Last weeks Napoleonics game

Last weekend me and Mexican Dave had a trial run at Ganesha Game Drums and Shakos, Large Battles. it been a week now and I'd like to post my thoughts on this ruleset. As I wasnt entirely sure that we didnt get things a bit wrong, I tried them out solo during the week and taking my time. Well unsurprisingly, we got quite a bit wrong, Brigadiers have to be activated, just like any other unit, we were just skipping this, and yes, it does make a difference. Once activated (as usual, you can choose to go for 1,2 or 3 activations) the ONLY things that these activations can be used for are, either move the Brigadier OR do a group order. The group orders are for units within his command range, you MUST then roll 3 dice using the Brigadier's Quality and the resulting successes is the number of activations available to ALL the units commanded. Providing that he hasnt rolled a turn-over with either of these rolls THEN he can go on to ordering single units outwith his command range using the units quality.

The other major thing we were getting wrong was the combat dice, on tied rolls we were replacing tied dice with unused dice, they arent replaced, the unused dice is ADDED to the tied roll, subtle difference but in the solo play through it made a massive difference.

So apart from the foulups noted above, the rules gave a VERY fluid game, it looked right, a battalion in line does look like a thin line. Battered units were able to withdraw for a chance to reform and recover, something I've never seen before, a big plus.

A couple of minus points did come up though, Dave complained that there didnt seem much point in the French being in Attack Column, and he's right in a way, once you get in close, they would be better off in line. The second minus for me is that Infantry arent forced to go into square when enemy cavalry are about. Both these could be addressed with house rules, but I'd like to play it a few more times before resorting to that.

In short, these will now be my go-to set of rules for this period, it gave a fast moving game with twenty units a side, it looked right, and all on a 6ft x 4ft table, highly recommended.