DBN - 1809 French

De Bellis Napoleonics, DBN, is a terrific game. It is produced by KISR Productions and available from their site at DBN Wargaming. It is a stand alone game, developed from De Bellis Antiquitatis, that allows for us to quickly fight Napoleonic battles.


I hear ya, you purists out there, wargaming sacrilege. But the simple truth is that this is a good and fun game that allows me to actually play with my Napoleonic miniatures! An extra strength of the game is the excellent "large battle DBN" aspect. DBA/DBN have some simple yet elegant mechanisms - some of which have not been matched by other rule sets - for command and control. DBN takes it a little further with some fine optional rules allowing for better (or worse) generals.

I can still play Black Powder with the miniatures owing to the forgiving figure-basing notions in that also excellent game.

Pictured below is a representative French army for the 1809 campaign in Austria. The various elements are described in the image, but what is nice is that only 8 of the elements are compulsory, allowing a player to then complete the army to suit his likes.

One neat aspect of the better trained light infantry in the game is that they can be deployed as light infantry or as muskets, even changing the deployment during the game. This is really good tactically as both types have some differing advantages. The French in 1809 also have some options for "elite" troops too.

This is only a fraction of the French (and allies - Bavarian, Italian, Saxon) that reside in the combined collection of my brother and I (which, luckily for me, lives at my house!). We have a ton of Austrians too.