by Michael Eckenfels, 2 March 2025
With the new year comes new turn stuff. Well, turn stuff we’ve done a few times already, but this is new for this turn, I suppose. The Card Draw counter is set back to 1, the Year marker is advanced to 1801, and we gain +5 A, +1 P, and +1 D. We also lose -2 G thanks to good ol’ Nelson rocking the boat. Literally, I suppose.
That gives us a grand total of 5 Admin, 11 Political, 1 Diplomacy, and 59 Glory to start the turn.
And after thinking about it, and being pretty sure I’m playing this correctly, Napoleon isn’t getting any younger so I spend 2 of my 11 Political points to remove the First Consul card, and flo[ over the First Consul for Life card. The effect is actually negligible game-wise, as our Admin resource gain per turn for him with this status is the same. However, after one year, I can then implement the Imperial Plebiscite card and therefore crown myself Emperor.
most images can click to enlarge
One thing I’ve not been clear on is the Year Track, which has color-coded spaces. Years through 1802 are coded CMD, for when Nappy was a General. Then, 1803-1806 is First Consul, and then 1807 thereafter is EMD, or Emperor. I’m thinking that’s just a guideline but am pretty sure Napoleon became Emperor in late 1804, so I’m not sure why it’s marked from 1807 onwards. I may have missed something but I believe I’ve been playing the game correctly to this point and every opportunity that has been made possible, has been so due to play and rolls. So while I may be a tad paranoid I’m missing rules or messing something up, I am confident we’re staying in the spirit of the game, and you’re getting a good idea of how it is played, at the very least.
So let’s move on and stop second-guessing. Well, no, that’s more me second-guessing and that ain’t gonna stop any, regardless. I’ll make the most of it at this point.
No new cards are added to the draw deck, and none are removed for 1801. I’ve shuffled three discarded cards back into the deck, and shuffled the entire stack, so we’re ready to start fresh.
Before being crowned Emperor, Napoleon created the Mashalate, consisting of 14 Active and 4 Honorary Marshals of the Empire. Eight more would be created later, the last being Grouchy in 1815.
Grouchy, eh? Guess he oughta lighten up! Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.
Sigh. Sorry.
This has immediate effect, but says ‘may,’ so I don’t have to do it. It will cost 1 Admin to gain 5 Glory and 1 Political point, then is removed. Seems an advantage to acquire Glory as often as possible, especially with Nelson and his -2 G per turn effect, so I’ll spend one of my five Admin to raise Glory to 64 and Political up to 10. We’re now ready for draw number two.
Liberating Jews abroad, Napoleon sometimes restricted their actions at home under the demands of Christian merchants who were jealous of Jewish success.
I have to either choose to gain 5 Glory but lose 1 Political, or lose 5 Glory and gain 1 Political. Obviously, I’m going for Glory, so I’ll drop our Political point total to 9 and raise our Glory now to 69! Nice. Of course I’m not really clear if that reflects what Napoleon did historically; the card and its description in the Playbook are kind of vague. I’m guessing it was the right choice, whatever it was?
Next up, card draw 3.
Napoleon always sought to end a campaign in a single action but the greater manpower of many of his opponents did not always allow for this.
That’s going to leave a mark in a future Campaign; I’ll have to fight two Combat Rounds rather than just one, regardless of Victory or no in the first Combat Round.
Hopefully Card Draw 4 is more interesting…
The sugar colonies of the West Indies, which depended on particularly brutal forms of slavery but provided a great deal of wealth to the French economy, demanded that Napoleon restore slavery, which the Revolution had abolished. To obtain their support, he agreed. When he returned to power in 1815 he found it politic to abolish it again.
An interesting but totally uncool moment in the scheme of game things, as this gets placed in the Americas space on the board. I immediately lose 10 Glory (so much for banking it so far this turn, I guess), dropping it back down to 59. Political points, though, increases to 11, so I guess that’s something. Not worth exchanging 10 Glory for 2 Political points so I wish this was a choice; I’d rather not lose the Glory but lose Political points for refusing to implement this, but we’re stuck with the instructions.
Okay then, let’s go to our fifth card draw.
Murat was the greatest cavalryman of the age. His unhappy marriage to Caroline Bonaparte won him a throne.
Another Commander for the stable, and one that can be appointed King of Naples, should that pop up in our play.
For our next card draw, I get a 5, so we’re drawing that sixth card.
This again. Discarding Lannes will just give me +1 D, which is temporary and thus far, the Diplomatic Phase has been a non-factor, so I don’t see why I should discard him for that. I just discard this card and it will get shuffled in again for the next turn.
I’ve rolled a 10 for the next card draw, so it’s on to number seven.
The creation of the Legion of Honor, given for both military and civilian achievement, was another method of winning support.
I can spend 1 A to gain 5 Glory and 1 Political. Seems like a decent trade, especially as that slavery card docked us 10 Glory…so I’ll do this. Our Admin total drops to 3, but Glory bumps back up to 64 and our Political total goes up to 12.
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
Next card draw roll is 5; a roll of 1-3 would have ended the phase, so we’re drawing an eighth card now.
This was Card 78, Madame de Stael. Apologies as I did not get an image of it!
Stael was a female intellectual, something Napoleon could not abide. She turned on him after initially supporting him.
Not a great card to draw. She’ll be an albatross and drag down our Political total each turn by -1. Not too big a deal as we only gain 1 P per turn, but this will mean we gain none per turn, now, unless I spend 1 Admin and 5 Glory. Sigh. Why does Glory keep coming then going? Spending that means she goes away though, and her affect happens in the Domestic Politics phase near the end of the turn. I think it might be wise to just bite the bullet and exile her now rather than wait. I suppose Napoleon really and truly could not stand her after meeting her, and got rid of her before she could cause any political issues for him.
Our Glory is once again back down to 59, and our Admin is now at a 2. But at least she’s going bye-bye and won’t appear in the game again.
For the next card draw, I roll a 3, which is within the 1-4 range so we are done with card draws for now.
I believe I’ve been missing something for this next Phase (yes, again), which is the Campaign Resolution Phase. It states that if the Campaign box is empty (which it is) and the Spanish Ulcer Expedition card is not active (it is not), then I discard all the Campaign Modifier cards and proceed to the Diplomatic Phase. I’d had three Campaign Modifier cards in there, so I’ll discard those now. They’ll get shuffled back in for the next turn, as none of them have a removal label for 1802. Still, sorry about missing that. But I don’t think it has too much of an impact on the game thus far.
Even in writing these articles, it can be a learning experience.
The Diplomatic Phase…well. Spain is Allied and both Prussia and Austria are Neutral thanks to treaties. And, Russia still has Tsar Paul in place, so no Diplomatic roll is needed there, either. Things won’t change much here until Napoleon decides to take the Emperor step – at the very least, this will cancel Austria’s treaty card and then make them eligible for rolls in this Phase. For now, though, things remain quiet, and I want to keep them that way. We do have two Potential Campaigns we can choose from – but that means war with Prussia or Spain. And as First Consul, it’s optional to do these, whereas as Emperor, one has to be chosen to be resolved for the following year/turn.
And finally, it’s time for Domestic Politics. Oh my yes, our favorite time of the year, right? Well, not much has changed, here – we get a -1 for a Hostile Britain (natch), a +1 for an Allied Spain, and then I spend 4 Political Points to gain a +2 DRM. The final DRM is of course +2.
My d10 roll is a 6, and with +2 that means an 8. Not bad but our Glory still drops -2, down to 57. Politics be rough, yo.
Final 1801 Type Thoughts
And that’s it for 1801. The Diplomacy and Admin points both reset back to zero, so it’s just as well I didn’t decide to add another Diplomacy point – what’s the point (ba-dum-tish) of that given the current diplomatic situations? I was worried I was using too much Admin, but with no Campaign there wasn’t much of a worry. Nothing really good happened, but nothing disastrous either. We did get a net loss of Glory, but it could have been much worse. Maybe next year we should do the Imperial Plebiscite? Something to ponder, I believe.
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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