by Michael Eckenfels, 16 March 2025
It’s going to be a big year for ol’ Napoleon.
First, of course, we go through all the usual start-of-turn stuff…we lose 2 Glory (moving our total to 44), gain 1 Political (moving the total to 8), gain 5 Admin (moving the total to 5), and gain 1 Diplomacy (moving the total to 1).
I could exchange Political or Glory points for Admin points, and know that the Imperial Plebiscite card costs 2 A to implement. So that’ll reduce me to 3 Admin, and I’m not sure if I”ll need more Admin this turn or not. Perhaps it is a wise idea to invest in a trade here to gain a bit more. So, I trade 2 P for 2 A, netting me a grand total of 7 Admin and 6 Political.
Now, we deal with our Draw Deck additions and subtractions. The main thing is, since I’m going to declare myself Emperor, the entire EMD deck will be added in, which is a big stack. Additionally, there’s a lot of ‘at start’ cards that need to be placed and/or played here, too. Since this year/turn counts as an ‘Era Change’ (something I was remiss in mentioning before), which is due to the move from First Consul to Emperor, that fat stack gets added into the Draw Deck.
This is the latest episode in a running playthrough of Ted Racier’s I, Napoleon from GMT Games; you can find the links to all published episodes at the end of article, with new ones each Sunday
Additionally too, at this point, I’m making no apologies for whether or not I screw up the rules. It’s my game so I’ll play it how it makes sense to me, and as far as writing this article up is concerned. I could be wrong but I think these cards are added now as are the immediate effect ones, so we’ll get into that here.
I’ve removed four cards that are pulled when the EMD (Emperor Era) is entered, so those four are taken out. Then, there’s three more cards that were merely discarded in this last turn that are added back in.
Other cards are affected, too. For one, the Treaty of Basel, which ties us to Prussia in peace, is removed. Prussia remains Neutral, but can be affected by Diplomatic die rolls, now. Similarly, the Spain Allies With France card is now removed as well; Spain remains Allied, and we’ll see how long that lasts.
Also I only now realized that both Abbe Sieyes and Paul Barras, both in our Politics box, get removed when the First Consul Era starts. Welp. Not a big deal as neither of these cards had an impact on things (that I can recall to this point, anyway), so off they go.
We also must bid adieu to our Bonaparte Leads and Maneuver sur Les Derrieres cards, so those leave our Strategy & Tactics space, leaving us with the Bonaparte Plans card.
most images can click to enlarge
The stack at top are all the cards that need to be played to the board immediately. The lower left tall stack are all the new EMD Era cards that get added to the existing Draw Deck (at lower right). First, though, we will add all those beautiful EMD-marked cards.
But there’s still one thing to do, I think, to kick things off.
The First Consul for Life card goes buh-bye and I look at the Imperial Plebiscite card now. I have to pay 2 A to implement this, and in reading the card, it says the EMD cards only get added NEXT year, not THIS year. My error, but that’s how it goes. Still, cards 145 through 155, inclusive, must be played now into the Potential Campaigns spot, and an EMD campaign has to be chosen THIS year. So we’re going to have some battling to do later. But, we don’t have to select one right now.
We certainly will have several to choose from.
The remaining EMD stack is set aside next to my Draw Deck, as are the other immediate play cards. Sorry to get you all worked up in anticipation…next year you’ll get a detailed look at all of these. For now, let’s see how our newly-crowned Emperor does, after I shuffle the current Draw Deck.
There were some good harvests during Napoleon’s rule, but they were unfortunately outnumbered by the bad.
This doesn’t do much other than remove the Bad Harvest card from France, per the instructions on this Good Harvest card. That Bad Harvest card meant two rolls on the Domestic Politics table, but it was removed once it had an impact and was shuffled back into the deck. The only thing it will do is allow me to get rid of that Bad Harvest card (both it and this one, actually) if Bad Harvest comes up again, so that’s not too bad a thing.
Now, for draw number two.
Convinced, wrongly, that the Bourbon Duc d’Enghien was involved in plots against his life, Napoleon had the young man kidnapped, given a quick court martial, and shot The act served as a warning against plotters at home, but blackened Napoleon’s reputation throughout Europe. “It was worse than a crime, it was a mistake.”
Just goes to show that good things don’t last long in this game. I immediately lose 5 G, dropping my total to 39, and gain 1 P, upping that to 7. This will stop me from spending any Diplomatic points later, so my loss of Glory later in that Phase may very well be legendary.
Card draw number three is next. I can’t wait.
Josephine spent enormous sums of money on clothes and other luxuries, which only slightly dented her popularity with the French, if not with her husband.
Empresses be shoppin’, I guess.
As Josephine’s card is indeed in play, I lose 1 P, but that’s it. That drops back down to 6 and we move right on to card draw 4.
A well-timed cavalry charge could break even a French corps, as happened to the 1st Corps at Waterloo.
Now now, we haven’t even gotten anywhere near to Waterloo yet, so let’s wait and see what happens then, shall we? Silly game.
This is added to the Campaign Modifiers space and will present a painful -1 DRM to a second Combat Round unless I assign Murat to my upcoming Campaign.
And now for draw number five.
The Revolution had been strongly anti-Catholic, but in a nation still largely Catholic, Napoleon found it wise to reach an agreement with the Pope. It eventually shattered, only to be renewed before Waterloo.
The value of playing this is in allowing the Pope Crowns Napoleon card to be played, but at this moment I am ignorant of how that would impact play. To play this, I have to spend 1 A and lose 2 G, but gain another Diplomacy point. Since Diplomacy is useless to me this turn thanks to that affair card above, I’m going to pass on this and just discard it.
I roll a 5 for card draw 6, so here we go.
Awesome; another negative DRM to our upcoming Campaign. I add that to the growing stable of cards there and roll a 9, so we’re drawing a seventh card now.
Oh good. I was hoping for another negative DRM to our upcoming Campaign. What great timing.
Fortunately, I roll a 3 for the eighth card draw (DR of 1-3), so that ends this painful collection of campaign modifiers for this turn.
I’m not doing anything else, so we can move on to the Campaign Resolution Phase. And interestingly, I can’t pursue most of these as none of the countries are Hostile to me. Well, except one card.
Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Nations (Leipzig) in 1813 led to him having to defend his throne on the territory of France. Though he acted with all the brilliance and energy of his greatest campaigns, sheer enemy numbers combined with treason among his Marshals forced his first abdication and exile to Elba
An interesting set of circumstances, though we’ve not really fought anyone yet.
For Commanders, I’m just going to load up. I have 5 Admin points I can spend and may as well use them all here, to help offset those awful Campaign Modifiers. This includes assigning Murat, in order to offset that Enemy Cavalry Charge card. I’ve assigned Murat, as well as Lannes, Ney, Junot, Desaix, and Bernadotte. Murat costs me 2 Glory, dropping me down to 37 total Glory – that stinks like a sweaty wig, but it’s par for the course right now, The other five cost me a total of 5 A, dropping me down to zero Admin, but that’s okay. They’re there to spend, after all.
The Opposed River Crossing and Enemy Guns Campaign Modifier cards give me a total of -2 DRM. The River one only affects the first Combat Round, but the other affects all Combat Rounds, so hopefully we can wrap this up quickly.
I use five of them (not Murat, as he only affects the second Combat Round) to gain a +5 DRM, giving me a net +3 DRM.
And thank goodness – I rolled a 10. With a +3, we’re at 13, which is well over a Victory result. This sets Prussia and Austria to Neutral, but they’re both there already, so nothing happens.
That’s great, because a defeat would have meant abdication and the end of the game!
Of all my Commanders, I rolled a 2 for Lannes when checking for casualties – he is unfortunately wounded, and is discarded. We may get him back, but I have a good stable of Commanders, so I’m not too worried about losing him. Though, it may be tough to get him back with that fat stack of EMD cards being added next turn.
Now for our favorite Phase, the Diplomatic Phase. I have no Diplomacy to spend – which isn’t too big a problem as I only had one Point to spend before that affair card appeared. Though I did have a chance to get an additional one via card play there too, but still – it’s moot. With no Treaties in place, this will be interesting to see what happens.
Britain is already Hostile, so no roll is needed.
Spain is Allied, and I rolled a 4 – not good. That drops them down to Neutral.
Austria is Neutral, but I rolled a 3, so they drop down to Hostile.
Prussia apparently doesn’t want to miss out on this train of bad die rolls, as I rolled a 2 for them, so yes, they drop down to Hostile as well. Great.
And finally, Russia. Tsar Paul is still in place, so I don’t need to roll for them. And they therefore remain Allied. For now.
Next is the Domestic Politics Phase. I messed up earlier when I said that D’Enghien Affair card impacted Glory – it did not. It impacted this last Diplomatic Phase. So we get to see how awful I roll this time and see how much more Glory I lose.
I’m going to spend 4 P to get a +2 DRM for this roll, which is an 8. That +2 takes us to 10, which is no effect (10 or higher). Thank goodness; a bit of good news as we start to close out the year.
End of 1803 Thoughts
Not too bad of a turn. Not great, but not horrible. Next turn will be the turn, though, where things kick off. So, I’m glad Napoleon has lived this long to entertain you all (not to mention myself of course in telling this story), so hopefully he’ll manage to continue surviving a bit longer so we can see how this goes. After blowing all those Diplomatic rolls, it looks like we won’t have a shortage of Campaigns to choose from next year. Until then, thank you for reading!
I, Napoleon AAR
PART 1 ~ PART 2 ~ PART 3 ~ PART 4 ~ PART 5 ~ PART 6 ~ PART 7 ~ PART 8
PART 9 ~ PART 10 ~ PART 11 ~ PART 12 ~ PART 13 ~ PART 14
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