Cockpit of Europe (CoE) covers the campaigns of the War of the Austrian Succession in the Flanders theatre between 1744 and 1748. From 1741 to 1748, the War of the Austrian Succession raged on the continent of Europe. From 1743 on, Britain and France were formally at war. The French leadership was divided into two schools of thought. The traditionalists believed that the Habsburg dynasty was the primary threat to France's position in Europe, and that the main thrust of the war should be made against their possessions in Italy and Germany. The other school feared the rise of the Maritime Powers (England and Holland) and counseled a hard blow in that direction. CoE looks at the five years that the French spent in the Low Countries attempting to smash the ring of enemies surrounding them.
Even though the French, thanks to the sublime leadership of their German-born Marshal, Maurice de Saxe, conquered Belgium and invaded Holland, defeating every army sent against them, the campaigns resulted in a draw. The subsequent peace merely restored the status quo. The stage was then set for the titanic Seven Years War.
Nevertheless, there is great scope for you as the King's Captain General. The armies involved were the largest yet seen on a European battlefield - the French fielded over 200,000 men, and the Allies tried their best to match them. The region is relatively compact, yet difficult to operate in, with the open country thickly studded with fortresses and cut by rivers. Seaward are tracts of swamp and fenland. On the other flank are the dense woods and rugged hills of the Ardennes.
The French player, with the strategic initiative, must constantly press forward, laying siege to town after town (and leaving many men idle in garrison), as he seeks to lever the Allies away from the French frontiers and ultimately threaten the Allies' own bases of operation. The Allied player must decide whether to defend everywhere, to bide his time and harass the enemy, or to launch an offensive of his own. Even if he makes the right choice, however, he must still get the agreement of all the nations under his command...
CoE is a two-player operational study. One player is the French, the other the Allies. The Allied army includes contingents from Britain, Holland, Austria, Hesse, Bavaria, and even Russia! (The Dutch army itself contains Swiss, Saxon, Bavarian, Walloon, and Scottish mercenaries, not to mention forces from Holstein-Gotthorp and Hessen-Philipstahl).
Owners of the original Charlie's Year will notice a great many changes in the game system. Map scale is still 8.5 miles per hex. The counters are brigades, not battalions, primarily because of counter density; also brigades tended to be the smallest maneuver units in this theatre. Units are rated for Strength (in battalions), Effectiveness (a combination of morale and training), and Movement.
Turns are equivalent to months. Each turn is broken down into several phases - supply, operations, admin, etc. There are scenarios for each year of active operations - '44, '45, '46, and '47 - and a Campaign Game which links each campaigning season with a Winter Quarters interphase.
A few key concepts include Strategic Initiative (SI) and Operations, Campaign Plans, Prestige, and Auxiliaries. In general, the French hold the SI, except when the Allies can win it from them through an event or their choice of Plan. The player with the SI can dictate the pace of the scenario. The heart of the game is the Operations Phase, where the players alternate moving their formations, laying siege to fortresses and engaging in battle with the enemy field forces. However, each Operation conducted by the player who has the SI has the potential to end the phase - perhaps prematurely. The other player can react to his moves, and even conduct offensive operations of his own, but must always be wary of being caught off balance by the ending of the phase.
The players have a degree of flexibility in what they do with their forces, but they are constrained by the Campaign Plan or plans that they choose. These are fixed for the scenario or campaigning season and dictate what objectives (usually fortresses) must be taken. A successfully completed plan will garner Prestige for a player. At the end of the game, the player with the highest prestige wins. In addition, bonuses can be won for victory in battle, and these may be used to buy rewards that improve a player's chances, or be used as influence.
Auxiliary counters represent support troops and irregulars who had a major impact on operations, but cannot be adequately represented as traditional game units. Instead, a player might have a pontooneer auxiliary that he can play onto a stack to help it cross a major river, or a converged grenadier auxiliary that provides a morale bonus in combat.
Leaders have an important role to play, as befitting an era where personal command was critical. They are rated for skill or effectiveness, personality, and influence (i.e. the chance they have of retaining command despite their incompetence).
In addition to the concepts above, the supply system has been simplified from that in CY, while keeping to the basic elements of foraging, in tandem with the use of pre-positioned depots. River and canal movement has been taken into account and will prove as critical to success as the use of rail lines in more modern games.
The combat system has also been given a greater tactical feel - while not a full sub-system with battlefield maps, it addresses the key issues of frontage, reserves, and supports, as well as firepower and morale. Winning a battle will bring you the acclaim of your noble peers, but may not gain you any strategic advantage; losing a battle can be catastrophic.
The Components:
• Two 12x18-inch full-color maps representing Northwest Europe from the Channel to Metz, and from Paris to the Zuider Zee. They were derived from a mix of modern cartography and period maps dating from 1715 to 1750. As mentioned above, the terrain is thickly studded with fortresses, woods, swamps, and cut by a multitude of waterways.
• Two French and two Allied countersheets
• A set of charts and tables on 8.5x11-inch cardstock, plus two 11x17-inch HQ display cards and an 8.5x11-inch record card.
• A series rulebook (called the King's Regulations and Orders, or KR&Os) of about 40pp, a game-exclusive rulebook of about the same length, and a 50pp commentary.
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