Category Archives: Napoleonics

Not Again

Miniatures, Napoleonics

Just can’t do it.

Strange preoccupations die hard, but my System 7 fixation is over.

All that research and calculating…..started playing but no enthusiasm.  Here’s photo of a portion of the battlefield, with the French menacing the Spanish in mixed order.  I really dislike overhead lights.

I can understand why the game never caught on.  Movement of the cardboard bits is annoying.  You can at least grab miniature bases.  So many charts.  Petty, but I’d rather play Kriegspiel.

I’ve always wondered how much of this hobby is the preparation, and how much is the actual playing?  In this case, about 99.9 percent of the former.

Time wasted?  No.  I revisited what I did (kinda) know about Napoleonic tactics, and learned some more.  And, was exposed to  new information.  I enjoyed that.

All of it is put away.  When tax season ends, and if I summon up the wherewithal, the whole lot will go on the market.  It fits in a compact box, easy to ship.

Still, I’m wistful.

Again?

Miniatures, Napoleonics

Couldn’t resist the rogue synapse that compels me to pull out my System 7 Napoleonics components.

I had a partial jolt back in 2023, with my  last full synaptic jolt several years ago.

It was as though time had stood still.  Still thrashing on scale and unit rosters.

Here’s how I operate.  Not pretty.

Finally figured it out, with the help of Balagan and Griffith.  Scale using Squad Leader maps is approximately  2:1, so movement and firing ranges are doubled from rules as written.

I worked out a cut and paste template for each/most unit sizes and morale ratings.

Now I can assemble a roster based on force composition.  Haven’t tried it, but it might work.

As usual, the real problems are a) getting it all to the table and b) playing.

Beginning and Confluence

Boardgames, Miniatures, Napoleonics, Sessions

Finally started pushing cardboard, but immediately ran into problems.  Not unanticipated, but one of them brought the session to a halt.

Movement phase difficult because counters are damned fiddly.  Movement trays?  Bad thought. Cardboard is easy, right?

The French advanced with skirmishers front, engaging each Spanish regiment.  I do like the way the game looks!

Then, another problem:  Casualties.  The game calls for a detailed accounting of losses.   Makes the fiddiliness of moving regiments pale in comparison.  So, in the name of my sanity, decided to assign losses to the entire regiment, removing company counters for each 10 percent loss of the regiment’s total strength.  Skirmishing companies will be accounted for individually.

Drafted up a regiment, company strength, total strength worksheet.  A picture is shown below.

Crude, but hopefully effective.

While messing around this morning found this link/article over at Web Grognards.  Confluence of events?

Will give it another try this PM.

Mired and Dumb

Boardgames, Miniatures, Napoleonics, Sessions

Thrashing now.  Trying to reconcile the game system with reading Napoleonic tactics.  Disconnect with battalion/regiment frontages and depths.  Of course, all of these book dictates are conjectural, based on manuals, pundits, and the revisionist interpretations of manuals and pundits.

One hex in Squad Leader is 40 meters or just over 43 yards.  The hex width is 3/4 inch.  Counter frontages in System 7 are one inch equals 40 yards.  Battalion frontages were 75 yards.  Not a match, but close enough.

The real problem appeared to be  a company counter depth of 5/16 inches or roughly 14 yards in scale.  According to my interpretation of a Chandler, a six company battalion advancing in column would have an overall depth of 15 yards.  This is problematic, especially since according the rules, maximum stacking is two companies, which leaves a depth of 42 yards per battalion if attacking with two companies abreast.  All of that just doesn’t make sense and at this point I was dizzy.

Somehow came to my senses, looked a few more resources, had a pop…..ahhhhhh…the depth was 15 yards per company or  45 yards.

Heavy sigh……

 

 

 

System 7 Even More Startup

Miniatures, Napoleonics

Wargaming involves a lot of preparation.  Reading rules, understanding rules, punching counters, set up, the inevitable initial rule foul ups and finally, an understanding of how the game mechanics work.

But, there’s also the understanding the period piece of any game.  Background reading is always helpful, because you want to “play the period”.  While the game designer is tasked with this, it’s up to the player to appreciate the intent, and play the game as intended.

System 7 is a miniatures game played with cardboard on cardboard.  In theory, there are no tactical constraints.  It’s up to the player to make it a simulation.

Spent the last few days getting things ready.  The handout accompanying the counters implores the player to cut out the counters, not punch them.  Good advice.  The punched counters I inherited have those unsightly “chads”.  Lots of x-acto knife work, but worth it.

The other prep piece is some reading on background and tactics.  I’m not that interested in Napoleonics, but I have a few helpful books.  Here they are.  Again, I’ve collected these over the years, all used, at reasonable prices.

This is the Mother Ship.  If you can only have one, this is it.

Elting is completely underrated.  Also has done some wonderful work on US military uniforms.

Chandler again.  Formal, and informative.

Informal and compelling.  Fun Read.

Everything you ever wanted to know about The Guard.  Can also serve as a doorstop.

OK…..Now play the damn game.

System 7 More Startup

Napoleonics

The Devil’s In The Details, and System 7 is devilish.  A classic chart intensive miniatures game, with accompanying rules framework.

Drafted up my rule summary cards.  One card for each of the ten turn segments.

The cards use bullet points for the rules and also indicate which charts to use.

The intent is to put together a booklet of rules and charts (working on those tomorrow now that the printer has been brought back to life) that has an accessible reference page for each turn segment.

One can only hope…….

System 7 – Startup

Napoleonics

Wargaming involves some form(s) and level(s) of obsession.  One of mine is the tendency to develop a fixation on certain games, usually due to period, regardless of playability and availability.

E-Bay has taken care of the latter, but the former remains problematic with some of my choices.

I’ve had a strange and troubling fixation on System 7 Napoleonics for a long time.  This is a hybrid of miniatures and board gaming.  And, if you read the Boardgamegeek comments, others find the system troubling, as well.

When I started gaming with miniatures, many of my wargame-friends were into 15mm Napoleonics.  Huge games, hundreds and hundreds of figures, manic painting.  No Thank You.  OK….not exactly….there were the 15mm Ottomans, but that’s another story.

Starting in 1978, System 7 offered the opportunity to play big games on the cheap, without the time and effort of painting.  I was intrigued, but drifted off into another fixation.

I re-encountered System 7 while scanning E-Bay, eventually picking up several sets at significant discounts.  That was a slippery slope.  First the super cheap Spanish, then German States….but how can they fight, so I need French, and hey, those Russians seem pretty inexpensive…..You know how that goes.

The critical difference between then and now was the opportunity to use Squad Leader boards for terrain.  The scale is roughly the same, so one hex represents one inch of movement.  No rulers needed!  And, the visual effect isn’t all that bad and a little less incongruous than mixing cardboard counters with miniatures terrain pieces.

French Deploy

One lingering problem was the rules.  Hard to find, and expensive.  However, I found a bare-boned set of the rules on the net.

So now, I’ve started breaking down the rules and pushing counters.  It’s a start.