Which campaigns should I buy?

[Rhetor]

I am thinking of buying some of the HPS games, but obviously I cannot afford all of them. My first choice would be Eckmuhl and Wagram, but I the others might also be interesting. The information on HPS site does not answer all of my questions.

Could anyone please tell me what battles exactly are included in the games? I guess that Eckmuhl covers the campaign from the beginning of hostilities till the capture of Regensburg. How about Wagram? Does it cover Aspern-Essling and Wagram only, or perhaps parts of the Italian campaign as well; it might be interesting to fight the second battle near Vienna without Eugene Beauharnais' troops because of some errors made on the way from Lombardy to Austria.

How about the others? Especially the Russian campaign seems to be very large - does the game include the initial futile attempt to trap Bagration or the battles on the wings of the Grand Army?

Somehow I don't find Jena and Waterloo so appealing; the latter mostly because it has been covered by virtually every Napoleonic wargame.

[Xaver]

Well, why you dont download the patches??? see the battle files, .scen archives.

[Rhetor]

Well, why you dont download the patches??? see the battle files, .scen archives.

Good idea; haven't thought of that.

After the first downloaded patch I can already report a "bug" in the oob file for Aspern-Essling and Wagram - namely Polish Guard cavalry regiment is named "Lancers" and armed with lances. That was not the case. First of all Polish regiment was officially named "Chevaux-legers" not "Lancers", and wasn't armed with lances until 1809. It performed one of its most famous charges - at Somosierra Pass in 1808 - without lances (even some Polish painters made a mistake here). During the battle of Wagram Polish chevaux-legers charged on an Austrian chevaux-leger regiment, which actually was armed with lances. Austrians fled, Polish troopers quickly picked up their abandoned lances, used them effectively in next charge and retained them.
Soon the exploits of Polish Vistula Uhlans convinced the French to create their own lancer units; Polish Guard regiment was renamed "Chevaux-legers-lanciers".

Getting back to HPS Wagram, I can see that there are a few battles of the Italian Campaign there :) Russian Campaign also seems to be large and interestingly expanded with hypothetic engagements, though the Campaign flow chart does not show that the battles on the wings of the Great Army are included. Perhaps these are only scenarios.

I guess I'd have to buy Eckmuhl, since as I read on Stephane Chicouri's page, all the mods work only before one of the patches; the tough question is whether I should buy Wagram or the Russian Campaign :D

[rahamy]

If you are going to get Eckmuhl for sure then I'd go for NRC as your second choice...gives you more variety, as Wagram is in 1809 also. There's a ton of content in NRC as well.

And yes, while Waterloo has been extensively covered it has never been done to the depth we did with this title. The map I created is monstrous and covers not only everything that historically took place during that campaign, but also tons of hypothetical situations. This site has a bit more information than the HPS page:

http://www.hist-sdc.com/waterloo/index.html

Oh, and a free expansion package was released with a larger OOB, more scenarios plus a whole slew of new company scale battles with appropriate maps.

[Rhetor]

If you are going to get Eckmuhl for sure then I'd go for NRC as your second choice...gives you more variety, as Wagram is in 1809 also. There's a ton of content in NRC as well.

And yes, while Waterloo has been extensively covered it has never been done to the depth we did with this title. The map I created is monstrous and covers not only everything that historically took place during that campaign, but also tons of hypothetical situations. This site has a bit more information than the HPS page:

http://www.hist-sdc.com/waterloo/index.html

Oh, and a free expansion package was released with a larger OOB, more scenarios plus a whole slew of new company scale battles with appropriate maps.

True, but still it is the most extensively covered campaign in the Napoleonic wargame world :)

I have read a bit about Jena though, and I see that there is a pretty exciting Russian hypothetical campaign. Tough call :)

[Gary McClellan]

In any case

Wagram has Wagram, Aspern Essling, Raab, Piave, Linz, and a few hypothetical scenarios.

Eckmuhl has the primary battles from Abensberg-Eckmuhl AND Sacile in Italy.

NRC has pretty much all the major battles of the campaign. Not only Borodino, but also small stuff like Salta Novka and Gorodetchna, as well as the Berezina for your suicidal Frenchmen :)

Waterloo has the expected. Ligny, QB, Wavre and Waterloo proper, as well as some of the other clashes along the way.

Jena has Jena, Auerstedt, the smaller clashes leading up, as well as some hypotheticals.

[Rhetor]

Thanks for all the answers.

One last question - I have downloaded the Jena patch and saw the solitaire scenarios. Could anyone tell me what exactly is a "solitaire" scenario vs. regular one? I usually play solitaire in BGs (though in hotseat mode with fog of war), and never felt the need of special scenarios.

Anyway, the current "winners" are Eckmuhl (for all the maps available in the community) and most probably the Russian Campaign.

[Lord_Valentai]

They are ones against a harder AI - greater enemy odds.

[Sgt_Rock]

In any case

Wagram has Wagram, Aspern Essling, Raab, Piave, Linz, and a few hypothetical scenarios.

Eckmuhl has the primary battles from Abensberg-Eckmuhl AND Sacile in Italy.

NRC has pretty much all the major battles of the campaign. Not only Borodino, but also small stuff like Salta Novka and Gorodetchna, as well as the Berezina for your suicidal Frenchmen :)

Waterloo has the expected. Ligny, QB, Wavre and Waterloo proper, as well as some of the other clashes along the way.

Jena has Jena, Auerstedt, the smaller clashes leading up, as well as some hypotheticals.


As well as Halle and all of the battles the followed the main two battles. You also get 40+ maps and over 400 scenarios. Plus a time scale that more accurately reflects the period using the game engine we have to offer.