Napoleon's Conquests - A Multiplayer Game Set in the Napoleonic Era

From Fellowship of Simulations:

Napoleon (aka France in the Game) is alone against 4 nations who will have to ally themselves to try to defeat the Emperor.

With the help of 3 government advisors (acting as boardgame’s workers), each of the allies will have to position themselves on the corresponding action zones

Obtain finances to buy troops and movement,

Increase his national morale to better resist during the fights and fulfill victory conditions.

Increase the level of society of the allies which contributes also to the victory conditions,

Recruit troops in the capital

And finally, to make an alliance which will protect him from Napoleon.

This first phase of positioning of the advisors is a real strategic management of resources between priority on economy/morale/society/diplomacy and military .

2 major objectives in this phase for the Coalition:

To prepare an alliance between them which requires money and diplomacy points.

Prevent Napoleon from reinforcing himself too quickly with troops and morale

Napoleon has 5 advisors and can place 2 in military zones.

This positioning also depends on the action cards of each player, which offer a great bonus to use. It is a permanent choice between the 3 active effects of each action card, only one of which will be played!

Don't forget the initiative zone which determines the order of the next turn. Indeed, a first position will facilitate the recruitment of troops (without forgetting their cost) but the last positions will give you the advantage in the choice of the fights.

Indeed, an important rule of the game is that battles are only resolved after all the players have moved in turn order.

The rules of movement offer a great tactical variety.

The Corps (CAV + CAN + INF) is the major unit of the game. Powerful and fast, it will allow Napoleon to reach Moscow in time, but it also offers the Allied coalition powerful troops to conquer Paris!

Napoleon is very powerful at the beginning of the game and the game may seem unbalanced. No, this steamroller is essential for Napoleon to hope to win, but if the alliances are quickly put in place, the game will not be easy and Napoleon.

The presence of neutral capitals with the advantages they represent, allows to extend the options of the game and to offer different strategies:

Napoleon could go to Madrid or concentrate his forces towards Berlin or Vienna. Rome allowed for a plan B victory based on a nonmilitary criteria.

The coalition must agree to quickly take Stockholm for the alliances bonus it provides, but the secret objective of each nation may hinder this project.

So what's new in this game!

1 No real randomness except for the distribution of the action cards, which also generates a surprising variety of games.

2 The alliances obey strict rules. Essential in the game, they are the subject of many discussions between the allies, which greatly contribute to the atmosphere and the duration of the game. The forced alliance on a nation is a complex weapon for Napoleon.

3 The Cornelian choice between Move and Reinforce for a tactical deployment of the troops which is key. As well as is the management of initiative because in this game it is necessary to alternate its order in the turn of play to move (and thus attack) after its target...

4 The powers of each Nation spice up the game a bit. Thus, the English are the financiers of the Alliances, Austria is the diplomat while Prussia encourages the other players to go to the Society track.

5 A semi-cooperative game for the Allies with the bonus of a secret objective that can sometimes make you forget that you must first defeat Napoleon to win.

6 You can play Napoleon's Conquests without knowing anything about his history, but you will discover a lot of event and not only war related ones. Historical events are not forcing the game in one direction, but it is true that the military card bonuses are more advantageous with an Italian campaign in the first era and a Russian campaign in the second era.

Thus, throughout the games we will learn through anecdotes of the fascinating history of this period on the French side as well as the Coalition side.