"What was the first version of Empire that you played?" Topic

I guess I'm showing my age here but it appears to me that an awful lot of you never played the early versions of Empire. Too bad really.

I still have my copy of Empire I.

What version of Empire did you play first?

Star Wars…..

Empire III – The one with the French Guard Horse MLRS Batteries. (Well that's what they felt like)

Empire I, I also have the box and dice!!

Empire IV, but I only played once before we switched to Empire V.

Whatever one came in the big green ringbinder.

Empire V. Still do.

Star Fleet Battles.

I don't know what edition it was. All I remember of that lost several hours of my life was the guy who was running the game apologising to all the players at the end for it being such a tedious and dull game…

I have never played Empire, although many years ago I was given a copy. Can't remember what edition it was though.

I have an old copy but never played it. When I return home tonight I'll post the edition/year.

Empire I.

Empire III
Game of choice at the local club
that I started hanging out with
at the age of 18.
Now 46 and still play with the guys
on Saturday. But not Empire.

Missed the whole shebang. Went straight from the old Airfix rules to In the Grand Manner, via a ten-year break.

On the whole it worked out very well.

Empire I, then Empire II, then I bought Empire III and never played it. Did not bother investing in E4 or E5.

Bought and played a dozen games or more of Empire II, but we never had time to finish a single one…..still enjoyed it, though. Bought Empire III and tried played two games before the gaming group engage in a mutual suicide pact.

By the time a got back into Napoleonics, there were other more playable options available. Currently play Age of Eagles and Shako II.

Empire II but only once before III came out. Played lotsa, lotsa III, some IV and then the current version came out. Of them all I enjoyed III the best by a small margin over V.

I played or actually stood around all day, but dont remember the number, it was early 80s I think.

Played I and II. The club I was in finally had enough, we wanted to actually move figures, and dropped Empire like a hot potato.

the one where they struck back.

Empire II

Empire II

Empire III. I went from Column, Line, and Square to that. Once, only once…

Bought (and still have the tattered copy) the 1977 Second Edition because of the buzz of all friends who were excited to be replacing Tricolor and Column, Line, and Square.

I never played it and it became a huge bone of contention between players.

Even as a Grognard I had doubts… Francophilic would be an understatement.

Did you know the Spanish only had Militia cavalry? Oh wait I just found the Dragoons entry – on a different page. My bad! Another "quirk" of the rules organization…

Oh well,I had accepted I would have Austrians but then I moved from Sacramento to Seattle. So, no figures!

I played with other people's miniatures with the locally produced Napoleon set of rules the last few ties I was at a saint Louis con.

Gracias,

Glenn

First? guess that would be III. Didn't care for it but a friend suggested his Empire II. I liked it much better for some reason.

I liked Empire II better as well. So long ago, I can't recall the reasons for liking one version over the other.

Empire V. I sought help.

Please include a selection for 'I've never played Empire.'

Empire III. For all the flak it takes now I played numerous games of it that I enjoyed a lot back in the day. These days the issues keeping me from playing it revolve around lack of time and lack of skilled players. It's a game that demands that the players understand the rules and tactics and are willing to put in the work.

I view the Empire series of rules similar to Advanced Squad Leader: they both *can* be enjoyable with the right players and right resources.

The first version of Empire that I played was the cassette tape. Queensryche may have released a CD later but I don't know for sure.

Mighty Empires

I

Well I bought III and the Campaign System, from Dave Rotor's wee shop incidentally, but as to actually playing it – pass…

I owned and played Ancient Empires back in 1991, in the mistaken belief that it might be more fun than WRG 7th (which I detested).

It wasn't.

Since the mechanics are quite similar, and I found the the ancients version to be incredibly slow and mind-numbingly tedious, I couldn't imagine myself wanting to play any version of Empire, ever.

I dodged the bullet, I have a copy of Stars and Bars so I understand the kind of pain it provokes.

Empire III had just hit the shelves when I got involved in 15mm Napoleonics. There were a lot of players who hung out at the Royal Guardsman hobby shop in Dallas back then. It was actually a part of Heritage USA and carried the full line of Napoleonettes on the shelf. That doesn't sound so impressive nowadays with the ability to buy just about anything at anytime via the internet but believe me, back in 1982 it was impressive.

Dave

Empire I. I have all of them and follow on rules as well. Active member of the Yahoo group as well. FWIW.
VR
James Mattes

1978 – Empire II, first played with a set translated to German by the Bavarian Napolieonic Mil History group. Ran across them playing in the Cure Park Gym in Bad Aibling Germany. The game wasn't as slow as the ones that I played after returning to the states – the beer helped and and ther were an amiable group.

Started with Empire II. We kept the French under control by making sure they were saddled with lots of allies, although the Peninsular campaign we played foundered when it became obvious that the presence of Spanish on the field virtually guaranteed a French victory, no matter what the odds; at one point we had two Spanish divisions destroyed by three regiments of French dragoons.

Bought a copy of Empire III. Was unenthused by how much better the French had gotten and by the need for a flow-chart to illustrate the turn sequence. Never played it.

Bought a copy of Stars 'n' Bars. Played it once. Lifted it carefully with tongs and placed it in a hazmat container for safe disposal.

The year after Stars 'n Bars came out I attended Origins where a representative of the gaming group in Houston that had playtested the rules informed the audience that the American Civil War was fought with smoothbore flintlocks. That, and his answer to a question about combat in built-up areas ("We can't figure out how to do it so we just don't allow it.") led me to suspect that perhaps Mr. Bowden's rules were not undergoing the sort of rigorous testing I would have expected, given that their price by contemporary standards was pretty high.

But, since hope has never sprung more eternal than in the soul of a gamer, I picked up a copy of Empire IV about a year after it came out. Read it through. After all those years, I had to buy a new set of tongs. Oh well.

LT