War and Peace: Game of the Napoleonic Wars

War and Peace: Game of the Napoleonic Wars is one of those vast games that stares at you from the shelf and makes you wonder whether you should book time off work first. Thankfully, it has the same philosophy as the other monster I am wrestling with at the moment, Atlantic Chase: The Kriegsmarine Against the Home Fleet 1939-1942: it does not throw you straight into the deep end, but offers several introductory scenarios to take you by the hand step by step before you reach the hard roast-skewer lamb/mutton/pineapple of the full war. Yes, I am hungry.

My regular hex-and-counter accomplice, Ioannis Prodromos — who emerged from quarantine with boosted dice and win percentages, let us be honest about these things — and I began with the first scenario, the invasion of Italy. It is a relaxed and interesting entry point: instead of asking you to carry the full weight of the game in your first session, it puts you in a specific historical situation and lets you learn through it.

The contest is completely asymmetric, as it should be for this period. The French feel like Primaris Space Marines, while the Austrians are mostly trying to make them trip over their own corpses so that Milan can be held until winter. There is room for decisions on the field, but also for those moments when a forced march reminds you that the dice respect neither Napoleon nor you. In my case, they absolutely convicted me.

A good time overall, and we will definitely return to its scenarios. The 160-hour grande campaign, though—let us not fool ourselves—we will probably never play it. Still, it is comforting to know that it is there, like a Napoleonic mountain you do not have to climb in full to have a good time.