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Austerlitz at 'Duel in the Desert VI' Convention - June 2016


Austerlitz at CSW EXPO 2016- title image
by Jim Soto.  *  1-May-2016

Austerlitz To Be Subject of Tempe Duel In The Desert VI In June 2016


La Bataille d’Austerlitz will be the featured game at Duel in the Desert VI at the CONSIM WorldExpo 2016 in Tempe, Arizona late this June.


Marshal Enterprises (ME) has arranged to play the new and improved version of the game, first designed and released in the 1980’s by ME, at the Tempe Fest. This new version will have updated components which reflect the advanced level of research developed over the past 35 years. There will be a new order of battle, new maps, and new special rules to illustrate the tactical nuances of each army of the period in this updated version of the classic La Bataille game.


ME will have its design team of Monte Mattson (Bagration), Dennis Spors (Buxhowden) and Jim Soto (Doctorov), along with ME Associate Mark Kaczmarek (Kutusov) assuming the roles of the Third Coalition Russian-Austrian command and attempting to reverse history.

Ed Wimble, from Clash of Arms, has assembled a mighty coalition of his own to assume the French Command and attempt to validate the outcome with history. Along with Wimble (Napoleon), the players will be Albert Smith (Bernadotte), Dave Mignery (Davout), Dave Barsness (Soult), and Thomas Whitfield (Lannes).

Previously, the Duel in the Desert has seen Les Batailles des Moscova, Dresde and Friedland played along with Les Batailles des Juin 16th between ME and Clash of Arms in Tempe in four day monster games with all the rhetoric and bombast that can accrue when men of strong wills and egos gather for a contest. Duel in the Desert VI will also see the announcement of ME’s fall release. ME has also just released a free print and play game, La Bataille de Schoengrabern. Schoengrabern can be accessed by going to the Marshal Enterprises web site and going to the Recession Series tab, where the player can access all of the rules and components to the game for no charge. The game only takes a couple hours to play, and the players will find that there is a tight balance leading to either side achieving victory. In addition to the excitement of the game, the players will be able to experience Tolstoy’s War and Peace, as there is a counter to represent Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, whose participation in the battle is a key part of Tolstoy novel.

Schoengrabern is the 14th La Bataille games released by ME since its rebirth as a company in 2011 with the release of the Charles S. Roberts Award winning Battle of Halle (aka La Bataille d’Halle). Halle is still available on the ME website for free (labataille.me). ME’s last release for sale was La Bataille d’Aspern-Essling 1809 in October 2015. That release also included La Bataille de Neumarkt. There are still a few copies of Aspern-Essling remaining to the general public. See the ME website for additional details about purchasing that game.


Marshal Enterprises is a creative consortium of game designers and cultural commentators who remain the surviving designers of the original La Bataille system and are dedicated to the study and celebration of the Age of Napoleon and the Age of Revolution.