There have been quite a number of geeklists, forum posts and other forms of electronic ink on BGG spilled over the subject of “What makes a good introductory war game?” or “What war game should I start with?” or “Grognards are manly, wise and the ladies love ‘em, how do I become one?”

Ok, I made the last one up. The question in general is real enough, however, and it is an old one. How an introductory war game should look was a question pondered by Simulations Publications Inc (SPI) back in the age of EST therapy and one of the answers that they came up with is still with us today, and, like the best things in life (according to the song, anyway) it’s free.

I’m speaking of Napoleon at Waterloo, in particular, the 2nd edition of this game. Designed by Jim Dunnigan and developed by the late Redmond Simonsen, Napoleon at Waterloo (NAW) is a game simulating perhaps the most famous battle of all time, thanks in part to that catchy ABBA tune.

NAW was a giveaway game to ease new recruits in the arcane world of hexagons, zones of control and combat results tables that was wargaming in the ‘70’s. As wargames went back then, it was short, simple and painless. Apparently, however, some people found it long, complex and painful, for SPI later came out with a vastly simpler game aimed at toddlers and those damaged by glue sniffing called Strike Force One, but that’s another story.

Or is it? NAW was (and is) complex, compared to mass market family games, but because it was a simple, free wargame the grog community has always sort of dismissed it much like the really, really easy girl at school…not a serious challenge and sort of embarrassing to be caught, er, playing with. To continue this distasteful analogy, it got played a lot, but since only a grog with no standards or shame would be caught dead reviewing NAW, it has gone un-reviewed here until now.

Since I have no standards or shame, let’s start off things by looking at the components of NAW, consisting of an unmounted paper map, the usual die-cut cardboard counters, and the rulebook. The map is smallish but attractive, as big as a magazine laid open, and the single sided countersheet features some pleasant looking cardboard squares representing the units of the French, British and Prussian forces that fought at Waterloo in 1815. There are 18 British counters, nine Prussian counters, and 26 French counters, with additional Prussian and French counters for a variant (Yes, even in an introductory game, those compulsive rules lawyers at SPI couldn’t resist adding options).

The counters have simple NATO type symbols superimposed, two numbers, combat and movement rating, and a historical unit name. You can earn bonus trivia points while trying to recruit new gamers by pointing out to them that the “X” for infantry comes from the belts they wore, as does the “/” for cavalry, but the “o” for artillery is for the round shot, not a big good ol’ boy type belt buckle that artillery guys used to wear. At this point if they don’t get up and leave, you may have a gamer on your hands.

Cavalry and Infantry are the treated the same, with cavalry having a higher movement rating. Artillery can fire at range, adding power to attacks or “soaking off”, performing low odds attacks, since the rules dictate that after movement, everybody next to somebody has got to fight somebody, unless somebody else does it, then they can fight somebody else. Got that?


The starting positions for this modestly populated contest are printed on the map, and the game is vintage SPI in function: Movement phase, combat phase, rinse and repeat. The Combat Results Table (CRT) that is cross indexed with a die roll rewards attacks made at three to one odds. The rules for Zones of Control (ZOC) retreats and advances after combat reward the basic tactic of attacking the flanks to force retreats, surrounding the center and delivering the killing blow to the now cut off defender in the middle. That, gentle reader, is what it’s all about, not that damn hokey-pokey song.

The strategic situation has Napoleon outnumbering Wellington’s Brits at the outset, but the French have to get moving or the arrival of Blucher’s Prussians on turn three could spell Le Trouble. The game is won by inflicting enough casualties to demoralize the enemy army while preserving your own, and the French have to exit the map, going through the Brits to do it. Since the Prussians come from the side, the French should attack the center or the side opposite of Blucher’s entrance. See, that’s stategery! After ten turns, it’s over, unless somebody loses first, that is.

There really isn’t anything too fancy here, no getting in squares, forming for road marches, no weather rules, no rally, no supply or command and control, no Chistopher Plummer and Rod Steiger hamming it up, no anything else that could be added for flavor or authenticity in a Napoleonic game. It’s so, well, basic! And it’s small, and it’s over pretty fast! Beyond all these damnable attributes that no respectable wargame should have, NAW was, and is, cheap. Free, gratis, no charge, on the house, nada, zippo, null, cheap.

All these awful things that make the lip of the grognard curl in that condescending sneer usually reserved for history gaffes in Hollywood movies (“Magic marker in “Saving Private Ryan? The nerve of that Spielberg punk!”) make NAW endure.

As of this writing, NAW has about 530 total plays listed on BGG and that colossal mother of all Pacific war grogfest Omigod look at all them counters on them big maps super duper monstergame War in the Pacific has…one.

I’ve got scads of NAW games under my uncrossed belt. I’ve taken it to Japan and Iraq, played it under canvas and on airplanes. My copies have recruited gamers, doing what it was designed to do, and the games played were enjoyable, too.

Yes, the situation gets somewhat repetitive with repeated play, but you can play it repeatedly, not the case with many classic wargames, and it has surprising replay value for something that simple.

There are flashier gateway type introductory wargames available today, but even by today’s standards NAW isn’t too ugly. Redmond did well here. The basics learned, while requiring some effort to grasp, will hold true through a lot of different wargames, so the time spent isn’t wasted if you want to go on to the hard stuff.

Let’s face it, if the potential wargamer you are trying to sucker into the hobby with NAW is such a lout that he slips in a coma when presented with a game that doesn’t have cute mini figures or rules that read like something written by a self-esteem coach on Prozac, then maybe you should consider that a sign from the great Hexagon maker in the sky that this hobby isn’t for everyone and move on.

Check out the NAW page on BGG, follow the links to the freebies, then play it. Just don’t tell anyone, OK?

Did I say it’s free?