Quarrie To General de Brigade Napoleonic Rules Conversion Kit

Introduction

A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away, I like many others started my journey into the world of wargaming, back before 'puters and the tinterwebnet, I picked up a book in the local libary and that book would literally change my life. That book was Napoleons Campaigns in Miniature by Bruce Quarrie.

I seem to have spent my life looking for that perfect set of rules, I spent a good few years using the "Hard Pounding" computer rules, that sadly came to an end when first the rules moved onto PC (and never worked) then my trusty Atari ST gave up the ghost in the mid 90s leaving us with no viable platform for the rules (yes we tried emulator etc etc, nothing worked). So I started that search again. I thought about modernising my beloved Quarrie rules but never seemed to get round to it. I never liked Gilders bucket o'dice approach and it wasn't until General de Brigade came along that I felt that long lost love for Napoleonic gaming return. However there was one thing missing, National Characteristics (NC).

I know the author of General de Brigade is not a fan of NC from his interviews however, interestingly they do seem to be creeping in with newer versions.

This is my attempt to introduce that Quarrie feeling into GdeB.

Important Notes (please read)

What follows are my thoughts on a suitable conversion, many people have asked me to put these on my blog over the years and I am only to glad to share.

This is not a stand alone set of rules, you will have to buy the General de Brigade Deluxe Edition hardback rules to make them work. I don't believe there are any copyright issues in fact the opposite I am encouraging people to go out and buy the rules. A working knowledge of the Quarrie rules will help but is not essential.

This is not an argument about National Characteristics, you either like them or you don't, there are a lot of people out there, like me who want them in their rules more from a personal nostalgia basis as opposed to historical fact. If you are not a fan, I get it, this post isn't for you.

The NC tables below are a guide, as they were in the initial Napoleons Campaigns in Miniature book, there are troop types missing for example, I have tried to keep close to those covered in the book. I am more than happy to add suggestions from readers and think about modifications in the tables, we all have our favourite armies and want better factors after all !

Where something is not covered below, revert to the GdeB book for rule clarification.

All my modifications are for 15mm figures, my collections are based on the Quarrie 1:33 ratio, GdeB is 1:20, with over 6000 15mm Napoleonic figures I am not rebasing, so to get over this we simply use my figures as they are and record casualties on paper. So a 24 figure French Line Battalion works as a 36 figure unit for the rules it's a straightforward conversion. Low figure number units don't work particularly well in GdeB.

I have done very limited playtesting with these, if people are interested in the concept and wish to try these modifications out that would be fantastic and I would love to hear about how your games went and any issues raised or modifications needed.

I will now go through the fast play sheet (FPS) from the rules covering the modifications required, please note the NC tables are at the end of this post.

The Rules

Game Turn Sequence - No change

Initiative and Orders - No change at this time although I do plan to introduce the individual named commanders in the Quarrie book at a later stage.

Movement
In each of the NC tables below distances in cms are given for each troop type, this is arbitrary but is a reflection of training and ability, a better trained unit from a country noted for its mobility being able to move faster.

For Square Movement and Retreat etc use the GdeB distances.

Formation Changes - remain as per GdeB but is being looked at.

Charge distance is +20% rounded up.

Where GdeB refers to troop classes refer to the NC tables below, anything with a Morale of 2 or higher is Guard / Elite.
Morale of 0 or 1 is Line / Veteran
Morale of less than 1 is 2nd Line / Conscript

Musketry and Artillery Fire

Relatively straightforward, ignore all of the Infantry Fire Modifiers in column one on the FPS, the new modifiers are,

Fire Factor (from NC), Fired / Melee last turn -2, Faltering / Unformed -4

On column 2, Artillery Fire Modifiers remove the first two factors relating to Artillery Class and add,

Fire Factor (from NC)

Target Modifiers, casualties, double 6 table etc remain the same.

Some Veteran Line Battalions would shoot better than their freshly raised counterparts and this should be considered when setting Armies out at the start of a game, so a Veteran French Line Battalion could have a +1 Fire Factor, a Marie Louise unit -1, I would factor that into the NC prior to the start of the game.

Melee

This was a little harder to incorporate, here you need to be familiar with the Quarrie concept of Impact Melee and Confused Melee, it's fairly obvious to be honest,

Impact Melee or Charging Melee (as I call it) is the factor used when a unit has met all the requirements to be counted as having charged into a combat.

Confused Melee factors are used in all other situations, for example if a unit has failed to reach the criteria to charge by not travelling far enough or standing to meet a charge. It also is the factor used in any subsequent rounds of melee after the first, by BOTH units.

So going back to the FPS their are a lot of changes, mostly deletions.

You can remove the vast majority of the factors on the FPS sheet, they reflect, troop type, morale class etc and these are all included in the individual factor on the NC tables.

So my melee sequence would be, each side rolls 2d6 and adds or subtracts the following,

Unit Melee factor (either Charging or Confused depending on situation)

In Open Order -2
Foot vs Cavalry count 1/2 figures
General leading troops in front rank  + 1 (for now individual factors to follow)
British Infantry in line (If post volley) +1
Unformed / Faltering -2
Attacked in flank or rear -4
Infantry charging in column +1
Square vs Cavalry +4
In Cover +1
In Buildings +2
In Fortifications / prepared Buildings +3
Outnumber enemy by 50 % +1
Outnumber enemy by 100 % +2

Retain all the numbered points under the Melee Factor apart from no 1, Lancers should use their Confused factor in those circumstances.

Consideration for veteran units and mount quality should be considered before the game begins and added or subtracted from the NC as you see fit.

Results and casualties remain as GdeB

Cavalry Pursuit Test

Remove all modifiers and replace with,

General Attached +1 (individual commanders coming soon)
Control Factor from NC

Note some Elite Cavalry units can choose to use either a plus one or a minus one depending on their circumstances and preference.

Unit Morale Test

Remove all factors relating to troop class and replace with,

Morale Factor from NC tables

Use +1 for attached General until individual factors are published.

Brigade Morale Test

Use as per GdeB except, remove Guard and Elite Brigades and replace with Morale Factor 2 or above and remove 2nd Line, Conscript etc and replace with Morale Factor of -1 or lower.

So there you have it, nothing too controversial in my mind and hopefully if you miss a bit of Quarrie then it would be great if people gave this a go. I look forward to any comments/ suggestions.

The National Characteristic Charts

Below you will find my first draft of the tables, apologies for the formatting but I had a real issue importing them in from Excel, enjoy.

Apologies I don't have any Austrians, here's some Portuguese Line 

Austrian         Fire Factor Charging Confused Morale Control Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Grenadier 1 5 3 1 0 11 14 16 Fusilier 0 3 1 -1 -1 8 11 13 Light 0 3 1 -1 -2 8 11 13 13 Jager 1 4 2 1 -1 11 14 16 16 Cavalry Cuirassier 0 8 5 2 0 17 21 25 Dragoon 0 6 4 0 0 18 22 26 Uhlan 0 7 3 0 -1 25 29 34 Hussar 0 4 3 1 -2 25 29 34 29 Artillery Heavy 0 0 0 0 0 10 12 Light 0 0 0 1 0 17 21 British Infantry in column awaiting deployment BRITISH            Fire Factor Charging   Confused Morale Control   Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Foot Guard 3 6 4 3 Choice 13 17 19 Fusilier 2 5 3 2 0 12 16 18 16 Grenadier 2 5 3 1 0 11 15 17 Line 1 3 2 1 -1 10 14 16 KGL Line 1 3 2 1 0 11 15 17 Light 2 3 1 2 -1 11 15 17 17 Highlander 0 6 4 3 -2 10 14 16 Rifles 2 6 4 3 Choice 12 16 18 18 Cavalry Household 0 10 6 3 0 17 21 25 Dragoon Guard 0 8 5 2 -1 18 22 26 Dragoon 0 7 4 1 -2 17 21 25 KGL Dragoon 0 8 5 2 0 18 22 26 Light Dragoon 0 4 3 0 -3 24 28 33 28 Hussar 0 5 3 1 -4 24 28 33 28 KGL Hussar 0 6 4 2 -1 25 29 34 29 Artillery RA 1 0 0 1 0 13 15 RHA 2 0 0 2 0 24 30 Italian Infantry on the move CONFED /                           ITALY Fire Factor Charging   Confused    Morale   Control   Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Guard Gren 1 6 3 2 0 13 16 18 Guard Fus 1 5 3 1 0 12 15 17 Grenadier 1 4 3 1 -1 12 15 17 Fusilier / Light 0 3 2 0 -1 11 14 26 16 Musketeer 0 3 2 0 -2 10 13 15 Jager 1 3 2 1 -2 12 15 17 17 Cavalry Guard Cuirassier 0 10 6 2 0 16 20 24 Guard Heavy 0 8 5 2 0 18 22 26 Cuirassier 0 8 5 1 -1 16 18 24 Dragoon 0 6 4 0 -1 18 22 26 Guard Lancer 0 8 3 1 -1 25 29 34 Lancer 0 6 2 0 -2 24 28 33 Guard Light 0 6 4 1 -1 25 29 34 Hussar / Lights 0 4 3 0 -2 24 28 33 Artillery Guard Foot 1 0 0 1 0 16 19 Guard Horse 1 0 0 2 0 29 33 Foot 0 0 0 0 0 12 15 Horse 0 0 0 1 0 27 32 French Columns Advancing FRANCE         Fire Factor Charging Confused Morale Control  Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Old Guard 2 7 5 3 Choice 15 18 20 Middle Guard 2 6 4 2 0 15 18 20 Young Guard 1 5 3 1 0 14 16 18 18 Grenadier 1 5 3 1 0 14 16 18 Fusilier 0 3 1 0 -1 12 14 16 Chasseur 0 3 1 0 -2 12 14 16 16 Voltigeur 1 4 2 1 -1 13 15 17 17 Cavalry Guard Gren 0 10 6 3 Choice 18 22 26 Guard Dragoon 0 10 5 3 Choice 18 22 26 Guard Lancer 0 10 4 3 Choice 26 30 35 Guard Light 0 7 4 2 -1 26 30 35 30 Cuirassier 0 8 5 1 0 17 21 25 Dragoon 0 6 4 0 0 18 22 26 22 Lancer 0 7 3 1 -1 25 29 34 Hussar 0 5 3 1 -2 25 29 34 29 Chasseur 0 4 3 0 -1 25 29 34 29 Artillery Guard Foot 2 0 0 2 0 18 20 Guard Horse 2 0 0 3 0 31 35 Foot 1 0 0 0 0 14 16 Horse 1 0 0 1 0 29 33 Sorry No Polish either ! POLAND Fire Factor Charging Confused Morale Control Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Grenadier 2 6 4 1 Choice 14 16 18 Fusilier 0 4 2 0 0 12 14 16 Voltigeur 1 5 3 0 -1 14 16 18 18 Cavalry Lancer 0 7 3 1 -1 25 29 34 Cuirassier 0 8 5 1 0 17 21 25 Chasseur 0 4 3 0 -1 25 29 34 29 Hussar 0 5 3 1 -2 25 29 34 29 Artillery Foot 0 1 1 0 0 14 16 Horse 1 1 1 1 0 29 33 Portuguese Infantry defending a hill						Line	Column	Road	Skr
PORTUGAL Fire Factor Charging Confused Morale Control Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Line 0 3 2 0 -1 11 14 16 Cacadore 1 3 2 1 -2 12 15 17 17 Cavalry Dragoon 0 5 3 -1 -2 27 31 35 Artillery Heavy -1 0 0 0 0 14 16 Light 0 0 0 0 0 25 31						11	14	16
						8	11	13
Prussian Infantry						8	11	13	13
PRUSSIA Fire Factor Charging Confused Morale Control Line Column Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Guard 2 6 4 2 Choice 11 13 15 Grenadier 1 5 3 1 0 10 12 14 Musketeer -1 3 2 0 -1 8 10 12 Fusilier 0 3 2 1 -1 8 10 12 Jager 1 3 2 1 -1 10 12 14 14 Landwehr -2 2 1 -2 -3 6 8 10 Cavalry Cuirassier 0 8 5 2 0 17 21 25 Dragoon 0 6 4 1 0 18 22 26 Uhlan 0 7 3 1 -1 25 29 34 Hussar 0 4 3 1 -2 25 29 34 29 Jager 1 4 3 1 -2 26 30 35 30 Artillery Heavy 0 0 0 0 0 10 12 Light 0 0 0 1 0 18 22						11	14	16	16
Spanish Infantry waiting for a French attack						17	21	25
SPAIN & NAPLES Fire Factor Charging Confused Morale Control Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Guard 1 3 2 1 0 12 14 16 Grenadier 0 3 2 0 0 10 12 14 Line -2 1 1 -2 -1 8 10 12 Light -1 1 1 -2 -1 12 14 16 14 Militia -3 1 1 -3 -2 8 10 12 Cavalry Guard 0 6 4 1 1 17 21 25 Cuirassier 0 5 3 -1 0 16 20 24 Dragoon 0 4 2 -1 0 18 22 26 Lancer 0 3 1 -1 0 20 23 28 Hussar 0 2 1 -2 -1 20 23 28 22 Artillery Foot -1 0 0 -1 0 10 14 Horse -1 0 0 0 0 16 20						18	22	26
						25	29	34
Stationary Russian Infantry						25	29	34	29
RUSSIA             Fire Factor Charging Confused Morale Control Line Col Road Skr Infantry Melee Melee Guard Grenadier 1 9 5 3 Choice 13 16 17 Guard Jager 2 6 3 2 0 14 17 18 17 Grenadier 0 7 4 1 0 12 14 16 Musketeer -1 5 3 0 -1 10 13 15 Jager 0 5 3 0 -2 13 15 17 15 Cavalry Guard Cuirass 0 10 6 3 Choice 16 20 24 Guard Dragoon 0 9 5 2 0 18 22 26 Cuirassier 0 8 5 1 0 15 19 23 Dragoon 0 6 4 0 -1 17 21 25 Guard Uhlan 0 9 5 2 0 25 29 34 Uhlan 0 7 3 1 -1 24 28 33 Guard Light 0 6 3 2 0 25 29 34 29 Hussar 0 4 3 1 -2 24 28 33 28 Guard Cossack 0 5 2 2 -2 26 30 35 30 Cossack 0 3 1 1 -3 25 29 34 29 Artillery Position 0 0 0 0 0 8 11 Guard Light 1 0 0 2 0 14 16 Light 0 0 0 0 0 13 15 Horse 0 0 0 1 0 24 30 All Charges +20% Rounded Up
						10		12
						17		21

28mm Crusader Foot Sergeants

After a bit of a lull on the paint front, I managed to get the blockage moved and got some stuff finished last week, adding another couple of units to my Crusader collection, this time a 24 figure Crossbow Unit and a 24 figure Spear armed unit.

Spears to the rear, apologies for the 15mm Napoleonic figures in the background

The figures are the Foot Sergeant plastic box set from Fireforge, a great set with 48 figures in, ideal for two 24 fig units ! The detail on the figures in good for plastics, they are however quite chunky for a starved Medieval Army and I'm not too sure about some of the half crouch half standing poses but in general as an Army Builder they are a great set.

Spearmen close up

The figures are based on a 60mm frontage by 50mm depth, standard frontage for the period but slightly extra depth, for me it allows a bit more space to protect the figures and their bendy plastic weapons, that and it makes basing a bit easier. Getting filler in between the legs of tiny warriors in double ranks is never easy !

I have gone for a generally uniform look, mostly because it's a whole lot quicker and easier to paint after doing 12 individually liveried Gendarme I needed uniformity !
My Crusade armies are based roughly around the third Crusade and the Outremer States. Taking the yellow outlined cross on the red background of the County of Tripoli as a basis I have simply transferred that to these figures to give MY interpretation of troops from that state.

All the shield decoration is hand painted and relatively neat, my Laphroig / blood level must have been in the correct range band at the time of painting.

Crossbow

The addition of these foot troops will add a different dimension to our Crusade battles as most of the finished units are shiny Knights dashing around on horse back, all my fault as I like shiny Knights, especially those of the Military Order variety !

Still on the hunt for rules, personally I still prefer Deus Vult, they have a lot more of a Crusader feel (whatever that is !). I enjoyed Strongpoint but they were a generic set of Ancient and Medieval rules rather than Crusades specific. As the collection, slowly gets bigger it will be easier to judge the right set.

And after getting that paint mojo going again I am away from the paint table for a month, let's hope the enthusiasm is there when I pick up the brushes again !

I am experimenting with turning off Google plus comments as the platform is being shut down, it seems to have deleted all the previous comments, my apologies. Please feel free to comment under the new system to see if it works, thanks.

Piquet and The Italian Wars in Olicanaland

Last week I had the pleasure of popping over to see James and his Italian Wars collection in nearby Olicanaland. Many of you will know of James work through his blog http://olicanalad.blogspot.com or one of his cracking display games round the shows.

It was a great opportunity to a) see James collection close up b) have a go at Piquet rules c) get my small Italian Wars collection on the table d) meet up with a fellow gaming blogger.

The game in progress

On my arrival after a quick brew and chat we went to James' games room where he had set up a table and a couple of forces with space to add in my Swiss Pike Block and my two Gendarme units.

I had the option of either Pike and Shotte or Piquet for the rule set, regular readers will know I'm no fan of PanS and the Black Powder derivations. Piquet however is one of those rules I have never tried, I recall seeing them in action many years ago at the old Triples Show in Sheffield Octagon and wondered what they were all about, so why not.

My Swiss block nearest village

The rules are based around opposing die rolls and Card based activation, both concepts I am used to in other sets, having played toofatlardies games and nicked the card activation idea for my own sets of rules I am more than comfortable with not being able to do exactly what I want when I want, something I know would put some off these rules (as they do with the lardies sets).

Cavalry Command 1 with my Papal Gendarme at the back

Each side has a command dice, either an 8, 10 or 12 and these are rolled against each other to determine initiative. Each side then determines their card deck which is based around how good the army is and can include army specific card (e.g. a Swiss Melee +1 card) for a total of 29 cards.

Cavalry Command 2, my Borgia Gendarme at the front.

Each card allows you to do an action with the whole army or where specified a single command or unit time. So a March card allows you to move all your army, a Group March allows you to move the units in one specific command and a Cavalry March card allows you to move all your horse. Hopefully you get the idea and it's not hard to see how subtle changes in a command deck could be used to alter the way an Army fights and "feels", an Army known for rapid deployment could have an extra March card.

Other cards include Melee Resolution, Artillery Action, Swift Troops, Free Action card and the Lull card, more on this shortly.

At the start of a phase each player rolls their army die, the important stat being the difference between the two, so if both have a d10 and Player 1 rolls 8 and Player 2 rolls 4, Player 1 wins the initiative by 4. Both players then take the top four cards from their deck placing them in order face down in front of them. Player 1, with the Initiative plays through his 4 cards before passing the action to Player 2 who then plays his 4 cards, then for Initiative again with the winner taking the difference in cards.... and so on.

Battle in full flow

The only break in that sequence is the Lull card, when this is drawn the players roll off their army die and if the player without the Initiative wins he gets to play a card of his own (from the top of his unused deck). A drawn Initiative ends the turn and the decks are reshuffled and start again.

I had heard some horror stories of people sat there for hours in Piquet whilst their opponent won initiative but in this version you are a maximum of 9 cards from playing again and more often than not is 3 or 4. The advantage is, if your opponent has a run of 9 cards, you have a run of 9 cards after they finish. I really liked the system.

Gendarme advancing

However when you don't have the Initiative you don't just sit there, this is where the opposed die roll comes in. Each time you move, fire or fight your opponent has a die roll against you, mostly a d8 but sometimes dependant on troop type. So using the movement a big difference between die rolls could see your unit moving multiple times (this is in Hail Caesar too, thought I recognised it ! Piquet miles ahead of its time !).

Game On.

Added to the die type units can have their own characteristics Fierce Stubborn etc (again a bit HC ?) The hardest thing to get my head round was the shooting, not because it was too complicated but basically because you could shoot at any time (so long as you are loaded) I found myself forgetting this and only remembering to shoot on a reload card. To explain further the "reload" card allows any unit that has fired previously (marked with the cotton wool ball in the photos). So with a unit that hasn't fired it could fire, reload and fire again on one card being unloaded at the end of that card.

Melee, or not as it turned out !

For a first time play through I really enjoyed the game, even though there was a moment of statistical madness that lost me the battle, more later.

My force had a small command of Stradiots which I set up on my left, followed by a command of three Swiss Pike Blocks (including my very own Canton of Lucerne block) and a small shot unit. This was placed opposite a large open field with a walled boundary.

In the middle I had a command of 4 French Crossbow units of dubious quality. These set up in the small village in my centre with my 2 cannon. To my right by the large open area I put my 2 Cavalry Commands including my Papal and Borgia Gendarme.

Borgia Gendarme Victorious !

James had a similar Light Cavalry Command opposite me and they spent all day skirmishing with each other on the flanks. Opposite my Pike James had 3 mixed Pike and Shot units. On his far left opposite my Cavalry was two Pike Blocks with Shot support, in the centre in reserve James placed his Heavy Cavalry which never really got into the action.

Fix in place and...

Flank

My Cavalry did a stirling job and with limited subtlety they were able to out flank and see of the pike blocks and sweep across the field to the middle where unfortunately things hadn't gone well. The Borgia Gendarme played a blinder taking out a Pike Block, a mixed Pike Shot unit and a unit of Cavalry before finally running out of steam, a unit citation clearly earned.

Swiss in reverse !

My Swiss Steamroller move in the centre went quite well to begin with and we rushed forward to engage the enemy foot, unfortunately that was where the luck ran out. James had a run of 4 reload cards in a row (1 in 25000 !) Shooting holes in all my Pike Blocks, I gambled all my morale chips on reducing the casualties and disruption but what ever I did I just couldn't get into melee, where with Swiss I stood a real chance of success. It wasn't to be and the Pike broke just as my Cavalry attack ran out of steam. One card from victory, that's my story and I'm sticking to it !

Better times on the other flank

So thanks James for a great game, I will certainly try the rules again with the YG group when we get enough figs done for a game.

Back at YG our 15mm Napoleonic Battle of Albuera is still ongoing, Report soon(ish)