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242600643 Seitenabrufe seit dem 30.06.2003 |
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Man at War Miniatures Games
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From the author:
The story of Napoleon at War started many months ago when my good friend Ricardo asked me if I would be able to develop rules for a miniatures game set in the Napoleonic era which could not only be used to recreate real, historic battles but that could also be used to organise tournaments.
What seemed like a simple proposal, one simple and innocent question, turned into months of work and countless playtests.
Napoleon at War is not the first Napoleonic game I have designed, but it is the first, which, even before starting, had so many requirements (each contained in that one, innocent question): Rules which allow you to recreate historic battles with miniatures need to recreate the atmosphere of the epoch and would normally be played in a laidback way, allowing even for some of the rules to be relaxed or remodelled as the historic battle developed. On the other hand, a game used in tournaments requires, in my point of view, several indispensable ingredients:
The duration of the matches and the size of the table should be standard and not too large: tournament halls can become crowded places. We also have to play a minimum 3 rounds in a day for the tournament to be hard-fought and for the best player to win, so the games shouldn’t last more than two and a half hours.
The number of miniatures making up the armies must be reasonable: enough to make the game aesthetically appealing and but no so many that it takes us six months to prepare our army to play.
We need different scenarios to provide different challenges for the player so as not to play the same match over and over.
If we work on this basis, we’ll need rules which provide a taste of the era and the appearance of a Napoleonic battle throughout the match, played with a reasonable number of miniatures, on a standard size table, with the ability to settle the game quickly but historically accurately, and in which each game is different even though the adversary is the same. Phew!
From all of this, Napoleon at War was born.
In Napoleon at War, each player becomes the commander of a division of the Napoleonic era and has to face different situations, similar to those faced by the real Generals.
In the Napoleonic age there were not only infantry divisions, but also cavalry, light infantry, vanguards, elite infantry and cavalry…. Generals commanded Cuirassiers, Hussars, Cossacks, Grenadiers or many others who fought and
died on the battlefields of the Old Continent.
And so we came up with the Army Lists. This system of lists with points of value is nothing new in miniature games, however the angle we’ve given it in Napoleon at War is: a cavalry commander faces different challenges to an infantry commander. If he attacks repeatedly, his battle plan has to be different…
To reflect all of this in the match we’ve paid special attention to the behaviour of the real historical units and adapted the rules so that the fighting styles of the miniatures are similar to their real-life counterparts.
However, a game of Napoleon at War doesn’t represent a complete battle but an essential part of one, in which our forces have to accomplish a mission. So, there is no strict time limit but a flowing of initiative as each side tries
to achieve its objective.
We’ve also opted to settle the combats, whether they are firing or mêlée by throwing a considerable number of dice. Far from basing the game on luck, having more throws increases the likelihood of the victory of a skilled General (although we might have a few surprises).
Along with the dice rolls we’ve decided not to use a long list of modifiers but to add or subtract dice from the total number thrown, since it’s easier and feels more intuitive: a good volley of shots allows you to roll a good number of dice. The more favourable the situation, the more dice you roll. But, if the enemy is covered, dice are taken away from our volley of fire. The result of each individual impact stays the same however, making it easy to
calculate the result.
Another aspect which concerned us during the development of the rules was the way in which the players move their soldiers in close order formation: if we calculate wheels by degrees, or keeping the corners in a fixed position or any other known system, we spend too much time measuring, or even worse, arguing about the turn, than making decisions, which is a General’s real job.
As for moves, we decided that the units at a certain distance from the enemy should be able to move with much more freedom than those who are under direct attack, or threatened by the presence of hostile troops. So we decided to make two different movement phases, allowing only the troops that are not engaged in combat to move in the second phase, so reflecting their increased capacity to respond to orders when not in a combat situation.
We didn’t want a large number of markers on the table or to have to do any type of paperwork, but on the other hand we did think it was important to physically take the casualties from the table, so adding drama and making the battle more physical.
To sum up, we believe the result of so many hours of design is a fast, fun and exciting game which visually reflects the results of the different clashes in a Napoleonic battle. Of course, the best way to see this is to play it yourself. So, let’s play!
Hauptproduktlinie
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A Napoleon at War game turn
Here we outline how to move, fire, combat and react with your lead miniatures to the different circumstances that can arise in a Napoleonic battle played out in miniature.
Each Napoleon at War battle is divided into game turns, each consisting of a turn for each player.
Each player’s turn consists of the following phases:
Initial phase
Movement phase
Firing phase
Combat phase
Reserve and Support Movement phase
In the Initial Phase, each player checks if they have fulfilled the conditions necessary for a victory, or if either of the armies is too decimated to continue the battle.
During the Movement Phase, each player’s units manoeuvre in an attempt to secure an advantageous position to either fire at or charge the enemy.
To move your units, chose a Force and a unit within it. You can change the unit’s formation before moving if you like. It’s not necessary to move all your units; if you already have an advantageous position, you can save all your energy to make your firing power more deadly in the Firing phase, as we will presently see. A unit’s movement capacity is affected by its formation and the terrain in which it finds itself.
Once you have chosen a Force to move, you must complete the all moves of that Force before choosing another. That is, you cannot move some units from one Force then some from another, then go back to the first.
In Napoleon at War it’s easier to first move the units located some distance from the enemy, or which are not threatened by cannon or musket fire before moving those engaged in combat whose capacity to manoeuvre is limited. In order to move one of these in any way that is not a straight line, you first have to pass a Discipline Test (DT) using the unit’s Discipline score.
Once you have moved all the units you want to from each Force, it’s time to open fire at the enemy (and to be fired at yourself – less pleasant, but unfortunately part of any battle!). During the Firing phase, your units fire at the opponent’s and they return fire.
In Napoleon at War, firing is compulsory for any unit within distance to do so. It makes sense – if you have the chance to fire at the enemy, better to do so than to passively wait for them to send volleys at you!
For musket and cannon volleys, we use six-sided dice instead of bullets; infinitely more civilised. In order for your throw to count as a hit, you have to roll a 4 or higher (4+). This is the same throughout the game so it’s easy to remember. We can compensate for other relevant factors of the battle by adding or taking away dice from the throw.
Once all the hits are added up, you may find that you have to remove some bases as casualties. Careful! If you lose half of the close order bases of any unit, the unit is disbanded and completely removed from the game. Luckily, your skirmisher bases can protect you from some of the musket fire or, if they are more numerous than the opponent’s, help to wear down the enemy.
But, if one of you Subcommanders or even your Commander is too close to the enemy, they can be wiped out by the shots.
If any of your Forces has lost half or more than half of its original units at the end of the Firing phase, the entire Force (normally the size of a brigade) must pass a Morale Test (MT). To do this, we use the Subcommander’s Valeur score.
So, now you’ve manoeuvred, fired (and been fired at!) and you are now set to move to the decisive Combat phase. Now is when your well positioned units can charge the enemy, hopefully with devastating results, and eliminate enemy units from the battle.
However, combat is not so easy: if we charge the front of an enemy unit, they will fire back, obliging our brave soldiers to pass an Élan test (ET) to reach their goal. To pass an ET we use the Valeur score of the charging unit.
If we pass the ET, the moment of truth has come: combat in Napoleon at War tends to be all or nothing since you can not do any saving roll, except if you are defending a building or fort. it’s much more difficult to avoid casualties in this phase than in the Firing phase.
Now, each hit means an eliminated base. If we manage to eliminate more enemy bases than we lose ourselves, we win the combat and the rival units must retreat (that is, if we haven’t completely wiped them out!)
As at the end of the Firing phase, the Forces which have lost half or more than half of their units at this point in the game must pass an MT to continue in the battle.
After settling the combats, some of the victorious attacking units may wish to change their position; perhaps because they have blown a hole in enemy lines and can exploit the situation, or perhaps they have been left too exposed and want to go back to their starting point.
Now is the Reserves and Support Move phase, where we check if we have to get some reinforcements, or manoeuvre our unengaged units to a better position for the start of the opponent’s player’s turn.
The first thing we do in this phase is throw the same number of D6s as in this same turn.
With each dice with a score equal to or lower than the current turn, (e.g. in turn 2, you roll 2D6 and get scores of 1, 3) you get an extra Force from those kept in reserve.
(These circumstances can sometimes be altered by a special rule of the scenario that we are disputing.)
Once we have placed and moved the reserves, we can now manoeuvre the units that are already on the table, in the same way as we do in the Movement phase. However, none of the units that started the phase engaged nor those that have taken part it the combat can move. Likewise, none of the units we move can now become engaged.
Now it’s your opponent’s turn. Will he be able to outwit you and overcome all the challenges you have set in your turn?
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