Gamma Two Games, Ltd, the Canadian firm that
produces QUEBEC-1759 and WAR of 1812 has
done it again. Their third game, NAPOLEON, not
only lives up to the high standards set by its
predecessors, but in some ways surpasses them.
The design is credited to T.T. Dalgliesh, L.
Gutteridge and R. Gibson. Like RGI (above),
Gamma Two has gone over to the bookcasestyle
box for their new lame - thoulh the other two still use
the old long box. One reason could be that, unlike
the long narrow boards of their former games, this
one has a more conventionally shaped 16" x 22"
board. It retains their unique style of painted-wooden-
block unit counters, however. In every department
this company gives you the finest quality
components on the market. And, for the benefit of
their French Canadian customers, they even include
a separate set of rules and historical commentary in
French!
The specific subject of this game is the Waterloo campaign of 1815. Like those of its predecessors the rules are simple (four 81," x 11" pages), though not as simple. Strategically the game is more complex because there are more places on the board to move to, because each side can now move two groups of units per turn (2 French, 1 Anglo-Dutch, 1 Prussian), because groups can split up and move in mcre than 1 direction in a given turn, and because units can move further than just to adjacent spaces. Tactically this game is also much more complex than QUEBEC or "1812".
The differences are far too many to go into here. Suffice it to say that once a battle is joined it is almost like a little miniatures game, with many tactical subtleties. Each branch of service (infantry. cavalry, foot artillery and horse artillery) has its own strengths and weaknesses, both tactically and (to a lesser extent) strategically.
The mapboard covers the area from Conde, France, to Ghent, Belgium, to Liege, Belgium, to Givet, France. There are a number of towns and cities connected by either major roads or minor road. There are no hexes, squares, etc. Units merely move from town to town along the connecting roads. Major roads can handle up to 8 units, minor roads 6. However, a road that crosses one or more rivers can only handle half its normal capacity. Units are represented by the same 3/4" x 3/4" x 3/8" colored wooden blocks (blue French, red Anglo-Dutch, green Prussians) as used in the other Gamma Two Games, and are the truly unique feature of their system.
On one face of each block (in gold) is the symbol for infantry, cavalry, etc., and spots to indicate the unit's strength. A 4-strength unit would have 4 spots near one edge, 3 near another, 2 another, and 1 on the last. These blocks are normally kept standing on edge facing a player so that the opponent can not see their strength or type. Each unit begins with its maximum strength along the top edge. As it takes losses it is turned to the next edge, and so on.
Victory is achieved by attrition. Any one of the three armies (French, Anglo-Dutch and Prussian) is "defeated" if reduced to half the number of units it started with.
The Allied player wins by "defeating" the French army or by avoiding the defeat of either Allied army before time runs out (24 turns). The French player wins by "defeating" both Allied armies. If all 3 armies are "defeated", or if time expires and only one Allied army is "defeated" a tie occurs. There is a way, however, to cause the enemy to take losses besides combat: Liege is the Prussian supply center, and Brussels and Ghent are Anglo-Dutch centers. For every turn that a French unit occupies one of these centers the respective army loses one unit.
As was customary, the French army lives off the country and so has no supply center to defend. Each Allied army is only slightly inferior to the French Army in total strength, so that if they could both con centrate and combine against the French they could win easily. The French have 25 infantry (4 fours and 3 threes), 15 cavalry (3 threes and 3 twos), 8 foot artillery (2 threes and 1 two), and 4 horse artillery (2 twos), for a total of 52 factors. The Prussians have 22 infantry (6 threes and 2 twos), 8 cavalry (4 twos), 7 foot artillery (1 three and 2 twos), and two horse artillery (I two), for a total of 39 factors. The Anglo-Dutch have 21 infantry (3 fours and 3 threes), 10 cavalry (2 threes and 2 twos), 6 foot artillery (3 twos) and 2 horse artillery (1 two), for a total of 39, also. So there are a total of 78 Allied factors (43 infantry, 18 cavalry, 13 foot artillery and 4 horse artillery).
However the rules force the Allied player to disburse his units in small groups at the start (no more than 4 Prussians in any one town, no more than 3 Anglo-Dutch), and there is a line separating where the two Allied armies can set up. The French are allowed to concentrate up to 9 units in any city at the start and get to set up last and move first.
NAPOLEON is designed to be a two player game but also easily lends itself to play by three or even four. It appears to be pretty well balanced, but this will probably lead to a lot of drawn name's perhaps the games major defect. At any rate NAPOLEON is an excellent game for all but the most hard core of simulation/ complexity buffs and well worth the $10.00 price tag.
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© Copyright 1974 by Donald S. Lowry
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