Vive l'Empereur (Gio Games)

A worthy addition to any player library, this very well made Italian
production, is a "steal" from the Battle Cry system, adapted in an
intelligent way to the Napoleonic period and made with less budget than
Hasbro. 

The game use a system very derivative from the Borg's one, but it adds
several touches that possibly make it more interesting for the veteran
wargamer (even with a set of rules, at least the Italian one, that needs
a serious rewriting) without making it too cumbersome for the neophite.
Instead that plastic soldiers, you get only plastic buttons and
cardboard stand-up for the various units in the game, but the overall
components are very good for a semi-amatorial effort (the cards are in
color, for example). 

The most important differences between Vive l'empereur and Battle Cry
are in the activation system: each player gets six cards (representing
an hour of time) and they play one of them simultaneously, alternating
in the activation of the units consentend by the card. After the carda
are finished, a new set of six is drawn by both players and play
proceeds for a certain number of such turns according to the scenario. 

Other variation are in more types of units (two kinds of artillery and
of cavalry, plus an infantry guard), rules for squares and cavalry
charges, variant reinforcements (based on a roll of three special dice
not clearly stated as such in the rules). 

The only drawback of this game is the drought of scenarios: with the
game you get only the battle of Waterloo (with a map already dedicated
to it), plus Quatre Bras and Ligny (to prepare with the terrain hexes
provided with the map – and you get plenty of them). Other are available
on the Internet. 

All in all, a very good game, based on probably the better introductory
wargame of all times – my personal opinion. I rate it 7 in a 1-10 scale 

Roberto Chiavini