Salamanca reviewed J.A.Spence takes a look at Maplay Games latest offering Ever since I played 'Guerilla' two years ago I have wondered whether Maplay Games would manage to produce another game of the same, to me, high standard. Well, I now have the answer with the arrival of 'Salamanca'. For those without the necessary background, I would say that Maplay Games Limited is an all-British company of amateur board gamers who have turned their interest in game design to some practical use. I find it most refreshing to find this British talent surfacing in our hobby but hasten to add that I will not allow this patriotism to bias my opinions of their product!! Similarly, with a personal predilection for 20th Century games at the tactical end of the spectrum, I find 'Salamanca' somewhat outside my usual field but think that this injects some objectivity into the following revlew . Now...a bit of background. 'Salamanca' is a simulation of the Peninsular War battle between Wellington, plus his Portugese and Spanish Allies, and Napoleon's Marshal Marmont near the town of Salamanca in July 1812. The situation was chosen by the designers Bob Stuart and Harry Tucker, for the evenness of the sides and the fact that the battle may be described as a "sort of Chess piece, set piece battle". The designers target was to produce a game of approximately 50 units per side and with about 16 game turns which could be played in an evening. The designer goes on to say "...I have tried to create this battle - I did not fully succeed - but it is a different game. All the forces are there, a fairly new concept of battle has been created where, if opposing players feed units into the main fray there will be a hell of a lot of blood spilt... '. Let us see how close these comments are to my own experience. Firstly, the game itself. For œ5.25 inclusive, one gets a mapsheet, counters, a rule booklet and set-up chart in a large striking box which produces an infinitely more 'saleable' article than 'Guerilla' where saleability did not appear to be considered. 1. The map is on white card, has hexes, towns and the time record track in dark grey hills in brown hatching and deep green forested hexes; all very clean looking, easy to read and has no irritating unclear hexes. 2. The unit counters, die cut and approx. 'square', are presented in 'Napoleonic' colours--an off pink for the Allies (with separation out of Spanish and Portugese troops) and a light blue for the French forces, all other pieces are white. Most unusually, the counters have no strength or movement information on them, showing only the symbol for the regiment or battalion of artillery, cavalry or infantry that they represent. The reasoning behind this is that each class of unit has a fixed movement allowance that is easily remembered whilst strength points are denoted by the addition of a white counter, with a figure ranging from 1 to 8, underneath the parent unit. This simple procedure allows hidden strength and step reduction facilities - both factors being of great importance to the game. 3. The rules come in a 14 page booklet and consist of main headings and well spread 'short phrase' rules, each of which is aimed at punching home a single simple message. This divorce from other types of rules (e.g. SPl's 'legal' format etc) goes so far as to label zones of control as Areas of Influence in an effort to prevent those players with some experience of board gaming from pre judging the intentions of the designer and his rules in the light of apparently similar games - quite successfully in my case I might add. There were a number of important omissions in the rules that quickly became evident during play but these are now covered by the addition of an errata sheet. I would classify the complexity of the rules only slightly above Quad level but think that the game produced is somewhat more fulfilling. Lastly, there is one historical scenario provided with a very specific set-up - a somewhat timely business due to matching up of units and their strength points. What does all this give us? Well... a nice straightforward game where the French are obliged to fight their way through the Allied line and off the mapsheet whilst the Allies not only have to stop them but also destroy 15 French units. Such ends are not easily attained by either side, with every possibility of a draw, due to the crucial terrain that the battle was fought over and the step reductions for each unit. Hills and forests in the south of the mapsheet slow any French flanking attempt whilst rivers in the north are absolute barriers but for the few easily defended fords. Even in the centre a complex of hills and towns give good defensive position for the first occupier. The basic rules are such that, coupled with a CRT giving strength points lost by defender/ attacker (1-5) and single hex reteat results, I found myself - with little Napoleonic experience - using my various types of units as would be expected of their real life counterparts i.e. screening cavalry, supporting artillery and slogging infantry. Colour is added to this basis by such possibilities as thunderstorms late on in the day, a movement bonus for strategic movement, more power to the Portugese units if they are stacked with a British unit (in my ignorance, I cannot help wondering what made the British put 'backbone' into the Portugese!?) and slightly confusing rules for forest fighting - apparently splinters of wood arising from musket fire were an added hazard of these areas and thus are not good places to get into a fight though they are possible paths for slow infiltration round the enemy line. In the games I have played to date the blood mentioned by the designer sure flowed, with units melting away to shadows of their former selves as the French first manoeuvred to outflank the Allies then felt for weak points in their defensive line. The options open to both sides have by no means been exhausted and will require further play before I can even attempt to pontificate on the optimal strategy or tactics of the game, i.e. this game seems to have a good long playing life in it. We found no problems with the double counter units though had thought, before play, that this may be a real headache; stacks never really get high enough to allow the production of 'falling towers'. It is of interest that I discovered, after playing a couple of times, that the fighting had been most savage in our games over the very ground where the French went in for the kill - to me a mark of a good simulation. I should add that as a game 'Salamanca' also scores well with little battle fatigue evident at its end and excitement maintained up to the last move. Summarising therefore I will say that I am very impressed by this game. The design homework is evident and the rules (plus errata) produce a simple playable game that may be finished in the suggested time of an evening. Whilst there is evidence in the counters of production problems - slight irregularity in size and an ink that tends to smear where printed directly onto white card - I found that these problems did not detract from the game itself and that the standard of production otherwise was truly professional. The game did live up to the designer's job description of a 'chess piece, set piece' battle with plenty of blood and thunder. With the clean, striking packaging I hope that the game will sell well, it deserves to on all counts, and I hope that we can look forward to some further unusual and enjoyable games from Maplay.