Michael Eckenfels, 26 January 2025
Ah, 1796. Big things are in store for Napoleon, I can feel it. Hopefully good things and not more scabies or other detestable 18th-century affliction.
Turn 4 – 1796
The Year marker is moved to 1796, and the Card Draw marker is reset at 1. This completes the Year & Card Draw Marker Segment. Next is Resource Income, which is +2 A and +1 P, like we talked about in summary at the end of the last installment.
If my calculations are correct, we’re at 22 Glory, 8 Political, 2 Admin, and 0 Diplomacy. For now, anyway. I won’t be exchanging any points at this…uh, point…so there’s nothing else to do but move on to the Card Deck Phase, where we’ll realign our Draw Deck.
First, we remove cards. The only one to be taken out of the Draw Deck is the Capturing a General card, that one that we missed out on using. I also have to remove the Sick Leave card from the I, Napoleon space, as apparently skipping out on any Campaigns by claiming a case of the sniffles is no longer an option.
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Next, we add the 1796 cards to the deck. There are three that are immediately placed before the others are added in. Let’s take a look at those, now.
With his victories in Egypt rendered meaningless by Nelson, Napoleon launched an attack into Syria as a prelude to a fantasy of marching on Constantinople or India. Fortunately for Napoleon his adventure in Syria failed, preventing him from such suicidal ventures, and he soon abandoned the army to return to France.
Well, we’ve not fought the Egyptian Campaign as it has not yet come up, but perhaps it still can. Regardless, this is placed in the Potential Campaigns spot, and won’t therefore become a possible Campaign until we get to First Consul status.
Fouche served as Minister of Police under every sort of French government. Completely amoral but quite effective, Napoleon would eventually grow suspicious of him and remove him from office before bringing him back during the 100 Days.
I’m not going to worry about this guy right now, as his effect only applies when I am First Consul or Emperor. It costs -1 A to flip this face up, and then will ‘grant’ -2 G and +1 P per year. Doesn’t sound like a good deal to me, regardless of Napoleon’s level. But, it can affect a DRM on the Brumaire card, so that might be something to ponder for later, should that happen to us.
The treaty that ended the war with Austria in 1796 was not popular with the Directory, who nevertheless had to swallow it. The Austrians broke it almost immediately.
This one can potentially only be played with a victory in the Army of Italy card, so that will stay in the Potential Treaties spot for now.
Also, I completely messed up that the Treaty of Basel should have been in the Current Treaties box on the board, not Potential Treaties. That’s my bad, but it’s placement hasn’t affected anything in game regardless thus far. So I just moved it to where it should be.
All that remains is shuffling of cards, and we’re ready to get into our Card Action Phase.
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 is placed in the Commanders box on the board, with the other three. We’re building quite a stable of leaders here.
The Loyalty rating, which you may have noticed, only comes up if a certain card is drawn. We will see how that plays out if the time comes.
We’re now moving on to draw number two.
The plague struck the French army in Egypt and especially Syria. Napoleon showed considerable courage visiting the sick, when a flea bite might have put history on a very different course.
This card goes into the Campaign Modifiers box on the board, and will come into play if we prosecute the Syria Campaign.
Let’s move on to draw number three.
Oh, crap.
Horatio Nelson was the greatest Admiral of the Age of Sail, repeatedly destroying larger French fleets. He died during his greatest victory at Trafalgar in 1805, which ensured Britain would rule the seas for the rest of the 19th century.
Well this is not awesome. At all. He doesn’t have an impact immediately – in fact, not until we get to be First Consul, at least – but he will impose a steady -2 G per turn/year, and will impact the future Trafalgar card draw event, if we get to it. For now, he is placed in Britain, waiting snidely for Napoleon’s rise to power, I’m sure.
So far nothing but potentially bad things for the future. Let’s hope something more interesting and current happens next, in our fourth card draw.
Tallyrand was frequently Foreign Minister during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. Brilliant and entirely without scruple, he always acted in the interests of both France and Talleyrand, sometimes in that order. His entrance to a room leaning on Fouche led to the memorable bon mot, “A vision of Vice supported by Crime.”
Like many of our other card draws thus far, this can only potentially impact us in the future. However, this is a decent card as he grants us +1 D (Diplomacy) per year as a Resource Income, something we still have zero in. However, that does not apply unless Napoleon at least gets to First Consul status. For now, he is placed in the Talleyrand space on the board, and we’ll move to our fifth card draw.
Napoleon not only brought an army to Egypt, but a team of scholars and experts. The discovery of the famous Rosetta stone, which unlocked the secret of Ancient Egyptian,was perhaps the most lasting result of the eastern campaign.
This goes into the Modifiers space on the board, and like everything else, won’t affect us until the Syrian Campaign pops up, which won’t happen until we’re at least First Consul, potentially.
That’s the last of the ‘free’ draws. The sixth one requires a d10 roll, and I get a 3, so we draw another card.
These revolts would occur across Europe as French victories and demands both expanded. Napoleon would send one of his commanders to crush it, and none of the risings, apart from those in Spain and Prussia, ever threatened the French hold.
This one is another immediate resolution Expedition, with me being able to use one of my Commanders. They have to be an Independent Commander, and all four of them have this designation on the card, so I will choose Junot. I’m not clear on whether an IC (Independent Commander) that has a ‘not loyal’ rating can be used as an IC, or not. BGG doesn’t have much in the way of clarification on this so I’ll just choose Junot as I just need the +1 DRM available. I could sacrifice one of the other two for a higher DRM, but I’m feeling lucky, punk. I have to spend -1 A though to use Junot, so I’m down to 1 Admin now.
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
I’ll also spend -1 A to use the Bonaparte Plans card and gain another +1 DRM for the first round. That will give me +2 DRM thus far with my die roll. I’ll also use the Bonaparte Leads card, to get another +3 DRM as that costs me nothing – but potentially could mean Napoleon gets killed. I’ll take that chance, though. We’re up to +5, but since the track only goes to +4, I think that’s as far as it can go.
That damnable Enemy Guns Campaign Modifier card gives me a -1 DRM, though, so I’m back down to a +3. I also think I have to discard the Rosetta Stone card, as it says to ‘discard without effect unless the Syrian Campaign just resolved.” Since this is not the Syrian Campaign, I imagine it has to be discarded, so I will do that now. Since it’s discarded and not removed, it can be shuffled back in, I believe.
That’s it for now. Let’s see how this plays out.
On the d10, I rolled a 3. With +3 DRM, that’s a 6, which is just enough for a Success! I’m glad I used all my potential Strategy & Tactics cards.
However, we LOSE -3 G, probably due to being associated with putting down French revolts. We do gain +2 P, though, as a measure of our elevation in the eyes of leadership by doing just that, too. Our Admin is now at 19 and our Political is at 10.
I think this card is also discarded and potentially reshuffled back into the deck later, as there’s no removal case for it on the card.
Now, I just need to roll for Napoleon leading from the front. I get a 7, which is No Effect. No wounds, no death, nothing. I guess Napoleon has a penchant for putting down peasants.
For the seventh card draw, I roll a 4, outside of the 1-2 range, so we draw again!
Napoleon’s legend truly began with his victorious campaign against Austria in Italy in 1796.
Hey, looky there – Army of Italy Campaign! The one the Treaty of Campo Formio was talking about. The Campaign space is empty so this is placed there. This could be huge for Napoleon/me/us. This won’t be resolved until after we’re done drawing cards, so next I roll a 10, and we’re drawing an eighth card!
This one goes into the Campaign Modifiers deck, which is not great as it’s yet another -1 DRM for us. The Army of Italy Campaign is going to be a bit more of a challenge.
I rolled a 9 so we’re drawing our ninth card of the turn…
Josephine’s infidelity was known to everyone but Napoleon until General Junot unwisely informed him in Egypt. Napoleon’s feelings for Josephine (and Junot) never really recovered.
Oh no! Josephine! Her affairs have come to Napoleon’s attention (well, ‘affair,’ singular – I recall reading about it but can’t remember the man’s name other than I think he was a cavalry officer and this happened a lot while Napoleon was off in Italy fighting the Austrians). She gets the boot and Napoleon is now wife-less. However, this is not without further punishment; Napoleon loses -5 G so we’re down to 14 G now, total. Thanks, Josephine, that really didn’t help much. Oh well, such is history.
The next, tenth, card draw roll is an 8. That’s outside the DR of 1-5, so we’re continuing this crazy train and drawing another card.
Davout was both the most able and most loyal of Napoleon’s Marshals, but the Emperor never warmed to him, perhaps jealous of a military talent that nearly matched his own, and so made less use of him than he should.
Oof. This guy gets a +2 DRM if used in a Campaign, in any one Combat Round. However, it costs -3 G to use him. Guess that well reflects on Napoleon’s lack of interest in utilizing him at all. Our Army of Italy Campaign choices just became more interesting. He goes right into our Commanders pile.
The DR for an 11th card draw is 1-6; I rolled a 6, so our card draw escapades are at an end for this turn, and we’re moving on to the Campaign Resolution Phase…where we’ll see how Napoleon does with the Army of Italy.
I’m going to look more closely at this from a game mechanics perspective, as every DRM is going to count. The first thing is the Assign Commanders Segment; unfortunately, I have no Admin points left right now. However, I do have Davout that I can use for -3 G. Kind of a steep price to pay, but that’s a +2 DRM I can use in any Combat Round. I feel like I have to do this, so I reduce my Glory from 14 to 11, and place Davout on the Campaign Battle Mat.
There are two Campaign Modifiers that will affect this Combat Round – Enemy Guns and Enemy Attack. Each gives a -1 DRM, effectively canceling out my use of Davout.
For Strategy & Tactics, though, I believe I can use the Napoleon Leads card as there is no cost to utilizing it. This will give me +3 DRM in one Combat Round, so we’re back up to a +3 DRM total right now. And that, after hopefully careful consideration, is the last calculation, so it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I need to roll on the table for Napoleon’s fate, which is on the Napoleon Leads card, but it seems to me I should resolve this first before doing so. Though it won’t matter if Napoleon takes one to the head regardless of whether or not the French win here.
On my d10 roll, I get a 5. With a +3, that becomes an 8, which is a Bloody Victory. This is a Success, thankfully. The ‘Bloody’ part is a generally negative thing, but this only impacts the Domestic Politics Phase. I suppose people may get unhappy over wonton battlefield slaughter, which apparently this Campaign was. I rolled a 6 on the Napoleon Leads card, which is just barely a ‘No Effect’ result, so he manages to get through without being scratched…this time.
With this Victory, the Army of Italy card has two choices. One is that I can immediately get +5 G and +1 P. Or, I can instead play the Treaty of Campo Fornio card instead. Doing this will mean we get +10 G and -1 P. The Treaty getting pushed through – which I think historically was done by Napoleon much to the chagrin of the Directory (I may be misremembering but I think I recall they had little choice but to support Napoleon after his historic victory over the Austrians in Italy). I am going to choose the Treaty path and get that +10 G, for the cost of -1 P. That’s now a grand total of 21 Glory and 9 Political.
Both the Army of Italy and Treaty cards are removed from play.
We now skip over the DIplomatic and Domestic Politics Phases, as we are not yet a First Consul (but at this rate, we sure will be), and head right to the Clean Up Phase.
End of 1796 Thoughts
Napoleon was able to secure a historic victory over the Austrians in northern Italy, just like he did in real life. Pushing that Treaty through did historically rile up the powers-that-be back in Paris, but after the victory he just gave France, the Directory has little choice but to swallow their pride and deal with it. I can almost hear Napoleon saying to their outrage, “Okay then, do you want me to give northern Italy back to the Austrians?” We’re on our way to great things and 1796 was not a bad year overall. Any year where our Glory gets a huge boost, is a good year, I think. Let’s hope 1797, in the next article, will be just as good.
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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