Frank Hakstege - 02:56pm Oct 20, 2002 PST (#361 of 376) 
1777 has arrived!

Richard, 

Thank you for your gift. 

Waterloo, it is graphically as stunning as ADH was. 

Actually this is not really a wargame, but more of a card management
game. Sure, there units with historical designations, but the heart of
the game are the cards. 

Each turn (of which there 7 in the long game) players get cards.
Wellington gets 12, Napoleon gets 15 and Blucher gets an increasing
amount of cards (starting on turn 2 with 1 and gaining more cards as the
turns go by). 

A turn consists of X player rounds. In each round a player may play up
to 5 cards, whether they are used to move or for combat. Each card has a
number for the amount of moves you may make, a number that you can add
to your battlepoints during a combat and some cards have "special
events" (Artillery, cavalry charges, enemy cav. charges, command, health
issues, elite bonus, rally) 

Once a player has played 5 cards, the other player takes his round. As
soon as all players have played their cards the turn is over and the
gameturn marker is moved to the second turn position. 

The gameboard is made up of squares, not hexes. There are roads, ridges,
rivers, hills, woods, villages and chateaux. Each clear square costs one
movement point and ofcourse if you cross other terrain you must pay
extra MPs. Turning the unit also costs 1 MP. 

Combat may take place whenever you have a unit adjacent to an enemy unit
and you decide to fight it. Each unit has an X number of Battle Points,
a frontside, a flank side and a rearside. If you attack enemy units in
the flank, your BPs will be doubled. If you attack it from the rear it
will be tripled. 

Once you decide to attack you may play cards (the total amount of cards
you play may not exceed 5 during your player round!) to support the
attack. 

Example: Two French units (worth 4 and 5 Battle Points) attack a British
unit (4 BPs). One drives in the flank (the 4 unit)of the British the
other one is in the front of the Br. unit. Basic Battle Points are 4 x 2
for the unit on the flank of the British and 5 for the one in the front
for a total of 13. Nappie can now play cards to boost that number. Say
he played a card that adds 4 BPs to the units. Grand total would be 17
now. 

The British player can now also play cards. Since it is not his Player
Round he can play as many as he likes. He sees that the French have at
least 13 BPs and that means his unit will be Reduced AND he must retreat
(to the rear or to one of the flank sides) because the attackers has
twice as many BPs as he has at the moment. Since Old Nosey only has 12
cards he decides he will not match the French numbers but will make sure
that the French do not have twice as many BPs as he has (if the French
win but do not have twice as many BPS, the Br. player must only
withdraw). So he decides to play a 5 card, for a grand total of 4 (unit)
+ 5 (cards) = 9 BPs. 

Both players now reveal their cards. The French have 17 Battle Points,
the British have 9 BPs. The British lose and must withdraw. One French
unit must advance. 

Their are VPs to be gained. Either by destroying enemy units or
occupying geographical places (Mont St.Jean, La Haye Saint, Hougoumont
and Plancenoit). All Geo.places start under British control, but I thnik
that Plancenoit should be French, since only the British player gets VPs
for it and the French don't. 

A very good game, although not a "wargame" as we know it (Historical
simulation/game). Waterloo is 65% Euro and 35% wargame. I give it a 8-
on a scale of 1-10. Definitely a must buy. 

At Essen I saw also the map for RHB's Nero game. It had some odd saliva
stains on it when I left :) 

Frank