La Bataille de la Moscowa

La Bataille de la Moscowa is a board wargame published originally by Martial Enterprises in 1975, then by Game Designers Workshop in 1977.

Gameplay
The cover of the GDW boxed set, 1977

La Bataille de la Moscowa is a wargame that simulates the Battle of Borodino during Napoleon's invasion of Russia.[1]

Development and publication history

La Bataille de la Moscowa was originally designed by Laurence A. Groves[1] and published by Martial Enterprises in 1975. (The company changed its name to Marshall Enterprises shortly after the game was published.) The game was originally released as a "baggy game" (everything enclosed in a plastic bag rather than a box), and included six short scenarios and a grand battle game.[1]

Scaled to the regimental/battalion level — each hex is 100 metres, and each turn is 20 minutes of game time — the game utilizes four maps and 1400 counters representing various military units, making it one of the biggest and most complex wargames ever published. In the essay "A Game Out of All Proportion", Jon Peterson commented that "The market's sweet tooth for fantasy in the 1970s did not spoil its appetite for historical simulation entirely. Traditional wargames in this period grew in both depth and breadth, though not simultaneously in the same product. The small unit actions depicted by Tactical Game 3 inspired a number of narrow-scale successors [...] Simultaneously, other titles tried to capture the campaign-level activities of major battle theatres [...] there followed many of these so-called "monster games," such as the 1,400-counter juggernaut of Marshall Enterprises, La Bataille de la Moscowa (1975) [...] These games tested the limits of what could practically be modelled on a physical apparatus."[2]

In 1977, GDW bought the rights to the game and republished it as a boxed set with upgraded components and minor rules revisions.[3]

Marshall Enterprises continued to produce games in the "Bataille" series:

  • La Bataille de Auerstaedt (1977)
  • La Bataille de Pruessisch-Eylau (1978)
  • La Bataille de Espanol-Talavera (1979)
  • La Bataille de Austerlitz (1980)
  • La Bataille de Deutsch-Wagram[4]

In 1984, Clash of Arms bought the rights to the entire series; they re-released some of the other titles, but not Bataille de la Moscowa.

Reception

In the 1981 edition of The Wargamer, (Vol.1 No. 15), Charles Vasey found the complexity of the game admirable, although he had minor disagreements with a few of the morale rules. Vasey also disagreed with some aspects of the makeup of the armies, complaining that the game makes Russian Jaeger units and Russian cavalry inferior to their French opponents when Vasey claimed history showed the opposite. Despite these problems, he recommended the game, saying, "it's colourful, it's big, it's exciting, it's full of flavour."[5]

Reviews

Awards

At the 1976 Origins Awards, La Bataille de la Moscowa won the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Amateur Game of 1975.[6]

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References
  1. "La Bataille de la Moscowa | Board Game". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  2. Peterson, Jon (2016). Harrigan, Pat; Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. (eds.). A Game Out of All Proportions. Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming. MIT Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780262033992.
  3. "Announcing: La Bataille de la Moscowa". The Europa Newsletter. Games Designers Workshop (3). March 1977. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  4. Palmer, Nicholas (1980). "Chapter 3 - The First Thousand Hours are the Hardest: Monster Games". The Best of Board Wargaming. New York, N. Y.: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-525-6.
  5. Vasey, Charles (1981). "La Bataille de la Moskowa: Wellington's Victory without Tears". The Wargamer. World Wide Wargames. 1 (15): 4–9.
  6. "Charles S. Roberts Award Winners (1975)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
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