Stacktrace | 12 Jan 2015 12:37 p.m. PST |
I forget whether it was a magazine article or blog post, but I ran across the line "Napoleonics is the crack of wargames". Having recently gotten into historical wargaming, and rather clueless to this time in history, it got my interest. Do people generally agree with this statement, and why? What makes this period special in regards to wargaming? |
ACWBill | 12 Jan 2015 12:50 p.m. PST |
I think it is a combination of the endless uniform variance and periodic changes over the era. All the participants changed appearance multiple times from 1792-1815. So, get one army done for Russia in 1805, and you need another entirely different one for 1812. Austria, France, England and Prussia also experienced significant changes over the period. In essence, you are never finished. |
steamingdave47 | 12 Jan 2015 12:52 p.m. PST |
I think all war gaming is addictive! I wouldn't single out Napoleonic as being especially so, although it is a very attractive option with a range of combatant nations, colourful uniforms and the opportunity to game everything from company level skirmishes to battles with half a million men. Only problem with it is the plethora of rules and the tendency of wargamers to go for any new and shiny ones- in my club we are about to use the fourth different set in two years! |
deadhead | 12 Jan 2015 12:55 p.m. PST |
Tis the Craic, although many spellings possible. Takes an Irishman to speak (or write) the Queen's English. What a profound question. Mainly because Waterloo happened then I guess, OCD types like me would say. Truly, a World at War. Look at the daft tiny German states' uniforms Perrys are now producing. It was universal. Smart rig, (beats Victorian hands down). La Gloire, before the French started losing every war. (OK I'll concede WWI, maybe Crimea……only joking honestly, we'll not mention Franco PW, WWII unless you are 2e DB, Indochina, Algeria…this is not a week to tease the French, even in fun) It is still on a scale that is playable on a table (I have never played a wargame in my life, but the ranges of weapons were still within reason). It is like a chess game. No one arm is yet so powerful as to dominate the board completely. Cavalry can decimate infantry, but helpless against them in square. Square is slaughtered by artillery or attacking infantry. Line beats column but takes longer to form square. Lights can probably pick off artillerymen at will, unless attacked by cavalry or other skirmishers. It is a game of scissors/paper/stone. Technological advances spoilt all that and created WWI. |
79thPA | 12 Jan 2015 12:57 p.m. PST |
In some respects I agree with the statement, but the same can be said for the AWI, the German army from '39-'45, etc. |
Dave Jackson | 12 Jan 2015 1:08 p.m. PST |
Agree…..as has been said…it is never done, there's always one more obsession lurking….."what?? No Tirailleurs Ragusienne?"……and what about that Neapolitan army you've been working on…..with its 25mm skirmish troops….I know, got diverted by Poles, Wurttemburgers, Bavarians, Hessians, Saxons (1806 and 1812…oh Christ, now I need 1806 Prussians….)…EHRMAGERD!!!.. those Suvorov campaigns are damned interesting…what…another Russian army? Can't I use the 1805 one? ….sorry old chap…..by gum I like that Russo-Swedish war….WHAT! ANOTHER RUSSIAN ARMY! |
saltflats1929 | 12 Jan 2015 1:13 p.m. PST |
Does that make 40k the "gateway drug"? |
Brian Smaller | 12 Jan 2015 1:14 p.m. PST |
I think Napoleonics is more the Heroin of War-gaming. All the other genres are mere Methadone. |
CATenWolde | 12 Jan 2015 1:15 p.m. PST |
I'll say one thing – if you *start* with Napoleonics, everything else seems like a small, manageable project. Dux Brit with double the number of figures? Fah, only 100 figures for the starter army. The ACW? What, I can build a solid core force in only two or three years? Not decades? |
deadhead | 12 Jan 2015 1:29 p.m. PST |
Well if we are going to do the crack thing. To a well known tune; Picture yourself on a ridge south of Brussels
With redcoated troopers and grey leaden skies Somebody calls you, you form square quite slowly The Ensign right next to you dies………. I could go on but……..peace and love man (never ever inhaled)
|
GROSSMAN | 12 Jan 2015 1:52 p.m. PST |
I agree with this statement, it was what got me hooked 30+ years ago. The sight of hundreds if not thousands of miniatures on a table was a pretty big dose for me. I think the uniforms huge battles, formations and the romantic flavor of warfare from that age can be intoxicating. I spent hours looking at the painting of the British squares being swarmed by French heavy cavalry at Waterloo, and while I didn't know much about the period everything about it appealed to me. I love the art element of wargaming and have painted over three thousand Napoleonic figures over the past 15 years, and while I don't own a single one any more it will always be my first love. |
McLaddie | 12 Jan 2015 1:56 p.m. PST |
Hey, the French Revolution and Napoleon's wars are twenty years of conflict. That's more than the 1859/ACW/1866/1870-1/WWI/WWII combined in length. Why shouldn't it get a little more attention? But I've seen Panzer addicts too. "What, I only have a Tiger in 1943 camo? I need twelve more and then there are five versions of the tank." [He scuttles off to do the math before ordering a gross of the models.] |
ironicon | 12 Jan 2015 1:56 p.m. PST |
I find addictive every new period I get into. I did the Nap. thing in the 70s. The largest games I played were in .the early 90s. We played on a 26 foot long table useing 25mm figs. I like the period, but for me I was done with it. I might go back and do a few 28mmfigs. since there are so many out standing models out there now. A lot of people start historical gameing this period for all the reasons above. About a year ago I got addicted to AWI. For me it is a doable project. I'm giveing my self 3 years to work through it.Napoleonics could take 3 lifetimes. But you probably are correct in the way you mean it. |
skippy0001 | 12 Jan 2015 2:09 p.m. PST |
I played more Napoleonic boardgames than miniature games. I played Le Battaile de la Moskua/GDW several times. I liked setting it up as well as playing it. Napoleonics to me is the Historical Romance of wargaming. I prefer ImagiNations and what-ifs. But I played Empire when it first came out. Chainmail, Tractics and Empire were first for me. Not 'crack'. Just fine Brandy and Champagne. |
Yellow Admiral | 12 Jan 2015 2:10 p.m. PST |
Picture yourself on a ridge south of Brussels With redcoated troopers and grey leaden skies Somebody calls you, you form square quite slowly The guy who's just next to you dies. Please finish that, and put it in a separate post. - Ix |
Cold Steel | 12 Jan 2015 2:52 p.m. PST |
Of course Napoleonics is not addicting. I can quit anytime. Why, I haven't bought a Napoleonic figure since yesterday. |
deadhead | 12 Jan 2015 2:53 p.m. PST |
Hey, we have started something if you know your music of that genre……with apologies to Grace S One round hit First Legere and one round missed them all and the next ones fired by Mercer didn't do anything at all go ask Adkin…..etc etc |
ataulfo | 12 Jan 2015 6:29 p.m. PST |
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wrgmr1 | 12 Jan 2015 10:25 p.m. PST |
Wagram in 25/28mm, just under 7000 figures. Napoleonics = Crack. [URL=http://s219.photobucket.com/user/tjm3/media/Wagram%20June%202009/IMG_1147.jpg.html]
[/URL] [URL=http://s219.photobucket.com/user/tjm3/media/Wagram%20June%202009/IMG_1137.jpg.html]
[/URL] [URL=http://s219.photobucket.com/user/tjm3/media/Wagram%20June%202009/IMG_1138.jpg.html]
[/URL] [URL=http://s219.photobucket.com/user/tjm3/media/Wagram%20June%202009/IMG_1125.jpg.html]
[/URL] |
Supercilius Maximus | 13 Jan 2015 12:53 a.m. PST |
Sadly, my only experience of "crack" in wargaming was having the misfortune to be sitting (head roughly at waist level to anyone standing) at one table with the guy behind me at the next table bent over whilst wearing his trousers and underwear in "building site" mode. |
mashrewba | 13 Jan 2015 1:09 a.m. PST |
More like the ecstasy of wargaming -one minute you're just sitting there with a few unpainted figures and nothing much seems to be happening and then before you know it you're surrounded by hundreds of beautiful things and just look at the colours!!! And it seems to go on for ever and ever and ever.Smiley face – of course…) |
deadhead | 13 Jan 2015 4:17 a.m. PST |
Yellow Admiral asked for another verse and it is not worth a topic of its own……so; Picture yourself on a ridge south of Brussels With redcoated troopers and grey leaden skies Somebody calls you, you form square quite slowly The Ensign right next to you dies………. The colours he carried, of yellow and green Snatched from right over your head See that dragoon with the gleam in his eyes And he's gone…… Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds AAAAAAAAH……..etc |
Stacktrace | 13 Jan 2015 12:43 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the great insight. Seems like a combination of the pageantry, diverse colors, and the relative parity of weapon/troop capability allowing good tactics to be the key determination of victory. Some great pictures, certainly worth a thousand words or more in this case. |
Yellow Admiral | 13 Jan 2015 2:16 p.m. PST |
Okay, then, I'll finish it: Picture yourself on a ridge south of Brussels With redcoated troopers and grey leaden skies Somebody calls you, you form square quite slowly The Ensign right next to you diesThe colours he carried, of yellow and green Snatched from right over your head See that dragoon with the gleam in his eyes And he's gone Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Aaaaaaaaaaah….. Follow your mates to fill holes in formation Stumbling past bodies and wounded who cry Everyone's panicked, your sergeant just glowers You crouch in the front of the line Artillery rounds fill the air by the score Carrying comrades away Peer through the smoke drifting by in thick clouds Then it's gone Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Aaaaaaaaaaah….. Picture yourself standing fast for the next charge The horsemen come fast and then gallop on by Suddenly one swings a saber, you shoot him And see the light fade from his eyes Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Aaaaaaaaaaah….. Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Aaaaaaaaaaah….. Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Loosely formed in squares and diamonds Aaaaaaaaaaah….. |
Yellow Admiral | 13 Jan 2015 2:17 p.m. PST |
I don't recognize a single face in those photos, yet that scene is so familiar… :-) - Ix |
deadhead | 13 Jan 2015 2:41 p.m. PST |
Oh, respect………..that is brilliant. Seriously, Yellow Admiral………..now, you should start a new topic, just for fun, and use this. What 60s classics can we adapt to Waterloo? Genius mate…….. |
deadhead | 13 Jan 2015 2:42 p.m. PST |
I've just read it again and then sung it out loud………..it must be me, but that is brilliant |
Yellow Admiral | 13 Jan 2015 4:10 p.m. PST |
I believe we may have just set Lennon turning in his grave. :-) - Ix |
mashrewba | 13 Jan 2015 4:33 p.m. PST |
or even 70s classics like er …Waterloo. I didn't know that that was where Napoleon did surrender. |
Yellow Admiral | 13 Jan 2015 4:36 p.m. PST |
Seriously, Yellow Admiral………..now, you should start a new topic, just for fun, and use this. Okay, I did. The obvious next step is to complete the corruption of "Ask Alice". After you, sir. - Ix |