We managed to get three players together for our virgin run at La Guerre. I was England, Kurt Mericli was Russia, Jeff Yandora was France. We managed to get through 4 turns in 5 hours (with a lot of rules checking and chit chat in between). It will certainly go much faster next session. We really liked the game: graphically, in terms of fun and in terms of "feel." It is certainly "playable", and we will all play again. OVERVIEW: The system is innovative on virtually every level, with some truly unique mechanics (no surprise to those familiar with designer Kevin Zucker's track record). The scale is big: Divisions and Corps sized units. Movement is by areas called provinces (France has 8 provinces) and sea areas, covering all of Europe and the Mediterranean. Turns are Seasons, with Winter being a diplomatic, non-campaigning turn. The game goes from 1805 to 1815 (for a total of 41 turns). The political system is quite simple, but shows why Napoleonic Europe was different than 1940's Europe, (and why a simple continental Napoleonic game has been so long in the making...what a rat's nest!). In a 3 player game, 4 of the 7 major nations are run as NPC's (Non Player Countries): Prussia, Austria, Spain and the Ottomans. They begin the game "inert" but can be brought into play as allies of any player who can make an alliance roll. These rolls vary, depending on the sympathies of the nations in question. For example, France can activate the Ottomans on a roll of 7+ (d10), while arch-rival Russia must roll a 10+. NPC's can also be deactivated, for a price and another (more difficult roll). Each province on the map has a printed garrison of varying strengths (these are supplanted by an infantry division which is "dropped off" by an invading Corps once it is beaten the printed garrison). This combat is quick, just one die roll, but serves multiple purposes in the game. It allows a nation to build buffer zones, making the enemy's ability to penetrate into your empire more difficult and shows, graphically, a nation's conquests (since garrisons are in your national colour you can see your boundaries physically expanding). The Naval game is outstanding. Lots of fun. Very clean. And as the Brits, I had a chance to use a lot of it. The British transports are really fun. Though you feel the crunch of the 5-corps British limit (as opposed to France, which can build up to 18 Corps), troop transports can keep them alive overseas by shuttling divisions out to them from the mother isles. Fleets can be in port, at sea, or blockading (stacked onto enemy ships in port, with a guaranteed interception if the blockaded ships go to sea). Britain has the most fleets (something like a dozen), but most of the major and 4 of the minor nations have some sea power. The Land game also works well, although it takes some getting used to before you feel like you can protect yourself and bring grief to your foes. We discovered that forces of 1-2 corps are dead (and well-cooked) meat against a determined enemy. Virtually every combat result on the CRT results in 2-3 units dead and routed. After one round, a 2-Corps army has a hole in its lines and will be carved up during pursuit the moment it loses initiative. Still, small forces can do some serious damage. One Austrian Corps at Vienna killed 4 divisions of French before dissolving. The Big Battles run quickly and are suitably bloody and exciting. We were scrupulous about not examining the CRT between battles to try to learn its quirks, relying solely on our vast, encyclopaedic knowledge of Napoleonic tactics to get us through :) REPLAY Fall 1805: The game begins with Europe at peace. France always has the option to move first, and did so here. On the Event table, Marshal Ney came into play, giving the French a second strong commander. The La Guerre map has lots of "Minor Power" provinces which you do not have to declare war on in order to attack... these are fair game to one and all. Italy, for example, is composed entirely of minor provinces. The French start with 4 corps in Northern Italy, and 7 Corps in the Paris province. Jeff sent the bulk of these forces on a march into Rome and Naples, capturing the bulk of the Italian peninsula in his first turn. He also gained an alliance with Spain (one of his two "easy" alliance rolls...the other one being the Turks). I pulled my chip out of the opaque container, and so had the second move. I rolled to ally with Prussia but botched my roll, and declined to declare war on anybody (despite Pitt's ravings in the House of Lords). (CHV: Surely House of Commons?). Instead I sent the fleet to sea, reinforced Gibraltar, hoarded my cash. Russia went last, gained an alliance with Austria, declared war on the French, and immediately moved to seal Napoleon into the Boot by marching Charles' Austrians and Kutusov's Russians into Northern Italy (an Italian Austerlitz loomed). He also blockaded the Dutch fleet with his Baltic squadrons (Holland begins the game occupied by the French...and gives them its fleet), and landed troops in Scandinavia. End of Fall 1805. Winter 1805: During the Winter turn, everyone collected Victory Points and taxes and got some free alliance rolls. No new alliances happened (I tried to lure Spain away from France, but needed a 10 and blew it). Spring 1806: France again opted for the first march, and did a wide flanking move around the Austro-Russian army (much to Kurt's dismay: "Aw come on! I want a big battle!"). Napoleon ended up in the Tyrol, within striking distance of Vienna. The Spanish under Castanos marched into Switzerland to support their ally in his hour of need. Russia pulled her chit second, and elected to smack the Spaniards with the full God-knows-how-many corps of the allied army. The Spanish fought well, the battle going several rounds before they broke. There was not much left of them however... they lost maybe 8 divisions during the pursuit (lots of Cossacks and Austrian hussars), but what remained retreated to huddle in the Tyrol with Napoleon. The Russians failed to capture the French garrison in Switzerland and, without enough movement points left to enter Tyrol to take on Napoleon, were forced to fall back into Northern Italy. I went last, finally succeeding in gaining an alliance with the Prussians. I moved to where I could threaten the French if needed to but declined, once again, to declare war on either of my opponents. I sent my Portuguese Corps to bolster the Gibraltar garrison, and landed an expeditionary force in Denmark to garner a few extra VP's there. At the end of the turn, we bought new units and... Summer 1806: Predictably, the French were on the move once more, this time managing to bring the Turks in on their side. The Event table for the French put Joseph on the throne of Spain, making future rolls to break the French/Spanish alliance easier. During the French Sea turn, the Turkish Fleet entered the Black Sea, locating and defeating the Russian Fleet and driving it into port at Sevastopol. During the Land turn, Napoleon entered Vienna with an overwhelming attack on that solitary Austrian Corps I mentioned in the Overview. With Vienna taken, the Austrians were forced to surrender (NPC's surrender whenever their capital falls... PC's... Player Countries... decide when they want to surrender). Here we misinterpreted a fairly important rule. Austria was due to surrender officially in the "next peace phase". We interpreted that to mean the next peace phase to come up (namely player #2's peace phase), rather than the next FRENCH peace phase, which would have changed things in the Austro-Russian favour. At any rate, the Ottomans launched a land attack into Odessa, where the Russians had left a border garrison behind for just such an eventuality. The Russians were soundly beaten, and Odessa occupied. During my peace phase, Austria surrendered, slamming the door on the Russian Expeditionary Force in Northern Italy, but, since that was never supposed to have happened, I'll pass it over. My Prussians and I gobbled up a few Northern Minor provinces, and my Gibraltar garrison felt confident enough to cross over to North Africa and occupy Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. We were compelled to break the game up at this point, but determined to set up and have a second bash...hopefully with a few more players! Back to Perfidious Albion #97 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. 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