The Abensberg game is currently under development. The first draft of rules is complete as is the draft of the map. We are currently at work on the Order of Appearance. The game begins with the Austrian crossing of the Isar on April 16th and lasts through to their crossing of the Danube on the 23rd. This design can trace its roots as far back as 1980, to a prototype entitled "Napoleon at Ratisbon" that was submitted to West End Games. As such it was the precursor to the "Six Days of Glory" Series, of which this game forms a part, along with 1806 and Last Days of the Grande Armée. The Ratisbon prototype was destroyed in a fit of housecleaning in 1986, but recently, a gamer Mark Kalina, got in touch who had a copy of the playtest kit made by West End Games and playtested the game back when West End was planning on its publication. This prototype was significantly different-it was pitched at the wrong scale (1000 meters per hex and four hour turns). However certain ideas from that design were added to the finished design. These include March Order Command (8.27), Command Delay and Interception (8.28), the rules covering Charles's Seizures, Austrian Bridging (8.36), and the rules on Exiting the map (20.4). A second prototype based upon the 1806 and Last Days designs was prepared by Michael J. Bowen. He created two prototypes, the first one with a single map and off-map movement tracks, the second one a two-mapper with no off-map tracks. None of the details from these maps was carried over onto the final map (this was drawn from other sources) except for the orientation-the tilt to the East-Northeast was exactly right to place major water barriers near the map edges. Natural barriers of this kind are great to have lining the mapedge. Bowen's contributions to the final design were legion, particularly in the layout of the scenarios and the Order of Battle. In addition, he designed the rules on individual command, Light Infantry (16.4), Napoleon remaining off map, the rule (6.12) allowing good units to reorganize faster, the rule allowing units in road march to be in command (Letter K), Supply Source hexes (14.2), Heavy Cavalry (16.3), Unit Breakdown (16.5), and the Victory Point Schedule (20.2). While leading the 1993 Napoleonic Tour along the Danube I collected research materials for this game and visited the important places including the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt, and stayed for the night in the fortified town of Regensburg, meeting many local Napoleonic authors-including Dr. Marcus Junkelmann who invited us to his home in the small Ratzenhofen castle and escorted us along the way; and Fritz Angrüner, curator of the Aventinus Museum in Abensberg. In Landshut we walked across the bridges passed by the majority of Charles's advancing army on the sixteenth of April, 1809, and we could see many of the same buildings along the river bank that were standing then. This trip was truly invaluable for understanding the topography of the area. It is rolling country with no slope presenting a serious obstacle. Because its level course made it the natural route for invasion from west to east, Napoleon twice used the Danube River valley to strike at the Austrian capital. In 1805 the French army crossed through the area of the map on its way from Ulm to begin the pursuit of the Russians. In 1809 the Archduke Charles launched his invasion of Bavaria right here and this is where the game begins. Back to OSG News November 2003 Table of Contents Back to OSG News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Operational Studies Group 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