GAME REPORT FOR BATTLES OF THE HUNDRED DAYS
Game Description
Battles of the Hundred Days is a Napoleonic mini-game of the Battle of
Waterloo. It was first published in 1979 by Operational Studies Group
(OSG) in a ziploc format and was later republished in the small box
format by Avalon Hill in 1983.
The game is short and bloody. In only four turns, the French player
must inflict a 40 strength point loss on the Prussians or a 30 strength
point loss on the British. Alternatively, if the French player can
exit Napoleon and 20 Strength points off the north edge of the map, he
can win. The Prussian-British player wins if the French player can not
achieve any of these conditions or suffers 45 strength points in
losses.
Details of this PBEM Game
French: Eric Pass
Allies: Terry Doherty
I am using the OSG version of the game, Terry has the AH version. So
far, we have only noted one major discrepancy. In the OSG Blucher is
4*4 and rates a Combat Bonus, in the AH version, he is 4-4 and no
bonus. We are playing that Blucher does not have a Combat Bonus.
Another minor discrepancy is in the pursuit force rules, mainly in
composition of the pursuing force.
We are using the PBM.COM Dieroller (dice@pbm.com) to generate the die
rolls for the game.
Events so far
Turn 1
The French go first. There is no Command Phase in Turn 1 so in the
Movement Phase, I use one Movement Command to move Napoleon who is
leading a force of Reille, Grouchy and Drouot (Nappy has a Command
Span of 4). Napoleon goes to 0306, Grouchy to 0305, Drouot to 0205
and Reille across the ford to 0405 (as Terry correctly pointed out,
this is 6MP, I misunderstood the costs of crossing the ford. Terry
patiently shook his head at the newbie and let it go :) . The
second Movement Command went to Ney leading Gerard who are stacked
together and go to 0509. The third Movement Command is used to send
Van Damme to 0307.
Terry responds by repositioning Ziethen to 0909 and in the Combat Phase
I punish the Infantry Major General commanding Jagow. The attack is
5:1 NA with a -1 for Napoleon's combat bonus. The DR is a 6-1=5 for a
3:8 result. Jerome under Reille is reduced 7 -> 5 SP and Bachelu goes
5 -> 4. The Major General retreats to 1011 and Reille gets a maximum
pursuit length of 5 which he takes to 0709. Jagow is reduced 7 -> 2,
the Major General is Demoralized and I have 5 of the 40 Prussian SPs
needed to win.
In the Allied Turn 1 Command Phase, Henckel combines with Ziethen. For
movement, Blucher leading Pirch and Thielmann uses two Movement
Commands to move himself stacked with Thielmann to 0910, and Pirch to
0810. Ziethen remains in 0909. The Prince of Orange spends one
command to move to 1006 and the other command goes to MajGen 2
commanding Perponcher who moves to 1005.
In the Allied Forced March Phase, Napoleon's force fails initiative-
based movement as does d'Erlon trying to enter from off-board. Ney
leading Gerard advances to 0707 and Mouton marches from off-board to
0806.
Turn 2
The French continue to move up the middle of the board. Using two
Movement Commands, Napoleon, Van Damme & Drouot move to 0907 (Napoleon
stacked with Van Damme) and 0707 (Druout). The third Movement Command
goes to d'Erlon who enters from offboard and moves to 0906. For
initiative- based moves, Ney leading Gerard and Reille fail to move
while Grouchy gets to 0906 to stack with d'Erlon and be able to
participate in the attack on the force under the Prince of Orange.
Mouton goes to 0905 to attack Perponcher under MajGen2. Terry has no
luck moving away with any of his forces during the Forced March Phase
and especially bad luck when Wellington IN=5! rolls a 
and fails to enter in support of his forces in contact with
the enemy.
In the Combat Phase, the 4:1 NA attack versus the Prince of Orange also
rolls a 6 which is reduced by 1 for Napoleon's combat bonus giving a
2/5 result. Habert under Van Damme is reduced from 6 -> 4 and the
Prince of Orange retreats 5 hexes to 1506 with a purduit result of 4
hexes moving Napoleon+d'Erlon to 1306 and Grouchy+Van Damme to 1206.
Allen is reduced to 2 becoming Ineffective as is Kielman and Cook goes
4 -> 3. In the second attack, a 1:1 NA with Mouton vs Perponcher, the
dr is a 3 giving a 2/2 result. Jeanin & Simmer each take 1SP losses but
the pursuit dr is a 3 resulting in No Pursuit so Perponcher takes the
same losses as the attacker and goes 8 -> 6 Ineffective. Both MajGen2
and the Prince of Orange become Disorganized, the MajGen automatically
and William rolls a 5.
Coming up is the Allied Turn 2 as Wellington and Blucher prepare to
close the trap on Napoleon!
Turn 3
Turn 4
Summary& Analysis
Turn 1
Terry says Jagow inevitably gets pounded in Turn 1 and that my error in
moving Reille too far was too minor to go back and fix. I suppose
typically the cavalry fords the river (it has 7MP compared to the
infantry's 5MP)
End of Turn 1 SP Losses: Prussian: 5; British: 0; French: 3
Turn 2
I suspect (now) that driving straight up the middle plays right into
the Allied hands. I was hoping that moving quickly and blowing a hole
through the screening forces might allow me to exit Napoleon and 20SP
for a victory.
Other Links for Battles of the Hundred Days information
Game Info
Books & Magazine Articles
Chandler, David G, The Campaigns of Napoleon (NY, 1966) DC151 .C45
