their dice in a when flanked, etc.
The sequence of combat resolution is important because a unit might be in contact with two enemy units and be forced to fall back by one before it can help fight the other. The side choosing first is decided by the throw of a die and after, the choice alternates between players.
If the result is Decisive, the defender breaks and the attacker advances. Otherwise the loser falls back. If the attacker has won he must advance (defenders never advance even if they win). The combat loser takes 1 DISR (and may break, being removed for play). Winning cavalry also takes 1 DISR for each won combat except when if doing so would break it.

4) Status Phase (fourth sub-phase)
You can enter reinforcements, determine army morale and check if the game has ended and the type of victory
The Game Basic Length for Competition games is 16 turns (8 for each player), and it will be fixed for historical scenarios. Bonus Turns may be added by throwing dice (a reminiscence of Grande Armee, the first Sam's ruleset).
The Army Morale level is calculated by adding up all the units of the armey: Large Infantry and Cavalry count 3 points each, Small Infantry and Cavalry 2 points each, and Artillery 1 point per unit. The Army's Breakpoint is reached when the moral point value of its broken units (calculated as above) is greater than one-third of the Army Morale level. In that case, you must pass a Morale Check with five dice, whose total roll must be greater than the current turn number.

The rules about towns (or built-up-areas in NB jargon) are presented in a single chapter. A town base represents an area large enough for one unit (a small hamlet or a chateau) so large towns and cities can be shown be arranging several bases in a grid-fashion. The town bases can be individually fighted by the two sides.

There are some Advanced Rules giving tactical skills to Sub-Commanders, adressing officer casualties, AdC's, Irregular units, Entrenchments, Rifles, Engineering, Howitzers, etc....

The rule book includes three Scenarios
- The Battle of Venzone, 11 april 1809
- The Struggle for the Pratzen Heights, 2 December 1805
- The Final Push at La Haie Sainte, 18 June 1815
As well as a section about the 'Set up of a game' including weather, a set of pre-designed boards (or tables) customizable by adding terrain items and objectives, and the arrival of reinforcements.

The next Section is the Army Builder. This system allows to create balanced forces for each of the six major powers (Austria, Great britain, France, Prussia, Rusia and Spain) in different theaters and periods. For example France is given list for Conquest (1805-1807), Empire (1808-1812), Peninsular (1808-1813), Liberation (1813-1814) and The Hundred Days (1815). There are also lists for Minor and Other States: Bavaria, Brunswick, Confederation of the Rhine, Denmark, Holland and Dutch-Belgian. Kingdom of Italy, Naples, Portugal, Saxony, The Duchy of Warsaw, Westphalia, Württemberg, The Ottoman Empire and Sweden.

The book is finished with a F.A.Q. section and the Tables or Quick Reference Sheets.

Ya can also look at two reviews of Lasalle. The first one is from Mark Severin's Deep Fried Happy Mice site and the other was posted by David Brown in The Miniatures Page site.

According to the last news, Lasalle will be translated into spanish (La Armada) . The planned publication date will be the first months of 2010.

Following the best tradition of Sam's rulesets, the HONOUR web site is full of items, including a Forum and a Wiki section devoted to the design of Scenarios, so it is worth to visit it.

Summarizing, Lasalle looks like a very good ruleset for small tactical confrontations at divisional level. You have your orders from your Commander-in-Chief and you must to obey. No grand-tactical subtleties are allowed: the force on the hill-line at your front must be defeated or your must defend the town at your left, until the last consequences. The defeat of the enemy is the only thing to be considered, so combat becomes the focal point of the action. Evidently, some things must be simplified and abstracted to allow greater playability, but this occurs, in a way or another, in all the wargaming rulesets.
I think I'll give it a try!

Honour: the new Sam Mustafa's system

Sam Mustafa, the author of the wargaming rule-sets Grande Armée and Might and Reason, is now working in a new Napoleonic system named Honour. According to his own words:

"Honour is a new series of miniatures games for the horse-and-musket era. It will appear in Modules, starting at the end of 2009. Each module of the Honour system is a complete set of wargame rules that examines one of the wars of this period at a particular scale, and with a particular style. In the coming years modules will eventually address all of the wars of the era @1700-1900, at multiple scales and levels of play.
Every module in the Honour system uses the same flexible basing system that can scale to any player’s collection. All use the same basic set of terminology, measurements, and sequence of play. Each module “plugs-in” the distinctive features and flavor of the period it addresses, at the scale it addresses, to the core Honour system.
Every game in the Honour series is a beautiful, full-color hardback book with inspiring photographs and lavishly

Coming in Winter 2009: Lasalle
Lasalle is the first module for Honour. Players take the role of a brigade or division commander in the Napoleonic Wars.
The game is small-scale and tactical in nature, focusing on the movement of individual battalions and regiments of cavalry. The player will manage a small force of roughly a dozen units as he tries to complete some specific mission assigned to him, such as “Hold the village and our bridgehead at all costs!” or: “Drive the French from Plancenoit!”

Coming in Spring 2011: Blücher
Blücher puts the player in the role of an army commander in the Napoleonic Wars. It represents the most complete rethinking of grandtactical gaming in decades.
In Blücher players move entire divisions and corps at a time, but with bases representing the individual battalions, batteries, and regiments that comprise the “footprint” of those larger entities. Movement, shooting and combat resolve very quickly, often with dozens of bases engaged simultaneously, in a single, straightforward process. "

Take a look at the proposed basing system:

I am a fan of Napoleon's Battles ruleset, now in his 3rd edition (see Napoleon's Battles 3rd Edition post), but I am also a compulsive rule-set buyer, and Sam always offers new and imaginative game mechanisms, so I am waiting for the launching of his new products!

More information at the Sam Mustafa's Honour web site

Le feu sacré

After 12 years using only Napoleon's Battles for wargaming, I am going to try a new set of rules, Le feu sacré, available from the TooFatLardies web site. It is a Corps level system and according to the web site's FAQ :
"These rules are written by a Napoleonic warfare fanatic, and wargamer of 20 years standing. Le Feu Sacré places command and control above musket calibre and march rates. They are aimed at gamers who wish to experience a large scale battle at the battalion level. Players command Corps and Divisions, and manoeuvre by brigade, regiment or battalion. Avoiding the usual omnipresent control that players are so often allowed over the minutiae of battle, Le Feu Sacré concentrates on encouraging historically correct grand tactics. The rules use the familiar TooFatLardies card driven system. The Lardies' emphasis on battlefield "friction" allows the better, bolder generals to take the initiative, and recover from unexpected reverses, whilst less competent, cautious commanders need to stick to predictable battle plans, or risk coming unstuck. We present to you a set of rules where Austrian troops can be the equal of the French, but the Empire can still repeat history! Vive l'Empereur" .
If bought the ruleset and the A La Baïonnette Scenarios book, as pdf fies, by means of PayPal at GBP 6.00 (8.05 € or US$ 11.90) each. There is also a yahoo group devoted to the rule set lfslist with 294 members and addititonal scenarios and lively discussions.

The ground scale is 1" = 50 yards, one move = 15 minutes. and the figure scale is 1:40 or 1:50 so the rules could be a good alternative to my divisional Napoleon's Battles modification, because the actual combat elements are simplified.

I plan to use Le feu sacré to fight the Wartenburg Scenario but only after I played it with my one-half Napoleon's Battles, in order to make a comparison and to draw the adequate conclussions.