Introduction:

It is noon June 15, 1815 and the battle which will shape the destiny of Europe is about to begin. This the situation that is the basis for the game of "Napoleon."

Napoleon is the first third of the true modern wooden "block" wargames. It has been around since the early 1970s and despite its flaws is a game I really like. I first played it when I was in seventh grade and it seemed at the time a grand departure from the hex and counter AH wargames that I had been playing before. It required me to almost make the same sort of mental change in acceptance of what a wargame is that I later had to make when getting into the "plastic soldier" pieces of Axis and Allies.

Napoleon is a game for two players but can be played with three by splitting the allied armies into a British player and a Prussian player. Napoleon typically takes less than two hours to complete.

Note: This review is focused on the second edition of the game. Napoleon is now on its third edition which is different from the second edition in a number of ways. It has double the number of pieces, different board graphics and differences in the campaign and battleboard play. Much of this review will be applicable to the third edition but a potential should be aware that the two editions are not interchangeable.

Components:

Mapboad - A two-part color (22"x17") cardboard topographic map of southern Belgium primarily focused on roads, rivers and towns.


Napoleon Mapboard

Pieces - A collection of wooden squares in red, green and blue representing British, Prussian and French infanty, artillery, cavalry and horse-drawn artillery.


Napoleon Pieces (left to right - French horse-drawn artillery, Prussian cavalry, British infantry, French artillery.)

Battleboard - A two-piece heavy cardstock battle board. The battle board is divided into three columns with each column having an allied side, advance to engage side and a French side. The allied and French sides of the board also have a "reserve" area.


Battleboard - This image is for the 3rd edition which uses a simpler battleboard

Rules - A short rulebook that contains an appendix with lots of historical commentary and a few game strategies.

Dice - A small handfull of standard six sided dice are included.

Note: The 2nd edition of the game doesn't include a campaign game turn marker so you will have to supply a penny or some other such small marker.

Game Objective:

The player controlling the French wins if he can eliminate both the British and Prussian armies before the allotted number of campaign turns is up. The player(s) controlling the allied armies win if either of the allied armies survives until the conclusion of the last campaign turn or they eliminate the French Army.

To eliminate an army in Napoleon doesn't require the elimination of every single unit in the army but rather eliminating more than half of an army's units. This elimination rules makes players very reluctant to engage units that are down to there last strength point.

A secondary objective of the game for the French is to capture Brussels, Ghent and/or Liege. Every turn that the French have at least one unit in Brussels or Liege the British player loses a unit of their choice from the game. If the French occupy both towns then the British lose two units per turn. Every turn the French have at least one unit in either Ghent or Liege the the Prussians lose a unit of their choice. If the French occupy both towns then the Prussians lose two units per turn.

Game Setup:

The French and Allied player set-up their forces on the mapboard within the stacking limitations described in the rules. Perhaps the most significant limitation is that the British and Prussian forces don't start stacked together. Pieces face the opponent with the blank side facing the opponent.

Game Play Summary:

The game is played in alternating campaign turns. Some campaign turns are day turns and some are night turns. A campaign turn is composed of making campaign movement and Battle Resolution (moves resulting in battles cannot be made during night turns.)

Campaign Movement

The French player can move up to three groups of units per campaign turn, while the allied player can move two British and two Prussian groups per campaign turn. A group is defined as all the units that start the campaign turn in a single town together.

Movement of groups have the following restrictions:

Infantry and artillery can only move to an adjacent town. Cavalry and horse-drawn artillery can move up to two towns away. Force marching will allow units an additional move at a risk of possible loss of troops.

Only eight units total can move across any one major road section per campaign movement turn. Only six units total can move across any one minor road section per campaign movement turn.

If a road section crosses a river then the number of units that can move across it are reduced by half (i.e. only five across a major river road and three across a minor river road.)

Units must stop there movement when they move into a space containing enemy units. When moving into a town containing enemy units the moving player must move a minimum of three units to the town.

Battle Resolution

If the defender has less than three units then the defending units are automatically subject to a route (see step of battle resolution.) The players, starting with the defender, deploy their units to the left, center, or right columns or the reserves box. Units are deployed with their blank side facing the enemy forces. Once all units are deployed all units (except those in reserve) are turned so that the opposing player can see their combat values.

Combat then commences starting with the attacking player being the first active player.

The active player may move any of their non-engaged units. Infantry and artillery can move one space and cavalry and horse-drawn artillery can move two spaces. Engaged units are those that are those that are facing enemy units in the engaged row of their column of the battleboard.

Engaged infantry and cavalry may fire as well as artillery and horse drawn artillery that are not engaged. Units fire by rolling a number of six sided dice equal to their current combat strength. They score a hit on a targeted enemy unit for every die that results in a six. The rules for scoring a hit are modified by various battle field factors such as whether the target is an infantry unit in a square, or if the attacking unit is a cavalry unit making their initial, "shock", attack.

The defender absorbs the hits taken by reducing the combat factors of the target unit a number of times equal to the number of hits taken. If a defending unit takes a number of hits greater than or equal to their current combat strength it is eliminated.

If a player on either side loses all of their units in a single column then that player's forces are routed (go to step .)

The currently active player may place additional unit(s) into their reserve from friendly units in towns neighboring the battle town if any such units are available.

The active player becomes the defender and the previous defender becomes the attacker and may either retreat or play resumes with step .

Once the battle is over the defender is considered to be routed. The winning player gets an additional number of shots based on the unit types of the remaining victorious and defeated (routed) units.

My Rating:

I would rate Napoleon at . The game's designer used wooden pieces and simple cartographic graphics to very good effect. Somehow these elements draw you into the romanticized feel of the 19th century when people fought (and were maimed and slaughtered) with honor. Napoleon has its flaws (as noted below) but has enough strengths for me to want to put it out on the gaming table a few times a year even though it is an old game (as block wargames go ).

What's good about this game's design?:

Napoleon is strongly themed and yet theme doesn't get in the way of good game play.

The rules are clear (especially for a 1970s wargame) and there aren't an over abundance of them to memorize. I think Napoleon is a middle weight game.

The game moves at a decent pace without too much down time for either player.

The battles are interesting to resolve with room for good tactical play admist the plentiful die rolling.

The battles can have a lot of tension, especially when both sides have a column that might collapse with a strong round of fire from the other side.

What's wrong with this game's design?:

The game as written is significantly imbalanced in favor of the allies. This may be historical but can be frustrating for the player leading Napoleon's forces.

Battles use a lot of dice to resolve. This could be a good thing if you like that type of possible randomness but is bad if you don't like chaos of war to affect your strategies or if you simply don't like rolling a lot of dice.

Due to the fixed city objectives and the way that roads and rivers limit the best movement paths the number of strategies leading to success for the French player are limited. In my opinion though this very limitation has a certain charm to it as often you are forced to march bravely into the face of adversity.