Typographical errors were also few and the game was easily learned in half an hour, a tribute to the rules' overall simplicity. Yet while the game was simple, the rules themselves contain a host of subtleties that become important in game play.

The Prussians found themselves continually struggling with command and leadership problems far more often than the French, a situation that made it very difficult to respond to Napoleon's intentions, though dead on the money historically. It is a tribute to the game's author that all of this manifests itself due to a C2 system that is relatively easy to learn but yet so subtly decisive when executed improperly. Kevin Zucker has done a particularly fine job in this regard .

The rules on Vedettes allow cavalry formations, or the mounted component of Prussian light divisions (usually five squadrons of Hussars-very nice touch here), to break down into regimental-sized formations for use as a reconnaissance or counter-reconnaissance force. These Vedette counters confer most of the advantages of regular cavalry units, including a Combined Arms combat bonus or the ability to retreat prior to combat. When combined with hidden movement, however, these tiny formations can really keep an opponent in the dark about who has what where, and this is particularly so for the Prussians who hit the field with the ability to deploy 28 Vedette counters to the French 20.

Purely objective design? Hardly. But complete objectivity often makes for a boring game and that is not a charge that will ever be leveled at this fine effort. Overall, I found the game easy to learn, fun to play and not as unbalanced as one might think, though it will certainly show the players why it was tough to be the Prussians. I discovered only a few places where minor improvements would be nice, such as putting the Table of Contents on the first page as opposed to in the center of the Rule Book. Otherwise, I found the game to be excellent and I especially appreciated the slightly different approach it took vis a vis COA's Jena game as regards the core cause of Berlin's defeat.
And so how does 1806 compare to Jena? In general I found the COA product to be a little more detailed in terms of tactical flavor, Zucker's game getting the nod in terms of ease of play. Both do a commendable job of showing why the mighty Prussians went down to defeat in this campaign.