The Sharp End Gaming

The GMT Games cover for Command and Colors Napoleonics. I have been playing a lot of Ultimate General Gettysburg recently. I like it but not as much as I like Scourge of War: Gettysburg. SOW is the ultimate civil war game. For a few months, I thought Histwar: Les Grognards was the best Napoleonic computer game on the market but a confusing UI, a language barrier with the French developer and some historical mistakes I can't get past in the title have had me second guessing it.  So much so, that I started a card based Napoleonic warfare game called Regiment just to get my Napoleonic fix Yesterday I purchased Commands and Colors: Napoleonics with some birthday money I received from my in-laws in another attempt to find the ultimate Napoleonic experience.  I've read good things about the game and know it is a staple among the tabletop gaming community.  It should arrive on Wednesday according to Amazon so expect some tabletop gaming posts very soon.

If you are a Steam user I encourage you to vote for Histwar in the Greenlight section here.  Histwar was developed by a small team of French designers led by JM Mathe. JM is the Norb Timpko of digital Napoleonic warfare and with an influx of cash to his team from Steam sales I am confident they will do great things. Vote today!

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 ...

Background: In 1806 the British landed an expeditionary force under General John Stuart on the boot of Italy in Calabria after the French had overrun the Kingdom of Naples. A superior French Force engaged the British Force but was routed, suffering crippling losses while the British only suffered minimal casualties. My battle of Maida, in command as General Stuart resumes... The French forces after surprising me with a Horse artillery battery that deployed immediately to the front of their advancing columns has split in two.  Along the Lamato river, Italian-Polish light infantry are shadowing my advance and watching the battle on the plain in the center.  I've moved Kempt's Light infantry into a guarding position on that flank and I am sending another regiment of Line Infantry to support them. French light infantry shadow my advance. Meanwhile on the plain, I am engaged heavily with two French regiments including the 23rd me Light Infantry. I've moved the 2nd o...

I hope to get in some gaming this evening but until then here is an update on one of the two Les Grognards scenarios I am currently playing (Maida and Vimeiro).  The screenshot below is from the Maida scenario.  British Forces are engaging French troops in Italy near the village of Maida. Kempt's light infantry are moving to engage with the Lamato river running parallel to their movement on the right flank.  The French are just out of sight in the summer haze. Skirmishers forward. In the center Acland is deploying men in a line before advancing on the forward most French unit a horse artillery battery. Taking this battery was no easy task. More to follow...

You won't see this in Total War... Yesterday over some lunch I played the Battle of Maida which took place in Italy.  )I believe this came with the Peninsular War mod of the game.)  My expeditionary force under the British General Stuart was marching to engage French forces when a French Artillery battery deployed to the front of the French columns (a very Napoleonic tactic) and proceeded to break my advance guard and send it routing backwards. I've never experienced the tactic gaming (only read about it in David Chandler's Campaigns of Napoleon ) and it caught me by surprise.  I didn't have the cavalry to seize the battery and had difficulty marching any unit up against it across the open ground. French gunners engage the advancing British column. In the scheme of things this is a small piece of history done right but when you are looking for a game to simulate what it might have actually been like on a Napoleonic battlefield, it's the little things ...

My recent gaming has focused on Wellington slugging it out with the French General Junot at Vimeiro, Portugal.  As Wellington, I positioned myself in a V-shaped formation along the sides of a wide valley with the Portugese forces under Nickolas Trant on the right side of the V, (supported by General Ferguson's brigade), and Crawford and Nightingall on the left side.  In the center Ackland, Anstruther and Lawson's battery with the remainder of my brigades poised to enter the battle on the wings. The battle has taken a turn for the worse and I find myself scrambling to form new defensive lines and the Anglo-Portugese army is in real danger of being split in two.  It shouldn't be that way.  Wellington has the numerical superiority on the field and my battle plan hasn't been bad but I grossly overestimated the ability of the Portugese forces.  I should have kept them in reserve.  Their rout has caused the right side of the V to disappear exposing two small...

Austrian Jagers captured by French Cavalry at Marengo. Watching prisoners of war leave the field of battle isone of the neater features of Les Grognards.

Wellington and the Portugese detachment under Trant (a mixed force of infantry and cavalry) square off against French Army of Portugal under Junot.  French forces are outnumbered but possess greater mobility due to their cavalry. You can see the French cavalry charging down the valley towards the awaiting British cannons. Down the valley the French cavalry rode... Wellington's battleplan... You make your moves on the 2D map and watch the battle on the 3D map. More to follow...

Murat's cavalry clashes with Austrian Hussars on the Marengo plain. I downloaded the modded scenario for Marengo and have enjoyed it very much.  The deployed forces are smaller and the terrain is wide open.  Will update soon...

I am really excited about Les Grognards.  It's an older game from a small publisher that apparently was a Battlefront title before it was self-published.  I discovered it about a month ago and decided to give the demo a go last week. It looks like a self published title and my graphics card doesn't make it look any sharper.  That said, I played the demo for a week before I decided to buy the title.  Like the amateur gamer that I am, I have been fumbling through the game and learning on the fly ever since.  Les Grognards reminds me of the Scourge of War series before Slitherine/Matrix took over the publishing of that series.  Which to me means: poor graphics some weird mechnics but awesome historical detail and therefore a must have. The Les Grognards demo is full of glitches (try playing the Montebello map with the Montebello order of battle) but somewhere on the battlefield of GrandChamp I decided this may be the best Napoleonic warfare game I have p...