Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Greetings,

I have been asked by an ACW opponent the following question:

Which of the BG or HPS would you recommend as being the easiest for a beginner.

The only serious and considered advice I could give is that - As you are playing the North in ACW you are used to fighting for morally corrupt leaders so take the French side.

But perhaps you could give him some more useful advice.

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I beg your pardon

Tony, I really think the games are about the same in regards to their difficulty. Best to select a popular title to increase you odds of finding a ready opponent. I would recommend HPS/JTS over NFL for popularity. I would specifically recommend Leipzig, Bautzen, Austerlitz, or Waterloo based on what I most commonly see being played. Napoleonics is similar to ACW, but is somewhat more complex to master.

Napoleonics is very different than the ACW series actually. The basic concepts are the same, but how you treat your cavalry and the use skirmishers is very stark contrasts to start with.....

May I also recommend Eckmuhl, which has consistently been in the top 5 most popular per the DoR stats that the membership can view off of the main Club page. The game is also a good matchup between the forces. I don't think Bautzen is as popular as the others mentioned by Mark and not as popular as Eckmuhl, but that's hard to tell with no stats. We'll see what this years list brings whenever it gets published...

I would recommend Waterloo as it has all the elements that really give good match ups and really gets peoples interest in the era. Plus plenty of small scenarios which are a good mix for learning.
Otherwise I think Eckmuhl is good as well. For the beginner I would suggest Waterloo.
IMHO