GAME REPORT FOR BATTLES OF THE HUNDRED DAYS

Game Description

Battles of the Hundred Days is a Napoleonic mini-game of the Battle of Waterloo. It was first published in 1979 by Operational Studies Group (OSG) in a ziploc format and was later republished in the small box format by Avalon Hill in 1983.

The game is short and bloody. In only four turns, the French player must inflict a 40 strength point loss on the Prussians or a 30 strength point loss on the British. Alternatively, if the French player can exit Napoleon and 20 Strength points off the north edge of the map, he can win. The Prussian-British player wins if the French player can not achieve any of these conditions or suffers 45 strength points in losses.

Details of this PBEM Game

French: Eric Pass
Allies: Terry Doherty

I am using the OSG version of the game, Terry has the AH version. So far, we have only noted one major discrepancy. In the OSG Blucher is 4*4 and rates a Combat Bonus, in the AH version, he is 4-4 and no bonus. We are playing that Blucher does not have a Combat Bonus. Another minor discrepancy is in the pursuit force rules, mainly in composition of the pursuing force.

We are using the PBM.COM Dieroller (dice@pbm.com) to generate the die rolls for the game.

Events so far

Turn 1
The French go first. There is no Command Phase in Turn 1 so in the Movement Phase, I use one Movement Command to move Napoleon who is leading a force of Reille, Grouchy and Drouot (Nappy has a Command Span of 4). Napoleon goes to 0306, Grouchy to 0305, Drouot to 0205 and Reille across the ford to 0405 (as Terry correctly pointed out, this is 6MP, I misunderstood the costs of crossing the ford. Terry patiently shook his head at the newbie and let it go :) . The second Movement Command went to Ney leading Gerard who are stacked together and go to 0509. The third Movement Command is used to send Van Damme to 0307.

Terry responds by repositioning Ziethen to 0909 and in the Combat Phase I punish the Infantry Major General commanding Jagow. The attack is 5:1 NA with a -1 for Napoleon's combat bonus. The DR is a 6-1=5 for a 3:8 result. Jerome under Reille is reduced 7 -> 5 SP and Bachelu goes 5 -> 4. The Major General retreats to 1011 and Reille gets a maximum pursuit length of 5 which he takes to 0709. Jagow is reduced 7 -> 2, the Major General is Demoralized and I have 5 of the 40 Prussian SPs needed to win.

In the Allied Turn 1 Command Phase, Henckel combines with Ziethen. For movement, Blucher leading Pirch and Thielmann uses two Movement Commands to move himself stacked with Thielmann to 0910, and Pirch to 0810. Ziethen remains in 0909. The Prince of Orange spends one command to move to 1006 and the other command goes to MajGen 2 commanding Perponcher who moves to 1005.

In the Allied Forced March Phase, Napoleon's force fails initiative- based movement as does d'Erlon trying to enter from off-board. Ney leading Gerard advances to 0707 and Mouton marches from off-board to 0806.

Turn 2
The French continue to move up the middle of the board. Using two Movement Commands, Napoleon, Van Damme & Drouot move to 0907 (Napoleon stacked with Van Damme) and 0707 (Druout). The third Movement Command goes to d'Erlon who enters from offboard and moves to 0906. For initiative- based moves, Ney leading Gerard and Reille fail to move while Grouchy gets to 0906 to stack with d'Erlon and be able to participate in the attack on the force under the Prince of Orange. Mouton goes to 0905 to attack Perponcher under MajGen2. Terry has no luck moving away with any of his forces during the Forced March Phase and especially bad luck when Wellington IN=5! rolls a and fails to enter in support of his forces in contact with the enemy.

In the Combat Phase, the 4:1 NA attack versus the Prince of Orange also rolls a 6 which is reduced by 1 for Napoleon's combat bonus giving a 2/5 result. Habert under Van Damme is reduced from 6 -> 4 and the Prince of Orange retreats 5 hexes to 1506 with a purduit result of 4 hexes moving Napoleon+d'Erlon to 1306 and Grouchy+Van Damme to 1206. Allen is reduced to 2 becoming Ineffective as is Kielman and Cook goes 4 -> 3. In the second attack, a 1:1 NA with Mouton vs Perponcher, the dr is a 3 giving a 2/2 result. Jeanin & Simmer each take 1SP losses but the pursuit dr is a 3 resulting in No Pursuit so Perponcher takes the same losses as the attacker and goes 8 -> 6 Ineffective. Both MajGen2 and the Prince of Orange become Disorganized, the MajGen automatically and William rolls a 5.

Coming up is the Allied Turn 2 as Wellington and Blucher prepare to close the trap on Napoleon!

Turn 3

Turn 4

Summary& Analysis

Turn 1
Terry says Jagow inevitably gets pounded in Turn 1 and that my error in moving Reille too far was too minor to go back and fix. I suppose typically the cavalry fords the river (it has 7MP compared to the infantry's 5MP)
End of Turn 1 SP Losses: Prussian: 5; British: 0; French: 3

Turn 2
I suspect (now) that driving straight up the middle plays right into the Allied hands. I was hoping that moving quickly and blowing a hole through the screening forces might allow me to exit Napoleon and 20SP for a victory.

Other Links for Battles of the Hundred Days information

Game Info
Books & Magazine Articles
Chandler, David G, The Campaigns of Napoleon (NY, 1966) DC151 .C45
This file last updated 05/20/97

This page is maintained by Eric Pass

Please email epass@nyx.net with comments and corrections.