An Introduction to Général d'Armée

I got a chance to introduce the Général d"Armée ruleset to my friend Iannick last night in Montreal. Iannick has been looking for the grail in respect to Napoleonic rulesets for even longer than myself and he is particular! I spent the day going through the rules as I had not played for 3-4 months, and I wanted it to be a good introduction.

I picked a Vitoria scenario that I had written when the rules came out. There is 5 brigades aside with artillery and cavalry involvement. It is a nice balance as I believe you need this many brigades to get a good idea of how the C&C function works.

The game was a first in some respects as it was the first game that I have got to host in my apartement  here, we usually play at Iannick's. I also finally got to use the portable gaming table that I purchased a year or so ago from the Czech Republic. It is 6x4' but folds down to 3x4' for transport. I was able to wrestle it into my car and transport it to Montreal where it will now stay. 

I went out and purchased  some beer and and found a pizza place that delivers (imagine that it has been almost 15 years that I have been going to Montreal and have had an apartment there for at least 5 years and I have never got a take away!).

I will not bother to write an AR, I think we got 4-5 turns in, but I did take some photos. It was a good night and I believe that Iannick enjoyed the rules. Enough so that he is planning to acquire an 18mm Napoleonic army himself. Stay tuned as I think he will be selling his 28mm Austrian and French forces and he is a great painter.

We had no really plan to finish the game but it did go back and forth. As usual we spent a lot of time talking and nourishing ourselves with food and drink. It was a good evening. I really had little cause to refer to the rulebook as the 4 page QRS is all you really need. It is a great ruleset.

Digging out the troops

The French right flank

The French left flank

4 battalion brigade

The Portuguese on the allied right flank

French Artillery

The KGL on the British left

The Guards with some 95th Rifles in the centre

The big picture

A particularly challenging cavalry duel, the cavalry rules are a lot of fun. The charge-countercharge aspect of the rules works well and  was quite realistic

Some French ligne retreating across the bridge