"Who is playing "Napoleon" rules?" Topic

I'm curious if anyone is actively playing games with Foundry's Napoleon rules and how they are holding up.

They are collecting dust on my bookshelf rather nicely.

Foundry's Napoleon was like a Hollywood marriage: unexpected, exciting, and getting lots of attention, but destined to collapse right after the honeymoon.

But what do they care? They got your money.

They will make for a nice addition to my living rule coffee table were some of my other Napoleonic books are.

I intend on trying them when my armies are complete, but have not done so yet. I think there's a nice mecanism in there. Very curious to see them in action, though.

Negative comments should soon follow…

I have read them, but not played them yet and am geniunely curious about the honest opinions of people actually USING them. Hence the thread….

Have them, like the Archduke have yet to play them – but I will – right now I don't actually have enough 28mm Nappys for more than a skirmish game, but in a few months – - -

Played them twice; will probably never do so again.

Why?

I played a couple of games …I was ambivalent about them. Nice quick game with lots of counters and bits of paper going in all directions seems to be my recollection. I think my young son will like them as they are very easy rules to pick-up. I'm sticking with GdeB and the occasional Grand Manner game for the moment until I get copies of RtE and Blackpowder to try out (yes, I'm a compulsive Napoleonic rule collector).

RtE? I don't think that your son will like playing those rules. The turns are sooooooo loooooong.

Der Alte Fritz, what do you think RtE stands for? I was curious when you played it?

Republic to Empire

They are collecting dust on my bookshelf rather nicely.

Et tu DAF?

I think Fritz has confused Republic to Empire (a Brit game that hasn't been released yet) with Republic and Empire (a Yank game that was the most recent rehash of Bowden's "Empire.")

This is just one more reason why game designers need to adequately title or at least sub-title their games with the words "Glory," "Eagles", or some sort of pidgin French.

This is just one more reason why game designers need to adequately title or at least sub-title their games with the words "Glory," "Eagles", or some sort of pidgin French.

Maybe I should rant about that on my blog…

nickthelemming.wordpress.com

This is just one more reason why game designers need to adequately title or at least sub-title their games with the words "Glory," "Eagles", or some sort of pidgin French.

Why would anyone do that? It's as stupid as taking two perfectly good French words and combining them to form a meaningless, but witty username. Such as, say, 'sage' and 'connard'

I just got the book for my birthday and so far it seems like a fun game. Even if it sucks, for me it was a great way to get introduced to Napoleonics. It explains alot about the armies and wars, has army lists, and painting guides; things that other historical rulebooks often lack.

My main reason for not playing them again is that I do not like many of the concepts and mechanisms within them; there is not enough that is "good" to make it worth the effort of tinkering with them.

As one of our little group commented, they seem to have been written by somebody who did not really know anything about Napoleonic warfare.

It is an entry level game, and will be nice to demo at shows where new miniatures fans are at…

two completely opposing postings.

"explains alot about the armies and wars,"

"seem to have been written by somebody who did not really know anything about Napoleonic warfare"

the joys of napoleonic gaming, and the reason why it complels the player to have the largest history library of any period…

Too true Keraunos!
Though the rules might not be my cup of tea I'm pleased to hear they have army and painting guides included to help people get started.
Max

The Napoleon rules from Matt are excellent and our club has been using them as the sole Nappies rule set since they came out. They are fun, easy to learn, reflect the period excellently and are on most occasions very well balanced. There are a few gremlins in the rules but these are easily sorted by a gentlemanly agreement over a beer!

I fear, Sly, that your group look to be in a minority.

yes but a happy minority!

I think they look ok but there is much better out there.

Sly, do you actually have sets of order cards created? If so, how many and how do you set up the mechanism for players to choose order cards? Do you have one entire set for every unit on the table?

In other games I've played, this gaming mechanism results in piles of order chits or cards and they get scattered about over time.

From my point of view, the background section in the book is so basic that it could only really be of use to someone encountering the period for the first time. Perhaps this is actually who they are aimed at.

They do give a decent game but I see the key problem as being that it is a game that just happens to involve Napoleonic miniatures, rather than a game that has any passing similarity with the activity on a Napoleonic battlefield. This is true for quite a few rulesets imo; some people may like that but I happen not to.

If what you want is a colourful, fairly simple game, give them a try; if you want something a little more representational of Napoleonic warfare, avoid them.

Thank you Colin. I understand what you are saying. Some games are designed around a set of mechanics and you can glue whatever figures you want onto the bases.

There should be a place in every wargamers bookshelf for rules that can be used to introduce the new gamer. Everyone who wants to be gaming 10 years from now should bring in a new player every once in a while. Remember the stepped rules of some of the early Avalon Hill games? My friends and I would never have learned to play if you threw the entire book at us from the beginning.

I used to use a simplified version of WRG's 1645-1845 for beginners. People always seemed to catch on quickly enough
and it always seemed to be an enjoyable game.
Max

In my heart the big problem with these rules is that they seem to be fixed in to cover only Foundry products. For me this just isn't on, and leaves a strangely bad taste, like the book is trying to subliminaly manipulate me…"buy Foundry, only buy Foundry…"

The big problem they also now face is the absolute swarm of polished rules sets coming out all covering very much the same ground. That means 'Napoleon' cannot get by simply by proclaiming itself to be of a higher quality.

That means 'Napoleon' cannot get by simply by proclaiming itself to be of a higher quality.

Especially when it isn't. Many of the pictures aren't very inspiring either.

Have played them a few times and like them. Some quite elegant mechanisms in there. The one that I will be binning is Black Powder. I'm not enamoured with the pick and mix style of wargames rules and IMHO an attempt to be all things to all periods means missing all of them.

I think Fritz has confused Republic to Empire (a Brit game that hasn't been released yet) with Republic and Empire (a Yank game that was the most recent rehash of Bowden's "Empire.")

And which is actually entitled Revolution and Empire.

Sam is correct. I confused the name with the new version of Empire by Scott Bowden and Todd Fisher. Todd roped me into one of his games and I did not have an enjoyable experience.

Thank you Gaul – that was the title that I was thinking of when I made my haphazard comment. My apologies to Quindia and Mr. Hilton.

Apologies are not necessary! I was really wondering if you had had he chance to play Republic to Empire somewhere! We play tested these rules to destruction and tried to fix issues when they cropped up – slow turns was not a complaint I've heard so I just wanted to make sure…

Fred, are you serious? If you're binning them, I'll take them off you. I've been raving about my copy, and I know some of the guys at the club would love to have your copy if you don't want it. I'll pay you postage.

Fred, are you serious?

Yes I'm serious. Sorry you are too late have already offloaded them to a fellow club member. I think he plans to give his Old Guard all the good addons from the optional rules! I did think of hanging on to them to look at the pretty pictures, but decided there are so many pretty pictures of miniatures around these days that it wasn't necessary. :-)