Which one do I pick - Napoleonics

[ronan]

 Large battles suits better my taste. ( and has more figs )

Both are good.

[Zippee]

Hello everyone!
Here is my question for you lovely people:

If the only two choices you had for playing Napoleonic wargames was either General D'armee or General de Brigade deluxe which would you choose to play given the following restrictions. . . ?
1. The forces: Around 2 infantry brigades per side. Either 1 full Cavalry Brigade OR smaller Cavalry attachment. 1 Artillery attachment.
2. 10mm (obviously) figures with no opportunity for figure removal.
3. 6x3 table- the size of my current table, it seems such a waste of time and money to build boards just to add an extra 6" each side of the long table edge. We think we will simply state where the off table battalions are if the entire Brigade isn't able to appear on table and depth is too much of an issue.

Thanks for your advice and thoughts, if you really think that the two choices offered are poor in terms of my requirements then feel free to suggest others. Some rules I have no interest in however are: Black Powder, Napoleon at War, Shako.
Thanks for any suggestions and help, I would like to avoid having to buy too many more rulesets before I can get a decent time period of gaming with one set. I have March Attack, Elan and Lasalle already.
All the best,
MA

Neither of those options float my boat but opinions on rules are meaningless, play what works for you. If you held a gun to my head, probably GdA just because it's slightly more streamlined and modern than GdB but both revolve around a combat mechanic that leaves me cold.

FWIW my usual choices from large to small engagements are Blucher-LFS-Lasalle-Sharp Practice. Two brigades plus is too small for LFS really, so I'd go for Lasalle despite it's idiosyncrasies.

[petercooman]

Large battles suits better my taste. ( and has more figs )

Both are good.

Thanks Ronan, will look into it! As I said in my painting diary, I have loose figures left from making Perry and warlord boxes, so looking at a skirmish set as well.

[toxicpixie]

I'd second Zippee's comment on Blucher - table is a bit shallow ("full size" three inch bases should get a table at 6*4ft), but you could go with 60mm wide and have space on the ends left over to hold drinks, flank marches, dead/retired/in reserve units etc.

Although it means playing at the "whole army" level, not just a couple of Brigades (each base in Blucher is @a Brigade-ish).

[MAgamer]

So I could actually try Lasalle out first again and see how I get on. I can't remember why I dropped the ruleset. A couple of years ago I started with 28mm, wanting to fight big battles, last year I sold off a whole bunch of Painted battalions and held onto enough to game Sharp Practice 2. I love that game! But the itch for bigger scale games has lingered. The best thing I ever did was sell all those extras- I wouldn't have found 10mm and Pendraken had I not.
I guess one of the things which turned me on to General D'Armee was that it is from a "wing" of TFL (it begins with R but I won't attempt to spell it!) and it used charts and 2d6 rolls. This was new to me as I've never used a set with this before (I know it's not new in wargaming however). I had never used card activation before Sharp Practice, and that turned out to be a winner.
Well I guess I will stick with Lasalle, give Napoleonic wargaming a look into and see if I can find a club which plays General D'Armee so I can maybe try it out without taking the plunge straight away.
Interesting!
Thanks again everyone
MA

[Leman]

You could try Field of Battle 2, which is card activated, and thus very good for solo play.

[Zippee]

So I could actually try Lasalle out first again and see how I get on. I can't remember why I dropped the ruleset. A couple of years ago I started with 28mm, wanting to fight big battles, last year I sold off a whole bunch of Painted battalions and held onto enough to game Sharp Practice 2. I love that game! But the itch for bigger scale games has lingered. The best thing I ever did was sell all those extras- I wouldn't have found 10mm and Pendraken had I not.
I guess one of the things which turned me on to General D'Armee was that it is from a "wing" of TFL (it begins with R but I won't attempt to spell it!) and it used charts and 2d6 rolls. This was new to me as I've never used a set with this before (I know it's not new in wargaming however). I had never used card activation before Sharp Practice, and that turned out to be a winner.
Well I guess I will stick with Lasalle, give Napoleonic wargaming a look into and see if I can find a club which plays General D'Armee so I can maybe try it out without taking the plunge straight away.
Interesting!
Thanks again everyone
MA

The TFL card and shock Napoleonic set are Le Feue Sacre (LFS) as I noted earlier but they are really aimed at a corps plus per side. You can use them for smaller actions but you lose most of the command interaction which is what they are about. GdA may be from Reischwitz Press but from the exposure I've had to them they are very much using Dave Brown's engine a la GdB not the TFL engine. Lasalle will work if you strip off the attempt to make them a tournament set of rules and just use them as you would other rules to fight an action, they're not without issues - no rules are but they work. Otherwise keep searching

[Leman]

FOB2 work best where a four base unit represents a battalion or cavalry regiment. An artillery battery is represented by two guns, so these play well at the divisional level.

[Obsidian23]

Hello everyone!
Here is my question for you lovely people:

If the only two choices you had for playing Napoleonic wargames was either General D'armee or General de Brigade deluxe which would you choose to play given the following restrictions. . . ?
1. The forces: Around 2 infantry brigades per side. Either 1 full Cavalry Brigade OR smaller Cavalry attachment. 1 Artillery attachment.
2. 10mm (obviously) figures with no opportunity for figure removal.
3. 6x3 table- the size of my current table, it seems such a waste of time and money to build boards just to add an extra 6" each side of the long table edge. We think we will simply state where the off table battalions are if the entire Brigade isn't able to appear on table and depth is too much of an issue.

Thanks for your advice and thoughts, if you really think that the two choices offered are poor in terms of my requirements then feel free to suggest others. Some rules I have no interest in however are: Black Powder, Napoleon at War, Shako.


Hi MA, just out of interest, why don't you like Black Powder and Shako?  For your size of forces I would have thought BP would be good.  I guess it depends on how serious you want the game to be as well.  For me If I have to determine if my powder is wet or dry before I can shoot, I would rather eat Promite....  Honestly I really laike BP, and if I want something with a bit more meat in the sandwhich then its Napoleons Battles. 

What ever you decide, I hope you find something fun, enjoyable and has that little bit of panache!
Thanks for any suggestions and help, I would like to avoid having to buy too many more rulesets before I can get a decent time period of gaming with one set. I have March Attack, Elan and Lasalle already.
All the best,
MA

[petercooman]

Just saw this pass by on facebook, mght be of interest.

https://arsbelli.blogspot.be/2017/11/general-de-brigade-vs-black-powder.html?m=1