r/NapoleonicWargaming

Recently finished these up, they turned out really well and I'm really pleased with the black and yellow artillery. It stands out much better I think than doing the details in brass. I think that would have been too similar to the barrel.

I just wanted to order another box, but they seem to have disappeared from the wga website. Strange, since they are the perfect fit for the Sharpe Characters, they are currently releasing.

I’ve been posting more about European Warfare / HEW (though this term is no longer used), the old American Conquest–based Napoleonic mod, and a few people have started DMing me asking how to install or get into matches. So I figured I’d share another AAR — this time not a clean victory, but one of the more instructive losses I’ve played recently.

This battle was Dego, with me defending against Schooner. The basic situation was that I was under heavy pressure from a stronger attacking force, including dangerous artillery. Schooner had a large horse artillery battery that made counterattacking very difficult, especially once canister came into play.

My goal was not to sit passively and wait to be destroyed. I tried to fight an active defense: absorb the main attack, punish overextensions, counterattack where possible, and use terrain and towns to break up the enemy’s momentum. The new troop movement mechanics helped me in this, as I was able to concentrate all of my forces before Schooner was able to strike.

Early on, Schooner pushed hard and forced me to give ground. The pressure was real, and there were moments where his artillery made it very hard to move reserves or launch a clean counterstroke. But my defense had enough depth to pull back against his probing attempts. I launched large counter attacks in the east, hoping to break Schooner's attacking arm, but his artillery and more numerous reserves forced me to pull back steadily.

The most interesting part came later, when I managed to lure parts of his army into the town and punish them badly. For a while, it looked like the entire battle might reverse. His advantage had been reduced, his attack was becoming disordered, and my local counterattacks were starting to hurt. I was able to force back his attacking hook, but the constant pressure along the front forced me to sacrifice sectors of the front to buy time.

In the end, my active defense was not enough to completely turn his numerical advantage, and I was slowly ground down by the end.

Looking back, I probably needed to concentrate harder against the decisive target when the window opened. I had created real problems for Schooner, but I did not quite put enough force into the one blow that might have turned the battle. By the time I recognized how close he was to cracking, my own reserves were too exhausted and his artillery, particularly his battery of 6lb horse guns, was still too dangerous.

So the final result was a loss — but a very useful one.

What Dego showed me is that in HEW, defense is not just about holding a line. A good defense has to breathe. It has to counterattack, shift reserves, punish movement, and make the attacker pay for every exposed formation. But it also showed the danger of being too cautious at the decisive moment. If the attacker gives you a chance to break his fighting power, you may have to commit harder than feels comfortable.

That is one of the things I love about this mod. Even a loss can feel like a real command problem: terrain, artillery, morale, timing, reserves, and judgment all matter.

For anyone interested in trying the game/mod, feel free to DM me. There are still active players, and we are trying to make it easier for new people to get started.

If you are interested in these battles, I will leave the discords and install instructions here:

Hawks Discord : https://discord.gg/KW2fufWScG
European Warfare Series Discord: https://discord.gg/jgG5JGpjJt

Install and multiplayer setup instructions: How to Install European Warfare: Napoleonica (EW1 / HEW) and Play Internet Multiplayer : r/computerwargames