Greetings fellow shut ins! The post-holiday doldrums in hobby activity combined with a bit of bother with a pinched nerve in the neck that has caused me to be unable to maintain the posture for keyboarding has caused an absence of activity on this blog lately. Feeling better now, thankfully, and so took to the keyboard to get back into things. In this post, I thought I'd share some acquisitions that I have made during the course of the pandemic--sort of retail therapy (I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who found myself buying toys to compensate for the lockdown). I found myself drawn to these novel games that I do hope to actually play, despite the fact that I haven't managed to actually play a non miniatures wargame in years. I won't go into reviewing these games in detail, but will just do a brief show and tell. You can follow the links to get more complete information on them. As usual, in this post, you can clix pix for BIG PIX.
TRAFALGER EDITIONS
Map and Components for Austerlitz 1805
Austerlitz 1805 game in progress
I picked up both the Austerlitz and Waterloo games from Trafalgar Editions (above). These are hybrid systems. They come with beautiful mounted maps--and units are played on the maps, miniatures-like, with no hexes, squares, or areas. I have read through the rules and watched several YouTube vids on these, and I have to say I am of mixed mind. Unfortunately, the rules, as far as I can tell, lack clarity when it comes to managing terrain, which, given the entire conceit of the system should have been a main point of emphasis. For instance, there are large and small features, and there are many places where several different terrain features are crowded together. Given the size of the counters, there are many places where a unit could straddle several pieces and/or kinds of terrain. Yet the rules have little to say about how to adjudicate the interplay of terrain and units--how you actually occupy terrain, what happens when a counter is bigger than the terrain feature, which is quite common, particularly with farms and small towns. Does the unit footprint "shrink" or expand to fill area terrain, or is it considered to extend out of it? (And if so, what then?) When might you need to move around a piece of terrain, or set up next to it, as opposed to going through it or in it? What happens in towns or strips of towns that are large enough for units of both sides to be in at the same time? (Is that even allowed?). What about a unit that straddles several different kinds of terrain at once? In my email to the developers on these sorts of terrain questions, they basically said, albeit nicely, to "use common sense." In the video reviews I've seen, except for elevation and starkly obvious cases of isolated terrain features, the terrain seemed to be relegated to window dressing, basically, with the emphasis on handling units as if they were on a billiard table, which negates the idea of these games being played out on actual maps, to my mind. So, just for me, I would say that these games are about an 80% effort. The interplay of the terrain and units need not have been made complicated, but my thinking is that it should certainly have been articulated as a central component of the game system and not left to the players to muddle through "using common sense." In that regard, I would recommend Austerlitz over Waterloo given that the terrain is much less complex and would have fewer cases to deal with. I supposed I could still give a game a try, but even if that doesn't work out, I've got some excellent components, the mounted maps in particular, to repurpose.
PRATZEN EDITIONS
Components for Volume I
Followers of this blog may recall several posts indicating my interest in Von Reisswitz style Kriegspiel. These games by Pratzen Editions are a complete "Kriegspiel in a box"--whereas the Kriegspiel rules (and versions of them) generally gives you the "What" these do that and also give you the "how" of running the games: to include period maps, complete OOBs, unit and commander markers, rosters, scenarios, and a complete rules system to resolve movement, reconnaissance, and several versions of combat resolution (both a tactical option and something more abstract for quicker games). They include a special section specifically to guide umpires on running the campaigns. Volume I covers the 1806 campaign in Prussian, the (overlooked in my mind) campaigns of 1806/7 that included Eylau and Friedland, and the beginning of the 1809 campaign in Bavaria. Volume III has the 1814 campaign, campaigns in the Peninsula, and the full 1809 campaign. It also includes a bundle of rules supplements for the game systems that are worth the price of admission on their own. Although you could mix these games with miniatures, they are stand alone systems that don't need them. As such, they are particularly well suited for remote play via email under lockdown, or for players who don't have the room to lay out miniatures games.
U&P GAMES
Map and components of W1815
W1815 is one of those rare things: a genuine breakthrough. It plays in less than 30 minutes. You don't move units---you manage the battle, committing resources, choosing options, and countering opposing options. Although I have yet to actually play the game, my reading of the rules and tinkering with it tells me that it will deliver on its promise. You can find lots of reviews of this game if you google it, and I would particularly recommend seeking out YouTube reviews. Someone has even created a W1815 module in Tabletop Simulator, so there is the possibility of playing this game remotely on that platform, a nice bonus in these days of lockdown.
Well, that wraps up my recounting of my retail therapy during the pandemic (thus far!).
