Napoleon's Battles

Rules

by Jim Birdseye

Designed and developed by S. Craig Taylor Jr. and Bob Coggins, published by The Avalon HII Game Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Rule booklet 35pp. ill., maps and table of contents, Scenario booklet 48pp. ill., maps and table of contents, Introduction to Miniature Wargaming, 31 pp. ill., maps and contents, two terrain cards, twelve national data cards, and two D10. When I got this in the mail I said to myself, "Gee, something new". When I opened the box I was sure this was something new! The box and the contents are both of the high quality you have come to expect from Avalon Hill. The concept for Napoleon's Battles was designed with the board gamer in mind; a transitional step between the gaming table and the game board if you will. The desire was to give the beginner a real taste of miniatures while still producing a playable set of rules that might appeal to both the board gamer and the miniatures gamer. I believe that Coggins andTaylor have done just that.

The rules are easy to play and the counters provided allow you to play without remounting your figures until you have tried the rules for yourself. Because the scope of these rules is so very different from the EMPIRE series or GUARD DU CORPS or most of the other sets on the market, experienced wargamerswill need to make aseries of mental adjustments.

The game is played with Brigade sized units that seem to possess a lot of the characteristics of cardboard counters on a map board. They seem to have a zone of control to their front. This "zone" abstractly represents the skirmishers and organic medium and light artillery of the brigade. Divisional and Corps guns are still represented on the table. Close actions or fire fights are called Close Combatsand are usually decisive in the game.

True to Avalon Hill tradition, the rules are exhaustively written and explain everything fairly well. The game is actually much simpler than the rules appearatfirst glance. Mostof the concepts are familiar to hold hands, but remember that this set is also designed for the newcomer. An average action between two corps can be fought in two to four hours including set up time. There are adequate playing aids that can be used to keep the table litter down. The game also includes pre-printed tiny data cards for the back of each unit. Casualties are kept by figure and each brigade has a dispersal numberthat reflects its loss of cohesion. When the number of casualties reaches that point the unit is withdrawn from the game. Because their area great number of innovations in the system I will invite the authors to write up a sample game for a future issue of THE COURIER.

There are some items that may be considered drawbacks by some gamers, for example the reduction of troop and cavalry types forced by the use of Brigade sized units. Cuirassiers are nowjust heavy cavalry, the brigade reflects the average of its troop types so distinctions between regiments become somewhat mute. Some may not like the limitations on players that reflect the historic limitations of command and control; they appeal to me however. I like the span of control rules that automatically reduce the frontage of an army and therefore give it flanks. All in all this game is a worthwhile investment for the serious Napoleonics gamer. And represents a real innovation in the period. It is complete and ready to play from just about all hobby distributors for around $25.00.

Reviewing Stand

Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IX No. 5
Back to Courier List of Issues
Back to Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1990 by The Courier Publishing Company.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com