Design problems in Wagram were almost non-existent. The game was put together by superimposing a map and counter mix on a Blue & Gray series Standard Rules. Stacking was prohibited, since the unit basis was a division rather than a brigade. Artillery was given a range of two hexes, equivalent to 800 meters, in keeping with pre-rifled cannon capabilities. Cavalry was given a movement differential over infantry and artillery to reflect that it fought mounted (unlike the Civil War cavalry). The result was a simple, classical system almost identical to Borodino.
Ridge hexsides and Stream hexsides are the two unusual features introduced into Wagram. Ridge hexsides were used rather than rough terrain, so that a defending force on top of a ridge would find it easier to maintain itself upon the ridge. If the ridges were portrayed as rough terrain hexes with a similar defender benefit, the attacking units (presumably French) would benefit from the hexes as soon as they managed to fight their way onto them. With a ridge hexside, the French must still attack a doubled Austrian defender, but when they advance into the vacated defending hex, they are exposed to a counterattack with no benefit. The exceptional Stream rules were necessary to duplicate the actual effect of the Russbach stream, which is described by all accounts of the battle as a slight obstacle to infantry, but virtually impassable to cavalry and guns due to steep, rocky banks and dense thickets of scrub. On the second day's battle, when Davout was ordered to take Marksgrafsneusiedl, he insisted on several hours delay while he backtracked east along the Russbach to a point near Glinzendorf where he could finally get his guns and horses across.
The Demoralization rule is a new attempt at simulating the effects of prolonged combat, casualties and exhaustion on performance. This approach works on the mind of the Player rather than directly affecting unit values. Since the relatively bloodless CRT dictates a maneuver and penetration tactic to cause enemy losses (advancing after combat to pin and then surround by Zones of Control), the loss of the right to advance after combat (demoralization) sharply restricts a Player's offensive options.
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