1805-1814

[saddletank]

May I ask why you chose these two years as the boundaries of the game's time period? Both seem a strange choice for me. I would love to see Bonaparte's 1796 Italian campaign handled in a simulation, and also the 1799 Russian campaigns in north Italy and the Alps are an interesting period. What led you to choose 1805 as the start point, rather than trying to cover the whole career of Napoleon as a commander (i.e. 1796 start) or the whole wars from the time of the Revolution (i.e. 1789 start).

And 1814 is a very odd choice to end the game's coverage. Is there a personal or political reason why you didn't try to cover the 1815 campaign? Surely the inclusion of a Waterloo campaign would have attracted more customers as trying to win as the French has to be the oldest wargamers fantasy ever.

Cheers
Martin

[Link]

I’ll take the liberty of answering your question until JMM shows up.  

1805 is not so odd considering that Austerlitz was Napoleon’s first battle as emperor and the reason for 1814 is simply because the Brits and Prussians are not in the game.

So why is the Brits and Prussian not in the game? Well you have to draw the line somewhere and having the major combatants to France i.e. Russia and Austria is the highest priority.

Sure, I would love to have the Brits and Prussians in there too. However I’m confident there will be an addon if this game sells well and I know this because I asked this question myself some time ago and got this answer (more or less).  :wink:

Pre 1805 would be nice too.      

JMM, is there something you like to add?

/Lars L.

[JMM]

May I ask why you chose these two years as the boundaries of the game's time period? Both seem a strange choice for me. I would love to see Bonaparte's 1796 Italian campaign handled in a simulation, and also the 1799 Russian campaigns in north Italy and the Alps are an interesting period. What led you to choose 1805 as the start point, rather than trying to cover the whole career of Napoleon as a commander (i.e. 1796 start) or the whole wars from the time of the Revolut ion (i.e. 1789 start).

Why 1805.. The beginning of the empire! The database* is very important. For example, each colonel is matched with his regiment for France, Russia and Austria. And we had to choose a boundary... But, I think it's possible there will be an add-on for the previous epoch...

(1150 regiments for 17 countries, 4000+ names of chief, 550 uniforms, 67 different helmets.. Sometimes, there are 2 uniforms for a regiment.. for example, white or blue for French Line infantry (bicorne or shako).. austrian with helmet or shako..)

And 1814 is a very odd choice to end the game's coverage. Is there a personal or political reason why you didn't try to cover the 1815 campaign? Surely the inclusion of a Waterloo campaign would have attracted more customers as trying to win as the French has to be the oldest wargamers fantasy ever.

Cheers
Martin

Why 1814... Because there isn't english troops in this first part..

To be honnest, I am no sure there was another game with the spec of Les Grognards.. It's possible to say : arghhhhhh all isn't in this wargame.. But it's possible to say : arghhhhhhhhh there is an huge potential with this game...
Maybe I always say the same thing (   I am an old man ) but with the 3 editors, you can create a lot of battles.. I am no sure you can find any other game like Les Grognards (I don't want to list my competitors.. you can seek, and if you find it, say it  :wink: )

I think there will be a second part with all other countries : England, Spain, Portugal... (if you like Les Grognards :wink:)

To summarize, I had to choose 2 boundaries.. 1805..1814 I hope I answer to this good question :wink:

JMM

[Lars, All is right.. just I began my answer 1 hour ago.. and I am finishing.. )

[saddletank]

Oh no. Argh! No British troops, so no Peninsula campaigns and no 100 days! Agh! I had no idea you'd limited the main nations to France, Russia and Austria.

No Prussia means no 1806, 1813 or 1814 campaigns.

This is a huge blow to my morale. This really reduces the scope of this game I fear.

I personally would prefer to see a game much trimmed down in functionality and variety of units/uniforms but including the five main combatants of the period.

I honestly cannot understand how you could approach so wonderful a game design without including the main parties to the wars.

How realistic (on a scale of 1 - 10) is the release of an add-on that will include Britain and Prussia?

Cheers
a very unhappy
Martin  

[Link]

I know how you feel Martin because that was my reaction too.  

However if Les Grognard succeeds there will be an add-on but it depends on us to hang in there and to be supportive. Even though I will get the game for free I’ll buy a copy just to make my contribution to the success of Les Grognards.  

When the demo comes out you can judge for your self if the game is worth it or not. If you like it then by all means buy a copy. I think you will have a lot of fun with the battles you actually can play like Austerlitz, Borodino, Friedland, Eylau and more. With the editors you can create endless numbers of new battles. If you don’t like the demo then battles like Waterloo will not make any difference.

As for the probability for this add-on my personal judgment is somewhere between 8-9 based on inside information I can’t discuss.  :wink:

The reason why I stick to Histwar is that Les Grognards is still the best Napoleonic game there is even without the Brits and Prussians and considering the responsiveness of JMM the game have potential to be even better.  

Histwar is dedicated to the Napoleonic era so more Napoleonic games will follow as long as there is customers for it.  

/Lars L.

[JMM]

Bonjour Lars,
Bonjour Martin,

Just an information... There are some Prussian regiments in this first package... Eylau!
Probability is huge... I don't imagine that Les Grognards isn't a success.

JMM

[saddletank]

Thank you gentlemen, I understand the need to support products like Les Grognards that completely break the mould of existing game types and gaming styles. It's also encouraging that an add-on to include other nations is a distinct possibility.

I am pretty sure I will buy the game regardless as it seems so groundbreaking in it's way of tackling the subject.

My fear is that while wargamers will understand, the general public will not. I would like nothing more for the game industry in 10 years time saying things like "At first there came the Total War series and no-one thought wargaming on the PC could get any better...but then came Les Grognards series and the way we thought about battles on the computer took a whole new turn..." but I worry that this sort of comment will never be heard if the game isn't bought by NON-WARGAMERS, the average street customer who will be concerned that they are buying a Napoleonic game that has no battle of Waterloo in it.

The public can be very fickle and narrow-minded with things like that.

Just a sort of market forces prediction for you.

Cheers guys
Martin

[Cantonese]

Hi Martin,

One simple note :

If the public is absolutely willing to buy games that deal with Waterloo, there are plenty of them in stores.
But we must admit that most of these games are crap realizations. Why ? Because developers just focused on the variety of armies and not on tactical issues.

IMO, I don't bother wether British or Prussian would appear in the first release of "Les Grognards". The most important is that JMM writes a fully functional software giving us the ability to really re-enact battles of these times.

I'm quite sure that it is a larger burden to write proper code than to add armies.

I hope that most of this burden is now behind JMM and we look forward playing THE game.


Cheers
Canto

[JMM]

"At first there came the Total War series and no-one thought wargaming on the PC could get any better...but then came Les Grognards series and the way we thought about battles on the computer took a whole new turn..."

  Sound good..  

But no sure this (a) wargame (just with a tactical level) can reach the top (with or without English army in its package) :wink:

Wait for the next game... Les Grognards is the 'first floor' of the house. This part is very important because the AIs have to manage a lot of units.. Without this spec, it's not possible to make a nice real time wargame. It's the basic stone (and I believe the most difficult)...

Wait for the public annoucement from the publisher.. I believe after that, it's possible some people (1 or 2   ) are interested by Les Grognards...

JMM

[saddletank]

Wait for the public annoucement from the publisher..

Are you able to give us a hint of when that might be...?

[Le Tondu]

.......I personally would prefer to see a game much trimmed down in functionality and variety of units/uniforms but including the five main combatants of the period........................Martin  

JMM,

I prefer that we keep all the functionality and do the add ons later.
Rick

[Le Tondu]

Wait for the public annoucement from the publisher..

Are you able to give us a hint of when that might be...?

Great progress is being made.  JMM is one of the few game developers that shows his progress as he makes it in the form of AVIs.  I recommend saddletank that you return now and then and take a look.  Sometimes doing that can give you quite the pleasant surprise.

Its taking time and rushing to get it done quickly is not getting it done right.  Too many games end up in that category, unfortunately.