kzucker
03-21-2006, 01:31 PM
Here is a review of the game that was published in Paper Wars. LDGA was also listed among the top 100 games for 1999 in "Games" Magazine (Dec. 99 issue).
LAST DAYS OF THE GRANDE ARMEE The Four Days of Waterloo, June 1815
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________
Review by John D. Burtt
I was happy to hear that the designer of the latter two classic titles, Kevin Zucker, had returned to Waterloo. His latest game, Last Days of the Grand Armée, uses the well received Six Days of Glory (6DOG) system. I liked the system, and finally understood his use of an old "classic"combat system.
The differences in the basic system and what's in Last Days—and there are some very important ones.
Difference Number One is movement. Movement in Last Days is by an initiative chit draw system, within the Igo-Hugo sequence. The drawn chit states how many infantry and cavalry movement points are available for that turn. Now comes the fun part. There are TWO pools of chits. There is the standard "pool" in the opaque container from which chits are randomly drawn (one opaque container per side, you don't mix Allied or French chits). There is also the Force March chits which each player holds. If the player so chooses, he can put one of his Force March chits onto the board and all IN COMMAND units (and those under March orders) can move the combined total of the movement on the chits. Once the movement in over, BOTH chits are then placed into the opaque container. (This is easy to miss in the rules, but is pretty simple once you figure it out.)
This procedure has a lot of subtle side effects. Consider the French. They start the Campaign with two 4-6 chits in the cup, plus two 2-3 and one 3-4 chit in the force march pool. A 4-6 draw at the start is guaranteed, providing the French units with a maximum move. If a Force March chit is used, say one of the 2-3 chits, the infantry can move six movement points and cavalry nine. A Good Thing. But look what happens next turn. Now there are two 4-6 and one 2-3 in the cup, giving the French a 33% chance of a lower movement allowance for the turn. (And you can only Force March every OTHER turn!). Thus force marching for the French carries a future risk.
The Allies are in a different situation. They start with two 2-3s in their cup. Force marching will put larger movement chits in the Allied cup, thus improving future movement chances. I find that particular subtlety a great comment about the campaign. The French start out strong and weaken with bad decisions, bad communications, etc. The Allies start slow, in great confusion, and grow quicker with success and knowledge.
The next big difference is the interaction between command and movement. In the previous 6DOG games, Commanders gave "command" points to officers and combat units within their command range to allow them to move and engage the enemy (i.e. enter an enemy ZOC). Officers not receiving a precious command point rolled against their initiative rating. Success meant they were free to act as if they had been commanded; failure meant they did absolutely nothing. Combat units out of command radius could also roll against their initiative, but success only meant they could move, not engage. In Last Days, all units, whether in command or not, can move and engage during daylight hours. Command means only that units can Force March when that chit is used.
Units are rated for quality but in Last Days, quality becomes a matter of combat, rather than movement initiative. As an optional rule, units that move to engage the enemy in that turn roll against their quality to see if they, in fact, do engage. In a great touch, the higher the odds against the enemy the better the chances that lower quality troops will join in the attack. This little mechanic is so simple, I found myself surprised that no one else had tried it. The one concern I have is that failure of the die roll affects ALL units, not just the ones whose elan failed them. Thus, if you have one elan "1"unit with five "2"and "3"elan units, a result of 2 on the elan table will kill the entire attack because the "1" unit failed its elan. I would be more comfortable with just leaving out the units whose elan failed. But the fact is mixing quality runs the risk of having troops stay out of the fight. Despite my concern, this is a great addition!
The overall changes to the game system means that troops have little trouble moving, but they might just not fight when you want them to. Add to this the road march rules (unstacked doubled movement on good roads) and march orders (formations ordered to specific towns, able to force march without commands), provides a lot of movement in the game, with uncertainty at the end.
The victory conditions set the tone. The French Player gets (or loses) victory points for demoralizing enemy Corps, holding on to their Lines of Communications hexes, and having a favorable ratio of combat losses. The Allied player gets points for their two Lines of Communication, demoralized French Corps, and if his total combats losses are under 50. If nothing happens on the map (i.e. both players sit tight), the Allies win big (7 VP to the French 0). (Purist note: that's +3 Allied points for no losses and +4 for both LOCs, the French have +2 for LOC and -2 for "equal" losses). This is historically correct, as the French had to beat these forces in order to turn on the Austrians approaching from the East. Since there is no exiting the map (as clarified by Kevin), the Allies are committed to battle. And with the victory points weighted toward combat results, both sides will be involved. These are Good victory condition as they force the right incentives: i.e., the French to do Something.
The French actually seem to have the easiest part in a campaign of Last Days. They need to get across the Sambre in force quickly and hit the Allies individually before they can combine. The early game will be a study in traffic management for the French player and you'll always feel there had to be a better way to do it. Luck does have a lot to do with French fortunes, both in chit pulls and in combat results. In several games, Steinmetz and Pirch have survived the French crossing attacks and retreated north through Gosselies delaying the French considerably (and Steinmetz defending the Chateau at Gemioncourt will really cramp your style.) Gunning for the LOC points is helpful, but the key to the French is hurt the enemy. Using force marches to get your cavalry into positions to block retreats (and thus permanently eliminate enemy units) is a key. Another very important key is using your cavalry vedettes to determine where the main enemy forces are. The French need to maintain a center position in order to win decisively, and to keep that they have to know where the enemy is.
The Allies have a tougher puzzle to solve. The key is to delay the French long enough to get two potent forces to combine. If they can do this history will probably repeat itself. They have a great rock to start with: the cluster of Chateaus around Mont St. Jean. Held by large infantry units, these Chateaux will take much of the French power to root out. And if the Allies have combined and can overlap the French position on the flanks, the Emperor's troops are going to be in bad shape—as they were historically, once Blucher got to Placenoit on 18 June.
I was not inclined to believe that all the rules for hidden movement would bring much to this campaign. The objectives are too straight forward and the maneuvering room too restricted. But I was very wrong. Adding the hidden movement makes this game as exciting as I've played in a long time. Hitting what you think is a half point cavalry vedette and discovering a two point cavalry brigade, will lose you an entire turn (and some troops due to the failed repulse penalty.) And it provides the ability to surprise your opponent. In one classic case of French dumbness, I pursued a bunch of Prussian hidden units north, assuming that was the main force retreating. I screened and ignored the smaller group of hidden units defending the Prussian LOC, deciding they were cavalry or reduced infantry and could be "harvested" later. Imagine my surprise when that "smaller"group attacked, blew through my screen with a full Corps and charged straight for MY LOC. . .
Overall I rate Last Days very highly, especially for face-to-face, all the bells and whistles play. I wasn't too enamoured of the scenarios provided, but they are good to learn the system if this is your first 6DOG game, and to gain a historical overview of the pre-battle positions. The rules are still evolving, but the game is fun to look at, easy to set up, and even easier to play. If things go "bad" for you, restarting is a definite option as you don't feel you've invested so much into pre-play that you just HAVE to continue. This one is a winner.
LAST DAYS OF THE GRANDE ARMEE The Four Days of Waterloo, June 1815
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________
Review by John D. Burtt
I was happy to hear that the designer of the latter two classic titles, Kevin Zucker, had returned to Waterloo. His latest game, Last Days of the Grand Armée, uses the well received Six Days of Glory (6DOG) system. I liked the system, and finally understood his use of an old "classic"combat system.
The differences in the basic system and what's in Last Days—and there are some very important ones.
Difference Number One is movement. Movement in Last Days is by an initiative chit draw system, within the Igo-Hugo sequence. The drawn chit states how many infantry and cavalry movement points are available for that turn. Now comes the fun part. There are TWO pools of chits. There is the standard "pool" in the opaque container from which chits are randomly drawn (one opaque container per side, you don't mix Allied or French chits). There is also the Force March chits which each player holds. If the player so chooses, he can put one of his Force March chits onto the board and all IN COMMAND units (and those under March orders) can move the combined total of the movement on the chits. Once the movement in over, BOTH chits are then placed into the opaque container. (This is easy to miss in the rules, but is pretty simple once you figure it out.)
This procedure has a lot of subtle side effects. Consider the French. They start the Campaign with two 4-6 chits in the cup, plus two 2-3 and one 3-4 chit in the force march pool. A 4-6 draw at the start is guaranteed, providing the French units with a maximum move. If a Force March chit is used, say one of the 2-3 chits, the infantry can move six movement points and cavalry nine. A Good Thing. But look what happens next turn. Now there are two 4-6 and one 2-3 in the cup, giving the French a 33% chance of a lower movement allowance for the turn. (And you can only Force March every OTHER turn!). Thus force marching for the French carries a future risk.
The Allies are in a different situation. They start with two 2-3s in their cup. Force marching will put larger movement chits in the Allied cup, thus improving future movement chances. I find that particular subtlety a great comment about the campaign. The French start out strong and weaken with bad decisions, bad communications, etc. The Allies start slow, in great confusion, and grow quicker with success and knowledge.
The next big difference is the interaction between command and movement. In the previous 6DOG games, Commanders gave "command" points to officers and combat units within their command range to allow them to move and engage the enemy (i.e. enter an enemy ZOC). Officers not receiving a precious command point rolled against their initiative rating. Success meant they were free to act as if they had been commanded; failure meant they did absolutely nothing. Combat units out of command radius could also roll against their initiative, but success only meant they could move, not engage. In Last Days, all units, whether in command or not, can move and engage during daylight hours. Command means only that units can Force March when that chit is used.
Units are rated for quality but in Last Days, quality becomes a matter of combat, rather than movement initiative. As an optional rule, units that move to engage the enemy in that turn roll against their quality to see if they, in fact, do engage. In a great touch, the higher the odds against the enemy the better the chances that lower quality troops will join in the attack. This little mechanic is so simple, I found myself surprised that no one else had tried it. The one concern I have is that failure of the die roll affects ALL units, not just the ones whose elan failed them. Thus, if you have one elan "1"unit with five "2"and "3"elan units, a result of 2 on the elan table will kill the entire attack because the "1" unit failed its elan. I would be more comfortable with just leaving out the units whose elan failed. But the fact is mixing quality runs the risk of having troops stay out of the fight. Despite my concern, this is a great addition!
The overall changes to the game system means that troops have little trouble moving, but they might just not fight when you want them to. Add to this the road march rules (unstacked doubled movement on good roads) and march orders (formations ordered to specific towns, able to force march without commands), provides a lot of movement in the game, with uncertainty at the end.
The victory conditions set the tone. The French Player gets (or loses) victory points for demoralizing enemy Corps, holding on to their Lines of Communications hexes, and having a favorable ratio of combat losses. The Allied player gets points for their two Lines of Communication, demoralized French Corps, and if his total combats losses are under 50. If nothing happens on the map (i.e. both players sit tight), the Allies win big (7 VP to the French 0). (Purist note: that's +3 Allied points for no losses and +4 for both LOCs, the French have +2 for LOC and -2 for "equal" losses). This is historically correct, as the French had to beat these forces in order to turn on the Austrians approaching from the East. Since there is no exiting the map (as clarified by Kevin), the Allies are committed to battle. And with the victory points weighted toward combat results, both sides will be involved. These are Good victory condition as they force the right incentives: i.e., the French to do Something.
The French actually seem to have the easiest part in a campaign of Last Days. They need to get across the Sambre in force quickly and hit the Allies individually before they can combine. The early game will be a study in traffic management for the French player and you'll always feel there had to be a better way to do it. Luck does have a lot to do with French fortunes, both in chit pulls and in combat results. In several games, Steinmetz and Pirch have survived the French crossing attacks and retreated north through Gosselies delaying the French considerably (and Steinmetz defending the Chateau at Gemioncourt will really cramp your style.) Gunning for the LOC points is helpful, but the key to the French is hurt the enemy. Using force marches to get your cavalry into positions to block retreats (and thus permanently eliminate enemy units) is a key. Another very important key is using your cavalry vedettes to determine where the main enemy forces are. The French need to maintain a center position in order to win decisively, and to keep that they have to know where the enemy is.
The Allies have a tougher puzzle to solve. The key is to delay the French long enough to get two potent forces to combine. If they can do this history will probably repeat itself. They have a great rock to start with: the cluster of Chateaus around Mont St. Jean. Held by large infantry units, these Chateaux will take much of the French power to root out. And if the Allies have combined and can overlap the French position on the flanks, the Emperor's troops are going to be in bad shape—as they were historically, once Blucher got to Placenoit on 18 June.
I was not inclined to believe that all the rules for hidden movement would bring much to this campaign. The objectives are too straight forward and the maneuvering room too restricted. But I was very wrong. Adding the hidden movement makes this game as exciting as I've played in a long time. Hitting what you think is a half point cavalry vedette and discovering a two point cavalry brigade, will lose you an entire turn (and some troops due to the failed repulse penalty.) And it provides the ability to surprise your opponent. In one classic case of French dumbness, I pursued a bunch of Prussian hidden units north, assuming that was the main force retreating. I screened and ignored the smaller group of hidden units defending the Prussian LOC, deciding they were cavalry or reduced infantry and could be "harvested" later. Imagine my surprise when that "smaller"group attacked, blew through my screen with a full Corps and charged straight for MY LOC. . .
Overall I rate Last Days very highly, especially for face-to-face, all the bells and whistles play. I wasn't too enamoured of the scenarios provided, but they are good to learn the system if this is your first 6DOG game, and to gain a historical overview of the pre-battle positions. The rules are still evolving, but the game is fun to look at, easy to set up, and even easier to play. If things go "bad" for you, restarting is a definite option as you don't feel you've invested so much into pre-play that you just HAVE to continue. This one is a winner.