The Battle of Borodino Borodino dismembered Part 3, by Rob Gibson I doubt if any boardgame could simulate effectively the daily routine of the Emperor Napoleon: to sleep for four hours and work as leader, administrator and commander-in chief for a large part of Western Europe for the other twenty would have drained many a lesser man of inspiration. By 1812, Napoleon had been at war for the best part of twenty years, and had been losing his touch of late: the narrow margin of victory had become narrower. Now he began to play safe: sheer weight of numbers replaced the calculated manoeuvrings of earlier years. So when Marshal Davout came to the Emperor on the 5th of September, 1812 to propose an outflanking movement by his 1st Corps and Poniatowski's Vth Corps to roll up the Russian line before Borodino, he was curtly refused permission and sent away with the proverbial flea in his ear. Would it have worked? Since the object of our boardgame is to simulate past events without necessarily repeating the same moves, it seemed to me to be worth a try. The first thing to do was to identify the units involved on the turn/reinforcement chart, using the 'Borodino' historical order of battle (cross checked against Duffy). As the game is presented it does not quite bring on units in their historical entry positions, this caused a certain amount of confusion at first but this was resolved by resort to the H.O.B. and Duffy once more. Once the point of entry was established on the game map, everything was set for a very diverting alternative game, presented below. The Davout Plan A. Changes in the order of Battle The following units do not appear on the turn/reinforcement chart for September 5th:- Game Turn 2 One 4-4 at B Game Turn 4 One 7-4, one 7-3, one 5-4 all at B. Game Turn 5 One 2-5 at B. Game Turn 8 One 4-3, two 4-4, one 2-5, all at C. These units are set aside as they become available behind the French Player's start line. B. Point of Entry The units detailed in 'A' now enter on the southern edge of the map behind Utitsa. i.e. in the gap along that edge between the Utitsa woods and the next wooded area to the east. C. Time of Entry The earliest possible time of entry would be game turn 15 (September 6th) and the most probable time of entry would be game turn 17 (September 6th). At the start of game turn 15, the French player throws a dice. If the result is 1, 2 or 3 he places a 4-4 unit on the entry point, and then continues as normal. On the following turn (16) the units originally allocated for game turn 4 appear; on game turn 17, the units allocated for game turn 5, and so on. If the dice throw is 4,5, or 6, the process is repeated at the start of game turn 16. A successful throw (1,2 or 3) allows the 4-4 unit to enter; an unsuccessful throw (4,5 or 6) defers entry until game turn 17 by the remaining units in their original allocation sequence. D. Prohibition No Russian unit may move deliberately within 3 hexes of the southern map edge in the point of entry until a French unit actually appears on the map at this point (This excludes retreat after combat if no other hex is available).