"What do you like most about Napoleonics?" Topic

What aspect do you like the most about Napoleonic tabletop wargaming?

(a) Colorful uniforms
(b) Cavalry
(c) Artillery
(d) Tactical aspects (column, line, square, etc.)
(e) Great variety of armies
(f) Personalities (Napoleon, Wellington, et al)
(g) Strategy (the bigger picture)
(h) ________________________
(i) I'm not a Napoleonics gamer

(A) through (H)

D through G

yes

g, d, e, f and h – it was a European affair.

The best bits were a European affair and there is nothing better to behold than Europeans beating the out of each other whilst stylishly dressed.

And I should know.

That they put food on the table and pay off the mortgage.

Not playing it…

I am not a player

Rod Steiger….

Mostly D, though A is pretty cool too.

Rod Steiger: agreed. Like the film alot but the game, not so much: I haven't played since my Airfix days the the seventies.

John T

D.

I guess it is the juxtaposition between formal, close order formations (with skirmishers), and tactical flexibility within a short (mostly smooth bore black powder weapons) ranged horse and musket period.

I generally game SYW and I'm just beginning to get a Napoleonic collection together. I'm looking forward to gaming with columns and with skirmishers, two things generally missing from a SYW action.

Pretty uniforms are a bonus. As is the availability of a books on the subject.

Many of the other reasons are available in most periods.

Now I've just got this lot to paint up, and somehow I ordered 50 too few British infantry!

British

French

Portugese

But I've made a start (I've done some French voltigeurs)

A through H!

I

A through F.

The funny hats. Also that you can paint your guys something other than grey and brown.

A through G, what Olicana said and Rod Steiger too.

A to F.
Funny no one had just H, a line full of expectations!

(i) Many moons ago when I was a newbie gamer I was invited to a Napoleonic game by an acquaintance. Rather than put me in a safe place on the battlefield, I was hung out to dry and then ridiculed about my gaming skills. Needless to say that was the last time I gamed with this group but it did scar me on Napoleonics.

Uniforms, personalities, and the number of nations/states that were involved. The fact it was a world wide affair also is intriguing.

A to E plus G

Nothing special about Napoleonics. I will of course play if someone else puts on a game, but it has no special pull for me.

A and E.

So far, painting colorful uniforms has been more fun than painting two shades of blue versus two shades of gray. (I still enjoy ACW, but it can get monotonous sometimes.)

Although I've only painted some French so far, I'm looking forward to adding Austrians and Russians for even more color ranges.

The only downside is that some days I spend many more hours researching what colors to paint than I spend actually painting.

Watching other people argue about it ;)

The history … that might be (g) it might be (h) depending on what you mean by … Strategy (the bigger picture) or it might be the whole a-to-g wrapped together .. The Duellists meets R F Delderfield's historical books … meets wargaming the big battles … meets visiting the battlefields …

Phil

ALL!!

Amicalement
Armand

The fact that folks don't mind if one paints the facing colours a shade wrong!!

Tally Ho!

Oh they care if they catch you but hopefully you only get a ribbing.
A-H

[1] Flintloque. alternative-armies.com
[2] Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

H

Did see Waterloo the film that can out in the 1970s did enjoy it even then did not inspire me to collect Nap figs.
The one scene I still remember is a british soldier,near the end of the film shouts Why, why are we killing each other. Powerful moment
Olicana thought the french coats were dark blue

Definitely the variety of hats (H).

H-stands for Helpful Napoleonics enthusiasts.

It's such a wonderful community. I can't tell you how many times other gamers have come up to me and said, "Your buttons are the wrong color, Moe Ronn." or "That's the wrong shako for that unit at this period of time, Moe Ronn."

Really helpful stuff. And they all know my name, even though I'd swear i never met them before. It's a great period in a great hobby.

A) through H) plus I was inspired by my friend's (Jason Salkey) portrayal of Rifleman Harris in the Sharpe series. It led me to read the books after watching the movies, which led another friend of mine into playing miniature wargames at a time when my wife told me I needed a hobby. Now I and both of my two sons love playing a wide variety of wargames. Darn friends!!!
Regards,
Hitman

To make it interesting, why not require a single response and not include an All-of-the-above option.

Otherwise, I'll jut give you the results here and we can be done with it:

60% of respondents: all of the above
30% I don't play Napoleonics
5% No Opinion
5% some answer

Donīt forget H- bricoles.

d, I guess. The tactical flexibility.

Bricoles.

A to H.

Intimidating to many outsiders but a bottomless well for gaming and modelling.

A,E and F .
The gaming period was named after one of them after all.

A through G

B-52's at Waterloo.

I get to use all 4 of my armies for the period – and my buddies' Russians and Spanish too.

H NAVAL!

A through G for sure. Naval is a good H as well.

The fine balance between the three arms, and the rock paper scissors nature of local tactics are important in making it a great period to game, as is the very, very long lists of battles large and small over 20+ years (including the Revolution).

Napoleon himself, of course. Like him or hate him, he was a highly intelligent, very hardworking (and usually, lucky) man. He could be charming, or very ruthless. There's reason such an enormous number of books have been written about him!

i. I like conflicts that I can prefer a side in, normally. With Nappies, it seems like a bunch of European powers having at it without any sort of higher purpose for either side, nobody's really defending and expanding the ideals of western civilization, decency and Goodness, or freedom against the other, and there's not one side that tries particularly hard to be better than the other. Call me a poor thinker or what have you, but I prefer games where there's a group or faction I can identify with morally and culturally, and Napoleonics doesn't scratch that itch for me. That, and it's hard to find a good set of element based rules for the period that lets you play a real game without buckets upon buckets of figures. Also, there's that sort of stigma to Napoleonic Wars as the favored conflicts of the button counters and the shade of cerulean snobs. I scratch my horse n' musket itch with the French and Indian War.

My favorite thing about Napoleonics is arguing whether a button was pewter or brass on a particular date at a specific battle. Of course, victory depends less on who is right or wrong who manages to pushes push the argument on to a second page on TMP.

Of course if this poll were about SYW, my favorite thing would be arguing about whether the pocket opening was vertical or slanted….

I like that almost any army could have potentially fought another not a fantasy what if UK had fought USA in world war 2 thing

pretty dress uniforms rather than drab olive and grey

Seriously though, my interest in the period stems from the use of coordinated use of combined arms (infantry, cavalry, and artillery).

Oh yeah, and the pretty uniforms…

Me not being in it.