I don’t like to review games without playing them. This is why, after purchasing it sometime in November last year, I haven’t written a review of Republic to Empire. After playing two games at Historicon I think I can give an honest assessment of the rules. For the record, I consider Barry Hilton and Clarence Harrison as “internet friends.” I was a fan of both of their gaming endeavors before receiving the rules. That being said, I don’t think it has affected my review. I will try to give details on the rules so that readers can make up their own minds.

The Book

Before you can understand the rules you must read the book. It’s the very first introduction to the game and it seems to have put some people off due to its sheer size. The book is a hefty 144 page, full colour, softcover. The key to its size is not the complexity of the rules, but the amount of colour photographs of wonderfully painted miniatures provided. Perhaps half of each page is pictures of miniatures, making the book roughly 72 pages of text. There is also a lot of explanations and examples given throughout the book reducing the number of pages of actual rules much less than the initial count would suggest.

I think the book is great. I like looking at pictures of games in action, it helps inspire me to keep painting for my own game. The book is well put together and layed out with excellent production quality. The book is priced to reflect this, but I appreciate the value of something that I can look at for reasons other than researching rules. Some people may disagree. At slightly over $50 CAD the book is not cheap and does not invite casual purchases. You either buy this book because you want to play the rules or you want something nice and wargamy to read. Either way, I think it is worth the money.

Rolling dice.

In addition to the rulebook a gatefold quick reference sheet (QRS) is provided. These six pages of charts replace the book during gameplay. This is great in theory, but it is a lot of charts and there is a learning curve when it comes to quickly finding the required chart. On the plus side, once this is mastered it really isn’t necessary to refer to the rulebook. The QRS is cumbersome and cannot compare to the simplicity of a single sheet QRS, but a single sheet simply couldn’t get the job done.

Command and Control

In the introduction to the rules, Mr Hilton gives command and control as one of his wargame hobby horses. When I first read the book I liked the detailed maneuver system but felt it was finicky and complicated. On my second reading I started to grasp the concept and was fully in support of the system. I felt that perhaps it played faster than it appeared. At Historicon this feeling was reinforced and amplified. After a short description of the rules all the players grasped the command system and started moving their figures. The only discussion became whether one order or the other was better for the current tactical situation. Moves were completed quickly and painlessly to the point where I wonder if the maneuver phase of Republic to Empire might be as fast as any wargame.

Essentially the movement system works like this: The main maneuver units are brigades. Players roll a dAv¹ for every brigade in their command. This is the amount of movement points the player has to work with during the turn. Working one brigade at time players decide if the brigade’s current orders are the one they want. If so, they pay to maintain them, make the movements allowed by the order with all the battalions of the brigade, then pay their remaining movement points to make any additional maneuvers they wish.

For example, on the Advance order the brigade may move their battalions however they wish as long as half the brigade moves at least a quarter of their movement towards the enemy. If the controlling player decides they then want to make additional movement with the brigade or individual units more movement points are spent. In practice this process flows naturally from deciding on a plan for the unit to executing it.

Fighting in Built Up Areas works smoothly and easily.

Brigadier quality can affect the number of movement points required to maintain or change a brigade’s orders. Higher command receive a set number of movement points depending on their quality which they can assign to brigades at the beginning of the turn. To which brigade and in which quantity are controlled by the command radius of that officer. Brigade and divisional integrity are maintained by requiring brigades to be within range of the divisional commander to change orders, and for battalions to pay additional movement points when they are out of their brigadier’s range.

During the game I soon found myself discussing the tactical need for maneuver, rather than the mechanical process. We were more concerned with deciding on the placement of our cavalry as a reserve, or how to move quickly across the bridge so we don’t create a traffic jam and be defeated before we even cross. To me, movement couldn’t be simpler without sacrificing the flavour of the period.

Formations are dealt with simply by using a form order and assuming that once the order is giving the battalion’s officers will take care of the rest. The usual suspects are in attendance, although Mr. Hilton does take some well-reasoned steps away from tradition with some of his formations. Why he does so is well explained in the book and worth reading with an open mind.

Multiple movements, called Exploitation Moves, at the battalion and brigade level are possible. They require large amounts of movement points but can turn the tide of battle if used correctly. In theory, soldiers can cover a lot of ground in the space of a typical wargame turn. In practice battlefield friction slowed down units that needed to maintain formation on terrain that rarely resembled the drill yard. Enemy fire and manuever, out-of-date orders from distracted commanders all conspired to slow down the speed at which formed men could travel. Exploitation Moves are used in Republic to Empire to represent those rare moments when skill, luck and circumstance aligned to allow grand, sweeping maneuvers.

All of this variety and detail exist in a system which allows a fast and transparent execution. At no point during the two games I played did the game mechanically bog down, for any reason in any phase. Turns flew by and the steps towards battle felt like a graceful waltz rather than the slow, boring slog they so frequently are.

Shooting and Combat Resolution

Shooting and combat are resolved using combat groups of four models. Each combat group generates one die, creating a base which is latter modified by various factors. The lists of factors seem massive at first glance but calm consideration reveals a secret. The charts are split between different unit types. Artillery and Infantry each have their own chart. Some modifiers are shared, some unique, and some effect artillery more than infantry or vice versa. By splitting the charts the QRF looks superficially more complex but is made simple in practice.

Shooting is very straight forward. After determining how many dice a battalion rolls every four or higher is a success. This translate directly into casualties on the target unit. Only when a unit has passed the 25% casualty mark do they start testing as a result of infantry fire, and only at 50% are stands removed.

While my initiation into Napoleonics was performed by one Bernard Cornwell I know that a rollicking melee was not as common as Richard Sharpe would have me believe. Republic to Empire deals with this apparently inglorious reality by making the lead up to battle interesting. If the French charge the British line, will they charge home in the face of the enemy’s volley or pull up short? How effective will that volley be, and will the British hold when they find that it didn’t stop the French? This drama is modeled by the rules with a number of command checks that require less time than it would seem. Since a 4+ is always a success and the modifiers don’t change the whole back and forth of seeing who will flinch first is quick and easy.

I’ve read some reviews that focus on the order system because it appears to be most complex. In reality, I think how combat is decided should be as important a consideration. I’ve played games where combats quickly became messes that slowed the game to a crawl and became so odious that players dreaded the phase. Republic to Empire keeps combat moving smoothly while still providing an interesting result.

Morale

Breaking the opponent’s morale is the key to winning at Republic to Empire. A broken army generates less movement points and become increasingly unwieldy. Units test resolve when certain conditions are met, such as receiving casualties from artillery or fighting close combats. As expected, close combat causes the most morale checks. The checks are fast and straight forward. Four or better after modifiers is a pass, anything less is a degree of failure. Units waver, retreat and route.

On Scales and Realism

Barry Hilton takes a bold and potentially unpopular stand when it comes to ground, figure and time scales. His rules on built up areas takes into consideration that troops didn’t fight over three houses representing a village, or a single farm with the scale footprint of a small town. His formations try to maintain historical and accurate dimensions while accepting the limitations of figure basing and the predilections of gamers. I think we all know that a single ranked unit would be more realistic in terms of depth to width, but we prefer the look of two ranks.

Exploitation Moves allowed this player to deploy his horse artillery on this hill.

One thing to note about the rules is that there are no basing conventions. By counting figures instead of bases one could use figures mounted singly on 20x20mm bases against an army with 8 figures on a 60x60mm base. The small difference in frontage shouldn’t make too much of a difference to the game.

The rules are designed for large units in large armies on large tables because this is how Mr. Hilton likes to play. Playtesting was done with smaller forces on smaller tables and the game was found quite suitable. By modifying the rules slightly to accommodate smaller forces it’s possible to play interesting games with a couple of brigades per side. 28mm is the scale featured in the rules, though smaller scales would work fine by either increasing the number of figures in a combat group, or scaling the measurements to suit. There’s something very attractive about playing the game in 10mm using nearly 1:1 figure ratios.

In Conclusion

It took playing Republic to Empire to really understand just how elegantly it achieves Barry Hilton’s vision of a Napoleonic game which features realistic challenges to maneuver and command and control. After my first pass through the rules I considered Republic to Empire to be the game for detailed and intricate simulations and Black Powder to be for fun games of toy soldiers. Having played the game I discovered that Republic to Empire doesn’t have to be a brain burner. It can be a fun afternoon of pushing around figures.

Republic to Empire is available directly from The League of Augsburg or their US distributor, Eureka Miniatures USA. It takes some digging to find the rules on the Eureka website. I purchased the rules myself and no financial or other consideration was provided for this review.

Tyler

1) dAv is an average die. In replaces the 1 with a 3, and the 6 with a 4. They are available online or at conventions, and can be simulated with a d6 as described above. One might try creating their own set by marking a normal d6 with an indelible-ink marker. Back,

Motivation failing. Want to paint Flames of War.

Now, more than ever, I am feeling the drag of dedicating myself to a single project. Even I’m losing interest in posting yet another image of partially painted Brits. Tonight I had no energy to paint but forced myself to paint the blue of the canteens and the beige breadbags. I’m glad I did. Even painting that little bit means that I’m a little closer to being finished.

I don’t even think it’s painting the same figures that is wearing on me. Rather it’s the lack of variety of blog posts that has me down. I hope, at least, that you found those few painting theory articles I’ve posted interesting. In reality, it means it’s been a while since I’ve posted WIP shots of my Brits.

Four figures to a batch seems like the right number.

For the next little bit I’ll only be sharing figures as I finish them. I’d like to start showing the unit as it grows, which is more interesting to me. I’ll also think of something else to talk about in the mean time.

Tyler

Do not fear, I am still working on my 1812 project. I got hung up on the details of the last two and went too dark on the crossbelts. I need to simplify. As it is the lace, crossbelts and poms all have different base colours for the white. Poms are blue, lace greenish to show the colours within the lacing, and the crossbelts buff. Sometimes I get caught up in trying to make the miniatures look better and forget that I’m painting an army. At least the pants seem to match together.

This base is a fifth of the total unit. Figures by Victrix.

The newest addition to the base are in the left file. I like the loading figure, although I think that’s a sergeant’s arm. Oh well, there are enough spare right arms that it should be a problem. Theoretically I only need to finish eight more figures before I’ve painted enough for a Lasalle unit.

Seen from the side, the loading figure helps sell the animation of the base. Figures by Victrix.

In fact, I’m not going to attach these figures to their base just yet. This way I can temporarily base them for Lasalle and get two units out of them.

Tyler

Relatively, I am new to historical wargaming. Within this milieu I am inexperienced with Napoleonic warfare but am working actively to expand my knowledge. I have now read a number of books focusing on the War of 1812 and a couple dealing with the wider war in Europe. They were education but I still felt that there was something I was missing.

Over the last week I’ve been reading Rory Muir’s excellent Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon. I can picture those that are already familiar with it nodding their heads in agreement. This text, despite it’s long title, is very readable and I am making my way through it at a respectable pace. I feel throughout that I am grasping Mr. Muir’s arguments and following his logic. More than any book, even Osprey’s British Napoleonic Infantry Tactics: 1792-1815, I now understand how war was fought in this period. I can understand why melee was rare and morale so important.

A surprising result of this reading is an increased desire to play Empire: Total War, a game I was initially dissapointed precisely because it featured so much hand-to-hand combat. Granted, the combat may not be 100% accurate but I am inspired to attempt some techniques of reserves. Unfortunately this will undoubtedly cut back on my painting. I’ll have to be careful to reserve it for those evenings where I wouldn’t otherwise paint.

Tyler

Oh, how I wish I was one of those people that can keep all the facts together in their head and see the big picture. I’m painting some more Incorporated Militia and realized that I can’t wildly vary the pant colours like I’d intended. To do that would have required building the entire unit and then picking poses from them to form batches, each batch having a slightly different shade of jacket and pants. When they’re put back into the unit they’ll look realistically worn. I’ve discovered from my WWII Canadians that a unified painting and basing style is more important to unit integrity than specific shades. My Canadians are all different shades, but when placed together they blend together to form a whole.

Oh god, the pink

Now, since I’ve painting six of the eight miniatures that make up a base I’m going to end up with a clump of all the same colour pants. This isn’t terrible, just not exactly what I wanted. I’m not sure if I’m going to vary the pant colours beyond what will naturally happen when I mix up the batch from scratch each time. That’s ok, though. I never worry about mistakes I’ve already made. Make a note and try to do it right the next time.

Still, it’d be nice to be able to plan things out in my head like some people do. Oh well, back to painting. I was just taking a little break while a wash dried…

<thump> <thump> <thump>

<painting noises>

Oh God, the pink!

<photography noises>

<thump> <thump> <thump>

Well, that didn’t turn out at all. I tried to bring the highlighting on the jackets up a notch and ended up with a pink mess. How do you highlight red? I’ve since applied a few glazes of red to tone down the pink and I’m calling it good enough. Before the next batch I’m going to look at how people highlight red to try to get some ideas. Although maybe it doesn’t look to bad in this picture.

Tyler

While there is room for improvement I am very happy with these miniatures. If these are the worst results I achieve in my entire 1812 project I will be very, very happy.

I have a couple more miniatures primed and ready to go, just waiting for me to get a chance to paint them. I’m going to experiment with moving to a four-figure batch. I had previously decided that six was the magic number. Now I think there is no magic number, just an amount of figures I can comfortably paint in a set time period. While the majority of these miniatures are easy to paint the final details kill me. I will see if painting less models at the same time help things out.

Victrix 28mm Peninsular Center Company painted as Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada.

The reason I’m only painting two figures in my next batch is to round out this base of eight models. After that I have some interesting planning to do. One full base will be missing a figure from the back rank. There’ll be a half base of three figures and two full bases with the command group spread across them. Unfortunately this means the unit will look strange in column. Hmmm, this is something I need to think about. It’s too bad that British units didn’t deploy their colours directly behind the line in order to maximize firepower. That would make my job much easier. Still, I’m happy with my progress.

Tyler

Another few nights of painting left.

I’ve run out of podcasts to listen to so I brought my laptop into my workroom. I’m listening to audio commentary on Star Wars IV. I love listening to commentary while I paint. I’m not sure I would ever sit and watch a movie with the commentary. Well, that’s not true, I love commentary in general. For some movies, like Star Wars, I don’t need to watch what’s going on. However, with a movie like Seven Samurai which is in so many ways a visual movie, I could happily sit and watch it with the commentary.

The side effect to this is that I can take breaks and blog. This will be a little disjointed but it may result in me finally having an early night. You say, after painting my fill I’d go upstairs to my office and write a blog post, do a little promotion and then go to bed much later than I’d prefer. Now, when I take small breaks to rest cramping muscles I can write a bit.

I’ve just finished the lace around the facing colours on the collar. I would normally do all the lace at once, but I wanted to focus just on the collars since it was the most difficult. Not only did I have to paint a thin black line on the collar, around the back between the head and collar, but I needed to leave enough of the facing colour, in this case green, so that you can tell there was a facing colour. The black line also needed to be thick enough that I could then put a thin offwhite line on it to represent the actual lacing.

The more fine the detail, the more muscle control you need. In a perfect world this should be a problem but I, like most people, over-tense our muscles when we’re trying to have control. Really it is preferable to relax. Not only will it save you some sore muscles but you’ll actually have control. I find that once I’ve painted something a few times I’m able to relax. This is another reason I just focused on the collars, to be able to just relax into the painting.

Another tip is to thin the paint and use a couple of coats if needed. The paint will flow better. Often with a fine brush the paint tends to dry in the bristles, so I also add extra Slow-Dri. Finally, make sure you unload your brush before you begin. There’s nothing worse than flooding the fine detail you’re trying to paint.

The most challenging part of these miniatures is turning out to be the crossbelts and various straps. The Victrix miniatures have nice, fine detail with straps closer to a scale thickness than a metal miniature is capable of. The downside is they aren’t as raised, and harder to pick out. Compound this with the fact that my chosen basecolour doesn’t cover in a single coat. I’ve added two coats of a mix of buff and white. Right now I’m waiting for a shading wash to dry. I may have to put on a second wash to strengthen it, so I’m waiting for the first to dry.

One of the differences between this technique and my old technique is I’m not leaving such thick black lines for blacklining. This means I’m relying more on shading for differentiation between surfaces than normal. I’m worried that the washes I’m doing won’t be strong enough and may have to come back in and line in my blackline with a thin black wash. Unfortunately this is going to slow me down.

When I painted the red of the jackets I put a little red in the small areas between straps I normally leave black. This means there isn’t an existing black line to leave. I think next time I will add the black back in after painting the jacket, but before painting the straps. It’ll be easier since I don’t need as fine a line, but will help make the straps stand out.

Tyler

Every free second I’ve had this weekend I’ve wanted to paint these Victrix figures. The anticipation of painting them helped me power through the last of my WWII Canadians. Now that I’m actually painting them I find that I am enjoying the process even more than I expected. Sure, I was looking forward to painting them, but I didn’t think they would be this fun.

I am assembling a box of Victrix British Peninsular Center Company. At first I was planning on assembling the entire box; all 52 miniatures. I started even before I finished the Canadians, but once I’d finished painting them I got bored of just assembling every night. I had put 22 together which sure looked like a lot on the painting table, but wasn’t yet half of the box.

I drew three 60mm by 60mm squares on a scrap piece of floating floor I use as a tray and started planning my units. The Victrix box is comprised of four copies of two sprues. At first I was planning to build each sprue from start to finish before moving on to the next. However, after thinking about how I want each base to look I realized that I needed to pick and choose based on the collection of poses I wanted.

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I’m not 100% decided on what unit I’m going to paint these figures as. At first I was going to paint them as the 41st from Queenston Heights. However, I’m no longer convinced that the Incorporated Militia received Belgic shakos. The only reference I have says that they received shakos, but not what kind. It’s possible that they received surplus Stovepipe shakos instead of  new belgic shakos. If at some point I find out contrary I’ll paint then again with the proper headgear.

Of course, I’m still left with the problem of only needing 30 figures. Perhaps I’ll use any leftovers to expand the 49th Foot I have painted for use in skirmish gaming.

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I am trying a new painting style, even though I’ve been satisfied with what I’ve been painting lately. It’s plenty good, but I think I can be better. Specifically I am missing a little nuance of shading that my current role model David Imrie achieves in his painting. I’ve poked and prodded to find out what I’m missing and I think it comes down to washing and a fourth highlight. Mr. Imrie brushes on Army Paint Strong Tone after painting on his middle colour. Once this is dry he follow with another coat of his middle colour, this time as a highlight. The wash becomes two shades with a gradient, and he adds an extra highlight where needed. This results in more layers of highlights than is possible with merely painting on layers.

I am learning. The technique has worked the best on the flesh. While painting the pants I realized that adding some slow-dri to the wash helped it from staining surfaces. You can see the difference between the middle figure and the one on the right, where the right-most figure’s lower right (our left) leg is darker than it should be. The sculpting on these miniatures does a good job at catching the wash. I’m not sure if quite so many deep creases are natural for the crotches, but that’s certainly the common style.

So far this technique seems to be going fast. It’s very important to work from the inside out. Waiting for the wash to dry is a little annoying and may result in me stretching my legs from time to time. As I improve I expect to continue to speed up. I will be more familiar with the technique and the models.

Like my first attempts at the three layer technique I will learn lessons that can only be learned through practice. If I see as much improvement from this as I did from my first attempts at this I am excited for the quality of work I’ll be able to produce.

Tyler

Ho-hum. I’ve picked up the pace of assembly on my Victrix miniatures. This is partly because I’m getting used to the figures, and partly because I’m not trying to kill every single mold line. I was going over every millimeter and taking out even the tiniest mold line. It was overkill, most won’t survive priming. I also experimented with doing the major assembly before cleaning mold lines. This is especially good for the small arms that were hard to hold.

This should be good news, and it is. However I was flipping through the description of Lundy’s Lane in Osprey’s Niagara 1814 when I noticed some of the art commissioned for the book showed British troops in Belgic Shakos. That’s strange, I thought, so I researched further. It looks like the Stovepipe Shako was mostly extinct by 1814; and I’m assembling a big box of miniatures with Stovepipes right now.

Going through the five stages of grief I cast about for some way to use the miniatures I’d bought. Perhaps I could claim that one unit hadn’t received their new shakos yet. That didn’t sit well, and the more I read, the more I thought that all regular line regiments would have received the new design by 1814. Perhaps the militia? I could start with a unit of militia instead of the 89th Foot. A bust, the Sedentary Militia didn’t really fight at Lundy’s Lane and the Incorporated Militia had been issued new uniforms in 1813. It’s unlikely they’d have been given an obsolete shako.

My wife suggests, as I’m sure other level-headed practical folks will agree, that I just buy the proper miniatures. This is a good suggestion, especially as I obviously can’t stand the thought of using these figures for Lundy’s Lane. The problem is that I don’t want to just abandon this box of miniatures. Everything I buy gets painted.

So. What to do? First, I will take this battalion as an opportunity. It’s a practice run. I will try my hand at building a unit out of a variety of poses in a way that looks coherent. I’ve also committed to supplying some units for a game of Lasalle, so this will do as well as any other.

In the end, despite my brave face, it is an annoying setback. I’m one unit further away from completion than when I started.

Tyler

Welcome to part five of Picking My Battles, a continuing series of articles on selecting, planning and executing a wargames project. These articles started as a way to talk through the different battles I was considering, but will now follow my process in planning the scenario and armies I will need.

A map of the battle from The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 by Benson J. Lossing.

I actually made up my mind on which battle I wanted to model months ago. In the meantime I’ve been focusing on a WWII project that will be officially complete later tonight. I’ve already started assembling a box of  Victrix British Peninsular Center Company figures. I’m enjoying the process with a few reservations, which I will discuss in a later post of this series.

After reading through my source material and considering the advice of others I’ve decided to pick Lundy’s Lane as the battle I will model my forces on. In the end the deciding factor was the size, having multiple brigades per side, and the relatively even strength between British and Americans.

My biggest concern was that the battle wouldn’t be representative of the period due to the large amount of night fighting. Ranges will drop significantly and rules will be needed to represent both sides being unable to see their opponents. Instead of making this a problem I’m seeing it as an opportunity to create some interesting variants. I will be able to play the battle as it occurred and also ask “what if?” For example, what if the battle took place in full daylight? Would the Americans have been able to take the British guns, prompting Drummond to launch rushed counter-attacks that wasted his forces and lost him the battle?

I have only a rough idea of what I am doing at this stage. I haven’t decided which rules I will use for the game, or thought very hard about the terrain I will need to build. So far I am building the 89th Foot as a start to the project. I am also planning to use it in a collaboration game of LaSalle at the club, so I’ll get some use out of the miniatures right away.

I do have some goals that I should outline as a reminder while I build my plan.

1. Recreate the Battle of Lundy’s Lane in 1:10 scale.
2. Build each unit as a mini-diorama.
3. Complete my first unit by the end of September 2010.