The 6 Days of Glory, 1806, and The Last Days of the Grande Armee are eminently playable games. I have a few suggestions and options to add to the games in this series that do not detract from their playability. Leader Counters First a graphic suggestion. Leaders all have the same generic stars on the counters. Why not instead use nation-appropriate symbols, example Imperial Eagle for French leaders,doubleheaded eagle for Russian leaders, Prussian Eagle for Prussians, King's Crown for British, etc. This would look better and give the leaders some individual national flair. Optional Rules I have tried some optional rules with these series games that I believe add a little to the games but,importantly, don't add to the complexity. Must advance: on 2-1 odds and higher if the attacker rolls a 1 he must advance some unit (not artillery) into the vacated hex, using all other advance after combat rules. This rule can be used along with the optional cavalry impetus rule. This rule doesn't greatly alter the game but it does add some fun for solitaire play, adding slightly more unpredictability and lack of control. Players must try to equalize losses as much as possible with this rule, chosing units to eliminate as equal to the opponent as possible. Partial losses: On the lower of the 'Ex' results for 1-1 and 2-1 odds each side need only lose the fewest number of strength points in order to equalize or as nearly as possible equalise S.P. losses between the two sides. Example: Attacker has a 6, a 4, and a 3-strength unit; defender has a 5 and a 3. Each side would lose a 3. New Artillery Table: Here is a new Artillery Bombardment Table. It increases the chance of doing damage but limits damage proportional to the bombarding units. Can be used with the Grand batteries additional rule. This new table for artillery only. Die Roll SP's 1-7 8-11 12-15 16-19 20-23 24+ 1 L * * * * * 2 - L * * * * 3 - - L L L * 4 - - - L L L 5 - - - - L L 6 - - - - - L * = defending unit(s) must lose at least as many strenght pts. as the bombarding art. strength. L = defending unit(s) must lose up to the strength of the bombarders' str. pts., but do not have to exceed the bombarding strength. Example: a 3-strength art. bombards a 4-str. inf unit, no loss is required. A 5-str. artillery unit bombards two defending 3-str.units, the defender need only remove one '3'. Use the shifts for massed targets (11.59 in The Last Days), one shift left for town, and if you want, add a shift right for artillery that hasn't moved in the turn. You would need an immobile counter from NAB to indicate which art. units haven't moved. Back to OSG News April 2000 Table of Contents Back to OSG News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Operational Studies Group. 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