Neil Thomas Rules for Black Powder Era Napoleonics Wargames

I’m not sure if or when I’ll get into Black Powder era wargaming, but it’s always interested me (mainly because of my love of the Horatio Hornblower books which fed my interest in the Napoleonic wars).

Anyway, was doing research for a friend on different rules systems for Napoleonics wargames, since I’ve always loved the simplicity of Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargame rules. It turns out he has FOUR different sets of rules that could be used for Napoleonic wargaming. Those are (listed from least complex rules to most complex rules):

• One Hour Wargames
• Simplicity in Practice (a set of rules in a Battlegame magazine)
• Wargaming: An Introduction
• Napoleonic Wargaming

A quick Google search will give you lots of discussion on these rules systems (for example, this one).

There’s a fairly active Yahoo group for all the Neil Thomas games here that has lots of resources, house rules, and discussion on this topic.

One day when I have more free time I’d love to give these rules more attention 🙂