"empire V and Revolution and Empire" Topic

Hi – sorry to trouble you good folk again, but what exactly are the differences between Empire 5 and revolution and Empire – apart from one being in a box and another being loose sheets?

Quite a bit. The whole way you fight an hour has changed and the fire tables mechanism have been improved. I have my own copies of Empire III & V and RxE (thanks to Todd Fisher). Slowly incorporating more of RxE into my own 'house rules'. Wish there was an up to date Campaign set of rules as mine is the old Empire III based version.

thanks for the reply – i was wondering if any kind of newer campaign rules had been made

its annoying that the campaign ruleset is quite rare now and what is available on nobleknight is hundreds of dollars

Its a great set of comprehesive campaign rules that you can dip into. The map is very good. I wish someone produced other campaign maps of that quality.

Having both Empire V are the better and easier to play

I was told a couple of decades ago that Empire was a set of rules designed to stop any army save the French from wargaming. Empire has improved a little but the above still holds good. The basic premiss is that the French are always as good as they were in 1805-07 and the rest, save the British, are always as bad as they were in 1805-07. You have to put that right with your own set of 'house rules'.

I have played Empire in all of the versions since 1977, in my opinion, The French can be beaten at any time period. It really depends on the scenario, troop types in the game, and the quality of the commanders pushing the lead. So, Rosenberg, I politely disagree with you on your last statement.

Well thank you for your polite reply. However my own 'house rules' deal with my issues. Happy wargaming

My biggest heartburn with Empire is the near absolute dominance of line over column. With the 4 step bonus for full enfilade, veteran in line have a 70% chance to win the close combat if the column manages to pass the elan test to go in. The bonus is so big it can't be offset by preparation or other factors.

Its the basing. Columns were never deeper than their frontage.

I only use enfilades in multi battalion attacks and then measure the frontage (with gaps) between the attackers and defenders. Only use the defenders that could be contacted.

Rarely an enfilade unless there is poor deployment. Plus I only move front rank of columns into contract before elan test so less shunting figures about if elan test failed.

Basing only allows for French Column of division not Column of company although maybe the allowing of the single Grenadier forming on right of column alludes to that. Although in those circumstanes only max of three figs should fire not four and frontage should be shortened.

The game is agnostic about basing, and I've always understood the basing recommendations in EIII, V and R&E to be just that-recommendations, rather than hard-and-fast rules.

For the post-1808 French, I like to use 12 figure battalions, with the grenadiers and five center companies mounted as two figure stands and the voltigeurs mounted as two single-figure stands. That gives a battalion in column of divisions a four figure frontage (which seems proportionately right to me) and allows for the formation of columns of companies.