Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun

book

Reviewed by Jim Womer

By Paddy Griffith, Ward Lock, London, England; 128 pages. Distributed in U.S.A. by Hippocrene Books, Inc. $14.95.

Big surprises can still come in small packages and this particular book is a case in point: It contains no less than seven (7) different sets of rules for Napoleonics covering the range from a skirmish game to a tactical exercise without troops and including an abstract but intriguing generalship game which gives your favorite personality something to do when not leading troops on the tabletop. Since this reviewer suffers from occasional delusions and pretensions with regard to writing Napoleonics miniatures rules and has some sympathy for those rulesmiths tackling the period, I generally eschew the opportunity to review personally miniatures rules (instead, I try to foist this off on the staff of period editor- contributors; the problem becomes finding an editor who is both gullible and prolific).

Not withstanding the "cutesy" title, an examination of the book indicates that a good deal of serious thought and some very subtle considerations went into this work. This is not surprising when one realizes that Paddy Griffith is a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, San- dhurst, a contemporary of David Chandler, and a frequent contributor to English wargaming publications with a strong interest in the Napoleonic period. The book utilizes a number of examples drawn from history including the author's analysis and interpretation of those events in typical English style, the analysis on the infantry and engineers is somewhat better than those for the cavalry and artillery.

Griffith's basic approach is that the best method to gaming the period is to develop a different set of rules for the various levels of combat which occured in the period. This tends to lead the gamer into very different considerations and decisions; A commander in the brigade game has very different problems than a commander in the army game. This approach, coupled to the author's appreciation that a wargame is a social event to be completed in an evening, leads to his conclusion that playable, historically realistic games are possible and are his objective under these rules. After setting forth some basic ideas in his opening chapter and his views on the realism vs.

Playability debate, Griffith then devotes a chapter to each of the rules systems presented. Incidentally, three of the rules systems don't require miniatures at all: the generalship game, the free Kriespiel, and the tactical exercise without troops. The appendix has a sumniary gamesheet for use as a playing aid for each of the games.

For us miniature wargamers, the meat of Griffith's approach is in his seperate but related divisional brigade and army level games which are named for typical commands of a player and which attempt to present the gamer with the particular problems at that level of command. Although figure ratios, time and distance scales, and the details of movement and combat change depending on the game being played, these games have a number of game systems in common, All units are evaluated in terms of "status", a unit's value representing the basic morale, state of training, and number of effective men (which sounds a great deal like the old concept of Unit Efficiency to me).

The simplest roster to date is used to record temporary loss of morale and losses to 'status' which can be in whole grades or tenths of a grade. As the unit sustains status casualties, its capability to engage in fire combat and shock combat as well as morale are progressively degraded until it is unable to advance, is broken or is destroyed. Although separate, morale is closely linked to unit status and provides the game with a major element of uncertainty. Finally, each of the games utilizes a fairly similar system for resolving fire combat (Artillery and small arms) and shock combat (or melee, called here close combat). Until one gets to the army level game, one is struck by the absence of arbitrary and artificial game constructs to make the system work; close combat at the army level is a bit abstract, but probably necessary if you're planning to refight Wagram after dinner.

All this is not to say that Griffith's system is flawless; it isn't. Those inclined to pick their nit can start with the brass buttons of the French Dragoon on the jacket cover. Period buffs endeared of national modifiers, characteristics and organizations will find only an historical system of unit organization. While the games do a good job of confronting the player with command decisions at various levels, the book omits any discussion of historical commanders and their attempts to solve these problems. Given the variety of unit types available in the period, I suspect that many gamers are going to have some difficulty in reducing these to the four basic status grades of guards, line, militia and irregulars - a range which seems rather narrow.

Although Griffith inveighs heavily against the disease of "gamesmanship", the loosely written rules in some sections, notably free Kriegspiel, would permit such afflicted gamers "to exploit the rules at the expense of historical realism and common decency". From my own perspective and as an occasional rulesmith, tighter writing seems necessary; I also have doubts that simultaneous movement is the best approach for use in the Napoleonic period. And the general of mathematics will find little comfort in the uncertain morale and close combat systems with their chance factors.

Yet I feel that all the foregoing criticisms, my own included, miss an essential point. Griffith has produced not only a lucid and insightful study of Napoleonic warfare at multiple levels of combat, and a rules system with not only a good feel for the period but a system which is remarkably flexible and open ended when compared with its contemporaries. If you want national modifiers, you can add them and just about anything else your imagination desires and you could certainly expand the status grades with some caution.

Although this book will not find favor with everyone, notably the mathematicians, it certainly belongs on the shelf of every serious miniatures wargame rules designer. Novices in Napoleonics may find its insights helpful and it may well jar the imagination of even the jaded veteran of the all night multi-thousand figure endurance contests. And where else can you find seven sets of rules for fifteen bucks these days.

More Reviews

Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. III #2
To Courier List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1981 by The Courier Publishing Company.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com