by Michael Eckenfels, 30 March 2025
Here we go with our first full turn as Emperor. Like I said in the last article, I’m hoping for big things this turn (namely, a conquered Prussia).
For Resource Income, we have -4 G, +1 D, +5 A, and +1 P, which gives us a grand total this turn of 46 G, 1 D, 2 P, and 5 A. I don’t want to exchange anything so we’ll just stick with what we have at this time.
For the Card Deck Phase, there are no cards to add nor any discards to put back into the deck, and even though this is the case, the deck needs to be shuffled…no small task as the deck is still quite large. However, shuffled it shall be.
And now for our first draw in the Card Action Phase.
most images can click to enlarge
Napoleon attempted to bring movers and shakers of Paris on his side, but he was too serious and focused to make a favorable impression. Fortunately, he had Josephine, who was much better at it, for much of his rule.
Fortunately, we DO have Josephine as our wife still, which gives us a +2 DRM to a 1d10 roll that we have to make right now. I get a 4, which is adjusted to 6, which gives us +2 Glory, upping our Glory total to 48. I’ll take it! Interestingly, this card does not have a ‘remove from play’ icon on it, so it is merely discarded and will be shuffled in for the next turn. Can’t say I’m against that. Though, this card can result in a loss of 1 Political point, too.
Time for the second card draw.
Designed to represent the demands of the people, its abolition was another example of Napoleon centralizing power in his own hands.
This card gives me the option of spending 5 Glory to gain 2 Admin points and 1 Political point. That’s fairly steep, but the point exchange in the earlier part of the turn is 3 G for 1 A, so you’d have to exchange 6 G for 2 A at that point. This is a bit cheaper, Glory-cost-wise. And I might need those Admin to spend for our Campaign, which I really want to win. I hate to do it, but I’ll spend that 5 Glory to dissolve the Tribunate, which drops my Glory total back down to 43. Easy come easy go I guess. My Admin goes up to 7 and my Political, to 3. With that, this card is removed from play.
Time for the third card draw.
If it is going too far to say that England bribed nations into opposing Napoleon, the promise of gold certainly influenced their decisions.
Oh, here we go, Britain trying to start stuff again, this time by bribing the powdered wigs in Austria to fight me. Little do they know we’re already planning for that, and they’re already Hostile towards France, so…this card doesn’t do anything. However, it’s one of those cards that can un-conquer Austria, actually. There are no Treaties in place, so that doesn’t happen, and as I said, Austria is already Hostile towards us, so there’s no need to shift that. Then, the card is removed from play. That’s kind of a boon, actually, getting rid of this card now so it won’t come up later.
Card draw number four time!
Napoleon once accidentally shot Marshal Massena in the face, costing him an eye.
Oopsie?
We lose another 5 Glory, dropping our total to 38. Oof – 1805 is turning out a bit rough in the Glory department. I actually do have Massena in my Commanders box on the board, so I flipped his card face-down so he cannot be used in the upcoming Campaign. Of course. Oh well, it’s not like I meant to shoot the guy. And I’m Emperor, so deal with it.
Time for card draw 5.
Alexander I, taking the throne over the body of his murdered father, would help lose the Battle of Austerlitz, thus learning the lesson that war was best left to the generals. Falling under Napoleon’s influence at Tilsit, he shook it off by the time of the Congress of Erfurt, influenced in part by secret advice from Tallyrand to stand up to the Emperor. When Stalin was congratulated on reaching Berlin in 1945, he replied, “Tsar Alexander got to Paris.”
So, we finally say goodbye to Tsar Paul. That card is removed from Russia, and this one is placed in that space. This means we will now need to do Diplomacy rolls with them each year, but a small consolation is, for the first Campaign we have involving Russia, we get a +1 DRM since it’s assumed this guy will lead Russian forces. But, only once.
I rolled a 2 for the sixth card draw, so we’re doing that next.
Tsar Alexander fought a war with Sweden over Finland, which was conquered and held by Russia until the fall of the Romanovs over 100 years later.
Apparently Tsar Alexander wastes little time and starts a bit of a tiff with Scandinavia. This card goes in the Russia space and will grant us a +1 DRM to our upcoming Diplomacy roll with them, which is not a bad thing, but it can be removed in the end of year Clean Up Phase, potentially. I guess they’ll be a tad distracted for the near future.
My next roll is a 7, outside of the 1-2 DR for the seventh draw, so we’re doing that now.
Only occasionally loosening his grip, Napoleon introduced strict censorship early in his rule and generally tightened it thereafter.
I can choose either to lose 5 Glory and gain 1 Political point, or lose 2 Political points and gain 5 Glory. I’m not losing more Glory by choice as our total has dropped by 10 so far this turn, so I’ll choose the first option. My Glory increases 43, but my Political drops to 1.
For the eighth card draw, I roll a 10, which definitely means we’re drawing another card!
Looting was not just something individual French soldiers practiced, but was done by Revolutionary (and to an only slightly lesser extent Imperial) armies on an organized and grand scale, helping to pay the cost of war.
This is a Campaign Modifier card, but will not impact the actual combat. Rather, it means we need to take a slight Admin and Glory hit (-1 each), and then a Political point gain (+2) afterwards. I’m guessing the Admin hit represents losing control briefly of the troops and the Glory hit means this wonton act does not look good on Nappy.
And the ninth card draw has a DR of 1-4; I roll a 5, so we’re drawing a ninth card. 1805 is proving to be quite eventful.
Marmont was Napoleon’s oldest friend, but he betrayed Paris to the enemy in the 1814 Campaign. He was the last of the Marshals to die, 38 years after his treason.
He’s added to my already large stable of Commanders.
The tenth card draw has a DR of 1-5, so of course I roll another 10. Sheesh, what’s with all the 10 results? Oh well. A tenth card it is.
Trafalgar was the great British naval victory in 1805 that cost Nelson his life but won Britain the oceans. If Nelson was not in command in 1805, Napoleon’s plan to gain control of the English Channel long enough to transport his army to conquer Britain, might perhaps have succeeded.
Well, crud.
Nelson is indeed in play. This little brush-up means he’s removed from the Britain spot, finally, and therefore that -2 Glory penalty he imposed each turn is gone, but it also means (pretty sure, anyway) that there’s no chance we can conquer Britain, now. I lose 5 Glory, dropping that back down again to 38, and 1 Political, dropping that down to zero. So much for those grandiose plans.
The eleventh card draw has a DR of 1-6; I rolled a 5, so that’s the end of the card drawing. Finally, it’s time for the Campaign Resolution Phase.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier was, when Spain went Hostile, this card was flipped over to its Active side. It’s only resolved, though, if the Campaign box is empty on the board, which it was not because we had to choose one in the last turn. So we’re going to go beat up on the Austrians and Prussians (allegedly).
First I select my Commanders. I’m spending 6 Admin to bring several to the battle. Some I will not choose due to other costs that I don’t want to pay (Glory and Political points, which I don’t want to reduce nor have any of, respectively). With five of those six (the sixth one, MacDonald, only applies to a second Combat Round’s battle), my total DRM is +3 when all the Campaign Modifier cards are incorporated (We Have But A Short Time for War, -1 DRM; An Army Marches On its Stomach, -1 DRM). My total positive +5 DRM for the five Commanders is therefore reduced to a +3 DRM.
I roll an 8, modified to an 11, which is a Victory! Hahahaha, take that, Austria and Prussia. That means the Treaty of Dresden is busted out from the Potential Treaties pile.
This hypothetical treaty covers the defeat of an Austro-Prussian alliance.
‘Hypothetical.’ Pish-posh. Sounds like someone doubted my Emperorship.
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
There’s a bit to unpack here. For this Treaty, we gain 1 Diplomacy point, 15 Glory points (whoa), and 3 Political points. That gives me a total of 1 Diplomacy, 53 Glory, and 4 Political, all of which are most welcome. It also means both Austria and Prussia are now Allied.
Since this Potential Treaty card existed, I can’t Conquer them. If either of them shift in a Diplomacy Phase or card play, then this Treaty goes out the window, and they can then be suitably brought within the French European Co-Prosperity Sphere. We all sound like Maurice Chevalier – haw haw haw!
Both of those Campaign Modifier cards mentioned above are now removed, and then I implement what happens for the Looting card – that’s -1 A and -1 G, but +2 P, so we’re now at zero Admin, 6 Political, and 52 Glory. Looks like this card also gets reshuffled back in, as well.
Time for the Diplomatic Phase. We don’t have to worry about the Treaty of Dresden going buh-bye due to a bad roll here, because it is placed face down for the moment, and then is flipped face up again in the end Clean Up Phase of this turn. So that’s a relief; I panicked a bit thinking my new thralls would get uppity and fight back. No Diplomacy roll is made, therefore, for either Austria nor Prussia this turn.
Since Britain and Spain are both Hostile, neither of them need a roll, either. That leaves us with good ol’ Russia, and with Tsar Paul gone, we’re looking at Tsar Alexander and therefore, that +1 DRM we get to our roll with them.
I’ll spend my 1 D point to get another +1 DRM as well. I could spend 3 Glory to get another +1 DRM, but I’ll leave it at +2 for now.
I have nothing to worry about; I rolled a 9, modified to 11. A result of 6+ is No Effect, so Russia remains Allied. Here’s what our Diplomacy Track looks like:
Diplomacy Tracks
And now we’re doing the Domestic Politics Phase. This is a bit more interesting this time around as we have three Allied countries but two Hostile ones, which nets a +1 DRM (-1 for each Hostile and +1 for each Allied). I’ll go ahead and spend 2 P, dropping that to 4 Political total, to get another +1 DRM. My roll is a 9, modified to 11, which is another No Effect result. We lose no Glory to domestic politics issues.
And in the final Phase, the Clean Up, we flip the Treaty of Dresden over to make it active, so we could technically lose it in this next turn if we roll poorly enough.
End of 1805 Thoughts
Well now. Trafalgar happened, as it did historically (and in the same year it did historically; go figure). That was a pain as I was hoping to subjugate Britain, no doubt as the real French Emperor was hoping to do. But, we beat Austria and Prussia like a rented drum (this time, anyway; no telling what will happen later), which is good. I think I might have to resolve the Spanish Ulcer Expeditions card in the next year, but that Potential Campaigns segment, I didn’t get to choose anything – so let’s see…well, the only one that applies is the Napoleon in Spain card, since Spain is Hostile and none of Austria, Prussia, or Russia are Hostile. But, this means we ignore that Spanish Ulcer Expedition this next year.
Should make for an interesting turn next year. I hope we can keep it together to keep increasing Glory and maintain our drive. But knowing how convoluted things are, beating a power doesn’t mean they stay beaten. They come back like bad sequels sometimes.
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
Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons.
Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web.
You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events.
Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.
