Four Lost Battles: Dresden Campaign 1813

Excellent Condition, Punched Copy, cards in sleeves.

A Quadrigame in the Last Battles series: Grossbeeren, Katzbach, Kulm and Dennewitz.

"I greatly fear lest on the day your majesty has gained a victory, and believe you have won a decisive battle, you will learn that you have lost two." (Marshal Marmont)


System: Napoleon at Leipzig System.
Components: Four 17 x 22" maps, 560 Counters.

Grossbeeren (Oudinot's advance on Berlin, 23 August)
Katzbach (Macdonald vs. Bluecher, 26 August)
Kulm (the destruction of Ist Corps, 29-30 August)
Dennewitz (Ney takes Command, 6 September)

After winning a great victory at Dresden early in the Autumn Campaign, Napoleon saw his chances for victory gradually slip away in four lost battles over a two-week period after the Allies adopted the 'Fabian Strategy' of avoiding the Emperor in person and concentrating on his subordinates.

The 1813 Quad will include a fifth, strategic-level map which will allow players to influence exactly when, and with what forces, the four tactical battles will take place. This map will be a small display for each player to secretly assign his forces on a corps-by-corps basis. Each player will have his own small map-display.

The map will be divided into 12 zones: Magdeburg, Dessau, Leipzig, Gera; Berlin-Brandenburg, Torgau, Dresden, Upper-Elbe; Bautzen-Goerlitz, Reichenberg; Liegnitz, Breslau.

Each player freely assigns his troops at start (secretly) in
friendly-occupied zones.

Cards determine the order of arrival and O/B of the battles. For example, a card will specify a certain corps to arrive on the south edge of the Dennewitz battle. The specified corps must be currently in the Berlin zone, otherwise this card cannot be played.

The results of the Battle of Dresden will also be covered by cards. For example, the French may lose Dresden if the number of French corps is less than the number of Coaltiion corps in the Dresden zone when and if the Dresden battle occurs. Other cards will determine if this battle should take place, for example, 'Schwarzenberg gets Initiative! Napoleon may move any forces from adjacnet zones into the battle.'

The whole campaign was over in two weeks. By Sept. 6th, a battle in or near Leipzig was certain.

The tactical battlemaps are small: Dennewitz and Katzbach are each 22 x 17", Grossbeeren and Kulm are just 11 x 17". In the multi-player game the Allies must map their strategy prior to game start. The game starts with the run-up to Dresden (21 Aug.), and lasts through 6 September.