Prelude To Waterloo: Battleground 8

I'm pleased with how much I like this game. I think it's the best of the three Napoleonic games in Talonsoft's Battleground series. Like the others, Waterloo and Napoleon in Russia (aka Borodino), it recreates the mechanics of early 19th century battle. The infantry, cavalry, and artillery limber and unlimber, or form line, column, or square, depending on who is threatening them, and which formation gives them the greatest defense, mobility, or firepower for the tactical situation. There's also a lot of maneuver. Whereas Waterloo and Borodino were both straight-ahead bloodbaths fought in confined areas, Prelude to Waterloo, focussing on the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras, includes a larger map with more room, and that makes for some interesting variety. The game designers have used this to their advantage by creating imaginative what-if situations, including a hypothetical British-Allied attack on Napoleon's left flank ("Hold at All Costs"), and a set-piece based on the possibility that Blucher and Wellington responded to the French advance more quickly, so that the final showdown is fought not near Waterloo but around Quatre Bras and Ligny ("The Eagle's Last Battle"). The game also incorporates some special rules to recreate the "fog of war," and an option that allows a player to delegate partial command of his army to the computer. All this promotes a nice sense of the constraints and choices available to the original commanders.The downside is that, as with many battle games, the AI could be smarter. That's why I gave it a 4-star overall rating.