Description

This is a strategic and operational scale game of the central European theaters of the Napoleonic Wars (France, Austria, Prussia, N. Italy, 1805-1815).

Napoleon and his Marshals covers 1805-1815 in France and Central Europe. Other expansions are underway that will add the Peninsular War, the Patriotic War in Russia and maps of Scandinavia and the rest of Italy. The game is strategic and operational. Each strategic turn is two months, broken down into 6 10-day operational turns.Forces are division level (5,000 men) per factor, with artillery, cavalry, Cossacks, and guerillas as additional specialized units. Leaders are included at the National Military Leader (Napoleon, Kutusov, etc.), Army commanders, and marshals/corps commanders. Combat units for 11 nations are included. In the expansions the naval war is added, with Nelson, other British Admirals, along with French, Spanish, and Russian admirals, and the navies of those countries and Denmark and Sweden, along with the armies of Spain and Portugal.

This is the basic game, required to play all other expansions and the campaign game, which will run from January 1805 through the end of 1815 or the final victory. Included is a 31" x 23.5" map, printed on plastic coated reinforced "banner" paper (which is rolled up for storage), and 5 counter sheets of 88 counters, printed front and back, and slightly larger than traditional counters at 0.6" square. Map scale is about 28 miles to 38 miles per hex (depending on where you are on the map).

During the Strategic Turns, nations collect taxes (production) and expend it on organization and units, including leader activation, replacements, new units, mobilization, sea lift capacity, foreign aid, supplies, and other items. Diplomacy may also occur. During the ensuing 6 operational turns, leaders and units are moved, battles fought, sieges undertaken and possibly diplomacy is conducted.

There are six scenarios in the game: 1805 (vs Austria, Britain and Russia), 1806-07 (vs Prussia, Britain and Russia), 1805-1807 (vs all four), 1809 (vs Austria, Russia and Britain), 1813-1815 (vs all four), and 1815 (the 100 days of Napoleon's second reign). A player-turn takes about 5-15 minutes, so along with a strategic turn, a full "season" (two months is the length of a strategic turn and its associated operational turns) takes about 1.5 - 2.0 hours - less if there are no battles, more if there are many big battles.