Over the years, I’ve taken part in several what Wargame Developments term ‚road movie‘ wargames … and thoroughly enjoyed them. These always involved a team of players co-operating with each other to get from A to B whilst the umpire (what role-players would call a game master) presented them with a series of problems, events, or scenarios that they had to deal with.

For example, during a ‚road movie‘ game involving a German battlegroup retreating from a Russian offensive in 1944, they discovered that they had to cross a frozen river and didn’t have any bridging equipment. At the same time, a Russian armoured column was closing in on them, and a group of partisans were thought to be in a nearby forest. The umpire took on the role of non-player characters and actually performed the function of a plumpire (player/umpire).

Some time ago – and thanks to Big Lee’s (i.e. Lee Hadley) YouTube channel and blog – I became aware that Paul Brook (who also has a YouTube channel and a website) was working on a ‚road movie‘-style of game about a group of French soldiers during the retreat from Moscow. I became intrigued and followed the progress with growing interest. Big Lee and Ray Rousell (another blogger) were the principal play-testers and wrote about their battles on their respective blogs (here and here).

The rules have now been published and they live up to my expectations … and more!

The rules are published as an A5-sized softback and are sixty-pages long. It is divided into ten main sections:

• Introduction
• Core Rules
• The Turn
• Movement
• Shooting Melee
• Buildings
• Loot
• Campaign Phase
• Scenario

The introduction explains the Battle Chronicle concept and its design objectives. These are:

• Highly narrative
• Campaign-driven
• Complete, stand-alone wargames
• Suitable for collaborative or solo play

These are all admirable – and quite ambitious – objectives … and it says much for the work of the designers that it achieves all of them.

I particularly like the fact that the rules use standard D6 dice and not the usual range of dice I’ve seen used in role-play games. Furthermore, unlike the latter, the rules are clear, coherent, and easy to understand. Admittedly, I had seen videos of the play-test before I read the rules, but they are – in my opinion – an exemplar of how rules should be presented. Everything you need to know is laid out in a very user-friendly way and includes a quick reference sheet inside the back cover.

One important aspect of the rules that – again, in my opinion – set them apart is the fact that the actions of the Russian troops are controlled by a simple but very effective set of mechanisms that don’t require an umpire and can be used by solo wargamers. This is a big plus in my book … and I can see myself using something like them to ‚control‘ enemy units in my own solo wargames.

The book also includes several scenarios:

• The Barn at Dawn
• Through Frozen Streets
• The Killer Wind
• The Eagle

Each scenario includes a map, and require tabletops that are 2′ x 2′ (60cm x 60cm), 3′ x 2 (90cm x 60cm)‘, 3′ x 3′, (90cm x 90cm) and 4′ x 4′ (120cm x 120cm) respectively … which means that they do not require a huge amount of space to set them up. In addition, the total number of figures required is small (seventy-six in total, made up of eighteen French infantry, six French cavalry, six civilians, twelve Russian infantry, twelve Russian Jagers, and twelve Cossacks.)

In conclusion, I can thoroughly recommend these rules … and I understand that there are more Battle Chronicles in the pipeline.

1813 THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW: A BATTLE CHRONICLE WARGAME was written by Paul Brook, Lee Hadley, and Ray Rousell and published in 2026 by Pazoot (ISBN 978 19195 1980 7) and costs £12.00. It can be purchased from Pazoot.