point system quality

[danno81]

I was wonder how well balanced the point system is in regards to how much attention it was given? I like the look of armies from this era but I'm not fond of recreating historical battle. I've looked at other systems (e.g. Column, line, square and others) and found they heavily favor historical battles with points systems being included as an after thought at best if one is included at all. I play fog:am and fog:r, but have been told the napoleonic rules are quite different and that made me worry. Just wonder if anyone had any thoughts on this?

[Chasseur]

Hi,

The points system has been in use for quite a while now during playtesting. It is not an afterthought. As per FOGA and FOGR the rules were always intended to be used in competitions as well as friendly games.

There is no such thing as a perfect points system in any wargame because there are too many factors, such as style of play and tactics, that will influence the outcome of the game. However, from the many games I have been involved in during playtesting, the points system appears to be very balanced. No doubt after a while someone will find some troops that are slightly over- or under-costed. Happens in all games systems. But what helps the points system in FOGN is that the army lists are not a free-for-all, but require a variety of troops as per their historical basis. So any discrepancies that may exist in the points costs will be minimised.

Rest assured that plenty of thought and discussion went into the points system, but no one is claiming that it is perfect.

Cheers,
John Shaw

[danno81]

Thanks. I know no point systems are ever "perfect" I just wanted to make sure it was given attention. One more question while I'm at it: how is the system with smaller models? I know the older field of glory systems are written with 25mm and 15mm in mind. The modest amount of napoleonics I have are 10 mm old glory figures so thats why I ask. With FoG:AM I just based my Bacchus 6mm Romans on the bases scaled for 15mm and it seemed to work mostly fine. I was just wondering if they added some additional support for smaller scales since so many napoleonics players seem to love truely tiny troopers.

[Chasseur]

Hi,

5-10mm troops have 2 options in FOGN. One is to use their own base sizes and measurement distances.
The other is to mass up more troops and use the 15mm bases and measurement distances. This always looks fantastic, but of course means more painting.

The only thing to worry about is which option your likely opponents are going to use.

Cheers,
John Shaw

[MikeHorah]

Hi,

Rest assured that plenty of thought and discussion went into the points system, but no one is claiming that it is perfect.

Cheers,
John Shaw

As the author who spent most of his time on the lists I can absulutely second that for the number of times I have had to review and redo all the lists I had drafted up to that point to reflect and catch up with changes in the points from playtesting!

As one who generally prefers historical games I can share the view that no points system ( that I have found) is ever perfect . The need for some simplicity can drive out nuance sometimes and sometimes over complex points systems with too many troop categories can create a false impression of diversity in an army.