A boardgame. La Bataille de Leipzig

Now available for preorder from Pratzen Editions.
La Bataille de Leipzig marks the rebirth of the Vive l'Empeur system in this, biggest battle of the time. This game is the biggest Napoleonic game ever created: ten maps, six counter sheets at the regiment scale, 16 scenarios including a campaign scenario covering six days of battle. It uses the robust version 3.0 of the standard rules, finalized after 20 years of game series play. If this game is a success, we will republish the previous games of this series, and of course new battles like Vitoria
See the Connewitz area map as seen in the web-site.

The rules are available in the Web-Grognards site

Kevin Zucker (Operational Studies Group) is back!

Good news for all Napoleonic wargamers.
Operational Studies Group (NapoleonGames.com) is back in business after a small break. Kevin Zucker is designing THE COMING STORM, a new Quadrigame centered around the War of the Fourth Coalition. October 1806 - June 1807.

Taken from the THE COMING STORM web page

BATTLES SIMULATED
JENA-AUERSTÄDT 13-14 October 1806
PULTUSK/GOLYMIN 24-25 December 1806
EYLAU 7-8 February 1807
FRIEDLAND 13-14 June 1807

These four games explore the major battles of 1806-07, where the French Army encountered two different opponents with different capabilities, from the leadership-challenged Prussians in Saxony to the chaotic battle conditions in winter against the Russians. Based on OSG's Special Studies, which provide a turn by turn narrative of the four battles. Each game shows the approach to the battlefield on the day before battle. The Jena-Auerstädt game has both battlefields on one map and allows both sides to re-deploy before battle. Set at the scale of Napoleon's Last Battles-525 yards per hex and one hour turns-the game retains the Command System of Commanders and Corps Officers.

DESCRIPTION
Napoleon's Last Battles System, following Four Lost Battles: 525 yards (480 meters) per hex, 1 hour per turn, 500-800 men per strength point. Each game lasts about 40 turns.

COMPONENTS
Four 22 x 34" full-color maps
Two Rulebooks (36 pages and 24 pages)
One 2" game box
Two counter sheets = 560 units
Three player aid sheets
Four player aid cards
Two decks of 50 playing cards = 100 cards

Kevin is taking now pre-orders with a 30%-off the retail price, at $92.00 (plus shipping). The Quadrigame is scheduled for September 10, 2010.

A CyberBoard game-box for 'Napoleon's Leipzig Campaign'

Finally, I succumbed to the temptation and during the past week-end, I finalized the Cyberboard (V 3.0) game-box for 'Napoleon's Leipzig Campaign'.
See more information at my web site.

Napoleon’s Leipzig Campaign. A boardgame

Napoleon’s Leipzig Campaign (NLC) is an old boardgame, designed by Don Alexander and published by OMEGA GAMES in 1994. In the words of the publishers:

"Napoleon’s Leipzig Campaign simulates the great confrontation in 1813 pitting Napoleon’s empire against all the other continental great powers. Napoleon’s Leipzig Campaign puts the players in the position of Napoleon or the allied triumvirate of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Francis I of Austria, end King Frederick William III0 of Prussia. The players are required to provide the strategic leader ship for their forces against the background of frictions to military operations in this period: limited command and control; unpredictable subordinates leading large forces of unevenly trained soldiers; unwieldy logistical support and tatical engagements that could shortly produces a bloodbath. The stakes are for nothing less than the fate of the Old Order against the forces of change unleashed by the French Revolution.
The manoeuvre map is centred on the German Kingdom of Saxony. The map is divided into territorial districts, connected by lines of communications. The distance between the districts varies, as the lines of communication represent daily march distances for the military formations of the period. The army and corps combat units are headquarters to which strength points are assigned. Each strength point represents about 1000 men, although this figure varies based upon specific units’ quality of soldiers and number of artillery pieces."

When I bought the game some years ago (in 2004), I started a CyberBoard gamebox but after several computer crashes I lost the files. However, the last week-end I suddenly found my old efforts in a forgotten back-up CD under a mountain of photocopies!. The following is a reduced version of the CyberBoard map with a superimposed real size area.

Whereas I don't like the NLC's combat system, the map and the movement and command rules could be more adequate to simulate the Leipzig Campaign, than the more complex map and rules from Napoleon at the Crossroads or any other of the boardgames of the Operational Study Group.
I must to continue my research to find the best system to play the Leipzig Campaign... the main goal behind this blog!

See the NLC information at the BoardGameGeek site.

A new boardgame from Kevin Zucker

The postman arrived with "The Habit of Victory", the last boardgame form Operational Studies Group.
* Campaigns of Napoleon System, Series 2X. Game Mechanics are the same as Napoleon at the Crossroads, with the addition of the cards.
* Card Assisted Game (CAG) plays with far fewer dice rolls, and quickeroverall.
* Each card represents a Movement Command specifying attrition, administration, etc., and allows for one-time events such as: political, military, officer feuds, and guerilla war. Because they define Movement more closely, the cards make attrition a matter of a quick read-off at a glance.
* Three short introductory scenarios simulate the battles of Pultusk/Golymin, Eylau, and Friedland.
* Three full-sized campaign scenarios depict the three phases of the war-the Crossing of the Bug and Battles of Pultusk and Golymin, the campaign and battle of Eylau in February, and the final miscalculation by Bennigsen at Friedland.
* A massive Grand Scenario of up to 69 turns.
* During major battles entire armies can be concentrated under just a few leaders. At other times units can be dispersed independently along with Cavalry Vedettes which help confuse the enemy.

The game covers the 1806-07 winter Campaign of Napoleon at Poland so its subject is far from the Campaign of Leipizg. My interest in this boardgame lies on the cards which I plan to use in combination with "Napoleon at the Crossroads". At this moment there are no plans at OSG to launch a set of cards for use with this last game, so many thinking will be necessary to carry out the adaptation.