Stripped Down for Parts: Waterloo Solitaire: Board Game Edition

 

 

During the lockdowns of the early 2020s, Worthington released their first book-games, Waterloo Solitaire (Worthington Publishing, 2021) and Bismarck Solitaire (Worthington Games, 2021). While not a new concept, Worthington was the first mainstream wargame publisher to bring the concept to market, brilliantly avoiding the shipping woes facing publishers, by making the books available as volumes print-on-demand directly from Amazon. These reportedly saved the sanity of hundreds of wargamers, and the line has gone from strength to strength, with the publisher now boasting thirteen titles in their book-game series. Their early success has also offered proof of concept for other designers producing games exclusively for this production model.

Two years after the book-game publication, Worthington announced a Kickstarter campaign for a Waterloo Solitaire: Board Game Edition (Worthington Publishing, 2023). I missed the Kickstarter for the boardgame version, but with the happy confluence of a windfall coming at the same time as Worthington offering a very good sale price on the game, I couldn’t go past it. I have a handful of solitaire wargames, and I’ve enjoyed every one of them immensely.

The box cover illustration captures the character of much of the Battle of Waterloo, It’s an extract from a watercolour painting by Denis Dighton, The Defence of the Chateau de Hougoumont by the flank Company,Coldstream Guards, 1815. Dighton painted the scene in the same year as the happenings; this is one of several paintings he executed portraying scenes from the battle after visiting the site mere days after the decisive battle, making extensive sketches of the buildings and terrain in order to accurately portray the scenes. The original painting is on display at the National Army Museum in London.

Box-back.

The back of the box offers a hint of what’s inside, with sample cards and pieces superimposed over the play-map image. It also offers a paragraph broadly speaking to the historical and social significance of the battle rather than the game-play, headed with the famous quote by Wellington about the battle being the “nearest run thing”. The other information is more forthcoming; a manifest briefly lists the components included, and the graphic indicators put the games difficulty at 2 out of 5 and the solitaire suitability (being a solitaire-only game) at 5 out of 5. The game is recommended for ages 14 and up, and the duration should be inside of an hour.

The rule booklet.

The rulebook for Waterloo Solitaire comes to just eight clearly readable and well-illustrated pages. Worthington prides itself on short, clear and understandable rulebooks, and this is a solid example. It helps that the play of the game is so straight-forward, sharing its genetics with the Great Sieges series (reviews here, here and here) and Tarawa 1943 (Worthington Publishing, 2020)

Sample page.

The rulebook is printed on a nice low-sheen gloss paper, presented in a very readable serif font (from the Garamond family). The illustrations are clear and useful, but all in all, Waterloo Solitaire should be easy enough game to learn through diving into a game and following the Sequence of Play.  

The board. As usual, my inferior photography doesn't do it justice.

The game board is 17” by 22’ and mounted. The art is reminiscent of the kinds of after-action maps of military engagements that inspired this kind of wargaming in the first place. Starting locations for the unit blocks are marked with a solid rectangle of the matching colour, while rectangles outlined in these colours denote the positions Reserve units (and when available, the Prussian forces) may move to via game functions. The whole effect is wholly engaging, and the map is really quite nice to look at. The board also incorporated a Turn Track and a separate Combined Arms track (I’ll talk more about this in the AAR when I get to it).

The board is probably most reminiscent of another Worthington game, Freeman’s Farm, 1777 (Worthington Publishing, 2019), in that there is very little movement of available forces. The lack of manoeuvre will, I’m sure, put some gamers off from the outset, but as I’ve written elsewhere, this kind of play can still feel dynamic and challenging.

Two of the three Order Cards. These all present clear instructions
for your inevitable defeat.

The Bot function is handled by a set of Action Cards. These consist of three double-sided boards, representing the responses by the opposing Bot to the player’s choice of orders. The responses are decided by a die roll. The three boards represent three levels of difficulty, Challenging, Veteren, and Tough. Normally. I try not to get too deep into discussing game processes in an unboxing post, but I think it would be useful to mention the sequence of play here.

In the course of play the player will have a hand of cards drawn from their Command Deck (I’ll come back to these shortly), and Order Card representing the opposing side set up for play. Each turn, the player will select a command card from their had and place it face up in front of themselves. Then a die is rolled and the corresponding opposing order in the lower section on the Order card is enacted before the command card is played; if a one is rolled, the die is re-rolled, and the player refers to the more challenging upper row – the Tactical Action table – which is then resolved. After the enemy action has been resolved, the Command Card is played (if still possible). In this way, play is similar to games like 1759: Siege of Quebec (Worthington Publishing, 2022).

The easel, as yet unsullied.

Waterloo Solitaire also comes with an easel, a jointed heavy-weight cardboard Action Card holder so you can position it next to the board and refer to it at a glance, without having to stop what you’re doing and pick the matrix up to check your die results.

This might be considered a novelty – I think it may have been initially added as a Kickstarter stretch goal – but in the past I haven’t been above using my wife’s recipe book holder for the very same purpose. I’ll keep it in the box for now, but it may end up too useful to confine it to just this game.

Tray and contents. The extra compartment lets you separate the Allied
and French decks (no fraternisation among the troops).

Worthington has been incorporating trays into their games for some years now. I’ve read that some folks rather they didn’t, but I think these six-pot trays make perfect sense for games with cards and/or wooden pieces. I still put light-tension bands around the cards to stop them from coming adrift, but these are super helpful for keeping sets of components together.

Sample cards. Many of there orders offer two or more alternative functions.
This won't necessarily make winning any easier.

Waterloo Solitaire comes with two twenty-six card decks, one each for the two sides of the conflict. Along with the three levels of Bot difficulty, the player can increase the game’s challenge by adjusting the hand size he has to choose from. The rules recommend a seven-card hand for a Rookie, six for the Experienced player, and five for the Grognard. Among the cards are a selection of orders, each specific in their function, with the exception of the Wellington/Napoleon cards which facilitate any single card order, and each limited in number.

The cards are printed on a good weight of card and each order boasts its own artwork. These are drawn from contemporary paintings of the battle, and lend another level of verisimilitude to the play.

Infantry blocks, uncomplicated and uniform.

Action in the game is abstracted to nameless Infantry (plain) and Cavalry (screen-printed with the traditional sash marking on one face) formations, represented by elongated wooden blocks, blue for the French, red for the Anglo-Alliance and green for the Prussians. The blocks are, in essence, casualty markers. They are chunky and tactile, identical to those used in the Great Sieges games. In those games, when your forces take a loss there’s a visceral sense of diminishing strength; the weight of the blocks lend a tangible presence, lending a metaphysical weight to their removal from the board. Several yellow cubes for use on the Turn and Combined Arms tracks also included, along with the single die required for rolls.

You can't see them all here, but the Cavalry blocks are all stencilled in like manner.
I'll get some better photos for the AAR. 

I'm certain the lack of detail in formation attribution will be enough to put some folks off the game. I can't speak to that; everyone has their own criteria for what they look for in a wargame, and I can understand the preference for granular detail. This game won't be for everyone, but I've had a lot of fun with similar games, and I expect to here as well. (And there I go practically reviewing the game before I've played it.)

I’ve been hoping to get my hands on a copy of Waterloo Solitaire for some time now. Worthington has produced a good number of my favourite fast-play solitaire games over recent years, and I expect this one to live up to my expectations. I anticipate posting an initial game report soonish.