BEYOND LEIPZIG Hits the Road

 

December 20, 2013– The game Beyond Leipzig has come to the end of its design testing phase. It went off to Last Stand Games to begin its development process earlier this week, and I learned yesterday it had arrived safely. I’m kind of sorry to see it go. Beyond Leipzig was a sweet game from start to finish. It looks great–and will look even better in a published format with a hard-backed mapboard. It plays nicely. One of my testers, writing on the net, called Beyond Leipzig’s combat system ” ‘da bomb.” From the standpoint of the kinds of things you can make happen in battle, I think that’s right.

This is an historical game of a key Napoleonic campaign. “Leipzig” in the title refers to the climactic Battle of Leipzig, which marked the virtual end of the Campaign of 1813 in Germany, one that the Germans call “the War of Liberation.” The game can be played solitaire with reasonable ease, used by two, or assumes its ultimate form as a multi-player encounter that encompasses both diplomacy and warfare. For gamers who are interested in specifications, Beyond Leipzig is an operational/strategic game. It features three-week turns, an area/terrain mapboard, and the combat system which I innovated for Beyond Waterloo. Unit representation is at the brigade/division level. There will be a single mapboard, three Army Organization Displays, a rules booklet and a study folder, 960 counters (four sheets), plus card decks for Battle Tactics, Diplomacy, and National Policies. Counting the scenarios that can be played both dual- and multi-player separately, Beyond Leipzig will have nine scenarios. It will also have the appurtenances of what we used to call a “monster game.” Altogether Beyond Leipzig presents a comprehensive and sophisticated vision of the Campaign of 1813.

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