This wargame is about the Napoleon campaign in Russia. It was published in a magazine (Jeux et Stategie) and the designer is Jean-Jacques Petit; he designed some wargames (i could find 24 in BGG) in the 80's mostly about Napoleonic wars.

I'll start with a description of the game components and map, then the game mechanics and finally my impressions of the game.

The map is more or less 45x35 cm, and it depicts the area from the Baltic states to Moscow. Most of the hexes are normal terrains except for some rivers, cities and marsh hexes in the southwest part of the map. The map is not nice. The (small) counters are either infantry or cavalry and there are 3 depot counters for the French (used for supply) and 2 leaders for each side. The counters (armies) show NATO symbols, the army leader (Augerau, Touthckov, Junot, Oesterman, etc.; don't confuse this with the 2 leader counters for each side, these counters represent great leaders like Napoleon or Barclay di Tooly), unit designation and 2 numbers: the left one is command rating (CR) (0 to 4), which is used as a combat modifier, and the other number is movement potential (MP) (4 or 5; 2 for depots). The combat strength is the actual number of soldiers in each army divided by 10. For example, Augerau has an army of 68000 soldiers so its combat strength (CS) is 68. The CS of each army varies from as few as 4 or 5 to 68, with the French having stronger armies. You have to do some book keeping as you have to register the actual CS of each army in any given turn in a paper. The French has 16 armies (total CS about 540) plus 3 depots and 2 leaders (Napoleon and Murat); the Russian has 34 armies (total CS about 330) and 2 leaders (Kutusov and Barclay di Tooly). Some of these armies will be available as reinforcements. Cities award victory points (VP) with values of 6, 10, 20, 30 and 50 (50 for Moscow and St. Petersburg), but this value his halved if they are burned. The winner will be the player that has the highest value of remaining CS plus VP for cities at the end. When I speak of armies/units I mean the same, i.e., a counter with a combat strength.

Set-up: the French enters west border in hexes indicated in the map and Russian has fixed starting points in the map (which are close to the west border). Along the game there will be reinforcements for both sides.

Game mechanics:
There are 13 turns, 6 summer turns, 3 autumn turns and 4 winter turns. Seasons have influence in attrition (supply) and forced marches. The losses in this game are taken as 1/10, 2/10, 3/10, etc. of the current CS. So, for example, if an army having 38 CS takes 1/10 losses it will lose 4 CS; if an army having 51 CS takes 2/10 losses it'll lose 10 CS. You have to keep a record of the actual CS of each army.

Each turn has 4 phases: 1) supply; 2) movement; 3) combat; 4) recovery. The French starts each phase (it's not an I go you go).

1) Supply. The French takes supply from the west border and the Russian from the other 3 borders. To be in supply an army must trace a line of 4 hexes (7 for the Russian) to a friendly army or friendly intact village (or depot for the French); then that army or village (or depot) has again to trace a 4 hexes (7 for the Russian) supply line to another army or village (or depot), and so on until the respective supply border is reached. After checking supply, attrition losses are checked for each army, whether the army is supplied or not (if the army is supplied the losses will be smaller). For each army you roll a d6 and check a table (different tables for Russian and French; French losses are bigger); the tables have several columns for the different seasons and for being or not in supply. Of course in winter losses will be quit big, specialy for the French. French Guard adds +2 to this die roll.

2) Movement. Each hex cost 1 MP. To cross a river you pay +1MP (in winter you can roll a d6, if you get a 5 or 6 the river is frozen and you don't have to pay the extra MP). In summer marsh hexes takes 2 MP (1 MP in the other seasons). To leave an enemy ZOC (zone of control) you pay +1 MP. There aren't stacking limits. You can't stack with enemy units except in combat (phase 3). In winter all units (including depots and leaders) have -1 MP. Every counter can always move 1 hex. You can also make forced marches; you can move 1, 2 or 3 extra hexes, but then you have to make a die roll (d6) and check the losses that the army will incur - this depends on season and how many more hexes you moved.

3) Combat. Combat is possible between enemy adjacent armies, but not mandatory. You pick up one (or more) of your units and put it on top of the enemy unit, then if your opponent has units adjacent to this combat hex he can had one (or more) unit to that hex, then you have the chance to add more units, then your opponent can do the same, and so on until everybody is satisfied. This process is repeated in other hexes where players want to have a combat. After this, each combat is resolved. To resolve a combat each player notes secretly how much CS of each army he wants to commit to the battle (for example, if you have in a combat hex 3 armies with actual CS of 33, 18 and 10, you could commit only 24, 14 and 10). The CS each player committed to the battle is announced, and here players have the opportunity to retreat if they’re not satisfied with the odds; if you roll a 5 or 6 on a d6 you can retreat to an adjacent hex. If no one retreats, check the odds. If one player has, for example, 2/1 odds he will check the combat result in the 2/1 column of the combat table, and his opponent will check on the 1/2 column. Each player rolls a d6 and applies a modifier; this modifier comes from the comparison of the highest CR of the units present in battle. For example, the highest CR of the French units present in the battle is 3 and the highest CR of the Russian units present in the battle is 1, then the French will +2 in his die roll and the Russian will have -2 in his die roll. After this first round of battle each side has again the opportunity to retreat in a roll of 4, 5 or 6 on a d6. If no one retreats there's a 2nd round of battle and the procedure is the same. After this second round of battle the side with less CS (not just the CS committed to battle, you count the total CS present in the combat hex) must retreat one hex.

4) Recovery. Here, every unit has the opportunity to recover some of the losses incurred in the turn. You must keep a record of losses by turn for each unit. You just roll a d6 (+1 for French Guard) for each unit and check a table and see how many CS the unit recovers; this depends on how many CS the unit lost this turn, the more it lost the more it can recover.

After this proceed to next turn.

Special units:
- Each has 2 leaders; leaders only count in battle because they have better command ratings (Napoleon has a CR=5); so you'll want them in important battles to have a better die modifier.
- French depots; they are useful for the French supply chain; they have a 2 MP (1 MP in winter); if they are alone and a Russian unit moves through it's hex they are destroyed; so they are fragile and the French should protect them.
- Cities; the Russian can burn them (and then they only count 1/2 VP) if one of his units is in the city at the start of the movement phase; he rolls a d6 and the city is burned on a 1,2,3,4 or 5. If in the turn this occurred the French has units adjacent to the city the he can prevent the burning by rolling a 6 on a d6. Cities are important for its VP and also for the supply chain.

My impressions of the game:
This is a simple wargame with simple rules that are common to most wargames, except for the losses system (1/10, 2/10, ...) and armies having lots of steps to lose; but even here you can find Napoleonic wargames that use a similar system, like in the case of operational and tactical games of Clash of Arms.
This is a kind of cat and mouse wargame. The French wants to be fast; he must go fast for the valuable cities and he wants to catch the Russians for battles; in doing this he must watch for his fragile and long supply line, he can't afford to have Russians sneaking in his back lines and having his units running after this sneaky Russians. The Russian will be biting and fleeing, strike and run; he must carefully choose when he will accept a battle, so must of the time he will be on the run; he also must sneak behind French lines to put the French out of supply and grab some cities back to Russian control. The French will incur major attrition losses and this is one of his biggest problems, and here the Russian must be clever and wait for winter for the final strike. Historically all this happened, and the game mechanics provides for this.