"Napoleonic Rules sets, how many are there...?" Topic

Hi guys,

As we all know, there is a plethera of Napoleonic Rules sets out there, both young and old, can you name them all ?

I have the following :

Empire IV
WRG
Valmy to Waterloo
Voltiguer

and many more…

Funny Shane – none of my favorite are in your list!

Piquet – Les Grogards
Grand Armee
Le Feu Sacre (TooFat Lardies)
Napoleon's Battles

Plus
Legacy of Glory
In the Grand Manner
In the Name of Glory

and many many more that I am sure will soon be listed…

Adik
destofante.blogspot.com

My bookshelf:

Legacy of Glory
Corps d'armée
Battles for Empire

It's small on purpose. I hate buying rules I don't want to play. Course then finding people to play em becomes the thing.

Course in the mean time I've painted 1200 French.

Cheers,

The Bandit

How far back do you want to go?

I have a collection dating back to early 1970s. They are sitting in a storage tub. Most are long out of print and thus would only be a novelty to mention them here.

I have an original Chainmail, Tractics, etc. etc. I kept most of them for nostalgic reasons.

But, as the British General in Waterloo said, "The Way is Forward!"

I can't name all of them but I own at least 25. Here are some that are not yet on the lists above…

Cold Steel and Cannister
Elan
Before I Was a Brigadier
Chef de Batallion
Age of Eagles
General de Brigade
Green Jackets & Voltigeurs
Shako
Black Powder Battles
Principles of War (Napoleonic)
DBN (DBA Variant)
Napoleon's Battles
Valeur et Discipline
Wellington's War
Valor & Glory
Volley & Bayonet

And I could easily come up with another 25 if I went down into the vault…

Rules junkie? No, no, I don't have a problem. Seriously, I can quit any time.

Extra crispy can I be your friend?

Lord Ghee

What? No one else likes Flintloque/Slaughterloo?

There is a variant of F&F for Nap.

In short, there are a lot of them. Far too many. Or rather, the more that exist the more variety and choice we have.

Crusty

The F&F is called Age of Eagles (above).

Ghee:

Sure. Bring wine and women.

Napoleonic rules…. a lot of mine have been mentioned already, but in addition:

Horse, Foot & Guns (various editions)

Simple Napoleonic Wargames (?) by that 'disgraced wargamer' (I shall avoid the p word)

A really, really old set from the late 70s which used an early version of Variable Length Bounds, very innovative and completely unplayable.

Huzzah

2x2 Napoleonics

An even older set from the mid 70s which used individually based 6mm figures, that was fun…

Various boardgames incl Waterloo, War & Peace and the unbeatable Dresden.

A Wee Dram of Napoleon

In my boxes of Wargames Rules, I have:

Wargames Rules 1685-1845WRG
Horse Foot Guns (Draft) Barker
Wargame Rules 1750-1950 WRG
Action Under Sail Birnie
Patriots and Loyalists Holder
Age of Eagles Gray
In the Name of Glory Marks
Napoleonic Principles of War Penn
Napoleonic Warfare Fleming
Napoleonic Warfare (3rd Edition) Halsall & Roth
Napoleon's Battles Avalon Hill
Republique War Times Journal
Shako Conliffe
Shako II Conliffe

I'll just have a count up as I seem to have acquired masses of them over the years (shamefaced)

However I must confess to having played only 2 sets on a regular basis
"General de Brigade" and "In The Grand Manner" and maybe another 2 sets less than 1/2 dozen times – "To The Sound of The Guns" and the WRG set

I bet I'm not alone!

No one's put down 'To the Sound of the Guns'?
How fleeeting is glory. This set used to be big.
"Battles for Empire'. A ground breaking set.

42

I have a few too, some may already have been mentioned.

From memory:

Napoleonic Wargaming (C.Grant)
Napoleonic rules contained in "Practical Wargaming" (Wesencraft)
Napoleon's Battles (Five Forks edition)
Napoleonic Principles of War
Polemos GdB & MdE
Grande Armee
Fast Play Grande Armee
Le Grande Guerre
Horse, Foot, Guns
DBN
Shako (1st edition)
In the Grand Manner
Volley and Bayonet
Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun
(and lots of sets published in wargames magazines over the years)

Personally I don't use any of them and play at grand-tactical level in 6mm with a house set that derives bits and pieces from lots of the above rules.

Happy gaming!

Oh, and WRG rules for the period too…

I thought Empire was banned as it was being used as a means of torture throughout the world. I know my last game was the most painful experience I've ever had.

I forgot about Republique, also not mentioned yet (or maybe it has been?).

Most regularly played sets for me would be WRG up until my break from minis gaming, then probably Shako, HFG and DRAM.

Never really thought of using V&B for Napoleonics, it always seemed more a rifle & kepi type set to me.

Tricolor by TSR was my first set of rules that I played. Empire II was the second set and the last version of that series.
Guard du Corps (1:50 ratio)
Glory released in 1984 covered 1750-1900 for skirmish combat. So it included the Napoleonic era. We played mainly War of 1812 with them.
War Eagles (1:30 ratio)

And not a single cure all amongst em!

Though I guess WWII is even more fractured than Napoleonics nowadays.

Column, Line and Square..

One set of rules cannot be expected to cover multiple levels of combat (skirmish, tactical, Operational, etc). Game mechanics are not interchangable in many cases for the various levels and to still be able to retain some reflection of realism.

Being a hobby which encourages brain power, imagination, individual research and even experience (military, research etc), it should not be unexpected for different designers with different background to develop different methods to simulate Napoleonic warfare.

Fire & Steel from GDW. 1 to 20 scale. We used to play multi-corps battles on the floor of the local Masonic Temple. Start Friday night, end Sunday night!

Good times..

"Being a hobby which encourages brain power, imagination, individual research and even experience (military, research etc), it should not be unexpected for different designers with different background to develop different methods to simulate Napoleonic warfare."

Quite.

And why restrict it to Napoleonic!!

Oh and Quarrie's book / rules.

As far as how many are there?

Far too many.

Not nearly enough.

Cheers,

The Bandit

Jeremy

In the historical gaming parts of the industry, i do not know of a single era that does not have multiple rules' systems competing for supporters. When you toss in all the Free rules that are available as well, there is competition in all genres. In my opinion.

Enough variety abounds for players to find a set of rules for their favorite era and find their version of fun.

back to the original question: Fire and Discipline: The Americas '1750-1850' covers the War of 1812 at a 1:10-15 ratio level.

I do remember 'Fire and Steel' and bought the rules and a number of country sheets as well.

I once saw at a Historicon the most strangest thing. A cloud appeared and out steped Napoleon, he set up a Napoleonic game, people came from all over, he siad i will explan the true Napoleonic Wargame". He had 20 people around him, He went over his rules and the first response from a person in the game was this is not Napoleonics.

Everyone has his version of Napoleonics, the Real question is what is the most played rules set, most napoleonic wargamers dont play. They collect unpainted lead, and have a table in there basement that they maybe use once a year if that. Also, they Yak alot on this website….lol

There sould be a system to poll this on this website…mmmm

What games to people play….what is the most popular, the courier use to do this but it is gone.

Napoleon

I have
Napoleonique Encore
Les Aigles
Micro Napoleonics
Shako
DBN
Bruce Quarrie Napoleonic rules
Campaigning with the Duke of Wellignton and Donald Featherstone(has a set of rules in it)
wargaming Waterloo
Sharps practice
First in The Field

Also Buck's newer Wellington Rules!

Napoleonic wargamng for fun by Paddy Griffith (6 rules in it)
Napoleonic wargaming by C.Grant
Voltigeur by Dave Milward
Bruce Querrie: the Airfix book and the expanded rules

My favorite: Le Feu Sacre

and for skirmishes: Sharp Practice

other rules I own and have played:
Grand Armee
Volley & Bayonet
Shako
WRG 1750-1850
Napoleonic Rules Box (Irregular)

other rules I own:
Le Petit Armee
WRG 1685-1845
Chef de Battalion
and one or two others I can't recall

played in days of yore (and lost somewhere):
Napoleonique
Frappe

Newbury, fast play Napoleanics.

NapoleonicWargamer08:

Regarding polls. One was already done approximately 2-3 years ago on this site…may not hurt to do it again though as I find rules change like the wind. Some that were popular then seem to have faded somewhat….

I started with George Nafziger's Pas de Charge back in 1978 or so, and the group I was with spent half a year playing Napoleonics using The Complete Brigadier.

And a few more:

Vive L'Empereur (Ned Zuparko)
19th Century Rules ( South London Warlords)
The Napoleonic Wargame (G.W. Jeffrey)
Generalship Napoleonics (Jim Arnold)
Rusty's Rules for Miniature Wargames
Empires, Eagles, & Lions (New Jersey Association of Wargamers – Jean Lochet -of the newsletter/magazine by the same name fame)

Oh, and let's not forget:

Snappy Nappy
Le Petite Empereur

okie, this is the list so far :

19th Century Rules ( South London Warlords)
2x2 Napoleonics
Action Under Sail Birnie
Age of Eagles Gray
Battles for Empire
Before I Was a Brigadier
Black Powder Battles
Bruce Querrie: the Airfix book and the expanded rules
Campaigning with the Duke of Wellignton and Donald Featherstone(has a set of rules in it)
Chef de Battalion
Cold Steel and Cannister
Column, Line and Square
DBN (DBA Variant)
Elan
Empire (all variants)
Empires, Eagles, & Lions
Fast Play Grande Armee
Fire & Steel from GDW
First in The Field
General de Brigade
Generalship Napoleonics (Jim Arnold)
Glory
Grande Armee
Green Jackets & Voltigeurs
Guard du Corps
Horse, Foot & Guns (various editions)
How fleeting is glory
Huzzah
In the Grand Manner
In the Name of Glory
Le Feu Sacre (TooFat Lardies)
Le Grande Guerre
Le Petit Armee
Le Petite Empereur
Legacy of Glory
Les Aigles
Micro Napoleonics
Napoleonic Principles of War Penn
Napoleonic Rules Box (Irregular)
Napoleonic rules contained in "Practical Wargaming" (Wesencraft)
Napoleonic Warfare (3rd Edition) Halsall & Roth
Napoleonic Warfare Fleming
Napoleonic Wargaming (C.Grant)
Napoleonic wargamng for fun by Paddy Griffith (6 rules in it)
Napoleonique Encore
Napoleon's Battles Avalon Hill
Newbury, fast play Napoleanics
Pas de Charge back in 1978
Patriots and Loyalists Holder
Piquet – Les Grogards
Polemos GdB & MdE
Principles of War (Napoleonic)
Republique War Times Journal
Rusty's Rules for Miniature Wargames
Shako (1st edition)
Shako II Conliffe
Sharps practice
Snappy Nappy
The Americas '1750-1850'
The Complete Brigadier
The Napoleonic Wargame (G.W. Jeffrey)
To the Sound of the Guns
Tricolor by TSR
Valeur et Discipline
Valmy to Waterloo
Valor & Glory
Vive L'Empereur (Ned Zuparko)
Volley and Bayonet
Voltigeur by Dave Milward
War Eagles
Wargame Rules 1750-1950 WRG
Wargames Rules 1685-1845WRG
wargaming Waterloo
Wellington Rules
Wellington's War

All that and people are still looking for the perfect set of rules…

Missed one; Grand Armee… Sam Mustafa's game

Rudy

What I wrote was in jest/frustration.

But even if you could get together each group interested in their level of game, then ask each what set should we use for a Napoleonic tourni/convention, the result would be a punch up amongst themselves!

Napoleonics = no agreement

corps commander

I have some of those mentioned above plus;
"the Wargame" by C.S. Grant (with some minor modifications)
The Junior General – actually has several related rules, great for kids even my 5 1/2 year old can participate.

Wow! All those rules.
And Id guess many here would have not a marshal's baton in their knapsack but a set of Napoleonic rules theyd written themselves.

"but a set of Napoleonic rules theyd written themselves."

Just the one?

Actually demigamer, i was agreeing with you.

Didn't see Piquet: Field of Battle mentioned either

Napoleonic rules I have played (first to current)
Empires Eagles & Lions
WRG
Vive L'Emperor
Empire III
Guard Du Corps
Napoleons Battles
Volley & Bayonet
Piquet Les Grognards
Piquet Field of Battle (current)

I own at least as many more that I have never played.
Patrick

"Actually demigamer, i was agreeing with you."

Thought I should clarify how I feel about the whole sorry state of affairs.

Ports and Cigars is another Napoleonic ruleset

You mean that the EEL guys eventually DID publish their "Empires, Eagles and Lions" Game?

I always wanted to see those. Is there any way to obtain a copy?

many thanks

I'm thinking that General de Brigade and Shako II (plus Le Feu Sacre in UK) are the most oft played today. Anybody disagree?

Some of us colonials play Le Feu Sacre.