The aides milled around the hallway and front rooms of the house, eager to learn what l'emperor had in store for them and the army. In the room beyond, behind closed doors, Napoleon rapidly dictated his orders to a frenetically scribbling Berthier. The maps spread across the table showed the vast expanse east of the Rhine, across Germany and Poland.

If the debacle of 1812 Russian campaign was still in memory, its angst had been submerged into longer term memory with the victorious Spring campaign of 1813. Although a lack of cavalry pursuit tainted the success at the battle of Lutzen, and Ney's inability to cut off the Prussians and Russians at Bautzen allowed the bulk of the enemy to retreat, it had been enough to shake the resolve of the Allies and maintain the neutrality of his Austrian father in law. At the time, he had gloomily remarked, "Not a gun, not a prisoner! These people don't leave me so much as a nail!"

Still, the campaign losses from attrition--and a continuing shortage of cavalry needed to complete battlefield victories--impelled him to agree to an armistice, even though he regretted it from time to time, and he had worked wonders restoring his army into fighting shape. Many of the stragglers and deserters had been returned to units, losses had been replaced, and the army had its morale restored. Soon, he would again lead them to the east and reclaim what was lost.

Napoleon lingered once more with a gaze at the map. His spies noted that the Austrian army was mobilizing, not that it had ever demobilized after Russia, but this time further west than anticipated. And 100,000 Russian and Prussian troops had slipped into Austria to join them. Austrian neutrality looked more dubious with each passing day. During one of the many previous conferences, St. Cyr had asked if he worried about an army slipping west of the Elbe into his line of communications.

"If the enemy should march into South Germany, then I shall wish him bon voyage and let him go, quite certain he will return quicker than he went. If is only of importance that he should not cut us off from Dresden and the Elbe. I care very little if he severs our communications with France," Napoleon replied. "What is certain is that you cannot turn 400,000 men based on a line of strong places and a river like the Elbe, from which you can break out as they please, either at Dresden, Torgau, Wittenberg or Magdeburg. All the enemy's far reaching detachments will be missing on the day of battle."

By now it was mid-August, with the armistice due to expire on the 16th. He could hope for an Allied advance towards Leipzig, but best take into account the fact he might not be so fortunate. He made plans for a renewed push on Berlin, somewhat of a variation of the spring plans.

Then, news came that Blucher had started the Army of Silesia westward on the 13th, three days ahead of the end of armistice, and had caught the French by surprise and pushed them back in some confusion. "No matter," Napoleon noted. "Ney will hold long enough for me to attack that debauched old Prussian dragoon."

The Emperor peered at the map again and traced the line of mountains with his finger. The Austrians, still technically neutral, were massing to the south of the mountain ranges. Blucher was east--driving westward, he noted stoically--strung between Breslau and the fortress of Schweidnitz, and traitorous Bernadotte milled around Berlin with a collection of Swedes, Russians, and Prussians. Napoleon, once again, could use the central position and internal lines to his advantage.

He directed Oudinot to take his infantry corps, plus two more of Bertrand and Reynier, and a cavalry corp under Arrighi, with some distant support from Girard's infantry corp west of Magdeburg, to hold Bernadotte at bay and indeed advance to Berlin. That took care of the northern flank. As for the south and east, it was time to open the doors, present the couriers with packets, and speed the orders on their way.

THE RETURN OF SNAPPY NAPPY

So began another Snappy Nappy game of operational Napoleonic campaign. This time, we would fight the BIG campaign--fall 1813, pitting approximately 300,000 French and French allied troops (not including Ouidinot) against a slightly greater number of Russian, Prussian, and Austrian troops (not including Bernadotte up north or the Reserve Army of Poland further east). All together, some 30 corps would maneuver across the table, or should I say, tables.

What's a Snappy Nappy? It's a home-grown set of operational level Napoleonic rules that I have been refining for several years. It is designed to simulate a campaign rather than single battle, and accordingly, the terrain sits across several tables instead of on one single table. Admittedly, I have had e-mail from purchasers who enjoy large-scale tactical battles on one table.

The impact is one of command and control at the upper levels, while imparting a flavor of the three distinct arms and the way a comander can handle them. I use multiple tables to insert considerable fog-of-war into the game, use couriers (i.e. messages passed via the umpire) for all communications, and use real time across tables instead of a turn sequence.

Think about that for a second. When we stand shoulder to shoulder around a table, we know instantly which flank is collapsing, where success is happening, and so on. By separating the players across multiple tables, all of sudden, you really don't know what's occurring beyond your small area unless you receive messages, or you are on the move and join up with other formations--if your C-in-C has timed his concentration of forces correctly AND the enemy is not impeding you or pressing you.

That means spoiling attacks, probes, and pinning formations can be used to greater effect. You may be counting on a corp to shake loose and follow up, but if they get involved in a battle and cannot--or will not--disengage, they do not appear. Or worse, while the enemy holds you up, his superior force surrounds and overwhelms an individual detached corp.

Furthermore, I make Snappy Nappy play in real time across multiple tables. That means while there is a turn sequence when enemies meet on one table, there is NO coordination of the turn structure on all the other tables. If two opponents face each other on the same table, then yes, everyone follows the turn sequence. But if two players face each other on one table, and two are on another, there is no effort to coordinate all four players to the same turn sequence--each pair on each table does a turn in their own time.

Some players are faster. Some slower. And all the while dispatches are shuttled to and fro by the umpire, slugging delivery time to the real time wristwatch. If the flank happens to collapse quicker than expected, well, such are the fortunes of war. And when players are scattered across multiple tables, well, it forces the C-in-C to pay attention to the map and reports, not a helicopter view of a single table.

In the case of this fall 1813 game, we used three 4x7' tables, one 4x8', one 5x9' ping pong table, one 2.5x5', and one 2.5x10'. That's 196 square feet of terrain--no wonder it took me hours to populate the tables with a combination of felt woods and rivers, scratch-built styrofoam hills, some geo-hex, and 6mm villages/towns buildings. Even though we use 15mm figures based for Empire (everyone wants to use their on troops), the smaller buildings gives the right scale view considering the operational nature of Snappy Nappy. For fortresses or large cities, I use walled chateau models to make it look, well, more imposing.

When players move off the edge of one table, they need to call for the umpire to do the actual move. Generally, rivers (impassable except at bridges) make up the edges, and I do not allow firing across table edges. In someplaces, geography just does not cooperate and I placed a thick belt of woods.

Of course, everyone wants to know what's on the other table, and the only way to tell is to move there, preferably behind a cavalry screen. More on table edges later.

Of note is the use of couriers--delayed in real time depending on distance. Although corp commanders may alter orders slightly, they still must be true to the orders than came from the C-in-C. Of course, a C-in-C 100 miles away (on a separate table) doesn't see what's happening in front of the corp commander, but the corp commander must still deal with the orders and the overall plan of the C-in-C.

SCALE

The scale can be varied since Snappy Nappy is a stand-based system. In the case of a huge campaign like this fall 1813 one, each stand was approximately 2,500 infantry or 1,000 cavalry, and a pair of stands makes a unit. For artillery, taking into account the relative effectiveness of national firepower, an artillery stand was approximately as follows: French (32 guns), Austrians (40 guns), and Prussians/Russians (48 guns).

Certainly, no OOB divides exactly into 2,500 or 1000 or 32 or whatever. I tend to look at entire corps' numbers rather than individual divisions or brigades, as players (who should command one corp) should control approximately 10 to 15 units each--what I consider a comfortable number for a player. That said, I also knew the possibilities were remote that 30 players would show up--I figured on 15 players (14 actually appeared).

I left it up to the C-in-C to assign players to corps and to double up by relative geographical locales. Since you can transfer divisions between corps, I allowed players to send/receive additional formations during the game--that is, if the C-in-C can convince them to do so. Nobody ever seems to have enough troops...

As for the table, I use a proportional system. Nominally, one inch on a table equals one mile, so that during a campaign, the distance troops can march in a day is about the distance troops can march in a turn. When forces close for "tactical" combat--and I put that in quotes because of the operational level of the scale--the charts use one inch equals about 150-200 yards. Overall, this provides a measure of what approximately division-sized units can roughly do. The formations that units can adopt (column, line, square, roadmarch) represent what I would call a "stance" or "intention" rather that every battalion adopting the exact same formation.

For example, if an enemy cavalry division advances upon you, you're probably wise to place an opposing infantry unit into square rather than line. It does not mean that every battalion is in square throughout the division, rather just the leading ones, with the rest watching to see what to be done. If you were playing this division vs. division "battle" with a tactical battalion-level game, you'd want to keep as much flexibility between battalions as possible while in the strongest anti-cavalry formation you think you need. Corp commanders generally did not worry about tactical details such as deploying skirmishers and such, nor do you see division-level "opportunity charges" and such--nor should players.

My goal was a quick play set of rules with a Napoleonic feel to simulate operational level maneuverings and battles, not detailed tactical rules. All charts fit on one side of a page in relatively large type (sorry, I don't want to squint to see 6pt type fonts).

Of course, with 30 corp in the game, that would ideally mean 30 players. Although I invited that many people and a few more, I counted on 15 arriving on the day of battle (14 showed up) and then more or less doubling up the corps. I placed the troops on table in their bivouac areas around towns, and refused to allow players in the basement before everyone could start--yes, the element of initial confusion has its moments. That way, gamers could be upstairs chatting with each other, and I could go over the rules once and present the scenario.

MID-AUGUST 1813

The C-in-Cs "generally" knew where the enemy was or at least should be. To offset the considerable hindsight these player-scholars possess, I decided the armistice's 20-mile no-man's-land buffer in the east still held, though it was west of where it originally appeared. Blucher did violate the buffer on the 13th, so the forces under Ney certainly knew where the Prussian was, if not what forces he possessed. Some of the names were slightly altered to infuse an additional degree of uncertainty, and with the doubling up of corps on occasion, we referred to the commanders as wing commanders instead of corp commanders.

To the south, the mountains form a considerable barrier, with passes through them. To the French, the Austrians/Russians/Prussians were on the other side of the alps somewhere, and visa versa.

As for the north, I knew I wasn't going to have enough players to man the forces at hand, much less Oudinot-Bernadotte forces, so I peeled off the French and sent them for Berlin and figured that it would be a draw--perhaps a little ahistorical given the battle outcomes, but I don't have enough tables to add that terrain, nor the extra players to run the corps.

Each player received a map of the operational area, althouh the tables actually extended the area slightly east (as far as Breslau) and west (as far as Leipzig). The map did NOT show where the tables began and ended--although the deucedly clever players would figure that out soon enough, but that would be enough time for the maneuvers to be completed and leave the game to some corp bashing.

Napoleon's forces were split into one small and two large groups. A small westernmost group found XIV Corp (St. Cyr) and V Cavalry Corp (Milhaud) is around Dresden, with I Corp (Vandamme) nearby in Stolpen. The easternmost group under Ney consists of III (Ney), V (Lauriston), VI (Marmont), and XI (MacDonald) infantry corps and II (Sebastini) cavalry corp generally in the area around Schmochlitz, Goldberg, Haynau, and Schoenau. In between, Napoleon and the Imperial Guard starts in Bautzen, VIII (Poniatowski) guarding the passes to Austria at Zittau, and II Corp (Victor) and I (Latour-Marbourg) and IV (Kellerman) cavalry corps in the Goeritz-Rothenburg-Lobau triangle between the Neisse and Spree Rivers.

The French had an advantage--all the passes except the easternmost one (the main road from Freiheit to Landshut) leading into/out of Austria were controlled by the French. A small blocking force (some passes had two such blocking forces) were in every pass, which would require the Allies to stop and demolish them before moving through the pass. Each blocking force required only a single hit and subsequent morale fail to be eliminated.

Furthermore, in 1813, Napoleon hoped to keep Austria neutral, and did no offensive movements across the alps until Austria took the offensive. In this game, I put no such prohibition on Napoleon for the game.

On the Allied side, I gave Schwartzenberg and option: He could either start at Munchengratz or east, or, have Constantine and Gyulai wait one turn and then come on the southernmost table at the western tip of the alps. He chose the latter. The rest of the Austrians/Russians/Prussians, the corps of Klenau, Hessen-Homberg, Wittgenstein, and Kleist were placed at Munchengratz and east. As for Blucher, Yorck, Sacken, and Langeron, they started on a line from Schweidnitz to Breslau.

With the forces provided, the rules briefing over and a sufficient supply of provisions waiting in the basement, the commanders were allowed down the stairs to survey the tabletop fields of battle and issue the initial orders.

READY, SET, CHAOS

As umpire, I knew exactly what would happen in the first three seconds of the game--players would start to yell for the umpire to take them from one to another table. Sure enough, at 12:30p.m., the game started and the players raced to the edges and beyond.

I am only one umpire, and although my basement is not as large as a convention hall, it does take a while to pick up troops and deposit them somewhere else, pointing out the towns and the "northward" orientation of the table. A brief: "That's what you see!" will suffice when they ask about troops on the table.

Remember, this is done in real time, so as fast as I hear a cry for "umpire" (or worse name ), I come a running as soon as I can. I manged to get all the players across to all the tables they wanted to see, though this was not easy, and I did have to adjudicate once when Schwartzenberg appeared on the table at the same time the French were moving. I had to back up the French V cavalry a bit (they were a bit overeager to conquer western Austria in one fell swoop), but it all worked out after some bumps.

Edges always provide a doubleedged sword. On the one hand, the fog of war is tremendous. One player complimented me on the extreme angst he suffered as he tried to implement his orders and yet also yearn to push across an edge. He said, in retrospect, he could not believe he actually stopped to battle it out mentally between the urge to cross the edge frontier and the caution that comes from the unknown. And all during this pro-and-con match, he knows real time gaming is in effect and the time is ticking away...

On the other hand, trying to coordinate a river line defense vs. a push across a river means the umpire is jumping between two seperated tables, and it interrupts the flow of the players, as was the case in the initial moments when the Prussians tried to push across the river from Liegnitz to Schmochlitz, or even from Jauer. One of the (veteran) players came up with an idea to do the first turn in sync across all tables to preclude umpire frazzle during that initial maneuvering. On turn two, it reverts back to real time. More on these thoughts later, although by the end of 45 minutes or so, all calls for the umpire ended pretty much anyway, and most called for the umpire to be a courier and take a message to another player.

PLANS WITHIN PLANS

The game hinged on real estate. Napoleon wanted what he had lost in early 1813 and the Allies wanted what had been lost years ago. The outcome of the battles would see which one would prevail. Of course, tabletop players have time constraints, and I usually like to wrap up games by 5:00-5:30 or so--a good five hours of maneuver and battle so players who need to get home can do so by 6:00 and those who can stay can enjoy dinner.

Anyway, not unlike the real Napoleon's plan, the tabletop Napoleon decided to abandon the west side of the Elbe other than the fortresses of Dresden and Koenigstein, with some mobile forces up near Meissen. St. Cyr would hold the area with Milhaud, with Vandamme as a reserve if needed. Indeed, the V Cav Corp would launch a preemptive strike into Austria to delay any Austrian offensive. Out to the east, Ney would defend as much as possible, falling back to successive river lines if necessary. In the center, Napoleon would play the reserve role and determine when it was time to launch the main attack on the Austrians with the Imperial Guard--unless things went particularly bad in the east.

Schwartzenberg wanted to clear the west bank of the Elbe and start to curl east. Meanwhile, a corp would poke their nose through the alps to pin down Napoleon in the center. Out east, Blucher would steamroll Ney westward and meet Schwartenburg in the middle (hopefully) over the shattered remains of the French army.

OPENING MOVES

From the start, Napoleon violated Austrian neutrality--the V Cavalry Corp left Bergges, headed into the pass, and was well on the way to Kulm, Teplitz and Dux. Schwartzenburg moved north up past Dux and started to filter his army through the passes, winkling out the French delaying forces, and swinging additional troops to the northeast to halt the V Cav. A sharp series of battles on a narrow front settled the sides into stalemate. V Cav, concentrating so hard to get to Teplitz, neglected to fan out to east, and Wittgenstein barrelled in over the river [edge] from Teschen and slammed into the V Cav's flank. After a desperate struggle, V Cav extricated most of itself and stubbornly retreated back through the pass back towards Bergges.

The delay had worked--a traffic jam of tremendous proportions ensued at the Elbe where the density of troops and the battles between Kulm and Teschen held up several Austrian corps. Part of Wittgenstein's corp marched south to cross the Elbe at Thieresienstadt and Lobositz. Klenau, caught behind him, waited even longer before crossing. Otherwise, it was hurry up and wait east of the Elbe in Austria as the army marched west to follow up Schwartzenberg's initial success west of Dresden.

Kleist, meanwhile, poked his nose through the passes at Zittau and found Poniatowski's VIII Corp waiting. The Austrians were supposed to pin down forces, and that they did, demolishing a Polish Light Cavalry Division and drawing the attention of Napoleon, who quickly coordinated re-inforcements in the form of I Cavalry Corp for the small Polish corps bottling up the Austrians. A long-range bombardment by artillery ensued as the Poles defended the passes and the Austrians remained content to draw re-inforcements away from Dresden.

Hessen-Homburg, fed up with the traffic jam at the Elbe, requested and received permission to head north through the passes towards Alt Georgewald, west of Zittau. The rag-tag French blocking force in the pass scored a victory by repulsing the initial attack by a Cuirassier Heavy Cavalry Division! That delay allowed Napoleon to march the 1st Young Guard Division as re-inforcements to the now threatened passes east of Dresden as well as the Guard d'Honneur to Dresden. To help St. Cyr and the defense of Dresden, Vandamme's I Corp was sent to the city from Stolpen, eventually working north and crossing the Elbe at Meissen, and Kellerman's IV Cav Corp moved west from Lobau to Bautzen, then to Bischof, Stolpen and Schandau with an eye towards crossing the Elbe at Koenigstein where St. Cyr's defense was centered.

Napoleon kept the bulk of the Guard forces in reserve, seeing how events would develop. Sensing the efforts of the Austrians, but with an eye towards the east, he pulled II Corp from Rothenberg to Goeritz.

In the east, Ney held the river line. Blucher's initial efforts to cross at Jauer and Schmichlitz proved unsuccessful as Yorck and Sacksen attacked into the teeth of French resistence. Ney cleverly swung a corp to cross the Bober River and advanced to the besieged fortress of Glogau, then pivoted south to pin the Prussian/Russians in the Leuben-Steinau area. Meeanwhile, MacDonald, wracked by uncertainty, pushed his XI Corp eastward towards Schweidnitz, and Lauriston's V Corp moved from Lowenberg to secure the southern area, especially Landshut, severing communications between Schwartzenberg and Blucher.

Sacksen and Langeron converged on Jauer and Liegnitz, abandoning Schweidnitz. Yorck hurried as fast as possible to support the attack, but peeled off northward to prevent the enveloping move from Glogau. Nothing fancy here about Blucher's plan--punch across the river at Jauer and Schmochlitz and barrel westward. If only the French were so obliging...

A PAUSE TO REFLECT

An hour to an hour and half has gone by, and a big left hook of Austrians, Prussians and Russians has forced the passes west of Dresden and spilled into Germany. A French spoiling attack cost some of V Corp cavalry, but caused a huge traffic jam in Austria on the Elbe, delaying corps from following up on the western passes. The probe through the passes east of Dresden is drawing a sufficient response from a waiting Napoleon. The Allies are content to wait in the passes, and the French are fortunate that Poniatowski has just enough to dissuade them from doing any more.

In the east, Blucher is also backed up behind the river as his initial attacks, though they cause some distress, are repulsed. Ney is swinging the flanks forward, relieving Glogau in the North and pushing to Schweidnitz in the south, while securing the alpine passes and protecting a Line of Communications west.

Blucher's efforts at forcing the river crossings had some tactical successes, but all were eventually nullified as reserve forces counterattacked and threw the attackers back across the river.

THE CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

Wily MacDonald pushed eastward and captured Schweidnitz, which attracted a significant response from Sacken, who pivoted his corp southward--not that it was doing anything but milling around the strongly held river line at Jauer. Eventually, MacDonald, an infantry division and 32 6pdr guns were funneled into Schweidnitz, soon to be the target of 250 Prussian guns. An abortive effort to breakout failed under fire, and the division became trapped in the fortress--although tying down a corp in the process.

Northward, Ney had done his job at distracting Blucher and the bill was becoming too much to pay. He effected a withdrawal from Leuban and Steinau area back towards Glogau and eventually westward. Allied weight of numbers had driven off this diversion from the Glogau area, although that diversion had pinned Blucher and bought Napoleon time. In the south, MacDonald's seizure of Schweidnitz caused additional delays, although it finally gave the rest of Sacksen's corps an objective.

The river line still held, although a tactical blunder pulled a screening Light cavalry division off the front line south of Jauer and opened up the area for Prussian attacks and advance. Schoenau fell as a result, and Blucher saw the gleam of an opening.

Blucher finally abandoned his idea of forcing the river and swung two corps south along the Streigau road through the woods where there were no rivers, finally outflanking Ney. Ney still had plenty of troops as well as several lines of retreat, and could still spare elements of Lauriston's V Corp to support VIII corps west at Zittau. Ney prepared to fall back.

Back to the west, the left hook continued to grind forward, swinging east towards Dresden, with elements as far north as Torgau. The French repulsed considerable cavalry attacks, battled the infantry to a standstill, and traded bombardments of artillery. Vandamme pulled back from Meissen in the face of overwhelming superiority, Kellerman's IV Cavalry Corp was annihilated around Torgau, the remnants falling back across the river, and V Cavalry Corp by Pirna virtually ceased to exist.

Eventually, St. Cyr formed an ever tighter defense of the Koenigstein-Pirna area, Dresden received significant Young Guard reinforcements to pack it full of men and artillery, and river crossings up and down the Elbe were secure for the moment.

The Allies had cleared the western bank of the Elbe and were concentrating on Dresden, creating up a grand battery of some 200 guns to bombard the city.

In the center, having determined Allied intentions and strengths, Napoleon moved the Imperial Guard southward to the Austrian passes. Now was the time to counterattack into Austria and knock it back into neutrality.

Kleist was holding two passes but had no intention of advancing further northward. Hessen-Homberg was attempting to force a third, but had been stopped first by the blocking forces, and then by an entire stream of Imperial Guard. He retreated with the Guard hard on his heels, forcing Kleist to do the same.

After several moments of intense action, the Guard, VIII Corps and parts of Lauriston V Corps and Latour-Marbourg's I Cavalry Corp forced the passes and began expanding into Austria. Stubborn though the defense was, the French were not to be stopped as line after line was smashed and the French took Zwickau and Gabel, and headed west and east. Hessen-Homberg's cavalry was virtually gone, his infantry and artillery strung in a single line, and the French Guard was bearing down when a barrage from a Guard 12 pounder landed in the middle of Hessen-Homberg's command group. When the smoke cleared, Hessen-Homberg lay on the field of battle, his head replaced by a cannonball.

THE END

And that was as fitting an end to the game as could be expected. Without a doubt, there was much more fight left in both armies, but it was 5:30pm. The campaign had raged for five hours and folks had to leave, so we called the game.

Who won? As I said, there was plenty of fight left in both sides, but call it I had to. The Austrians et al had swept the western bank of the Elbe. Dresden would hold out for several (real-time) hours longer despite the grand battery. The crossings would all be opposed, and we've seen how difficult river crossings are in the face of a determined enemy. Although the Allies would control a large chunk of the French LOC, Napoleon could still draw one through Magdeburg in the north.

The Austrian rear was collapsing, although Hessen-Homberg, er, his successor, would also be able to use the Elbe as a shield for his remnants and the Austrian LOC south. Kleist was just about destroyed. Remnants would undoubtedly be able to stream eastward to try and hold the riverline at Munchengratz and Liebenau, but as a fighting corps, it was gone. No doubt, some Austrian forces could be pulled back from Germany to strenthen the Elbe line, although Napoleon could then return forces northward to further strengthen his own Elbe side of the line

So that was pretty much a draw--it would be the East where the game would hinge. And Ney did a commendable job, launching flank offensives that relieved Glogau and secured Schweidnitz, and even took a piece of Austria, all the while holding Blucher in the center. Blucher finally slipped past the river defenses to the south, admittedly with a French garrison in Schweidnitz in his rear which would take some time to winkle out.

The French would be forced to abandon the south at Landshut and the center at Schmochlitz, probably falling back upon Hirschberg-Lowenberg river line, with the northern corp perhaps falling back through Freistadt. Depending on the Prussian push in the south, and the intent of counterattack from Ney in the center, a dash to the Neisse could be a possibility if Blucher followed up Ney's withdrawal fast enough and with enough pressure.

Still, as umpire, I have to call the game at the time of ending--and looking at the use of the Elbe as a western barrier, a virtually intact Ney, and a multi-corp push into Austria chewing up the corps defending, I called it a French victory. As for the what-ifs, woulda-coulda-shoulda, and I'm-going-to analyses, that was best left to the post-game beer and pizza fest, where 8 or 9 players remained and we talked about what went right and wrong.

ANALYSIS

Snappy Nappy's basic fire-melee-morale systems are clean after four years of playing and refining, and players learn very quickly the advantages and disadvantages of broad Napoleonic doctrine, such as infantry really likes to be in square vs. cavalry, if you want to hold a position use an elite unit, fighting in road column formation is not a bright idea, and so on. What's more, since it is a straightforward set of rules (one side of one page holds all charts), it is quickly mastered after a couple turns.

Of course, people like to tweak rules, and I received suggestions for modifier tweaking, such as giving Heavy Cav a +2 modifier instead of +3 (already down from a +4), or allowing Imperial Guard Artillery to move as Light Cavalry, or adding a additional die to make artillery more powerful at closer ranges, or allowing Imperial Guard Light Cav to fight as Heavy Cav, or allow morale levels to increase as fast as they can decrease, and so on.

As with any rules designer, I balance my perceptions with the bulk of what I read in battle accounts and so on. In the evolution of Snappy Nappy, players have made some excellent suggestions that have been incorporated. These details can certainly be scenario specific rules, as I find the current balance of unit and capabiliities just right. For example, the French Imperial Guard had a considerable number of sappers attached. If he attacked a fortress and attached the sapper figure, he'd get a +1 in his favor. That's a good scenario-specific rule.

As I said before and say again, Snappy Nappy is meant to be operational in nature, so I want to concentrate on the command and control aspects (especially the fog of war) and provide each player just enough rope to hang himself.

For this game, I streamlined the number of orders available to the C-in-C. Past games had 10 different orders that could be assigned, this had seven. And the game played just as well as with 10, so the seven shall remain.

One aspect I jettisoned was scout markers and counters. While it offered some measure of fog of war--scouting rolls were required to flip an enemy "unknown" counter to its "infantry" "cavalry" or "artillery" side, and another to swap the counter for the actual unit--it slowed the game down. And quite frankly, when you see a player moving a mass of counters, you can be pretty sure there's a corp coming your way. So, all units are placed on the board to start, with the separate tables prolonging the fog of war.

One suggestion that I like, which is an optional rule I elected not to use, is pontoon trains and bridges. Rivers being so important, and that I only allow crossings at bridges (which cannot be destroyed), a pontoon train with a corp would be a considerable asset in crossing a river. Imagine the surprise of someone defending a river and clumped around bridges when all of a sudden, enemy pours from an unexpected pontoon bridge. And if you can cross, then you can destroy bridges.

However, in the basic game, you can only cross at bridges and bridges cannot be destroyed. Although I certainly understand that a one-turn delay could be crucial, destroying and repairing bridges tends to hold the game up, hence, its use as an optional rule for those who wish to try it.

A suggestion from a previous game that we used was the "third stand" option. Some units, because of the way the numbers divided out, had a third stand attached. This functions just like any other stand, i.e. could fire, count for melee, etc. However, when faced with a morale check, the player could opt to remove the stand instead of taking one morale check (in, essence, taking casualties to hold an important location). Once removed, you can never recover the third stand. However, if you really need to hold a part of the line, you can remove the stand instead of the possibilty of failing morale.

Another suggestion was for allowing opportunity fire and cavalry opportunity charges. There is no provision for either in the game as I feel this is too tactical a development. Would a cavalry division opportunity charge an infantry division crossing in front of them at half to 3/4 of a mile? Or a 32-gun artillery park let loose at the same distance?

Maybe, although I've found that when a force has that much of an operational flank advantage, the force "inside" is going to be in big trouble barring some support elsewhere.

By far the biggest double-edged sword remains the table edges. On the one hand, it imparts tremendous suspense. On the other, an umpire has to work extra hard moving players and troops between tables. In real time with 14 players, you can get caught.

For example, when Kleist advanced north through the mountain passes [forming the edge of one table], he had a choice of three, selecting the center one. In all the chaos of the first turn, I dutifully transported his troops from one table to another. Unfortunately, I placed his troops on the right hand pass. After a couple hours of slugging it out with Poniatowski, the mistake was discovered.

Now it was obvious to the omniscient umpire that the tabletop troops "took the wrong fork in the road." At the same time, he wanted to fall back to a different position than the one the right hand pass exited. And of course, Hessen-Homberg at the lefthand pass thought Kleist was in a different pass as well. A dilemma that had to be solved in real time...I gave Kleist a choice--he could withdraw over the original route and appear back in Austria in the center pass, or he could withdraw directly back through the right hand pass, or he could split his force between the two. Hessen-Homberg was allowed to pull back the tail end of his corp to the center pass if he desired.

At which point the French player rightfully noted that clogging up the right hand pass forced his units to swing wide, adding extra marching time. So I allowed him a choice: If he wanted to put the marching corp at the mouth of the other pass, he could do so.

Was it perfect? No. The umpire should have paid more attention in the first swap. Did everybody sort out? Yes. Did it affect the campaign? Perhaps, but not too much if at all. During the Kleist-Poniatowski duel, the other passes were pretty much ignored, at least until Hessen-Homberg arrived, only to meet the Imperial Guard heading the other way. Would it have altered dispositions much? I don't think so, as only a couple units at a time could fight in the pass (I really should call them valleys, eh?). In any case, I allowed the players a free adjustment to compensate which may have moved them 6" in either direction.

And no, they did not buy the ol' "scouts took a wrong turn at the fork argument."

On the other hand, many things went right when you separate players to different tables. Wittgenstein slammed into the flank of Milhaud (who neglected to screen his own movements) and sent V Cavalry Corp reeling back towards Dresden. If everyone had been on the same table, I can guarantee that Milhaud would not have left his flank dangling in front of an Austrian corp.

St. Cyr was baffled about what bridge went where, but he stood his ground in front of Dresden and didn't worry much about it.

And Ney successfully diverted attention from his open southern flank by aggressively advancing his northern and southern flank units. Blucher, not knowing what was on the other side, fixed his attention on breaking the heavily defended river line. Even when Sacken was given a view of the "Ney" table because of a dashing cavalry charge over a bridge and into a town, routing its defenders before being thrown back in a counterattack, the Prussians stayed in the center.

Which brings us to another point: communication. There were very few messages passing between Blucher and his generals, in part I believe because they were all on the same table and could see the same thing. The French, on the other hand, made liberal use of messages to keep C-in-C and marshals informed. Milhaud deserves credit for providing a list of divisions and strengths to Napoleon who was on another table and could not effectively see what was going on. I personally enjoy the "I need more troops" messages that drive C-in-Cs batty. Lauriston gets the award for best penmanship and MacDonald for role-playing.

THANKS

Special thanks to Fred Stratton and Dan Burkley for OOB research and preparation, plus use of their miniatures, and to Scott Ippolito and Rich Pichnarczyk for use of some of their figures as well. At a rough guess, there were over 1,000 15mm figures across those seven tables--truly an impresive sight. And of course, thanks to all the players who made the trip to enjoy a game of Snappy Nappy.

Related

Snappy Nappy: Fall 1813 Overview and Replay
Snappy Nappy: Fall 1813 Order of Battle and Map
Snappy Nappy: Fall 1813 Transcribed Commanders Orders

Snappy Nappy: 1809 Austrian Invasion of Bavaria