The last couple of days have seen some interesting Napoleonic wargames being featured on various online media. The first was one took place at the Shrivenham Wargames Club and was umpired and reported on by Professor Gary Sheffield. They refought the ‚Porter’s Ridge‘ scenario from THE PORTABLE NAPLOLEONIC WARGAME on a big (11 x 8) grid but relocated it to Russia.

It was a narrow victory for the Russians, who reached their Exhaustion Point after ten turns.

The second was what Archduke Piccolo called ‚The Hundred Minutes Campaign‚, which he describes as being ‚a cut down, laid back, bathtub in a shoebox version of the Hundred Days‘ Campaign‚.

This is his second such ‚campaign on a tabletop‘ game, the first being ‚The Sluggard Valley Campaign‚, and both use a relatively small number of figures and deceptively simple rules that players should be able to memorise in a matter of minutes.

Like all great wargames, the subtlety comes from the play and not the rules.

The latter game has certainly got my rather jaded wargaming juices flowing, and I have already begun to wonder if I might be able to do something similar using a revised version of my Itchy & Scratchy combat system from four years ago.

It’s certainly given me something to think about as I gradually leave the effects of my latest bout of COVID behind.

Please note that the photographs featured above are © Gary Sheffield and Archduke Piccolo.