A Review, of sorts.

     I tend to read most reviews of all things concerning Wargaming, just to get some idea of whats actually going on and how good these items are. Inevitably the reviewer can only give a personal opinion, sometimes wrapped up in technical speak, but still just their personal opinion.
 Most reviews in this day and age are fairly non committal, with the odd very good or very bad rating if the reviewer feels that strongly about something, but this is a rarity.
  Compare this with the no nonsense reviews from the late Donald Featherstone who always called a spade a spade [ and by that I mean a digging implement] and to a lesser extent by Terry Wise and Stuart Asquith who were pretty forthright in what they reviewed.
 Of course these wargamers came from a time [ ie my time ] when the truth was more important than the upset the reviewer may cause the person whose item/book/rules were being reviewed. However I tended to take more notice of their opinions, whether good or bad, purely because they were very honest, and wanted the best for the hobby.
 So where am I going with this meandering spiel.
 Well I fought my fifth Napoleonic battle using the new Blucher rules, the other night against John, and I came away from the game with a closely fought draw. This encounter was a French versus an English scenario.
 What struck me after the game was the following, I felt the game provided a very good representation of the tactical strengths of both nations, without making the British too strong, as I have witnessed in other rules over the years.
 I threw away a chance of winning, by making some tactical errors, and poor command decisions and not because of poor dice throws, and dubious rules.
 Thirdly and for me most importantly, I absolutely enjoyed the whole experience, as it was exciting, fun and if you weren't on top of what was going on you knew you would lose the game, so tension was maintained throughout the whole night.
 This has been my experience for every one of the five games we have fought. For me that is pretty impressive for a set of rules I am still getting to grips with.
 So getting back to the initial point, whilst this cannot be classed as a review of a wargaming product,  because really it is only my opinion, I really feel that Sam Mustafa has created a brilliant and fun set of wargaming rules, and if any wargamers are looking to either take up a new period, or is still looking for a set of decent Napoleonic wargaming rules, then look no further, because these certainly are the real deal.

            The basing gathers pace. A new corps of Austrians for my Blucher 6mm armies.