"All action in war .... is directed on probable, not on certain, results." [On War, Clausewitz 1968 Ed. p227]

Anschluss Publishing, 'Rivendell', Walthen Way, Marsharn, Aylesharn, Norwich. NR10 5PZ £ 4.85 +36p P+P

I'm not going to mess around here, but instead I will state from the outset that I don't like this set of rules. I fail to see the point of publishing these rules (other than to make money!) and cannot bring myself to recommend their purchase. Seldom, in recent years have I encountered a set of commercial rules that are so utterly devoid of innovation or new ideas. They seem to me to be a great leap backwards for wargaming, both in terms of simulation and in presentation. There are no new insights or mechanisms to further our knowledge and perception of how a Napoleonic battle actually functioned. No new tricks or chrome to give the feel of a Napoleonic battle on a grand scale. What these rules do contain in abundance are historical errors and weird design inconsistencies that make one question the authors knowledge of both game theory and Napoleonic history.

The major design glitch with these rules - and the one which stops them from working - is the lack of chance. None of the rules for command, firing, melee or morale contain any provision for the element of luck (in whatever form - dice, cards, draw chits etc).

This lack of chance has several important effects on the playability of these rules. Most importantly it makes them boring to execute! The excitement level is almost nil - you can calculate in advance the precise results of all of your firing, melee and morale in advance for both you and your enemies troops. This has the effect of making players feel like bystanders merely going through the motions rather than being an active participant in the events on the wargames table. Taking the element of unpredictability and fun out of the game does nothing for our entertainment (which is, after all, primarily why we are playing the game in the first place);

If. ... we were to give fixed results for fire effect we would arrive at a very unnatural situation. It would be possible to calculate the results in advance, and an important argument for forming a reserve, for instance, would go by the board. Such unnatural fire results would cause a thousand other mistakes to creep in, and the game would become more like a calculation exercise than a battle study." [Kriegsspiel, Von Reisswitz 1989 Ed. p61]

These words were written in 1824, in the first set of 'modern' wargames rules to be published and are obviously as relevant today as they were 167 years ago! I can think of no popular set of rules published since (and only two successful board-games - biplomacy and Warlord/Apocalypse) that do not contain a random element of some description. Perhaps one of the major reasons for this is that not only does this make a game unplayable but it is also totally at odds with reality;

"Only when the player has the same sort of uncertainty over results as he would have in the field can we be confident that the Kriegsspiel will give a helpful insight" [Kriegsspiel, Von Reisswitz 1989 Ed. p61

Again, this was written by a professional soldier who had actually served during the Napoleonic Wars w so presumably we can assume that he knew what he was talking about. Clausewitz, another officer who participated in these events, commented on several occasions on the importance of chance on the battlefield, for example;

"There is no human affair which stands so constantly and so generally in close connection with chance as war. But together with chance, the accidental, and along with it good luck, occupy a great place in war." [On War, Clausewitz 1968 Ed. p140]

"War is the province of chance. In no sphere of human activity is such a margin to be left for this intruder, because none is so much in constant contact with him on all sides. He increases the uncertainty of every circumstance, and deranges the course of events." [On War, Clausewitz 1968 Ed. p 116]

In fact, the element of chance or luck on the battlefield is a theme which Clausewitz refers to throughout his famous treatise "On War". If these two notable 19th Century officers both decided that luck was inseparable from war and wargaming then what reason does the designer of these rules give for ignoring reality?

"As the concept of these rules is 'Grand Tactical' the use of dice is made redundant, both due to its element of time wasting (throwing the dice, consulting innumerable charts etc) and the undisputed fact that luck on the battlefield was, and is not six eight or ten sided."

Oh dear. Firstly, in my experience with these rule, one spends most of the time fumbling through innumerable pages of troop listings to find the fire effect or morale of a particular unit - not much difference in speed I would suggest than rolling a dice, consulting a table and then removing a figure or two. Secondly, whatever random number generator is used, and whatever spread of results it gives are not particularly relevant - what is significant is that this range of results represents all of the possible outcomes of situation - and the probability of each occurring.

This is the stage where historical research and knowledge must meet game theory to produce a playable and realistic game system. This stage has not occurred with these rules - and means that they just do not work in terms of representing a Napoleonic battle - one could just as easily rename the troops as Imperial Space Marines and Space Orks and call it science fiction game with no discernible difference in realism or play (or enjoyment for that matter ... ).

If you are looking for a set of Grand Tactical Rules for Napoleonic Wargaming you would be well advised to save your £ 5 and purchase another set - and there are several exciting and innovative sets around at the moment. Just as a final thought - I wonder why Napoleon himself said that he wanted his generals to be, above all else, Lucky ...?

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