Dabbling in Soldiers of Napoleon

[Penda]

Phil and I are dabbling in Soldiers of Napoleon for some Wars of the French Revolution games. Still very much feeling our way through the system but finding it interesting and challenging. A report of the second game is on my blog if anyone cares to have a mooch.

[Ilkley Old School]

We have played a few games of SoN and they do have some interesting ideas which we have incorporated into big battle Piquet.

A couple of things we found odd..

Firstly Skirmishers are way too powerful and need toning down.

Secondly we felt the games ended prematurely before we got to the decision point.

Also the game does not work too well for more than 2 players. We played with 4 players and it was a bit clunky.

[goat major]

Firstly Skirmishers are way too powerful and need toning down.

This is so often a thing in H&M rules. Not sure if its a result of the British Riflemen +1 syndrome. I've played in games where you think there is literally no point having line infantry when you can have invisible lights with sniper rifles.

[Penda]

Firstly Skirmishers are way too powerful and need toning down.

We have yet to incorporate skirmishing so will bear that in mind, thanks.

Secondly we felt the games ended prematurely before we got to the decision point.

Might this be a matter of perception? Your views differing from the game structure?

Also the game does not work too well for more than 2 players. We played with 4 players and it was a bit clunky.

I think the game is designed for two players, on a 6'*4' table, over in a club night space? There is definitely a place for such in my long experience of wargames and club nights where games never finish. But, each to their own.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

I think the game is designed for two players, on a 6'*4' table, over in a club night space? There is definitely a place for such in my long experience of wargames and club nights where games never finish. But, each to their own.

Very much agree - the majority of clubs meet on mid-week evenings with limited time (and sometimes limited space, too), so this type of game is pretty much essential to such groups. My regular opponent (the only other gamer in the village) and I spent ages trying to find a club that met on Saturdays and could give us long enough at the table (10:00-18:00) to make the potentially two-hour round trip, that we set as our maximum journey time, worth the effort. We both live in Haslemere, Surrey - ignoring groups dedicated solely to fantasy/sci-fi, the club we eventually found that met out needs was just outside Southampton; we have done the journey down in 50 minutes, the journey back is usually slightly over an hour due to a couple of one-way systems.

[goat major]

Is that the club where the Mark Backhouse Lard Weekend was a couple of years ago?

[Ilkley Old School]

I am perhaps fortunate in that I get to game at James Roach house every Wednesday and even better he only lives a mile away.

I have not been a member of a club since the 1980s. Clubs are not for me and as Groucho Marx once said 'I dont want to belong to any club that will accept me as member'

For card based Napoleonics we use James big battle Piquet and these rattle along even for large games.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Is that the club where the Mark Backhouse Lard Weekend was a couple of years ago?

It's Wessex Wargames Society (not to be confused with Wessex Wargames Club in Winchester*). We were indeed among the organisers, which started with me having a chat with Mr Backhouse at a Bovvy show the year before (we were also responsible for the "Come and have a go if you think you're Lard enough" monicker); it was actually held at another club a bit further down the M27.

[* It has to be said that this part of the world is not terribly inventive when it comes to naming wargames clubs - in addition to the two Wessex set-ups, there are two Havant Wargames clubs, two Southampton Wargames clubs and three Portsmouth Wargames clubs.]