The Portable Napoleonic Wargame

Some people appear to be able to scan a new set of rules and master them with ease.   I am at the opposite end of the scale.   The last set of rules I bought was “Le Feu Sacre” in 2005.    Reading the rules made no impression on me, I had to play with them four or five times before I could understand the basics.   Having mastered them I enjoyed playing with them for about two years, before I started to find fault with them.   This has been standard practice for me since I first bought “Charge or how to play wargames” in 1969.

I have just received a copy of “The Portable Napoleonic Wargame” by Bob Cordery.  He has named me in the acknowledgements as having helped him to write this book.   It is extremely kind of him, and I am very grateful.   He goes on to say that this blog and my 1813 campaign blog helped him.   Again very kind of him to say so.

I have never considered myself, or my various blogs, to be of any great influence.   My original intention when starting to blog was to record my wargame interests and in particular my 1813 campaign.   I wanted a permanent record of the campaign for my own benefit.  I have always kept written notes of previous campaigns, and blogging provided a more efficient way to do so.   I also hoped that my efforts might encourage others to get involved in wargame campaigns.

When I changed the 1813 campaign from solo to PBEM in 2009 the blog really came into its own.   The campaign and wargame rules were already online, and were now easily available to the campaign players.   The campaign blog became a diary of the campaign, with daily updates and battle reports for each of the five campaign areas.

Bob and I share a similar introduction to wargaming, along with many other UK wargamers of a certain age.   Like me, his first wargame book was “Charge”.   Like me he was greatly influenced by Don Featherstone.   However Bob became a leading light in Wargame Developments, whilst I continued to be fixed on Napoleonic wargaming and the period in general.   I have never belonged to WD, but have long been aware of it in the background of the hobby.  I have always considered it to be the intellectual side of the hobby.

My first impression of his book is that it looks very Old School.   This is a compliment, as I consider myself to be very much “Old School”.   Both physically and mentally.   The cover could easily have been one of Don Featherstone’s books.  There is a lot more photographs than Don ever managed, but they are in black and white as were most of Don’s books.  

I have never used the grid system favoured by Bob.   He mentions Joseph Morschauser’s rules, so perhaps that is more a USA rule mechanism.   I see it used quite a bit in the various blogs I follow, so it is obviously popular with some.

I am particularly impressed that he favours small numbers of figures for his games.   For anyone considering Napoleonic wargaming the scale, size of cost involved must be very discouraging.   This type of game may well encourage them to take the plunge.

When I started blogging Bob was not only a source of inspiration, but also very supportive with advice.   I still follow his blog and am impressed with the wide range of subjects he covers.   I am also impressed with his growing list of published books.

If you would like further information about “The Portable Napoleonic Wargame”, it is available from Lulu.com

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/wargamedevelopments