I must say that in my opinion I feel that the state of boardgaming is in a strong position at present. With the demise of that boardgaming bastion Avalon Hill I felt that we would have problems in the very near future, but paradoxically enough I now feel that the loss of Avalon Hill was a good thing. Why? Well as most major players in any field I feel that it was getting far too big and overshadowing other companies, also its games were beginning to be less wargaming and more gamey or worse. The vacuum that Avalon Hill left has been filled with numerous smaller companies, and many of these companies have produced some very good games. The increase of Desktop Publishing has helped this effort, and with the more established companies have increased output and more importantly quality of games. By quality I don't mean aesthetically, but in playability and interest. A good-looking game is all well and good but it needs substance behind it, which I feel is where Avalon Hill went wrong in the end. Personally having a few years of not buying many games, I have made a conscious effort to purchase one each month.
I will have a quick look at some of the games I have been playing recently and comment on them as I see fit, which is the only way to do it.
At present I have La Bataille de Lutzen set up on my gaming table, it is Clash of Arms' latest release in the long-running battalion-scale battle series. I first found this series in GDW Battle of Borodino, and own all the early releases, but not many of the latest. I must admit to loving this series of games, I like the scale, the counters, the maps, and especially the atmosphere. I can still remember the time that Ney took the fleches after four failures, only to be cut down in his moment of glory, and that was around 1980. To me that is what wargaming is all about. I suppose as a figure gamer as well, or mostly, I hanker after what I can never have with my figures; namely a full size battle. The only down side with this series are the rules, in the early days they were written in some weird pseudo French style and were full of ambiguities. The worst part was the command rules; the problem, well there weren't any command rules! We now have a new set of rules The Regulations of the Year XXII. Or possibly two new sets, because the rules in Lutzen are very similar but crucially not the same and there seems to be some confusion which are the proper ones to use for the series as a whole. Both are better written, but unfortunately there are still some contradictions and ambiguities, but nothing too insurmountable.
The best thing is that we now have rules for command. Each army, corps/wing commander generates one command point, which can be used to issue one movement order. Movement orders can be issued to Divisions/Allied Brigades and/or Corps/Wings as long as they are in command. So Ney's IIIrd Corps has four Divisions. If all his Divisional leaders were within 6 hexes (10 if up a windmill) of Ney one command point would move them all. However if say one was 12 hexes away then if it wanted to carry out any action it would need another movement point given to it. One final point for a Corps/Line commander to carry out this wholesale moment of his Corps (or wing for the Allies, which is the biggest formation they can move), he needs to be within 10 hexes (15 windmill climbing) of his army commander and to have been in the same hex as his army commander at some point to be "activated".
This all sounds well and good, and it is as far as it goes it adds a bit of chaos, each movement order is drawn out randomly from a pot so one is never sure who will be moving next. But it still has a few faults in my opinion. As I mentioned each movement point is awarded for all superior officers, and these can be used to move anyone. So let's say Marmont arrives first for the French with his VI corps, giving the French their first point to use after two hours of none. What does one do, well I used it to move a Division from the III Corps that's what I did. I must admit to finding this odd, I would like to see a rule that movement orders can only be used to give orders to someone in that command. I may make myself a house rule on it at some time. The new command system does make the games have more decisions to make, in that there are never enough movement points to go around. Should you bring those reserves up, or can should I send the 13th Division in, this problem will be even more pronounced in a bigger game I will have to dig out Wagram and give them a go. Overall I feel that the La Bataille games are the best in their genre and scale. They have a great feel and are great fun to play, I will continue to play these games for a long while and you can't really say more than that!
I recently acquired Omega Games' Napoleon's Leipzig Campaign and have played it a couple of times. This is a grid game with areas joined by lines of communication, it concerns Napoleon's campaign in Germany after the armistice has finished and runs from August 14 – October 30 with each turn representing 3 days. So the full game lasts for 26 turns, although there is an introductory game that only lasts for the last 21 days. Whilst 26 turns may not sound a lot be warned this is a big game, there is a lot to do per turn and a turn can lasts for an hour or so. As is the standard nowadays the games main concern is the supply of the troops, and the majority of the rules cover this subject. This is a very detailed game, so one has headquarters, supply points and logistical trains to get those supply points to your troops. Without supply they will die very quickly. Supply must be assigned every turn, and the results of movement worked out, so the game can bog down here if not too careful. One continually has to count the number of troops in an area, I worked out a system to make this quicker but it still can be a bind.
The best part is the combat, totally chaotic and very, very interesting. Basically each battlefield has 3 zones for each side, a Reserve Zone, a Headquarters Tactical Zone and an Independent Corps Tactical Zone; in the latter two there is also Charging Cavalry Box. Everyone starts with his troops in the Reserve Zone, except for the defender who may place one HQ force or independent unit in its appropriate zone. Each turn one attempts to either bring troops into the battle or out of it, unfortunately this is dependent on initiative, so plans don't always come off. As the battle continues troops in the Tactical Zone tire whilst units in the Reserve Zone don't, so a late reinforcement can be very useful. There are modifiers for cavalry charging, tactical ratings of units, level ratings (modified by fatigue, disruption and rout), terrain, fortifications, leader rating and odds. Again a very detailed system, but a truly excellent one in my view. Does one send all your troops in early or feed them in later, but what if they don't come in? I had one game where my Old Guard should have come in on the 3rd round of battle and win the battle, unfortunately I kept shaking high and it never came in at all, I lost the battle and never recovered. Brilliant! I cannot praise the combat system enough.
As stated above this is a very detailed game, and it can become bogged down, but I rate it very highly. One cannot do Napoleonic games without supply, and whilst Napoleon's Leipzig Campaign uses a complicated system it has a good feel, and of course I am very impressed with the combat rules. If you have an interest in Napoleonic warfare I would have to recommend this game to you.
I have also been playing Paths of Glory and Blue vs Grey, what can one say about these games that hasn't been said before. Both are excellent designs and have created a great deal of interest and discussion over the Internet. With games like this I see no problem with the future of boardgaming. Good simulations, which are also fun to play, are what we need and thankfully lately it is what we have been getting. The chaotic nature of all the games I have talked about are very evident either chits, cards or dice rolls are used in them. Gone are the days when all units move and fight as you want them to, and you could work out the exact odds needed to win – the 3-1 syndrome. Good.
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© Copyright 2000 by Charles and Teresa Vasey.
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