I thought Austerlitz was a station in Paris. It turns out it's named after Napoleon's cracking victory over the third allied attempt to stomp on him. Incidentally, on that cold, misty morning in 1805, it was Russia and Austria that suffered the away defeat; our mob didn't manage to turn up!
    This is the scene for the latest in Lothlorien's very collectable series of trad wargames. You attempt to repeat Napoleon's formidable victory by pitching your well-trained troops against the slightly larger but less effective Austro-Russian army and killing as many of them as possible.
    It's all done as well as usual; there's a scrolling board (only a little larger than the screen!) and square pieces marked with their type, number, morale and so on. The game's made much more playable because your Corp commanders are intelligent and will look after their chunk of the battle and offer reports and advice to you until you want to take over direct command of their units. Lothlorien also avoids 'eyes-in-the-sky' by making the Russian's disappear when they move. You'll only locate them when you meet them!
    Entering orders from the keyboard is a bit fiddly and tedious but not so bad that it'll put wargamers off. What worries me is that it's all a bit in Boney's favour; you aren't fighting a losing battle. Still, I suppose it's the same when you play Welly in Waterloo. What I want to know is do the French think Waterloo is a station in London?

Ratings given by other magazines

9/10      6/10    Crash Review ---

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