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So, the 200th anniversary has me eying up some Napoleonic figures for the first time. I think I'm sold on 6mm scale (Baccus I like the look of) - but am unsure of rules. I'm after something that gets the period of the rules, lets me field signature units of the period, but is easy to learn and games can be done in an evening (so 2-3 hours.) Also probably points or well structured/defined army lists.

So far, I think I'm down to Lasalle, or Black Powder. Any comments or suggestion gratefully received!

Well, there are the Baccus Polemos rules for Napoleonics - General De Division and Marechel de L'Empire - which come with the Baccus starter sets you can buy.

Black Powder's a bunch of fun, and easy to adjust and use.

I'm currently reading through a copy of Blucher and planning on using the Hundred Days cards set to play.

I've got the Polemos set which has the advantage of containing divisional level and corps level rulesets in one book. I had all my 6mm Russians mounted on 60mm square bases for Marechal de l'Empire, whereas the General de Brigade base is 60 x 30mm. However, I also have the Sam Mustafa rules Grande Armee that use a 75mm square base and my 60mm are easily compatible. Grande Armee is another large battle set which is my main interest in Napoleonic.

The Field of Glory Napoleonic set is probably worth looking at. You would just need to multiply the number of figures per base to use 6mm.

Presumably your motive in using 6mm is to have the spectacle of large masses of troops.


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LaSalle is another Sam Mustafa ruleset and I believe it is well regarded though I have not looked into it myself.

Mustafa produces rules with a lot of innovative and unconventional mechanisms.

Hiya, thanks for responses.

To help shape this, I first played WHFB (2nd ed) many years ago, but even then thought it looked more like warbands than armies - Warmaster (and Warmaster Ancients) was much more to my liking, with regiments that looked like they were. So 28mm and 15mm are out, I've seen some baccus minis and like them, so 6mm it is. In terms of game 'scale' though, I'd like to see the columns, lines and squares on the table if possible. I did also consider Command and Colours, replacing the blocks with minis. (I'm also not bothered about basing/saboting bases - though that seems to be a big deal in Napoleonics.


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Hiya, thanks for responses.

To help shape this, I first played WHFB (2nd ed) many years ago, but even then thought it looked more like warbands than armies - Warmaster (and Warmaster Ancients) was much more to my liking, with regiments that looked like they were. So 28mm and 15mm are out, I've seen some baccus minis and like them, so 6mm it is. In terms of game 'scale' though, I'd like to see the columns, lines and squares on the table if possible. I did also consider Command and Colours, replacing the blocks with minis. (I'm also not bothered about basing/saboting bases - though that seems to be a big deal in Napoleonics.

The basic choice in Napoleonics is whether you want to make your battalions form square and line, etc. or control the battle at a higher level.

Take Polemos Marechal de l'Empire as an example. All infantry units are brigades formed of 48 figures (represents several battalions with maybe 1,500 to 3,000 men. All cavalry units are brigades formed of 24 figures (represents several squadrons with maybe 500 to 1,200 men and horses. The standard 60mm square base represents the area of operations for such a brigade, including scouts in front, skirmishers, line closers behind, general officers (you can see a general de brigade in the second of my Kurassier bases, who are in two columns), with room to perform evolutions and deliver charges and volley fire.



You as the commanding general of the whole army don't have to order individual battalions to form line, square or column. That is the job of their commander.

If a cavalry versus infantry combat goes badly for the infantry, because you rolled crappy dice, it probably is because they failed to form square in good time, but that level of detail doesn't have to be played out on the tabletop by moving blocks of figures around.

However if you do want to play at that level of detail, there are rules that cover it. You would probably create three or four bases with maybe 24 figures on each, the total representing a battalion, then to form square you would literally form them into a square or triangle.

Hmmm.... food for thought. My initial answer is that yes, I do want to form lines/squares columns etc - but then your examples suggest that maybe that's missing the 'epic sweep' that using 6mm can give in the first place (and ultimately, I'd want to do Waterloo, or at least a part of it.) However, I'd also like to have say 95th rifles as a unit on the board, as an example - would the brigade formations you showed above be too high a level for such a regimental formation?


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Oh - and I love your minis btw!

A regiment or battalion would need to consist of three up to six or eight bases of figures to allow you to form them into square/masse/column and so on.

To do this with 6mm figures the best option is to use a lower level tactical rulebook intended for 15mm or 25mm figures, and put a larger number of 6mm figures on the 15mm or 25mm base. Typically, a 15mm or 25mm game uses a base width of maybe 40mm/60mm with four models on it. You would put say 24 x 6mm figures on the 15mm base, perhaps in two ranks, giving the mass effect and allowing you to have enough elements to put the regiment through evolutions.

Baccus give some advice on this approach on their website. It looks pretty impressive.

Obviously, a regiment/battalion with four bases that covers more table area than a single 60mm square brigade base, means that for any given size of table, you will be looking at a smaller area of action. Also, with more elements to move, and the necessity to move them through evolutions, the game is more time-consuming, so you will find it more difficult to recreate really large battles. But that of course does not invalidate the fun of doing smaller actions in more detail.

My 6mm Russians are Baccus figures that were all done for me by Reinforcements By Post, who are based in Bangladesh. I got to the age of 40 and found my eyesight was too poor to paint 6mm figures any more, and I wanted a really large army (I have over 100 bases of Russians) so the best option was to send them away.

While I've also hit that milestone, my eyes are still sufficient at the moment to paint my own (though the standard might nit be the same.) :-) So, going with 40mm or 60mm basing, any recommendations on rulesets?

Blucher is the popular set at the moment. Not played it myself but it seems simple to play and enjoyable.

I think you ought to look at the Field of Glory Napoleonic rules. Although I haven't played them, they are based on the FoG Ancients rules that I have played, and are pretty widespread and successful.

You can download a quickstart set for free from here...

http://www.fieldofglory.com/files/FOGN%20v2%20Fastplay.pdf

The standard base width is 40mm for 15mm figures, 60mm for 28mm, and you need four bases to form up an infantry brigade of 1,000 to 2,000 men.

I am not aware if the rule support forming square, etc but this surely will be clear from the quickstart set.

Ok, great, I'll do some more looking at Blucher and FoG then!

Blucher will not give you what you are looking for if you want to form column/Line/Square. They are higher level than that.

However, LaSalle is designed for that level of play... IIRC.

I have heard the grognards do not like FoG Nappies..... but that doesn't mean they are bad. I am personally not familiar with them.

Ok, thanks Dakka!

A slightly separate question - can you mix 6mm manufacturers at all? I've heard that Baccus cav aren't all that great - could I use Adler in the same armies?

 eddieazrael wrote:

A slightly separate question - can you mix 6mm manufacturers at all? I've heard that Baccus cav aren't all that great - could I use Adler in the same armies?

Of course you can use 6mm figures from any company you like for gaming, though some 6mm ranges have somewhat differant styles of designs and so might not fit with another manufactor's stuff.

Ah yes, I wasn't referring to GW thinking of 'use or minis for our rules or else..' rather that as you say some figures are more or less compatible than others - I was wondering if anyone had mixed these two manufacturers figures successfully or not.

I'm pretty sure that there's a good game somewhere in FOG:N just know that your first battle with be with the rulebook itself. That thing could have done with a few more proof-readers taking a look at it before it went to print.

is there any kind of on-line forum group to help deciphering? I'm thinking I'll look at the sample rules linked above, and just get the Polemos rules as part of the army bundle from Baccus - that way I'll have maybe a couple of benchmarks at least to see what I do and don't like!

I was just taking another look at the slitherine forums for FOGN as this thread had rekindled a bit of interest (that and a friend admitting interest in napoleonic wargaming recently) and it looks like a second edition is in the works. from what the poster said they'll be addressing some of my complaints about book layout and ease of finding information so if you're interested in it I'd hold off until we see if v2 actually materializes or not

Ok, great info - Dakka proves its worth again!

As regards the Baccus cavalry, my Russian Kurassiers that you admired earlier are all Baccus.

I also have Adler French. The Adler have bigger heads, but I reckon if you used Adler cavalry and Baccus infantry, it would not notice. However I would argue that the Baccus cavalry are fine and you should not worry about it.