REVIEW

Prelude to Waterloo

By Richard Moore

Austerlitz Play-by-Email Austerlitz: The Rise of the Eagle - the premier play-by-email Napoleonic wargame

This is a game that history buffs have been crying out for. The lead-up to the battle of Waterloo where Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of the French, was beaten by a combined British and Prussian force.

Bonaparte had to move his force against the two enemy armies separately, otherwise they would outnumber him, and so this sets up two battles on the same day - Quatre Bras and Ligny.

His manouevres caught everyone on the hop and, while he did everything he could to set things up nicely, key subordinates stuffed it up and so only Ligny, versus the Prussians, was a real victory. Quatre Bras was a battlefield draw, but a strategic loss.

Now Talonsoft has given military students the chance to see if they can do better than the French grand armee because not only can you fight Quatre Bras and Ligny, but you can export the results - along with casualties and losses - to the Waterloo game (Battleground 3).

If you are familiar with the Battleground Series you will already know its good points, but fans of the Napoleonic Wars and American Civil War who have yet to try it are missing out on something special.

Highly detailed maps, well-crafted sprites in colourful uniforms that move and fire beautifully, period music and an excellent game system that is easy to use but is not simplistic.

A must for Napoleonic students.

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