Ashenduke,
I'm actually shocked that there haven't been a ton of responses to your question!
You might want to open this as a separate discussion rather than including it here….but to at least give you one man's answer to your question.
Like a lot of the other grognards haunting this group, I've played a ton of Napoleonic miniatures games using tens of pounds of rules…..everything from old Column, Line and Square (aka Column, Line and Slaughter) through all x versions of EMPIRE….and including NB (lots), SHAKO (limited…and, to be honest, I remember less about it than the others cuz I played it very little and a long time ago), and AoE (lots).
None of the three you asked about are what I'd call complex. (All of the EMPIRES and La Jeu de la Guerre were/are complex.) Of the three, SHAKO is the least complex. NB and AoE are more complex, but not overly so….at least in my opinion.
As I recall, of the three, SHAKO felt most like a battalion level game…..commands of about a division/player worked, so the rules worked best for small battles. On the other hand, NB and AoE are definitely brigade level games, well suited to doing relatively large battles (Quatre Bras is about the limit on the low side, and I've done Borodino and Lutzen with both NB and AoE).
To me, SHAKO just felt like I was playing with generic armies….feel just wasn't right…but then, I believe that there were national differences between the armies.
NB can give you a good game, but there are a couple of things that I don't like all that much about the rules.
1. Flanks (and rear) have no effect, other than preventing defensive fire or counter-charge against someone attacking from them. No casualty multiplier, no morale effect, no penalty for close combat.
2. Even though units are brigades, there is line and there is column….and the formation dictates movement rate. (There're also other formations, like square, of course.)
3. Command radius is critical, so a lot of time is spent measuring it….or at least it seems that way to me. Units outside the radius of their divisional commander can't move (except cavalry get a die-roll chance). Commanders outside the radius of their immediate superior (and maybe the overall commander) have to make a die roll to move. Better commanders do get a better chance of activating. All command is checked before any movement is done.
4. Squares fail to form/get broken fairly frequently….I think a lot more frequently than historically accurate.
5. A unit can take only so many hits before routing, either from fire in one round or in melee. Once it reaches that number, it takes no more casualties, but it routs. Nationality and unit training/morale dictate the number: brigade size does not! (Though brigade size does dictate how many casualties a unit can take before it just disappears completely from the field.)
6. Everytime a unit wins a melee, it takes a winner hit. I'll always remember a French Lt Cav unit I had in an Aspern Essling game that defeated so many Austrian infantry brigades that it just disappeared from the battlefield, never having taken a hit from fire or melee.
7. All artillery batteries are the same size.
8. Divisional artillery is not shown: instead, an additional infantry stand is shown in the brigade. This doesn't increase the infantry range, nor does it increase their firepower as much as having a battery separate would. This leads to some really weird things….like the Brits typically having more guns than the French.
I'll play NB, but I don't like it that much.
AoE is my current favorite. It's an adaptation of the mechanics of FIRE AND FURY (a set of rules for the ACW). While F&F is not my favorite for ACW (JOHNNY REB forever!), Col. Gray's adaption for Napoleonics just seems to work!
1. Morale and movement are combined. You have to roll to move a brigade every turn, and you finish the movement of one brigade before rolling to move another. Fresh units move fairly well…..units that have taken casualties tend to move less well, and may well even rout. Commanders and troop quality effect movement The fact that you have to complete the movement of one brigade before moving another makes coordinated assaults less than certain….introducing friction.
2. Unless a cavalry unit starts close to an infantry unit (600 yards), chances are that the infantry will form square and win the melee.
3. Artillery batteries are different sizes, depending on the number of guns. Because of battery size, Russian guns fire as well as French and British guns.
4. Flanks matter for fire, melee and morale
.
5. About the most skirmish fire can do is disorder.
6. Infantry, other than skirmish capable infantry, has to close to 120 yards to fire.
7. Fire value and movement of infantry is dependent on doctrine. Linear infantry (think Prussia in 1806) move slowly, but fire very well. Infantry trained mostly to move in column (Columnar infantry…think Russia 1812 plus, Prussia 1813+, etc.) move quickly, but don't fire very well. High quality infantry (think Brits and Brit trained Portugese, French at their peak, etc.) both move quickly and fire very well. 2 rank infantry fire better than 3 rank infantry, too (wider basing for them is optional).
8. Fire is preparatory. Melee is key to victory.
9. And there are other things, too, but this is pretty long already, sooooo….
Bottom line is that different folks like different rules for different. One of our locals thinks NB is the best set of rules ever, and just doesn't like AoE. I know lots of folks love LaSalle, but I've played it once…..and won't play it again.
Feel free to contact me off line (lkss@aol.com) if you have any questions.
Kevin
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
