Players 2
Playing Time n/a
Scale Operational Turn One hour
Map 360 yards per hex
Units Infantry and cavalry are regiment/brigade; artillery is battalion.

Components

1 cardboard box
1 20-page half-size rules booklet
1 standard two-color hex map
400 backprinted die-cut counters

Counter Manifest

180 France (black on blue)
173 Austria (black on cream)
10 Saxony (black on beige)
7 Bavaria (black on light blue)
7 Portugal (black on brown)
3 Italy (black on green)
20 Rout markers (black on yellow)

SimCan says:

“The battle of Wagram was Napoleon’s last real victory, that is, a war-winning victory which forced peace upon France’s enemies. The largest army Napoleon was ever to command in the field fought at Wagram and the Austrian commander, Archduke Charles, was one of Napoleon’s ablest opponents. The Hapsburg Army of 1809 certainly equalled the finest Coalition forces raised during the Napoleonic Wars.”

The Reviewers say:

“ Napoleon’s Last Triumph employs a fire combat resolution system which encompasses the effects of four different levels of morale and four various states of formation while allowing the attacker to select from two forms of calculating the attack. This is the gem buried in the game.” --Jeffry Tibbetts in the Grenadier 16.

“Napoleon’s Last Triumph is exceedingly well-researched. Each element of the game is well-grounded in history. Haggart has documented his work in Designer’s Notes and an Order of Battle, which the game purchaser will discover how to obtain. Do so before Haggart figures out how underpriced they are [the price went up from $1 to $4 shortly after -ed].” --David Churchman in F&M 36.

“One of the best games on the Napoleonic wars in a long time, I think that it will prove to be a successor to the venerable Napoleon’s Last Battles system. There is certainly much more substance to the game. ... I can’t help but state that this is one of the best games and certainly the best simulation for its scale in this period.” --James Naughton in the Grenadier 17.

Comments

This was the first board wargame designed out of house and bought outright by SimCan. And the last. The problem was not so much with the game itself, as with the odds, i.e., the One Definitive Design Syndrome. During years of development wherein the designer had honed the game to an unequalled sharpness, he had become much too familiar with it for his, and its, own good. In the process of converting the design to a practical, playable and marketable game there was the inevitable friction and disagreement. It isn’t surprising that this would give rise to rumors that the designer was unhappy, especially with the separate availability (directly from the designer for a nominal fee) of two other documents, a 56-page booklet of Designer’s Notes and a 44-page OOB. The OOB was unique at the time as it was based on primary and unpublished research, and contained some data at odds with contemporary thinking.

The Designer’s Notes consisted of the following table of contents:

• Introduction Purpose Footnotes
• Theory & Methods: Simulation Accuracy Historical Facts Verification
• Facts & Interpretations: Terrain Counters The Turn Sequence Command Movement Stacking Formations Zones of Control Fire Combat Melee Combat Cavalry Charges Special Rules Victory Conditions
• Players Notes
• Bibliography.

The Designer’s Notes represented a full discussion of the design decisions, and in some ways feels like an apologia. But nowhere is there evidence of ill will towards SimCan, and in fact, parts of this document, including the full bibliography, were reprinted in the rulebook.

Collectors Notes

Boone lists low, high and average costs of 4/10/7.50 at auction and 5/20/ 14.00 for sale.

Errata

4.2F Add and/or Melee Combat segment.

5.61 Last line of page, change grand to mobile.

5.62 Line 5, change grand to mobile.

6.51 During the Formation Change segment, the units in Column formation may change to Square, Skirmish or Line.

6.54 All infantry formations may change to Square formation during their phasing formation segment, but only those with a yes on the Formation Chart may change to Square during an opposing formation segment. Undeployed formations may change to Square during the Formation Change segment only if there are six or less factors in the hex containing the Undeployed formation.

6.625 Delete and ignore skirmisher stacking limits.

7.33 Artillery units have two combat factors: ball and canister. Either ball or canister may be used on any target within range in a turn, but not both, and the factors may not be combined.

7.51 Line 6, replace melee with movement, and delete prior to resolving any melees from the end of that sentence.

7.52 Insert the sentence deleted from 7.51 as the first sentence in 7.52 after Charge Resolution.

7.72 No. 2: Move each turn so as to end movement 8 hexes from the nearest enemy unit and as close to the nearest road as possible. Once on a road, the routed unit(s) must stay on the road and travel along it to maintain the required 8 hex distance. If the only way to maintain this distance is to leave the mapboard, the routed unit(s) are eliminated instead. No. 3 is ignored.

Map: Napoleon is misspelled in the title.

Counters: All units with a skirmish factor also have a normal zone of control even if not so indicated on their counters. Werde MIN and BEC should both have zone of control indicators. Massena LEG/LE should be brown.

Notes:Though this is not explicit in the rules, units controlled by a leader with defend orders may not initiate offensive fire or melee combat as attackers, though they may use defensive fire and engage in melee as defenders. Cavalry may charge and fully resolve charges under either attack or defend orders.

Additions to the Rules

6.85 Units may enter, but may not leave, a Charge ZOC. This means that a unit can enter and move freely within the Charge ZOC expending the required extra 2 movement points for each hex, though it may not leave.

7.34 Any hex containing more than one unit or 3 factors blocks Line of Sight just as Blocking Terrain hexes do. Skirmish ZOCs also block LOS with one exception: the combat unit exerting a Skirmish ZOC may be spotted and is affected by enemy ZOCs through its own Skirmish ZOC.

7.45 If a Leader is killed or wounded as a result of melee combat, whether alone in a hex or with friendly combat units, another die is rolled. If the result is one (1), that Leader is captured. The Archduke and Napoleon escorts must be routed or eliminated before a capture roll may be made. Killed or wounded results are never negated by the presence of the escort combat factors. If the escort is eliminated, but the Leader is not killed, wounded or captured, the escort is returned to full strength as soon as it is out of all enemy ZOCs. Full escort strength is dependent on whether the Leader is full strength or reduced. An escort has 1 step for combat purposes.

Optional Rules

7.51 Charges declared during the previous player turn may be made during the enemy player’s Melee Segment before any other enemy melees are resolved. Only cavalry that have declared charges the previous turn may charge, moving and meleeing within the restrictions of normal cavalry charges.

7.52 After all charge combat has been completed against the first enemy unit, the cavalry units that charged may continue to attack any one hex of enemy units that is adjacent to it using normal melee procedure. If the die roll for the melee resolution is 1 or 2, the cavalry units are disordered, then the melee is resolved again normally using the Melee Combat factors of the disordered cavalry. Each cavalry charge may carry out up to 3 continued melee attacks after the Charge resolution. The Mandatory disorder at the end of a charge is applied only if the cavalry is not already disordered or routed.

7.3 Column and Undeployed formations may use fire combat. Infantry in Column or Undeployed Formation have a fire strength of ¼ the factors in the hex up to a limit of two (2). No more than two CF may fire from any one hex.

Steve Newberg says:

Bill Haggart worked on this design of the Battle of Wagram for a number of years before submitting it to us. Peter Hollinger and I found it intriguing for its unique grand tactical approach and systems. The game spent longer than normal in development, hammering these systems into a form a player not steeped in Napoleonics could understand and use. Peter and I were very happy with the results and the game got excellent feedback response from players, though Bill felt we had watered it down too much. For its time it was a complex game, though by modern standards it is now about average.