On The Table or On The Shelf - Napoleonic French and British Infantry

When Warlord Games announced the release of their La Haye Sainte set I felt like the time had finally come to dip my toe into Napoleonics.

I've always been daunted by the sheer number of figures a good Napoleonic battle required. So much so that while interested enough to try out the old Napoleons Battles rules set back in the late 90s, I haven't really revisited the era since.

The La Haye Sainte set changed my mind. It provides a starter kit with terrain to build off of and it provides a good place to begin by offering an iconic piece of terrain to fight in and around.

What went wrong?

As I stated before, a good tabletop Napoleonic battle requires a lot of figures.  At 28mm scale with limited free time and the unfortunate necessity of providing two functional forces (in this case French and British) the mountain or work to get to the table is not insurmountable but too much to take on for me.

But... There are rules sets that don't require that many figures!  True enough.  But to my way of thinking they really don't capture the look of a Napoleonic battle nor the feel of the command as I like them.  Your feelings may be different and just as valid.

I prefer the overall look and feel of Napoleons Battles (1989, Avalon Hill version).  I haven't looked at the more recent version of the game.  I have looked at some other rule sets but I appear to be too fussy for them.

What went right?

The set is awesome.  The terrain and figures are all worthwhile if you are looking for 28mm figs.  I really would like to be able to pursue this further and may do so in the future given a lot more free time and patience to pain 28mm figures in the numbers needed.

For now, the starter set rests on my shelf.