David of TWC joins Brant and Jim of The Armchair Dragoons to talk about what brought about the Series 3 edition of Et sans résultat!, what makes ESR Napoleonics a unique offering, and what we’ve done specifically with “14-year old Jim” (vs 55-year old Jim) in mind to help gamers like we once were get into Napoleonics.

Check out the latest video from Little Wars TV where Miles and Greg outline seven tips for getting started in Napoleonic wargaming.

SPOILER: Tip #6 is get the ESR Campaign Guides!

Seems like everyone is weighing in on Iberia-1s3: To Assure My Dynasty, 1808 in Iberia! And… of course they are. It is the first of our ESR Campaign Guides to be updated to the new Series 3 format: hardback binding, all new scenario maps, added political and operational maps, drastically expanded uniform painting guide… there’s a lot to take in.

And the review by The GM’s Alcove at Dash of Elan is going to lay it all out for you!

The guys at CounterProductive Games are digging into the differences between the original and new Series 3 editions of Iberia-1: To Assure My Dynasty.

We’re so exited about the interest in ESR Series 3 – we’ve literally had to break shipments into waves to manage demand – that also led to us beginning to ship ESR Series 3 ten days early so we could get ahead of shipping pre-orders as soon as possible. As people have started receiving their rulebooks the last several days, quite a few are asking: “Where are the Stats?”

ESR Stat Cards

Whether you’ve been watching our announcements or looking through your new ESR rulebook, you obviously know that we’re publishing Card Decks for easy reference and convenient pickup games so that game runners and players alike don’t have to mess with rosters unless they prefer em. So one answer is: You can get Commander & Unit Stats from ESR Decks & Stats Packs. But you don’t have to buy card decks to get stats.

Free Summary Downloads

Players might have noticed that last month we published Commander Stats on our Downloads page and that there is presently a place holder for Unit Stats. We’ll be publishing Unit Stats just as we did Commander Stats for free download. So if you dislike cards for some reason, or maybe you prefer roster sheets, you’ll be able to pull down stats that way.

ESR Series 3 Campaign Guides

Thirteen months ago we began shipping our first ESR Series 3 Campaign Guide: Iberia-1s3: To Assure My Dynasty, 1808 in Iberia. Building up to the release of ESR Series 3, we had to get Iberia-1 and 1812-1 back in-print, but we didn’t want to have players buy a Campaign Guide just to realize a couple of months later they needed a new one updated for Series 3… so… we included Series 3 Stats (as well as 2nd Ed. Stats) in both Iberia-1s3 and 1812-1s3. Therefore, another answer to where Series 3 Stats can be obtained is from our Series 3 Campaign Guides.

But Why Aren’t They ‘Just’ Included in the Rulebook?

Honestly? Cost. We could have included Commander, Formation, and Unit Stats (as we did in 2nd Ed. via The Complete Player’s Guide) but we wanted to lower the cost of ESR Series 3 (which we did, by half, in addition to introductory pricing and upgrade pricing) and including them would have increased the size of the rulebook and its production cost along with its weight and cost to ship. Additionally, any ratings list we included necessarily couldn’t be exhaustive (the included lists in 2nd Ed. CPG-1 were big but still not exhaustive) because there are just too many factions/nations and Commanders, Units, etc… to cover. So, we decided instead to provide these Stats via three different methods: Cards, Campaign Guides, and free downloads, so that players could access them the way they most preferred. These offerings also have the benefit of not forcing each player to pay for (or download) all of the Stats when they only care about a subset.

OK, BUT WHEN WILL THEY BE LIVE‽‽

Yes, about that. We started shipping ESR Series 3 in waves ten days early to try and get ahead of order shipments as best as possible. Our plan was to have the Unit Stat summaries available for download by 31 March (planned release date) or just after, so that as players were receiving their rulebooks they’d be able to download Stats. We’re still aiming for that but obviously it won’t be exhaustive at launch. We’re focused on maintaining parity between our cards and downloads, so French, English, and Russians will be first up. Austrians are not far behind and we’ll be continuing to broaden the offering over time.

What the Heck is the ‘‽’ You’re Using in These Headings?

That’s an interrobang, basically just what it looks like, a mix of an exclamation point, i.e. a ‘bang’ and an interrogative, i.e. a question, used informally to express a mixture of the two motives/emotions.

The last 18 months have been difficult for the entire planet, but in our little corner of it we are thrilled to announce some good news. 1812-1: Master of the World, 1812 in Russia, Series 3

IS SHIPPING!

So what’s changed? Darn near everything.

1812-1s3: Master of the World, 1812 in Russia is the second of our new ESR Series 3 Campaign Guides and is by far the most beautiful product we’ve shipped to-date. So here is what to expect in 1812-1s3!

The Book

• 256 full color pages in a hardback case binding, the largest Campaign Guide we’ve ever produced.
• All new artwork, maps, layout, uniform plates, etc… with higher color fidelity and crisper images.
• Featuring 15 historical scenarios in a linked campaign.

The History

• The entire Campaign Guide was rewritten to tell the story of Napoléon’s most devastating campaign.
• Present tense briefings put the player in the place of the historical generals.

The Maps

• Featuring all new maps from a mix of rare and historical sources – including Russian sources previously unavailable to us.
• All new scenario maps, we’ve “zoomed out” to provide more space for approach and to standardize on several sizes.
• New “world” political map of the “Napoleonic World” – Europe and North Africa – showing the political boundaries in the year of the campaign.
• New theater maps showing the disposition of major forces at the onset of each campaign.
• New operational maps “zoomed in” for each scenario showing who was approaching the battlefield from where.

The Uniforms

• Greatly expanded Uniform Guide, (1812-1 had approximately 700 uniform images, 1812-1s3 offers nearly 3,000 images).
• Adding back views, footwear, sabretaches, drums, and horse furniture.
• Index of every historical unit involved in the scenarios and the number of game Units necessary to represent its peak size.
• Extensive notes covering historical unit structure, known uniform variations, and composition.

If you’ve previously pre-ordered Master of the World there is no need to reorder. If you have not received a shipment notification by now (20 October 2021), please e-mail us with your order number and we will verify the status of your order. Australian customers are an exception as Australia halted all inbound packages from the US on 17 September 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, we are presently monitoring the situation.

Questions?

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions about the Series 3 Campaign Guides.

Here at The Wargaming Company we are THRILLED to announce that after substantial delay, the first book in our *heavily* upgraded/revised/improved ESR Campaign Guide Series, Iberia-1s3: To Assure My Dynasty, 1808 in Iberia, Series 3, is

NOW SHIPPING!

So what’s new? Lots.

Iberia-1s3: To Assure My Dynasty, 1808 in Iberia is the first of our new ESR Series 3 Campaign Guides and sets the standard our future releases will follow. So here is what to expect in Iberia-1s3!

The Book

• 184 full color pages in a hardback case binding.
• All new artwork, maps, layout, uniform plates, etc… with higher color fidelity and crisper images.
• Featuring 13 historical scenarios in two campaigns.

The History

• The entire Campaign Guide was rewritten to tell the story of the start of the Peninsular War. We’re not expecting you to already know everything about the period. We want to be the starting point for your passion.
• You can’t tell the history of a military campaign without maps, and we’ve produced literally dozens of high resolution topographical and political maps for this title.

The Maps

• All new scenario maps, we’ve “zoomed out” to provide more space for approach and to standardize on several sizes.
• New “world” political map of the “Napoleonic World” – Europe and North Africa – showing the political boundaries in the year of the campaign.
• New theater maps showing the disposition of major forces at the onset of each campaign.
• New operational maps “zoomed in” for each scenario showing who was approaching the battlefield from where.

The Uniforms

• Greatly expanded Uniform Guide, (Iberia-1 had approximately 700 uniform images, Iberia-1s3 offers nearly 2,000 images).
• Adding back views, footwear, sabretaches, drums, and horse furniture.
• Index of every historical unit involved in the scenarios and the number of game Units necessary to represent its peak size.
• Extensive notes covering historical unit structure, known uniform variations, and composition.

If you’ve previously pre-ordered To Assure My Dynasty there is no need to reorder. If you have not received a shipment notification by now (3 February 2021), please e-mail us with your order number and we will verify the status of your order.

Questions?

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions about the Series 3 Campaign Guides.