Author Dr. Peter Turcan. Price £ 9.99 to £ 24.95 depending upon supplier. Availability, most computer stores. Available formats; PC, Amiga, Atari ST.

Austerlitz is a graphic Napoleonic Wargame Simulation, where the player can take the part of either Napoleon or Alexander at the first major battle of the French Empire. The computer taking the part of desired your opponent.

I was somewhat prejudiced against this game, having previously played Borodino, by the same author on an Atari ST, and been bored out of my tree!

Austerlitz is an updated version of the Turcan system, released earlier this year, and has undergone some speed improvement to the operating system.

The first thing that I noticed was that the graphics on the PC Version, my review copy, appeared to be superior to the Borodino game (ST).

The game is played by the player entering a line of text containing various instructions. A courier then gallops off to tell Murat or whoever to attack the Santon. The first problem I encountered was that some user orders are not shown in the manual, and indeed some of the commands that you can issue orders to are omitted. I spent a happy half an hour hacking around, discovering that if you type AUTHOR at the command line, Dr. Turcan's name and copyright appears on screen, (impressive huh!). More usefully, should you possess or intend to purchase the game, is printing out the data files on the disc that are named ZFRENCH and ZALLIES and ZLEX. These give lists of Orders and Formation commands available to the user and you will discover those omitted from the manual.

So, how does the game play? Well I can state that in my opinion, this type of game will never replace wargame figures, although obviously I believe computers used inconjunction with wargames figures is the way the hobby will travel in the future.

I played the complete battle over two days using the most realistic settings. That is to say you can only view the battlefield from your HQ and cannot see any messages other than those intended for your own eyes.

The net result was that I was fighting a battle as a commander in chief, and as such, spent most of my time bored to tears. A quote from a review that appears on the cover of the box, states "In the final analysis, there's no beating AUSTERLITZ for an electrifying addictive wargame."

Whoever wrote that line must have lead a sheltered existence. Mind numbing as opposed to mind blowing, I think is more appropriate.

That is not to say this game is rubbish, far from it. The programming is stylish and elegant, and the logic works well, with all of your commanders acting independently, trying to cope with your orders and the flood of Austro-Russians. The problem is that you are playing as a realistic commander in chief. At the start of a battle you have already given your orders and should only make the odd intervention. You do not get any of the battlefield drama that would accompany your travels around the battlefield.

Anything Good?

Is there anything good about it, should I play it? To be honest, yes! This game gives you an excellent feel for the size of the Austerlitz battlefield, it gives an excellent perspective on the command and control problems involved. It certainly reawakened my beliefs that Napoleon was nothing more than a battlefield genius.

In my test game I tried to defeat the Austro-Russians, starting with the default orders, (historical), for the French Army. I started to meddle with the battle plan, by ordering Lannes, Murat and Bernadotte on a Left flank march against the Russians under Bagration. I ordered Soult to attack the Pratzeburg, and Davout to get his finger out and sweep around the right flank. By 2.00pm things had started to go wrong, the cowardly Bernadotte was pestering me for support, so I gave him Bessieres and the Guard. He used and abused them!

I had positioned my HQ near the Santon on the left flank to try to supervise my Corps commanders in my ill conceived battle winning left hook. Not a good idea. I didn't have an inkling of what was going on else where, especially the centre and right flank of my army.

At 3.00pm Murat, Lannes and Bernadotte decided that it would be a good idea to retreat. From my position I could see the advancing columns of the Russian Guards. Panic, of course not! Good news arrived with Soult announcing that he had captured the Pratzeberg, but would like some support. I gave him Vandamme, that should do it. Now for that Russian Guard. Reasoning that Davout should by now be turning the Allied flank to the South I ordered Oudinot and his elite grenadiers into the fray against the Alexandrian Guards.

I, as Napoleon, diplomatically realising that I'd blown it on the left flank, decided that I should get on my horse and ride South, to supervise Soult, and let Bernadotte take the blame for the trouble up north!

As I moved south it dawned on me that I was surround by Allied troops. I espied Vandamme at Puntowitz, initially cursing him for being there and not with Soult. Then I realised that he had little choice in the matter as the Russians were all around him. Further proof of my incompetence became apparent, when I made out an enemy Infantry Division 1 1/2 miles behind my lines.

I sent off couriers to try to get reinforcements to aide and liberate Vandamme. Then a courier arrived from Oudinot, effectively saying, thank's very much for the invitation to dance with Russian Guard, but I ain't got no troops mate! Merde! (etc.!), somewhat confused by this I made enquiries of the orders of battle and chiefs of staff. Oudinot should have two divisions of grenadiers. Where are they? Soult's got them!

It transpired that Oudinot had orders to support Soult, who in taking the Pratzeberg had drawn off these divisions for his assault. Who'd be an Emperor, and why wasn't I told? Then I remembered Soult asking for support early in the battle and I told him to take it from Oudinot. But I only meant a brigade!! The Imperial wrath was further incurred by Soult and Davout who in the latter case, was not making any progress, and in the former had just been kicked off the Pratzeberg.

I was just formulating my next counterattack, when the computer told me the game was over. Not impressed by this. I wasn't ready to quit just yet. Even though I had been playing for over 16 hours!

What was the result of the battle? Well the scores on the doors read as follows, the French (commanded by Bernadotte, I was at Brunn with gout!) finished the day with 44,500 men and 98 guns, having lost 22,000 casualties, 2,600 prisoners and 12 cannon.

The Allies had 63,000 men (and thousands of cannon honest(!)), suffered 18,400 casualties, 2,800 prisoners and 10 cannon. Hmm, not so bad after all.

I suppose the above battle description would appear to contradict everything that I had said earlier in the review. The big B-U-T, dear reader, was that description, given to you blow by blow, to the best of my recollection, took a long, long, long time to play. In fact I quite often wandered off and found something else to do while the computer did it's stuff.

Overall Conclusion. A tedious game to play, it might be an idea to read a book on the 1805 Campaign while playing. Chances are you will finish the book before the game. As a simulation it is excellent and gives you a real feel for the period. A contradiction in terms? Maybe, but that is just what the game is.

Finally, I would say I found the game to be a valuable command and control lesson that should be experienced by all Napoleonic Wargamers. But not more than once a year!

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