Saturday, June 6, 2015

Coming Back

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. We’ll skip the why’s and wherefore’s and just move on to toy soldiering!

Ray and I have been gaming partners for almost twenty years. Early during our association he discovered a new set of fast play Napoleonic rules titled Le Petit Empereur by Chipco Games.

LPE was an immediate hit with our club. We could play a game to a full conclusion in an evening. Sometimes even two games. It is similar to DBA in that the basic game has a fixed number of elements (28 + a general) with each country having a different mix. There are only seven unit types:

EC – Elite Cavalry
OC – Other Cavalry
ET – Elite Infantry
LN – Line Infantry
LT – Light Infantry (in the 1st edition, these were more like conscripts)
ART – Foot Artillery
LtA – Light (Horse) Artillery

Our club, Lone Star Historical Miniatures, played in 15mm and many of the club members built armies. In fact, I have ten or so! Soon we were playing games including two, three, and even more armies. Our local convention, MillenniumCon, even hosted a hugely successful LPE tournament in 1998.

As such things go we eventually burned out and moved on to other games.

But in 2006 Ray and I were finally moving into 28mm historical games. We decided to use MillenniumCon as a deadline to motivate us to prepare new armies. Our first subject was Napoleonics. Although we wanted to play large games with big units of 24 or more infantry, we knew we needed an intermediate goal.

So out came LPE again. I ended up building a bespoke 28mm French army, but Ray did as originally planned and used his Anglo-Brunswick LPE army as a building block to larger army. At the 2006 convention we put on the game several times and it was a great success with players, both returning veterans and new conscripts. Sadly the websites hosting our pictures are gone but the AAR is at The Miniatures Page. I put on additional LPE games at 2009 ChimaeraCon and 2010 MillenniumCon.

Ray used his original Anglo-Brunswick army to expand into a 25:1 British division. Now he has decided that the plethora of plastic kits means it is time to build a French army as well. We are going to use this coming MillenniumCon as another deadline to build up our armies. I already have French, British, Dutch-Belgian and Hanoverians. I will use this opportunity to build Prussians.

But instead of just 28 elements per side, we plan to have at least double-sized armies and hopefully triple! Stay tuned to this channel as we work toward MillenniumCon!

6 comments:

  1. Ed,

    Napoleonics have never interested me personally but it certainly is one of the most popular periods. I wish you and your buddy much success in your project and a very successful convention experience.


    -- Jeff

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  2. Hi Jeff!

    Woohoo!! Someone still follows my blog!!

    [insert dancing emoticon here]

    Napoleonics was the subject of my very first miniatures game in 1983. It was put on by a history professor when I was a freshman cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He had an AMAZING 25mm collection he had painted.

    In a way, every convention game I've put on since then (and there's been a lot!) has been trying to pass on that joy to others.

    Cheers,
    Ed

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  3. Ed,

    Good to see you posting again. I started with Napoleonics back in the early 1970s at college. We've just started using Sam Mustafa's Blucher rules and are finding them very easy to learn. I also have LPE rules and may have to look at them again.

    I enjoyed our SYW extravaganza at MilleniumCon 2008.

    Jim

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  4. Jim,

    LPE is a very simple game similar to DBA. It is very much a game with Napoleonic toys!

    That said, LPE is excellent bait, errr, tool to hook, errr, introduce new victims...errr, players into the splendor of Napoleonic gaming.

    I too remember that big SYW game fondly. I have even more toys now! Maybe another MCon game some day...

    Ed

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  5. Hello Ed,

    I just saw this and I am very much looking forward to more LPE info. You also post on the Chipco group, yes?

    I dug out my copy of LPE and the expansion and it does sound like fun. Best of luck!


    Greg

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  6. Hi Greg,

    Yes, I post on the Chipco list. LPE is fun! And unashamedly so. No, it isn't much of a simulation, but it is a great introduction to Napoleonic history and gaming.

    Thanks for reading my blog. I hope to have some more to post soon.

    Ed

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