Game: Hundred Days Battles

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Xookliba — 2008-06-10T12:20:39+00:00

cyberboard gamebox

Thread: Battles of the Ninety-Third through Ninety-Eighth Days

sdiberar — 2007-10-17T15:32:56+00:00

... or, "Don't Choose A Weaksauce Corps To Make An Opposed River-Crossing".

Time: Tuesday 16 October 2007
Locale: FCASL meeting, Chelsea, New York City

Dutch and I sat down to refight that quintessential campaign of the Napoleonic Wars (despite its utter irrelevance): you know the one, the one ending at Waterloo (or Mont St. Jean).

Hundred Days Battles is meant as an introduction to Kevin Zucker (OSG)'s Campaigns series, perhaps epitomized by Napoleon at Bay: The Campaign in France and Napoleon at Leipzig. Not everyone's cuppa, it is nevertheless a standard for comparison in the field.

Intially, we had to sort out which version of the game to play. I own the original OSG edition; Dutch had read through the rules for the AH re-release. As it turns out, the rulebook had been almost entirely rewritten, and in no way that made it easy to tell whether there had been any rules changes of significance. We did notice straight off that the victory conditions were made much easier for the French (though this would have no bearing on the outcome).

More astounding, the counters were different. Napoleon had received an upgrade to an Initiative of 5, completely unwarranted based on his actual performance. Bluecher, on the other hand, lost his combat bonus. Either somebody at AH was more Francophilic than usual, or they thought play balance was more important than historicity. We didn't even consider using the optional Grand Battery piece.

We settled on using the AH components and rules. We also decided to largely ignore the fog of war rules, although we weren't going to sit there and count each other's divisions. Our primary interest was to learn the system, and we did allow a certain amount of "takebacks". A coin flip put me in Nappy's shoes (a tight fit to be sure). A quick set up and off we went.

With three roads entering the south edge of the map, and an optimal three forces to enter with, my initial French strategy was clear. Ney and Reille's II Corps enter on the left flank to hold off the (largely German and Dutch) English army. Napoleon commands the center with four corps (including Drouot's Imperial Guard.) A single corps holds down the right flank.

Ney cannot manage to ford the Sambre before the end of his initial march (no extended march allowed for the French on turn one), and Napoleon's vanguard is opposed at Charleroi by a single Prussian division (Jagow). Immediately, Nappy underestimates the difficulties of bridging the river in the face of Prussian resistance, and allows his one corps to attempt to force the crossing alone. This requires an attack at 1-1 odds, which means I need to roll a 1, 2, or 3 once in four chances. Naturally, I fail every single time, and Gerard's corps is thrown back in confusion and clamor, retreating straight off the south edge of the map. At least Jagow's division is wrecked and made ineffective, but l'Armee du Nord has been delayed for at least a day by this setback.

At Quatre Bras, the Prince of Orange arrives to begin setting up the British defense. Bluecher and a good chunk of the Prussian army arrive in the east, and march just to the west of Ligny to plan their defense as well. Grouchy force marches to the right flank. Gerard's depleted corps would remain offmap the rest of the campaign.

Finally, Ney fords the Sambre west of Jagow and smashes into him immediately. (I actually could have Repulsed him, but didn't want to take the chance). After a short pitched battle, Jagow flees for the North, around the Prussian positions (a 10-hex retreat!) Ney pursues into a blocking position west of the main Prussian army, eliminating Jagow's division in the process. That helped a bit.

However, Napoleon's progress in the center has still been delayed by Jagow's defense, and he remains behind the Sambre. VI Corps under Mouton, the new vanguard, fords the river and bloodies Pirch's Prussian II Corps, which withdraws to the rear. Grouchy crosses the Sambre far to the east and demonstrates against the Prussian left outside Ligny.

Finally, Wellington arrives at the British lines at Quatre Bras and directs a counterattack against Ney's exposed flank position. Bluecher moves forward to support, and Ney is cut off. After a short, vigorous defense, Ney's line crumbles and he flees to the north bank of the Sambre near Charleroi with his (Reille's) corps barely intact, and Wellington hot on his heels.

Napoleon springs into action. A force march along the Sambre to the east, and a quick crossing behind Grouchy, puts l'Empereur in the Prussian rear, athwart their line of communication. Bluecher is slow to react and cannot get back to vicinity of Ligny, although Ziethen's corps does reinforce Pirch's battered forces. A coordinated and brutal attack by Napoleon using d'Erlon's I Corps, the Imperial Guard, and most of the remaining French cavalry, after some initial resistance, smashed the main Prussian line. The Prussian retreat quickly disintegrates into a rout, and Napoleon personally leads the Guard and cavalry in a hot pursuit which runs the several Prussian divisions into the ground, leaving the French in control of the approach to Brussels. This puts the Prussian's losses well over the victory threshold, and the game is called (after a desultory fighting withdrawal by Ney over the Sambre and off the board).

I have to say, for the last few weeks my luck has been ludicrously variable. I only seem to be able to roll ones or sixes -- though in this case all my sixes (bad) rolled early were negated by my one rolled in pursuit of the defeated Prussians on the third turn. Yikes!

Dutch and I both like the system and its fluidity. I would definitely like to play with more fog of war, which would help replicate the hesitation and indecision that commanders with less Initiative would have to deal with. We ran into a number of rules bugs which are more confused than clarified by consulting other editions of the system (more on that in a separate post). Overall, despite the frustrations of wrestling with the execution, we enjoyed the experience of (and exposure to) Zucker's famous system.

Thread: Re: confusion of counters

sdiberar — 2007-10-17T04:30:28+00:00

Quick answer:

From OSG to AH...
...Nappy's initiative is raised from 4 to 5 (but without indicating on the table what happens in 5 vs 5 situations);
...Bluecher loses his combat bonus;
...the French gain an optional "Grand Battery" piece which grants a combat bonus;
...the French need to cause less casualties to win.

Somebody at AH clearly thought the Allies were favored.

Also, the rules are extensively rewritten, possibly with some actual gameplay changes (for instance, stacking two leaders without subordinating one to the other is not expressly prohibited in the AH edition, though it is in the OSG errata.)

The rules are generally a mess, but we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway.

Thread: Re: confusion of counters

sdiberar — 2007-10-15T14:40:22+00:00

Apparently there are a number of undocumented changes from the OSG to the AH edition. I am playing tomorrow night using the OSG edition, but will have the AH edition on hand. Perhaps I will get the chance to compare the two in depth.

Thread: A capsule overview of the game, with component manifest

The Maverick — 2007-08-05T03:57:42+00:00

Battles of the Hundred Days
Operational Studies Group (1979)
Designed by Kevin Zucker and Thomas Walczyk

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Players: 2
Playing Time: 2 hours
Period: Napoleonic
Scale:
-- Turn: 2 days average
-- Map: 2 miles/hex
-- Unit: Brigades with 1,000 men per strength point

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Box: Ziplock bag, digest-sized color folio cover

Components: 11"x17" unmounted mapsheet, 8 page rules folder, 100
die-cut counters, double-sided charts sheet.

Counter Manifest: 22 red British, 46 blue French, and 32 gray
Prussian counters. No blanks.

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OSG says: "The unique game scale is present throughout the
[Campaigns of Napoleon] series, allowing a clearer perspective
upon the task . . . At 2 miles per hex and 2 days per turn, it
was selected to show how Napoleon was able to predict the course
of months of campaigning beforehand, and why the battles occurred
where and when they did."

The reviewer says: "Yet another offering on Napoleon's Waterloo
campaign, though it actually bears little resemblance to any
others . . . Removing tactical considerations makes for a very
different game than one is accustomed to on this subject . . .
Even with its weaknesses and simplifications, [this] may be the
best treatment of the subject at this level currently available . . .
[E]xtremely fluid and fast-paced despite the added complexity . . .
it can be played in just a couple of hours." Marion Bates
in The Grenadier issue 28.

Comments: Like Arcola: The Battle for Italy, 1796, Battles of the
Hundred Days (BotHD) presented a micro-sized bite of Kevin Zucker's
"Campaigns of Napoleon" system. The map area for BotHD is even
smaller than Arcola as more room is needed for the leader
organizational displays. In 1983, Avalon Hill published a small-boxed
version of this game retitled "Hundred Days Battles." This seems to
have caused some sources to refer to the OSG game by the same name.
For a look at Kevin Zucker's current Napoleonic designs, visit
the OSG web site at http://www.napoleongames.com/.

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Collector's Notes: The AH reprint of BotHD is generally regarded
as having superior components compared to the original. Combined
with the fact that the rules are essentially unchanged, the
reprint is probably the preferred players' copy. Boone's Internet
Wargames Catalog (3rd) lists low/high/average auction prices for the
OSG version at $3.00/$12.00/$6.91 and low/high/average sale listings
of $3.00/$30.00/$10.18. This closely parallels the AH version which is
respectively listed at $2.00/$10.00/$6.08 and $5.00/$25.00/$10.02.

Other games using the "Campaigns of Napoleon" system:
1807: The Eagles Turn East (Clash of Arms), Emperor Returns (Clash of
Arms), 1807: The Eagles Turn East (Victory), Arcola: The Battle for Italy, 1796 (OSG/AH),
Bonaparte in Italy (OSG), Napoleon at Bay: The Campaign in France (OSG/AH),
Struggle of Nations (AH).

(This article was originally published in issue 5 of Simulacrum, October 1999.)

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2007-02-03T14:05:51+00:00

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Offa — 2006-03-02T03:35:11+00:00

Avalon Hill Hundred Days Battles

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Offa — 2006-03-02T03:27:03+00:00

Avalon Hill Hundred Days Battles Counter Sheet

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Offa — 2006-03-02T03:24:45+00:00

Avalon Hill Hundred Days Battles Board 2

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Offa — 2006-03-02T03:23:16+00:00

Avalon Hill Hundred Days Battles Board 1

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montsegur — 2005-05-26T14:27:22+00:00

Thread: confusion of counters

Vedalikt — 2005-03-27T00:33:28+00:00

There are a number of prussian units which have a different effective rating on the grognard manifest than what the counters show as does some of the frence. also blucher on the game box has a star for combat but doesn't in the game so was wondering which is right and which is for balance. This is also the same for napoleons inisative rating which my counter has a t 5 and not 4.

can any one help?

cheers

Neil

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The Maverick — 2005-02-20T15:18:33+00:00

Map detail, OSG edition

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The Maverick — 2005-02-20T15:18:33+00:00

Cover, OSG edition

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BobDodgerBlue — 2005-02-03T21:04:23+00:00

OSG Ziplock version