The Sharp End Gaming

Napoleon in exile on St. Helena Today is the anniversary of Napoleon's death on St. Helena off the west African coast.  He spent his few years after Waterloo isolated and with a small circle of admirers and friends.  According to Wikipedia , the state of his living conditions on St. Helena led The Times of London to wonder if the British government wasn't trying to kill him with indifference. I prefer to think that isn't true but I suspect it was. Napoleon's last words are said to have been: "France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine" ("France, army, head of the army, Joséphine") His death was remarked upon by the American thinker Robert Ingersoll in this passage from his book " The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child" that I found: “A little while ago, I stood by the grave of the old  Napoleon —a magnificent tomb of gilt and gold, fit almost for a dead deity—and gazed upon the sarcophagus of rare and nameless marble, where ...

Doug at Cry Havoc and I are deep into a third scenario of Bonaparte's Peninsular War by John Tiller software featuring the Battle of Albuera.  Like the previous scenarios we have played, it is clear that the French commander Marshal Soult should not have attacked the Allied positions around Albuera (in this case an army of Spanish regulars/militia under Joaquin Blake and Marshal William Beresford's Anglo-Portugese force).  The terrain features a number of gullies and streams.  The western bank above the Albuera river at the village of Albuera is steep enough to slow an advance down and disorder French troops. Plus the lack of roads makes lateral movement almost impossible between the two French wings. Soult's main axis of attack is in the south.  The river and a valley filled with olive trees separate his two forces.  The British and Spanish brigades in the south are arrayed in a linear formation and are unconcerned about being flanked due to the terrain. ...

Marshal William Beresford disarming a Polish lancer.  The battle of Albuera was the bloodiest of the Peninsular War. It was fought in May, 1811 and like other great battles where both armies stayed on the field of battle after a hard day's worth of fighting, it was claimed as a victory by both sides. John Tiller Software's Peninsular War title includes this battle and it is a scenario that I recommend trying.  At 24 turns, it is in my opinion a very manageable length.  The weather is historically accurate, (it includes the mid-battle rain/hail storm).  The battle also features a number of famous Napoleonic commanders including the Duke of Dalmatia the French General Jean Soult, General William Beresford and General Joaquin Blake. Soult has a B Command and B Leadership rating. Unlike the other Peninsular battles that I've recently blogged about, this French army has high quality troops. The majority of the line infantry are C quality troops, the ar...

It seems proven in history that over long wars armies deteriorate in quality.  Casualties, fatigue, expired enlistments take their toll on the quality of officers and men. In World War II, the German army attempted to compensate for this historical truth, by increasing the firepower of German divisions in the face of manpower shortages.  The 1944-5 Volksgrenadier divisions are a result of this, as was Hitler's obsession with super weapons. Recently, I've been playing the John Tiller Series title Peninsular War   solo and head to head against Doug at Cry Havoc .  So far, I(we) have stuck to the later 1811 scenarios where the French are focused on quelling rebellion and a resurgent Spanish army.  In my soloing and in my playing with Doug, the quality of French troops has come into question in every scenario. French troops rout at Cogorderos June 1811 In John Tiller gaming terms the French are mostly C and D quality troops for the later year scenarios and ...

SoW: Waterloo sandbox mode. Brigade level combat on the road to a nameless Belgian town. I've been waiting on this game for at least a year.  It is beautifully rendered and the interface seems much improved.  I don't remember volley fire as a SoW: Gettysburg option and the clear commands interface when moving a unit is neat.  The OOBs are fully fleshed out and look brilliant. I can't wait for the spectacle of Waterloo. I will post more about this game over my lunchtime break.

The following log is a run through of Turn 1 of my second skirmish last night.  This time I used the skirmish rules and skirmish formations properly! I am slowly building my game towards a recreation of the Battle of Vimeiro 1808 in Portugal.   You can learn more about the battle here . Last night, I put a random French General Staff together using Generals Kellerman and Loison. Their combined orders capacity was 5.  The British General Staff consisted of Arthur Wellesley and Barnard Bowes.  Their orders capacity was 7. Both front lines start within a card's length of each other with reserve formations behind each. There is no artillery or cavalry present (I am testing artillery tonight). Turn 1: French Order 1 : The 82e Line Regiment orders skirmishers forward. This regiment sits on the hinge between the French Division Loison and Kellerman's column of Grenadiers and the 2e and 4e Light Infantry.  Ordering skirmishers forward is a defensive move and...

Line units and elite units can deploy skirmishers. Militia, artillery and cavalry units cannot. Skirmishers deployed against skirmishers cancel one another out. “Skirmishers forward” adds 5% to the Hit Accuracy (HA) for successful volleys of the parent units.  Skirmishers can only be sent forward by issuing a specific order to do so.  Units with skirmishers forward place an S counter over their game card. The number of skirmishers deployed depends on the # of men in particular regiment.  As a rule 20% of a regiment will deploy on a skirmishers forward order.  If an enemy cavalry unit comes within one card length of an opponent, the skirmishers will automatically rejoin the parent unit’s formation removing the HA bonus until they are redeployed with a new order. Skirmish Formations Light infantry and Rifles units can deploy into loose skirmish formations.   This decreases the HA of incoming fire by 5%.  The number of skirmishers firing from this format...

The British line consists of Ronal Ferguson's 2nd Brigade: the 71st, 40th and 36th Foot regiments.  Opposite them in the center is the 4eme Swiss Infantry in their red uniforms.  A regiment of light infantry and the large 70eme French line regiment.   Miles Nightingall's 3rd Brigade is in reserve on the 2nd line. Well the first run through was fun. I made some mistakes and definitely need to adjust the rules.  My biggest mistake was ordering skirmishers forward and then forgetting about them.  I don't have counters that track things like that yet but I will create them soon. I cut the cards I created out last night and then slotted them in some protective card cases I have (see above). The core of the game play: movement and combat was exciting. I kept things simple focusing on the formations the units were in, the discipline checks to determine order or disorder of a unit and the Rate of fire and hit accuracy combat system I came up with. The first th...

The approach to Rolica Tonight I am going to run through the combat and maneuver system for Regiment.  I am using the Battle of Rolica's OOBs to do this. Background: Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portugese army approached Rolica as he marched towards Lisbon.  His goal was to link up with additional British troops under Generals Acland and Anstruther who would make their landing along the Portugese coast closer to Lisbon and then engage with the French army and destroy it. The outnumbered, French force under General Delaborde conducted a delaying action at Rolica while General Junot and his larger French army hastened to close with Wellesley. Notes: I am going to only use the French and British infantry components for this battle and ignore the artillery and cavalry that participated, Ferguson's brigade which went on a flanking maneuver, as well as the Portugese troops under Lt. Col. Nicolas Trant. British OOB (10000 troops): 5, 9, 29, 36, 38, 40, 45, 71, 82, Foo...

For some time, I've been thinking about a card game that brings Napoleonic warfare to life (with an emphasis on deck building).  The game would use cards to represent brigades and regiments for OOB building and you would be able to modify units with experience mods (based on historical participation in battles and honors earned). I've resurrected this after reading David Crook's excellent thoughts about a 19th century tabletop game here . I've am considering cards for this because the emphasis is on simplicity and playability anywhere. Here are some of my initial vanilla thoughts on the game called "Regiment": General Staff Each battle has a preset number of General Staff officer positions to be filled in an OOB.  The overall commander is included in this total plus a number of staff officers.  These officers are combined into a General Staff that as a body exerts influence over the battle with their leadership, experience and tactics through the is...

Last night I reinstalled the Road to Wagram mod as I prepare for a post Command Ops future!  That's Jerome Bonaparte's corps in the distance. This is the Alpine map and I am playing as the Coalition forces at the Battle of Vimeiro. I will have an AAR using this mod very soon.

This is looking really good.  It's probably one patch away from me purchasing it because I am sure the initial release is buggy based on the first version of this game.

The battle of Talavera is part of the Peninsular war mod for HistWar. I am commanding the AngloSpanish army under Wellington. The historical disposition of troops for this scenario is correct. Cuesta and the Spanish anchor the right of the Anglo-Spanish line near Talavera. The British under Hill are stationed on the left flank around Medellin hill and the British cavalry under Fane is in reserve. The British Light Brigade is en route and will ultimately march 42 miles in one day and arrive the next morning. Due to my hardware, the sprite ratio for this scenario is 10:1. I am using the 3rd patch for Histwar.  The weather effects are spectacular and the overall lighting is much improved. I am playing as Wellington.  This is the battle an hour in.  I moved Villaba out of Talavera for fear his cavalry would be cutoff.  He is regrouping behind Cuesta.  And Cuesta is forming a defensive line behind MacKenzie's men while they engage the advancing French ...

This game is buggy.  The interface is improving but still not great.  The historical research is flawed (see Battle of Montebello).  And yet it is the best game of Napoleonic warfare you will probably ever play. The game's designer, creator JM Mathe is the French equivalent of Norb Timpko (NorbSoftDev's Scourge of War and Take Command Series). Mathe has breathed life into HistWar and this wonderful recreation of the Napoleonic battlefield. No major gaming house would obsessively spend as much time as Mathe has probably spent on this game (and the second version is coming out soon). It has a new patch which you can download here with improved graphics and tweaks to the gameplay/interface. My early tactical plan at Montebello (based on Jozef Poniatowski's presence on the field of battle, this OOB should be for Russia or Leipzig and not Italy where Montebello is).  This bird's eye view of the battlefield with the orders displayed is a great feature of the ...