Game of the Week - Sep 9 - 15

Welcome to another week, and another featured game. This week we bring you Napoleonic Battles: Republican Bayonets on the Rhine! This title is on sale for 25% off now through Sunday, September 15th.

On 17 June 1789, the Third Estate of the "Estates-General" of France declared themselves redefined as the "National Assembly" beginning one of the greatest events in history known as "The French Revolution." By 1792, the Bastille had fallen, the government had deposed the king, Louis XVI, and had executed much of the nobility. Reaction to the executions, and the declaration of war by the new French government, lead to the War of the First Coalition.

Republican Bayonets on the Rhine recreates those battles from 1792 to their final conclusion in 1800. Fighting raged through France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany from Valmy until Hohenlinden, when the War of the Second Coalition came to an end. The units represented in the game include the French National Guard, Austrian Freikorps, Dutch Republic guard infantry, colorful hussars of all armies and the French royalist forces led by Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé.

Command the French "Armée du Nord" and "Armée de Centre" at Valmy or, as the Allies, the Prussian and Austrian forces of the Duke of Brunswick. At Fleurus, lead your Allied legions to victory and retake Charleroi; or as Jourdan, commander of the French forces, deal the Allies a defeat at the hands of your French legions. Twenty-seven historical battles await your pleasure, including Fleurus, the battle which saw the first use of a balloon for military service; Würzburg, where the Archduke Charles defeated Jourdan's French army during the 1796 Rhine Campaign; Kaiserslautern, where the Duke of Brunswick would defeat a French army near Mannheim, Germany, and Second Zürich, where Masséna would defeat the Russians under the command of Rimsky-Korsakov and put an end to the 1799 Rhine Campaign. Republican Bayonets on the Rhine has this and so much more!

More than just a companion game to Campaign Marengo, this title defines the era more precisely, with the evolution of the French army from the “levée en masse”, First and Second Amalgamations, to the professional army it had become by the end of the War of the Second Coalition.

Republican Bayonets on the Rhine features a wealth of scenario content (296 stand alone scenarios). Most actions are covered in both 15-minute and 10-minute formats, but also each battle will have numerous variants to explore the "what if's" of a given situation. Scenario sizes range from small (5K-10K troops per side) to large (40K+ troops per side). There is an immense amount of game play to be had in this title. And as with every game in the Napoleonic Battles series, a scenario editor is also provided for you to make your own adjustments, or scenarios from scratch.

The major battles included are:

• Valmy
• Jemappes
• Neerwinden
• Pirmasens
• Kaiserslautern
• Tourcoing
• Fleurus
• Aidenhoven
• Altenkirchen
• Ettlingen
• Neresheim
• Amberg
• Wurzburg
• Emmendingen
• Ostrach
• Stockach
• Winterthur
• Zurich
• Bergen
• Castricum
• Engen
• Messkirch
• Biberach
• Neuburg
• Ampfing
• Hohenlinden

RBR_Battles.pdf provides an overview of the core historical battles the game is built around.

As with most of the games in the WDS lineup, many revisions have taken place over the years. The Napoleonic Battles series especially has had this in both engine enhancements as well as revisions of the game content. You can read more about the initial project team, historical notes and design choices in the Design Notes. For further notes on some of the refinements to the game content, see the Standardization Notes.

(All images can be clicked for full sized viewing.)

In addition, there are 4 campaigns included with this title (with a 15-minute and 10-minute turn variation of each). This adds in hundreds more scenarios to be played, and the campaign format offers excellent Fog of War, since you do not have the ability to scout the battlefield prior to beginning the battle.

There is a wide variety of troops represented in this title. Here are a few shots of some of the unit artwork that is included.

And now we'll move to video content for this title.

The Mack has a series of 10 videos from just a few months ago.

And SmartWargames has a review published about 2 years ago.

Now for a few books you might want to consider picking up.

Here are several more screen shots from within the game. This, and every Napoleonic Battles title, has 5 view levels - 3 in 2D view and another 2 in 3D view. There are also a variety of highlighting, shading and marking commands that can be used to easily convey the information you are looking for.

And finally, here's the Napoleonic Battles specific section on the Official WDS forums if you wish to discuss the game, or any games within that series.

Ok, that concludes our preview of the game. You can head on over to the product page for Republican Bayonets on the Rhine and pick up a copy for yourself when ready!

Enjoy!