1812 - Napoleon on Mars

[abdul666lw]

An intriguing project

"Basically the idea is to take inspiration from the battles between the British and French in India and Egypt and transfer them to a Barsoom-like Mars and have fun doing so." : as a tricorne aficionado let me stress that there were more, and larger, battles between the British and French in India during the WAS - SYW: so what about a Munchausenian Space 1745  

Not irrelevant:
a skyship with crew in Napoleonic shakos:


The French comics Empire:

in 1815 Napoleon and Wellington fight for the control of India; with steamtanks, dirigibles, a Babbage engine… Good ideas but awful drawings (machines are rather well done, but you can recognize a character from an image to the next only by the clothes -and only because of the colors!).

[abdul666lw]

For 18th - early 19th C. Martian sepoys, Alternative Armies 'Napoleonic' Elves are humanoid enough to pass for Barsoom-type perfectly humanoid Martians (*almost* perfectly, but the intimate differences due to their Monotreme nature are not visible in 28mm ) -Bronze Age / Tin Man / Raging Heroes- but with features compatible with (not?)S1889 Parroom Station (Brigade Games) 'less humanoid' ones.
For the British side, the Dark Elf Light Infantry in quasi-Tarleton helmet is most appropriate

while for the French the  Elves of Armorica Carabiniers look quite fitting

[abdul666lw]

Rediscovering this project prompted me to post (on TMP) my ramblings about Space 1745 ; got interesting comments and added suggestions along the thread.


And another relevant TMP thread

[SBRPearce]

Why does this remind me of the madness that was Napoleon at Chattanooga?

From BoardgameGeek:

"Napoleon at Chattanooga is a painstakingly-researched, meticulously accurate simulation of Napoleon's campaign in the Tennessee Valley. It is also a two-player game of exploration and conquest in the Solar System, which is also painstaking but not necessarily accurate. This game is the first in the ACW (Advanced Chart Wars) series and is also considered part of the ongoing GBoTGCN (Great Battles of This Guy Called Napoleon) series by most of the people working in the stockroom."

The game was every bit as bizarre as the fluff text suggested.

[abdul666lw]

Not cross-posting, Venerated Moderator, just cross-referencing
1745 - Maurice de Saxe on Mars




And YES, while egglings Red Martians may have a *navel*, marking the connection of the allantois, rather than of the placenta, with the embryo.



Or in Mu:

[abdul666lw]

Do 'great mind think alike', or is pre-Victorian SF becoming fashionable? After the Wessex Games project AB One Games propose 'Napoleon and the armies of Mars':

According to the supplements / quasi-'advertising flyers' on free download, the emphasis on huge warwalkers can give a 'Napoleonic Battletech' feel to the game. Totally different from '1812 – Napoleon on Mars' aiming at playing a 'Wellington in India' type of campaign in a 'Sword & Planet' setting.

Now I wonder why the two projects are set in Napoleonic times. Personal preference of the designers? Or because Napoleonic wargaming is so popular, promising a wide audience? In this case I fear the wrong 'population' was targeted. According to my personal experience in clubs and to the tone on discussion groups and forums, 'Napoleonics' are on the average totally allergic to the slightest departure from 'historical accuracy'. One of the first reactions on TMP/ was indeed a scream of outrage! Mid-18th C. gamers on the other hand proved to be a less bigot, more open-minded, more tolerant to 'imagination' bunch. '1745 – Maurice de Saxe on Mars'  would enjoy a less hostile / more friendly reception than '1812 – Napoleon on Mars' -and there were more, and larger, Anglo-French conflicts in India during the SYW than by Napoleonic times.
As for 'Napoleon and the Armies of Mars' the problem is totally different: while '1812 -NoM' respects 'period' warfare and wargaming, just setting them in a more 'exotic' environment, 'NatAoM' is 'steampunk with soldiers in shakos'.

[rob_the_robgoblin]

Steve of Wessex Games had been thinking of this project for several years, I think the othe rporject sprung up more recently.

Originally his game was to be called 'redcoats on Mars', then someone went and did that before he finished the rules!!!

[thejammedgatling]

I second the idea of SYW on Mars type idea with possibly less emphasis on technology and more on magic/ witchcraft etc. Indeed, the battles of Clive of India with his 2-3000 men against the 120,000 Indian forces does have some lovely parallels with a Mars campaign idea. I suppose 18th Century India was like Mars to many of the fighting men over there. Same sort of problems..lack of re-supply, disease, nefarious traders with their own personal armies..and of course PIRATES!

[abdul666lw]

Indeed, an exciting combination of the Carnatic Wars, F&IW skirmishes and pirates adventures

Actually -and not to detract or disparage the efforts of people drawing attention to this ignored subgenre- but 'Flintlocks on *Barsoom*' don't require a special 'commercial' set of rules. Initial bragging about the performances of radium rifles notwithstanding, Barsoom is a 'Sword & Planet' setting for swashbuckling adventures of the 3 Musketeers - Brigadier Gérard type.
Thus to play Munchausen (in Catherine 's service) or Montcalm and Wolfe or Clive and Lally... on Barsoom, any set of rules (of the 'scale' corresponding to personal tastes and possibilities, from skirmishes to mega-battles) allowing to play the F&IW or the Carnatic Wars is adequate. Using a common type of troop or weapon as the reference for a 'rule of 3' computation it's not that hard to 'import' from a set of rules into another (eg. elephants and rockets into a F&IW set, Byzantine fire siphons in H&M rules...).

Flyers look more 'deterring', but detailed aerial warfare is a game in itself, e.g. the (spectacular) 'Cloudships of Mars'  

In a basically 'land' game,even on Barsoom, flyers should not be more important than canoes and longboats in an 'amphibious' game. I'm not a fan of 'hypergeneric' sets of the HOTT type, but the 'Fantasy extras' of the Old WRG Ancients 6th edition had very simple rules for flyers: a single flying height with standardized effect on shooting ranges, optionally a single movement rate, always 'uphill', otherwise treat as extra-fast light cavalry, elephant or warwagon...


(Parroom Station: the 'Martians' are not 'Barsoomian', but Bronze Age Miniatures have such aplenty)

(the sails are mechanically silly, but the model is beautiful)

The Barsoomian lower gravity can be ignored -it is implied enough in the silhouette of a few minis