I got in three games of Napoleon over the break. First game featured a massive battle outside Quatre Brae almost right out of the gate. The French had inadvertantly split their forces and the Allies saw a chance to fling both Wellington and Blucher into a combined attack against Napoleon and his guard. The intial set up was near equal, but the Allies could bring in reinforcements that the French could not. The battle lasted upwards of 20 battle turns and it was quite a near thing. I think the French could have won it early by commiting the calvary to one flank, but they were hoping for a battle of attrition and were confident they could rout the Allies whenever they wanted. But the Allied reinforcements kept straggling onto the battlefield and were slowly wearing down the French. The French cavalary were finally committed to their left flank and near broke the Allies that turn. The the allies got a tremendous roll from their left flank artillery, hitting 4 of 4 and this left the French flank hanging with only two 1CV units to prevent a complete rout. On the French turn, one of those units failed it's morale check and thus the entire french campaign came down to a single roll! That unit passed, and the french cavalary cleared the allied right flank to rout their army. After rout attrition the British retired to their island and the Prussians threw in the towel. A stunning French victory, but very close to a stunning Allied victory. For the second game both sides decided to avoid the big battle unless conditions were more favorable (ie nowhere near as close to even as in previous game!). French were able to concentrate pretty well in middle of board, then move deliberatley against the British. Several small battles whittled down the British, then the capture of Brussels looked to finish them off. But the Prussian army, which had been doggin the French heels, finally came into contact and recaptured Brussels, thereby keeping the British in the game. The French moved again against Brussels, taking it and finally knocking the British out. But it was now late in the campaign season and the Prussians began a strategic withdrawel towards Ghent. Despite having a 3 moves to 3 moves advantage, the French were unable to close the gap in time, although a detachment of french calvary kept an entire Prussian Corps busy defending Ghent against a "cheap" capture. Allied vicotry based on time running out for Napoleon. The third game saw the French turn with a vengance against the Prussians, played this time by a hyper-agrresive 8 year old, who accepted battle whenever he could. The British were unable to move fast enough to help the Prussians, who were ground down by superiour French strength. The British then attempted to lure the French into an unfavorable battle, but Napoleon formed up three huge French armies which set course for Brussels and never deviated. The British could not meet these forces head on, and could not hold their supply line without meeting them. Forced into a lose or lose situation the British General showed his good public school upbringing by throwing his army into a sucidial battle with superior French forces. All that can be said is they died well.. Another French victory. Great game. MANY difficult choices, lots of period feel, easy rules, fast playing. On my list of "will play anytime somebody wants a game".. Happy New Year Mike -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support. _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l