Napoleons Last Gamble - Battles of the Hundred Days June 1815  plus Expansion Game by Operational Study Group (OSG) (2016) Unplayed

Napoleon’s Last Gamble contains five battles from the Waterloo Campaign, which Napoleon began by seizing the central position between the Prussian and British Armies. On June 15th the Grande Armée was unleashed across the Sambre River. Allied screening forces sent out the warning to headquarters. The Allies executed a forward concentration behind the cover of their screens. As the 16th dawned, troops of both sides still converged on the battlefields.

Napoleon's Last Gamble is one of the games from Operation Study Group (OSG) Series of Napoleonic Battles., as all the games share a common rules set and game system.

COMPONENTS

• Two 22x34" maps
• One 17x22" map
• 560 die-cut counter units
• 100 playing cards
• rulebook / Scenario Book
• 15 Player aid cards

BATTLES SIMULATED

Quatre-Bras, Ney at the Crossroads, 16 June
The French attacked on two fronts simultaneously. The tenacious defense of Quatre Bras by the Anglo-Allied troops saved the Prussians from receiving the full weight of the Armée Du Nord.

Ligny, The Last Victory, 16 June
Finally unleashed, the Guard pushed the Prussians back from the Ligny brook. Blücher himself was wounded and separated from headquarters. But Napoleon’s hoped-for knock-out blow remained undelivered.

Wavre, Grouchy’s Blunder, 18 June
Napoleon separated the two wings of his army, ordering Marshal Grouchy on the track of the Prussians while he pursued Wellington. Grouchy’s prescribed route was wide of the mark, and took him to the outer flank, allowing the Prussians to interpose themselves between the two French wings—Blücher achieved a strategic reversal of the opening.

Waterloo, A Near Run Thing, 18 June
While Grouchy frittered away time engaging the Prussian rear-guard at Wavre, Ney conducted the mid-phase of the battle like a rear-guard action in the Peninsular Campaign, failing to provide infantry support for his spectacular cavalry charges. Wellington fought a successful defensive battle, managing to cling to his ridge until the arrival of three Prussian corps. The broken French army retreated toward Charleroi; Grouchy’s intact wing moved south-east toward Namur.

La Souffel, Rapp’s Last Stand, 28 June
Three days after Waterloo, Rapp woke up and began a slow withdrawal from the Rhine, pursued by the vanguard of Schwarzenberg's Army. On June 26 the heavily-outnumbered Rapp skirmished with the Austrian III Corps. Two days later he made a stand along the Souffel River, and the Austrians attacked.

DESCRIPTION

• 480 meters per hex,
• 1 hour per turn,
• 400-800 men per strength point.

Each Approach to Battle game lasts about 22 turns. The Full campaign links the individual battles.

This Game also includes the Expansion Game 1 - The Highway to Brussels which adds 3 New Scenario's

New Scenarios added:

• CROSSING THE SAMBRE 15 June, 1815
Around 9 AM Prussian outposts fell back before elements of Reille’s II Corps and Domon’s horsemen. As Steinmetz retired on Gosseilles, Pirch was ordered to abandon the river line and concentrate on Gilly. Pajol’s Cavalry Corps followed-up, moving through Charleroi. Duhesme’s Young Guard took the place of the delayed III Corps. With the defection of General Bourmont, commander of IV Corps’s lead division, the ensuing chaos delayed Gerard’s marching columns. The limited number of bridges on the Sambre, with their steep and narrow approaches, caused great delays, even with the Prussians scrambling to get away. This scenario is a race against time, to see if the French player can get into a better position for the battles of the 16th.

• THE GRAND CAMPAIGN GAME - Beyond Waterloo, 15-19 June, 1815
The Grand Campaign uses the Scenario Information for 15 June (34.0), except for the end dates and the additional special rules below. The Grand Campaign uses the Northern map Extension to extend the game through the 19th.

• THE BATTLE OF IXELLES 19 June, 1815
Napoleon expected to fight the united Prussian and Anglo-Allied Armies in front of Brussels. This scenario assumes that none of the Prussians marched from Wavre to support Wellington. Hence the Duke would have fought only a medium-sized rearguard action at Waterloo, buying time his army to arrive near Brussels. “If the allied army had been obliged to fall back from Waterloo, the roads from Braine-l’Alleud, from Waterloo, and from Wavre, meet upon very strong ground about a mile and a half in front of Brussels—the right ... at Uccle upon the Senne, its centre at Vleurgat, and its left thrown back at Ixelles.”

In addition, several Turn Record Charts and Anglo-Allied Setup Cards will be provided to account for the added map and associated arrival times on the WX map. No additional counters will be needed.

COMPONENTS:

• 2 Map Sheets:
  • one 11" x 34" and
  • one 22" x 34"
• 1 Rules Folder (4 pages)
• 3 Turn Record Card

The Game is for 2 to 6 Players,Aged 14 Years to Adult
The Game Contents are as New with all the Counters still unpunched from their Sheet and the Cards still in their Shrink Wrap.
The Box is in Good to Very Good Condition for its Age
The Expansion kit is Complete and is in as New Condition but this comes in the Main Game Box