I thought I'd provide some thoughts and my story, might help some people out.
I'm what I'd call an all around gamer. I love lots of games and the beautiful miniatures that come along with them, everything from fantasy to sci-fi, to WWII. Napoleonic is something I avoided for a long time, until a few years ago when I started getting really interested in the period, and went on a buying spree and bought probably 30 different books – uniforms, battles, tactics, I got very interested in it.
When it came to wargaming, gaming the Napoleonic Wars can be a daunting task. There's what scale miniatures, what time period, what rule set, very specific uniforms by period, etc, etc. For someone with an interest in getting into the period, it's a lot to digest and I read a ton of posts around rules, scale, miniatures, etc. The sheer scale of building a Napoleonic army is not a casual undertaking, regardless of miniature scale….
I found my interest waned as I couldn't find the right rule set, and just wasn't up to the the task of painting 500 18mm AB figures (great figures though). I also couldn't land on a rule set I liked, despite buying and reading 3-4, and reading reviews on at least 25-30. I know I wanted something that "felt" Napoleonic, and gave me much of the flavor of the period and the tactical elements I read and saw images of in the books I was reading. Large rows of troops lined up in their beautiful regalia trading musket barrages while equally elegant cavalry (sometimes flamboyantly dressed) moved in flowing formations around the battlefield, charging the enemy in furious waves of death. To say it was epic doesn't quite do it justice.
I looked at what people seem to call "grand tactical" commanding entire corps and armies, down through the skirmish level, eventually deciding I liked something along the lines of the Regiment/Battalion level which to me struck the right balance. The grand tactical stuff felt too big, I could have been controlling blocks of tanks, or space marines….or just about anything. The skirmish level stuff didn't have the grand formations that I always associated with Napoleonic warfare. I found the "in-between" level really hit the mark here, and allowed me to deal with uniquely Napoleonic things such as line, column, square, cannons and cavalry charges. As an aside, I ended up really liking General de Brigade for a lot of reasons, but still couldn't tackle the army building part.
Fast forward a few years, my interest in Napoleonics has been renewed, I've started to go back and look at my library of books and all the beautiful color plates showing the battlefield pageantry of the era. I had even looked at boardgames as a potential solution, found some that were close, but still nothing that hit the mark for me. Until recently……
I read a review of Battles of Napoleon: The Eagle and The Lion over on BGG. Looked at the photos, and began to dig into it some more. Downloaded the rules, and began to really like what I was finding here. For me, and my situation, this was perfection! It has almost everything I wanted in a Napoleonic game – beautiful 1/72 scale miniatures, beautiful painted cards representing the commanders, units, and pageantry of the period. The ability to change formation from column, to line, to square….the necessity to command your troops through orders (something I always loved from reading the Shako rule set). Additionally it has an innovative way of handling initiative and casualties among your forces, which only deepened my interest. Grenadiers and skirmishers within units were all represented, many of the things I read and loved about the period were part of its gaming experience. And best of all, it's only got 150 miniatures to paint in total, and that gets you two armies! Lastly, it comes with a number of scenarios with OOBs for both sides and historical context for the battles being fought. All in all, this game really hit the mark for me, and will provide a great many hours of Napoleonic fun for myself and my opponents.
Now does it truly have everything, no. It doesn't quite represent the exact look of grand blocks of 6mm troops, but that's about the only thing I'm not getting with this game. I feel that the game might be a niche game though. Many people may prefer simpler rulesets while other people dive full force into tabletop Napoleonic wargaming. There's no right or wrong, just right or wrong for you. Being someone who wanted the "feel" of playing a Napoleonic game, without the full fledged commitment of a table top ruleset and army painting, I wish I'd found this game 5-6 years ago.
I feel this game is quite overlooked, and it might just be because TMP may cater to the more die hard Napoleonic war gamer? Or, as I said, it might be a niche type game – someone interested in more than Napoleonic Risk, but unable to take the plunge headlong into the commitment of a tabletop ruleset. I'm sure there are many out there who don't like the game and will point out many of their perceived flaws in the rules. But, if you're someone like me, and who might be having a lot of the thoughts I outlined above, I would heartily give this game a serious review.
gets started with Flintloque.
