Napoleon's Last Battles

Alternatively all four scenarios and their maps can be joined to form a large campaign game covering all four battles from beginning to end, taking 37 turns to complete.

Simulacrum noted in 2004 that "This [translation] has been a perfect wargame start for a generation of French [and Belgian] players and it's still sought after by collector gamers.

[2] In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer noted "plenty of interesting terrain added on the highly attractive maps."

He concluded by giving the game an "A" for playability, a "B+" for historical accuracy, and an "A" for component quality, saying, "A delight and a must in the collection of Napoleonic and tactical buffs.

"[1] In Issue 4 of The Wargamer, Chris Hunt commented, "The real difference which puts Napoleon's Last Battles in another league from other quad games is the leadership rules [in the campaign scenario].

"[6] In Issue 11 of the British wargaming magazine Phoenix (Jan–Feb 1978), Ian Daglish called both the map and the counters "vastly improved" over previous SPI Napoleonic products.

"[10] In a retrospective review twenty years after publication, Monte Gray noted that on the first day Marshal Ney is somewhat constrained, controlling only a single corps on the British flank, which "precludes his trying anything more imaginative than a frontal assault on Quatre Bras.

His wire-puller, the French player, faces a major dilemma once the Duke [of Wellington] receives all of his reinforcements: send Grouchy (or even Napoleon himself) to help out Ney, but then how to punch out those pesky Prussians?"

The mandatory attack rules did a good job of portraying operational level combat from that era and the end result was pretty satisfying.

Chris "Gerry" Klug commented "Napoleon's Last Battles is one of the best pencil-and-paper military simulations ever because it's a gloriously wonderful blend of solid, no-frills design, intelligent packaging, and a synergistic combination of the two that delivers a game that is (perhaps unintentionally) more than intended and results in a very happy consumer.