Napoleon’s Bloody Big Battles Scenario Book Review.

Anyone following this bog knows that our group is a fan of the Bloody Big Battles war-game rules. In addition to their stated 18th century focus, we have been using them for our Napoleonic battle wargames, using a few tweaks listed by the author on the yahoo groups pages. I have been following various other versions posted by other players on the yahoo board and saw that this new scenario book was in the works.

Well, I finally saw them posted for sale and had planned to pick them up at the next HMGS convention. My buddy TJ could not wait and went ahead and got them! Truth be told, I was a bit hesitant on the purchase. I had been seeing posts of how these were going to be a heavily updated version of the exiting rules. One of the things that our group likes about the rules is their simplicity, so adding a lot of period chrome was a bit of a turn off. This is something the rules author has generally recommended against. It seems his thoughts were taken into consideration and those changes have been put aside or maybe there will be another offering in the future. In any case, the teaks are few and the same as the author has recommended for a number of years. Our group has been using these in our game and they work well, while keeping the game fluid and straight forward.

The first rule is the Shock ability (K ability). This is assigned to a few elite an powerful units. It gives a plus one modifier in close combat. This is normally only assigned to guard and cuirassiers. It allows these units to stand out and gives them that extra push.

The next is to add horse artillery (something that will work in later period battles also). Basically, this just means that the artillery units move at mounted, instead of foot speed. I minor change, but one that helps and is desirable.

The next change is a modifier to add a column shift for some grand batteries in specific battles. This one is a bit trickier for our group, but should work without too much problem. We tend to assign all our infantry units with the Tactically Inept (T) modifier (one column shift to the right), to make things a bit more “shooty.” Playing both might be a bit too much!

In reality, the new book is a scenario book, straight and simple. The meat and potatoes are the scenarios. These have been focused on sixteen battles where Napoleon himself was present. Most are very large battles and done with the long proven rules of the rules designer to play them on a six by four table. Making these true bloody big battles!

The battles start with Austerlitz in 1805 and go all the way to Waterloo in 1815 (with each campaign covered in the middle). There are no battles in the peninsular war, but the focus is on Napoleon himself and I supposed decision had to be make what battles in the large selection would be included. The mix gives most Napoleonic gamers something to choose from.

In most of the scenarios, each unit represents a division or division equivalent, with the maneuver elements being corps. I did note at least one scenario where the units were brigades. I think that is the sweet spot for the rules. However, if you want to play on a six by four foot table and get the game done is a reasonable time, divisions are the way to go for the larger battles. Due to the mechanics, you can scale up or down, as needed to represent the units. The scenario book shows this well.

Each battle is laid out with a short narrative and special rules. Each army order of battle is laid out on a single sheet for each army. There is then the map for the battle, showing all terrain, objectives and placement/entry points for each army. All in the same easy to follow design, as the earlier scenario books.

Ironically, we played a version of Austerlitz last month, now we will have to give this version a try! We just played the Eylau scenario yesterday and wrapped it up in three and a half hours, with the final ending in a draw (stay tuned for that posting). As usual, with these rules, the game came down to the last turn! Who could ask for more than that in a game? The book should give us a good year of play, without having to design the games from the ground up!

Like the other scenario books, this one also contains mini campaigns to link specific battles, so there can be a cascading effect. This is not something we do with our games (mostly due to the constant player cavalcade), but looks quite interesting for the small tight knit gaming group.

With that said, this is a nice add to the continually growing scenario book selection for Bloody Big Battles. For BBB enthusiasts with an eye on the Napoleonic period, this is a must buy.

• Manteuffel