I have bought the new Epic Battles: Waterloo by Warlord Games and I’m slowly making my way through the painting much like Declan (when I’m not painting those pesky Kruleboyz). However, one thing I’ve noticed (as I’m sure many others have as well), is that the models are epic in scale but the basing and the rules are standard Black Powder. What I mean by this is that a standard unit in Epic:Waterloo is the same as a standard unit in regular Black Powder.
This got me thinking to how you could have truly cinematic and epic battles in Black Powder by converting the inches to centimetres (like many others have done).
By doing this, you can play a regular game of black Powder on a much smaller play area – 2.4 feet by 1.6 feet rather then 6′ x 4′. But also, it gives you the option of playing much, much larger games on a regular table.
The only issue is the basing and miniatures. if you take a standard unit in Black Powder with a frontage of 240mm and divide this so it suits the cm measurements rather than inches (i.e. dividing 240mm by 2.5) you’ll get a standard unit frontage of 96mm (let’s call it 10cm). If we use increments of 20mm then the basing could look something like this:
The great thing about his, is that if you use Baccus Napoleonic 6mm infantry you can get two large bases completed for just £8.00!
But what about different formations. Well these could either be represented by a dice in one of the dice holders on the base (i.e. 3, for line, 4 for square etc) or you could just model some other bases as Square and attack column etc. I’m inclined by the later personally.
The other dice holder can also be used to measure the units stamina. For Dice holders I’m always inclined to use Pendraken.
But I’d like to know the opinions of those experienced in Black Powder and what they think!
Recently I’ve really been enjoying IRO’s Saint Kristos – Pirate Island posts. This will be a massive 12ft by 8ft table when it’s finished and boy.does it look good!
They’ve also got a cracking alternate reality Napoleonic game going on in Turnip28. Seriously talented in terrain making and painting, I often find myself staring at the terrain pictures for ages. Why not head over there and check out IRO.
I’ll often paint a single test model before batch painting the rest. It lets me take my time on making sure I’m selecting the right colours.
In the case of Napoleonic miniatures I find this is also useful as I will refer to images on my phone about the uniform of the unit I’m painting. Then, once the model is done, I can just keep it in view while I paint the remainder. This prevents me having to keep turning the old phone on and off while I paint.
So here’s the model, this is a phone picture so apologies.
So my issues of Wargames Illustrated arrived this week with their accompanying sprues.
I managed to get hold of three copies of the British Heavy Cavalry sprue.
The Sprue in all its glory.
I’ve started by painting the Scots Grey’s and first off these models are really easy to paint straight on the sprue. You just need to clip away any armatures of the sprue that are connected to the horse or riders directly.
I may have gone a little too detailed considering their size but this is only because I’ve enjoyed painting them so much.
I can’t wait to see the unit finished and on its base. I’m also looking forward to painting the cannon and seeing what that looks like. Once I’ve a few units done I’ll post again.
After my many years as a wargamer (25+ years) I’ve played quite a number of different games during that time, but one that I’ve never played (despite hearing about) is Kreigsspiel the original wargame written in the 1800’s by George Leopold von Reisswitz.
Kreigsspiel is a game of warfare that attempts to realistically replicate what would happen on a battlefield during the 1800’s. It requires a map, some blocks to represent the different units involved and three players.
The Battle of Waterloo played in Kreigsspiel
Why three players?
When I say three players, what it actually involves is two players and an umpire. But it’s best to think of the umpire as a Games/Dungeon Master.
Each player is only aware of what their own units are doing on the table top and exactly where they’re positioned, and the enemy movements and units only become apparent once they move into visual range of your own. This is where the umpire comes in.
Each player communicates with the umpire how they wish to deploy their units and what movements and actions they would like those units to take. This gives the players a true fog of war setting.
It sounds complex right?
Yes it does! But actually it’s really not. Why? Because the only person who needs to know the rules is the umpire. The players just have to communicate with the umpire what orders they would like their units to follow. This can be communicated either in an RPG format or a simple “I would like these units to entrench themselves on top of the hill overlooking the town“
The umpire then moves both players units according to their wishes and communicates back to the players if any contact has been made with the enemy.
When contact has been made the players then decide how they want their units to act, i.e. “The units will form line and wait for the enemy to attack before firing.”
The umpire then rolls the dice and decides the outcomes for that turn (which replicate a few minutes of real world battle at a time).
That Sounds like it takes Ages!
Actually no, a small game of Kriegsspiel can played out in a few hours. Or you can even play it on a play by post basis with a number of friends negating the need for vast spaces to be used like a conventional table top wargame.
Why have I not played this before?
When I read about the rules and the requirement for three players I immediately thought it would be too difficult to get a game together. Bot was I wrong!
The International Kreigsspiel Society which I have recently had the honour of discovering, have a Discord channel where you can join introduce yourself and just jump straight in with your first game!
I’ve recently started two play by post games, one being a small battle during the Haitian Revolution and another being the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. In the first I’m in command of a small Brigade of infantry (7 battalions) with the game having 5 players a side, while in the second I have an entire Division under my command and roughly 17 players per side.
A simple game of Kreigsspiel
Is it just for Wars in the 1800’s?
Absolutely not, the Society is currently developing additional rules for World War 2 and Ancients to name but two.
Interested?
If this sounds like your cup of tea, then why not slide into the Discord server and take a look around, perhaps try a small game with the friendly guys who run the many games each week that takes place.
So I’ve been looking at getting into Black Powder at the 6mm scale but have tried thinking about creating realistic base sizes (when compared to the other units of the period).
So my first point of reference is the number of men in each countries line infantry.
Infantry Battalion Strength
Based on this I can then calculate the bases I need. Bearing in mind that only the British formed on two ranks when in line as opposed to the other countries mostly forming in two ranks.
I therefore need to show this on the bases. So I decided to use a simple equation of a single Baccus figure representing 12 men. Therefore I could calculate how many models I would need per unit.
I’m very new to Napoleonic Wargaming (but have a fairly decent knowledge base of the history) and very new to Black Powderany
I’ve decided to play Black Powder at 6mm. I’m only collecting a couple of small forces so that I can play against friends and family without them needing to collect army as well.
But how to go about this?
I’ve already decided that all the measurements will be carried out in centimetres rather than inches. So what about basing?
Here’s where you can meet issues. The general consensus between Napoleonic players of 6mm is to base your miniatures on 60mm or 40mm wide bases. This allows them to be used in other game systems as well. That’s great, if I decide to try out another ruleset then I can.
Looking at the Black Powder rulebook, there are three unit sizes; Small, Standard and Large. As there are three unit sizes the simplest method would be to have a number of bases relative to the size. So 3 bases for large, 2 for standard and 1 for small.
This should result in a smaller game with the ability to fit more units on the table. I will post it updated of the Miniatures of once I’ve painted and based them.
Solo Wargaming for your Favourite Games
I’m in the process of creating a series of Wargaming Aids which allow players to play their favourite games in a single player format against an AI controlled enemy army. To find out more on this click here.
For as little as £1 a month (the price of a chocolate bar) you can help support me in this endeavour and receive cool perks as a thank you, such as access to our Discord Server as well as downloadable copies of the gaming aids which you can print out and use at home.
Why not pop over to Patreon and sign up and help me in this project? Money raised will go towards making these as physical products.
The pre-order of Waterloo Epic Battles has reignited an urge to play this period.
However it can be daunting to approach this period. I want to put together a few thoughts on how to get into Napoleonic Wargames.
Scale
Your first thought before perhaps even considering the rules, is what scale do you want to play?
Napoleonics can be played at any scale with manufacturers producing miniatures at everything from 2mm to 54mm and beyond.
So to answer this, how do you imagine your battles to look? Do you want small skirmishes between groups of soldiers? Or would you like to recreate the battle of Waterloo in detail? If the former is your option then perhaps look at 28mm miniatures and up. If you’re inclined by the latter then perhaps try 15mm and smaller.
To give you an idea of how these different scales look on the tabletop I’ve included a gallery below to show games at each level.
2mm Napoleonic
6mm Napoleonic
10mm Napoleonic
15mm Napoleonic
28mm Napoleonic
54mm Napoleonic
Napoleonic Scales
Rules
Your next question is what type of game are you after? Would you like to play an accurate simulation of the battles at the time or would you like a game you can play in a couple of hours?
There are so many different Rulesets on the market for Napoleonic wargames you’re spoilt for choice. I’ve included a list of the most popular systems below.
Black Powder by Warlord Games (Rick Priestley & Jervis Johnson)
Black Powder (2nd Edition)
Black Powder is a game which can be played in a couple of hours and is designed really for Brigade or Division level games. What does that mean? Well a brigade is a small army of perhaps 3-5 units in total (up to 5,000 men roughly). A Division is perhaps two or three Brigades.
To give you more of an idea of what this means the Battle of Waterloo involved nearly 200,000 men across three armies. The French had five Corp (being 5+ Divisions each) and four reserve Corp.
Introduction to Black Powder
Blucher by Sam Mastafa
Blucher
Blucher is focused on giving you a game at the Corp level. In this each base represents a Brigade rather than a Battalion, meaning the amount of men that can be represented on the battlefield is much greater.
Typical Blucher bases using 6mm miniatures
Blucher, again, is fast play rather than simulation meaning that you should be able to complete a game on an hour or so.
Storm of Steel Blucher Battle Report
Polemos by Baccus (Chris Grice)
Marechal d’Empire
The Polemos series have rules for perhaps every era of historical Wargames. They have two sets of rules in the one book for Napoleonic. Marechal d’Empire focuses on gaming at Corp level or above enabling you to recreate the big battles of the age. General de Division gives you rules for fighting smaller encounters of Division level. The game is focused on using the Baccus 6mm miniatures as a basis.
Polemos has a fantastic army building system where the army you use is generated through dice rolls. Meaning that your armies may not be balanced, after all many battles in the Napoleonic age weren’t balanced themselves.
Polemos based 6mm Baccus Miniatures
Sharp Practice by Too Fat Lardies
Sharp Practice
Aimed at giving you an experience of small skirmishes with heroes full of character much like the beloved TV series Sharpe from which it derives its name.
A game of Sharp Practice will take an hour or two to complete.
Miniatures based for Sharp Practice
The benefit of Sharp Practice is that through using a relatively low model count you’re not going to be painting the same colour scheme and model for 100+ times.
Introduction to Sharp Practice
Miniature Manufacturers
There are again do many great companies out there. Here are a selection of the most popular.
Victrix do both 28mm and 54mm miniatures for Napoleonic wargames. With a pack of 16 54mm miniatures costing £25 and a pack of 56 28mm miniatures will set you back around £25-£30. A Brigade would cost roughly £100-£120 through Victrix.
The Perry Twins do various 28mm box sets for Napoleonics with a pack of 40 plastic minis setting you back £20. A Brigade would cost roughly £100 through the Perry’s.
Old Glory produce excellent 10mm and 15mm miniatures. With 100 10mm miniatures setting you back £15 and 30 15mm miniatures costing £16 (command is separate at £6). Meaning a Brigade at 15mm will cost around £80-£90 or at 10mm around £40-£50.
Baccus focus on 6mm miniatures for a variety of wargame eras. They are possibly the very best 6mm miniatures you can get and are relatively cost effective as well.
Baccus 6mm
With four battalions to a pack which itself costs only £7.20 for 96 figures you’ll have small force ready for as little as £30.
I hope you’ve found this useful. I’ll hopefully be doing other articles much like this in the future.
I’ve personally been waiting for this day for a long time. Ever since Warlord Games created the Epic Scale American Civil War sets I was praying and hoping they would do them for Napoleonics.
As it is the most popular gaming period outside of Fantasy and Sci-fi I thought I wouldn’t have long to wait.
The new sets go on sale on Friday and they look wonderful. All the models are in 15mm scale and when ranked up into Battalions and Brigades they really look the part.
The French Starter Bundle
I’m looking forward to getting into this myself as I’ve always been a fan of the Napoleonic era after watching Sharpe as a boy. I never started with Black Powder before however as the scale felt off for Grand Battles and the games always looked like skirmishes to me. No more! With this set I can enjoy the games of Napoleonics I always envisioned!
Solo Wargaming for your Favourite Games
I’m in the process of creating a series of Wargaming Aids which allow players to play their favourite games in a single player format against an AI controlled enemy army. To find out more on this click here.
For as little as £1 a month (the price of a chocolate bar) you can help support me in this endeavour and receive cool perks as a thank you, such as access to our Discord Server as well as downloadable copies of the gaming aids which you can print out and use at home.
Why not pop over to Patreon and sign up and help me in this project? Money raised will go towards making these as physical products.
