Reviewed in Australia on 15 January 2020
The book is just rules of conducing a Corps level miniature wargame of Napoleonic warfare. Individual units act as small or large brigades, with 2-4 brigades making up 2-4 divisions to play with.
The rules are very well laid out with large colourful examples and explanations, though there are only a few designer notes at the back. The rules naturally lend to results that follow historical strategy and tactics, though there is little direct impact of skirmishers or formation changes at the brigade level.
Some rules are based on if-then-else statements which can be not as obvious but experiencing them make them straight forward to learn and apply.
The game is built for Tournament play rather than a more free to play game like Black Powder. Games last 3 hours and can down to the wire with victory dependent on doing more damage to the enemy army and not taking more yourself.
Armies are chosen via a point's system with only a few national characteristics (reformed units that can fight in column and manoeuvre faster, unreformed that fight in line and British post 1807 who move like reformed and fight in line). The army list books narrow the armies to choose down a lot more than the base points here. Armies of many nations are quite competitive against each other in battle, with nations known for their lack of victories in reality able to compete with the bigger nations.
Scale is based on the scale of figures, but 15/18mm is mostly what it is designed for I think. Compared to 28mm you can fit an entire army in one bookcase binder and all the terrain needed in another one. A battle on the scale of Waterloo would be about 4 players a side and take a day I expect (I have not yet tried it).
Battles are started with a 15-30 minute pre-battle setup where both players choose 1 of 6 strategies (from prepare defence to a frontal assault) and place terrain and units based on that. Better generals are able to prevent their opponent from choosing as many options as they would like.
Generals act as command points and allow brigades to do more complex and faster moves than they would normally. They can also be slain in combat, though replaced by a brigade commander next turn. Rifles have a +1 chance to doing it. Generals have 3 levels of ability and can also be allied or charismatic.
There is no suggested strategy to use - it's assumed I think that readers will already be familiar with the setting and background.
There is a large glossary but the book lacks an index, which I feel it needs (ie, what are all the bonuses to having veteran infantry? You;ll have to find them throughout the book).
There is no fluff on the history and only a small amount on the actual units - if you want background and knowledge of the units, countries, commanders, or battles you will need to get one of the two army lists (Emperors and Eagles & Triumph of Nations, which has army lists and descriptions of campaigns. ALL the campaigns and army lists except Otterman empire).
The game allows the player to simulate Napoleonic warfare on their table top and is very popular in Australia and New Zealand where the authors are based.
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