TOI, Doom, or Austerlitz

If anyone is interested, lets play Tide of Iron, Doom, or Austerlitz. All three are board games and can be played within two hours. I'm willing to play at LW, my place or yours. Justo

Napoleonic Battles (by Avalanche Press)

Avalanche Press recently published this new board game, "Austerlitz." It includes the Austerlitz scenario and the core rules, "Napoleonic Battles" (not to be confused with Napoleon's Battles, by Avalon Hill).

These new game has a set of rules that are very well written, with only a few type erros. The command system and game sequence is very intersting and seems quite crisp. The down side of the game is its map (not the one shown on the left) . The map uses an irregular rectangle grid, which claims to be designed to emulatet the lay of the land. Sorry, but I just can't get over its oddity. The game counters are very colorful, but poorly contrasted against the back drop (art work) and the names are way too small.

My intention is to use the map show here to create a hex version and adjust the rules as necessary to accomidate this variant. I also plan on using 6mm minis instead of the game counters.

Quatre Bras

This is the 3' x 3' map that we should have played, but we made it 4' x4' instead. The problem with using a larger area favors the French; it allows them more room for maneuvering all their units. For the Allies, it becomes disadvantages because a voluntarily route does not have the relative reach that it would in the smaller layout. There are several other movements distance issues that can be analyzed in support of retaining the intended 3' x 3' boards size, as designed for this scenario. The Styrofoam game-board-terrain will be made exactly or as close as possible to resemble this map. It will have the elevated hill areas, the river and pond, and a slightly sunken hedge pass; the roads will be slightly sunken as is typical of any unpaved road or trail. The bridge will be wide enough to accommodate only one unit in March-Column formation. Unless, of course, someone chimes in and points out that the historical bridges were wider and the roads paved.