Eylau: Napoleon’s Winter Battle, 1807

About this board game

Eylau: Napoleon’s Winter Battle, 1807 is a two- to four-player historical battle game with an approximately 180-minute playing time, covering the winter engagement at a scale of 150 yards per hex and 30 minutes per game turn.

The game uses a 22-by-34-inch map of the battle area, featuring water, forests, main and minor roads, towns, and slopes. Its 240 cardboard counters represent French, Russian, Prussian, and Cossack forces, with distinct colors for each side and white printing identifying elite unit types.

Play proceeds through up to 28 turns, with the following sequence:

• Reorganization
• Movement
• Combat
• Russian command

Combat includes attacks and bombardment, supported by terrain, artillery-range, and combat-results tables. Special rules cover leaders, commanders, assault units, Cossack attacks, weather, and darkness, including dusk and night. Russian command is handled through its own phase, while reorganization and morale adjustments help shape the condition of formations.

Victory points come from occupying towns, eliminating leaders, and demoralizing formations. Eliminating Napoleon provides an automatic victory. At the end of the game, only one side receives points for its morale level: the side with the lower level. The difference between the opposing totals is compared with the victory level to determine the result.

Eylau combines a colorful, clearly organized battle map with reference charts for reinforcement, sequence of play, morale adjustments, terrain, weather, artillery range, bombardment, and Cossack attacks. Its battalion-to-regiment counter scale and layered victory conditions make the 1807 winter battle a focused game of battlefield position, combat results, command, and morale.