First Impression Review by Frédéric Bey, Vae Victis N°60 In tandem with its leading series on the Napoleonic campaigns at the scale of the corps d'armée, OSG continues to develop its other series, done in close-up at the scale of the division covering periods of one week or two of operations. The Seven Days of 1809 is the fourth OSG game of this type after Six Days of Glory (see VV n°17), 1806 (see VV n°21) and Last Days of the Grande Armée (see VV n°27). It concerns the man¦uvres of Abensberg and Eckmühl, to the south of Ratisbon in Bavaria, between 16 and 23 April 1809. The big principles dear to Kevin Zucker are continued and developed in the new version of the rules: the game is designed for Hidden Movement (inverted units), cavalry detachments being provided to scout and screen enemy forces. Every turn (6 hours of real time) the two players dispose of a budget of Movement orders to activate their principal formations. The characteristics linked to every army organization are faithfully reflected-at the beginning of this campaign, it is Berthier who directs the army, apprehensively, in anticipation of Napoléon's arrival. Other controlling factors were integrated by Kevin Zucker into this simulation, with special rules on the fighting in the particularly dense and numerous forests in this region; or again, Austrian mixed-type units combining light infantry and cavalry. The Seven Days of 1809 proposes moreover that results of combat will proove less bloody that in the preceding games. The variety of outcomes is guaranteed by four scenarios: Austrian advance (16 turns), the battle of Abensberg (7 turns), the battle of Eckmühl (7 turns) and at last the complete campaign that can be launched on any date back to 16 April. The map, created by Mark Simonitch, is actually splendid. This, we know, has been the strong point of OSG games for a decade. The counters succeed better than those of the preceding games, without overlooking the beauty of those in Six Days of Glory from the epoch of Clash of Arms. The tracks and historic march tables for each day are frankly impressive in their details and erudition. The researches carried out, notably on the battle order of the Austrians and the mapping of the daily situations, confer to this simulation an admirable exactness. The quality of the equipment is this manner generally irreproachable. We will set ourselves in our next issue to evaluate the strategic interest of this week of April 1809, that was without any doubt one of the fiercest weeks of fighting without a real decision in all of the Napoleonic campaigns. No doubt, The Seven Days of 1809 is a game equal to the height of its subject. Note, for those fascinated with the games of Kevin Zucker, the indispensable complement to this new game constitutes the magazine Wargame Design (Volume. II., n° 8), that is included in the package. Back to OSG News November 2004 Table of Contents Back to OSG News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 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