A new map for the 'War to the Death' Cyberboard game-box

While enjoying the last days of summer holidays, I have modified the map of the Cyberboard game-box for the old 'War to the Death' boardgame. This out-of-stock boardgame is focused on the Peninsular War and it is very interesting because it is based on serious research and simulates very well the fog-of-war. To play a full Peninsular campaign with this boardgame, has become one of my never-finished and eternal wargaming projects (see more information about Cyberboard and War to the Death at my web site).
The new map follows some of the modifications introduced by MSFoy in my 'War to the Death' game-box, to include Elvas and the sorrounding area in the southern Portugal. You can see both maps below.

This is my old map

 

This is the modified map

MsFoy is using a similar map as a basis for his Solo Peninsular War Campaign. I recommend strongly the campaign that is now in its 21th week and reaching a very interesting point: Wellington has been dimissed as C-i-C and has been substituted by the London politicians!

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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.

Off topics: A CyberBoard gamebox

CyberBoard is a free utility to play wargames by PBeM developed by Dale Larson. In the words of the author:
"The CyberBoard board gaming system makes playing board games by mail and electronic mail a more enjoyable experience. The system allows you to easily graphically design the various parts of a board game on your computer. The players can make their moves and exchange recorded versions of the moves with their opponents. The opponent can then play back the moves. Although many types of games may be created using CyberBoard, games that use counters or chits such as war games work particularly well.
CyberBoard is not an artificial opponent. It provides no artificial intelligence capability.
My goal for CyberBoard was to duplicate the experience of actual paper counter style gaming--at least to the extent that this is reasonable. In its current form the system does a pretty good job of this" . CyberBoard can be downloaded free from the CyberBoard page.

War to the Death, is a boardgame designed by D.W. Alexander and edited by Omega Games in 1986 (1st ed.) and 1994 (2nd ed.). It depicts the problems suffered by the French armies in Spain during the Peninsular War from 1810 onwards. The French player must confront the British (the Portuguese army is abstracted, the Spanish regular forces and the Spanish Guerrillas and. The boardgame emphatises the logistics aspects and requeriments that are different for French, British or Spanish (More information at

War to the Death page in my web site).

I bought the game some years ago and, having discovered CyberBoard utility almost simultaneously, I designed a game-box for it. With the help of Pablo Martín Fernández, a Spanish wargamer whom I found at the Consimworld Forum, the original game map was modified to make it more similar to the true state of the Spanish road communications network at the beginning of the XIX century.

During the first months of 2009, Pablo has been posting to the ConsimWorld Forum some ideas about a 1808-1809 Scenario, including Spanish Juntas, Early Spanish Logistics, Portuguese Army, Spanish War Weariness and Romana's Division. You can download the corresponding WORD documents starting from the above ConsimWorld Forum address. The Pablo's modifications extend the timespan covered for the game, allowing to play the first stages of the Peninsular War.

Pablo has included all the new markers in a new game-box that can be download from that Forum, WttD1808.gbx, or from my website, Early Years game-box, at your convenience.