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I have been wanting to play a game of Blucher for about two years. I know almost nothing about the Napoleonic Wars and have never really wargamed them before. In truth, it was a bit intimidating with all the foreign unit names, various army structures, and do not even get me started on the uniforms. However, the idea of the “Big Battles” (along with the big hats) was appealing to me.

When I first saw and heard about Blucher, it seemed like a good fit for a newbie to Nappies like me. Most of the square, line, column, stuff was abstracted due to the game scale. Uniforms and army structure were as well. In addition, it was designed to be playable with cards so I did not need to start a big new collection of models. Two years later, I finally got up the scratch to pick it up and the 100 Days supplement.



I gave the basic rules a quick read through and found them easy enough to understand. From there, I went to the Honour Website and downloaded Along the Danube the introductory game. This gives you a basic table lay out, some army cards, and a scenario to get you started. Since my usual wargaming buddy and myself knew almost nothing about the period and the warfare of the time this seemed like a pretty good place to start. Plus, the rules themselves encouraged starting here before moving on. Who was I to argue?

Normally at this point, I lay out the scenario and the forces, but you can find all of that on Sm Mustafa's website at Along the Danube so I am going to skip it this time. Plus, I don't want to embarrass myself too badly by completely screwing up the terminology.

As the attacker, I was the French with 3 infantry corps and a reserve cavalry corp. By opponent was the Austrian defenders with 2 Infantry Corps and a mixed reserve corp including Guards, artillery, and cavalry units.

As the French, I had to get hold of two objectives on the Austrian side, or cause them to break by routing 8 units. The Austrians had to stop me and could defeat me by routing 8 units as well.



You can read the final results and my impressions of the rules here: https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2019/01/battle-report-blucher-along-danube.html

Interesting read mate, I have only played a couple of games and found it a real grind. The rules are pretty decent but it was just too much slogging for me!

Are you planning on branching out to other blackpowder era games? If you are after some Napoleonic reading I highly recommend David G. Chandler's works, superbly written though very (very hefty) his dictionary used to be printed by Wordsworth Military Library and is well worth picking up as it explains a lot of the weird names, regiment types, tactics etc.etc.

Hope you are going to write up more games for this period.

I hope to do more in this period..... BUT it is an intimidating period with a lot of stuff going on.

Edit: The only rules I have are Blucher, LeSalle, Black Powder and Chosen Men. However, I have 0 models.

Yeah it is indeed! Best advice I can give is skim through wiki or one of the brief overview type books until you find something that grabs your attention (be it a general, state, regiment or whatever) and then expand from there. A lot of people I know have gotten into the period through watching Sharp and then reading about the Peninsula War.

For models I would highly recommend Warlord and Perry, best bang for your buck in mind and Warlord frequently run sales were you can get an entire army dirt cheap.

Zvezda makes some gorgeous 1/72 plastic figures if you would prefer a smaller scale.

I'm a history teacher and I have wanted to run a war game in my class for years. Is Blucher a good rule set for this? I like that it's more high level and does not require figs to play but is it stimulating enough to hold the attention of basic American teenagers?

Also, how fast does it play? Can you complete a game in an hour? Two hours?

No, the basic american teenager would be bored out of their skull, I know as I am the parent of a basic american teenager and Blucher is not for her.

However, if you break them into smaller groups and then have a CinC and subordinates it might work better. How many students are you thinking?

Edit: Junior General site may have some ideas for you.

Easy E. Thanks for the Junior Generals tip. If anything that's a great site for quick paper figures, which are perfect for the classroom. I'm sure I can find a rules set that will keep them engaged somewhere.