Art of Napoleonics

[Kirk]

Hello, everyone,

I'm Kyrylo from Ukraine and I'm developing a counter-based Napoleonics wargame of the divisional level with intentions to publish it. I think the Napoleonics wargaming market lacks a game of this kind — easy but realistic, affordable, not skirmish and not strategic. I'd love to find like-minded people here to discuss the development process and test historical scenarios together (the game allows remote playing).
I asked a Polish friend of mine to translate the "marketing" description of my game. Here it is:

O grze: Art of Napoleonics
Jeżeli interesujesz się wojnami napoleońskimi i chcesz dowiedzieć się i poczuć, co działo się na polach bitew tamtego okresu, ta gra jest dla Ciebie. Prosty i intuicyjny, ale historycznie dokładny mechanizm rozgrywki pozwala graczom skupić się na taktyce i cieszyć oko polem bitwy, zamiast grzebać w podręcznikach zasad.
Z reguły napoleońskie planszowe gry wojenne z żetonami przedstawiają bitwy na dużą skalę, w których żetonami są bataliony, pułki, brygady, a nawet dywizje. Ten rodzaj gry nie pozwala graczom doświadczyć sedna napoleońskiej taktyki - zmieniania formacji piechoty w celu osiągnięcia przewagi nad wrogiem. Z drugiej strony, gry z figurkami i ręcznie wykonanym terenem dają graczom wszystkie możliwości walki, ale mają bardzo wysoki próg wejścia - oprócz rozległego terenu, trzeba mieć mnóstwo pomalowanych figurek.
Nasze Art of Napoleonics, z żetonami reprezentującymi kompanie i szwadrony, pozwala łatwo odtworzyć napoleońską walkę na poziomie dywizji. Poczujesz masy wojsk pod swoim dowództwem. Wykonuj manewry kolumnami i rozmieszczaj je w linii lub kwadracie i z powrotem. Wysyłaj linie potyczek przed swoimi oddziałami. Wysyłaj kawalerię na spektakularne szarże. Wystarczy jedno spojrzenie na mapę bitwy, aby natychmiast zobaczyć, gdzie znajdują się bataliony o pełnej sile, a które jednostki poniosły straty lub zostały zdezorganizowane.

Motto Art of Napoleonics brzmi: "Jeśli zamierzasz grać historycznie, powinno to być realistyczne i zabawne".

[jacus1944]

Hi Kyrylo,

the description of your project sounds interesting. On the other hand, I don't know if I understood you correctly, but are you designing a universal system to recreate clashes from the Napoleonic period or do you want to show any specific battle?
I am too in the process of designing a game from the Napoleonic period, specifically the battle of Raszyn in April 1809.
If you would like to exchange opinions then get back to me in a private message.
Is it possible to see the visual side of your project somewhere on the web? Graphics of the counters, map? Do you have a vassal modul prepared for the tests you mention?

[Raleen]

Hello Kyrylo,

as a community we make, play and review such games, so you are in the right place for discussing such topics and presenting your project. I think there are games similar to your one in the market, but the problem is the quality of them. Quite a lot of players have ideas, views and projects of such games, but making a good, playable and historically accurate game is not as easy as one can think. The other issue is publishing such a game in a reasonable amount of copies. I have some experience here as a designer and in fact a publisher (although formally I wasn't the publisher of my games). You can find my games on BGG:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188 ... -maja-1831
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpa ... ganie-1831
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpa ... utego-1807

From the historical point of view, I think there is an issue with unit scale, because in the Napoleonic era an infantry company rather wasn't an independent unit, a cavalry squadron more possible, but a bit the same problem. However, as usually, it depends from the solutions you adapted in the game mechanics.

Good luck, I hope you will find people interested in your project!

PS. I move the topic to the right forum, because the place you have put it is dedicated for figure games. Generally the whole part of the forum "Gry bitewne" is about figure games. Board wargames are in the part "Gry planszowe".

[Kirk]

uite a lot of players have ideas, views and projects of such games, but making a good, playable and historically accurate game is not as easy as one can think. The other issue is publishing such a game in a reasonable amount of copies. I have some experience here as a designer and in fact a publisher (although formally I wasn't the publisher of my games). You can find my games on BGG:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188 ... -maja-1831
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpa ... ganie-1831
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpa ... utego-1807

Thank you for reply!
Yes, my goal was to make a playable and historically accurate game, and after a couple of years of playtesting I think I made it both playable and historically accurate Now I'm testing historical scenarios to include them in the box.
And I haven't found a designer yet so will be glad to discuss this issue with you.

From the historical point of view, I think there is an issue with unit scale, because in the Napoleonic era an infantry company rather wasn't an independent unit, a cavalry squadron more possible, but a bit the same problem. However, as usually, it depends from the solutions you adapted in the game mechanics.

I haven't seen counter-based Napoleonic games with the unit scale I need, so I developed my own.
The main tactical unit is a battalion but it consists of four companies - they aren't acting individually but the battalion formation is being changed visibly and casualties removed.

[Raleen]

If you have worked on it longer and playtested it is the most important thing (especially playtesting with good players).

I haven't seen counter-based Napoleonic games with the unit scale I need, so I developed my own.
The main tactical unit is a battalion but it consists of four companies - they aren't acting individually but the battalion formation is being changed visibly and casualties removed.

If companies act together it is OK. Historically the number of companies could be different for different armies and periods, so I understand that it is for game purposes. One casualty eliminates whole company?

[Kirk]

the description of your project sounds interesting. On the other hand, I don't know if I understood you correctly, but are you designing a universal system to recreate clashes from the Napoleonic period or do you want to show any specific battle?
I am too in the process of designing a game from the Napoleonic period, specifically the battle of Raszyn in April 1809.
If you would like to exchange opinions then get back to me in a private message.
Is it possible to see the visual side of your project somewhere on the web? Graphics of the counters, map? Do you have a vassal modul prepared for the tests you mention?

Hi Jacus,
It's a universal system. But I'm gonna include 3-4 historical scenarios as well because people like historical scenarios... I myself prefer free battles. To the moment, in my game there are French and Austrian troops with scenarios from 1805 and 1809.
I'll make a post with videos and photos of how my game evolved from figures to counters.

Raszyn is an interested battle, I've read about it in Gill's book.

[jacus1944]

Great, I am very gladly to see how your game has evolved.
I understand your point of view, because the possibility of maneuvering on the map with colonne par peloton and later, at the decisive moment, with colonne par division/d'attaque has always been a dream of mine.
I wrote you a private message because I have a suggestion.

[Kirk]

So, I want to share the development story of my Art of Napoleonics system.

I'll start from afar. I have long been interested in the history of the Napoleonic wars and the figure of Bonaparte, but for a long time I could not understand - how exactly were his victories achieved at the tactical level? What was happening on the battlefield at that time? Of course, as a wargamer, I wanted to not only understand it, but also recreate it in a game.

But it turned out that widespread Napoleonic wargames with miniatures have a very high barrier to entry — apart from a bunch of painted models, you need to have a vast terrain and a place to lay it out. I could gradually collect the miniatures and I had a friend who could paint them, but I don't like games on terrain and don’t have enough space to lay it out.

That’s why somewhere in January 2020, I decided to develop my own Napoleonic wargaming system to be played on hex mapboards. I had plenty of mapboards from a WWII game I was playing at the time (and playing still), and first I used them.

After having read a lot about the tactics of the period and several rulebooks of other wargames, I put together the first version of my rules and chose the name, Art of Napoleonics.

Meanwhile, my army in 1:72 was being gathered and painted by a friend of mine. I chose Austria as France's opponent. Why? She fought with France the most, there were a lot of Franco-Austrian battles in different settings. And in general, I like Austria, don't like the Russian Empire, while choosing Britain as a basic opponent seems banal and uninteresting to me. And the Prussian case is complicated — fewer battles and after 1806 they fundamentally changed their uniforms.

I glued the figures to kopecks and put them on magnetic stands (cardboard + magnetic vinyl) — three figures per company or squadron stand. My idea was to change battalion formations between column, line and square, as well as physically remove figures from the stands to visualize losses. A battalion of four companies in column barely fit on a 60mm hex so I ordered custom-made mapboadrs with 70mm hexes.

With this army and the first version of the rules, I started playing with my son, nephews and fellow wargamers. There were even real les grandes batailles for 4-5 players. This is how it looked like:



Some videos:
https://youtu.be/wNNWbYGa5CM?si=h-HXRJLFkACbRbwk

https://youtu.be/xAjibPWweSk?si=eCGsCHu0SXnG2ZyL

We played free engagements — not specific historical battles.

A major disadvantage of the system was that it took too long to set everything up and even longer to gather everything after a game. Finally, I glued the units to HDF stands instead of magnetic ones and it got better:


When a unit suffered losses, I simply replaced the three-figure stand with a two-figure stand.

Due to the bulkiness, I played it quite rarely. And after February 24, 2022 I did not unpack my collection at all for more than a year. Fortunately, it survived the occupation of my hometown of Bucha.

Meanwhile, I discovered a new world for myself — Napoleonic board games I dived into the topic, then got acquainted with a board game localizer and potential publisher, and the whole new perspectives for my Art of Napoleonics project started looming on the horizon…

I’ll continue the story in another post.

[jacus1944]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and I'm very interested in how you solved the issues of company markings and how they perform all maneuvers.

[Kirk]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and I'm very interested in how you solved the issues of company markings and how they perform all maneuvers.

I'll present the basics of my ruleset later, after I finish the "development story" post.

[Kirk]

Let’s proceed, les amis.

I tried five Napoleonic board games and read rules and watched reviews of a dozen more. Boxed games attracted me with the compactness of their props and the historical atmosphere, but still I did not find a game that met my requirements 100%. Strategies are interesting in their own way, it’s a separate genre. But the operational-tactical games that I have come across have larger scale (the counters there symbolize battalions or regiments) and do not allow you to feel the essence of Napoleonic tactics —changing the formation of infantry battalions to achieve superiority over the enemy. Plus, the rules and maps are either overloaded with details (as in Napoleon's Last Gamble or similar), or on the contrary, too primitive (C&C, although it's fun to play).

I want to be able to visually change the formation of battalions, to immediately see how many casualties my units suffered, to have realistic but not overloaded rules, and to play on hex mapboards that could be combined in different ways. All of these I implemented in Art of Napoleonics. Besides, I provided the remote play possibility, like chess over the phone — it is not easy for Napoleonists to find opponents in their cities…

But during the first year of the full-scale russian invasion the project stalled for obvious reasons. And in 2023 I got acquainted with a board game localizer and potential publisher here in Ukraine. He suggested an idea — to remake Art of Napoleonics into a counter-based board game that could be published "in a box". Thus it will become a more affordable and travel-friendly game.

So my project got a new lease of life. I edited the rules for the use of counters instead of figures, and my friends made me test mapboards with smaller hexes:



The second stage: developing historical scenarios and playtesting them while refining the rules at the same time. I myself am more fond of free play, when players choose the setting and the armies themselves. But the publisher said that people prefer historical scenarios so they are a must.
But to playtest the scenarios I needed test counters of some sort. I’ve been looking for a solution for some time, and in the end I ordered 1.5 mm thick HDF counters, and the markings were applied to them with paint through a stencil using an officer's ruler:

And the playtesting started! I’ve developed 5 historical scenarios so far:

• Elchingen 1805

• Battle of Piave River (first part) 1809

• An episode of Aspern 1809

• Double scenario: Haslach-Jungingen 1805

For example, here are the starting positions of Elchingen:
[
And the starting positions of the Battle of Piave River:


Right now I’m in the middle of the playtesting period. My game has two gameplay variants, one for offline and the other for remote gaming. I test the offline variant mostly solo, and the remote one with an opponent via Telegram. There are several more candidates, but I haven’t got test counters for them yet…









In another post I’m going to post basic principles of the rules of Art of Napoleonics.

Meanwhile, I need to find a designer who will make the final design of the counters and the maps. And then think of where to publish the first demo copies of the game and maybe try to go to Kickstarter… I need to consult with those who have passed this process themselves.

[jacus1944]

If you are looking for a graphic designer I can recommend mine
If you want I can ask him what his schedule looks like and give you a contact for him.
And you can see his work in the topic about my game Rok 1809 Raszyn. You can find the link to the topic in each of my posts.

[Kirk]

If you are looking for a graphic designer I can recommend mine
If you want I can ask him what his schedule looks like and give you a contact for him.

thanks. And what possible budget may be needed for the designer?

[jacus1944]

It depends;-)
It depends how big the map, how detailed, how difficult to draw. Regarding the counters, very similar questions, how many counters and how complex the design is to appear on them, or rather how many individual designs are to appear on the counters.
I'll ask my graphic designer about his availability and then I'll give you a contact for him.

[Kirk]

OK, thanks.