"If ever there was a war which led to the 20th Century it was the Franco-Prussian Wars, 1870-71. It gave rise to two World Wars and shaped modern Europe. Yet it is one is the leest understood, and least sturdied, conflicts of the 19th Century. The Franco-Prussian War proved to be a turning point in the development of modern warfare. For it not only proved to be the culmination of military developments which began with the Napoleonic wars, it was also the last effective war fought in that manner." This game is the first in a series - Wars of The Imperial Age - that have been designed to look at war from the standpoint d the participants, and not retrospectively from the 20th Century. The rules integrate war and politics from the perspective of 19th Century leaders. As such, it is based very much on the writings of Clauswitz, von Moltke, Jomini and other 19th Century military strategists. The game is an Army level simulation of the war and is played in weekly turns. Each counter represents an Infantry Corps, Cavalry Division or Army Headquarters with siege artillery, mitrailleuse batteries, cavalry screens and fortresses also present. The map covers the area of France, Western Germany and adjoining countries in which the Franco-Prussian War took place. The rules themselves are split into two sections - the System Rules and the Game Specific Rules. The system rules will apply to all of the games in the series and simulate the conditions of warfare in the late 19th Century. The game specific rules apply only to the Franco-Prussian War and deal with military and political conditions peculiar to this war. Basics The basic game system is very simple and covers movement, combat, sieges, lines of communication/supply, headquarters, national will, mobilisation and training/morale. During a players turn he moves his forces, conducts combat and sieges, checks for supply and carries out political actions. To win a player must capture key enemy cities, destroy enemy feld forces, reduce the enemies national will and control Paris. Each unit is rated for its combat strength, training class and movement ability. All units are deployed face down and revealed to the enemy only when reconnaissance or intelligence operations are performed, or when battle is joined. Headquarters units are rated additionally for their Operations Capability and this is the key to the whole game. To guarantee movement of a force, gain tactical superiority in battle, conduct scouting or move supplies requires the use of operations points. These reflect both the historic capabilities of the headquarters and the underlying mentality of each side. Prussian operations can always be carried out successfully reflecting their more efficient and methodical General Staff system. The French staff system, known as 'Systeme D' (or 'muddling through'!) basically relied on elan and the spirit of their leaders to carry-out operations. In the game system this means that the effectiveness of French operations, determined randomly after they have been declared, and can range from failure through success to spectacular surcess. Combat is non-simultaneous, and based on the realisation that, with the effectiveness of modern weapons, the defence has an enormous advantage. This means that the defender resolves his combat first and inflicts casualties before the attacker replies. The side conducting combat first has a good chance of crippling a proportion of the enemies force before he gets started and thus winning the battle. Using headquarters and operations however, the attacker can attempt to achieve tactical superiority and resolve combat first - this reflects von Moltke's plans and actual events - where the Prussians manoeuvred to sever the French LOC, forcing them to attack Prussian forces in superior positions. Political Rules and Actions Mention must also be made of the political rules and actions. As the game progresses, each side gains political options for winning victories and increasing their national will. These can be used during play to cause various special effects and trigger certain events. These indude such things as: Armistice, Austrian Intervention against Prussia, the forming of the Third Republic, North African Uprising, Wilhelm crowned as Kaiser and many others. All of these have some effect on either the troops available to each side, the moral of troops in the field, or the nation's National Will. Some will even alter the victory conditions or the type of troops available e.g. forming the Third Republic will demoralise all of the French regular army, allow the French to start a 'levee en masse', allow the formation d 'Francs-Tireurs', and increase the French National Will. The Franco-Prussian War comes with five scenarios; On to Paris (August - September 1870); Defensce Nationsale (October 1870 - January 1871); the Campaign Scenario; On to Berlin (a French fantasy, what if they had been better prepared and organised for war) and a variant for any of the above starting the war about one month early. The game is backed up by some 22 pages of background material, maps, historical notes, designers notes, biographies of the leaders involved and a good bibliography. This is the first in a series of games covering wars of the late 19th Century, others scheduled will indude the Russo-Turkish War, the Austro-Prussian War, the Balkan Wars and the Boer War. Excellent Game This is an excellent game for several reasons. Firstly the rules themselves are very simple and easy to learn, but more importantly the mechanism for movement, combat and other game functions are also quick and simple. This makes the game very accessible; you can soon learn the game and start to concentrate on the strategy within the game. This also makes it possible to refight the entire Franco-Prussian War in an afternoon! Secondly, the game has a lot of period atmosphere and 'feel' to it and successfully manages to convey an impression of what it must have been like trying to fight a war in the late 19th Century. The mix of warfare and politics is smoothly integrated and both, combined with the limitations imposed by headquarters and operations, provide problems that must be solved every turn in order to win. The Franco-Prussian War is a dash between two entirely different approaches to war; the Prussian, based on bureaucratic efficiency; the French , on elan. But this does not mean that the result is a foregone conclusion. The French actually came close to winning at the beginning of the campaign - and indeed won the game at our first playing! It is up to the individual player to make his own system work. The Franco-Prussian War requires players to assume the mentality of the leaders of their respective sides and lead them to victory...Nach Paris!! Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #7 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com