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Mr McMillan brought the Nap 20 system to Russia. What I received in the mail was a 1cm thick game bag and within it, 2 sets of rules, a quarter counter sheet, a folded map, some charts and some cards. (Did I mention the Huge Die that comes with it? Watch it, the kid’s gonna swallow it!
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Borodino 1812
My History lessons on Borodino is next to nothing. The only experience I have is with Mr Richard Berg’s (GMT) Borodino: Battle for Moskova 1812 (B1812). This game has 10 times more counters than the small package from Victory Point Games.
A few points of note in this game (B1812):
(1) It’s a Chit Pull game and the battle is very fluid depending on which chit comes next.
(2) The size of the units are smaller. Thus 1 unit in Borodino 20 (representing Corps) is about 20 to 30 units (representing Regiments) here in B1812.
(3) The Map is much larger, which gives Cavalry units more space to maneuver, Charge, Counter Charge. Infantry units will have ‘frontages’ to face. Artillery will have range to shoot from.
(4) The basic learning scenario was not helpful at all when learning the game, in fact, I felt it was detrimental to new gamers, as most of the important rules are not used. Having said that, the main scenario is Awesome!
In Borodino 1812, I had difficulties remembering all the special rules (Cavalry Charges, Redoubt, Troop type restrictions etc) and had extreme frustration in trying to bring the Russian reinforcements up to the frontline. I must admit, I did not have a full grasp of Borodino 1812. Perhaps a few more games would have been better to appreciate that system.
And then I have a small game here on my lap....
Borodino 20 (B20) Rules in a nutshell
The Main rules are Titled NAPOLEONIC 20 (about 8 pages) with another sheet of Borodino Specific Rules (2 pages). The Specific Rules provides the special rules for this battle (Fords and pontoon, Cossacks,etc), the basic set-up at Start and the order of entry of reinforcements.
Its basically an IGO-UGO game system. (But it does have a Cavalry Reaction Phase in between)
(1) First Player Random Event Card Phase : Draw an Event Card and resolve it according to the side you are playing. (French or Russian) Not all events are good. (Duh?)
(2) First Player Movement : You may move your units up to the printed movement values, restricted by Terrain cost and a ‘sticky’ ZOC rule. (Stop once you enter enemy Zones of Control.)
(3) Opponent Reaction Phase : Your Opponent can do their ‘counter charges’ at your units. Causing them to stop and fight a battle. (Like it or not, here they come!)
(4) First Player Combat : Every enemy that you have units adjacent to, MUST be attacked. Similar to the older games, ‘soak-off’ attacks (as in Russian Campaign) are possible. However, there are some differences. Terrain Modifiers are NOT cumulative, only the best SINGLE modifier to the Defender is used. Battles are done in Differentials (like in Russian Front), not by ODDs/Ratio. The Combat effect are similar to older games. (Attacker Eliminate; Attacker Retreat a number of hexes; Exchange, etc.) Those gamers that have years of Avalon Hill wargames played under their belt will be familiar with this game system. ( I hate ‘Exchanges’, they are painful to both sides!) Some units will get some bonus due to Elite status, Morale boost and card play. Retreats and Advance after Combat all seem standard affair.
(5) First Player Night actions (Night turns only, of course) : Standard administrative phases with Rally, Morale and adding Dummies units in preparation for the next day. No battles of course. Cards gets to be reshuffled for the next day.
Second player does the same before 1 turn is considered done. Basic? Cool. (The full rules could easily be had from VPG site.)
Components
(A) Borodino 20 Map
A beautiful map that is about A3 paper sized. (please note the word ‘paper’, its not glossed or laminated, but a thicker card stock/paper.) With a River, Redoubts, Bridges, Forrest and TOWNs that looked like some one dropped some chips/crumbs onto 1 hex. Very standard for a hex and counter game of these days and highly superior to those printed by AH back then. (Don’t put your drinks beside it while playing, once wet, there is no return...)
The color on the map may be slightly distracting (they are strong colors that really stands out) and the colorful counters on it made it look very nice but some might feel it’s too ‘bright and colorful’. (More so than a Eurogame)
As compared to the good old ‘White-hexes’ map of yesteryears, the colorful counters would really stand out in those games. (Gettysburg, Bulge, Russian Campaign, etc)
On the map are some helpful game rules reminders and game turn/reinforcement flags.
Nevertheless, it’s really a work of art and love on this map that made it what it is now. (For the love of it too, I reprinted a larger map and laminated it for play. Trying very hard to keep the original clean and crisp.)
(B) Borodino 20 Counters
Without a doubt, what you get is really 48 counters, of which only 38 are actually combat counters. Obviously, the Russians would have more units than the French. The other 10 counters are the turn counters, Moral counters and markers. Each of these counters are done beautifully, with a picture of a soldier and its standard 2 game numbers. (The Combat value and the movement number respectively)
Most of these Combat/movement values are in black, but some units are in Red, indicating their elite status and special rules of note. (The Guards)
The counter art are unique on its own, but bare some resemblance to those printed by Avalanche Press Games. There is a faint country flag on those AP counters. Here, we have ‘flag designs around the borders’ of the counters.
In Borodino 20, the Russians are Bright Green Bordered and the French are Bright Blue bordered.
(C) The Cards (12 of them at about ¾ the size of a standard poker card)
OK...a bit of ‘grumpy’ feeling about the cards here. It’s plain, it’s pastel, it has no pictures, it works nevertheless. The quality of the cards are nothing more than printed thick card stock and cut-up into sizes that hardly fit your palm. Constant playing will definitely wear out the cards in record time. (Again, a slight modification here. I sleeved it with an extra ‘Magic’ card as backing.)
Can’t really put blame of such issues. VPG are doing their best with whatever they have. So.....grumble, grumble, grumble......
The Game play, Questions and My Opinion
I can’t be sure if its mimicking the actual battle of Borodino, like I said, I know little of it. What I felt about this game after a few plays (including some Solo trials that’s not recorded.)
(1) Compared to B1812, It took lesser time to play till completion. My first game lasted only 1 ½ hour.
(2) It plays very differently from B1812. Tactically, B1812 has more options and the French can concentrate on particular avenues of approach. It is possible to slug it out in the open or head for the redoubts and dig in. Parts of your forces could be ‘detached’ to assist another unit. (Not a wise idea, but possible) In B20, the units are so few, that a single engagement would determine a victor on that part of the front. (In a sense, its like the battle of Stalingrad is done with a single die roll.) Which lead to......
(3) Casualties are painful. A single unit lost is painful, especially for the French. An exchange result with your 4-2 unit can make you cry.
(4) The Battle is very fluid in B20, as there are plenty of ‘open space’ to maneuver especially when the game is half way through. (lesser units are left on board due to Broken/Elimination). Cavalry units become difficult to hold and pin down. Using Cavalry units to go around enemy lines so that when enemy unit retreats, they will need to roll for elimination in the cavalry’s ZOCs. (This 'space' feels very differently from B1812)
(5) The cards do change the game strategy in some way. Some gamers might like it very much, but others might feel that the card events are a ‘random disturbance’ that is both unnecessary and ‘rules-breaking-annoyance’. I felt that most of the time, the cards hardly have any effect on the game turn. Its either the unit is no longer on the map for the card to take effect or the effect is useless as events on the map does not allow it to happen. (Eg, Guards unit effects when the unit is not even on the map yet. OR bonus attack points when your unit has not even reached the frontline yet.)
(6) The use of Moral Points to assist in combat and act as a game-ending-army-breaking system is both simple and an engagingly good idea. But somehow ‘forces’ the gamer to only use his Guards at the last moment (free activation at 1 Morale point left) and that 1 failure may very well end the game.
QUESTIONS :
I do have some questions that I’m not sure if I had them answered here :
(1) Do we still draw a card on night turns? (Not that it matter here as most of the draws has no significant impact on those night turns we have)
(2) Having the unit in Redoubts attacking all surrounding enemy units seem like a suicide action. But in game terms, its required? Thus in most actions, for example, The French attackers might not be able to take the redoubt in their turn, but during the following Russian turn, a failure in the Russian counter-attack usually causes them to ‘retreat out’ of the redoubt! Leaving the redoubt free to enter by French next turn?????!!!
(3) Similar reasoning for units in Towns and across important river bridges/fords.??????
(4) Can I still use a morale point to move another hex if I have card effect to assist me already? (Move normal + 1 extra along road + 1 more from card effect + 1 more from Morale point spent?) If so possible...can’t imaging the soldiers RUNNING like crazies cross country! Even faster than the Cavalry! Hahaha....erm...sorry.
Soooooo....Do I like the game???
(1) Yes (and No), it plays quickly and serves to be an introductory game of Napoleonic battles. (But I wanted more meat......I'm an ASL gamer.)
(2) Reasonable bargain for the price. The components though not too professional, are beautifully ‘hand-made’ with great care. THIS alone, I’m totally IMPRESSED. Because of this love they have of their games, I made copies of the maps and cards to be laminated and protected from elements. Their originals are properly sealed in vacuum bags. Protected like treasure.
(3) The situation of the battle makes it very replayable and all the 5 games I played was really nail-biting down to the last few rolls!
Grudge?
Only one I guess...VPG has come a long distant these recent years. The next step would be to include boxes for their games and perhaps better printing-on materials as more choices are available. When that happens, each game will be very well worth a shelf center space in my collection.
I wish them the very best in the years ahead and I will continue to purchase their games when it reaches our shores.
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Lance McMillan
United States
Lakebay
Washington
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alexisW wrote: QUESTIONS:
(1) Do we still draw a card on night turns? (Not that it matter here as most of the draws has no significant impact on those night turns we have)
Yes, cards are drawn for both sides during night turns.
alexisW wrote: (2) Having the unit in Redoubts attacking all surrounding enemy units seem like a suicide action. But in game terms, its required? Thus in most actions, for example, The French attackers might not be able to take the redoubt in their turn, but during the following Russian turn, a failure in the Russian counter-attack usually causes them to ‘retreat out’ of the redoubt! Leaving the redoubt free to enter by French next turn?
Check the 'Terrain Effects Chart' and you'll note that Enemy Zones of Control (EZOCs) do *NOT* extend into redoubts. Because of this, units defending redoubts are not required to attack out (check the third bullet of Standard rule [7.0] and rule [7.3] for details). The point you need to be careful about is that *IF* the unit inside the redoubt chooses to attack out, then it must attack *ALL* enemy units who exert a ZOC into its hex.
alexisW wrote: (3) Similar reasoning for units in Towns and across important river bridges/fords?
Again, if there's no EZOC then there's no compulsion to attack. However, note that towns don't block EZOCs, they're only blocked between *ADJACENT* towns (and if memory serves, there aren't any adjacent towns in 'Borodino 20,' but I could be wrong).
alexisW wrote: (4) Can I still use a morale point to move another hex if I have card effect to assist me already? (Move normal + 1 extra along road + 1 more from card effect + 1 more from Morale point spent?) If so possible...can’t imaging the soldiers RUNNING like crazies cross country! Even faster than the Cavalry!
Yes, you can combine card, road, and force march effects -- in theory this could increase an infantry unit's movement rate from a 2 to a 5! However, read the card very carefully -- if the event is providing a free force march, then you can NOT combine it with a regular force march. There's a difference between force march and extra movement points.
Hope that clears things up.
- Lance McMillan
Developer for VPG's 'Napoleonic 20' Series & 'Borodino 20' designer
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Thanks for answering my questions.
Seem like I might have played the redoubt part wrongly in a few instants. Goes to show I still have things to discover and improve on my games with Borodino 20.
Will certainly enjoy it more with the next rematch.
Thanks very much again Mr McMillan
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Greg Blanchett
United States
Lewisville
Texas
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Lancer4321 wrote:
Check the 'Terrain Effects Chart' and you'll note that Enemy Zones of Control (EZOCs) do *NOT* extend into redoubts. Because of this, units defending redoubts are not required to attack out (check the third bullet of Standard rule [7.0] and rule [7.3] for details). The point you need to be careful about is that *IF* the unit inside the redoubt chooses to attack out, then it must attack *ALL* enemy units who exert a ZOC into its hex.
Lance, you might want to edit this. If a unit does not extend a ZOC into a redoubt, then attacking out is still a one hex affair, because *ALL* enemy units will not be exerting a ZOC into its hex... right?
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Lance McMillan
United States
Lakebay
Washington
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Semantics, you bad boy...
Regardless, here are the citations:
Rule [9.1] says "All phasing units in an EZOC *MUST* attack. All non-phasing units in an attacking unit's ZOC must *BE* attacked."
So, the unit in the redoubt is not compelled to attack because the enemy unit's ZOCs don't extend into the redoubt. But, if the player chooses to have the unit in the redoubt launch an attack, the second sentence of [9.1] applies, meaning that he must attack all of the nearby non-phasing units which are in the attacking unit's ZOC.
Also note that rules [9.4.2] and [9.4.3] apply here as well, but the primary effect is derived from [9.1].
Hopefully that clears it up.
(Did I get it right this time, Greg?)
- Lance
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Greg Blanchett
United States
Lewisville
Texas
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Quote: Hopefully that clears it up.
Crystal... 
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