DBN 2.1

We bought the rules in 2008 but until today we did not have the opportunity to try them, thanks to a friend who based his old H&R Napoleonics in DBX bases. So we hastily assembled one French and one Russian armies of 12 points each and started a game using the rules of Attrition.

The game first already started and with the French HC having suffered one hit by the Russian artillery

On this occasion I commanded the French and easily beat my Russian opponent by finishing all his cavalry one by one (I was a bit lucky).

End of the game, with several units damaged.

In the end the game was a bit boring and disappointing, and we felt the attrition rules added nothing really interesting to the game. Also, my friend was totally against the rules and role the authors gave to light infantry, stating they had no idea about it.

For the second game I commanded the Russians as attackers, this time without the attrition rules, and the game was faster, more tactical and fun. Actually, the more the game closed to its original form (DBA) the better it was.

Initial deployment with Russians at the bottom

My cunning plan of attack was ruined by a series of catastrophic rolls and I lose miserably to the French.

Russian forces about to charge French line.

Two things we liked of the rules were the compulsory move of the attacker and the two extra pips it has in the first turn. I did not find the ruleset so bad as my two friends did, but I liked much more DBA than DBN for sure.

In the end I was happy with this result as it saved me of buying and painting a Napoleonic army! :D