I, Napoleon

by

GMT Games

Designed by

Ted Raicer

 This review is one that feels a bit strange to me. The reason being is that I have placed myself in the Emperor's shoes on many different battlefields. I have never had the chance to place myself in his bed or anything more than just in charge of his troops. I also have a small hurdle to overcome. That hurdle is the fact that this is really an RPG about Napoleon. The problem arises in the fact that when I play RPGs my characters are always long on muscle and agility and very light on gray matter. I always put as much points as I can in the beginning and throughout the games into strength. I cannot remember the last time that I tried to add any brain power to my characters whatsoever. My characters can barely hold a conversation in the games let alone read a book. To play an RPG with someone who consistently is listed as one of the highest IQs ever is quite a leap for me. Make no mistake about it, even though you are playing with crowns, political matters, and high diplomacy this is an RPG of Napoleon. The only unfortunate thing about the game is that you cannot reroll a die to become part of another family. In this case you are stuck with these people no matter how inept or voracious for money and power they are. I think Madame Mère rapped the wrong offspring on the knuckles. She should have taken a paddle to the whole lot of them. Lucien is the only sibling that gets a pass. His success as a politician, and his help to his brother, is always overlooked when it comes to Napoleon taking power. So, there we have it. You are Napoleon in this game. You not only want to be a success yourself, but you also want to leave a dynasty behind you firmly on the French Imperial throne. Oh, and I forgot, it would be really helpful to stick a shiv into Talleyrand and Fouche as quickly as possible, as soon as their usefulness is over.

The back of the box

 This is what GMT Games has to say:

"I, Napoleon is a solitaire historical role-playing card game in which you step into the boots of Captain Buonoparte (as he still was) in the year 1793. Louis XVI has just gone to the guillotine, the brothers Robespierre control the destiny of France, and all Europe has joined French Royalists to take down France, end the Revolution, and restore peace and safety for the hereditary principles that have underlain society for 1,000 years.

As an ambitious but unknown young artillery officer, who speaks French with a Corsican accent, you would seem to be an unlikely agent of destiny. Can you harness a brilliant mind, titanic energies, and a sometimes-terrifying charisma to leave your mark on history? Or will you die a minor footnote in the story of France?

Gameplay

In I, Napoleon, your fate lies in 220 beautifully illustrated cards, divided into three decks: Commander, First Consul, and Emperor. Overlaying a map of early 19th Century Europe are a series of Card Boxes, where you play out the events of your life and career, along with various tracks and tables to record the yearly passage of time and the events affecting yourself and France. The choices you make with the cards you are dealt will determine success or failure. You will have to manage politics, military campaigns, diplomacy, and the domestic well-being of the French while pursuing the Glory that lures you on. You will also have to manage your family, your wives, your mistresses, and your children, legitimate and otherwise.

Your path may lead you from the Americas to the Near East, from Spain to Russia, from a throne to exile. You will be the target of assassins, coups, and coalitions. You will deal with bad harvests and plague, face Wellington and Nelson, Kutuzov and Blucher. You will rely on—and perhaps be betrayed by—the slippery Talleyrand and unleash the secret policemen Fouche on your opponents. As you progress, your options will increase, along with the stakes.

Lead your men into battle and risk an early end to your life? Sail to Egypt or Ireland? Sell Louisiana or send an army to hold it? Marry a Habsburg or a Romanov? Create the Duchy of Warsaw or revive the Kingdom of Poland? Invade Russia or try to pacify the Tsar? Every choice will affect your legacy.

But there is not one version of a life here, but many. Every game will provide a different narrative, based on both luck of the draw and the decisions you make. In addition, you can start the game as a Commander, as First Consul, or as Emperor, each with its own starting situation and challenges. The story is yours to discover, and the decisions you make may just change the course of history."

The game map

This is what comes with the game:

222 Poker-sized Playing Cards

One Half Countersheet

One 22” x 34” Mounted Map Board

One 10-sided Die

One Rulebook

One Playbook

Two Player Aid Cards

 The Mounted Map is really more of a placeholder for all of the different cards and the decks they make up. It does have a period style map of parts of Europe in its background. The card placement areas are indicative of Napoleon's choice in color. The biggest fault I have found in Napoleon is his love for the color green. So, the card placeholders are about 70% green with the rest being red. There are numerous other placeholder parts of the map. These include the turn record track, and the General Records Track etc. The counters are nice and large at 3/4" and very easy to see and read what they are used for. There is one 8 1/2" X 11" card stock sheet that deals with the campaigns that can be played in the game. One side has the 'Potential Campaign Selection Table' and the other side is the 'Campaign Battle Mat'. Both sides have all of the instructions you need to use the cards different uses. 

 Next, we have the 24-page Rules of Play. This is your standard GMT rulebook with double column printing and in full color. There are examples of play etc. and all of what you need to know to play the game. Then we have a 32-page Playbook with the same full color and double column printing. It starts with a quick start guide and then moves into an example of play. This is followed by the complete 222 card manifest. Then we have a six-page history of Napoleon followed by design notes. It even comes with a suggested reading list from the designer along with his own take on the man.

 The game is a completely card driven game. So, I would be remiss if I didn't mention them. Of course, with the number of cards that come in the box it is slightly like the elephant in the room. Most of the backs of the cards are that green color again that he loved so much. There are also some cards to keep the different years separate etc. and they are, (gratefully) beige in color. The side of the cards that are used for playing each have either a portrait of the person in question, (Marshals, enemies, and events) or a picture of the important event etc. The cards are sturdy enough for a good amount of play. However, if you do plan to play a lot of the game, and you should, I suggest sleeving them.

 As usual the components of a GMT game pass with flying colors. 

Some of the counters

 The game comes with a few scenarios. These are:

Full Campaign Scenario 1793 - 1821

Commander Scenario - 1793 to Napoleon becoming First Consul or 1802

First Consul Scenario - 1800 to 1804 or Napoleon becomes Emperor

Emperor Scenario - 1805 until 1817-1821 

Napoleon can be killed on the battlefield, executed, or overthrown.

He can also face the treason of the Marshals, as in 1814.

The following are also reasons for the game to end:

  If Napoleon is overthrown as First Consul or Emperor, 

because Glory reaches 0 during those eras or because of a 

Defeat in Austria (Italy) (67), end the game immediately.

  Resolving certain cards, such as Louis XVIII Writes (97), 

Natural Frontiers (156), or Peace of Europe (209) end the 

game immediately.

  The game will always end, one way or another, during the 

Abdication Segment (13.1).

  The game always ends at the conclusion of the final Year 

(1817-21).

 As soon as a game ending event occurs, proceed to the Game 

End and Outcomes (13.0).

 The sequence of play is not long at all, especially if Napoleon is still a commander and not First Consul or Emperor. The higher you go, the more cards there are to play. This is the sequence of play:

Year Setup Phase [6.0]

 (Skipped in the first Year of any Scenario)

  Year & Card Draw Marker Segment

  Resource Income Segment

 Card Deck Phase [7.0] 

(Skipped in the first Year of any Scenario)

  Remove Cards Segment

  Add Cards Segment

  Shuffle Draw Deck Segment

 Card Action Phase [8.0]

  New Card Draw Segment

  Existing Card Play Segment

  Phase Advancement Segment

 Campaign Resolution Phase [9.0]

 (If the CAMPAIGN Box is empty, Discard all cards in the 

CAMPAIGN MODIFIERS Box, and skip the rest of 9.0)

  Assign Commanders Segment

  Spanish Ulcer Expeditions Segment (EMD Only)

  Resolving the Campaign Segment

  Commander Casualties Segment

  Other Campaign Events Segment

  Additional Resolution Segment

  Clean-up Segment

 Diplomatic Phase [10.0]

 (First Consul and Emperor Decks only)

  Foreign Diplomacy Segment

  Treaties and Conquest Segment

  Potential Campaigns Segment

 Domestic Politics Phase [11.0]

 (First Consul and Emperor Decks only)

 Clean-Up Phase [12.0]

  Reset Cards and Markers Segment

  Game End Check

Some card samples

 It is a relatively simple game; the complexity is listed as a '3'. However, the player is still given a myriad of choices to make in his trek toward power and dominance. The chance that the very next card, or the first one, could be the end of the game makes it a nail-biting experience. Just like the historical Napoleon, anything can happen at any time to your character. You can choose to play out his life as closely as possible to history to see if you could do better, or you can take his path to glory any way you want. The fun, mystery, and sometimes misery is all in the cards. I have lost games within the first couple of minutes, and I have lived as long as possible as the Little Corporal. One of the things that a lot of gamers, not necessarily wargamers, want in a game is replayability. In this game the sky's the limit as far a replay value. Each game and each turn are a new chapter that you can write in an ever-changing biography of the Napoleon that you happen to be playing. Of course, it helps if you have an affinity for the color green and Golden Bees. 

 This game comes with nicely done components and is easy to learn, and you will be playing in no time. The 2nd edition of the game is already on the P500 list, and it has a larger more complex version of the game coming 'I, Napoleon: The Limits of Glory'. The new game has a lot more characters and takes longer to play among many other things. This is a very good thing because the original game was great, and more of it can only make it better.

 Thank you, GMT Games, for allowing me to do a review of I, Napoleon. I must also say good luck to all the other budding emperors out there. May your cards always be lucky and you avoid pulling the dreaded card 33 and end up bleeding out at the Place de la Révolution. Although you do get a good view of Nostradamus's famous 'tile works'.

Robert Peterson

GMT Games

I, Napoleon

I, Napoleon: The Limits of Glory

 The Battle of Stalingrad

The Beginning of the End for Hitler in the East

by

Dmitry Degtev

  This is a book that is a bit hard to review. This comes mostly from the fact that the author flies repeatedly in the face of what we 'know' about the Stalingrad campaign. The author does not include any memoirs from anyone on either side of the campaign. He believes all of them are tainted by censorship and distorted reality. These are some of his own words from the Introduction:

"As a result, I became convinced that almost all of the books about Stalingrad are a mixture of real facts with numerous legends. Take at least the popular stories about sniper duels in the city, about which they even made feature films. In fact, the author could not find a single mention of snipers in any German or Soviet document! Also in the books, the success of Operation Uranus, as a result of which the 6th Army was surrounded, is explained by good planning, good training of the Red Army and the use of a large amount of artillery. In fact, it turned out that there was no artillery, and the Russian offensive did not differ in any way from similar highly incompetent attacks undertaken by the Russians in other sectors of the front."

 Do not think that he lets the Germans off the hook. He shows how the Fall Blau Campaign started out fine but turned into a complete fiasco with German troops crossing each other's paths and no real reason for some of their moves that were made.

 The author also comes up with much different figures for the captured and casualties on both sides. He does spend a lot of time showing the reader all of the movements and successes and failures of the Luftwaffe and the Red Air Force.

 Mr. Degtev has been the author of around 45 books. So, I think it behooves us to take a look at this book even though it contradicts a lot of what we have already read about the campaign. The book also comes with 32 photos and maps from the period. The only part of the book that brings me pause is something that afflicts many military histories. This would be the lack of enough maps. 

 Thank you, Casemate Publishers, for letting me review this book. Readers and other historians might have a bone to pick with the author due to his conclusions. However, I think this is a book that anyone interested in the Stalingrad Campaign should read, if just to get another take on the history of it.

Robert Peterson

Book: Battle of Stalingrad: The Beginning of the end for Hitler in the East

Publisher: Frontline Books

Distributor: Casemate Publishers

 Louis XIV's Marshals of France

by

James Falkner

 This is a book that I have been waiting to read for a very long time. Out of these Marshals of France I have only seen in English one biography of Turenne and another, done by this author, on Vauban. The author has opened up a large window on the wars of Marlborough by his various books on the subject. It is true that he did pen the book about Vauban, but other than that he has usually written about the English history of the War of the Spanish Succession.

 The book gives us small biographies of these Marshals:

Turenne

de Fabert

de Créquy

Luxembourg

Catinat

Boufflers

Villeroi

Vendôme

Villars

Vauban

Berwick

 The history in the book goes from before Louis XIV's childhood, and the Fronde, to the first years of Louis XV's reign. These men have a large part in the growth of France during the Sun King's reign. They run the gamut of being the children of simple folk to the illegitimate son of a king. The Fitz part of Berwick's name Fitz-James denoted at the time a child from the wrong side of the sheets, much like the name Snow in GOT. 

 The book also comes with 24 plates. These are of the 12 Marshals, and a further 12 are for other people who make up a large part of the Marshals' lives. 

 The lives of the Marshals are shown during their glory years and their not-so-great years. Marshal Tallard was not ostracized after his return from captivity after his self-inflicted debacle at Blenheim. Quite the contrary, he was held in high regard by Louis XIV after his return. Marshal Luxembourg went from pariah to heights of glory after his imprisonment during 'The Affair of the Poisons' (If you have not read about it, you should. It brings a whole new light on the Sun King's reign.). These are just two samples of what you will find in the book.

 There are only two things that I find upsetting/missing in this book. The first is that at 239 pages it is much too short. This book really needs to be a tome in length to give us all the information about these great men. The second is a technicality that I was hoping the book would find a way around. I have never found a biography of the Grande Conde in English. The technicality is that he was a Prince of Blood and therefore had no need of the title of Marshal to command armies for Louis XIV. He is shown during some of the other Marshal's lives but way too fleetingly for my taste.

 The author has done a spectacular job of helping to close the void or rend the veil that has hidden the Marshals of Louis XIV. These Marshals are a very large part of the history of Louis XIV's reign. While it is true that Louis did at times take the field with his armies, he never deluded himself as to who was actually in charge on the field of battle. Thank you, Mr. Falkner for this much needed glimpse into the French side of these conflicts. Thank you also, to Casemate Publishers for allowing me to review this excellent title.

Robert

Book: Louis XIV's Marshals of France

Publisher: Pen & Sword

Distributor: Casemate Publishers

 Antietam

For Men to Live Through

by

Command Post games

 Antietam: the very name should be talked about in hallowed whispers. The United States has seen many wars and tons of battles. However, this is the place where there were more American casualties in one day than any other battle. The date of September 17th, 1862 should be known by every US citizen. The names of Burnside's Bridge, the Sunken Road, and especially the Cornfield have resonated down through the years. The Cornfield, Miller's Cornfield to be exact, was a blood bath for many hours during that fateful day. More than one person described the corn stalks as being sliced right off as close to ground as possible, as if some large being had used a razor to cut them clean. Unfortunately, it was actually canister and musket balls that did the job. The odds against the Confederates were close to two to one. If McClellan had actually used his army as an iron fist instead of disjointed fingers the history of the American Civil War might have been entirely different. This game by Command Post Games gives us a chance to refight the battle.

 This is what Command Post Games has to say about the game:

"In this game, you will lead an army through a key historical battle in the musket era.  With multiple players, you will run part of the army (Corps or Wing) on a team with other players.  Unlike most games, you won’t have God like knowledge and control of everything.  Like real generals, you will often not know what the enemy has, where they will attack from, when they will move or even when your own troops will move. 

How do you win?

You win by sacking one of the enemy’s baggage trains or by inflicting 50% losses on their army first. 

How does it work?

As you fight, your units take hits, fall back and become ‘Spent’.  Spent units are vulnerable and easy to kill.  You can unpack a baggage train to rally them back to Fresh, but unpacked baggage trains can no longer move.  If the enemy sacks one or your baggage trains, you lose!

What makes this fun and very tense, is that all the pieces remain hidden on upright blocks.  You can’t be sure which ones are fresh or spent, elite or poor grade troops.  Where are the baggage trains?

Each command moves in random order by chit pull.  This is very chaotic, just like real war.  Who will move first?  You can use your HQs to try to jump ahead or delay your move.  Is it better to move first or last?  It depends.  Do you need to plug critical holes in the line or seize key terrain before the enemy does?  Do you want the enemy to go first so that you can fall back and delay their advance?  Or do you want the enemy to attack first so that you know where to commit your reserves?  All combat is saved till the end of the turn.  So, movement during the turn is very fluid and up for grabs.  Timing is everything.

In this battle, the Confederates are badly outnumbered and hard pressed.  Their backs are up against the wall of the uncrossable Potomac River.  They have better troops and good defensive terrain initially.  If they are knocked out of those positions, their defense can unravel very quickly.

Rated Most Realistic & Accurate for:

• Command & Control limitations

• Fog of War -hidden units and chaotic move order

• Logistics -deployment crucial to victory and keeping your forces able to fight.

Used to train officers in the US military and in military academies around the world.

What the Professionals Play

Great for teams and solitaire play.

• Period style map.

• Kriegsspiel style, hardwood pieces.

Options

Divisions:  Much faster setup and play time.  Great for playing out at restaurants or pubs:  Pub Battles!     

Brigades:  More precision and accuracy for troops & terrain.  Playing with brigade blocks will take about 2-3 times longer.

Brigades blocks Only:  Optional upgrade for players with Divisions.  Includes updated rules & scenario."    

    

The Cornfield

 These are the options for the game that you can order:

You can order the game with either a canvas or paper map. It can also be ordered with just the blocks and stickers. In this case, as in all of their games, if you can afford it go with the canvas map. 

It can come with either divisions of brigades. Trust me, brigades is the way to go.

 This game, and its siblings, used to be called Pub Battles. The name has been changed to Musket Battles. I prefer Musket Battles. It pretty much sums up exactly what you will be getting or looking for on the web.

Another view of Miller's Cornfield

 The number of pieces that come with the game is not overwhelming at all. What is amazing is how wonderfully they have been manufactured and look. The canvas maps could be used with a frame to decorate your game room and believe me it would be worth the price of the game.

 The Musket Battles Rules of Play is in full color; it is also ten pages long. It comes with tons of examples of play to learn the system. The type is of a good size and is in triple columns on the pages. The Antietam folder is really only five pages long. The first two give you the information on this battle. Then there are two pages that can be photocopied. One has the Divisional breakdown of each army and the other has the brigade breakdown. In the center is the sheet that has the brigade stickers for the blocks. On the back page is a picture of Little Mac and Robert E. Lee. To round out the paperwork is a photocopied black & white copy of the battle map.   The stickers themselves are little pieces of artwork. They are very easy to pull off the page and are easily maneuvered onto the blocks correctly. The blocks are also well done and are all uniform in shape and size without any flashing.

 What you get with the game certainly passes inspection from an art point of view. However, as usual the gameplay is the thing.

 The Musket Battles simulations are of the Kriegspiel variety. They are meant to simulate 18th and 19th century warfare. This part of the blurb from Command Post Games deserves to be read again:

"Rated Most Realistic & Accurate for:

• Command & Control limitations

• Fog of War -hidden units and chaotic move order

• Logistics -deployment crucial to victory and keeping your forces able to fight.

Used to train officers in the US military and in military academies around the world.

A much cheaper option than a full Field Maneuver Wargame is the Command Post Game.  Instead of actually calling out the troops, this wargame simulates the same thing by tracking the units on maps.  The first great, codified version of this is credited to von Reiswitz’ “Kriegsspiel” in 1812.  The Prussians developed this as a way of preserving and passing on the vast experiential command knowledge gained by officers from the Napoleonic Wars. 

The new generation of officers growing up in the peace that followed, learned how to maneuver, plan and write orders by playing command post games.  How well can simple command post games on paper simulate the reality of war?  History lists Kriegsspiel as a huge contributing factor in the victories of the Franco-Prussian war that followed.

Good command post games allow us to learn real world lessons, directly applicable to the real world in at a highly accelerated rate.  Meaning:  you can learn things from a game in a few hours that would normally take you 10 years of working experience in the field to learn.  They can be incredibly powerful learning tools.

You get out what you put in.  Train hard.  Train for real."

"Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics". I am not sure who first said it, but it is true, nonetheless.

They also have Ancient Pub Battles

 You can see from the above that this is a simulation and not a game. You are put in the boots of a general or Field Marshal of the time and this simulation attempts to put you in their place. This means that you will have to deal with all of the question marks and Fog of War that the real generals had to. You also have to take into account Moltke's "Friction". This means what happens when two forces collide and all of your well-planned thoughts for the battle go out the window. To me, the Musket Battles series succeeds in everything the designers tried to do and simulate. You have to worry about moving your troops in column during road movement if you want to get somewhere fast. This of course leaves those same troops vulnerable to attack. Flanking, Line of Sight, and Baggage Trains are just a few of the things and pieces that you have to deal with or remember the rules about. The rules are relatively short and well written. I really like the fact that when in doubt about things both players or player is expected to be an adult and act accordingly.

 Thank you, Command Post Games, for sending me this beautiful copy of Antietam to review. If your games can teach reality of the battlefield to an old dullard like me, they can teach anyone. Please peruse their site to see all of the excellent games they produce.

Robert Peterson

Command post Games

Antietam: For Men to Live Through

Here is a review I did about the Gettysburg module of Musket Battles:

Pub Battles Gettysburg by Command Post Games - A Wargamers Needful Things

This video comes from Example of Play, a YouTube channel focused on a wide variety of strategy games, tactical titles, simulations, and more. Subscribe to  Example of Play  for more tutorials and gameplay!

Advanced Tactics Gold is a unique wargame that offers infinite replayability with randomly generated worlds to conquer using WW2 era forces. The game gives maximum freedom to the player to create their military, designing their own unit formations and order of battle. That can be a bit overwhelming at first, so I created a series of tutorial videos to help you get going!