I was searching for a fast and light wargame to play with my 10yo son so I gave a try with it.
But I didn't have any napoleonic minis at hand, so I went on with paper soldiers instead of plastic or lead ones (a thing I'm lately rather used to when I want to test new wargames).
Again, I had no spare "double dice" and so I looked instead for pairs of different coloured dice, one big and one small for each colour.
Seven pairs are enough, I think.
Hexed cloths are rather common sight now, but what can be faster and cheaper than "hexing" an old green felt cloth with a black permanent marker and a 12 cm wide hex template?
The results can look like a bit harsh, but I had rulebook, minis, cloth, dice and cards ready after a week. So I'd a go with a first test game.
The game roots visibly from Richard Borg's games, but it has one substantial difference: here there aren't any left-centre-right sectors and you can assign colours to your units as you wish.
As the command cards usually refer to red, blue and/or green units, it's your choice to have an even share for each colour, or to privilege one colour above the others to maximize the chances of moving more units at once, but in the meanwhile lessening the chances that you could get only those useful colour cards in your hand. Personally, my choice is for the even solution, but I admit that this could be a tactic.
The scale is divisional, with units representing battalions, squadrons and batteries. With issuing orders to command units (colonels and brigadiers), you can form regiments and brigades from your units, which could be moved as single bigger units. Regiments can also fight as whole new units; counterwise, brigades can't.
I assigned ten units each to Austrians and French (4 line inf, 2 light inf, 2 cav, 2 arty; 2 colonels), and a starting hand of five command cards each.
The turn is quite simple: play one card, assign orders to the chosen units, move them and then resolve combats, and finally draw one card. Then it's enemy's turn.
Movement distances are quite small, with infantry moving 1 or 2, arty 1, and cavalry up to 4 hexes. Firefight can spread from 4 hexes, but it's very erratic with small chances to catch anything at that distance. 1 or 2 it's the best range you can fight on.
The combat system, if it looks a little fiddly at first, it's great once you grasped it.
Loss rate is normally light to moderate (units sizes are from 5 to 8), but retreats are common sights once units are disrupted.
The game runs very smoothly because the command cards are clear and children too can easily understand their meaning.
As I mentioned before, the command cards often (but not always) refer to one colour only, and after a handful of turns you'll see that each army will have its units divided into three categories: units engaged in close combat, units supporting them by closing the enemy, and units in reserve.
Here is the core game, because you have to choose what colour card (only one card) and when you'll have to play it, into a situation where engaged units need closer attention or they'll be cut to pieces by enemy (the cards allow only active play, so no cards played means your units are just pinned in front of the enemy), and in the meanwhile support units and reserves must be moved on, or they will be pretty useless until the end of the battle.
The result is real fog of war.
The neat advancing lines of blue and white become progressively clashing masses and then the action breaks up into smaller battles, routing units pursued by enemies, cannons thundering toward the advancing threats, and infantry squares holding the ground against storming dragoons and hussars.
It's common sight that some units don't even see the enemy for the whole game.
I played it two times on plain open ground and without target objectives, and I will assure you that the game is really sound.
And my son loved it too.