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1812
WHITE DEATH
Copyright by Bernhard Hennen
1812
WHITE DEATH
Skirmish battles
with model soldiers
on Napoleon’s retreat
from Moscow
After several test games with the club
White Death goes public for the first time at
TACTICA 2014 in Hamburg
under support of
TEAM FOR
HISTORICAL SIMULATIONS
We are a small group of wargamers
who meet every fortnight at our
own games room, the HQ
near Düsseldorf (Germany).
Find out more about our team online at
www.ths-wargames.de or best come
over and have a chat with us.
Visitors are always welcome!
Copyright by Bernhard Hennen
IT IS THE WINTER OF 1812.
With Moscow in flames Napoleon Bonapartes plans to
become undisputed ruler of Europes burned to ashes.
His Grande Armée was in good cheer as it crossed Neman
river into Russia but since then it has lost nearly threefourths of its strength. The irresistible force of soldiers
from across the empire, resplendent in their colourful
uniforms and following their beloved eagles, has turned
into a mass of ragged vagabonds seeking their way home.
The return journey to the sanctuary of France was as
dangerous as the march on Moscow had been. The Russians
have chased and harried the retreating French and their
allies. Bands of Cossacks snapped at the heels of the
French withdrawal, hungry animals following the march
columns. The Russians were not the most deadly foe they
faced in their slow, inexorable retreat – Jack Frost in the
form of the relentless Russian winter struck the French
with bone-chilling cold, biting wind and heavy snowfall.
In the vast Russian steppes countless soldiers of Napoleon’s Grande Armée met a white death …
White Death is a tabletop game which leads the players
into this bleak, unforgiving setting. It offers a set
of handy rules, atmospheric scenarios
and background information to
introduce them to Napoleon’s
devastating retreat.
The game is strongly scenario oriented and can be played
with one to four players and a gamemaster. The gamemaster
directs the game and familiarises the players with the
situation and the mission of the scenario. He oversees the
progress of the game’s storyline and controls bands of
raging Cossacks, disciplined Russian Jaegers or packs of
hungry wolves. His role is to create tension and make
each and every game not only entertaining but atmospheric
for the players as well. Each scenario should be demanding
but never hopeless …
The players lead small groups of retreating French or
allied soldiers. These bands are each called a “company”
in White Death and usually comprise four to ten figures.
Each figure represents an individual soldier from Napoleon’s
Grande Armée who is seeking his way home. During each
game they gather experience points for honourable or
dishonourable behaviour and can spend these for new
abilities or better equipment. With each weary step
towards the safety of France they develop a personality
of their own. Who will succeed – samaritan or rascal?
White Death is best played as a campaign with several
consecutive games. The scenarios in the rulebook will
lead the players and their companies through the
cataclysmic events of November and December 1812.
Whilst White Death is built around the campaign system
there is plenty of scope for shorter, one-off games too.
The basic rules of White Death are simple and easily
understood by novice players. During the game each figure
has its own character card holding its vital characteristics.
Each scenario has a unique deck of “event” and “player”
cards which might affect its outcome significantly. For
example, the players might be surprised by a sudden
blizzard or maybe Marshal Ney, the bravest of the brave,
arrives to give them unexpected support.
In White Death, players will play out chilling adventures
in frozen land. Will their companies find glory or a
“White Death” – that is for you to discover …