A decade of buying rule books, reading histories, acquiring starter boxes, and planning grand campaigns. Ten years of imagining epic battles sprawling across tables, Austerlitz, Jena, Wagram, Borodino.
But I'd never actually played a proper game.
The problem was obvious from day one. What I truly wanted was to recreate the grand, sweeping battles that define the Napoleonic period. Not skirmishes with a dozen figures. Not company-level actions. I wanted to see multiple corps maneuvering across European landscapes, cavalry charges breaking infantry squares, artillery grand batteries softening enemy positions.
That meant I needed armies. Massive armies.
A single French corps requires at least 200 figures. Infantry battalions, cavalry regiments, artillery batteries, command elements. And that's just one side. For a proper historical battle, I needed French forces and at least one opponent, Austrian, Russian, Prussian, or British.
The mathematics became daunting quickly. Four hundred figures minimum for a modest engagement. Six hundred for something more substantial. A thousand or more for the battles I really wanted to recreate.
Traditional plastic figures required individual assembly. Then painting, researching uniform details, choosing colors, applying basecoats and highlights, painting equipment and faces. Each figure demanded 30-60 minutes of work. Even if I painted efficiently, we're talking hundreds of hours before fielding a single army.
I chipped away at it slowly. A battalion here. A cavalry regiment there. After eight years, I had perhaps 150 painted figures scattered across multiple projects. At that rate, I'd be ready to game properly around 2035.
Then everything changed.
The Solution I Didn't Know Existed
I stumbled across WoFun Miniatures while researching Napoleonic resources online. The concept seemed almost too good to be true.
Pre-printed miniatures. Full-color artwork by Peter Dennis, the renowned military illustrator whose work appears in Osprey Publishing's extensive military history series. Figures you simply press from plexiglass sheets and insert into bases. No assembly. No painting. No months of preparation.
The 10mm Napoleonic collection offered complete armies for all major combatant nations, French, Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and British forces from 1805 through 1815. Individual army packs provided everything needed for single nations, while comprehensive options included every army together.
I was skeptical initially. These weren't traditional 3D miniatures. Would they look acceptable on the table? Would I regret not having "proper" painted figures?
But I had to face reality. My collection approach wasn't working. Eight years of sporadic painting had produced nothing playable. I was collecting, not gaming. The hobby had become an endless preparation phase with no actual gameplay.
The trade-off seemed clear. I could spend another decade painting traditional miniatures and maybe, maybe, eventually play some games. Or I could assemble ready-to-play armies in hours and start gaming immediately.
I ordered the French Army Pack and Austrian Army Pack.
When the packages arrived, I spread everything across my table. The French pack contained 1,888 figures on 9 plexiglass sprues. The Austrian pack delivered similar numbers. Together, these represented complete armies capable of fighting historical battles from the 1809 campaign.
Assembly was astonishingly simple. Press figures from their sheets, no clippers required, they separate cleanly by hand. Insert into pre-cut MDF bases. Occasionally add a tiny drop of glue for extra security. That's it.
I assembled both complete armies in approximately two hours.
Two hours versus the years I'd been planning.
When I stood back and looked at completed battalions ranked on my shelf, the visual impact surprised me. Peter Dennis's artwork captured uniform details beautifully. The figures looked cohesive and historically accurate. The 10mm scale meant I could field properly sized formations, battalions that actually looked like battalions rather than undersized companies.
Choosing My Campaign: 1809
With armies assembled, I needed scenarios. I wanted historical battles with proper context, not generic "meeting engagement" games but recreations of actual engagements with real stakes.
The 1809 war between France and Austria provided perfect opportunities.
Austria had been defeated in 1805 at Austerlitz and forced into humiliating peace terms. But by 1809, with Napoleon distracted in Spain and Prussia crushed, Austria saw opportunity for revenge. Archduke Charles reformed and modernized the Austrian army. New tactical doctrines emphasized flexibility over rigid linear tactics. Troop quality had improved through better training.
When Austria declared war in April 1809, Napoleon was caught strategically off-balance. His main army was spread across Germany under various subordinate commanders. He needed to concentrate forces rapidly, defeat Austria before other coalition members could mobilize, and restore French dominance in central Europe.
The campaign produced some of Napoleon's finest operational maneuvers but also his first clear tactical defeat. The battles ranged from small corps-level engagements to massive two-day bloodbaths involving over 300,000 soldiers.
I discovered Little Wars TV's free 1809 Blücher campaign system online. This comprehensive resource provided historical background, campaign maps, orders of battle for major engagements, victory conditions, and linking mechanisms connecting individual battles into strategic sequences.
Perfect. I had armies, scenarios, and historical context. Now I needed rules.
Blücher: Grand Tactical Napoleonics
I chose Sam Mustafa's Blücher rules for several reasons.
First, Blücher emphasizes division and corps-level operations rather than battalion-level tactics. Units represent brigades or divisions. This abstraction allows handling large armies without excessive complexity. A game with eight or ten divisions per side plays smoothly in 3-4 hours.
Second, the rules streamline command and control challenges. Each commander has limited activation capacity. You can't simply move every unit every turn. Prioritization becomes crucial. Do you activate your cavalry reserve to exploit a breakthrough? Or reinforce a crumbling defensive position? Or bring fresh troops forward from the second line?
Third, Blücher uses a card-driven momentum system that creates natural battlefield friction. Attacks don't always succeed as planned. Defensive positions sometimes hold longer than expected. The ebb and flow of battle emerges organically from game mechanics rather than scripted events.
The rules abstract certain elements, individual battalion formations, detailed fire combat procedures, specific weapon types. But those abstractions serve a purpose. They keep games moving and allow focusing on operational decisions rather than tactical minutiae.
For someone who wanted to recreate grand battles, Blücher fit perfectly. I wasn't interested in whether specific companies deployed in line or column. I wanted to experience the challenge of coordinating multiple corps attacks, managing limited cavalry reserves, and positioning artillery for maximum effect.
Aspern-Essling: Napoleon's First Defeat
My first scenario recreated the Battle of Aspern-Essling in May 1809.
The historical situation was dramatic. Napoleon had occupied Vienna but needed to cross the Danube to engage Archduke Charles's main Austrian army. The river was flooding, making bridging operations difficult. Napoleon established a pontoon bridge to Lobau Island, then another bridge from the island to the north bank.
French forces began crossing on May 21st. By evening, two corps (Masséna's and Lannes') had reached the north bank and occupied the villages of Aspern and Essling. These stone-building villages provided defensible positions anchoring the French line.
Archduke Charles saw opportunity. The French were divided by the river with limited ability to reinforce rapidly. Austrian forces outnumbered the French troops north of the Danube. If Charles attacked quickly and aggressively, he might destroy the French bridgehead before Napoleon could bring overwhelming force to bear.
The battle opened on May 22nd with Austrian assaults against both villages. Fighting became brutal. Buildings changed hands multiple times. Artillery pounded positions at close range. Cavalry clashed in the center. The Danube bridge broke twice due to floating debris and Austrian fire rafts, temporarily cutting off French reinforcements.
By the second day, French ammunition was running low. The Imperial Guard arrived but couldn't decisively shift the balance. Marshal Lannes was mortally wounded by an Austrian cannonball. Napoleon finally ordered withdrawal back across the Danube to Lobau Island.
Casualties were roughly equal, about 23,000 per side. But strategically, Austria had won. Napoleon had been stopped, forced to retreat, and shown to be vulnerable.
For my tabletop recreation, I set up the villages as major terrain features using simple cardboard buildings. French forces deployed between Aspern and Essling with limited reserves. Austrian forces approached from three sides with numerical superiority but pressure to attack quickly before French reinforcements could arrive.
The scenario mechanics required French players to hold villages while managing ammunition limitations. Austrian players needed to coordinate attacks without excessive casualties, a Pyrrhic victory that crippled both armies wouldn't serve Austria's strategic interests.
My first game followed historical patterns closely. Austrian attacks gradually compressed French positions. The villages changed hands multiple times as reserve battalions counterattacked. French cavalry charged desperately to disrupt Austrian formations. Artillery duels blazed at murderous ranges.
The French player (my regular opponent) made excellent defensive decisions, refusing to commit reserves prematurely and using interior lines to shift forces between threatened positions. But attrition gradually weakened French combat effectiveness. When ammunition rules began restricting French firepower, Austrian pressure became overwhelming.
The game ended with French forces withdrawing in reasonably good order but clearly defeated. Historical outcome achieved.
Wagram: The Bloody Counterstroke
Napoleon spent six weeks after Aspern-Essling preparing his response. He reinforced the army to over 180,000 troops, assembled massive artillery parks, and planned a simultaneous crossing at multiple points to prevent Austrian concentration against a single bridgehead.
The crossing succeeded on July 4-5, 1809. Napoleon deployed forces across a broad front north of the Danube. Archduke Charles positioned Austrian armies along the Russbach stream, a modest defensive barrier running roughly east-west.
The Battle of Wagram opened on July 5th with probing attacks and artillery exchanges. The massive scale, over 300,000 soldiers engaged across a 20-mile front, created coordination challenges for both sides. Fighting continued into darkness without decisive results.
July 6th brought the climax. Napoleon assembled a grand battery of over 100 guns opposite the Austrian center. This massed artillery pounded Austrian positions for hours, softening defenses and creating gaps. Marshal Davout's corps attacked the Austrian left flank, threatening to turn their entire position. When Austrian reserves shifted to meet Davout's threat, Napoleon launched his main assault in the center with Masséna's corps and the Imperial Guard.
The breakthrough succeeded. Austrian lines bent and finally broke. Charles managed an organized retreat, but French victory was clear. Casualties exceeded 70,000 total, some of the war's bloodiest fighting.
My tabletop Wagram used the French Army Pack and Austrian Army Pack to field large forces. The flat, open terrain suited cavalry operations and artillery deployment. Both sides deployed multiple corps with powerful reserves.
The scenario emphasized coordination challenges. French victory required breaking Austrian lines before exhausting reserves. Austrian victory meant maintaining defensive cohesion while counterattacking effectively.
The game took four hours, long by modern standards but remarkably quick given the forces involved. The Blücher rules handled large armies smoothly. Command decisions mattered enormously. When to commit cavalry? Where to position artillery? Which units to activate each turn?
French grand battery tactics proved devastating. Concentrated artillery fire disrupted Austrian formations and created tactical opportunities. But Austrian counterattacks remained dangerous throughout. The outcome remained uncertain until the final turns when Austrian defensive cohesion finally cracked under sustained pressure.
The Transformation
Six months ago, I had ten years of collecting but zero completed games.
Today, I've fought through most of the 1809 campaign using the ready-to-play armies from the 10mm Napoleonic collection. We've recreated Aspern-Essling, Wagram, and several smaller corps-level engagements. Each battle taught lessons about Napoleonic warfare, the importance of reserves, artillery positioning, cavalry timing, command limitations.
The accessibility transformed everything. No months of painting. No friends declining to participate because preparation seemed overwhelming. Just press figures from sprues, base them, and play.
Peter Dennis's artwork ensures historical accuracy. Uniform details are correct. Equipment matches period examples. The visual effect when formations deploy creates impressive spectacle even at 10mm scale.
For anyone who's dreamed of commanding Napoleonic armies but felt daunted by traditional preparation requirements, this collection offers a genuine solution. The full pack with over 8,700 figures represents every major army from the period. Individual army packs provide nation-specific forces. The Hundred Days Campaign pack delivers everything needed for Waterloo and the 1815 campaign.
The barrier between aspiration and reality has disappeared.
My decade-long dream of recreating grand Napoleonic battles became achievable reality in a single weekend. The miniatures are assembled, stored efficiently on a single shelf, and ready for deployment whenever inspiration strikes.
History awaits your command. The drums beat. The eagles are raised. The great captains prepare their plans.
Will you answer the call?
by Raul-Andrei Racolta