Napoleon: The 1815 Campaign (2nd Edition)

Two-player Block-game of the Waterloo Campaign
Designed by Tom Dagliesh, Lance Gutteridge & Ron Gibson
Published by Avalon Hill (1977)


Originally released by Gamma Two Games in 1974, the second edition of the game was published by Avalon Hill in 1977. I also have the third edition which was published by Columbia Games and has additional units, rules and turns. I personally consider the second edition to be superior to the third. Two of the beauties of the game are its simplicity and elegance – two factors that are diminished in the third and current edition of the game.

Napoleon was one of the first three wargames that I purchased back in the very early 1980’s. Not having live opponents, Napoleon was a wonderful selection as it lends itself so well to solitaire play. There are several reviews already posted so I will not spend much time describing the components or the rules and will concentrate on my personal impressions.


Napoleon is a block-game. By this I mean that the military units (infantry, artillery, cavalry and horse-artillery) are represented by wooden blocks. The blocks indicate the current strength of the unit (the starting strengths are either 2, 3 or 4) – the strength can decrease during the game as a result of combat and forced marches. The other important aspect of the blocks is that it creates a fog-or-war. The blocks are stood up on their edges (current strength at top) with their type and strength facing the owning player. The opposing player only sees the unit’s type and strength after he has committed himself to battle in their current location. In game terms this means that you know where the enemy is – you just don’t know exactly how strong they are until it is too late.

Normally games that have a fog-of-war focus don’t play out terribly well in a solitaire environment and yet, of the three wargames I first purchased, Napoleon was the one that received the most attention and time.


Set-Up – there are only 48 blocks. It doesn’t take long to set-up the game. When the other games you have are The War of the Ring and Air Assault on Crete it doesn’t take long to figure out that a five minute set-up time beats a 30 minute set-up time.


Choices – in The War of the Ring and Air Assault on Crete you can move every unit you have on the board. For a person new to wargames this is a massive challenge, especially when playing solitaire. Each unit can be move in an incredible combination of directions that it really can become overwhelming. Napoleon does not suffer from this problem. In their turn the French army can issue a march order to two groups of units. The Allied player can active one Anglo-Dutch force and one Prussian force each turn. In Napoleon movement is from point-to-point – something that makes the options much simpler. In Napoleon movement takes place along roads. Major roads allow the movement of up to 8 units per turn and minor roads allow the movement of up to 6 units per turn. If the road crosses a river then the number of units allowed to use the road is halved.


Planning – I know that a plan is a good thing to have regardless of the game that you are involved in. I find that in many wargames, despite having a plan, there is often a significant role played by opportunism – seeing your opponent make a mistake (or create an opportunity for you) and changing your plan as a consequence. I find that this rarely is an effective ploy in Napoleon. The French objective is to destroy both enemy armies – this is achieved by eliminating half of the Prussian blocks and half of the Anglo-Dutch blocks. There are two ways that the French can achieve this – either by eliminating them in battle or by occupying the Allied supply centres (Ghent for the Anglo-Dutch, Leige for the Prussians and Brussels for both armies). At the end of each Allied player-turn that the French occupy an Allied supply centre the appropriate Allied army will lose a block. The French have the choice of trying to eliminate one Allied army first – if the two Allied armies join up they then have a numerical advantage over the French. The French need to move fast and to keep their forces as concentrated as possible. The more spread out the French army the less effective it becomes. Because of the movement rules, moving fast actually makes the army more spread out. The Napoleon map lends itself to study to work out the most effective way to advance on one of the three axes – to Ghent, Leige or Brussels. At the start of each game the French player must have a plan.

The Allied objective is not to have both armies destroyed. The Allied plan will develop as a consequence of the French plan of attack. The Allies need to try to concentrate sufficient strength so as to be able to block the main French advance. At the same time the Allies need to have a covering force to protect all three Allied supply centres. The Allies also have the problem that if they defend too far forward the French will probably be able to attack before the Allied forces have concentrated. Alternatively, should the Allies defend too far back it makes it easier for the French forces to advance quickly and in a concentrated manner.

As a solitaire game Napoleon has the beauty that the Allies have limited units and conflicting aims and the initial plan should have sufficient flexibility to be able to respond to the French plan. The French plan should focus on wise use of roads so as to be able to deliver the ‘coup de main’ effectively. The game is, to a certain extent, a battle of two plans. From this point of view it works beautifully in a solitaire environment.


The Day/Night Environment – the game has two days turns followed by one night turn. This means that the French will move first on the first day and the Allies will move first on the second day, and so on. This has quite an impact upon the game. Units can only initiate combat during a day turn. This makes it tempting for the Allied player, during their first turn (the second day turn of June 15) to spread their forces out in positions to block the French. The French second turn will be a night turn and that means a single Allied unit in a town will totally block any movement by the French into or through that town during the second French turn. The problem with this plan is that it leaves the Allied forces spread out after their second turn due to their limited ability to activate units each turn (the Allied player can only active Prussian units in one town and Anglo-Dutch units in one town). While it is nice to thwart the French it is not so much fun to see your forces overwhelmed in the afternoon of June 16.


The Tactical Game – A battle can only occur if there are at least three units of each side present in a town. If only one side has at least three units the other side will withdraw before combat but will suffer pursuit fire. If the small force is made up of cavalry only cavalry units will offer pursuit fire.

The tactical resolution of combat is, in its own right, quite an interesting aspect of the game. Each type of unit functions differently during combat.

Initially each force is placed on the tactical display – either on the left or right flank, in the centre, or in reserve. During combat, if one of the flanks or the centre is emptied of enemy units the remaining units will retreat/rout and suffer additional damage. The object of the battle is to overwhelm one of the flanks or the centre.

I have participated in battles where one side has spread its forces evenly over the three columns where the other side has placed minimal forces in two columns so as to achieve overwhelming superiority in the third column. In this way it is actually possible for a numerically inferior force to defeat a numerically superior force. In the same way that in the strategic aspect of the game you require a solid plan at the start of the game, you need a solid tactical plan at the start of each battle.

Battles can be reinforced by units in adjacent towns. Fighting a battle can actually allow you to concentrate your forces in an effective and efficient manner. For this reason, amongst others, the Allied player should be very careful about where he decides to commit himself to battle against the French.

Regarding the tactical resolution of battle, units are placed in one of three columns – between the opposing columns there is what is called the middle ground.

Infantry can fire at enemy units which are advancing to engage their column. If they are not engaged they may move to reserve or to an adjacent column. They may form square which will reduce their firepower, make them more vulnerable to artillery fire and make them immune to attack by cavalry.

Artillery may fire over the middle ground at units in the opposing column.

Horse-artillery may move and fire in the same turn.

Cavalry may make a double move and uses double firepower on the first round of combat after they have charged and made contact with the enemy column.

There is a lot of flavour in this very simple combat system and the decisions made during the tactical resolution can have a significant impact on the outcome of the battle. It is a very subtle system with a very realistic flavour.


Playing Against A Live Opponent – while Napoleon plays well as a solitaire game it plays even better against a live opponent. The game should take less than 90 minutes so getting through 3 games in a session is quite possible. The game has a genuine element of bluff, but behind this bluff you still must have a solid plan. Even if your strategic plan goes well, you still need to have a solid grasp of the tactics of battle to be able to translate your strategic plan into tactical success.


The game has less than three pages of rules. It is one of those games where the very simplicity of the rules ensures that the player with the better plan should win. The longer the game goes the harder it becomes for the French to win. It is a very clever game design and the game comes jam-packed with tension. There really is a variety of options for the French player and part of the fun of being the Allied player is to come up with a plan that can respond to whatever the French decide to do.


“Dead Men Tell No Tales!”