The thin Blue line

An instant classic of a sit-com for Rowan Atkinson from some years back that rather glibly sprang to mind last night on the way to the club.

After settling in amongst the odd siren and a bit of copper spotting Rich ran me through Man at War's Naps offering. Possibly following the Battlefront model they're also offering a range of 18mm figures boxed by the Brigade. As anybody could we played in 10mm with a converted ground-scale.

This was a proper test game for both of us and having dabble d unsuccessfully on a number of occasions I would have cheerfully ticked the sceptically open-minded box (WTF?) if asked.



I'm sure there are proper reviews out there and the following won't join them being more of an impressionistic ramble. In short, after a bit of bodging / learning on the hoof I like them enough to play another game. High praise indeed!!

Despite not being anything of an aficionado of the period, though I do claim more knowledge than the average Sharpe viewer, the mechanics had the right feel to me with more emphasis on manoeuvre, strategy and tactics than hot lead and cold steel.

The reserve move mechanic allowed my light cav to get in around Rich's right wing, whilst my march attack columns pinned his infantry on that flank, and cause a suitable amount of havoc before expending themselves and retiring suitably. Regiments, as the lowest element, "wear" suitably and provided a feel of diminishing returns that quickly plummets if you push your luck too far.

My French reserves turning up quicker than Rich's Brits helped greatly in my securing 1 of 2 objectives a la refused flank but still left us having a decent tussle in the dying light.

After 150 minutes of learning the game we were through our 6 turns for what felt like a draw only to see a British victory as I simply hadn't pushed hard enough, partly at least as I hadn't really paid attention to victory conditions, preferring to learn as many rules as possible. I did feel that as nominal attacker I would have had a hard time given my limited understanding of the scenario and all.

So coming from my Sci-Fi / Fantasy-centric fun-first(good game, good game!!) stance I honestly feel that the fact that I'd play another game is reasonalbe praise at the very least. I even suggested that a few other guys at the club would do the same.

Next up for the rules is Shaun. Shaun knows Naps, Shaun is a Rules-Breaker!!
Napoleon at War, you have been warned :)