Waddington’s Campaign

Years ago I owned a copy of the first edition of Waddington’s CAMPAIGN board game. I’m not sure what happened to it, but I recently bought a second-hand copy from eBay both for sentimental reasons and because I thought that the map/game board could provide the basis of a Napoleonic campaign.

The Campaign game's map/game board.

A section of the Campaign game's map/game board, in this instance, showing France.

The map lends itself to being used with a variation of the simple campaign rules laid down in THE PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME:

• Before the campaign begins each side is allocated a playing card colour (Red or Black).
• A standard pack of playing cards is shuffled and placed face down where all the players can see it.
• When the campaign starts, the top playing card is turned over, and the colour of the playing card determines which side activates its units first and how many formations it may activate.
• If the playing card is an Ace, that side may move all its formations one grid area.
• If the playing card is a numbered playing card, that side may move one formation one grid area.
• If the playing card is a Jack, that side may move its formations a total of two grid areas (i.e. it may move one formation two grid areas or two formations one grid area).
• If the playing card is a Queen, that side may move its formations a total of three grid areas (i.e. it may move one formation three grid areas or one formation two grid areas and one formation one grid area or three formations one grid area).
• If the playing card is a King, that side may move its formations a total five grid areas.
• If the playing card is a Joker, that side throws a D6 die and reads the result from the following list of Special Events:
• 1: That side may not move any of its formations for four turns of the cards.
• 2: That side may not move any of its formations for three turns of the cards.
• 3: That side may not move any of its formations for two turns of the cards.
• 4: That side may not move any of its formations this turn.
• 5: The Joker is treated as if it were a numbered playing card, and that side may move one formation one grid area.
• 6: The Joker is treated as if it were an Ace, and that side may move all its formations one grid area.
• After the playing card has been turned over and any actions have taken place, the playing card is discarded. The discarded playing cards are placed face up in a separate pile.
• Once all the unused playing cards have been used, the pile of discarded playing cards is shuffled and placed face down where all the players can see it, ready to be dealt when required.
• Movement rules
• All movement is made through the face a grid area unless the grid areas only touch at a corner, in which case the movement is made through the corner of the grid area.
• No unit may enter or pass through a grid area that is already occupied by an enemy formation.
• It must stop in an adjacent grid area, throw a D6 die, and read the result from the following list:
• 1: You do not bother with reconnaissance and will advance into the enemy-occupied grid area next turn.
• 2: Your reconnaissance is very poor, and your formation must remain where it is until the enemy formation moves, or your reconnaissance improves.
• 3: Your reconnaissance is poor, and the enemy must only disclose how many units they have in the adjacent grid area.
• 4 or 5: Your reconnaissance is average, and the enemy must disclose the total SPs of the troops they have in the adjacent grid area.
• 6: Your reconnaissance is good, and the enemy must disclose what troops they have in the adjacent grid area.

I think that the above rules could easily be adapted for use with the game's map/game board ... and I'd like to see if it works sometime soon.