"TSATF Napoleonic Rules" Topic

Being as I am a big fan of TSATF and have been for 30 years, I would be interested in trying out the two sets of Napoleonic rules offered by Sergeants 3. Can someone familiar with: "Before I Was a Marshal, I was a Grenadier" and "The Sound of the Guns" give me a bit of information about them, like unit size, tactical organization, complexity of rules? Do they play like TSATF, that is Hollywood plus History and just plain fun?

Nick, I'm sure Ed Morhman will be along, but I can offer some information. "Before I was a Marshal" is essentially an intro set of rules, very simple and aimed at pre-teens. Ed used to run games of it at the conventions for the kids. My youngest daughter played at least once. As I recall, unit size was similar to TSATF. "The Sound of the Guns", I know nothing about.

Nick…i had the same idea..being my aime to concentrate all my gamebable period in no more than 2 set of rules..possibly fun, playable, semi skirmish type.."bathubable"..so each have been hosted either by Rapid Fire rules (WW1 Western Front to Modern) or, as the majority of my preferd ones, to TSATF..if you really want to stick for a Napoleonic game maybe the best and easy thing is to try an homemade version …you could find Napoleonic TSTAF house rules versions into the archives of Napoleonic Skirmish Yahoo Group and in the dedicated TSATF yahoo Group.. i had a try with my Vendée Rebels Vs Republican French..it seem to work..the only things that i have better to understand are the formation types as concern firing ranks ecc..of course the game call for a skirmish that, maybe, could'nt be your cup of tea if you are classic Napoleonic player aiming at re-playing true historical battles..but, in fact, despite the skirmish, man to man ration of the book, by adopting scaling idea/compromise of bath tubing for your TOE ..example: a 20 castings basic unit could be a full battallion..even less important historical battles could be envisaged

Nick Stern, as Nick Nascati suggests, BIWAM is a simple
(at least seems that way, but there are subtleties)
set, designed for convention play (completion in about
3-4 hours for a normal game).

The last game I ran (about 3-4 weeks ago) there were
10 players, about 1,600 figures on the table and we
played to a conclusion in about 3 hours (MarshalGreg,
who sometimes posts here might wish to comment more).

Larry and I put those rules together a long time ago
(1960's) and, similar to TSATF, they are sort of a
'toolbox' set. There are no 'national differences' in
the rules, but easy enough to add/take away as you
wish. Similarly, no real difference in artillery, but
a good friend has developed a manning system for light,
medium and heavy guns (basically, 2 figs/base = 6
pounder, 3 figs/base = 8/9 pounder and 4 figs/base
= 12 pounder). The ranges need to be changed if that
system is imposed, but no real difficulty doing that.

Unit sizes: infantry 20 figures (6 bases of 3, 1 base of
2 for command). Cavalry 6 bases of 2, command integral
with one of the bases. Artillery 1 gun and 'n' gunners
per section ('n' = 2 figures/horse gun; 3 figures field
gun/howitzer).

In the games I run, usually 4 infantry units and a section
of guns = a brigade; 2 or 3 brigades = a division and
you can scale up to a Corps. Brigade commanders are
single mounted figures, Division commanders 2 mounted
figures and Corps 3 mounted figures. Command figures
influence whether or not a unit (Brigade) responds to
movement orders. Movement is D6 (2 for line, 3 for col,
+1 die to charge).

If ColCampbell or any others of the Jackson (MS) Gamers
is reading this, they are far more competent than I to
address 'To the Sound of the Guns'

There are variations at the Yahoo Group, Napoleonic Skirmish.

"To the Sound of the Guns" is a battalion-level set of rules where the basic maneuver units are infantry battalions, cavalry regiments, and artillery batteries. They are not a variant of TSATF, but rather were developed before TSATF when Larry was playing "big battle" horse and musket games.

It is an "I Go – You Go" set with a sequence of move – shoot – melee – rally, with morale happening after shooting and after melees. We've played this rule set for many, many years and like it for its simplicity and varying outcomes. They are a fun set of rules.

You can use just about any organization as long as both sides are based the same. We actually use the old "Napoleon's Battles" organization of six stand infantry battalions, six stand cavalry regiments, and three stand artillery batteries.

There are a number of battle reports on our old web site: link Just scroll down to the "Age of Napoleon" section. Just about all of the land battles were fought using "To the Sound of the Guns."

Hope this helps.

Jim

Thanks, Ed and Jim. Great synopses! I should have mentioned that, like ITALWARS, I am using 54mm figures. In my opinion, 54's go best with simple rules. So I think I will go with "Before I was a Marshal", especially as it sounds like it's been well tested for convention play. Maybe I'll get both.

Seconding Ed and Jim's recommendations. I think you will love BIWAM. It is similar to Larry's Franco Prussian War rules called Chassepot and Needlegun. My favorite of all time, but not taking anything away from TSATF. Of all the sets I have played, don't think Larry ever wrote a bad rule set.

I set up a set of Napoleonic, TSATF rules a few years ago.
If your interested send me an email and I will send you the file.

"THE SWORD THE BAYONET AND THE LANCE"

Robert Henry
badbobalbino@aol.com