What is your favorite Napoleonic PC wargame, boardgame or miniature game? And Why?

[Yankee Rebel]

I really enjoy playing any and all Napoleonic PC or miniature (6mm) wargames. For starters, its similar to the American Civil War but on a much larger scale. Union and Rebel army's usually ranged anywhere from 10,000 to 120,000 men in strength (just as an example). However, the main French Army used to invade Russia in 1812 was well over 500,000 men. One of the largest battles in the ACW , Gettysburg, had opposing armies of 75,000 Confederates vs. 85,500 Union soldiers. For compairison, the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars (Leipzig), consisted of the French Grand Armee' of 225,000 men vs. the Coalition Army of 380,000. The ACW is so small in regards to the Napoleonic Wars.

So enough with all the stats. To get an idea of the full scale battles of the Napoleonic era. I recommend purchasing the Battleground: Napoleonic Wars PC game. You can control any unit available. Anything from a battalion all the way up to multiple armies. You can buy most of the campaigns seperately (Battleground Waterloo, Battleground Russia, etc....) or you can get the whole series together (Battleground Napoleonic Wars). This is a must have if you enjoy Napoleonic wargames of any kind. There are many others on the market, but to me, the Battleground games are the best.

[Saddletank]

I've found Gunship24s Napoleon mod for SoW to be the best Napoleonic PC RTS by a long way. Total War was useless as it paid no heed to tactics, formations, organisations, terrain or anything really apart from pretty 3d animated soldiers. And they often had wrong uniforms

I have heard Histwar is very good but an acquired taste. Its quite a slow game and the player lacks much control.

For tabletop miniatures I used to use Frank Chadwick and Greg Novak's "Volley & Bayonet" a brigade-level game that allowed huge grand battles to be played out - easily several corps - and in a fast time as well. Each inch was 100 yds and each turn an hour and the lowest level tactical unit was a brigade of between 1500 to 3000 infantry and 1000 to 1500 cavalry. It was(is) a great ruleset with a brilliant design philosophy.

V&B actually (with some period-specific changes) covers from 1700 up to around 1880 and falls between the cessation of use of the pike to just before the introduction of reliable machine guns. Battles from the SYW, Nap Wars, 1860s, ACW and 1870 all played out very differently.

Over on the Kriegspiel forum about 20 of us are currently fighting the Peninsular Campaign, starting in summer 1808, using a large scale hex map for strategic movement and SoW Nap Mod to play the battles out in MP. It sems to be going well and people appear to be enjoying it.

http://forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk/f40-nap ... r-campaign

[Yankee Rebel]

These SOW games are in a class by themselves. But, a Napoleonic SOW game would be the ultimate in 19th century wargaming.

[Jack ONeill]

......getting there.....

[Anthropoid]

I was a big fan of Crown of Glory Emperor's Edition. It was a bit more strategic than tactical but it was an excellent game for PBEM. There are still active players doing PBEM with it too.

So, do I understand correctly that there IS a Napoleonic mod for this game or that there will be eventually?

Also, another question (maybe not best place to ask) are the TC2M battles ported to SOW yet?

[Jack ONeill]

Anth,

There is a huge, easily downloadable Mod for the Napoleonic Wars here in the Modification section of the forum. It is a two-parter, so make sure you get both sections. Then, plug it in and let her rip. many of use have done a lot of work on this and are justifiably proud. Give it a shot.

By the By, up until now, before we developed this mod for the game, my favorite Nap game was the Empire Series, the miniatures game developed by Scotty Bowden and Charlie Tarbox. I helped research and playtest it back in the day. Painted about a zillion figures for it, too.

Jack B)

[Anthropoid]

Very cool Thanks Jack!

I will definitely download and install that Nappy mod and give it a whirl. Nothing better than cwushing all opposition under the shadow of la grande tricolor

Couple other questions:

1. Are the battles from the stock Take Command 2nd Manassas ported to SoW engine yet?

2. There were a huge number of user made scenarios for TC2M, my favorite was First Bull Run. How about those?

I have TC2M installed on my new machine and it runs fine. I think I might have just bought a Steam version . . . but I all the user scenarios for it were on an old HD and I don't even know where that is at this point LOL

[Little Powell]

1. Are the battles from the stock Take Command 2nd Manassas ported to SoW engine yet?

2. There were a huge number of user made scenarios for TC2M, my favorite was First Bull Run. How about those?

No, just several OOB's from TC2M were converted. To do the scenarios justice, they would require the maps and the TC2M maps are not available.

[Anthropoid]

1. Are the battles from the stock Take Command 2nd Manassas ported to SoW engine yet?

2. There were a huge number of user made scenarios for TC2M, my favorite was First Bull Run. How about those?

No, just several OOB's from TC2M were converted. To do the scenarios justice, they would require the maps and the TC2M maps are not available.

Ah bummers.

Was just reading the SDK manual and noticed it said that user can do almost anything except make new maps? Is a map editor one of the "more access will be provided to the modder" plans in future?

A map builder for this game would be incredible.

[Little Powell]

Yes the maps will be completely open eventually. They are essentially open now but you have to join our map modders team to get access to the tools. Anyone can join the map modder team, you just gotta have the time and patience to learn our non-user friendly map builder.