For those who are unfamiliar with the various game designs there has been some confusion about which games fall into which systems. This article was originally published on the web at http://talk. Consimworld.com on February 24th, 2000 (Boardgaming, Game Series Discussion, 6 Days of Glory and related games messages).

The first Napoleonic game I designed was Napoleon's Last Battles, published by SPI in 1975. Decision Games recently reprinted a 3rd edition, but I did not participate in the development of that edition.

In 1979, I designed a sister game, Napoleon at Leipzig, at the same scale (480 meters per hex, one hour turns, brigade level). The 3rd edition of NAL is available from Clash of Arms Games.

Six Days of Glory is a game intermediate in both scale and complexity between the Last Battles series and the Napoleon at Bay series.

My second Napoleonic design was Napoleon at Bay, published by OSG in 1978. I had come to realize that what made Napoleon "Napoleon" was how he so often determined at the outset of the campaign where the decisive battle would take place, and then arranged for the convergence of his separate forces there simultaneously. Moving separately, of course, the independent corps were able to move much more quickly than an entire army moving along a single route would be able to accomplish.

Convergence is important, because he realized that the arrival of his forces on the enemy flank was very distressing to the enemy, and also forced them to create the fatal "hinge" in their line, the exposed point where their line has to bend to face the new flanking threat, and it was just this hinge which would then receive the full attention of the grand battery followed by an attack by the reserve.

Wargames that begin after the planning and execution of such an operation do not allow the player to really match his skill against Napoleon's. That is why I created the operational level series of games that began with Napoleon at Bay.

The following games in the series included Bonaparte in Italy, Struggle of Nations (AH, 1980), 1809: Victory on the Danube (VG, 1984), The Emperor Returns, (1815, COA, 1986), 1807: The Eagles Turn East (COA, 1995), as well as the two micro- games, Battles of the Hundred Days, and Arcola, (reprinted by AH as Battle for Italy). These are the operational-level games (two-mile hex, two-day turns, 1,000 men per strength point) and together are known as the Campaigns of Napoleon Series.

Napoleon often determined at the outset of the campaign where the decisive battle would take place, and then arranged for the convergence of his separate forces there simultaneously.

I began to realize, however, that there were still way more fans of the Grand Tactical Last Battles series games than there were for the far more complex, Operational level Campaigns of Napoleon Series. I began to look for a steppingstone for those players to take, half-way between the two series, both in terms of complexity and scale. Six Days of Glory was the result, a game intermediate in both scale and complexity between the Last Battles series and the Napoleon at Bay series. The scale is one mile per hex, turns are 6 hours, and units are divisions. At this scale it is possible to explore the transition from operational planning and how operations evolve seamlessly into battle.

Since Six Days of Glory was published by COA in 1996, two other titles in the series have appeared: 1806: Rossbach Avenged, and Last Days of the Grande Armee. Both are available from Operational Studies Group. I have also designed Castiglione, in this same series, which will either be published by Clash of Arms Games or by OSG.

Wargames that begin after the planning and execution of such an operation do not allow the player to-really match his skill against Napoleon's. That is why I created the operational level series of games that began with Napoleon at Bay.