"What Napoleonic Rules Are The Deadliest?" Topic

Which set of rules cause the most casualties to infantry or cavalry, from small arms fire or artillery?

Any set of rules potentially allows you to eliminate entire enemy units as casualties. Of course, most sets of rules have morale rules that cause a unit to withdraw or rout before it is annihilated.

I would think the "deadliest" set of rules, in that whole units get destroyed quite commonly, would be "Little Wars".

Column, Line and Square.

Little Wars. All depends on the ball roll!

Back in the day, I thought Tricolor was notably bloodthirsty.

All depends on the ball roll!

???

Second vote for Column, Line and Square. Our group plays house rules closely based upon original Column, Line and Square. We have "backed down" the casualties and figures still go flying off the table as the fire and melee phases ensue.

CLS. Once a battalion gets within musket range you can write it off whether you win or lose.

I've never seen anyone die while playing a Napoleonic rules set.

It wasn't called 'Column Line and Slaughter' for nothing.

Rusty's Rules were fairly deadly. One of my friends suggested that we call RR "The Landscape Turned Red".

Volley and Bayonet…. with the right card, and the right role, a whole army can disappear on the first turn…

I don't recall the name of the rules but there was a set I played once where an entire 16 figure Bavarian dragoon regiment in line was wiped out in it's entirety in one round of extreme range Russian field artillery fire. After that I did my best to hide my units on a battlefirld that resembled WW1 more than the Napoleonic period.

Fire and Steel (GDW) was pretty deadly. Artillery against a column was particularly so. Couple that with relatively slow movement and artillery becomes king.

Yeah, I agree about Rusty's Rules. They were a lot of fun. However, I played in a game where my artillery inflicted some casualties on a Line infantry unit. It had to check morale. It failed. then the units next to them checked and failed and so on. Literally 75% of the army turned around and left the field. This was on turn 2. We set things back up and started again.

I still like the rules though.

Thanks,

John

John, Were your troops Neapolitans?

Definitely agree with C L S.

Pas d'Charge!

I'm curious if people mentioning OTHER rulesets than CLS ever played Column, Line and Square.

The only way to get figures off the table faster is with a fire hose.

Are you talking deadliest in terms of figures or deadliest to gamers?

Hey Redbanner. Actually, no. If it had been them I wouldn't have been surprised. They were regular line infantry.

Thanks,

John

Fire and Steel was pretty nasty.
HouseRules Napoleonics was quite deadly as well.

Pas de Charge! My first rules set. I painted airfix units as fast as possible to build an army large enough to sustain the high number of casualties that my blundering caused using those rules…

The one game of CLS I ever saw had a humongous number of figures on the table. The players used a formation that had 3 battalion infantry regiments advance on a single company frontage. These things went into the enemy and melted like a candle in a roaring flame.

So we called it Conga Line and Slaughter.

Column Line and Square ranks as the most deadly in my experience, with Fire and Steel a close second. Artillery pretty much rules in either!

The real battles were the deadliest.

I consider myself experienced in both Fire and Steel and CLS…..CLS wins.

(This isn't a criticism of Fire & Steel…I am very fond of those rules…even played a game a couple of years ago)

Margard Wells shot toy cannons at them, and knocked down figures for casualties.
I have heard Piquet can bore you to death though. I did fall into a coma the first time I read Empire III.

It does sound like Column Line and Square (which I have not played) may be World's Deadliest Set of Napoleonic Rules , but the interesting question raised above is which set is, if not the most likely to lead to fatalities, then at least the most likely to cause heated arguments and threat of coming to blows among the players.

I still play Fire and Steel, and some of you are correct, artillery is king. Is it still possible to get CLS? I like rules that are bloody. MikeKT, that is a very good question.

Hopefully Florida Tory will see this thread and let me know the availability of CLS.

reggie,

The CLS Archive is here:

link

You will want the 2nd edition, and be sure to visit the Yahoo group with the link provided.

Editorially, I concur that CLS can be very bloody to the unwary – just like Napoleoninc warfare. The rules allow a skilled player with good timing to unhinge large forces with small, elite units.

Think of the Poles at Somosierra, or the Chevalier Guard at (1st) Polotsk.

They remain the only rules I have played that really can capture such moments, which is a major reason why I am still invested in them after so many years.

Rick