Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Gentlemen

I need to send my Christmas List to Santa, who you will note wears red
From information I have gleened from other Allied Officers "1814", which I do not own is not a good stocking filler.
High rated French with lots of heavy cavalry against very poorly rated Allies.
Perhaps Spain and Russia didn't happen, facial hair and a bearskin do not a Guard make
Also as far as I am aware the Corsican Dwarf lost, unless this is a Stalinist rewriting of history

_________________
Jim Hall
Field Marshall
Commander Anglo-Allied Army

Well Jim,

I'm active in one scenario 'The Battle of Brienne' and one Campaign 'Napoleon's First Lunge North'. I'm the French @ Brienne and the Coalition in the Campaign. Let's just say, I'm having a much easier time as the French in 1814. I personally feel the vast majority of French forces are very much overpowered. Especially, considering the year and on-goings at that. All in all, I Need to play it a bit more to make a decent AAR on the game. Conclusion thus far = Definitely Favors La Grande Armee.
I love the series though and will buy the entire series in due time. I would say Leipzig is a much better game thus far, but then again, that could be due to my lack of practice with 1814.

You can read Bills notes folder in the 1814 game file if you want insight into the way the scenarios were made. He has a screenshot of the optional rules that the playtesters used. Perhaps it is only the early scenarios that favor the French. That being said i have yet to play 1814 even though i've owned it since it was released.

regards

_________________

Hi David,

Well in that case the Grand Campaign can be the next game on our list to play - assuming you don't beat me too badly at Jena

Roy that can be arranged. The next game, not me beating you at Jena..
what are you thoughts on the balance of 1814?

regards

_________________

General Hall,
I was a playtester on 1814, and while I do not agree with the young guard being A rated (some of it is less), the campaign is a difficult one to design. There are two main facts that make this difficult: (1) the Coalition had a massive superiority in force of all arms and (2) for many of the battles, Napoleon got there firstest with the mostest. So, for instance, in the phase that includes Chaumpambert, Montmirail, Chateau Thierry, and Vauchamps, Napoleon with his guard had the advantage in each engagement, although the total force under Blucher likely exceeded the French force. The Mormant-Montereau section is similar. Other battles, like Paris and Laon see a massive coalition superiority.

So a designer must balance these issues. The large map operational scenarios give players a chance to sort this out themselves whereas the smaller, historical battles are often lops-sided. The grand campaign, as I learned to my shock, balances this out somewhat and creates a-historical situations. So, in my campaign battle of La Rothiere, based on decisions we made, instead of outnumbering the French 2 to 1 we are even in force, with him having the Guard to tip the scales and me waiting for the Russian Guard to march on the map...

So, a third issue comes in to play-the Guard. As noted (and see discussion in the Coalition Arms on this), a fair number of allied players think that the guard is too powerful and the Young Guard especially overrated. However, I think there are only a few occations where this creates a-historical situations in the historical scenarios. So, if you find the campaign interesting and especially if you like large map, long scenarios (the size of the forces is much smaller than the large map scenarios in Jena, Eckmuhl, Leipzig and Austerlitz), it is a good buy. The problem may be finding an opponent for unbalanced scenarios....

_________________

There are some very evenly balanced battles in the title especially Champaubert and Napoleon's First Lunge North (which I paly tested). To win as the Allies requires patience and some delay before fighting the big fight. I will be happy to attempt prove the point any time.

Jim you will be missing a great time if you don't give it a try.

_________________
Field Marshal Sir Edward Blackburn, 1st Duke of Aberdeen K.G.
85th (Buck's Light Volunteers) Regiment of Foot
16th British Brigade
7th Division
III (Peninsular) Corps
2nd Battalion, Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards

I should add that I do like the game too.

_________________

I am playing the Defense of Paris (not sure of the actual name) and it is very a different scenario, with objectives based on time of day to be controlled. If you do not capture them on time, then you do not get the points.

_________________
Ernie Sands
1ère Brigade of 2ème Division de Grosse Cavalerie, Réserve de Cavalerie
de la Grande Armée
President, Colonial Campaigns Club

Hi Dave,

Sorry for delay in answerring your question from few days ago. I have not played the game yet in enough detail, ( one small battles with Scott ) and just started a campaign .

From what I see most of the french units are rated well, but many are guard units. As Jim noted above in his post, historically, Napoleon arrived on the battle field with more and ahead of allied commanders. So this may tip early battles. But as French it seems to me, ( in the Campaign) you also have to be cautious / selective where you press your attacks on the allies as they will grow have number superiority in the end .

I think people may find this is one of Bill Peters better games ( after 1809 of course )

Roy is correct. One bad turn, and the French are in a bad place for the rest of the campaign. And Paris is a lot of fun. Per history, the Coalition army gradually releases and has time sensitive objectives, so the French have choices based on the opportunity to rough up the Coalition advanced guard, or to concentrate on denying the early objectives..And, as I said, the large map games are fun, although I have played only one of them (Mormant-Montereau). So I think it is worth buying. Not all battles are an even fight (the victory point scale makes it tough for the side with an advantage to win big, although this does not make the fighting easier for the side with the lesser force), but it has some interesting situations, and interesting allied army, and the fall of Napoleon. I think the campaigns will get played more in this game than in some others-the length of the scenarios and the unit density really lends itself well to campaigns.

_________________

Jim I send you a game we can play a small one and you can save and send to moi happy thanksgiving tu ju in England I know ju don't have it but anyway!

Jim I send you a game we can play a small one and you can save and send to moi happy thanksgiving tu ju in England I know ju don't have it but anyway!