Some time ago I wrote and article for this illustrious publication about my approach to 2mm Wargaming and the use of Napoleon's Battles as a rule set in this scale. The title of this piece is a reference to that article (Issue 11 May/June 93) and my switch to using First Empires "Brigade" computer moderated rules for the PC. As those of you who read my original article may recall the branch out into 2mm was a reflection of a desire to play grand tactical games in a small area at low cost. Napoleon's Battles has continued to provide entertaining games and indeed I still find the 2mm version a better game than its 15mm counterpart for reasons I am not altogether sure of. Perhaps its because my allegiance in that scale is still with "Empire" all be it our local version where we have doubled the figure scale and halved the ranges and movement, but that as they say is another story. To Spain While looking to expand my interest in 2mm my attention turned to Spain (that last series of Sharp has a lot to answer for) and the plucky lads in the red jackets. Now a long time ago, before some of you reading this were born, I bought a British 15mm army. We had just started Napoleonics at our club and nobody could decide which army to build. So every body picked their favourites and somehow everyone chose the Allies, which made games a bit of a non starter! Having a strong interest in Napoleon I changed sides and as a result I still have a large collection of unpainted British that I will get round to some day (I should live so long). Still having the desire to field the "the Thin Red Line" (yes, I know that was the Crimea), 2mm beckoned once again. As before I looked to a grand tactical game (even if this meant Sharpie and the lads did not get a look in) and that having spent "loads a money" on a PC it might be worth giving that nice Mr. Watkins a few (!) quid for a copy of "Brigade". The reason for this being that they are made for high command level actions, as are Napoleons Battles and best of all they do the book keeping. I decided that I would opt for the 1810-1812 period as in my view it would give more balanced games. If you look at the Peninsula prior to this time the Brits should have really been stuffed at every opportunity, both strategically and tactically. The fact that with the exception of the Corruna campaign they were not probably says as much about the quality of the French leadership as it does about Wellesley, Moore and the lads. The comparative levels of experience between the armies and their general officers is very one sided for balanced wargames if your rules allow for it in a proper manner. Although of course Sir Arthur and others had fought in the recent past I think few could really claim to match the combat experience of the Marshals and the French general officers overall. That this did level out at all was probably due to the fact that at least Wellesley had exercised independent command where most of the Marshals had not. On the manpower level I think early on the French would have been more accustomed to campaign and action than their counter parts. I know that some of them were conscripts but there would have been a lot of experienced troops among them. In contrast some of the British units had not been out of the country since the Seven Years War and up to 1809 they really were rather poor by comparison. After the 1810-1812 period I feel the balance swings back to far the other way with good Imperial troops and commanders being drawn back to Germany and France just as the British and Allied forces start to reach their peak. Spain also has an appeal in terms of cost and manageable battle size. To fight Salamanca for example you only need 77 battalions (2mm blocks) of infantry for the Allies and 75 French. The cavalry requiring a further 12 and 10 respectively, with 10 guns/limbers each. Turning to the Use of "Brigade" With 2mm blocks you need not to be afraid about compromise in terms of ground scale and unit size. As with all games the unit frontage and ground scale cannot be truly accurate. The recommended ground scale in the rules is 1mm = 4yds for 6mm (1/300th) scale. My first thoughts were to double this and round up to 1mm = 10yds but as this would have meant the minimum distance units could approach each other with out contact (25yds) would have been a minute 2.5mm that idea went straight out of the window. In the finish I went for what looked right rather than accurate measurement and opted for 10mm = 25yds which at least is a recognisable gap between opposing lines. As the moves and measurements in the rules either are in multiples of 25, or at least can be treated as such, it's not that important. Besides if you are playing grand tactics, particularly in this scale, you really should not be too concerned with squeezing every last ounce of advantage from the rules by arguments over ranges etc. In terms of the use of the blocks themselves "Brigade" operates in what are termed Brigade Units. These being infantry battalions, cavalry regiments or artillery batteries. I chose to use a block for each battalion and regiment with the standard casting for an artillery battery. I use Irregular Miniatures so I chose their largest two rank casting (26 figs) for the British infantry and the standard issue French three rank block (24 figs) for the opposition as this gives the best representation of the differing frontage, with the British line covering approximately one third more ground than a French battalion. Heavy and Light Cavalry use the same castings for both sides and the artillery only differs by the representation of Allied guns having a block trail. Those of you who worry about the painting side of things and I'm one of them I'm afraid, need to pay attention to your research if you want get the colours right for its at battalion/regimental level you need to add the proper tones. The Brits tend to have a lot of red about of course but it is possible to break this up by painting the flags as the Regimental Colour (unless its the Guards of course, where the flag with the coloured field was actually the Kings Colour if you want to be technical about these things) on each block and varying the trouser colour (grey, white, brown). It is possible, as in the Light Division at Salamanca for example, to have whole battalions of the 95th operating together, so out comes the Rifle Green and there is plenty of chance for Blues and Browns in the Portuguese and Spanish. The cavalry also adds variety between Light and Heavy Dragoons. On the French Side On the French side there are the Blue/White and all Blue variations between line and light infantry as well as the local brown cloth for trousers and the Greens of Dragoons and Chasseurs to contrast with Hussar flamboyance in the Cavalry. In addition there are what ever differences could be discerned for Confederation of the Rhine or other units in this scale one can add to spice things up. The rules revolve around Command Groups and Brigade Units. The former being the Army, Corps and Divisional commanders and their staff. Their quality and ability to get things done can be set in the rules dependent on your opinion of historical fact. I personally try to match these ratings to their performance via an independent assessment by using listings in Napoleon's Battles which if nothing else are common ground. It is also a handy source for some of the lesser known commanders that turn up in the Peninsular and nowhere else. These Command Groups are organised into an Army structure via the system and allocated to them are brigade units created by the player. These represent the internal structure of the basic playing piece, the brigade. They are defined by the player according to unit type, weapon, ability, moral and training. In addition there are national characteristics that act unseen on their performance within the program itself. Most importantly the unit details hold the information as to the exact number of men and battalions/regiments/guns present at the start of the action. This is one of the features where the system appealed to me from the outset. The ability it gives not to have to resort to any form of casualty indication on the table. This had several attractions. Firstly, it meant that there would no longer be any need to employ the Napoleons Battles casualty markers on the table. Which while assisting in deployment in a roundabout way by physically preventing brigades getting intermingled, were a real eyesore in 2mm being as big as some of the blocks themselves. Secondly, it means you do not have to fiddle about removing figure blocks. This combined with the umpire facility in the program, which does not show losses on screen as they occur, leaves you like the real commander of the period, blinded by smoke and terrain, never completely sure of what is going on. Lot of Game This is adds a lot to a game and is really useful playing solo as it helps, along with the computer generated unit and Commander reactions to losses and order determination, to give the feel of fighting someone else. As you cannot be sure when a brigade is about to run you have to keep your deployment in some sort of historical depth and be prepared for unexpected events. The basic game theory is of course geared toward large scale action and to that end the player, if not experienced in other big battle rules, needs to make some mental adjustments. However, 2mm naturally lends itself to this; if you are the type to argue of the last detail of a rule or fraction of measurement 2mm is not for you. In this size you really need to play with opponents who believe in give and take or play solo. However there is some degree of flexibility in the rules, for example, you can hold back individual Brigade Units (Cavalry Regiments) to reinforce a charge and you can break down infantry brigades to skirmish by battalion, so there may be a place for the 95th after all. Comand and Control Command and Control is effected by a limited choice of order modes and a limited command points (actions per turn) approach similar to that used in other rules I have come across, which prevents command units being able to be every where, doing every thing, all at the same time. It also forces you to make very difficult choices at times I may add. There are also a very limited choice of formations to worry about and I particularly like the concept that there is no fire by units in Attack Column unless they have "hold" orders, if you want to shoot people you form line, and quite right too! It's not really possible to say to much more about the mechanics as the playing of the game is so simple. Indeed it's so straight forward at times you wonder what you paid for, as the program just chunders along in the back ground while you get on with the planning and the moving about. Comparison with book based rules is not fair as all the recording and looking up tables that give them a feel of substance are missing. Having used other computer rules I was prepared for this but those of you yet to try should bear this in mind as the experience is quite different. Overall Overall I must say I'm favourably impressed. One or two things could be tided up a bit not least the manual which is a bit confusing in places, but I know major software manufacturers who's products are almost incomprehensible so I guess this should be kept in perspective. As in all rules sometimes circumstances fox the writers intentions. This is a particular pest in computer rules as the machine can't see the table and at times you are bound by the program structure which makes it hard skip over unforeseen events as you can with written rules. However, Uncle Dave has thought of most things and if nothing else allows you to cheat your way out of the odd blind alley that occurs. All in all the joining of 2mm and the PC via "Brigade" has proved a very enjoyable experience. I notice that space has been left for updates. When's the next version coming out Dave? Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #21 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by First Empire. 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