Just received The Wargame Company's "Master of the World: 1812 in Russia."
I haven't played ESR, but on the recommendation of a friend, I picked up the book as a reference. Thus, I am unable to comment on the different series of ESR. (This book is the second campaign guide in their Series 3, but the front matter has explanations of how to use it with Series 2.)
Front Matter:
The book is 'stand alone'. If I knew nothing of the era, the first ten pages gives a sufficient overview of the events from Tilsit to the invasion of Russia. I feel this is well written, the author neither talks down to the reader, nor talks at such I high level that I cannot follow him.
The maps and the graphics are superb. Something I found interesting was the use of language. The maps label the countries in the local languages: English, French, German, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish,…. (I am a geography and language nerd and I liked this.)
Scenarios:
There are fifteen scenarios from Mir (July 9-10) through Borodino (September 7). The maps are very detailed and the orders-of-battle are thorough. The scenarios are rated from Beginner Difficulty to Expert Difficulty. Also, the required size of the table and number of players are listed. Mir is a two player game, whilst Borodino is 12+. The sizes of the tables are presented based on the ground scale used: From 50yds/inch to 200yds/inch. I like this feature--my gaming table size if fixed, I can then choose a ground scale to allow me to fit the battle on my gaming table.
The presentation of the scenarios is very well done. Each scenario has four sections:
1. A map with an inset orients the reader to the location of the battle.
2. An overview describing why the battle was to be fought, with a game map.
3. The French briefing with initial placement, victory conditions, game map and order-of-battle.
4. The Russian briefing with initial placement, victory conditions, game map and order-of-battle.
(I really liked the repetition of the game maps--I didn't have to flip pages as I would read the specifics about troop placement. This was a very nice feature.)
As stated above, I haven't played ESR, but most of my Napoleonic wargaming is recreating historic battles--this book makes that much easier: Background, maps and terrain, orders-of-battle, victory conditions all very effectively presented.
Uniform Guides:
Impressive! 300+ units (2000+ illustrations) presented in a very useful manner for painting. I am certain there are cranky old grognards who can find fault in some of the depictions, but for me, I will trust the illustrator and have fun painting some outrageously colorful units.
The author and illustrator were again having fun with languages. The illustrations are labelled in their native language: French, Polish, Italian, German, and Russian. A fun touch.
I am enjoying the book. I would have bought it for the scenarios alone, or the uniform guide alone. Based on the quality, quantity, and detail, I will keep getting ESR's Campaign Guides as fast as they are released.
Matt Johnson
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
