#napoleonics

[oldschoolfrp]

Dragon magazine 26, June 1979, featured GDW's wargame System 7 Napoleonics on the cover and in 4 articles -- a review, system analysis, designer's comments, and Q&A with designer Rich Banner. System 7 was a hybrid of board and miniature wargames, played on a table without a board but using cardboard counters to represent the formations of units. The aim was to get players playing immediately without spending weeks painting miniatures.

Other articles covered TSR's William the Conqueror: 1066 board game, D&D, Boot Hill, Empire of the Petal Throne, FGU's Lords & Wizards, and Avalon Hill's Starship Troopers.

The origins of D&D were rooted deeply in historical miniatures campaigns, and TSR originally catered to the wargaming community as a core part of its audience. TSR was founded to sell D&D but its first publications were historical miniatures rules, and Dragon magazine continued to include historical gaming topics for years, gradually reducing its coverage in favor of more D&D content and other TSR RPGs.

[mortallyminiaturewerewolf]

November Mini Challenge 1/30

So I'm gonna try and complete* 1 mini a day for all of October. First up is this ""French"" Officer for Silver Bayonet, the Gothic Horror Napoleonic Wargame

He's painted up in something vaguely resembling the colours Légion Irlandaise (Irish Legion) This is somewhat a cheat as I had him basecoated for millennia, just had to finish the sword and give him a wash. Silver Bayonet seems like a fun system too, I will have to give it a go when I have these minis painted

*not counting basing or varnishing, I like to do those in large batches anyways

[rnsulentic]

Italy 1796 again. French attack driven off with loss.

[oneangryguardsman]

I have become grognard, destroyer of worlds

[amypihcs]

Excerpt from ‘Gioacchino Murat e l’Italia meridionale’ -- presentation of the King

Sooo guys. Some time ago i got a book, ‘Gioacchino Murat e l’Italia meridionale’ which was introduced to me by @joachimnapoleon and after reading it I thought of making a post about it. Hope you will enjoy it!

So let’s get started! In the third part of the book we have a focus on the people who actually governed Naples, starting with the King and the Queen and proceeding with the ministers, describing how their personalities fitted in their roles and how they actually got their work done; this post will be about our favourite King of Naples, Joachim Murat. (the mistakes in the translation are entirely mine)

Here the original text in italian

 Much has been written on Murat, but in a discordant manner.  While French historical tradition appreciates the magnificent soldier and exalts his deeds on one hand, on the other hand it sees too much of him as the traitor of Napoleon and of France in 1814 and so it’s brought to judge him with excessive severity; being worth of all Espitalier and Garnier who in his recent ‘Murat roi de Naples’ uses a caricatural tone that cannot not harm the seriousness and the accuracy of the judgment. The Italian liberal tradition is in his favour instead because it mainly appreciates the man of proclama di Rimini and the man of the 1815 constitution: while in reality Murat decided about creation of it lately and reluctantly, brought there by his entourage, as the only thing that could still give a chance of realization of his ambitious dream of his kingdom's conservation and expansion. However, the concept of the state that Murat must have had – a poor concept, even if it can be called such – seems to us paternalistic and absolutistic: he wished he could say ‘l’état ce moi!’ like Louis XIV but in a generous and good-natured manner. Being said so, for us Murat is neither Napoleon’s bad copy, as the French writer judged him, nor Italy’s paladin of independence and unity, as in Manzoni’s Il proclama di Rimini.

But, since we are interested in him as the head of the Neapolitan government, where he brought his personality, we’ll try to draw this one by using mainly our unpublished sources.

AAAAAND HERE WE START GUYS!!

In them Murat is revealed to us as an enthusiastic and naive (and this is sure not a positive quality for a head of government); ambitious and vain in a somewhat childish way, impressionable and susceptible to the influences of those who surround him: be them the man from the Napoleonic court or the italian intellectuals; or even the good cossaks from Russia, who went to tell him of their enthusiastc admiration. But he’s sincere in his changeable resentment of men and of the environment in which he lives: honest if he says he loves Napoleon, even when he disobeys and detaches himself from him; sincere in trusting the allies, and then grieving of the deception that they brought him; true in sharing the feelings of italianness of some of the best in his retinue, as in the disappointment of the abandonment by the Italian patriots and his generals, who are full of encouragement and good words, but when it comes to acting they draw back and criticize him. His greatest enemy, Lord Bentick, believed him, why shouldn’t we?

Murat loves his subjects, and believes he understands them. Berthier, who loves him, has warned him that Napoleon told him “Murat gave me some services, but works to weaken their merit by not following my system. The king of Holland has lost himself by forgetting France and Frenchmen to be Dutch. The Realm of Naples will lose itself if it doesn’t follow the empire, which it is a part of”. And begs him to shut his ears to ‘perfidious’ advices, and tells, even while knowing that this will be painful for him: “Neopolitans are Neopolitans, make them French. Don’t do anything that’s not for the Emperor and for the Empire”. Murat defends his Neopolitans, and Writes to Napoleon: “May I say, this country is not well known to you” (and this was truth because Napoleon has never known or appreciated Neopolitans); “His inhabitan’s character is completely oriental, a nothing sways it, a nothing bring it to the two extremes”; and elsewhere “VM has a too bad opinion of the Neopolitans, VM believes that 12000 Englishmen could kick me out from the kingdom, I’ve known them for three years, and I esteem them more, and I don’t fear the English”. And adds with an Irony that doesn’t lack finesse: “Let’s admit that 12000 English would manage to beat all the Neopolitans. There are 25000 French ”from the occupating troops“ and then you will come here in forced marches to rescue me”.

Ooops naps, how will you answer this?

The fact is, Murat took his job as a king seriously, and “the king was not made to obey”, and even less to be subject to anyone; instead he has duties towards his subjects that are superior to the bonds like blood and gratitude. Nothing in his pure expression can be more expressive than a drawing that I saw on a paper in Naples’ Archive, drawn by the king’s hand, at the side of a note answering on the stern reprimands that came from France demanding the absolute severity in the application of the Continental Blockade: a little doll made of colored cardboard, with neither arms nor legs, filled with pebbles, which a poor Neapolitan mum put gave to her little girls so that they would have fun shaking them. Now there’s no more on the market. Was it what Napoleon wanted from him?

Murat was chivalrous, and may Guglielmo Pepe's words be the testimony; He nourished sensitivity and kindness of affections, as very intelligent daughter Luisa testifies in her Memoirs; he was not even insensitive to the suggestion of the first romantic currents, typical of his time: the relations with the Italian patriots prove it; and even the text of a song he wrote to escape the tedium in the breaks of war in Russia, poor testimony of poor vein: song that is there, between the His cards together with the music that for it composed the first squire, Carafa'.

Nor, like all truly courageous and generous, was Murat cruel, so we believe he speaks the truth when he excuses himself about the part he was said to have taken in the assassination of the Duke of Enghien: and some then wanted to see in the trial and death of Murat the coming of the true historical nemesis. He wrote - and we note it because this is of big interest that he was in bed sick when the decree of convocation of the Commission that was to judge the prince was brought to him, and to have told his wife, foreseeing the death sentence of the unfortunate man, that «he would rather be fighting, rather than signing the decree». He added that the list of commissioners was not written by him, but by the minister secretary of state; and that he learned of the sentence and of the execution only when the general commander the gendarmerie came to give him an account, as he was the governor of Paris.

We said Murat was basically naive. I bear proof of this: his behaviour at the council of the great dignitaries of the empire and of the members of Napoleon’s family, when he, repudiated Josephine, decided on a new marriage, and invited the summoned to give their advice about a choice between an Austrian archduchess, a Russian grand duchess, and a Saxon princess. There was a somewhat perfidious backstory, in which Napoleon’s brothers, hostile to Murat (Elisa and Pauline, on the other hand, had a liking for him) «because they had badly endured that a royal crown had been given to those who were not of the first branch of the family». And the emperor must have known something about the little ambush.

Murat was invited to speak immediately after the Archchancellor Combacérès who had shown himself to be unfavorable at the Austrian wedding, but with much circumspection. The king of Naples, however, spoke with conviction and warmth, and said he was in favour of marriage to a Saxon princess. Only when all were convinced of their marriage to an archduchess, did he realize that he was the only one to ignore the secret of the emperor, because Combacérès had to have an assigned part to better induce him to speak. And he also had the pleasure of grieving with his brother-in-law: When your determination was taken, why did I not know of the secret, why interrogate me, and expose me to the enmity of Austria and the Archduchess? You know that, after the marriage of Eugene, I am small partisan of the alliances of your family with the old dynasties».

Joachim had a boundless admiration and love for Napoleon. He, for his part, treated him as a good horse, which occasionally rears, but, will always remain in the subjection of the master, knowinghowtohandleit. But the emperor often lacked tact in the relations with his brother-in-law, answering long silences with some scornful praises, and harsh reproaches, which sounded like stirrups for Joachim, sensitive and shady, and that much presumed of himself, as a warrior and as a ruler. In addition, the Emperor made enormous demands, which certainly met the needs of France, but they went beyond the possibilities of the realm of Naples, which were not as large as one persisted to believe. And the king felt he could not give in to the demands because that would be against the interests of the crown, in order to preserve which he was ready to make any sacrifice: even of his attachment to France and Napoleon. About which Carducci was right to write

“onda procellosa                                          procellous wave di Murat che s'abbatte a una corona.”         Of Murat falling to a crown.

It must be recognized that keeping that crown was a very difficult thing, even impossible for a poor politician like Joachim. Everything conspired against it: the lability of the diplomats of the coalition who acted with him as cat playing with mouse and ended up killing him without any static; the Neapolitan generals, demanding, presumptuous, unruly, who let themselves be lured by England. The Italian people’s inertia, for whose cause he had finally voted, believing that, with its independence, it would achieve its own independence, and with the unity of Italy, an enlargement of its dominion. It seemed to conspire against Murat even the exceptional temperament of the opponent, who seemed tailor-made to win the game last: that Ferdinand IV who, apart from the divine right and the solidarity of the other Bourbons, against the Joachim’s restlessness used his sly policy of doing nothing, only not to give in an inch, as well as waiting for the events to ripen.

Perhaps, in her great common sense, Madame Mère was right when she said that «Napoleon had been wrong in making a king; but Napoleon was not infallible, he was not the son of Mary, he was the son of Letizia».

I hope you enjoyed this and i thank @tairin​ for having been a real sweetheart in accepting to beta this and @joachimnapoleon​ for having talked to me about this great book... it took me a while to finish it but it was really a great reading!! I will probably try to translate some other passages so stay tuned... i suppose? 

[fulcrvm]

illya is so dramatic oh my god i love him

[ronon-dex]

how to recognise a mike flanagan show:

1. people saying 4 pages of dialogue to another person who will stare back at them, looking devastated

2. mike flanagan's wife looking unbelievably hot

3. gay activity

4. carla gugino scaring the shit out of someone

5. just the worst gore you have ever seen. only for a few seconds. but christ it will stay with you

[lenny-link]

TF2 x Steven Universe ⭐️

guess who’s bacc with another crossover au that nobody asked for 😎

pls dont ask me about lore/story/drawing fusions i have no idea i just wanted to draw the mercs as gems lol

but id love to hear ur ideas!

edit: if you ever wanna draw about this go ahead! just tag me :)

[toxtricitylow]

playing around with some historical french fashions on furina (+ neuvi).. I think she should always get big silly hats

18th+19th century mens fashion is one of my fav fav fav things is ever so this was fun 🫡 love being fashion history neurodivergent

[mikeflanaganuniverse]

You have GQ, USA Today, and PC Gamer tomorrow.

[mexicanwanderingsoul]

[fake-destiel-news]

This was NOT on my 2024 bingo card

Here is what the museum had to say about it because it’s funnier than any news article

[verdet-cadet]

RIP Napoleon, you would have loved Costco

[rnsulentic]

River assault!!

[headgehug]

I mean I guess you could say I'm pretty popular. my tumblr mutuals interact with like two of my posts a day.

[amypihcs]

AAAAND another one of my mad AUs

Music? On and rocking Courage? Mustered Dignity? Already waved her goodbye OK i’m ready. Apparently summer, having to study for exams i dislike and most of all reading nice books that send me in hyperfixation with the characters give me IDEAS™. After some time spent convincing myself to do it i’ve finally read The Three Musketeers and having loved it to FOLLY, i CLEARLY devoured also Twenty Years After and started the Viscount  of Bragelonne (Athos, i love you, but we’re not talking of you, forgive me my man). This new obsession tonight coupled with my ever present love for LOTR and Silm and since APPARENTLY heat goes up to my head, i thought:

Ok, here we have Aramis, ridiculously always good looking, even at like... 20 years from the first time we meet him he is THE SAME AS ALWAYS and in the Viscount for the little i know for now he didn’t age much either, Devilishly good with horses AND swords (eggrazziearcazzo, you may say, he’s a MUSKETEER) with almost ZERO impulse control (Athos works as impulse control for them, actually) but GREAT cold blood, can apparently sing quite well, some disregard for rules and some great agility and effort in actually always managing to break one of two of those and... oh look, all the boxes check and hear me out. Aramis. Being. MAGLOR FEANORION!!  I talked about this with my darling @tairin, my nice sis who i love and thank very much for being always there to hear me rambling about my obsessions and not having killed me yet. And she is even more of a genius than i suspected! (@joachimnapoleon​ please don’t kill us) She made me give a second check to who ELSE checked all the boxes and here, the illumination.  Good looking Incredible with horses Apparently skilled in verses/songs Devilish with a sword some disregard for rules NOT imposed by himself Joachim Murat. Being Maglor Feanorion.

Tolkien fandom out here (@thiswaycomessomethingwicked​ i get you’re one of us?) tell me if maglor wouldn’t have a portrait of himself like this one of our darling jojo, c’mon! He checks out also the diva personality!! 

Anyway, this was my new silly AU, don’t kill me please, i still have to pass biochemistry and see confirmed my credits for cmcf, i’m too young to die and my cats would miss me😂  I hope you at least laughed a bit form this one silly thing.