"La Garde recule!" (2011)

Overview

"La Garde recule!" is the tenth game in the Pocket Battle Games series from LPS, Inc.

"La Garde recule!" takes a close look at the final moments of Waterloo, when Napoleon sends in his Imperial Guard to take the ridge and rout the Allied defenders. A mere five battalions, but the prime of the French army. Historically the Imperial Guard withdrew and the cry "La Garde recule!" sounded across the French Army. Will the French player succeed where Napoleon failed?

"La Garde recule!" is a mini-game, postcard sized. Rules at the back, map front and 16 (mostly) double sided counters along the sides. The game is a hex and counter game where troops are activated though a standard deck of cards: black activates French units, red Allied. How many and all is determined by the specific card. Combat is resolved by comparing combat strengths of the units and drawing cards from that same deck. Whenever a joker is drawn, the turn is over, the deck is reshuffled and a new turn begins.

Goal of the game is to get the French units off the north side of the map (breaking through Allied lines at Waterloo) while the Allies win by preventing that.