From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: more reviews VITORIA 1813 (Vae Victis 12) The Napoleonic Wars without Napoleon are the setting for this game, based on the battle fought in Spain between the French army of Joseph and Jordan against the anglo-allied army commanded by Wellington. Usual good graphics for a fast and easy system of play, better than the last ones presented with the French magazine. All the units are backsided, as in a two players game you may use them with the combat side covered to have an almost total fog of war. Anyway, there aren't other rules that subtract to the enjoiment even for solo play. The combat units are infantry, artillery and cavalry with a combat value (but you have also to use combat sheet to keep track of single loss points), a possible bonus in attack or defense, and a movement value. The leader units have a command bonus, a range value and a movement factor. There are 12 turns, each divided in five phases for each player. First, you may move your leaders to try to rally your routing units; then you may move, use your artillery and then combat. Movement rules are the usual ones (with the added treat to a loss of one strength point to exit an enemy ZOC), while combat takes in account terrain, command, unit modifiers and the usual subtractions for disordered or routed units. The object of the game is the control of the road from Madrid to Bayonne, where the French have to exit their baggage and treasure units. Wellington must try to avoid this. The situation is very interesting, with the French army having the center of the map, while the Anglo-allies enter from several different sides, reaching partial superiority with the passing of the time. And the game is not bad, indeed, better than the later ones that I've played from Vae Victis. I rate this game 6 « out of 10.