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This game is very different to every other wargame I’ve played. The aim here is to try and allow the players to recreate major Napoleonic battles but with a relatively small number of figures. We are operating at the higher levels of command here, with divisions as the maneuver units, orders coming through corps commanders and the army’s commander in chief playing a major role in the battle.
I can see some wargamers having problems with the author’s approach to basing and scale. His view is that as the rules deal with divisions rather than smaller units then the only important thing is that everyone agrees on the scale to be used, and on the frontage of a division. At the NNmm scale the rules are written around each division has a frontage of 6in, with depth left up to the players (and dependent on the number of figures you own). If you are using smaller scale figures you can halve all of the distances (including frontage), or just stick to the rules as written but with lots more figures involved.
Units types are nice and simple – conscript, normal and veteran infantry, light and heavy cavalry etc, reflecting the focus on divisions. The gamer is encouraged to use their full range of painted figures on the table to increase the visual spectacle of the games, rather than as a key part of unit identification. The basic rules are the same for all countries, with advanced rules to give more of an individual feel to the nations.
The command system is interesting. At the start of the battle each corps commander is given an order, which they then have to follow unless they spend some of their élan, a very limited resource, to change it. A corps may be ordered to advance towards a particular hill, defend their part of the battlefield, delay for so many turns and then attack or try a flank march, arriving at a later turn on the side of the battlefield. The corps commander has to move directly towards the target of an attack, while the divisions under his command have more freedom but have to remain partly within his command range of 8in. The corps commanders have to remain within 36in of the army commander, giving us a proper chain of command. Each corps commander starts the game with a set level of élan, ranging from 1 to 6, and can gain or lose élan in combat. It can also be used to change orders, for re-rolls etc, but if élan is reduced to zero then that corps starts to retreat out of control. Terrain is important – there needs to be enough features on the map to act as the targets for advance orders. Small urban areas play a significant role here, reflecting the reality of the period – few battles took place in major cities, but most had villages or hamlets on the battlefield, and these could play a major role in the fighting.
National rules are nice and simple. Each major player gets a set of changes to the base rules, which sometimes change over time. France gets the most variety, with five different sets of rules, peaking in the 1805-1809 period with a bonus to command range, to the charge for most infantry and to cavalry attacks. There is a points system for setting up balanced fights, although the real aim to to try and recreat actual battles, so the sides are generally not going to be balanced, and victory in the game will sometimes be a case of holding off defeat for longer than in reality.
I would say that the author has achieved his objectives with this game. The relatively small number of units involved and the focus on divisions allows for quite large battles to be recreated with relative ease, and for games to be finished in a reasonable amount of time. The command system makes you think about your objectives at the very start of the battle, and also think carefully if you want to change a corps order, as that will use up some of your limited supply of élan.
Chapters
Basing Units
Core Concepts
Command and Control
Phase 1: Command
Phase 2: Movement
Phase 3: Shooting
Phase 4: Charges
Phase 5: Combat
Shooting and Combat Resolution
Advanced Rules
Tournament and Casual Play
Scenarios
Author: Boyd Bruce
Edition: Paperback
Pages:
Publisher: Osprey
Year: