Map and Counters: TRICKS OF THE TRADE: ‘JENA-AUERSTADT’ PBeM PLAY AID

TRICKS OF THE TRADE: ‘JENA-AUERSTADT’ PBeM PLAY AID

MOVEMENT & COMBAT TURN RECORD TEMPLATE FOR SPI’S ‘JENA-AUERSTADT’ (1975)

Back on 27 January of this year, I published a set of PBeM (spreadsheet-style) Turn Record Templates for SPI’s MARENGO and WAGRAM; at the time, I didn’t include similar templates for the other two titles (BATTLE OF NATIONS and JENA-AUERSTADT) that make up the NAPOLEON AT WAR Quadri-game because, frankly, I couldn’t remember where I had stored their files. A few days ago, and quite by accident, I finally stumbled across the turn record spreadsheet for JENA-AUERSTADT. Given the fact that there are still no internet game platforms for this batch of older SPI titles, I have decided to publish this PBeM player aid as a favor to those gamers who continue to enjoy these early Napoleonic games, but who nonetheless have a difficult time finding face-to-face opponents when it comes to these titles. Needless-to-say, if I ever figure out where I hid the template for BATTLE OF NATIONS then I will immediately publish it, as well.

For those players who are unfamiliar with this title, JENA-AUERSTADT offers the Prussian commander the choice of dividing his army and fighting two simultaneous battles: one engagement at Jena against the bulk of the French army under Napoleon, and the other against Marshal Davout’s out-numbered III^rd Corps at Auerstadt (the historical scenario); alternatively, the Prussian player can choose to mass all of his forces at Jena in an effort to defeat the advancing Grande Armée before it can complete its concentration. The Prussians and their allies are outnumbered and less mobile than the more nimble French, but an all-or-nothing fight at Jena — because the bulk of Napoleon’s forces begin the game off-map and enter play a few units at a time — gives the Prussian player an excellent opportunity to defeat the French army in detail. In view of this unusual design feature, I believe that JENA-AUERSTADT offers players a fascinating set of operational problems and although it is a relatively simple “beer and pretzels” sort of game, it nonetheless is still one of my personal favorites.

The Excel ‘spreadsheet’ file offered here is for the original SPI version of JENA-AUERSTADT (1975). This file has been set up to permit competing players to exchange new game moves via email attachments and, at the same time, to keep an accurate and detailed, ongoing record of all of the various game operations that can potentially occur in the course of a complete twelve turn match of this simple, but elegant game of Napoleonic warfare.