Napoleonic intrest?

[Link]

Hello, Bonjour all,

Why and how did you become interested in Napoleonic warfare?  

For me it started in early age ( about 7 or 8 ) with toy-soldiers, fascinated of the uniforms of the era. Then I started to paint Napoleonic armies but it was not until 1996 I started to play Napoleonic PC games. I got my first PC then and I bought it only because I saw an interesting Napoleonic game called Field of Glory.  

After that it started rolling with new games like the battleground series and later Breakawaygames. I think that Napoleonic era fits very well for games due to the numerous battles and the grand scale. I particularly like the rock, scissor and paper kind of tactics.  :wink:

The future looks very promising too with Les Grognards and more Napoleonic games to follow from Histwar.  

/Lars L.

[Le Tondu]

Bonjour,

For me, it started with a free game called "Napoleon at Waterloo" that was given as a gift for subscribing to a magazine called "Strategy & Tactics" in 1972.  After that it progressed into more Napoleonic games from SPI,  thousands of 15mm miniatures and computer games.  Now, it is a growing 225+ book library, 6mm miniatures and computer games.

I like memiors for the "feel" of the times that they give.  I also like books that specifically target uniforms, campaigns, and battles.

Rick
 

Hello, link and le tondu, bonjour a tous,
First, sorry for my bad english... i haven’t write english until 15 years or more...I hope you vill understand?!;)
About your talking, we have got some common points: I’ve started too, to play with littles toys of 15mm about the Napoléonic’s wars,( i’ve got 2000 little soldiers painting).And during my studies in a art school, my drawing teatcher say me (joke!):”i was able to paint battles” like you can see in the muséems with composition of mens and horses dust and fire...
And now, i’m very proud to work with JMM in this big project...
I’ve made a lot of drawing for histwar les grognards, soldiers, guns and horses, town,bridges, ( pin-up) etc...in 2D and in 3D. JMM the “computer’s magician” give life to my creations. For me it’s fantastic to see some littles peace of painting moving in the battles fields.
vivement les grognards!
Good bye, LA

[Link]

Interesting reading Rick and Laurent.  

No need to apologues Laurent, I understood your English perfectly well.  :wink:

You're doing a great job with the graphics in this game.  

/Lars L.

[Hentzau]

Bonjour,

For me, it started with a free game called "Napoleon at Waterloo" that was given as a gift for subscribing to a magazine called "Strategy & Tactics" in 1972.

Yeah me too, but a decade later.  That game is now available to play against others on the internet http://www.hexwar.com Other SPI titles are here http://decisiongames.com  I wish they had AI, I really enjoyed the Blue and Gray games in high school.  Not too many rules to remember. lol  Maybe someone here might be interested in finishing those Decision Games with AI.  :wink:  I think they'd be interested in having it done.

Sure has been quite here lately, must be hard at work.  

[Lord of Khorne]

For me it started in the mid-1970's after watching "Waterloo" with Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger ( at least I think it was Steiger as Napoleon).

After that I would go to the library and check out any books relating to the war.  

As I got older I would sneak into the library basement (where the public is not allowed to go) and I would look for the rare books they kept there.  I even checked them out.  If you act like you're doing something okay, they tend to not notice such things.  I was able to get my hands on the first english edition of the Marbot's memoirs this way.

I also painting many 15mm figures during the 1980's and even played a few games with them...<sigh>.

I buy whatever books that I can afford, which aren't crap.  

Now, as I am older, I have no one to play miniatures with as my sons are all into computer and console games.

[Link]

For me it started in the mid-1970's after watching "Waterloo" with Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger ( at least I think it was Steiger as Napoleon).

Yes, the Napoleonic films in the 70's was an insparation for me too. I watched BBC's series "War & Peace" on TV in the early 70's.

/Lars L.

[ffak]

For me it started in the mid-1970's after watching "Waterloo" with Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger ( at least I think it was Steiger as Napoleon).

Waterloo from Serguei Bondarchuk









 

[Aberdonian]

Although I had a keen interest in wargaming and military uniforms in my early teens, I first became interested in the Napoleonic era when I saw an article in a local paper about an artist who had done watercolour paintings of French Napoleonic soldiers. This was about 1968 and we started buying the Funcken books, Rousselot prints and Historex Napoleonic kits. We also started playing 15mm Napoleonic wargames based on Bruce Quarrie's "Napoleonic Wargames in Miniature" book. The computer based wargames I have played include:
1. Borodino(the very early version with blocks for units) which gave a great sense of the problems faced by an army commander.
2. The Battleground Series
3. Waterloo (Breakaway Games)
4. Napoleon 1813. This had a very good strategic map which did not involve too much micro-managing resources and gave a good overall feel about the importance of the road communication network of the era. Unfortunately it was beset by bugs.
5. Although I bought LGAA I am really looking forward to Les Grognards.

In addition to the above, in 1980  my wife and I decided to start our own business (Mil-Art) producing 80mm metal figure kits which included some Napoleonics. We later added some in 100mm.
We still have our ranges in production but we tend to sell more military books (Osprey etc) than kits now.

[Lord of Khorne]

ffak, thanks for posting the pics.  I've not seen the movie in about 20 years, although I've heard it's available on tape.  If anyone knows if Waterloo is available on DVD in english, please let me know.

I too own Quarrie's book.  I devoured it... developed some interesting economic variations, but never found anyone to play a game with.

Alas, my Napoleonic miniatures, the painted ones, have been lost in the various cross country moves over the years.

If any of you reside near Wisconsin and have the armies, I'm up for a miniature game almost any time.

Now, if we can just get JMM to develop a web based campaign system using Les Grognards to resolve the battles...

[Link]

ffak, thanks for posting the pics.  I've not seen the movie in about 20 years, although I've heard it's available on tape.  If anyone knows if Waterloo is available on DVD in english, please let me know.

Waterloo is available on DVD in English.  

See for your self:  :wink:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0066549/

/Lars L.

[ffak]

I bought it few months ago on www.play.com

[Ziem]

Well,

My dad use to have 2 hobbies. Toy soldiers and miniature trains. So guess where I got it from? Since I opened my eyes as a kid I was raised with these two things. Unfortunately because of lack of space there was an intermezzo of some years I couldnt' pursue neither hobbies. But thanks to computers this has changed. I think I bought most napoleon computer games. Including the little known and underrated but highly buggie "napoleon 1813".  Great concept, lousy excecution. I still buy books about Napoleon and co. And even my wife buys books for me about the subject like the great book called "A military history and Atlas of the Napoleonic wars" by Esposito and Elting. Other books I was happy to find after many a year of searching were the uniform books by the Funcken family. As a matter of fact I was in Paris last week and as usual I send my wife shopping and I went an afternoon to the dome des invalides. Even got a pic of the dome as a wallpaper on my mobile.  As for trains. Well, I'm a mod for Auran Trainz. Best train simulator ever.

Cheers

Z.

[Frédéric Walther]

All started in 1970 when my grandfather gave me a big illustrated book about the life of Napoleon... Big because each sheet was like "A3" format, there was a great illustration (2 x A3 sheets : about 16 x 23 inches  8O ) of the last "square" of Imperial Guard at Waterloo. It has been printed in my 3 years old brain and never left...
Because my grandfather was a Napoleon enthusiast, he gave me the opportunity to read his books, many tales and mainly Coignet story that I've red and red and red...
Then came personnal purchases such as Erckmann and Chatrian books "Conscript of 1813" and "Waterloo"...
Then came plastic soldiers at 1/72 scale, wargames... Well I guess the standard way for many people !
Thank you Lars ! It was good to be back to my childhood... Do I owe you something Doctor ?

[Ziem]

yes those 1/72 figures!  Still got hundreds of them at my parents. Great stuff. Should pick them up one day.  :wink:


Z.