The Napolionic Wars
Taking a brief history lesson, my thoughts on a couple of rule sets, then how Stag Wargames fits in
A Very Short History
The Napolionic Wars was more than what Sean Bean showed us in Sharpe through the Peninsular War from Portugal, through Spain, and into France. It was actually a series of conflicts from 1803 until 1815 throughout Europe, North Africa, Russia, and not forgetting French Guiana in South America, the East Indies, along with Naval battles in the Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, and the North Sea.
Events leading up to the start of the war is a history lesson in itself. Begining with the French Revolution in 1789, coupled with the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792, then Napoleon Bonaparte seizing control of France in 1799. With the Revolutionary Wars ending in 1802, Bonaparte used the brief period of peace to reform France, and strengthan his position as the French leader. France now known as the First French Republic from 1803 - 1804, before becoming the First French Empire.
Accross the Atlantic, Bonaparte first tried to retake their stake in the Americas, which ultimately failed. The knock-on effect lead to the sale of the Louisiana Territory to the United States of America.
Europe was a different story. France became a dominant force, controlling large areas of continental Europe from parts of Spain, through to Poland. The Napolionic Wars started May 3rd, 1803 when Britain declaired war against France. Britain wasnt alone, with the Third Coalition (Austria, Russia, Naples, Sicily, and Sweden) joining Britains side. However, the defeat of the Russo-Austrian army in December 1805 saw the collapse of the Coalition. War to Frances east resumed less than a year later when Prussia lead a fouth coalition which was quickly defeated. However, easten and central Europe wasnt done fighting. In 1809, Austria lead a fifth coalition. Again, this conflict would be quickly put down by the French.
Russia suffered with economic sanctions by the French, and Russia routinely violated the French Continental System. Napoleon responded in 1812 with force that could arguably be said was the begining of the end for Bonaparte and the First French Empire. The invation of Russia did not go well for the French.
Between wars with the varios Coalitions, Napolion invaded Portugal, Britains oldest, and only continental allie. Capturing Lisbon by the end of 1807, and with a large Army in place for the invasion, Napoleon took the opportunity to seize Spain. Portugal and Spain revolted, and with support of the British Army, the Peninsular War began.
With France defeated in Russia, Great Britain, with Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and victorious Russia formed a Sixth Coalision against France. As Britain, Portugal and Spain pushed the French forces out of Spain and into Southern France, the remaining Coalition forced invaded from the east. With the capture of Paris in April 1814, after six years of war, Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exciled to the island of Elba. Europe was at peace.
The Napolionic Wars was not yet complete. In February 1815, Napoleon escaped, and subsequently retook control of France for around 100 days. Bonaparte’s second and final time in leadership of France ended June 1815 when the allies, lead by Britain, formed a seventh Coalition, defeating Napoleon at the famous Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon Bonaparte was again exiled, this time to Saint Helena, where he died six years later in 1821.
During this conflict, around 6 million people lost their lives, both military and civilian.
On The Table Top
They are so many different rules for playing table top wargames. And thats just for Nepolionic War games. To name but a few, you have Warlord Games Black Powder and Black Powder Epic Battles, Too Fat Lardies A Sharpes Practice, Mark Latham’s Chosen Men and Field of Glory by Richard Bodley-Scott. While some are designed to be skirmish conflicts of a dozen or so men is 28mm scale, others are more towards grand stratergy, where the player commands an entire army, normally 10mm or 15mm scale.
While I have heard of all of these rule sets mentioned above, I have only really played Black Powder and A Sharpes Practice.
Both are similar in many ways. Yes they are different in overall rules, but they is a specific difference between the two, and thats how each turn, or round is played.
Black Powder follows the standard ‘You go, I go’ system - much like the average board game or the majority of table top war games. They follow a script for how a turn plays out, player one goes first, does everything thats required, then player two take their turn. Once both players have finished, thats the first round over. Some games at this point will work out scores, some stop if an objective is complete, others just keep going until a set amount of rounds are complete, others just go on until they is a winner.
Most ‘You go, I go’ games go something along the lines of: Move all units, select an enemy unit and deligate which of unit is going to shoot. Roll a die to see if you hit, then again to wound, then your opponant rolls a save in throw. Remove dead units. The do this until all units have fired. Somewhere will be some game specific rules to navigate. Then your opposition plays their turn following the same pattern, and thus completing a round. In a nut shell, thats the flow of a ‘You go, I go’ system. Its a tried and tested method of playing a game, and it does work.
However, I like my games to have a bit of a twist. To have them feel like you are commanding a combat engagement. I like to have some sort of realistic feel. Like the famous quote “No plan survives contact with the enemy”, I like games that make you think about your next move, and A Sharpes Practice does this well.
Appart from being heavily influenced on Sean Bean as Sharpe (which already gives it the advantage as I sit here with Sharpes Sword playing in the background), it gives the feeling of the choas of battle simply by having the turn randomised by a special deck of cards (or counters if thats your preference). Bolt Action, Warlord Games WW2 skirmish game does this as well, and it really makes for a brilliant game.
A Sharpes Practice is a little different, due to the use of officers and officers having orders. But the way Bolt Action plays a round is by having each team have a coloured order dice, with enough for each unit. Both teams go in a blind bag and are drawn out at random. Which ever colour is drawn, that player chooses which unit to go. Then once that unit has done everthing it can, the next die is drawn from the bag, with the round complete after all dice have been drawn, and all units activated.
But, whatever rules you play, at the end of the day its what you want to take out of a game, just as long as its fun both players enjoy the game.
