Von Moltke's Triumph: Fall of the Second Empire, 1870

Von Moltke's Triumph recreates the decisive 1870 campaign of the Franco-Prussian War. Under Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the German states used superior logistics, advanced artillery, and a strategy of envelopment to terrorize the sluggish and unprepared French. Historically, it ended with the capitulation and capture of Napoleon III after a mere five weeks. The game slants historically but is intended for competitive play: the French will almost always lose the war, but a good French Player can win the game. Tom Russell's designs tend to have unusual combat or activation mechanisms, but in this game he utilizes a mostly traditional, odds-based CRT and Logistics-Move-Combat sequence of play. A liberal strategic movement rule allows for lightning-fast encirclements, while subtle differences in each side's logistic phase, organizational structure, and the rounding of combat factors reflect the doctrinal and technological differences that proved decisive.