Pub Battles is a mixture between wargame and miniatures. I’ve been meaning to get set of minis to use for Pub Battles, just to see how they look. Somebody beat me to it!!
Check it out. They are all set to Pub Battles scale and everything.
1) You have a 4-1 advantage in artillery. The problem is going to be keeping it up near the front where they can do damage. In many ways, this is one of the biggest weapons of the French: Run! Run fast enough that the Austrian artillery can’t hit you. Starting out, you can deploy your artillery along the river. This does allow you to pound the French right from the get go. The down side is that it will take a turn or two to march them out to the roads and then cross.
2) Don’t get cocky. Just because you outnumber the French, doesn’t meant this is going to be a cakewalk. Be wary. Especially after the French Cavalry and Guard show up. –Until then, advance as rapidly as possible and push as hard as you can.
3) Just because the French Cavalry and Guard to show up, doesn’t mean you just sit back and go turtle. You must still attack and be aggressive. You just have to be more… selective. Keep a close eye on the French Cavalry and Guard. You should know where they are at all times. Notice where they are not. In places out of there range, you need to push with your usual zeal. In areas they can reach, be more careful. Always spend the extra time to dress your lines (Rally) before you attack. All of this assumes of course that the French Cav & Guard haven’t moved yet. If they have, then you can be a little more bold. Just keep in mind that they can move first next turn also.
4) You are going to get ‘out timed’. That is not luck. That is a given. You have to assume the French will get the timing they want. Act accordingly.
5) If most of your army ends up spent in the opening turns, that’s not a big deal. Late in the game you will want to tidy things up. Try to keep your units organized then. Spent units make easy targets for French charges.
We are usually really good about Errata. We try very hard to keep it to a minimum. A few last minute changes with Marengo resulted in a few glitches.
The most important is the French reinforcements:
Reinforcements should come in 1 turn later than listed.
You can find the Errata at the bottom of the Marengo page: here.
Why the new tube boxes?
Price wise, they are about the same. We could use the smaller cardboard tubes on Brandywine because it fit. We can get longer cardboard tubes made but they are going to be a problem. When pieces get wedged and stuck in the bottom, there is no way to get them out! It is too long and narrow to reach with your hand and you can’t remove the bottom. Huge problem. This is going to be a bigger problem with bigger battles and more pieces. I’m thinking we are going to need bigger bags to fit all the Gettysburg pieces in!
It’s not just Marengo either. Gettysburg will have huge maps. Chancellorsville. Waterloo if we include all the matching campaign maps. Our Pirate game. Dracula. Our strategic game in Europe.
It will greatly streamline production and inventory if we have 1 system that is versatile and works for everything. There are other advantages as well:
This type of storage is nearly bomb proof. The game should look virtually brand new in 50 years with this.
The downside is that it looks more modern. Not period like the cardboard and metal. …but then we got to thinking. Industrial cardboard tubes with pressed metal caps aren’t really ‘period’ either. They couldn’t make those back then.
That got us thinking about what would be period? Probably something leather or wood like these.
So maybe it would be better to go with light and efficient and then offer the fancy tubes as extras for the people that want them. We might be able to get them in bulk from India / China. What do you guys think?
Design Notes:
Compared to Brandywine, the Marengo map is huge! There are pros and cons. This was our assessment.
Pros
Wide Open Feel
My favorite games are usually strategic. Why? I always wonder what is past the edge of the map? Why can’t I go there? I know. I probably wouldn’t go there anyways but still.
We started play testing on the full big map. We figured at some point we would crop it down to a more manageable size. What stood out to me most about Marengo is how fluid the battle was. This is a battle of maneuver over a wide field of mostly clear terrain. Refreshing! I loved that feel. Very spacious. Luxurious. Very Napoleonic. Cropping it down would cut costs and save space but it also makes you feel more boxed in.
Beautiful Artwork
One of the most striking and detailed parts of the map was Alexandrie. The problem is, that wasn’t really part of the battle. Still, it seemed a shame to just hack that and the river off. We noticed that by leaving it on, it opens up several strategic options for the Austrians. They could attack straight up the center. They also have maneuver options to the north and south. Even combinations of the three. There we go. Now we have some justification for beauty.
Historical
If that wasn’t enough to convince you, consider the historical value. This is based on the real French map of the period on the battle. It felt wrong to cut off and just provide part of the historical map. Wouldn’t it be more historically accurate to have the full map? This adds extra value to the game. A minor quibble perhaps but it is kind of nice to be able to tell people that this is the real map from the real campaign! Full size in all its Napoleonic glory.
In fact, we’ve had people ordering extra maps. One to play the game and one to frame and hang up.
Cons
Increased Cost
The maps are more. About twice the size of Brandywine. We also need bigger tubes. The small cardboard format won’t work with this size. Shipping is more.
True, true, true but it felt wrong to skimp when it comes to Napoleon. We decided to just absorb the extra expense. It’s worth it preserve Napoleonic glory!
Playing Out
This battle still plays fast but can you fit that huge map on the bar? Well, this is a downside. It won’t fit on the bar. It does fit on a normal sized booth table. We tested it at several different bars. (just to make sure!)
It is easier to accommodate this than you might think. The French can just setup Victor and Lannes. Let the east edge of the map hang over the table edge for turn 0. The French can’t move anyways. The Austrians quickly cross the river and deploy on the field. For turn 1, you can slide the map over and let the west edge drape over the table edge. Now you can setup the rest of the French and fight out the rest of the battle normally.
Conclusion
Lots of good pros. We took care of 1 con, so all you have to do is be willing to slide the map once on turn 1 IF you are playing on a small table. That’s not too much to ask. In the end, this seems like a small price to pay for all the great advantages.
Computer games vs board games. Which is better? They both have their strengths and weaknesses. I always like the “idea” of a computer wargame but I usually don’t like them. All my favorite wargames are board games.
Computers excel at video and live animation graphics. This is great if you are playing tactical or first person shooter but my favorite games are operational / strategic.
Board game ‘graphics’ win hands down on this.
You can instantly see the entire map. No zooming or scrolling around. You can instantly inspect stacks of units and move all the pieces. No fuss. I can’t explain it but there is something important about being able to touch and move the pieces by hand.
Is it possible to marry the two? Use the best of both formats, combined into 1 system? It would be ideal if the computer could handle limited intelligence, complex combat, logistics and order delays.
What is your experience with Computer Assisted Wargames? Does it work? Have you ever seen an example of it working well? Is this an impossible pursuit?
Napoleon has arrived!
Marengo is ready and now starting to ship. The bulk of our boxes should arrive in a week and a half.
Order now to get your copy in the que.
I got this email recently. It isn’t a full review or AAR on Supremacy but it does give you a good independent take on the game.
Game played great.
As I mentioned in the post, so many of the issues in the original have been corrected.
– Randomly determining next market trade reduces the amount of control two players can obtain on the markets.
– Randomly distributing the initial cards allows everyone to start with different resource needs and establishes alliances very quickly.
– Operations for the attacks is amazing. Allows for very creative attack strategies – multi theatre, blitz, amphibious assault, and offshore bombardments! So simple a rule but the strategic complexity is huge. Took a little time to fully appreciate it.
We used a hybrid rule interpretation for the navel assault (when, if ever, do you spend a full set of supplies and an oil? It appears the rules initially required the oil but later interpretations ditched the extra oil for just the set of supplies. We settled on – if the navy and units were in or adjacent to the same sea as the attack location, then no oil is required (just the full set of supplies). If the assault requires moving into a new sea, pay the additional oil. So Japan assaulting California would be full set of supplies plus one oil. Japan assaulting China would be just the full set of supplies.
Japan was sacked on turn 1. Brazil fell to Europe on turn 3. The Russian player was the only to develop nukes and the Commonwealth the only to develop Anti ballistic missiles. On turn 4 it was a conventional World War III with numerous attacks and counter attacks. The Commonwealth attacked Spain to gain control of Gibraltar, then Italy, France and Saudi Arabia. The USA invaded/liberated Brazil then attacked a Russian Navy to add them to the War. Russia nuked the U.K. with 2 missiles, one got through. The Commonwealth then removed the US force in Brazil with a naval attack. This prevented the US from gaining a second supply center at the end of the attack phase.
We needed to end on that turn, declaring a Commonwealth Victory! They had anti missiles systems, high tech edge, and a second supply card.
With the older rules, the games usually degenerated into a Nuclear winter. With these rules we had a much more conventional World War III with a very limited Nuclear exchange.
Looking forward to playing again!!!
David
What colors should we use at Waterloo?
I love the contrast for the British at Brandywine: bright white and royal red.
By Waterloo, trouser colors changed to grey.
These don’t look as sharp. What should we use? This grey? White? Maybe a lighter shade of grey?
This is what we have for the Prussians:
We were a little concerned at first that blue might be a problem distinguishing Prussians from French:
The French blue is much darker. I don’t think this will be a problem at all. Here they are next to each other:
What do you guys recommend? What would look best? What would you like to see?
Here is a new color test. What do you think of these?
The outside British stickers are a very light grey.
Wargame T Shirts based on Military History: Army of Northern Virginia, Potomac, Napoleonic Flags, Ancient Rome, 7th Cavalry.
I’ve always wanted to have some cool T shirts based on my favorite hobby: wargaming.
We found a great new supplier that can make good quality shirts, quickly and lots of variety. We are working on a series of Napoleonic shirts now. Next we are going to start on WWII shirts.
Don’t see what you want? Let us know. We’ll make it!
You can check out all of our new shirts here.