Waterloo, by Mr. Martin Wallace. I’m posting this after two half plays of the prototype that he presented at Leiria Con 2009. This post is based on the rules version and charts that he presented at the time. Yet, the game was in it’s final version, but the rules will be, i think, rewritten.
The game depicts the well known battle of Waterloo or Mount St. Jean that ended the Napoleonic era. This is a wargame, thus, be warned, it has dice (d6), lots of it. You all know Mr. Wallace for its acclaimed eurogames - this is his first attempt (I think) at wargames. My gaming background are wargames, napoleonics by the way - but I do play, and a lot, the so-called eurogames (I’m a fan of Imperial and Brass, for example).
You’ll find in the box a board with a map divided in areas (not hexes), units (in wooden bits (I think): infantry, cavalry, artillery plus leaders; they come in different colors to represent the regular french, french imperial guard, britons, dutches, regular Prussians, Prussian landwher and germans (KGL)), charts and other tiles and cubes to be used through the game and some dices (d6).
The game starts at 12 noon and lasts for 9 turns; 1 turn represents 1 hour of battle.
I won’t go through the rules in detail as they are still in Mr. Wallace mind. The game is done, but not the final rule’s version.
The game starts with all the French and Allied (british, dutch and germans, Prussians will arrive later as reinforcements) forces set up in the map. Then the turn sequence will be like this:
1) The French takes 8 green action discs, 4 red and 2 purple; the Allied takes 5 green and 2 red (when the Prussians arrives at the battle scene then the Allied player will have the same number and type of action discs as the French) . This action discs represent the actions that units in an area of the boardgame will be able to perform, depending on the color of the action disc.
2) Check for the arrival of Prussian reinforcements. Starting in turn 4 the Allied player rolls a d6 to check how many Prussian reinforcements he will receive in the current turn.
3) Skirmish fire. Starting with the Allied player he fires with all his infantry units against enemy units in adjacent areas. Roll dices, and apply results; 1d6 = 6 is a hit. (by the way ,the number of hits each unit can receive is 6 per infantry, 2 per cavalry and 2 per artillery; but there’s more about the hit system, ask me if you want).
4) In a bag there will be tiles depicting numbers from 2 to 5. The French player is the first player (except from turn 9 onwards if he doesn’t control some (3) key areas, like Papelotte or Hougoumont) and so the Allied player pulls from the bag a tile, which he keeps secret, with a number of actions that his opponent can do in his action round. So, at this point the other player can perform a number of actions, using action discs, until his opponent informs him that he has reached the number of action allocated to him for his current action round (more on action discs ahead). After this the roles are reversed. And this goes on until one player does not have green action discs available to use, when it’s his turn to have an action round; at this point the turn is over, go to step 5). This does mean that a player can have unused action discs that he simple couldn’,t use because the turn ended.
5) Check if anyone has won or advance to next turn.
As I said there are infantry, cavalry and artillery plus leaders (4 French, 2 British and 2 Prussians). Infantry can be in either a mobile formation or a defensive formation and it can sustain 6 hits, it can also be in square formation when charged by cavalry; cavalry doesn’t have formations and can sustain 2 hits; artillery can be unlimbered (ready to fire) or limbered (mobile) and can sustain 2 hits. The ‘hit system’ is very particular, in a way that the hits do not belong to an unit (except for Cavalry); the hits ‘belong’ to the area not to an unit, so that the number of hits a unit has is only important when you have to roll dies for moral checks, fire checks, etc.
Coming back to what I called 4) in the turn sequence. Using the action discs you can activate an area containing your units and perform actions with them, depending on the disc color. Remember, you perform a number of actions (using action discs) until your opponent tells you to stop.
If you choose a green action disc you can:
- activate units in one area and: move them (1 area if Infantry or Artillery, 2 if Cavalry, 3 if a Leader) to an enemy occupied area (Assault) or another area (this is called ‘Close Combat Movement’); or if any of the moving units don’t move into or through areas adjacent to enemies units, move them the double of movement allowance (this is called ‘Reserve Movement’); this ‘Reserve Movement’ is the only action that can be done using purple action discs.
- fire artillery: activate an area containing Artillery of yours and fire against an enemy that can be up to 3 areas away (there are line of sight rules), roll dice, check table and apply results.
- assault: activate an area containing units of yours and attack (enter) an enemy area (remember: Infantry can move 1 area, Cavalry can move 2, and Artillery can’t attack).
- change formation: as I said before units, Infantry and Artillery, can be in different formations; you can change the formation of units in one area activating the area.
- reinforce: this is tricky. I mentioned before the ‘hit system’. Hits belong to an area, they only belong to Infantry (or Artillery; Cavalry is not concerned in this ‘hit system’) and the hits are allocated to a particular unit only if a particular die roll is needed, as in the case of a moral check or infantry fire, for example. So, if an area has, for example, 4 hits and 2 Infantry units and an Infantry moves away from the area then it can carry with it 0-4 hits; remember hits are man losses and in this game units do not represent, for example, the 3rd division of the 7th corps; they are generic units. So, when you reinforce you move a hit (represented by a cube) to an adjacent area containing Infantry of yours, and usually you move the cubes to your back lines (this represents reinforcements from troops behind the battle front moving ahead to replenish the depleted battle front). Things work a little different for Artillery; Cavalry has only 2 hits and no reinforcements at all.
If you choose a red action disc:
- You can perform the assault action described above for the green action discs.
If you choose a purple action disc:
- You can perform the reserve movement described above for the green action discs.
Now, the most important action is: Assault. And this one is resolved following a certain order; each of the steps in done if it applies: 1) if there is defensive Artillery, then it fire, roll d6, check table, apply results; 2) Cavalry vs. Cavalry, roll dice, check table, apply results; 3) Infantry vs. Infantry, roll dice, check table, apply results; 4) Cavalry vs Artillery: if only Cavalry and enemy Artillery in the area then the Artillery suffers one hit (they are unmanned but the guns are not yet destroyed; historically, horsemans wouldn’t bother to descend from the horse to destroy the gun); 5) Infantry vs. Artillery: if Infantry finds itself with enemy Artillery alone in an area then the Artillery is destroyed; 6) Cavalry control check: if in the conflict area there are still Cavalry units then there is a probability that they will charge another adjacent area (and the british cavalry will do it more often than the other as historically the british cavalry suffered from animosity). This is the core, the heart of the game. It has lots of dice and, of course, terrain modifiers applied to the dice rolls, as in any wargame. And of course, as in any Napoleonic wargame, moral has a very important role. So, whenever Infantry suffers hits they have roll a d6 against a moral table to check if they retreat or are routed (destroyed), and there are modifiers to the die roll.
I forgot to mention the leaders. You can activate an area containing a leader. Doing this is equal to activate the units in his area and units in another adjacent area, or to activate units in two areas adjacent to the activated leader. Leaders can only be activated once per action round; but units (areas) can be activated more than once in a round.
Well, this is a wargame. I'm sorry that i don't go through the rules in detail, but this quite a good feeling of what you should expect.Don’t you worry Wallace’s fans and wargamers. It’s though to master, lots of tactical decisions and very, very thematic; definitely you’ll feel that you’re reliving Waterloo. It has all that a Napoleonic should have. And being used to the La Bataille Series from Clash of Arms it’s a pleasure to play a tactical Napoleonic in 3 hours. Don’t you forget, Mr. Wallace is an Historian, and he has designed this game with all the ingredients it should have.
This is only an overview/preview of the rules.
I don’t give 10’s. This one is a niner.
Paulo Inácio
haroldun
Coming back to what I called 4) in the turn sequence. Using the action discs you can activate an area containing your units and perform actions with them, depending on the disc color. Remember, you perform a number of actions (using action discs) until your opponent tells you to stop.
If you choose a green action disc you can:
- activate units in one area and: move them (1 area if Infantry or Artillery, 2 if Cavalry, 3 if a Leader) to an enemy occupied area (Assault) or another area (this is called ‘Close Combat Movement’); or if any of the moving units don’t move into or through areas adjacent to enemies units, move them the double of movement allowance (this is called ‘Reserve Movement’); this ‘Reserve Movement’ is the only action that can be done using purple action discs.
- fire artillery: activate an area containing Artillery of yours and fire against an enemy that can be up to 3 areas away (there are line of sight rules), roll dice, check table and apply results.
- assault: activate an area containing units of yours and attack (enter) an enemy area (remember: Infantry can move 1 area, Cavalry can move 2, and Artillery can’t attack).
- change formation: as I said before units, Infantry and Artillery, can be in different formations; you can change the formation of units in one area activating the area.
- reinforce: this is tricky. I mentioned before the ‘hit system’. Hits belong to an area, they only belong to Infantry (or Artillery; Cavalry is not concerned in this ‘hit system’) and the hits are allocated to a particular unit only if a particular die roll is needed, as in the case of a moral check or infantry fire, for example. So, if an area has, for example, 4 hits and 2 Infantry units and an Infantry moves away from the area then it can carry with it 0-4 hits; remember hits are man losses and in this game units do not represent, for example, the 3rd division of the 7th corps; they are generic units. So, when you reinforce you move a hit (represented by a cube) to an adjacent area containing Infantry of yours, and usually you move the cubes to your back lines (this represents reinforcements from troops behind the battle front moving ahead to replenish the depleted battle front). Things work a little different for Artillery; Cavalry has only 2 hits and no reinforcements at all.
If you choose a red action disc:
- You can perform the assault action described above for the green action discs.
If you choose a purple action disc:
- You can perform the reserve movement described above for the green action discs.
Now, the most important action is: Assault. And this one is resolved following a certain order; each of the steps in done if it applies: 1) if there is defensive Artillery, then it fire, roll d6, check table, apply results; 2) Cavalry vs. Cavalry, roll dice, check table, apply results; 3) Infantry vs. Infantry, roll dice, check table, apply results; 4) Cavalry vs Artillery: if only Cavalry and enemy Artillery in the area then the Artillery suffers one hit (they are unmanned but the guns are not yet destroyed; historically, horsemans wouldn’t bother to descend from the horse to destroy the gun); 5) Infantry vs. Artillery: if Infantry finds itself with enemy Artillery alone in an area then the Artillery is destroyed; 6) Cavalry control check: if in the conflict area there are still Cavalry units then there is a probability that they will charge another adjacent area (and the british cavalry will do it more often than the other as historically the british cavalry suffered from animosity). This is the core, the heart of the game. It has lots of dice and, of course, terrain modifiers applied to the dice rolls, as in any wargame. And of course, as in any Napoleonic wargame, moral has a very important role. So, whenever Infantry suffers hits they have roll a d6 against a moral table to check if they retreat or are routed (destroyed), and there are modifiers to the die roll.
I forgot to mention the leaders. You can activate an area containing a leader. Doing this is equal to activate the units in his area and units in another adjacent area, or to activate units in two areas adjacent to the activated leader. Leaders can only be activated once per action round; but units (areas) can be activated more than once in a round.
Well, this is a wargame. I'm sorry that i don't go through the rules in detail, but this quite a good feeling of what you should expect.Don’t you worry Wallace’s fans and wargamers. It’s though to master, lots of tactical decisions and very, very thematic; definitely you’ll feel that you’re reliving Waterloo. It has all that a Napoleonic should have. And being used to the La Bataille Series from Clash of Arms it’s a pleasure to play a tactical Napoleonic in 3 hours. Don’t you forget, Mr. Wallace is an Historian, and he has designed this game with all the ingredients it should have.
This is only an overview/preview of the rules.
I don’t give 10’s. This one is a niner.
Paulo Inácio
haroldun
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