by Michael Eckenfels, 23 February 2025
Thus far, I think my biggest concern has been, play-wise, missing a card that’s already in play. It’s part and parcel with writing these types of articles that some time may go by between each write-up on my end, though this series was not released until it was completed. Still, I hope I’ve not missed anything during my playthrough and try to take enough pictures to illustrate the game. So far I think we’re doing pretty well though I feel like it might have been going TOO well.
Which begs the question – Napoleon could easily fall at the whim of a card draw or die roll. Not yet, though.
For this year’s turn – 1800 – we’ve reset our markers (Year on 1800 and Card Draw back to 1), and gained and lost Resources. Our Glory drops again, this time from 52 to 50 thanks to Nelson’s presence in Britain. Our Diplomacy goes up to 1, our Admin up to 5, and our Political up to 10. I won’t be doing any point exchanges here, but maybe during the Diplomatic Phase, we’ll add to our D if I feel it is needed.
One thing I could do is spent 2 P to activate the First Consul for Life card; one year has passed so this is okay to do at any point. But, I’m going to play this out another year at least before we go and try to get this label added. Doing this will move us right into the Emperorship and I want to feel out the game a bit more, though I think we’re at a good spot where we can do this soon.
There are no cards to add to our Draw Deck, except for Lannes to Portugal, which is placed back into the deck and it is re-shuffled. We’re now ready to go right to the Card Action Phase and do our first draw.
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Ah, our old friend, anti-French sentiment that must be uprooted immediately. I’ll utilize old reliable Junot here and subtract 1 A, dropping our Admin to 4. I’m not entirely clear, actually, if we have to pay the Admin cost as it is a ‘must’ directive (e.g., we MUST fight this battle), but I’ll go ahead and deduct the cost now.
With that +1 DRM, I roll an 8, getting a 9, which is a Success. We now lose 3 Glory because of that, but we gain 2 P points.
This wonderful card is of course not removed, but discarded, so it may appear again in future turns. Napoleon has not earned himself any friends by quelling more anti-French sentiment. Hopefully the next card will be better.
A well-timed cavalry charge could break even a French corps, as happened to the 1st Corps at Waterloo.
A Campaign Modifier card, this is now added to that box on the board. So we’re already facing a =1 DRM in the 2nd Combat Round of our upcoming Campaign. That effect could be mitigated by having Murat, but we haven’t come across him yet.
Next up is card draw number 3.
Napoleon’s purpose-built carriage was effectively a mobile office.
Ah, a decent card. This one is added to our I, Napoleon box on the board, and can be discarded to gain one Admin point. Let’s see what our fourth card is.
His victory at Hohenlinden nearly overshadowed Napoleon’s triumph in Italy. He later joined the forces allied against Napoleon and, after taking part in a conspiracy against Napoleon, died fighting against him at Dresden in 1813.
This is another Glory drain, but only if a Campaign gets to the second Combat Round. While it grants a +1 DRM to that particular Combat Round, it subtracts 5 Glory from Nappy’s totals, which is totally bogus. But if that second Combat Round does not happen, the card is discarded, so it may come back again.
Now we’re going to the fifth card draw.
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.
I must immediately roll 1d10, and get a 3. That is modified by +2 due to Josephine indeed being Napoleon’s wife, giving us a 5, which means a +2 G bonus. I’ll take it – we’re now up to 49 Glory.
For the sixth card draw, I get a 6, so we’re moving forward.
Napoleon offered a partial pardon to aristocrats and others who had fled abroad during the Revolutionary years, and a good many did in fact return.
I have a choice of spending 1 Admin to gain either 1 Political or 1 Diplomacy. I’m at 4 right now and think I’d be okay with gaining another Diplomacy point, so we’ll do that. Our Admin drops to 3 and our Diplomacy increases to 2. This card is removed from play.
My d10 roll is an 8, so we are moving to our seventh card draw.
When Thomas Jefferson decided to make an offer for the purchase of New Orleans, Napoleon, having given up his American dreams, offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory, more than doubling the size of the United States.
Uh-oh. Seeing this, I’m wondering how this will impact our upcoming Louisiana Campaign. Reading the card, though, means two things have to happen. For one, Spain must be Allied with France, and it is, so that’s a check mark.
The second requirement is that the Convention of Montfortaine card is in play. It is not, so this card is not going to be used right now. It is discarded, so it may come up again in the future. For now, it will not interfere with our grandiose American Empire plans!
For the next card draw, I get a 6, which is outside the 1-3 requirement to end our drawing, so we’re drawing an eighth card.
Organized by Napoleon on a system of Corps and Divisions, he would lead it in every campaign from 1805 to 1814, but after the bloody battles of 1807 to 1809 it was never the same.
This is an interesting Strategy & Tactics card. It will cost me 1 Admin to put it there on the board, and grants a +1 DRM in all Combat Rounds. It sounds like it would be a no-brainer.
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
However, it cannot be used for the Louisiana Campaign that’s coming up. It also is removed from play if a ‘Bloody’ result comes from combat. I’m at 3 Admin right now also, and am kind of hesitant to spend another Admin point on this. Furthermore, if I do nothing with it, it is discarded and therefore may come up again in the future. I think I’ll pass on this for now since it won’t give me any immediate benefit, though I hope I don’t regret that.
The DR for not drawing a ninth card is 1-4, and I roll a 2, so we’re done with the Card Action Phase. We’ll now move on to the Campaign Resolution Phase.
I’m going to assign Lannes, Ney, and Bernadotte to this Campaign. That will give me a total +3 DRM to our first Combat Round. This will be mitigated somewhat by the overall -1 DRM from the card, which applies to all Combat Rounds, giving us a net +2 DRM. Also, we cannot play any Strategy & Tactics cards for this Campaign, so it will now be a straight up 1d10 die roll +2, to see what happens.
I really worry this could just blow up completely. Given Napoleon’s desires of world empire now, one has to wonder if this is the point where everything goes wrong. My brow furrows a bit from tension as I collect the d10 and prepare to roll it.
Well now.
That is a Victory. Napoleon / I have done really well with die rolls to date in Campaigns. So that’s a good thing, right?
In any case, this is a Victory for Napoleon. This gives us +10 Glory and +2 Political, so our Glory is now 59 and our Political is now 12.
I also go into the discard pile and remove the Louisiana Purchase card, as that will not be pertinent any longer, and go into the Potential Treaties space and remove the Convention of Montfortaine card. That one just facilitates play of Louisiana Purchase, so it’s not pertinent any longer, either.
Finally, the War of 18– card is removed from the EMD (Emperor era) deck, so I go in and find that one to permanently remove it from play as well. I’m not familiar with this card so I’m not sure how that impacts things. Apparently though, this not happening means Wellington will not be diverted for the War of 1812 (or 18– in this game’s parlance), so he might make an appearance later? I suppose we shall see.
This Louisiana Campaign card is then placed in The Americas space on the board. We shall see what effect this has later.
I’d say Napoleon has done very well here, securing this slice of North America for the French Empire. Err, France. I’m getting ahead of myself, I suppose.
Next is the Diplomatic Phase. We’re not rolling for Russia thanks to Tsar Paul, nor for Prussia due to our Treaty of Basel. Spain, also, is Allied thanks to our treaty with them, so that leaves Austria – but Austria now has the Treaty of Luneville card flipped over and it stays in the Current Treaties box on the board.
This also means we do not need to roll for Austria, now. This treaty with them will stay in place until I decide Napoleon is ready to become Emperor, at which point I think Austria will take umbrage to said events, causing this treaty to go away. Austria remains Neutral, and we gain +1 D, +5 G, and +2 P. We’re at 64 Glory now, 14 Political, and 3 Diplomacy. Though, Diplomacy means squat right now as we can’t make any Diplomacy rolls.
Not even for Britain, which is always Hostile to us, because they’re a bunch of meanie-pantaloons.
For the Domestic Politics Phase, I’ll spend 4 P to gain a +2 DRM. The +1 DRM we get for an Allied Spain is removed thanks to the -1 DRM for a Hostile Britain.
And I get a 2, modified to 4, which is -3 Glory. Our Glory drops down to 61.
Now we do the Clean Up Phase, resetting our Admin and Diplomacy back to zero, and we will get ready for the next turn, 1801.
End of 1800 Thoughts
That was a really good turn, campaign-wise. Winning the Louisiana Campaign was a shift from history and garnered us a huge Glory bonus, further cementing Napoleon’s future in a positive light. Well, positive for French speakers everywhere. And the rest of the game is still waiting for us. Potentially, there are 17 more turns waiting to be played out. I’m very tempted to move Nappy to First Consul for Life in this next turn. I’ll have to sleep on it. Historically Napoleon did not become Emperor until December of 1804, so maybe I shouldn’t be so quick. But, I might want to strike while the iron is supposedly hot. I suppose we’ll both find out in the next article!
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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