"General de Brigade or RtE?" Topic

Greetings all,

After some twenty odd years of wargaming I've finally decided to get into Napoleonics. I've always felt that the period is the "Eldorado" of our hobby, and now is the time to immerse myself into it before my eyesight is too far gone to do the miniatures justice.

I'm looking for a fairly detailed set of rules which are well suited to solo play while giving a good period feel, and I prefer battalions as maneuver elements. I'm familiar with the style of Barry Hilton's rules from past experience playing Beneath the Lily Banners, but I've never tried Gen. de Brigade before. I'd be much obliged for any advice or suggestions the veterans here have to offer.

Cheers,
Tom

Good luck Tom,

You are entering a world joy and I compliment you on your good taste (although you should bear in mind, this decision will cost you more than just a bucketful of cash).

I would imagine that you will get several different recommendations with regards to rule-sets. My advice would be to play as many as you can and then decide for yourself.

Raglan

This may help:

link

My "Rules Directory" provides summaries of many rule sets, with basing, descriptions of game mechanics etc.

I agree with Lord Raglan but will tell you that R2E is your best bet. I have both and I like the flow and simplicity of R2E. I see GdB (deluxe) as an old style rule set with extra chrome added. If that's what you like then GdB is your best choice but I like how Barry has given life to Napoleonics in a way that many other systems do not.

Good luck with your search.

I recommend G de B as it is fast paced but detailed enough to satisfy my need for historical/tactical accuracy.

The 20:1 ratio is ideal to reflect the difficulty of manoeuvering and changing battalion formation. G de B is suited up to Divisional level games although Corps level is possible.

Lastly, G de B has a dedicated and active web Blog devoted to G de B and other historical derivative games. It is a great place to seek clarifications on the rules, show off your newest figures or to pose a general war gaming question. The Blog is chaired by the author of G de B and other facilitators.

Good luck with your choice and enjoy war gaming.

Read up on Piquet for Napoleonics (Les Grognards). Its supposed to be great for solo Napoleonics as you don't precisely control the other side. There's a case to be made you don't control your own side either. But that will be apparent as you research it.

Field of Battle II from the Piquet family of rules provides a further development, as I understand, from Les Grognards and is highly suited for solo play. However, as Flashy alludes, if you expect complete control of your army these will not suit.

GdB is a great set of rules. My recommendation would be to hook up with someone local who is already familiar with them and try a game. See how they feel. There is an active web community and DB will always answer your questions on the forum.

Tom,

GdB Deluxe are my rules of choice. I find them very enjoyable for solo play. My last solo battle was with my 15mm Napoleonic figures on a 8'x6' table. The battle was a French corps vs a Russian division and a Austrian division. There were over 2000 figures involved.

Here is a TMP link of that battle.
TMP link
(Photobucket redid their site after the pictures were posted and now all the battle photos are out of order.)

Hope that helps.

God bless,
John T.

I found R2E a difficult set to get my head around – they are probably a fantastic game, but I have not found an opportunity to play them with some experienced players, which I fear is what I need. Good eye candy book though, so worth buying just for that

GdB – easy to play, and work well, with a good attempt at C&C. I have them, and have played them, and like them. They are a freshened up version of the old Peter Gilder style game, and make for a visually attractive game (as would R2E as it shares a 1:20 ratio).

However, having said that, I have now transitioned over to Black powder, as I feel it is a quicker game for my Friday night crowd to get their heads around. If you have some dedicated friends who will learn with you, then GdB should be fine.

I've played both GdeB and RtE. There's not a lot to choose between them – similar sized armies, similar complexity, games take a similar ammount of time.

I feel that GdB has the edge. It's been around longer, and I suspect more people play it, and the forum has a large, vocal and experienced population. Perhaps because of the input from these players, the rules are much easier to follow than RtE, and, if you do have problems, the forum response (not necessarily from the author)tends to be fast and to the point.

Of course, as you come to this from playing BLB, neither of these points may bother you.

I do wish people would read the question! (The good Peer does make a good point mind!)

GdeB for me for the reasons given previously.

Tom,
I've never played RtE. So I can't comment on those rules.

But I do play GdB, which to me is what I was looking for in a set of rules for years. I started playing Napoleonics 40 years ago and then stopped around 15 years ago as I love the period but not any of the rules I played back then. I've only been back 2 years now, and I found my Grail in GdB.

These might not be yours though, as my suggestion is to buy both rules and get some figure bases to write unit names on them. Take them both for a spin and make a decsion after play testing each of rules.

John

Thanks to everyone for the kind advice and suggestions. I guess I'll just have to get them both and see which one I like best. As long as the basing conventions are similar for both sets (based on Mark's reviews on his site they appear to be) I figure I should be alright.

Thanks again,
Tom

Another pitch for GdBde. I just finished a solo game from the Vittoria scenario. The last of many solo games using this rule set.

I prefer RtE to GdB. Like you, I returned to Napoleonics after a hiatus. I was thinking of playing Column, Line, and Square (a set of rules I played in the 1970s with Airfix and Der Kriegspielers miniatures).

In any event, I wanted to return to the period in 28mm and I was interested in fighting with perhaps a division or two on each side. I began looking at rules and initially picked up GdB. But the rules did not grab me -- for example, I did not like the way skirmishers were abstracted as part of a brigade. Then I tried RtE and found it more of what I was looking for. In the case of skirmishers, RtE allowed the use of battalions deploying as skirmishers, the number depending on size and type of unit. I also liked the command and control system a bit more. All in all, I found it an innovative and fun system.

And here is what I suggest:
Buy the 2 books, they're really worth it.

GdB and RtE share the same basing-standards and both work on a 1/20 scale. Owning and trying both will allow you to make an informed decision. Needless to say that they're both a joy to read and there's countless pretty pictures of well-painted miniatures, sheets and even Tutorials.

And here is my personal opinion:
I like this 'in the grand-manner' moment when a massive final cavalry-charge swipes away the shaking center of your enemy but I evenly value believable results.
So GdB is the set of rules for me.

GdB must be good I have been trying to get a used copy for the past 6 months and no one has one for sale or trade..I used to play empire 4 many years ago and have been out of gaming as well for about 19 years..but I like GdB scale and it suits my painting speed..I would not mind trying RtE if I could find a used copy of that as well

GdB for myself.

Interesting discussion. I bought both sets of rules a year or so ago (GdB as the new DeLuxe edition). I have never played either but have read both extensively and lean towards GdB, although some real playing might change my views.

Either way my problem is that I would need to modify any rules I use to fit my basing and figure ratio, which is all figures in single ranks, 1:30 figure ratio and a modified Quarrie system of troops really in two ranks being based half as wide again per figure as those in three ranks.

Rod