Rising Eagles vs Battles of Napoleon

Command and control, activation, movement and combat compared

Sources  

• EoF: Eagles of France Series Rules, December 2016 (© 2016 Hexasim SARL). These rules state that they apply to “all games in the Eagles of France series . Rules corpus file: nas__Eagles_of_France-rules.txt.
• SoD:  The SoD v2.0 series rules

 One known v1.5/v2.0 difference. Strategic Move rounds fractions down in v1.5 (12.2), but in v2.0 fractions of 0.5 or more round up (11.2, German text). – Errata partly applied. The EoF January 2018 errata has been read. Its general points are applied where they touch these sections; the Rising Eagles-specific corrections are listed in section 10.

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At a glance

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Eagles of France (Rising Eagles)

Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums)

Unit

Battalion / regiment (EoF 1)

Battalion, regiment, battery (SoD 7)

Hex

About 200–250 m (EoF 3)

About 150 m (SoD 5)

Turn

1 hour (EoF 3)

60 minutes (SoD 5)

Strength point

100 men, or 1–2 guns (EoF 3)

100 infantry, 50 cavalry, or 3–4 guns (SoD 5)

Command formation

Formation (corps or division, by colour stripe) under an officer (EoF 5.2)

Division under a Division leader (SoD 7, 8.4.3)

What drives the turn

Alternating leader activations, each confirmed by an initiative roll, with a dice-driven end of turn (EoF 7.3)

Activation cubes drawn from a bag, plus two “fire combat” cubes (SoD 9, 16)

Close combat

Melee, with 9 DRM categories capped at ±5 (EoF 13.2.b)

Assault / charge, which the rules call “fire combat at very close range” (SoD 21). It is resolved on the Assault/Charge Table, with an odds DRM plus about 28 cumulative modifiers (SoD 23.7; player aid)

Zones of control

Yes (EoF 10)

None, by design (SoD 3)

Morale states

Retreat, rout, demoralisation (EoF 14–16)

None: “disorder” and “rout” are folded into SP loss (SoD 17, designer’s note)

Victory clock

Victory conditions per scenario (EoF 2)

Army Fatigue Points: the army that runs out collapses (SoD 14)

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1. Command and control

Eagles of France

 

Leaders. There are two kinds of leader (EoF 5.2):

• Officers lead a formation and apply their leadership only to it.
• Commanders have no formation of their own, and can apply leadership to any unit in their army.

Both are rated for Initiative, which is used to activate, and Leadership, which is a bonus to rally and QF. The two bonuses are never cumulative: “A unit cannot benefit from its formation’s officer and from a commander at the same time” (EoF 5.2).

Command range. “All leaders have a command range of 6 hexes.” It can’t be traced through hexes occupied by enemy units, though EZOCs have no effect on it, and it is checked before the leader moves (EoF 5.2).

Orders. Each formation has one order chit, placed face down on an order display. At setup each player secretly gives every formation either a geographic objective (a town, village or crossroad) or a defensive stance (EoF 11). The scenario sets how many orders each side may change per turn (EoF 11).

• Fog of war. Each player also has 5 decoy flag chits. A formation’s chit is revealed only when one of its units moves more than one hex within 4 hexes of an enemy, or claims a defensive stance in combat (EoF 11).
• Geographic order. The formation leader must be within 15 hexes of the objective when the order is issued; if not, an intermediate objective must be chosen first. In-command units must end each move closer to the objective, or no farther from it, though they move freely within 3 hexes of it. “Geographic orders have no impact on fire or combat ability” (EoF 11.1.a).
• Defence order. In-command infantry and artillery may move only 1 hex and cannot declare melee, but may fire. Enemy cavalry attacking them take +2 instead of the usual −1. Enemy artillery fire at a defending infantry lead unit in open terrain gets −1. Units in defence order cannot be encircled (EoF 11.1.b).
◦ Forfeiture: the order is lost for the whole formation if an in-command unit within 4 hexes of the enemy makes an independent move of more than 1 hex, or melees (EoF 11.1.b).
• Rally alternative. Instead of following its order, an activated formation can stand still and attempt to rally all its routed units, even those out of command range (EoF 11.1.c).
• Automatic change. If two-thirds of a formation are within 3 hexes of its objective, it may switch to defence for free (EoF 11.1.c).

Commanders’ special abilities (EoF 11.3). An activated commander uses one of these, then may move:

1.Emergency order change. Change the order of one formation whose leader is in the commander’s range. That formation can’t activate now, but uses the new order on its next activation.
2.Rally. Rally up to four stacks of his army within range, using his leadership as a DRM.
3.Direct Activation. Freely activate as many stacks within range as his leadership factor, even stacks whose formation has already activated twice, “but they may use their full movement allowance.” Once per turn per commander.

 

Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums)

Three tiers of leader (SoD 8.4):

• Army leaders have a leadership rating and Command Points (CPs). “For each order changed, the army leader spends 1 of his Command Points.”
• Corps leaders (French only at Eylau) can change a Division’s order by being in the same hex as its leader and passing an Initiative Check (IC).
• Division leaders have initiative and leadership ratings.

Order changes and range (SoD 11.2). “Army leaders have a 12-hex command range.” Within 12 hexes, an order change costs 1 CP. At 13–18 hexes it costs 2 CPs. Beyond 18 hexes, only a successful initiative roll can change the order: “Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or less than the testing leader’s initiative rating.” At Eylau, Napoleon has 6 CPs and Bennigsen 4 (SoD 11.2).

Division command range. “A unit must be within 4 hexes of its divisional leader to be considered to be acting under the division’s current order” (SoD 12). A unit that starts out of range “must do so with the intention to end its movement within range,” may use its full movement, but “can’t enter hexes adjacent to enemy units” (SoD 12).

Seven orders. Each one sets what the Division may do, adds Initiative Points (IPs), and costs Army Fatigue Points (AFPs) (SoD 12):

Order

What units may do

IP

AFP

Move

Move, but not into hexes adjacent to the enemy; may fire

+2

−1

Strategic Move

Column / limbered; ×1.5 MP; no closer than 5 hexes to the enemy; no fire

+1

−1

Defend

Move 1 hex, not adjacent to the enemy; free formation and facing changes; may fire

0

−1

Regroup

No move, no fire; each unit may regain 1 SP

0

+1

Hold

No move; may fire; two units may regain 1 SP

0

0

Retire

×1.5 MP, moving away from the enemy; no fire; one unit may regain 1 SP

−2

−1

Attack

May move adjacent to the enemy, fire, and assault/charge

+4

−2

Army Fatigue as the command economy (SoD 14). Army Fatigue is the army’s exhaustion. It is lost through eliminated units (1, or 2 for Guard), leader casualties (2), and every order issued (2 per Attack, 1 per Move, Strategic Move, Defend or Retire). It is gained by Regroup orders and by taking objectives. “When an army runs out of Army Fatigue Cubes, it has collapsed and the game immediately ends” (SoD 14).

 

How they differ

• What an order controls. EoF orders shape where a formation may go and leave fighting to the formation: “The choice to attack/fire is left at the formation level” (EoF 11). SoD orders shape what a Division may do. Only an Attack order lets units move adjacent to the enemy and assault (SoD 12).
• What an order costs. In EoF the limit on changing orders is set per turn by the scenario (EoF 11). In SoD every order has a price in Army Fatigue, paid every turn for new and existing orders (SoD 11.2). An army that sits on Attack orders exhausts itself.
• Command span. EoF uses a single 6-hex range for all leaders (EoF 5.2). SoD layers it: army leaders reach 12 or 18 hexes for order changes, and Division leaders 4 hexes for units (SoD 11.2, 12).
• The commander’s role. EoF commanders act on the board: emergency orders, rallies and direct activations (EoF 11.3). The SoD army leader works mostly in the Orders Phase, through CPs and his leadership rating, which also sets how many activation cubes the army gets (SoD 13).
• Hidden information. EoF uses face-down chits and five decoys (EoF 11). SoD orders are secret when issued, though players “may demand to see the orders of formations at any time” unless they agree otherwise (SoD 9).

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2. Activation

Eagles of France

Turn sequence: Orders → First player determination → Activation → End of turn (EoF 7).

• First player. Each side rolls 2d6, and the lower roll chooses who starts (EoF 7.2).
• Activating. Players alternate, each activating one officer or commander, or passing. Each activation must be confirmed by an initiative check: a 2d6 roll at or under the leader’s initiative (EoF 7.3.a).
◦ A failed check does not use up one of the leader’s activations. The player may try another leader or pass (EoF 7.3.a).
◦ “No officer or commander may be activated more than twice during a turn.” The same leader can’t be activated twice in a row (EoF 7.3.a).
• What an activated formation does, in order (EoF 7.3.b–i): offensive fire → movement → melee declaration → cavalry retreat before combat → opportunity fire and counter-charge → defensive fire → melee resolution → cavalry pursuit → end-of-turn check.
• Fired markers. A hex that fired costs +3 MP to leave or pass through until the end of the following movement segment (EoF 7.3.b).

End of turn (EoF 7.3.j). After every activation or pass, the active player rolls against the turn’s “End of turn level”. Each turn has two levels, “starting” and “finishing”:

• A roll above the first level flips the turn to “finishing”.
• A roll above the second level ends the activation phase.
• If one side has used all its activations, both levels drop by 4.
• Four passes in a row also end the turn (EoF 7.3.a).

Strategic movement (EoF 7.4.a). At the end of the turn, an officer not activated twice may move once with his in-command units. No unit may start within, or move within, 4 hexes of an enemy.

 

Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums)

Turn sequence: Weather → Orders → Available Activation Cubes → Initiative → Activation → Recovery → cavalry fresh again → turn marker (SoD 9).

• Number of cubes. “Each player rolls a die and applies the modifier indicated on the game turn record track. Add this result to the Leadership rating of the Army leader. That total is the number of ACs a player has available” (SoD 13).
• Initiative. The side with the higher total of Initiative Points from its orders goes first, choosing its first Division with a cube it keeps aside. Ties go to the French at Eylau (SoD 15).
• The bag. All other cubes go into a bag with two fire combat cubes. Each cube drawn lets its army activate any Division it chooses. Drawing a fire cube triggers a simultaneous fire segment (SoD 9, 16).
• Repeat activations. “A Division may be activated up to three times.” On the 2nd activation, infantry and artillery have 1 MP fewer and cavalry 2 fewer. On the 3rd, infantry and artillery have 2 fewer and cavalry 4 fewer, though a unit can always spend 1 MP (SoD 16).
• Limits. “A player may never perform more than three activations in a row” (SoD 16). In the Grand Battle scenario the last two cubes are not drawn and are lost (SoD 9).
• Special activations at Eylau. The French Guard needs two cubes, and so does Murat’s Mass Cavalry Charge. They need not be drawn in a row, or even in the same turn (SoD 16.1–16.2).

 

How they differ

• Who picks, and how the dice gate it. EoF gates every activation with a leader’s initiative roll, so the player picks the leader and the dice decide whether he goes (EoF 7.3.a). SoD lets the player pick any Division whenever his cube comes out, so the bag decides when and the player decides who (SoD 16).
• The tempo cost. In EoF, repeat activation is capped at two per leader with no loss of performance (EoF 7.3.a). In SoD a Division may activate three times, but each repeat cuts movement (SoD 16). The designer’s note says this “represents very well the focus an army commander has during a battle” (SoD 16).
• Turn length. EoF uses an escalating end-of-turn roll after every activation (EoF 7.3.j). In SoD the supply of cubes sets the turn length, through the die roll plus army leadership, cut in snow (SoD 13, 10).
• Fire timing. EoF fire happens inside each activation (offensive, opportunity and defensive) (EoF 7.3). SoD’s main exchange of fire happens only when a fire cube is drawn, and then units on both sides fire alternately and simultaneously (SoD 16.3, 21.2).

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3. Movement

Eagles of France

• MPs and stacks. Units spend MPs by entering hexes. Stacks move at the speed of the slowest unit and pay the worst terrain cost (EoF 12.1).
• Minimum move. Every eligible unit may always move one hex, even against its order (EoF 12.1).
• Out of command. Out-of-command units, and units moving against their order, must pass a QF test on the lowest QF in the stack. A pass allows half MP, rounded up; a fail allows only one hex (EoF 7.3.c, 11.2).
• ZOC (EoF 10, 12.2). ZOCs cover the six surrounding hexes, but do not extend into towns or fortified farms, and cavalry ZOCs do not extend into woods.
◦ Infantry, leaders and artillery must stop on entering an EZOC.
◦ Cavalry may continue, and may move from EZOC to EZOC for +3 MP. That can trigger opportunity fire or a counter-charge.
◦ Infantry may move EZOC to EZOC only into a hex already held by a friendly unit, using all their MPs.
◦ Artillery never moves EZOC to EZOC.
• Stacking. Up to 30 stacking points per hex. Infantry counts 1 per size point; cavalry and artillery 2. As an exception, two units of the same formation plus one artillery unit may always stack (EoF 8).
• Other costs. Leaving a Fired hex costs +3 MP (EoF 12.1). Demoralised units and mud each cost −1 MP (EoF 12.1).
• Facing. Facing has its own section (EoF 23), which was not part of the sections read for this comparison.

 

Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums)

• Facing is central. “Units always move through one of their frontal hex sides” (SoD 19). A unit may turn 60° per hex at no cost; more than that costs 1 MP. Infantry in line pays 1 MP for every 60° (SoD 19).
• Formations (SoD 17):
◦ Infantry: line or column. Changing costs 1 MP. A column has four front hexsides; a line has two front, two flank and two rear.
◦ Obstructed terrain. Infantry entering obstructed terrain takes “general” formation. Leaving it costs +1 MP and ends the move.
◦ Square. A square may move only 1 hex.
◦ Artillery. Limbering or unlimbering costs 2 MP. Unlimbered artillery has 0 MP, though under Defend, Move or Attack orders it may always move one hex.
• Closing with the enemy. Entering a hex adjacent to an enemy costs +1 MP for the French and +2 for Russians and Prussians at Eylau. The unit must stop there and cannot change formation or facing (SoD 19). Only Attack orders allow it at all (SoD 12).
• Reaction fire. “When a unit leaves a front hex of an enemy unit while moving, it triggers reaction fire” (SoD 19).
• No ZOC. The constraints are adjacency costs, orders and reaction fire (SoD 3, 19).
• Stacking. Two infantry battalions, two batteries, or one cavalry regiment per hex. Infantry and artillery may stack only in matching modes. “Cavalry can never stack with infantry or artillery” (SoD 18).
• Order multipliers. Strategic Move and Retire give ×1.5 MP (SoD 12.2, 12.6). Repeat activations and tired cavalry reduce MP (SoD 16, 17.3).

 

How they differ

• What restrains movement. EoF uses zones of control and, for movement against the order, a quality test (EoF 10, 11.2). SoD has no ZOC. It restrains movement through facing, formation-change costs, the extra cost of closing with the enemy, and orders (SoD 3, 17, 19).
• Formation. In EoF the sections read here never use formation as a movement state. In SoD, line, column, square and limbered/unlimbered set both movement and firepower (SoD 17, 21.3).
• Stacking. EoF stacking is generous, by points: 30 per hex, plus a guaranteed two units of a formation with one battery (EoF 8). SoD’s is tight and typed, with cavalry never mixing (SoD 18).

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4. Combat

Eagles of France

Fire combat (EoF 13.1).

• Only infantry and artillery may fire. Infantry fires at adjacent hexes only; artillery has a 4-hex range.
• Three forms of fire: offensive (before moving), opportunity (at units declaring melee on a neighbour, or at cavalry moving EZOC to EZOC), and defensive (by the target of a melee declaration).
• One fire group. “Each stack fires as a single unit.” All hexes firing at one target combine into one group. Artillery and infantry fire are never combined: if a stack includes artillery, only the artillery points are used (EoF 13.1.c).
• Results are step losses plus a Quality Factor Test (QFT) taken by the lead unit (EoF 13.1.d).
◦ Fail by 2 or less: a stack adjacent to the enemy retreats one hex unless it takes an extra step loss.
◦ Fail by more than 2: the whole stack routs 3 hexes toward its supply hex.
◦ An unmodified 12 always routs; an unmodified 2 always succeeds.

Melee (EoF 13.2).

• Declaring. Declared from adjacent stacks, with at least one activated infantry or cavalry lead unit. Several stacks may attack one hex, but a stack may attack only one hex.
• Before it resolves. Opportunity and defensive fire come first. A stack whose lead unit retreats, routs or fails a QFT loses its attack (EoF 7.3.h, 13.2).
• The DRM is the sum of nine items (EoF 13.2.b):
1.Terrain.
2.QF differential (defender minus attacker).
3.Size ratio, capped at 5:1 and 1:7. Artillery doesn’t count.
4.Routed defender: −2.
5.Encircled: −2.
6.Demoralised attacker: +1.
7.Mixed formation: +1 attacking, −1 against.
8.Unprepared cavalry: +2.
9.Fatigued defending cavalry: −2.
• Limits. The net DRM is capped at ±5.
• Results. Results are step loss (R) and QFTs for either side, defender first (EoF 13.2.c).
• Direct elimination. “If a defending stack not in defence order is attacked in clear terrain AND the modified DR is negative, the melee combat result is an automatic elimination of all defending units” (EoF 13.2.c).
• Advance after combat. Cavalry must advance and may pursue. One infantry unit may advance. Artillery never advances (EoF 14.3, 7.3.i).

Rout (EoF 15–16). Routed units have no ZOC, cannot fire or melee, and move 3 hexes at once. They spread rout to friendly stacks they pass through, and at the end of the turn they rout toward their supply hex. Units that reach the supply hex leave the game and count 50% toward victory points (EoF 7.4.b, 16).

 

Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums)

“There is only one form of combat for infantry and artillery in this game: Fire combat. There is no melee combat. To take over an enemy-occupied hex, players need to declare an assault (or in case of cavalry: charge) — which is considered fire combat at very close range” (SoD 21).

Fire combat (SoD 21).

• When it happens. There are seven occasions: the simultaneous segment when a fire cube is drawn, defensive fire, four kinds of reaction fire, and French horse artillery unlimbering (SoD 21.1).
• Alternating, flank to flank. In the simultaneous segment, players alternate firing one unit at a time, starting from one flank. Losses are applied after the target has returned fire (SoD 21.2).
• Firepower set by formation (SoD 21.3):
◦ A maximum of 4 infantry SPs in line may fire from a hex. A column fires with 2 SPs.
◦ Square and obstructed infantry fire at one-third strength into up to three hexes.
◦ Only the top infantry unit fires.
◦ Up to 8 artillery SPs may fire from a hex, combining their fire against a single target.
• Splitting fire. A unit facing more than one adjacent target must split its fire across them (SoD 21.3).
• Artillery range. 6 hexes for light and horse artillery, 8 for foot and 9 for heavy (SoD 21.4).
• Results. Results are SP losses. A “*” result calls for a stand check and a leader casualty check (SoD 21.3).

Assault and charge (SoD 23).

• Who may assault. Only Divisions under Attack orders may assault, after all their movement, and only through a front hexside (SoD 23).
• Odds. All SPs count for the odds; 0.5 rounds up. Infantry and cavalry may not combine (SoD 23).
• Defensive fire, then a hold check. The defender fires first. If the attacker survives without retreating, a 2d6 hold roll is made, modified by the DRMs below (SoD 23.3):
◦ 8 or more: the defender holds (9+: the attacker loses 1 SP; 8: both lose 1 SP between them).
◦ 7 or less: the defender loses 1 SP and retreats. Against cavalry, infantry instead loses 2 SPs each and retreats.
• Advance. The attacker may advance. Advancing doesn’t draw reaction fire (SoD 23.3).
• Assault / charge modifiers (SoD 23.7; Assault/Charge Table on the player aid). “Modifiers are always cumulative.” Where two contradict on a defender’s formation, “use the least harmful for defending units” (SoD 23.7).

Source. Values are from the Eylau 1807 Assault/Charge Table, version 10 (© 2025 Sound of Drums),  “Modifiers are always cumulative.”

Odds

Infantry assaulting

Cavalry charging

1:6 or less

not allowed

+4

1:5

not allowed

+3

1:4

+4

+2

1:3

+3

+2

1:2

+2

+1

1:1

0

0

2:1

−1

−2

3:1

−2

−3

4:1 or more

−3

−4

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Defending unit is…

DRM

elite / green / Russian

+1 / −1 / +1

under Defend / Hold order

+2 / +1

under Retire order

−3

under Regroup or Strategic Move order

−2

charged from more than one hex

−1

in obstructed terrain

+2

charged through flank / rear

−3 / −2

tired cavalry

−2

in square, assaulted by infantry

+1

infantry in line assaulted by infantry in column

−1

infantry in column assaulted by infantry in line

+1

in square, charged by cavalry

+4

infantry in line or column charged by Lancers

−2

artillery alone in a hex

−5

with a leader present

+ leadership rating

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Assaulting / charging units…

DRM

per SP lost to the preceding defensive fire

+1

include one or more elite / French Guard Grenadiers

−1 / −2

include one or more green

+1

are one or more cavalry at short distance (adjacent)

+2

are cavalry against infantry not in square

−3

include one or more tired cavalry

+2

are exclusively heavy cavalry against any other cavalry

−2

are charging / assaulting uphill / downhill

+2 / −2

are in an obstructed hex (except Light and Guard infantry)

+2

have a leader present

− leadership rating

Hold roll result (same chart): 9+ the defender holds and the attacker loses 1 SP. 8: both lose 1 SP. 7 or less: the defender gives way, per SoD 23.3. A modified 12+ means the attacker checks for leader casualty.

 

How they differ

• What close combat is. EoF calls it melee. Its nine DRM categories are QF difference, odds, terrain, routed defender, encirclement, demoralisation, mixed formation, unprepared cavalry and fatigued cavalry, with the net capped at ±5 (EoF 13.2.b). SoD calls it assault or charge and treats it as fire at very close range. It also has a heavy modifier list, but built on different things:
◦ formation against formation (square, line, column, Lancers);
◦ the defender’s current order (Defend, Hold, Retire, Regroup or Strategic Move);
◦ flank and rear attacks;
◦ elite or green quality;
◦ fresh or tired cavalry;
◦ losses taken from defensive fire.
 No cap is stated (SoD 23.7). The two games also roll differently. EoF’s attacker rolls on the Melee Table, and its results send one side or both to a QF test (EoF 13.2.c). In SoD, the modified 2d6 roll itself decides whether the defender holds (8 or more) or gives way (7 or less) (SoD 23.3).
• How damage shows. EoF tracks morale through QF tests, retreat, rout, demoralisation and a rout phase (EoF 13.1.d, 15, 16). SoD has no rout or disorder: everything is expressed as lost SPs, which can be recovered (SoD 9, 12.4–12.6).
• Fire. EoF combines a stack’s fire into one roll and never mixes artillery with infantry (EoF 13.1.c). SoD caps firepower by formation and frontage, so line beats column and square fires at one-third, and forces fire to split across multiple targets (SoD 21.3).
• Cavalry. Both games give cavalry special rules.
◦ EoF: counter-charge, retreat before combat, pursuit, prepared and unprepared attacks, and fatigue (EoF 17).
◦ SoD: tired status, reaction charge, evasion, square-forming rolls and the Mass Cavalry Charge (SoD 16.2, 17.3, 21.5, 23.4).

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5. Cavalry

Eagles of France (EoF 17)

• Counter charge (17.1). This takes the place of opportunity fire. It can be made against an adjacent enemy stack that has declared melee on a neighbouring hex, or against enemy cavalry that moves into the ZOC of a cavalry lead unit not already adjacent to another enemy unit.
◦ It needs a QFT to launch. Failure has no effect beyond losing the charge.
◦ No defensive or opportunity fire answers it, and no pursuit follows it.
• Retreat before combat (17.2). Cavalry and horse artillery may fall back two hexes when a stack without cavalry moves adjacent, or when an infantry lead unit attacks them. Horse artillery makes a QFT: missing it by more than 2 costs a step.
• Pursuit (17.3). Cavalry that advances after melee rolls against its pursuit factor (PF), which is set by nationality:

Nationality

PF

France and allies, 1800–1812

8

France and allies, 1813–1815

7

United Kingdom

5

Coalition (excluding UK)

7
 A pass lets the player choose whether to pursue; a fail means the stack must pursue. Pursuit into clear terrain must carry through to melee.
• Prepared attacks (17.4). A cavalry lead unit takes +2 unless it did not start adjacent to the enemy and spent 50% of its MP in its starting hex before moving. Pursuit attacks are always unprepared. Counter charges are always prepared.
• Fatigue (17.5). There is −2 against defending cavalry that was already adjacent to an enemy combat unit at the start of the movement segment. This never applies to a counter charge.
• Emergency defence (17.6). An infantry lead unit attacked by cavalry may roll a QFT instead of defensive fire. A pass gives +2 to the melee roll; a fail gives −2. The stack counts as in defence order until the end of the activation.
• Flanking attacks (17.7). Cavalry size points count double against an infantry lead unit in clear terrain that was, and still is, adjacent to enemy infantry and is not in defence order.
• Combined arms (17.8). Infantry size points may count when attacking a cavalry-only stack, but the target may then retreat before combat. Attacking cavalry’s QF is capped by the best infantry QF.

 

Battles of Napoleon (SoD 17.3, 21.5, 23.4, 23.6, 16.2)

• Tired status. A cavalry unit that charges flips to “tired”, which means fewer MP and a worse charge DRM. Tired units recover at the end of the activation segment (17.3).
• Reaction charge (23.4). Fresh cavalry under Attack, Move, Hold or Defend orders may charge a unit that enters its front hex, with the +2 short-distance DRM.
• Evasion (21.5). Cavalry may fall back one hex from adjacent infantry or artillery. Evasion is not a retreat and doesn’t tire the unit.
• Squares. Infantry may form square when enemy cavalry comes within 4 hexes. If it waits until the cavalry is closer, it needs 8+ on 2d6, with −1, −2 or −3 as the cavalry closes (17.3.1).
• Cossacks (23.6). Eylau only. Cossacks can’t charge infantry or unlimbered artillery through their initial front hexsides. They need more than 8 on 2d6 to charge cavalry, and may evade freely.
• Mass Cavalry Charge (16.2). Eylau only. Murat activates up to four cavalry Divisions, all under Attack orders and within 8 hexes, using two activation cubes. Once per game.

 

How they differ

EoF treats cavalry as a timing and preparation problem: prepared attacks, fatigue from contact, pursuit control by nationality, and counter charges in place of fire. SoD treats it as exhaustion and threat: tired after every charge, reaction charges that punish units moving into the cavalry’s front, and the square roll forced on infantry.

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6. Morale, losses and recovery

Eagles of France

• Morale is a test. Units take QFTs on the lead unit. Failing by up to 2 means a retreat (or an extra step lost instead); failing by more than 2 means rout (EoF 13.1.d, 14, 15).
• Rout. Routed units have no ZOC and can’t fire or melee. They spread rout to stacks they pass through, and they move toward their supply hex in the rout phase (EoF 15, 16).
• Rally. Rally comes through the Rally alternative order (EoF 11.1.c) or a commander’s rally ability (EoF 11.3).
• Demoralisation (EoF 19). A formation that has lost over 50% of its units is demoralised. Leaders count as two units among the losses and as one in the base (errata Q&A). Only eliminated units, and routed units that reached their supply hex, count. Demoralised formations suffer +3 to rally, +1 when attacking in melee, and −1 MP.
• Special events (EoF 20.1). An unmodified 2 when firing, or 2–4 / 10–12 in melee, triggers a roll on the Random Special Events table. The table can wound or kill a leader, or capture a flag.
• Leader loss (EoF 20.2). A wounded, killed or captured leader becomes initiative 7, leadership 0 for the rest of the game. A leader left alone after his stack is eliminated, or caught alone in a hex, rolls initiative to avoid capture.
• Flags (EoF 20.3). Roll for each infantry or cavalry unit destroyed while routed in melee. A flag is captured on 3 or less (2 subtracted if it was isolated). Flags score victory points.

 

Battles of Napoleon

• Loss is the morale system. “We incorporated the status of ‘disorder’ or even ‘rout’ in the SP level” (SoD 17, designer’s note). There are no status markers (SoD 25).
• SP markers are hidden. SP markers under enemy units “can only be examined before an assault” (SoD 25).
• Elimination. At 0 SP a unit is removed, every adjacent friendly unit checks to stand, and the army pays 1 AFP (2 for Guard) (SoD 25).
• Square breaks. A square reduced below 3 SP by fire drops to column (SoD 25).
• Stand and hold checks (SoD 23.3, 23.8). A hold check decides whether an assault succeeds. A stand check decides whether neighbours retreat.
• Recovery (SoD 27).
◦ How much. Regroup lets every unit regain 1 SP, Hold lets two units, and Retire lets one, all at the end of the activation segment.
◦ No cube needed. The Division doesn’t need to be activated to recover.
◦ Limits. “A unit may never regain full strength; the first lost SP can never be regained.” An eliminated unit can’t come back.
• Leader casualty (SoD 21.6). A modified 12+ on a “*” fire result or a hold roll triggers a casualty roll: 1d6, 4–6 is a casualty (only a 6 for Napoleon). A casualty costs 2 AFP. If Napoleon falls, the French lose.

 

How they differ

EoF has explicit states: retreat, rout, demoralised. It recovers through rally actions that use up an activation. SoD has no states at all. The strength-point marker is the unit’s cohesion, it is hidden from the opponent until an assault, and recovery comes from the order the Division is under, not from an action.

.

7. Retreat

Eagles of France (EoF 14)

• Combat retreat. A retreat is one hex, toward the supply hex. The stack retreats as one, and is destroyed if it has no path (14.1).
• EZOCs. Infantry, foot artillery and leaders may not retreat into an EZOC unless a friendly unit is there. Cavalry and horse artillery may, at the cost of one step. Routed units may never enter an EZOC (14.2).
• Advance after combat (14.3). Cavalry must advance. One infantry unit may advance. Artillery never advances.

 

Battles of Napoleon (SoD 26)

• Distance. Infantry retreats its printed MP in hexes; cavalry half that, rounded up. Facing and terrain are ignored. Cavalry is tired after retreating (26).
• Artillery. Unlimbered artillery forced to retreat loses 1 SP, then must roll to limber: 4–6 for horse artillery, 6 for the rest. A failed roll eliminates it (26).
• Retreat priorities (26):
1.Increase the distance from the assaulting enemy.
2.Avoid hexes held by friendly units.
3.Don’t move closer to enemy units in LOS.
4.Follow the army’s compass direction (French south, south-west and north-west at Eylau).
◦ Retreating adjacent to the enemy costs 1 SP per occurrence.
◦ A unit surrounded by enemy units surrenders.
• Push-back (26.1). Friendly units blocking the path are displaced. They don’t take stand checks; displaced artillery limbers without loss.

 

How they differ

EoF retreats are short, one hex, and governed by ZOC. SoD retreats are long, a whole printed MP for infantry, and governed by direction rules and push-back. Because a SoD retreat can travel far and push friends aside, one failed hold can open a gap in the line. Stand checks on neighbours then spread the failure along it (23.8).

.

 

8. Line of sight and terrain

Eagles of France (EoF 13.1.b, 10)

• Blocking. Line of fire is blocked by slopes when the firer and target are on different levels, and by towns, fortified farms, orchards, woods and combat units in between.
• Exceptions. Obstacles in the firing or target hex don’t block. Obstacles below both firer and target are ignored.
• ZOC. ZOCs don’t extend into towns or fortified farms, or across woods-to-woods hexsides. Cavalry ZOC doesn’t extend into woods (10).
• Terrain values live on each game’s Terrain Effects Chart. Per the errata Q&A, “each game keeps its own terrain effect chart.”

 

Battles of Napoleon (SoD 22, 24; Terrain Effects Chart)

• Blocking (22). Higher elevation, obstructed terrain and combat units block LOS when the artillery and target are on the same level. Against a higher target, the LOS is blocked if the obstacle is closer to the firer; against a lower target, if it is closer to the target. Obstacles in the firing or target hex don’t block.
• Terrain types (20, 24). Open or obstructed. Woods, villages and the cemetery are obstructed.
• Terrain Effects Chart (v10, 2025):

Terrain

Movement

Fire

Assault / charge

Notes

Clear

1 MP

no effect

no effect

.

Woods / village / cemetery

2 MP / 1 MP

firing SPs = 2 (Light Inf = 3); −2 DRM if the target is in obstructed terrain

+2 defending in obstructed terrain; +2 attacking out of it (except Light and Guard Inf.); cavalry can’t charge in

cavalry and artillery enter only by road

Road

1 MP

no effect

no effect

artillery and leaders 0.5 MP per hex

Hexside slope

+1 MP

no effect

+2 if all attackers are uphill; −2 if all are downhill

.

Mill / farm

1 MP

no effect

no effect

treat as clear

Marsh

2 MP

no effect

no cavalry charge into or out of

.

Frozen river / pond

1 MP

no effect

no effect

.

 

How they differ

The LOS rules are close cousins: both block on intervening obstacles and on the slope nearest the lower unit. The difference is how terrain enters combat. EoF terrain feeds the melee DRM and the ZOC rules. SoD terrain also caps firepower (2 SPs fire out of obstructed terrain) and stops cavalry outright.

.

9. Facing, fog of war and cards

Facing

• EoF (23) treats facing as optional. “Facing is not explicitly simulated in the game,” because QF and encirclement cover it. The optional rule gives each stack four front and two rear hexes:
◦ It replaces the encirclement DRM.
◦ Melee from the rear: −2.
◦ Firing from the rear: +2 for artillery, +1 for infantry. A target fired on from its rear: −1.
◦ Units in defence order, towns, villages or fortified farms have no rear.
• SoD makes facing core. Every unit faces a vertex and moves only through front hexsides. Line has two front, two flank and two rear hexsides; column has four front hexsides (17, 19). Assaults go through front hexsides only, with −3 for a flank attack and −2 for a rear attack (23).

 

Fog of war

• EoF (22).
◦ Stack inspection. Only leaders, artillery and the lead unit can be inspected, unless the opponent is adjacent (22.1).
◦ Hidden units. This is a scenario option. A formation is represented only by its officer, face down, with two decoys, and is revealed by spotting within the visibility range (22.2).
◦ Hidden orders. Order chits are also kept hidden (11).
• SoD. SP markers are hidden until an assault (25). Orders are secret when issued but visible on demand, unless players agree to keep them hidden (9). There are no hidden units in the rules read.

 

Tactical cards (EoF only)

• Draft. Cards are drafted at the start, French first (EoF 18.1).
• Play. Each side plays at most one per turn, and a played card passes to the opponent for use from the next turn. “Cards take precedence over the rules.” For example, Last Push lets a formation activate three times (EoF 18.1).
• SoD. SoD has no card system. Its nearest equivalents are the special activations: the Guard and the Mass Cavalry Charge (16.1–16.2).

 After all that, which games bring what to the table?

In the Commander’s Chair:

Eagles of France (Rising Eagles) vs Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums): which system asks the right questions?

The two questions I aksed the AI to assess and then I will weigh in at the end.

  1. Which system gives the more authentic assessment of the decisions a commander in the Age of Napoleon would make?
  2. Which system conveys the thematic elements of Napoleonic warfare more effectively?

Sources 

  • David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon (PDF pp.140, 284–285); Andrew Field, Waterloo: The French Perspective (grand battery chapter; e-book, no page numbers); Gordon Corrigan, Wellington: A Military Life (p.139).
  • Simulation design. Philip Sabin, Simulating War (p.133).

 Short answer

Question Verdict Margin
Authentic commander’s decisions Eagles of France Narrow
Thematic elements of Napoleonic warfare Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums) Clear

EoF puts the player in the army commander’s chair and makes him live with what his subordinates do with his intent. SoD puts the player in the army commander’s chair and the battalion commander’s saddle. It loses some authenticity in doing so, but it gains the tactical grammar of the period: line, column, square, the firefight and the charge.

Part 1. The commander’s decisions

What the historical commander decided

Chandler describes the grand-tactical problem at army level as a matter of timing and commitment. The enveloping force must not reveal itself “before the enemy had committed all or most of his reserves to the frontal battle.” Judging that moment “called for the greatest judgment on the part of Napoleon and his key subordinates.” Napoleon had to judge it through “the billowing clouds of black-powder smoke,” while his subordinates kept “their eager troops ‘on the leash’” (Chandler, p.284).

Chandler also describes the mechanism of control. The signal went by massed cannon fire or “by hand of a trusted aide-de-camp,” and the decisive manoeuvre was given to “his most trusted subordinate, for everything depended on the arrival of these troops at exactly the right place at the right moment” (Chandler, pp.284–285).

So the commander’s decisions are: – Intent. Where each corps or division is to go. – Delegation. Who is trusted with the decisive move. – Timing. When to commit the reserve and when to spring the flank. – Reading a battle he cannot fully see.

He does not choose battalion formations.

 

How Eagles of France models those decisions

  • Orders are intent, and execution is delegated. Formations receive a geographic objective or a defence stance, and units must end their moves no farther from the objective (EoF 11.1.a). The rules state the division of labour plainly: “Orders simulate the aim and constraints on movement implied by the general direction given by the overall commander. The choice to attack/fire is left at the formation level” (EoF 11). That matches Chandler’s picture: the commander sets direction, and subordinates fight the fight.
  • Subordinates are unreliable, and the player has to live with it. Every activation needs an initiative roll against the officer’s rating, and a failure means the formation stays put (EoF 7.3.a). A formation that leaves its officer’s 6-hex range moves only by quality test at half speed (EoF 7.3.c, 11.2). This is the “trusted subordinate” problem as a die roll.
  • Changing your mind is expensive. Each turn only a limited number of orders may change, set by scenario (EoF 11). A commander can force one emergency change, but the formation then loses its current activation (EoF 11.3). Once committed, a corps is hard to redirect, which is the heart of Chandler’s timing problem.
  • The commander rides to the crisis. The commander’s abilities are emergency orders, rallying four stacks, and direct activation of stacks within his range (EoF 11.3). They reward putting the army leader where the battle is decided, as Chandler describes Napoleon riding over personally to give the signal (p.285).
  • He cannot see the whole field. Order chits are hidden behind five decoys (EoF 11). Stacks can’t be fully inspected (EoF 22.1). Optional hidden formations are revealed only by spotting (EoF 22.2). This is the closest either system comes to Chandler’s smoke.
  • He doesn’t know how long he has. After every activation an end-of-turn roll may close the hour (EoF 7.3.j). The player never knows whether the reserve will get its moment this turn.

Weaknesses. – The order categories are thin: an objective or defence, plus a rally option (EoF 11.1). There is no “attack” posture distinct from movement. Orders govern movement only: “Geographic orders have no impact on fire or combat ability” (EoF 11.1.a). – A formation under a march order may fight freely all the way to its objective. That is generous to the player and less of a constraint than real orders imposed.

How Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums) models those decisions

  • Attention is the scarce resource. The army’s activation cubes come from a die roll plus the army leader’s leadership (SoD 13), and “players receive fewer ACs than would be needed to activate each and every one of their formations in a turn” (SoD 16.3, note). The designer is explicit: “players will not be able to move each unit each turn and orchestrate a whole army. The majority of the participants spent most of the battle ‘waiting’” (SoD 16, note).
    • Sabin identifies this as a known and valuable technique: some units “moved repeatedly whereas others are left in place for turns on end, hence both reducing playing time and mirroring the variability of real movement rates” (Sabin, p.133).
    • SoD makes it the centre of the game. It is the best representation in either system of a commander deciding where the battle will be fought this hour.
  • Commitment has a price. Orders cost Army Fatigue every turn: 2 for Attack, 1 for Move, Defend or Retire. Regroup earns 1 back. An army that runs out collapses (SoD 12, 14). Keeping everyone on Attack exhausts the army.
    • This is a clean model of what committing the army costs. It is also the strongest link in either game to Chandler’s point that the enemy must be made to commit “all or most of his reserves” first (p.284).
    • The SoD player can watch the opponent’s fatigue track and judge how close he is to breaking.
  • Repeat activation wears formations down. The 2nd and 3rd activations cost movement (SoD 16). Pushing one Division hard is possible but blunts it.
  • The reserve really is a reserve. The French Guard needs two cubes, which need not come in the same turn (SoD 16.1). The Mass Cavalry Charge needs two cubes on Murat and can be used once per game (SoD 16.2). Both are decisions about when, which is exactly Chandler’s question.

Weaknesses. – The player changes posture almost freely. Inside 12 hexes of the army leader, an order change costs only 1 CP, and Napoleon has 6 per turn at Eylau (SoD 11.2). The friction falls on activation, not on orders. A commander can switch a Division from Move to Attack between turns at small cost. – The player is also the battalion commander. Every activated Division’s units choose line or column, facing, and when to form square (SoD 17). The designer concedes it: “did Napoleon decide which formation / facing the individual combat units used? No, of course not. BUT, we wanted the players to experience the coordination of the different arms and their formations” (SoD 17, note). That is a defensible choice for the game, but by the designer’s own account it is not a commander’s decision. – Hidden information is thin. Orders may be inspected on demand unless the players agree otherwise (SoD 9). Strength-point markers are hidden until an assault (SoD 25), a good touch at the tactical level, but there are no hidden formations.

Verdict, question 1: Eagles of France, narrowly

EoF makes the player issue intent and then watch subordinates succeed or fail at it. Initiative rolls, command range, the limit on order changes, decoys and hidden units together reproduce the delegation and blindness Chandler describes. SoD reproduces something Chandler also describes, and does it better than EoF: the economy of attention and the price of committing. But it then asks the player to make battalion decisions that, in the designer’s own words, Napoleon did not make.

If the question were “which game makes you feel the commander’s problem of where to spend effort,” SoD would win. The question is “which gives an authentic assessment of the commander’s decisions.” EoF filters the player’s actions through subordinates and orders more consistently, so it edges it.

Part 2. The thematic elements of Napoleonic warfare

What the sources say the period looked like

  • Column, skirmishers and the charge. Chandler describes the column advancing behind skirmishers, the horse artillery galloping up “to open fire with canister at close range,” then the charge: “those in the front ranks crossing their bayonets, as the drums beat the charge” (p.140).
  • The column could not win on its own. Field quotes Napoleon: “Columns do not break through lines, unless they are supported by a superior artillery fire.” He describes the purpose of massed artillery as being “to remove the need for the attacking troops to get drawn into a lengthy firefight, during which it was notoriously difficult to get them moving again to deliver the decisive bayonet assault” (Field, grand battery chapter).
  • Combined arms against the square. Infantry in square “were perfectly safe provided they did not panic and break the square. If the square was broken and cavalry could get inside, then the end was usually swift and certain.” The accepted method was “to use the cavalry to force the infantry into square, then use artillery to blast holes in the squares through which the cavalry could pass” (Corrigan, p.139).

So the period’s signature is a combined-arms triangle of infantry, cavalry and artillery, played through formation: line for fire, column for movement and shock, square against horse. Battles were decided by fire and nerve more than by hand-to-hand fighting.

Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums)

SoD is built around exactly this triangle.

  • Formation is the game.
    • Line fires at double strength (4 SPs × 2) through two front hexsides. Column fires with only 2 SPs but has four front hexsides, so it moves more freely.
    • Square stops cavalry: +4 to the defender when charged. Artillery firing on a square gets +4, and on a column +2 (SoD 17, 21.3; v10 chart).
    • Corrigan’s tactic, cavalry forcing the square and guns breaking it, falls straight out of those numbers.
    • Infantry facing cavalry must decide when to form square, and the later it decides, the harder the roll (SoD 17.3.1).
  • Fire, not melee, decides. “There is no melee combat. To take over an enemy-occupied hex, players need to declare an assault … which is considered fire combat at very close range” (SoD 21). The designer’s reasoning matches Field almost line for line: “The last defensive fire either discouraged the attacker or the sight of an advancing wall of bayonets unnerved the defender and then either the attacker or the defender ran before contact” (SoD 21, note).
  • Holding is a test of nerve. The defender’s hold roll is modified by quality, orders, formation, flank and rear attacks, and every SP the attacker lost to defensive fire (SoD 23.3; v10 chart). “In line assaulted by column” gives −1 and “in column assaulted by line” gives +1. The doctrine is printed on the table.
  • Cavalry exhausts itself. Units that charge go tired; reaction charges punish units moving into a cavalry front; evasion keeps cavalry out of musket range (SoD 17.3, 21.5, 23.4).
  • The set pieces of the period are in the rules. French élan: +1 MP to close with the enemy against +2 for the Russians at Eylau (SoD 19). The Guard as a costly reserve, Murat’s Mass Cavalry Charge, Cossacks, and the snowstorm (SoD 10, 16.1–16.2, 23.6).
  • Losses are cohesion. Units lose order rather than men, and recover under Hold, Regroup or Retire orders, never to full strength (SoD 17 note, 27). This is a thematic statement about how battalions wore down over a day.

Eagles of France

  • Formation is absent. There is no line, column or square anywhere in the series rules. Facing is optional, and the designers explain why: “Facing is not explicitly simulated in the game. At this scale, we believe that QF and DR are simulating what each regiment/battalion officer is choosing to do in a given situation” (EoF 23). Formation is left to the quality factor in the same way.
  • The cavalry duel is rich. Prepared versus unprepared charges, fatigue from contact, counter-charges, retreat before combat, and pursuit control set by nationality and year (France 8 to 1812, 7 after; UK 5) (EoF 17). These are thematic and well judged. The UK pursuit factor of 5 encodes the British cavalry’s reputation without a special rule.
  • Infantry against cavalry is a single test. Emergency defence replaces the square: pass a QF test for +2, fail it for −2 (EoF 17.6). It works, but the player never decides to form square or carries the consequence of a square under artillery fire.
  • Melee is real. Melee is resolved on QF difference, odds, encirclement and nine DRM categories (EoF 13.2.b). In clear terrain, a defender facing a negative modified roll is eliminated outright (EoF 13.2.c). This is closer to the hand-to-hand fighting the SoD designer dismisses as “a gamers’ dream” (SoD 21, note) than to Field’s firefight. Fire still matters, though: opportunity and defensive fire can stop an attack before contact (EoF 7.3.f–h).
  • Rout and morale are well done. QF tests cause retreat and rout, rout spreads to stacks it passes through, and demoralisation sets in at 50% losses (EoF 15, 16, 19). Flags and leader capture add period colour (EoF 20).

Verdict, question 2: Battles of Napoleon (Sound of Drums), clearly

SoD’s combat system is the Napoleonic combined-arms triangle. Line against column, square against horse, guns against square, and fire deciding the assault are all mechanics the player handles every turn. The historical sources above describe those dynamics, and the SoD numbers reproduce them. EoF abstracts formation into a quality number and keeps melee as the decisive act. Its cavalry rules are the more detailed of the two, but the look and feel of a Napoleonic battlefield, the squares and the firefight, is not on its board.

Where the two answers pull against each other

The two verdicts come from the same design choice. SoD gains its theme by giving the player battalion-level decisions: formation, facing and when to form square. Those are what make it feel Napoleonic, and they are also what makes it slightly less authentic as a commander’s game. EoF gains its command authenticity by abstracting those same choices into QF, which is why its battlefield feels less like the period.

A player who wants to be just Napoleon gets more from EoF. A player who wants to see a Napoleonic battle gets more from SoD.

Having played both I think the majority of wargamers might feel a bit like me. I do want to face my guys, run my arty up and un hitch, launch the assualts. Group my formations, swap to line and back. It makes the game more immersive to my mind and certainly more thematic. SOD runs that line of giving you enough detail without tipping you over into the fantastic dark abyss of La Batt titles from COA etc. As for Command and Control, the scarcity notion is in my mind the same as the ‘intent’ challenge that EOF delivers, and it ties directly to your victory conditions [Army Fatigue] .  Miss use of your Divisions will ruin your day. I disagree with the EOF preference the analysis presented, and it also has the down side of being a hidden aspect to the game, which degrades solo play.

I enjoyed Eagles of France when it came out, as it was a system that was fresh and brought a commander perspective to the table with a game that can be finished in an afternoon.  I think that for an entry level system it is IDEAL! But if you want a bit more crunch, but not the entire bag of chips the Sound of Drums has a fascinating offering.

 

 

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