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TITLE: Polemos Napoleonic General de Division (2006)

AUTHOR: Chris Grice

PUBLISHER: AdSigna Publications  www.adsigna.ca

PUBLICATION DATE: 2006

WEBSITE: Baccus Miniatures

There is also a Yahoo group that supports the entire family of Polemos rules sets.

PRICE: £15 (Includes Polemos Marechal d’Empire ruleset)

REVIEWED BY: Chris Grice (Author)

PERIOD COVERED: Napoleonic period.

THE BOOK: This is an A4, 84 page booklet including both Polemos General de Division and Marechal d’Empire rulesets. Covers and four central pages are in full colour, the latter comprising photographs of the rules in action. There are two card quick reference sheets, one for each set of rules.

SCOPE: These rules cover corps sized actions or smaller battles.

ARMY SIZE: A typical army would include 30 – 40 bases of figures. The rules are intended for use with 6mm figures and a base will accommodate four to six strips of 6mm figures.

BASE UNIT: A battalion of infantry, regiment of cavalry or battery of guns.

GAME SCALES:

• A base represents 100-125 yards by 50 yards.
• Time scale not specified.
• Infantry base represents a battalion of 400 – 800 men, a cavalry base a regiment or two or three squadrons and an artillery base 6-8 guns.
• Recommended figure size 6mm.
• Table size. Not specified, but recommend 6 feet by 4 feet.
• Game length – 3-4 hours.

BASING SIZES:

Bases must have a width to depth ratio of 2:1. The rules recommend 60mm by 30mm bases, but it is not vital that this is adhered to, so long as both armies use the same basing system.

TURN SEQUENCE:

 1. Tempo bidding (determines which player has initiative)

 2. Tempo player (i.e. player with initiative) bombardment phase.

 3. Tempo player allocates command points.

 4. Tempo player attack phase.

 5. Tempo player other moves.

 6 – 9. Repeats above for non-tempo player.

10. Outcome moves.

GAME MECHANICS:

At the start of each game turn, both players will attempt to gain the initiative. They have a number of Tempo Points, calculated according to the number of generals present with the army. Each player chooses to bid some of these points with the highest bidder gaining the initiative for that game turn. The points remaining are used to issue orders to the army.

Firing and close combat are regulated by D6, modified by circumstances of the action. The advantage will be with the player who best plans and supports his attacks, rather than trusting to chance.

ARMY LISTS:

The rules include an army generator section, which will give generate a typical force of approximately the size desired by the player, for the following armies:

• French, Austrian and Russian 1805
• Prussian 1806
• British 1812 and French Peninsular 1812
• Austrian and Russian 1814
• French, Anglo-Dutch and Prussian 1815

A sourcebook is currently in the course of production which will include, among other things, a series of new armies for the generator.

COMMENTS:

Some problems encountered during formatting meant that the first edition of the rules suffered from a relatively high number of production errors. An errata sheet is available on the Baccus website. The second edition of the rules is nearing completion (June 2008) and will address these problems plus add some new material.

The rule book also includes Polemos Marechal d’Empire, a ruleset for large Napoleonic battles. The same bases may be used for both rulesets.

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