No, I'm not providing one, so much as needing one. I have experience playing wargaming, but its pretty much limited to fantasy and science fiction gaming. Over the last couple of years, I've collected half a dozen Napoleonic and historic wargaming rule sets, including Shako 2, Black Powder, GdB, and of course, LaSalle.
Given the high quality of the rule sets, it appears to be a great time for a new players to enter Napoleonic gaming. Even with the new stuff, however, it seems very intimidating.
After having read LaSalle, it seems to be a relatively easy rule set to get into Napoleonic gaming, though I have also liked Shako 2, and Black Powder. Given the "army creator" in the back of the book, it also seems to have enough of a GW/PP/BF mechanic to get us non-historical gamers into it.
Anyway, I am looking for some advice and answers to questions.
1. When playing Napoleonics, do you generally recreate historical scenarios? Or, do players do "what if" scenarios?
2. There is a great deal of jargon in Napoleonics, from whether a rule set is at the tactical level, the brigade level, etc. etc. Is there some FAQ or Wiki that defines these types of terms?
3. I've looked at the forums here, the advice found in LaSalle and Shako II, and on the TMP boards regarding basing. Would the following basing idea be viable?
INFANTRY: 4 figures on a 1 1/2" x 1/2" base.
CAVALRY: 2 figures on a 1 1/2" by 1" base.
Artillery: 1 piece w/ 3-4 men on a 1 1/2" by 1 1/2" square base.
Also, with regard to the infantry base, should I instead use a single 1 1/2" x 1" base with 8 figures or just join the 4 figures together when needed.
4. With regard to basing, there is discussion of center and flank companies that is damn confusing to a beginner. Is the placement of officers, flankers, and center figures primarily an aesthetic thing or is their location critical to games (LaSalle and otherwise)?
5. I have ordered figures for the Peninsula theater of war, because I like the idea of having British and French with smatterings of Spanish and Portuguese. With regard to painting figures, my thoughts were to paint them as generically as possible, so I could use the miniatures for other campaigns. For example, for the British, Grey pants, red jackets, white piping and black hats. Do other do anything beyond that? When painting and collecting your forces, do you explicitly collect specific regiments?
6. Where do people get their bases? Is Litko the primary source in the United States? And, if so, do most use metal bases or wooden ones? And, for 15mm, which thickness is commonly used?
7. The use of movement trays? And, finally, with regard to basing, has anyone bases their figures 2x2 and then just used movement trays to go to 8 figures? Or, is that not really a viable approach?
Thanks for your help!