Say 'Waterloo' to most folk and they'll immediately think of the London railway station or the Eurovision-winning song by Abba. Both tho' are named for the small town in Belgium that, in 1815, was the site of the crucial battle between the British and Prussian forces and those of the French. The British troops were led by Sir Arthur Wellesey, Duke of Wellington and the Prussians by Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher; the French were, of course, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the battle proved decisive in ending the Napoleonic Wars following Napoleon's return to France after 11 months exile on the island of Elba. This game's subtitle 'Scum of the Earth' is a quotation from the Duke of Wellington describing in unflattering terms the ill-disciplined soldiers under his command.
1815, Scum of the Earth is of course a recreation of the Battle of Waterloo. It's a card game, primarily intended for two players (British vs French) but with components to facilitate solitaire play and suggested modifications to play the game with three or four players. Designed by Tristan Hall, the game is the third in Hall or Nothing's Historic Epic Battle System series of titles, following 1066, Tears to Many Mothers (Battle of Hastings) and 1565, St Elmo's Pay (Siege of Malta). All three games use the same battle system, to the extent that it's even possible to mix & match them - so if you're so minded you can pitch Wellington against William the Conqueror!
As in the previous Historic Epic Battle System titles, the game plays out on a battlefield comprised of three frontiers with each player having three card slots behind each front: so you're each playing on a 3 x 3 grid. The winner is the first player to ‘destroy’ two fronts or kill the opponent’s leader, or either player wins if their opponent runs out of cards.
Game play is about building up your troops at each front, with cards in hand being used to pay for the cards you place out. Each player moves through a series of objective cards which tend to require an amount of 'Zeal' or 'Might' to complete. Once a player is on their final objective, they then begin to compete over the frontiers and the game builds to a tense finale. Tho' the factions are asymmetric, they're surprisingly well balanced - so maybe you'll do better than Napoleon and change the course of European history...
The rules incorporate a couple of variants which are definitely worth trying. We especially liked the suggested variant that invited players to customise their respective decks by trimming them, subject to the rule that they must play with a minimum deck size of 50 cards: one to try after you've played a couple of times and are more familiar with the cards. You can also reduce the 'luck of the draw' by playing a drafting variant where players draw 3 or 4 cards, choosing which to add to their hand and which to discard. This variant makes an already quite brisk (45 minute) game play even quicker but it's likely to focus tactics more on attrition, with victory going to the player who still has cards left when their opponent's deck is exhausted.
In terms of quality of production, Hall or Nothing have maintained the same super high standard of the previous titles. In particular, the cards all sport exceptional artwork and educationally highly informative flavour text but without in any way compromising the clarity of the information needed for actual gameplay. The cards, the tokens (including the natty wooden teardrop tokens) and the dial for use in solo play don't take up very much of the space in the oversized box. If you're collecting the Historic Epic Battle System games, you could comfortably fit all three in just one of the boxes, even with all cards sleeved!