Rules recommendations please

[OSHIROmodels]

Looking for some simple, fun, battalion level Napoleonic games that would suit for peninsular and Europe.

A broad brush I know but I’m looking for a fun game that captures flavour rather than an overly accurate set that would get me bogged down.

cheers

James

[jazbo]

Black powder.

[lethallee61]

One of my mates loves playing the Warhammer Historical “Waterloo” rules. Good luck trying to find a copy these days though.

[arget8]

General de Armee or General De Brigade?

[grant]

Black Powder.

[SteveBurt]

Lasalle.
Very clear and easy to understand. Interesting tactical decisions for the players.
Shako is also good.
Not a fan of Black Powder myself

[has.been]

Over the Hills, that is my recommendation.

[Romark]

Neil Thomas's Napoleonic set.

[vtsaogames]

I don't currently have a tactical set, using Bloody Big Battles (general 19th century rules) for grand tactical battles. No column/line/square mechanics.

Many folks I have met who don't fancy Black Powder do not like the activation rules. The score of 2 D6 determines if a unit moves at triple, double, single speed or not at all. That is not what bothers me.

Melees can drag on for several turns, with small forces holding up much larger ones for what seem to me unrealistic amounts of time. The last BP game I played saw small light cavalry forces delay brigades of enemy troops this way, seriously affecting the outcome of the game. In my view, the attacks would have been sent about their business in short order. Even if they had been successful, the whole affair would have been over sooner.

[BaronVonJ]

How many players?

[Andrew_McGuire]

Not a recommendation per se, as I haven't played it, but for what it's worth, the set I've been planning to get for some time is Et sans résultat!

http://thewargamingcompany.com/esr/index.html

[OSHIROmodels]

Many thanks for replies gents, plenty of food for thought 

How many players?

Three or four probably (the usual suspects).

[BaronVonJ]

In that case I highly recommend La Salle (you know my play style) and back up Black Powder for ease of play, but looks like BP 2.0 is coming out.

[Andrew_McGuire]

It would be remiss not to mention another Sam Mustafa set, Blücher, which is on a different scale to Lasalle, but, unlke the earlier game, is still available in printed form.

[olicana]

As a newbie to setting up Napoleonic games - though I've played lots....

All things being equal, I'd always plumb for Piquet due to the 'command and control' tension games played with that rule set engender. But, Piquet is not for everyone.

I'm playing my current scenario using BP. Although BP is all over the place for beginners (bits of the rules in this section, bits in that section, and no clear indexing) it gives a reasonably quick fun game, and the bolt on 'abilities' to unit specs give a reasonable amount of period flavour, and the command system is quite well suited to periods using 'impulse tactics'. I hope BP2 clears up more than it adds.

I've played Lasalle but, although it flows well in it's simplicity and has an elegance of mechanism, I found it's simplicity worked against it for battalion level games - I found it lacked flavour.

Mustafa's Blucher, as mentioned, deals with battles at a much higher command level, and I liked it - the flavour being Napoleonic 'high command'. I'm not sure it's suitable for most Peninsular actions.

General de Brigade is too involved for my taste, though I dare say it's complexity will appeal to some.