"WRG 1750-1850" Topic

Finding myself with some down time, I pulled these out to have a look-see at them. It seems that the battalions are pretty large – 27 to 54 figs per British line bn, 30 to 45 figs for French line bn, etc. If you've played them before, would it matter so much if I cut the units in half? (That is, used 12 figs per bn a la Empire or other large scale rules.)

WRG was around that long ago? Man!…

The follow on set, 1685-1845, uses smaller units. You can find the PDF's for both on the WRG site.

wrg.me.uk

I played these back in the day with 30 man British battalions and 24 man French & Prussian battalions. I see no reason why it shouldn't work with half those numbers. The logarythmic (sp?) table means if you keep the proportions the same, it works. It's about how many hits per figure.

I rather liked the rules – you can get a divisional turn played in about 15 minutes once you know the rules.

You will find light infantry are very strong in these rules. Cavalry are strongest in the Napoleonic period because infantry must form square. Otherwise infantry in line just shoot cavalry down.

There are nice touches in these rules that others don't manage, like units flinching back from fire where other rules have units go forward until they break.

I'm not one of those people who demand that rules be constantly amended and 'supported' but a WRG set from 1971? Seriously?

This 'down time' of yours. Are you in some form of penal facility?

Careful Jack, they could be saying that about Lassale in 20-30 years time…

I believe the historical/figure ratio was 1:15 and you could organize battalions with sub units of company strengths. Great set for the war in the colonies with small battles and skirmishes.

We use the WRG 1685-1845 set and I think you will find the figure ratio fits your need.

Cheers,

We moved onto the later WRG set from the Bruce Quarrie "Airfix" set, it was a LOT faster to play and not noticeably less accurate. iirc it was 1:50 figure scale, we standardised our battalions at 16-18 men as "true" strengths.

I liked it (my 15mm Austrians are still based for it) but no-one plays it any more, but I'm not sure many modern rules are actually better (At my club everyone plays General de Brigade which feels like a Return to Quarrie!)

We used the 1:50 ratio, so average battalions had 16 figs. Weak ones (like the French at Waterloo) often only had 10…

Mexican Jack, I had heard that the rules were somewhat decent so I purchased them used a couple of years ago – much cheaper than buying new rules and not necessarily any worse (or better) than new ones. I haven't been able to game for the last eight months or so, and won't be able to game for another 15 or so due to military training. I just took them out to read them over and asked experienced players if tinkering with the unit size would affect game play. I don't see how any of that is deserving of your ridiculously ignorant comment. I had always thought you were a decent sort based on your posts, but apparently I was wrong.

I started with WRG "Flinch rules" and moved to 1685-1850 "Bang You're Dead". Not a thing wrong with any of these rules and a whole lot more right. We ended up building our own set that took the best from these and several other sets and we're well pleased after years of play.

At least we USE these rules unlike that $40.00 USD USD albatross I purchased recently that "the group was painting figures to play". It just takes up space in my gaming house book shelf. The cover is pretty cool but I just can't bring myself to cut off the cover and frame it for the gaming house. Sometimes older IS better and definitely not dumbed down as are the albatross rules.

"I don't see how any of that is deserving of your ridiculously ignorant comment"

Judas priest dude, he was kidding! No one attempt any tongue in cheek around this one, lol

Didn't sound so much like kidding as criticism of rules choice.

Again, the combat system counts figures when fighting and the results are based on hits per figure. So it works if you have 100 figure battalions or 12 figure battalions.

When we played, we used 1:30 ratio of figures but continued to use the 1:15 rate of loss. We just assumed each hit was two soldiers down. You do need to keep track of hits.

Use whatever figure ratio you want but remove a figure with each 15 hits.

Of course, on the internet you can't hear the tone of voice so you have to go with the way things are written. I took the way that was written more as criticism than as a joke. Perhaps I was wrong.

Um, yeah, kidding. No disrepect, as they say in New Jersey.

I didn't think anyone would believe otherwise. I was certainly grinning at the keyboard.

I also think that my pal Sam Mustafa will be surprised if anyone is hauling out the first edition of Lasalle in 40 years. He'll probably wave his cane at me in jubilation, although I'll be unable to see the gesture.

The red cover rules!! my introduction to Napoleonics back in 1975.. we doid 1.50 amd had a hoot..must look them up again..

Sorry, Jack. I just reacted to your post without really considering it. As I said, I've always thought of you as a decent sort.

Here's a big WRG 1685-1845 (fictional-setting) battle with the 1:50 scale:
link

Heh… I know for sure that MJS actually plays Empire II at night locked in his basement!… The version before the 1982 errata!

Your secret is out MJS….

Don't make me tell them about your secret love affair with WRG Ancients version 4!

Joe Collins

WRG 4th – the one with the fantasy additions? In 1975 that was pretty advanced stuff.

I had all the Minifigs Middle Earth range as well – and lots of Airfix figures converted with more enthusiasm than verisimilitude!

I just wanted to say that on the Napoleonics board, by the way.

The WRG 1685-1845 rules were and still are a great set of rules. They were simplistic in the chart usage but complex in how the sequence of play was determined. Still to this day I cringe at the thought of trying to work it out. I always thought of this set like trying to remember how to play a card game every time you opened the deck. It is much easier to remember linear sequential flows of single player turns than systems like WRG that made you stop at one point and allow the other guy to react and then go back and so on.

However, it was a great game once you figured it out and got into it. Our local club used it for years.

" – and lots of Airfix figures converted with more enthusiasm than verisimilitude!"
Versimilitude? I always used milliput.

Link to Yahoo discussion group for WRG 1685-1845:

link

The files section contains downloadable expanded playsheets that take the mystery out of the move sequence.

- Allan

wasn't that long ago wrg was around, some guys have short memories. I have fond memories of these rules and although its been said on here 54 fig battalions in all the years I played, people used 24 – 36 figures, that's the right size for a battalion in the field, I think the guy quoting 54 figs must play with full strength British Guards, try playing a 3000 point army with half your points in one battalion. They where meant when wargaming was a fun hobby for everyone.
Basically, the size won't matter, as you play on a points system and alter the scale to 1:60 for unit sizes, play around and change things don't ever get the idea of a rule writer being a god and blindly follow, afree ammendments in your group

one last thing to vtsaogames if you like the flinching try the Field of Battle piquet rules they have units flinching back from fire, its al;so one of the thing I like