Background on new game Marching Eagles - Waterloo

[Titus]

I thought it would be useful to put a little background to the new game 'Marching Eagles - Waterloo' published by HPS Simulations Ltd. Promotional details are on their website hpssims.com
The game is significantly different from the Ancient Warfare series. Marching Eagles is a new game engine and will develop hopefully into a new series of games. Each game will focus on a campaign during the Napoleonic period 1796 - 1815 in Europe. The game is a grand tactical warfare game involving a series of battles associated with the campaign - Waterloo. Units are generally at the regiment, brigade and division level.
Marching Eagles is a IGOYOUGO turn based system using irregular shaped areas instead of hexagons. Instead of a 20m hex, one area will cover 400m - 750m. This gives the infantry brigades and cavalry regiments room to form up as commanded by the player suitable for the terrain in the area and the presence of enemy units.
Players are able to place orders on each unit as long as there are Command Points remaining. The number of Command Points available at the start of each turn depends on the battle scenario. The number of turns in the small scenarios is less than 10 giving a player a quick game and exposure to the game mechanics before facing the larger battles such as Waterloo and Ligny.
The Units look like counters on a board and show the basic combat factor in the bottom left corner of the counter and the Unit Strength in the top right corner. Roughly one infantry strength point is equal to a battalion or approximately 500 men. One cavalry strength point is equal to a squadron or approximately 150 men. One artillery strength point is equal to a Company or approximately 6 - 8 guns.
Each player turn is broken down in to 2 phases - In the first phase the player can expend command points to move, change formation and initiate attacks. In the second phase combat is resolved. During the second phase, if the option was ticked at the start of the battle for 'Tactical Play', the player will be asked to decide on the local battle tactics for each specific area. This option only appears if there are 2 or more friendly units in the area where combat is to be resolved. Having multiple units in one area allows a player to conduct local tactics such as flank attacks. There are 9 tactical play options but only a selection of these would be available to the player at any one time dependent on the combination of friendly units conducting the combined attack in the one area.
To win a battle, a player needs to learn how to use combined arms tactics, how to use massed artillery effectively and ensure your units are in the right formation for combat or rapid movement across the battlefield. It is worth reading the Tactical Guide document available when running the game from the menu - Help pop-down list as this highlights key features for infantry, cavalry and artillery units. The Tactical Guide document is in pdf format and can be found separately from the game in the 'Marching Eagles ' folder.
Have fun playing the game and good luck,
Paul