This review first appeared in IPW, the newsletter for all discount games club members. Contact colin@allusedgames.demon.co.uk for details. WELLINGTON vs MASSENA (3W) Those who subscribed to The Wargamer at the time may best remember this as the game sent out minus both a CRT and the entire victory conditions. This certainly proved fatal to completion of a game. Once you had received the missing parts, however, you had an operational simulation of the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro, from Wellington's Peninsular campaign. An Anglo-Portugese army was besieging the French held fortress of Almeida. This battle was fought when Massena's force, intent on lifting the seige, met Wellington's army, intent on stopping them. It was a hard fought battle on which Wellington reputedly remarked, "If Boney (Napoleon) had been there, we would have been damnably licked." The unit counters provided are fairly standard, but the map is very good and reinforces the image of a hot summer's day on the Spanish/Portugese border. A game turn commences with army point adjustment. Each player has a number of army points which abstractly represent a combination of morale, endurance, command control and supply. Points are deducted for each enemy occupied hex adjacent to a friendly unit at the start of the current game turn. Points are also used for movement, moving adjacent to enemy units and for losses in combat. The following movement phase allows not just for movement, but also allows the phasing player to attempt to disengage units that start adjacent to enemy occupied hexes. This is resolved via a die roll with those that succeed being able to with draw one hex. Players need to think carefully before engaging the enemy as, if they become outflanked, they may not be able to withdraw quickly enough and become encircled. The Allied player has a few light units that may disengage automatically. After movement is the effectiveness recovery phase. Units that have been reduced by combat may attempt to recover full effectiveness. This again is resolved by die roll, with units that have moved that turn suffering an unfavourable die mod. Units that either started or are adjacent to enemy units cannot attempt to recover effectiveness this turn. The presence of Wellington, the only leader represented in the game, has a positive effect on the die roll. This phase represents units resting and regrouping. The combat phase closes the game turn. Combat is mandatory between adjacent units, artillery may fire at a two hex range and cavalry may withdraw prior to combat if attacked by infantry. Combat is based on traditional odds, with unit strengths modified by terrain. The terrain is tough going for the French. Wellington chose this spot well! Night turns do not follow the previous sequence of play. As an alternative, the player with the highest army point level decides who will move first. The first player can move his units ten hexes, but not within three hexes of an enemy unit. The second player can then move his units five hexes under the same restriction. This allows for some quite dramatic night manoeuvres. Players also get to attempt to recover effectiveness. Eliminated units might also get to return to the game, this time at reduced strength. Optional rules also allow infantry to deploy light company detachments or the allied player a hidden set up. This second option, whilst historically valid as Massena charged into battle with little or no reconnaissance, makes an already tough game a little too tough for the French. Victory is earned by having ten or more army points than your opponent at game's end, eliminating enemy units or, for the French, exiting units off the allied side of the map. The game is reasonably simple, playable solo, but certainly not above further criticism. Firstly, it is thirty turns long and does drag a little. Shorter scenarios are required. Secondly, the use of army points to represent so much is a little too abstract for my tastes, though perhaps not all will agree. Those with more than a little knowledge of Napoleonics will doubtless find it spoils their enjoyment. As it stands the game is too long for a novice and not detailed enough for a grognard. From the production errors, it appears the game was rushed, perhaps to meet the magazine deadline. This is a shame since, as a result, I feel the game will appeal to few gamers. Alan Sharif