"When did you start wargaming with Napoleonic miniatures?" Topic

When did you first start wargaming with Napoleonic miniatures?

What got you started?

Where are you with it today?

1981. Brucw Quarrie rules. Penarth and District wargame society. Then Empire 3. Now working up command and of colours with some tweaks.

I started in my thirties (1980's) with a group from the Hobby Shop I frequented. Napoleon's Battles (when it was new) was the rules set that really got my interest and it is the one I have come back to lately due to the group I play with continuing to use them. I had sold off my 15's when my ability to play it seemed impossible. Now that I am retired and have the time, I am back to building an Austrian 1809 corps ready to take on the French.

When did you first start wargaming with Napoleonic miniatures?

1975.

What got you started?

I moved into a neighborhood near a place called "The Little Tin Soldier" which had a big game table in the back. The games I saw there drew me in.

Where are you with it today?

Thousands of figures from several nationalities, still painting and planning new campaigns, no intention of stopping anytime soon.

1982, when I checked a book called "Practical Wargaming" out of the local library. Early '20's.

Started with Airfix, found them too limited. Discovered Prince August molds and cast a couple thousand and played a lot through about 1995. Sold those about 1995 and converted to plastics again, as many more were available by 1995. Sold those and went to 15s in the early 2000's. Sold those and went to 28mm around 2008. Actively painted said until about 2012. Have not played since 1995 though. Picked up the bug again and have been painting since February. A local opponent would be great!

Tried a lot of different rules throughout that period, but still base based on "Practical Wargaming".

!974 – Christmas

My Dad brought back 25mm Hinchliffe French and British with paints

Sold off all but my first figures years ago – One day would like to do the Peninsular Campaign with 6mm

I began wargaming with Napoleonic miniatures in 1982 using the old "Fire & Steel" rules. My first unit that I painted up was my 36-figure French 34th Line infantry in 15mm. I still have them today and they are the battered veterans of many a battle.

In the late 70's, while stationed in W. Germany with the US Army, I went to a wargaming convention in Wurzburg. There were several different historical periods as well as some fantasy, but it was the Napoleonics that captured my eye: the colors, the flags, the simplicity of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, the relative closeness of the battlefield. I then knew, I wanted to start miniature wargaming with 15mm Napoleonic figures.

Today, I'm still enjoying my Napoleonic wargames and I have a little over 4,000 figures; French, Austrians, British, Russians and some minor states as well. I have a goodly number of WW2 figures & equipment that I enjoy, plus some 1:1200 Age of Sail ships. But, it is the Napoleonic games that I enjoy most. The rule set I use today is "General de Brigade, Deluxe Edition."

Now that I'm retired, I play solo. I have the time and space available to set up a large battle and I can play it over several days. I don't have the stamina to play much longer than four hours at a time, and here in Arizona, there not many potential opponents that could accommodate my limited time of four hours a day. Solo gives me my way to still battle away with my 15mm Napoleonic miniatures. Life is good.

Thanks for listening.

God bless,
John T.

Early 2000s, with Shako and 15mm armies. Lately we've been gearing up in 28mm and black powder.

When did you first start wargaming with Napoleonic miniatures?

1985, I think.

What got you started?

My friend took me to the wargames club that his dad attended. I have been hooked on it ever since.

Where are you with it today?

Usually 6mm, have armies for French, Spanish, British, Russians, Austrians, Prussians, Portuguese, Bavarians, Italians, Neapolitans. Sometimes I do 28mm skirmish too.

1969.

Local CLS group.

Still have and play the 30mm Napoleonics with CLS3, But I use individually-mounted figures and tactical rules in 1/72, 28mm and 54mm, and I'm working on 5mm with Wessencraft "corps level" rules.

1981, a trip for D&D figures to Norfolk Campaign Hq and saw a massive Empire game, changed my life literally.
+5,000 figures with Prussian, Russian, British/ allied and Bavarians.

Never. Preferred 18th Century and ACW

Early-mid 70s with a school friend: the film "Waterloo", the Airfix range, and finding Charles Grant's Napoleonic Wargaming book in the local bookshop before quite quickly moving on to Bruce Quarrie. Dabbled in metals, but still largely with plastics – including quite a lot of the original ones – but nowadays with a definite preference for higher-level more abstract rules, like General d'Armee or Snappy Nappy or Republique. Still the world's slowest painter, so amazed by people who have gone through and discarded several scales in the, er, nearly 5 decades since I started.

Donald Feathersone book from the library in 1968 when metal figures way beyond our means. Airfix figures from every period press ganged into service, we drew a line at the French WWl cyclist. Oh the joy when real napoleonic figures were released.
Now it's a long running campaign with wargaming buddy of last 50 years via FaceTime using Blucher rules and 15mm. Blucher are an abstraction of the period but work really well for us as they provide a more "chess like" game without a whole load of maths but with dramatic momentum points and dice rolls. Still have real soft spot for Grand Manner, despite the sometimes bonkers and convoluted calculations.

'74/75 with Airfix figures (long since gone) and Rules for Wargaming by Arthur Taylor (still have them). Moved on to Charles Grant's 'The Wargame' rules (copied out from Military modelling) and then Bruce Quarrie's rules by which time ('78/79) I'd moved on to Hinchliffe which I still have but mainly game with my Ros Heroics 6mm figures and my own rules these days.

About 1970, using Airfix conversions before their actual Napoleonics came out. Gave it up when I discovered Ancients a few years later.

Approx. 1969 with Airfix French & British soft plastics. Found others nearby that were also playing. Have thousands of 15mm scale Nap. minis. now. Still like to play Nap. battles now, just not the all day or all weekend type games.

Do you get the impression, from the above, that we are all getting on a bit?

The answer to the question…for me anyway…is probably yesterday.

York Marygate Battle of Waterloo in 15/18mm is the first wargame I have ever watched. Let me stress that I am 65 and got into Napoleonic figures in the late 60s. Airfix, then Hinchliffe 25mm, long gap, then these Perry guys who do LOTRs metal 28mm figs for my two younger sons. Except they have now started their own ranges…..including Napoleonics!

My only exposure to dice throwing was WWI infantry assault. Massacre. So I did WWII Airborne Assault in 1/300. Massacre. So I did amphibious assault in 1/300. (My best work ever, with scratchbuilt LcIs (Large and Small), LcIs (Mk III and IV), LCAs, LcGs, LcFs etc etc. I had dozens of different landing craft (like my Wacos, Horsas and Hamilcars, same result) Massacred.

Never chucked a dice since. Make them, convert them +++, paint them, photo them, put them in a sealed box, stick them in a dark attic)

1976 Airfix minis Frappe rules

about 1973, Airifx plastics, a cannon with matchsticks.

Then my dad bought me to second hand Hinton Hunt and Hinchcliffe figures from one of his work colleagues ….

deadhead, welcome to "rolling dice in anger" with Napoleonic rules. Hope you have many victories!

And, YES. I have the same impression as you. Seems that most of us "are all getting on a bit."

God bless,
John T.

1985 Airfix plastics…then 15mm Empire rules….collected and sold 6mm and 15mm, now working on 10mm :)

1989 or so when Napoleon's Battles was published by Avalon Hill. The only miniature gaming I had done previous to that was modern 1/285 using Avalon Hill's MBT game and GeoHex boards.

What drew me into NB was the counters that came with the game. It made playing the game so painless. The final straw was stumbling across the Adler Corps Packs at Brookhurst Hobbies. Though painting Napoleonic miniatures seemed daunting, I figured I could manage 6mm figures and I liked how they looked on the bases.

Still have the figs, but haven't played with them in decades. Tried 15mm armies and a number of different rule sets until settling on 28mm and Black Powder. In fact, it was Black Powder that got me back into gaming Napoleonics regularly.

1980 I reckon. Lots of Airfix Napoleonics.

I was lucky enough as a young man in the early 70's to get invited to watch a game put on by a group only a couple blocks from where I lived. They gamed using Historex 54 mm figures that were extremely well painted. I went out and purchased some Arifix figures later and it that started me on Napoleonic gaming. After that I found a miniatures store and started purchasing 25mm Minifigs, and than in the early 90's switched to AB figures when they released the beginning of their 1806 Prussians.

Hello John, glad to see you're still gaming them in retirement, my daughter has left Fort Bliss last year and has moved to near Fort Stewart in The Savanna Georgia area.

1979, Heritage 15mm. Charles Grant rules were the first set I used.

A visit to the old "Tin Soldier" hobby shop in Centerville OH.

I now have a collection of mainly Prussian/German states Old Glory and 2nd Gen Minifigs in 15mm. The rest I sold off long ago. I used to play Napoleonics fairly often, but I haven't played in nearly 10 years. Too many other periods to do.

1978 with Fire and Steel, using Heritage 15mm. My first unit was a battalion of Highlanders.

Some time between 1962 when I was 12 and 1968 when I discovered alcohol and women I was playing ACW with an Airfix/Featherstone combination.

Towards the end of that period I was converting, very badly, figures into Napoleonics (cavalry were a nightmare) but the real breakthrough came in 1969 when I went to a Napoleonic wargames demonstration in Edinburgh University's Appleton Tower using metal figures and rules written by Peter Gouldesbrough (Scotlands most veteran wargamer). A young George Jeffrey was taking part.

By 1972 I was commanding the Old Guard under Jeffrey at weekend long games in the Royal High School, Edinburgh using multiple players, metal figures, all the tables in the dining hall and, of course, Georges own Napoleonic rules.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Today I am still playing Napoleonics using 10mm figures and the Portable Napoleonic Wargame Rules by Bob Cordery.

1962 was introduced to gaming with figures while
stationed in Texas. Prior, had been an Avalon Hill
player. In 1965, attended a Duke University gaming
group's 'convention' (there were probably two dozen
of us there) and listened to Larry Brom talk about
gaming Napoleonics.

Still doing Naps (and lots of other periods).

When Airfix brought out their first figures after "Waterloo". Small rule book called "Discovering Wargames". Then the Bruce Quarrie rules.

Then a long gap, uni, marriage, career change, etc.

Back into it with Grand Manner and 6mm. Then General de Brigade.

Still into it, in 28mm, mostly Perry and Front Rank, Blucher rules.

First game was 1973, no real exposure to them until 1977 with 6mm Heroics and Ross. Two buddies and I painted up thousands.
Moved onto 28mm 20+ years ago with a new group, playing Shako 1 then Shako 2 now.

Sometime in the late 1960s.

In the 70's, using CLS. My first 15mm figs. were Minifigs on five man strips.

Never wargamed, but I've been collecting and painting Napoleonics since 1975 or 76, after going to Northern Militaire and seeing hundreds of Hinchliffe and Minifigs.

1976. Took leave from Athens to visit wife's family in UK, and bought Airfix Waterloo game. Still have it. While still in Athens I picked up some Minifigs advertised in Military Modelling plus Quarrie's little redbook Napoleonic Wargaming from Airfix. That started it.
1979 stationed in UK, met a local cop in Huntingdon then a larger group in Milton Keynes. I was hooked.

Live in Houston now, and over the past years I sold off thousands, limiting it to Napoleonic Peninsular 28MM, General de Brigade rules. Last few years have been solo gaming due to work and recovering from Hurricane Harvey.

When did you first start wargaming with Napoleonic miniatures?

1975. Same as War Artisan.

What got you started?

The University of New Mexico Conflict Simulations Club. A little piece of heaven amid the academic slog. I was enchanted by the colorful display and tactical carnage. I don't remember the rules, but the club also led me into Age of Sail 1:1200 ships. Just like War Artisan. No such club today, not pc enough.

Where are you with it today?

Getting close to 4000 15mm figures. France, Austria, Bavaria, Wurttemberg and Poland. Still painting and planning new battles, I'll stop when they pry the cuirassiers from my cold dead fingers.

Dang Ed Mo… I thought I had this one. 1973 for me and several others I see.

I started painting 25's but, later found that EVERYONE in the Detroit area was doing 15's. Hello Mini-Fig strips by the half ton!

1973 with Airfix plastics.

Put bluntly, that damned "Waterloo" movie with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer destroyed my entire life!

1975 with Airfix figures and Tri Color rules. Then found a Don Featherstone book at the library. Along the way Empire 3, IV and V, Grand Armee and Shako.

1976-77 when I was allowed to sit in on my big brother's gang playing with Airfix figs in a massive game using what I think were a heavily adapted rules set from Featherstone / Grant.

In the early 80s some of us had 25mm Minifigs and played WRG rules, but ancients and fantasy took more of our interest.

Recently got back into Napoleonics with 15-18mm and the superb AB figs as inspirations – still looking for a set of rules that ticks 95% of the boxes.

I'm happy to give most rules a fair trial before executing them.

David F Brown

1970 or '71

Having built plastic models for years and read the original "Scale Modeler" magazine, I was intrigued by the occasional article about 54mm figs. After acquiring a Soldier Shop catalog, I tried my hand at a few of the larger figures, and also ordered John Tunstill's "Discovering Wargames". That (and, later, Arthur Taylor's "Rules for Wargaming") were nearly incomprehensible to the inexperienced. It took the release of Scruby's N-gauge figures (from Lowry's Hobbies) and Pete Bennett's "Aux Armes!" rules to make Napoleonics accessible. I later sold a substantial N-gauge army, but started in again with 15mm (Minifig 2nd generation).

Currently there are too many semi- completed projects (both Napoleonic and other), but I have recently completed a 15mm Russian cavalry division for "DSLB" and have started armies for South American liberation wars with "Grand Army" rules.

In my 30's as well with a buddy who had a huge 15mm collection

Now I have my own armies but they are 6mm

Painted first Napoleonic figures, Airfix Highlanders as 92nd Foot (Gordon Highlanders) in 1969 and still have them today. They can be seen here:

link

I was in British Army in Germarny at time, carried on painting new figures, but did not get back to wargaming with them until I got back to U.K. in 1971. Moved on to Jacobite Rebellion about four years ago.

Full story of my wargaming is here:

link

Rod

1976 and started with CLS with 25mm Minifigs. The guys I was gaming with then tried a plethora of Napoleonic rules of the era before settling on one guy's home rules. I started 15mm gaming with the Heritage range and eventually settled on both Napoleon's Battles and Volley & Bayonets. Have thousands of 25 and 15 mm figures,. The 25s are mounted for V&B and the 15s for NB. Since retiring and moving, I have played Black Powder and have been thinking about rebasing my 25s to use with its 2nd edition. You can use V&B stands with reduced measurements and markers to denote different formations, but I miss placing the stands in the various formations.

Late 70's early 80's when I picked up WRG 1685-1845 aka Bang You're Dead. The I chanced on Bruce Quarrie's Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature, which I loved for its background information – but not so much the rules…or Quarrie's attitude to those who questioned his system.

I've moved on to Napoleon's Battles since, but still have fond memories of WRG. Quarrie still gets the credit for actually getting me reading about the period, though.

I first started in 2004-2005 when I was in my master's program at Radford University. I wanted to get into historical miniature wargaming as I had attended a small convention while in my undergrad, and wanted more than sci-fi/fantasy gaming. After searching about online I met up with Doug Kline of BTC fame and started gaming with his crew in Roanoke, VA (which was only an hour away from me at the time). Doug was gaming with 15mm Naps (based in the Napoleon's Battles standard) using the Carnage & Glory II system by Nigel Marsh. I was hooked. To this day I still game Napoleonics with 15mm minis using C&G II. To me this is a winning combination and I likely won't change. I do wish Nigel would allow us to add countries (so as to be able to game things like the South American Wars of Liberation, Greek War of Independence, or Haitian Revolution), but that's the only thing I'd change.

It was my first 15mm miniature era. I played Tricolor then Empire 2.
1977.
Designed Guard du Corps 1979-1981 and never played Empire 3 more than once.

1969

The local group switched from playing Fletcher Pratt naval rules to Column, Line and Square with Airfix plastic figures, Scrubys and MInigfigs. They are still my preferred Napoleonic rules, though we now dabble with Black Powder, and one of the guys in the group will occasionally bring out his 15mm troops for an Empire game.

Rick

originally 1985 took a 15 year break and started up again in 2012 after the kids became independent.

'73, Minifigs and Airfix mixed indiscriminately.