"What Napoleonic army should a newbie buy?" Topic

I am putting absolutely no restrictions on your selection.
All I am asking is what army you would buy if you were just getting into Napoleonics. You walk into a store, or go online, and there they are. Plastic or metal or paper or cardboard or Legos.

You can make whatever assumption you like.
You can assume that you have just joined a club with established palyers.
You can assume that your club is just getting into it.
You can assume you will be playing solo.
You can assume that you are just a collector.
You can assume any rules set you want, or none.
You can assume your own favorite, or not.
You can think about it, or make a snap decision.

I am not even assuming that you need French, since the French did not monopolize the fighting at the time.
I am not even saying "first".

All I am asking is what army a newbie should buy.

All I am asking is what army a newbie should buy.

None. Saves a lot of headaches down the road.

Which Napoleon?

Which Napoleon?

The dessert.

Well assuming you have all the money you need, buy every army. God knows what an "army" is, but I'm assuming with all the money in the world it doesn't matter.

Myself, I bought Peninsular Brits first as a newbie.

"They" don't usually call armies around the era of Napoleon III "Napoleonic", but I get your point.

Obviously, you need a French army. You will want some cavalry. Buy the prettiest type--your oppinion--and sub them for whatever cavalary was present in your battle de jour. You will want a couple of types of infantry. Pick two different types of hats. Sub them for whatever infantry was present in your battle de jour. You will want some cannon.

If you are the first player in your group, you will also want to buy a British army. You will want to follow the same formula as the French army above. Not only can you sub the infantry and cavalry for the proper type in the battle de jour. You can even sub the whole army for another nationality. The red coats are the universal enemy to the French.

Now here's the part where you must be strict and do your research. Do the best possible job in painting your troops appropriately for their era and nationality (i.e. what they were out of the box). You can sub them for whatever on the battlefield. But their facings should be proper on the shelf. Get this part right and you can add more troop types, nationalities, time periods, etc… without having the repurchase or repaint.

French would be the normal newbie first (as they fought nearly everyone else), lots of choice available, lots of easy to find material on painting schemes etc – the question is which flavour (conquest, empire, penninsular, liberation or waterloo campaign)?

I went for Austrian.

If I could afford them and I felt I could do them justice with my painting skills Calpe Prussians would be next.

Brunswickers, 1815. [1] Napoleonics is about looking good. [2] You can reasonably field the whole army. [3] Both gimmicks: Rifles AND Lancers. [4] If you get your general killed, well it's historical. [5] How often do you get to field Germans, decked up in black, with a death's head, and no moral quandaries.

adub74 – the Austrians fought far more battles and in more theatres against the French than the British did

1813-15 Prussians. Nice and simple.

Or Austrians. Also straightforward.

whereas French make my ears bleed every time I try to sort out the Imperial Guard and all their flavours of light infantry.

French, no guard as James says above.

Do it for the Peninsula with lots of dragoons and you can do it all plastic.

Well, this is a no brainer really.

What does the local group need?

Assuming no preferences:

1. French.

They fight pretty much everywhere. Makes them the 'universal' army. Do them up in a 1812 uniform scheme and no one will ever complain. That and the figures for that year seem to be readily available. (which is not to say figs for other years are not available -- just a little harder to find).

2. Brunswickers 1815

For the painting impaired or the guy that wants to do a complete army, this is the ticket. Eight Battalions (3 line, 3 light, 1 advanced guard ?? rifle, and one Guard bn), two Cav regiments (well 1 1/2 might be closer to the truth) and two artillery batteries (one foot and one horse). That's it! Mostly paint them dark gray (a dark gray primer works pretty well for most of these).

3. British

if you are a 'power player'. These guys are tough. Painting those red uni's can be kinda hard if you are into shading and stuff. Plaids on the Highlanders will drive you to distraction.

4. Russians

A nice mix of everything. None of it is as good as the French but hey, you get lots of artillery guns, cossacks, and a riot of color where your cavalry is concerned.

mjc

I started with Austrians, when I was a newbie.

I would make the same decision today.

Me personally, I would buy buy Eureka revolutionary wars French.

Then Austrians then the new Russians for Suvorov.

Diadochoi…

"the Austrians fought far more battles and in more theatres against the French than the British did"

Sure. But I bet most newbies just read a book, watched a movie, or saw a documentary on TV about Waterloo. And I believe the red coat is a more distinctive uniform.

Napoleon's Old Guard. :^)

adub74 – I agree, but having just painted up the first battalion of Peninuslar British as an aside, there seems to be more white on a finished British figure than red…..

Diadochoi--guess you got me there. Chuck makes a pretty good foil. Use the Austrians as the Washington Generals :)

Try the Spanish. That way, assuming you are going to lose, it's historical.

Since any potential group you game with will have the major combatants, as mine did, I opted for the minor players – Bavarians to begin with, then Saxon, then Wurtemberg, Brunswick and Polish.

I'm a newb myself, but here's an idea – build only French armies – then do a what-if scenario where Napoleon is defeated in some battle, captured and exiled somewhere. Yet, the vast majority of his armies are intact and his marshals have separate armies and end up fighting each other for the remnants of the empire. Maybe it could be called something like "The Wars of Napoleon's Successors" or something like that

The French Army would be first, for the good reasons many mentioned. Paint whatever you like the most, alternating with a line infantry unit: that was the best recommendation I was handled back in the days. One line infantry unit, one Old Guard unit; one line infantry unit, one horse unit; and so on.

Second, I opted for the Austrians. Lots of battles, lots of campaigns, and different theatres. Quick to paint (mostly white) and yet colorful (Hungarian, hussars, grenzer, etc.)

Third, I added a Russian army -- but it was a cheap buy on eBay.

Next, I'll go for the British, and maybe smaller contingents for some minor players (Saxons, Bavarians, Portuguese.)

I guess it would depend on -

Do your friends/club have Napoleonics? If so which would fit in best and allow some good games? Maybe they have Peninsular and you fancy expanding into Continental or vice versa.

If you're going it alone, or are first of your mates to try it, then do two sides at once, and start with skirmish forces. Almost inevitably one will be French lights, the other perhaps British lights or rifles, Spanish Guerillas, Austrian Tyrol Jaeger, Prussian Jaeger or Russian Eger and Cossacks with some Partizans. At least you can get some skirmish scenarios in while you build up, say a line infantry brigade for either side then start the inevitable megalomaniacal expansion.

Hawaiians.
They look pretty and are WAY under represented in continental european armies of the period.

The sick thing is I've been considering Napoleonics more often…

Russians.

fredg wrote

Since any potential group you game with will have the major combatants, as mine did, I opted for the minor players – Bavarians to begin with, then Saxon, then Wurtemberg

You can use the turncoats like them on either side.

I am in that exact position. This is my first foray into Napoleonic warfare. Friends of mine have been playing Black Powder and I've simply borrowed their figures. But I thought I should have a small command of my own figures. I could pick whatever I wanted. I promised myself a long while ago that if I was ever to go into Napoleonics it would be with Poles. It was their czapka that was the clinchers. Then there are the Polish Uhlans: really cool cavalry. I'm really impressed with the Front Rank figures. So, my army will be Front Rank Poles.

Louisiana Pirates.

Starting Napoleonics requires initial conditions: there is a huge difference beteen starting within an already established gaming group, and starting for solo play. So everyone will have different answers bsed on their own inital conditions. My first stab at Napoloeonics required French in Egypt and Mamluks backed by Janissaries, which hasn't even come close to anyone else's suggestions. Differing initial conditions :)

If I was to start again I'd get something easy to paint like Brunswickers or Ottoman's or maybe combine the two and do Ottowickers

Austrian for a newbie. The white uniforms paint up fast and easy.

Without setting any background or preconditions, it is almost impossible to give any useful advice, other than buy what you like best, assuming you can afford them. And you almost always *can* afford them, as long as you do the painting yourself.

When I started in this hobby more tha 4 decades ago (!), I was it… so I built French first (my favorite amy) and Austrians second. I like their uniforms, and they fought in 1796, 1800, 1805, 1809 (my favorite campaign – scenario book in the works), 1812 (with French), 1813, and 1814. They are my second biggest army, having expanded them a lot for our 1809 project last year. I'm even thinking of adding four units of Hungarian Insurrectio infantry for 1809, if I can figure out what to use for figures (28mm, of course).

After that, it was all downhill… Bavarians as French Allies, then Russians, then Danes, then Poles, then Westphalians, then Wurttemburgers, then Saxons, then Brunswickers, then Northern Italians, then Swedes, then Portuguese, then Prussians, then Badeners, then Hessians. Oh, and I have a few odd Brits around, and some unpainted (as yet) Spanish Grenadiers. All the while, I keep adding more to the core armies – more French, Austrians, and Russians in the past year alone… and plenty more figures to do for our big 1812 Borodino project (and the even bigger 1813 project).

It *is* a disease, but a magnificent one, no? :-)

Peter

Russians

One of the smaller states. Holland, Swede, Saxon, or maybe one of the even smaller German states. Lots of reasons. First, if you are playing with a set group, there is less chance of 14 people already having them. You can get a reasonable percentage of the entire army on the table pretty quick. If you decide they are not for you, there is less of an investment and (see the first reason) they might be easier to sell to someone who doesn't already have them. Some can fight for either side depending on the year.

I didn't go for one of the smallest but I didn't go for the biggies either. Italians. Went 1806-9 era. Still glad I made that choice. I have Bavarians, Saxons, Hesse Darmstadt, and working on adding a couple other smaller German states to the list.

Oh, Austrians, and preferably in plastic- just to annoy JOFM

I started with Austrians.
Then I sold them because I hate painting 15mm figures ;)

Oh, Austrians, and preferably in plastic- just to annoy JOFM

That is precisely why I started this. To get some useless data.

Happy to oblige