Post by bruce on Jul 10, 2018 23:45:54 GMT
The latest edition of the ESR Campaign guides is for the 1814 campaign in France, called “The Most Awful Situation” Which it is, if you are a French commander. I have always been fascinated by this campaign, in which we see Napoleon displaying his last flashes of brilliance, a poignant reminder of the glory days as he manages to hang on briefly against the odds before the end comes. As such, I decided to pick this ESR campaign book to own.
While the 10 scenarios were designed with ESR Rules in mind, they can be used for other rules and the ESR website provides conversion information. If you play ESR, you know that David Ensteness has a clear graphic style. The scenario maps here are full color, glossy, brilliantly done - they are among the best I have ever seen for setting up a table - roads, topography, towns, and troop starting areas. There are three briefings for each scenario, one for each side as well as a moderator. Victory conditions are outlined for each side with points to win as part of a campaign level additional game. This is a tournament style set up, but the solo player can soak up the info and adapt accordingly.
The OOBs are in the style of ESR, comprehensive and clear – Corps, divisions and/or brigades, number of batallions. Commander ratings are given for the large units. Very useful regardless of which rules you are using. There are also some really extensive and great looking uniform guides for this period included for all the forces involved.
These are some tough battles to fight as the French do not have a lot of forces. The victory conditions are important here, for the French, sometimes winning means holding on and having an escape route. Challenging.
These are beautiful, high quality books. If you have not done so, you really should go to the website for a look. link My copy was $72 with shipping. As I have said before, I think that its not easy to produce this level of work for our hobby - the quality of the content and the production certainly explains the price. While I don't have the resources to collect all of these, I am glad to have this one for an area of special interest. Bruce