The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon in Russia 1812
The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon in Russia 1812 is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1972 that is a simulation of the Battle of Borodino during the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Background. In June 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia and forced Russian forces to retreat. By September, French forces had advanced to the outskirts of Moscow, where the Russians made a stand, setting up a strong defensive position near the small village of Borodino. After a fierce battle with heavy losses on both sides, the Russians made  an orderly retreat, opening the road to Moscow and providing Napoleon with a Pyhrric victory. Although the French briefly occupied Moscow, the oncoming winter and lack of supplies forced the French to immediately withdraw from Russia, with the loss of a significant portion of the French army to disease, cold and starvation. Description. "The Battle of Borodino" is a 2-player wargame that uses the same rules system as SPI's popular "Napoleon at Waterloo" game published the year before. Turns are "I go, You Go", where one player moves their pieces and engages in combat, and then the other  player gets the same opportunity. Components. The game includes: Movement. Each unit can move up to the limit of its movement rate. Units cannot enter a forest except via roads, and cannot cross rivers except via a bridge or specified ford. (Using a ford costs two extra points of movement.) Units can cross a stream at the cost of one extra point of movement. French units cannot enter the front of a Russian redoubt or fleche. Combat. Units adjacent to enemy units must attack, unless separated by a river. Artillery can fire upon non-adjacent units that  are one hex away. To simulate the strong defensive works thrown up by the Russians, Russian unit strength is doubled when a French attack is directed through the front of a redoubt or fleche. Likewise, a unit's defensive strength is doubled when in a town or a forest. Attacks cannot be made across a river except at bridges and fords, where the attacker's strength is halved. Scenarios. The game comes with four different scenarios: September 5, September 6, September 7, and Grand Battle, which is a combination of the first three scenarios. Publication history. In 1971, SPI  offered the small and simple wargame "Napoleon at Waterloo" as a free bonus that came with a subscription to their house magazine "Strategy & Tactics". The following year, John Young designed a Napoleonic game based on the rules used in "Napoleon at Waterloo". The result was "The Battle of Borodino", published as a pull-out game in "Strategy & Tactics" No. 32 (May 1972) with graphic design by Redmond A. Simonsen. SPI subsequently released it as a boxed set, first in a plain white box with a red title ribbon, and then in a "flat pack" box. Reception. Writing in "Moves" only  a few months after "Borodino" was published, Martin Campion noted, "So far the two sides seem well-balanced, but the French have to be very careful on the first day as they come on the board in driblets that can be overwhelmed in detail if they don't treat the Russians with respect." In his 1977 book "The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming", Nicholas Palmer called this a "Very simple and fast-moving game, based on the introductory "Napoleon at Waterloo", yet durably popular with the hard-core." Although Roy Gibson called "Borodino" "One of my favorite SPI games, played  more frequently than any other single game", he did note several problems, and in the first two issues of "Phoenix", wrote extensive outlines of how the game could be improved: