For a diehard miniatures gamer, there are a few boardgames that can fairly be labeled as "musts". For a diehard Napoleonics enthusiast, War to the Death, from Omega Games, has to be considered one of those few. Based upon the Peninsular War from 1810-1813, the game is the perfect choice for a Napoleonics campaign, especially if you share my opinion of the relatively new Battle Honors 15mm figures for that struggle. With an accent on logistics, and a map that will win few awards, the game highlights the difficult supply situation the French faced throughout their Spanish vacation, caused in large part by the extremely annoying Spanish guerrilla forces. If you are serious about fighting a fairly grand Napoleonic miniatures campaign, and are just as serious about playing it through to a conclusion within your lifetime, this game will be ideal for you. Because of the logistical problems, armies will fight as often as they really did, instead of every other day, as they seem to in many homemade campaigns. The designer, Don Alexander, correctly points out in his extensive notes that large-scale battles seldom occurred more than once or twice a year. The advantage to players is that they can face a campaign with the knowledge that four or five large battles, and perhaps a similar number of smaller ones (with some no doubt fought only on the mapboard), will be all they fight during the game - which means the inevitable loss of interest that seems to afflict many campaigns should not occur. The game is built around the headquarters units which appear on the map, with off-map charts indicating the strength of each army, corps division or brigade, with strengths measured in thousands. Guerrilla units have their own headquarters, as do the several Spanish armies skulking around the map, and the numerous city garrisons, which the French player hopes to dislodge by sieges. In addition to the logistics, which are all-important (with the French player praying, first for a good harvest, and second that it can be collected without too much trouble from the pesky guerrillas), the game also includes rules covering: sieges, morale, terrain (not much - you'll have to map your own battlefields); the famous Lines of Torres Vedras in Portugal; maintenance of lines of communication; initiative; special French counter-guerrilla units; forced marching; sea movement; guerrilla seizure of fortresses by surprise (oh boy!); ambushes; and, as we say in ads "much more" - including the possibility that the Emperor will get fed up with his subordinates' lack of success and will return to Spain to straighten out things for once and for all. Two separate scenarios are included, covering the first and second halves of the period, along with a campaign game beginning in March, 1810, and lasting until December, 1813. War to the Death is priced at a modest $19.95, and despite not having the world's best map (what do you care - you guys who use shoeboxes for hills and masking tape for roads?), is a very attractive game, with the counters looking particularly professional. Available at good game stores everywhere, or at least at Men at Arms in Middle Island, N.Y., where I got mine, you can probably also purchase it from the publishers, Omega Games, at 6728 Memorial Highway, Suite 149, Tampa, Florida, 33615. Now let's see... where did I put my bottle of Rifle Green? Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VII #4 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 by The Courier Publishing Company. 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