"How Many Napoleonic Rule Sets Do We Need?" Topic

Doing inventory of my rules collection. I keep a running list so I don't accidentally buy twice. Here is my list (I do NOT own all of these…yet) of rule sets that are specifically Napoleonic . This ignores general horse & musket sets like Black Powder that cover a much wider historical period.

But clearly 550+ sets of rules is not enough.

• 12 Pounder
  
• 1805 (Napoleonic)
  
• 1st Empire, The Napoleonic Wargame Rules
  
• 2 By 2 Napoleonics
  
• 6 Page Napoleonics
  
• 95th Rifles
  
• A Gathering of Eagles 5th Ed.
  
• A l'Ombre des Aigles (Playtest)
  
• A to Z Rules: Campaigns of Napoleon
  
• About Bonaparte
  
• Absolute Emperor
  
• Adventures in the Rifle Brigade
  
• Age of Battles, 3rd Ed.
  
• Age of Eagles
  
• Age of Eagles, 2nd Ed.
  
• Age of Glory
  
• Banners & Bayonets
  
• Bataille Empire
  
• Battailonmasse
  
• Battles for Empire
  
• Bayonet's Tip, The: Napoleonic Wargame Rules 2nd ed
  
• Beer & Pretzels: The Napoleonic Wars
  
• Before I Was A Marshall I Was A Grenadier
  
• Belle Alliance 2nd Ed.
  
• Big Battalions Napoleonic Wargame Rules
  
• Bleeding Ulcer, The
  
• Blucher
  
• Bonaparte
  
• Bonaparte: Sistema de Regras Para Wargame
  
• Capitan
  
• Chakoten: Napoleonics
  
• Champs des Batailles
  
• Charge!
  
• Charge! Eagles Rusing
  
• Chef de Bataillon
  
• Chosen Men
  
• Code Napoleon
  
• Cold Steel & Canister
  
• Colours & Guns
  
• Column, Line & Square
  
• Column, Line & Square 2nd Ed
  
• Column, Line & Square 3rd Ed
  
• Column, Line and Square Battle Manual (Bauman)*
  
• Commit the Garde!
  
• Company Commander
  
• Controlling the Chaos
  
• Corps Command 3rd Ed.
  
• Corps d'Armee
  
• Covered With Glory: Tactical Level Rules
  
• Dawn's Early Light Second Edition
  
• DBN 1.0
  
• DBN 2.1
  
• Death or Glory
  
• Diplomacy & Other Means
  
• Divisional Commander
  
• Drums & Shakos Large Battles
  
• Eagles & Emperors
  
• Eagles At Quatre Bras
  
• Eagles Over The Empire
  
• Eagles to Glory
  
• Eagles, Swords & Bayonets
  
• Easy Napoleonic Rules
  
• Ebb & Flow of Battle
  
• Ebb & Flow of Battle Module 2: The 1813 Campaign
  
• Elan Deluxe
  
• Empire
  
• Empire 4th Ed. (Green Box w/Eagle)
  
• Empire Campaign System
  
• Empire II
  
• Empire III (French Flag Box)
  
• Empire V
  
• Empires and Eagles
  
• Empires At War
  
• Empires, Eagles and Lions
  
• En Avant
  
• Et Sans Resultat!
  
• Et Sans Resultat! 2nd Ed
  
• Fast Play Grande Armee
  
• Fast Play Napoleonic Rules
  
• Fast Play Rules For Napoleonic and Crimean Wargames
  
• Fate of Battle (Look sarge, No Charts!)
  
• Field of Glory: Napoleonics
  
• Fire & Steel
  
• First in the Field
  
• Fix Bayonets!
  
• Fixed Bayonets, 3rd Ed
  
• Flintloque
  
• Follow the Eagle V
  
• Forager: The Napoleonic Skirmish Wargame
  
• Form Square! (A.G.S. Supplement)
  
• Frappe
  
• From Valmy to Waterloo
  
• Game of War
  
• General d'Armee
  
• General de Brigade , 2nd Ed.
  
• General de Brigade Deluxe Edition
  
• Generalship Napoleonics
  
• Give It Some Duke of Wellington
  
• God of War – Napoleon (Polish Lang. Only)
  
• Grand Army
  
• Grand Army
  
• Grand Battery
  
• Grand Battles Napoleon
  
• Grand Manouevre Napoleonic Wargame Rules
  
• Grand Tactics, 6th Ed.
  
• Grande Armee
  
• Great Battles: The Napoleonic Wars
  
• Green Jackets
  
• Green Jackets & Voltigeurs, Revised Ed.
  
• Grenadier
  
• Grognards & Grenadiers
  
• Guard du Corps
  
• Happy Little Rear Guard, The
  
• He Did What Heroes Do
  
• Houserules Napoleonics
  
• Huzzah! 1st Ed.
  
• If Only We Could All Be Napoleon
  
• Imperial Eagle
  
• Imperial Guard
  
• Imperial Guard II
  
• Imperial Lances
  
• In the Age of Napoleon
  
• In The Grand Manner 2nd ed.
  
• In The Grand Manner, 3rd Ed.
  
• In The Name Of Glory
  
• In the Name of Glory 2006
  
• In the Name of Glory 4th Ed.
  
• In the Name of Glory 5th Ed.
  
• Irregular Fast Napoleonics
  
• Irregular Rule Box Napoleonic
  
• L'Empereur
  
• L'Empereur
  
• La Belle Alliance
  
• La Garde (French Lang.)
  
• La Grand Guerre (Campaign System)
  
• La Petite Armee v4.1
  
• Lasalle
  
• LaSalle 2nd Ed
  
• Lavtryk Over Hebriderne
  
• Le Feu Sacre 1st Ed.
  
• Le Feu Sacre 2nd Ed.
  
• Le Feu Sacre 3rd Ed.
  
• Le Jeu de La Guerre
  
• Le Kriegspiel
  
• Le Kriegspiel Napoleon
  
• Le Petit Empereur
  
• Le Vol de L'aigle
  
• Legacy of Glory
  
• Legion d'Honneur
  
• Les Aigles (French)*
  
• Les Champs de Bataille
  
• Les Grognards
  
• Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars
  
• March Attack
  
• March of Eagles
  
• March Toward the Sound of Guns
  
• Marshal's Baton Rules
  
• Mayhem: Warring Nations
  
• Micro Napoleonics
  
• Miniature Wargaes du temps de Napoleon
  
• Morale Napoleon
  
• Murder & Mayhem
  
• Muskets & Shakos
  
• Muskets and Moustaches
  
• N: Regolamento Napoleonico (Italian Lang)
  
• NapoleoN
  
• Napoleon (Wargames Foundry, 2009)
  
• Napoleon At War
  
• Napoleon At War
  
• Napoleon's Battles (1st) BOXED SET
  
• Napoleon's Battles (2nd)
  
• Napoleon's Battles (3rd) BOXED SET
  
• Napoleon's Battles 4th (Marechal) Edition
  
• Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature
  
• Napoleon's Eagles
  
• Napoleon's War
  
• Napoleon's Wars
  
• Napoleonic Avant Garde
  
• Napoleonic Battlegaming with Hexes and Miniatures*
  
• Napoleonic Boxed Rules
  
• Napoleonic Command 2nd. Ed.
  
• Napoleonic Command: A Study In Grand Tactics
  
• Napoleonic DBA Rules
  
• Napoleonic Game of War
  
• Napoleonic Grand Campaigns
  
• Napoleonic House Rules
  
• Napoleonic Quick March
  
• Napoleonic Quickie
  
• Napoleonic Rule Box
  
• Napoleonic Rules
  
• Napoleonic Rules for Large-scale Wargames with Small-scale Miniatures
  
• Napoleonic Warfare (Gore)
  
• Napoleonic Warfare 1813c
  
• Napoleonic Warfare Grand Tactical Rules 3rd (Bell)
  
• Napoleonic Warfare: Rules for Wargames 4th Ed.
  
• Napoleonic Wargame Rules
  
• Napoleonic Wargame, The
  
• Napoleonic Wargames Rules
  
• Napoleonic Wargaming
  
• Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun
  
• Napoleonic Wars, The
  
• Napoleonique
  
• Napoleonique Encore
  
• Nations At War
  
• Off To War
  
• Old Trousers
  
• Once Upon A Time In The Western Peninsula
  
• One Day Napoleonic Campaign
  
• Orders to Eagles
  
• Over the Hills & Far Away
  
• Over the Hills And Far Away V2.2
  
• Over the Hills: A Napoleonic Wargame
  
• Paddy Griffith's Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun
  
• Paintingshed Napoleonic Rules
  
• Pas de Charge!
  
• Piquet: Les Grognards
  
• Playable Napoleonic Wargames
  
• Polemos: Napoleonics
  
• Polemos: Napoleonics 2nd Ed.
  
• Portable Napoleonic Wargame, The
  
• Principles of War: Napoleonic
  
• Pro Patria
  
• Republic to Empire
  
• Republique
  
• Revolution & Empire
  
• Rules for A Large Scale Wargame
  
• Rules for A Napoleonic Wargame
  
• Rules for Napoleonic Land Warfare
  
• Rules for the Conduct of the Napoleonic Wargame
  
• Rules for the Napoleonic Period
  
• Rules for Wargames: Napoleonic Warfare 2nd. Ed.
  
• Sabres!
  
• Sabretache Napoleonics: A Game of Generalship
  
• Shako
  
• Shako & Bugle
  
• Shako II
  
• Shakos and Baionettes
  
• Sharp Practice
  
• Sharp Practice 2nd Ed
  
• Sharpe's Skirmish
  
• Short Attention Span Napoleonics
  
• Short Rules
  
• Snappy Nappy
  
• Soldiers of Napoleon
  
• Song of Drums and Shakos
  
• Sound of the Guns, The
  
• Sound the Charge
  
• Spanish Ulcers
  
• Sword, The Bayonet and the Lance, The
  
• System 7
  
• Throne of Bayonets
  
• Through Shot & Shell
  
• Through Smoke and Fire
  
• To Arms!
  
• To the Sound of the Guns 1st ed.
  
• To the Sound of the Guns 2nd Ed.
  
• To the Sound of the Guns 3rd Ed.
  
• Tout Soldat: Napoleonic Wargames Rules for the Competition Player
  
• Tremble Ye Tyrants
  
• Tricolor (Crane)
  
• Tricolor (Kinzer)
  
• Twilight of Empire
  
• Uncle Duke's Napoleonette
  
• Valeur et Discipline
  
• Valeur et Discipline
  
• Valiant Voltigeur: Two Page Rules
  
• Victory Is Ours!, The
  
• Vive L'Empereur
  
• Vive l'Roi
  
• Voltigeur
  
• Warfare in the Age of Napoleon
  
• Wargame Using Small-Scale Miniatures
  
• Wargame, The
  
• Wargames Rules (Napoleonic)
  
• Wellington Rules

I just need General de Armee for me personally….however it took the purchase of twenty some sets to find MY holy grail.

Obviously we need just one more, as always.

I have fourteen of these, yikes!

Well done for typing it out!

I can think of one more that's coming ;-)

Send me deets and I'll add you to the list…mark@scalecreep.com

Started with System 7, then Napoleons Battles, finally Blucher for me.

There is a free online rules also that are not listed here such as Vom Kriege

Also there is Guard du Corps, and Et Sans Resultat 3rd Edition now

But you haven't got any of my houserules!
-Practices of War (Division, w/ and w/out umpire)
-POW (Corps, w/ and w/out umpire)
-No Bad Regiments
-Eagle Volant (Nap version of "Dragon Rampant")

(but seriously, great list and thanks!)

I have bought a bunch of rules this year, I think Elan Deluxe though still might be my favourite for at least just a divisional or corps sized game.

Et sans Resultat and Give let Empereur appeal to me for something bigger

I would like to find ebb and flow of battle 1813 – was it ever even published?

You know, we probably do need more than you'd think. Consider
A skirmish set
One in which you command a brigade
One in which you command a division
One in which you command a corps
One in which you command an army
You could probably skip one level here, so say four levels. Then think
Casting removal
Stand removal
Roster
Now you're at 12 sets. That's before we consider the many, many flavors of command & control and activation. My thought is that any one wargamer needs four or fewer. He may not car for skirmishes, after all--or multiple-corps command. But to satisfy, say, 95% of Napoleonics players--to have a rule set at the level(s) they prefer to fight on, and no mechanisms they'd rather quit than use--My guess would be about two dozen.

The good news is that several could be used for other periods with minimal modification. Think Sharp Practice for skirmishes or Volley & Bayonet for big battles. The bad news is that copyright and marketing make it easier to reinvent the wheel than to make minor improvements in existing rules. We are a long, long way from the VW Beetle of Napoleonics rules. Well, it took Chess more than 500 years, and we've only been working on it 60 or 70.

And Tortorella, I think I have owned something over 20. One on that list with my fingerprints on it, and maybe should be one or two more. Does publication in MWAN count, EC?

I only have 1, (sobs quietly)

How many would you like, 14Bore? We can take up a collection.

@George B:

Guard du Corps is there.

@Eumelus

Added ESR 3rd
I'll list yours if you send me copies :-P

@Robert P:

Yes, MWAN published counts!

Generally you only need one set of rules, however as indicated above, it can take 20 sets of rules before you find the one. I suppose its like finding a life partner, although normally you don't need to go through 20 before finding your perfect choice.

As many as we have Napoleonic gamers!

I like Empire III

I still use WRG "MUSKET AND BALL" -- the one I started with years ago.
Never changed once, though we have done slight altering and editing..

Russ Dunaway

Is there padding here?
I have 2-4 but have been looking for the original, your first listed for 30 years! with no success. Who has one?????
Column, Line & Square
Column, Line & Square 2nd Ed
Column, Line & Square 3rd Ed
Column, Line and Square Battle Manual (Bauman)*

I like Robert's thoughts;

1 set for skirmish
1 set for tactical (regimental/brigade)
1 set for grand tactical
1 set for campaign/very large battles

I have the last three; not a skirmish gamer in Napoleonics

How many, about one new set per month seems about right.

We only need one more – the PERFECT rule set……that everyone agrees on…….

Bobgnar, I think the padding, if any, is listing both CLS II and the CLS Battle Manual. They were supposed to be the same rules differently organized. The other three should be distinct, but I came on board in 1969/70 and never owned or saw CLS I. I know it was alternate move. CLS II was simultaneous move. CLS III went back to alternate move with some responsive moves and generally tried to speed up and focus the game--or, as at least one player said, "took all the fun stuff out."

EC, My memory's failed. Not MWAN, but MW 423--"Light Division."

I'm not sure that coutning multiple editions of a set of rules really makes sense. With your accounting, all the editions of Empire are about 1% of your total rules ;-).

We simply need more! Keeps the industry going. Oh and specific figs to match.

I am going to be a little crazy here, but I think the Napoleonic period is a popular one to wargame. Could just be me.

Toss in two more--Brother Aelred Glidden's "False Against Steady Troops" and "Charge! for Dummies" Napoleonic variant. And those two were both MWAN. Nudge me, EC, and I think I can produce copies.

How many do I need ? 1 or 2

How many do "we" need ? All of them.

The set I was just looking at, Shadow of Eagles, isn't even on the list. I guess if it shows anything, it's that no one can agree on the principles of cause and effect (or at least their relative importance) in Napoleonic warfare.

That's some list. Probably goes some way towards the idea that Napoleonic players could start a fight in an empty room! 🤣

Shadow of Eagles by Keith Flint , a quite recent addition.

Multiple editions is cheating!

N + 1, where n is the current number of Napoleonic rules.

Hmm. We also seem to be missing the Wessencraft rules, and his Army Corps Game, which I actually use regularly.

But I'm sure all these will be superseded once Analsim shows us the One True Rule Set at Historicon.

More seriously, I'll stand by the "about four each" and that much of the difficulty is in legally tweaking them--and that new rules mean new copyrights.

Perhaps in next year's Great Wargaming Survey, they could find out how many rules it would take to accommodate 95% of the Napoleonic population?

Plus the list doesn't include sets that that have Naps as one of the periods they cover like Field or Battle of VnB.

Thanks

John

I don't know how far out on a limb you want to go when you mention rule sets that are specifically Napoleonic but I have a copy of Grognards & Goblins: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game of the Napoleonic Wars, and a short supplement Naval Combat in Grognards & Goblins.

I would also like to have a 1st Edition CLS. It would complete my collection (or at least I think it would. I am sure I missed some addendums or letters).

@Robert P: I don't think copyright law is the issue. You could rewrite – in your own words, from scratch – an old rule set with whatever changes you wanted. Game mechanics cannot be copyrighted. Ditto titles.

@John Leahy: That's another whole can of worms.

If the War of 1812 counts, add "Rocket's Red Glare" and "Cousin Jonathan" to the list.

so many rules listed that i wish i could find a copy of or even just infi about:

can anyone tell me about:

Grand Tactics 6th Ed
Battailonmasse
Rules for A Large Scale Wargame
Rules for A Napoleonic Wargame
Rules for Napoleonic Land Warfare
Rules for the Conduct of the Napoleonic Wargame
Rules for the Napoleonic Period
Rules for Wargames: Napoleonic Warfare 2nd. Ed.
Sabres!
Napoleonic Rule Box
Napoleonic Rules
Napoleonic Rules for Large-scale Wargames with Small-scale Miniatures
Napoleonic Warfare (Gore)
Napoleonic Warfare 1813c
Napoleonic Warfare Grand Tactical Rules 3rd (Bell)
Napoleonic Warfare: Rules for Wargames 4th Ed.

I'm contemplating basing. If you had two Napoleonic armies based individually, another pair based by companies--think CLS or ITGM--one set with EC's standard 15mm two infantry side by side on a magnetic base and a fourth set which consisted of a whole bunch of tiny castings on a fixed-frontage base, with perhaps half frontage for artillery--well, you still couldn't play Marshal's Baton, but it's the only one I know you couldn't play. Sometimes you'd have to adjust distances.

@EC. Standing fast here. If you rewrote from scratch an old rules set making whatever changes you wanted, it would be another rule set on that list under another title. It's probably happened more than once. As I say, you'd need the GWS to find out, but my guess would be that fewer than 20 rules would cover 95% of current play of commercial Napoleonics rules. (Note that among those 20 would be Black Powder, Horse Foot and Guns and possibly BBB.)

"Ligne de Bataille" (French) E. Desanois, et al.

"Campi di Gloria" (Italian) Gruppo Murat

It's funny, when I was a kid I played D&D. I stopped playing because everytime you turned around there were new books and more magical beasts. I game historical wargames because, either it was or it wasn't. No magical Hussars to worry about. For some strange reason, all the different ways to game Napoleonics doesn't bother me.

and have we got Bruce Quarrie's Airfix Magazine rule book?

@79th PA: I list those under "horse and musket"

@Forrester

I have a couple Airfix books but not that one I don't think.

Still brooding on basing. Clearly it would be helpful to have rules depicting different levels of Napoleonic warfare which used compatible basing, so last weekend's regiment/brigade could be next weekend's battalion. But I'm not sure you can get it down to three, and I'm sure you can't get it down to two without trays and/or sabots. At the "Sam runs off with the sack of wheat, Joe reloads and Pete takes a shot at the officer" level, there's no real substitute for individually-mounted castings, but such basing systems break down around a division a side. CLS/ITGM basing works really well at division to weak corps, but poorly above and below. Fixed frontage works for corps and up, if you can swallow the oversimplification, but at corps and below you need the EC system of building battalions from pieces to represent different size battalions.

If anyone sees a way out I'm missing, please post something.

And I'm ashamed of myself for missing the Quarrie Airfix book. I've even got that one. Note that Complete Brigadier (I think. Frying Pan & Blanket Amalgamated) is another set covering a borader period but with a lot of Napoleonic use.

Are the Fast Play rules Newbury?

Yes, i think so.

Robert, split your 'skirmish' level into 'section skirmish' (under 20 figures, 1:1)and 'large skirmish ' (company to battalion, up to 1:5 figure ratio).