Our yearly convention in Nashville, Nashcon, was last weekend and I ran a game using my favorite Napoleonic rule set which is loosely based on DBA and is fast and easy. Its available and described here: http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk/ I'm using a hodge podge of 28's from the very first figures I ever purchased, Hinchliffe Miniatures, through the ages from Minifigs, to Foundry, to Front Rank to Perry (So far the Perrys are my favorite!). So apologies to you shiny old school players, I brought out the collection and off we went. Somewhere in Spain the battle ensues. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but it was a well balanced battle with the French pulling out a narrow victory in the end.
Lovely looking event.
ReplyDeleteI've looked at but never tried DBN - I felt that there looked to be too many exceptions / additions to cover all the wrinkles so beloved of Napoleonic wargamers that it had lost the elegant simplicity of DBA. DBA treats a single close order element as 1,500 troops - so abut a brigade size which makes unit formation a bit redundant. I would be interested to hear how your take on why it captures the Nap spirit for you as getting a feel for a rule-set is hard from reading alone.
ReplyDeleteFor me it is an issue of playability of the rule set. It is grand tactical, so you don't get bogged down in the minutiae of formations, but still retains the core features of several distinct troop types such as light vs Line infantry, heavy cavalry vs light, massed artillery for assault support. All of those pieces, and the timing and placement of their use is critical to success, so I would argue very much maintains the strategic flow of a Napoleonic encounter, to the extent that any game with toy soldiers can make that claim. I do think the sttrition system adds a greatly needed element to the DBA system, and rather than complicating the interactions, actually speeds them up and simplifies the game. I frankly find it a more "elegant" design than DBA itself.
DeleteThanks for that, I think perhaps I should give it a go.
ReplyDeleteI've just checked, I have v2.1 dated Jan-13 - it has attrition - is that the version you use?
DeleteI believe that will work. There may be a slightly newer version, I want to say mine is from April 2014, but wouldn't swear by it. Good luck!
ReplyDelete