Strategy in ‘Soldier Emperor’
Spring 1803
By Doug McNair
August 2006

One of the many attractions of the Soldier series of games is that each offers a unique strategic challenge.

Soldier Kings, the one that started it all, is a game of global military maneuver and geopolitics where those who master “hit him where he ain’t” and the timely backstab have the best shot at winning.

Soldier Raj, the game of war and intrigue on the Indian Subcontinent, offers players eight different wars in one box where money and manpower are always scarce and constantly shifting alliances hold the key to victory.

But for gamers who prefer a knock-down, drag-out barroom brawl of a wargame, Soldier Emperor is the ticket. Set during the Napoleonic Wars (1803 to 1815), Soldier Emperor gives up to seven players powerful, well-financed armies and navies with which to vie for domination of Europe. Diplomacy, alliances and event cards all play their parts, but — more than any other game in the series — Soldier Emperor is a game where the best general wins.

Factors Driving Play

Many factors set Soldier Emperor apart from other Soldier games.

Grudging Alliances

The game starts on a particularly fractious note. In the first two game years (1803 to 1804), no players other than France and Spain can ally with each other unless they have a Minor Country Alliance card. In the early war years, the European Powers had so little regard for each other that they were loath to unite even in the face of threats from Napoleonic France. Unless a player is lucky enough to draw a Minor Country Alliance card, he will have to rely on his own military prowess and whatever event cards he draws to get him through the first two years of the game.

On the other hand, France and Spain do start as allies in 1803, which is highly beneficial for both of them. Spain’s army is weak and has no business fighting France, but Spanish guerilla fighters are so effective that any invader will have an incredibly hard time getting any Money or Manpower from Spanish territory. France is best advised to stay friends with Spain and leave her alone.

Kingdom Creation

Napoleon loved to create new kingdoms out of the territory he’d conquered, putting a member of his family on the newly-minted throne to secure it. Soldier Emperor players can do this with the “Rhine Confederation,” “Grand Duchy of Warsaw,” and “Kingdom of Italy” event cards.

A player who controls any part of the appropriate territory may play the card and create the new kingdom. This brings in the kingdom’s armies on the side of the creating player, and gives the creating player victory points for the Money value of each territory in the kingdom that he controls. A created kingdom also can’t be stolen from the creating player through play of a Minor Country Alliance card.

Players holding these cards should do all they can to grab territory comprising the “kingdom” in question, since a created kingdom is a particularly solid minor country ally with victory-point benefits to boot.

Money Out the Wazoo

History has been kind to the Major Powers in Soldier Emperor, and they have far better-developed economies than in the days of the Seven Years War and Soldier Kings.
Britain and Spain get lots of money each winter turn from their overseas colonies. France does not get money from overseas colonies, but she produces 44 Money annually right at home. Russia is similarly endowed, and Turkey isn’t far behind. And for the smaller economies of Austria and Prussia, the rich territories of Germany offer highly-profitable pickings right next door.

There will be no shortage of Money for attacks, building and maintaining armies, and bribing minor countries to join the fight. Alliances between Major Powers based on monetary need are therefore be less of a factor, which gives each player a freer hand in determining his military strategy.

Game Summary

With that, here begins our own version of War and Peace, Days of Our Emperor, or what you will. . . .

Setup

France sets up her fleets in defensive positions on the northern French coast, and places several 2/2 and 2/1 armies in all her port zones as coastal defense forces. She places her strongest armies in attack positions to the east in Holland (with Napoleon), Lorraine (with General Massena) and Piedmonte (with Marshal Davout).

Spain places a mix of strong and weak armies in her southern and eastern coastal zones, and a strong force consisting of a 3/2 army and a 2/2 fleet in her Italian possession of Etruria (just north of the rich Papal States and Naples zones). She positions her remaining three armies and fleets on her northwest coast in Galicia, an aggressive position from which she could invade Britain, Portugal, or Morocco.

Britain reacts to the strong Spanish buildup in Galicia by placing a fleet and army in Gibraltar, and then concentrating the rest of her forces in the British Isles, from which they can take up defensive positions against a Spanish armada, or invade the northern French, German or Scandinavian coasts.

Russia concentrates her armies on a central front in Courland, Polesia, Podolia and Odessa, from where she can threaten Prussia, Austria and/or Turkey. She places two armies and a fleet on her south flank in Crimea and Georgia, from which she can threaten Turkey’s back door. Finally, she places two armies and two fleets up north in St. Petersburg, from which she can invade Prussia, Scandinavia, Germany, France or Britain. She also drew the Agent Provocateur card, so she plays it and draws two more cards. One of them is New Leader, so she randomly selects Bagration (good choice) and places him with the armies in Podolia, just south of General Kutusov in Polesia.

Prussia and Austria are both surrounded by potential enemies, so they spread their forces out evenly except for extra security to the west to deal with French expansionism.

Turkey is also threatened from several directions, so she spreads her forces out except for extra security to the northwest on the Austrian and Russian borders, plus a fleet and army on the southwest Balkan coast in Epirius, from where they can invade Dubrovnik, Naples or the Papal States.

Initial Diplomacy Phase

Austria is the only country that drew a Minor Country Alliance card, so in the initial diplomacy phase she approaches Russia and proposes that they unite to crush their mutual enemies Prussia and Turkey. Russia stands to lose nothing through such an alliance: A strong Austria is an excellent buffer against French aggression, and if Prussia is beleaguered from the south then Russia will have a free hand to conquer Scandinavia and northern Germany. Plus, Russia has several cards up her sleeve (literally) that will give her a good shot at crushing Turkey with minimal effort. Russia accepts.

France approaches her ally Spain and reveals that she drew the Kingdom of Italy card. To create the kingdom at maximum strength France must conquer the Papal States and Naples. Spain was hoping to grab those territories for herself, but France informs her that she should concentrate on attacking Britain to keep Albion off both their backs. Spain nods agreement but keeps her options open.

Spring 1803

In the Purchase Phase, everybody builds armies and fleets except for Prussia, who starts the game with all her armies on the board, and Russia, who has plenty of armies on the board and wants to save her money for attacks, repairs and maintenance. Turkey and Austria draw relatively weak armies, so their fortunes won’t be improved much by those early reinforcements.

The players roll for initiative, and France opts to reduce her roll by 2 so she can get last licks. The initiative order is: Russia, Prussia, Turkey, Spain, Britain, Austria, France.

Russia seizes the initiative and strikes on all fronts. Her Black Sea Fleet transports an army from Crimea to join a 3/2 army marching west over the mountains from Georgia to Turkish Amasia. Bagration marches south from Podolia while the Russian armies in Odessa march west to smash the Turkish General Bayrakadar carrying the Banner of the Prophet in Moldavia. Kutuzov marches northwest from Polesia while armies and fleets from Courland move southwest to join him in an attack on East Prussia.

The forces in St. Petersburg move west and attack Finland, bringing Sweden into the game. Britain and Prussia would both like to be Sweden’s ally — Britain especially, since it would give her a northern continental base from which to invade Germany. So Britain spends the maximum of 9 Money to increase her alliance die-roll by +6 (with plenty more where that came from), while the less-well-heeled Prussia spends 3 Money to give herself a +3 bonus.
Britain wins easily, and a Swedish army and fleet appear in Finland to fight the Russians. Russia’s ally Austria can move one stack of Austrians who aren’t stacked with the Russians, but the Austrian armies are so spread out that it makes no sense to go on the attack with a weak stack. So the Austrians stay put.

The Russian generals attack first. Kutusov spends 3 Money for a two-round Assault on East Prussia and attacks at 18 dice to 12. Each side scores three hits and takes two step losses, and the Prussians roll 10 + 2 = 12 for leader casualties, killing Kutosov!

Thus emboldened, the Prussians hold their ground, and on the second round the Prussians score two hits to one, ejecting another Russian army and forcing the rest to retreat. Just to give the remnants of Kutusov’s army that proper sense of Russian fatalism, the Prussian player plays the Recruit Prisoners card and ups his Manpower total by three (the total number of step losses inflicted on the Russians).

Enraged by Kutusov’s death and the Russian disgrace in East Prussia, Bagration spends 3 Money to get rid of the Turkish threat on his south flank so he can relocate to Prussia. Honor-bound to stay and fight (and mindful of keeping his head), General Bayrakdar defends the poor province of Moldavia against a Russian attack at 16 dice to nine. The Russians score four hits, wiping out one Turkish army, forcing the other to retreat, and causing Bayrakdar to be executed for dishonoring the banner. Luckily for the Turks, they score three hits in return, and roll a 1 when determining how much Manpower they lose for the banner’s failure to inspire heroics in battle.

The Russians pay 1 Money for a Probe in Finland, attacking at eight dice to six. But they score only one hit and do no damage to the tough Swedish armies. The Probe on the Turks in Amasia also does only one hit and goes nowhere.

Bagration besieges Moldavia free for one round and takes it. For such a massive offensive it is a small and bitter victory.

Prussia takes advantage of the Russian retreat to counterattack the Austro-Russian alliance. The reserve forces in Berlin move down to Magdeburg to guard against the Austrians and French, and then Hohenlohe marches his own armies northeast out of Magdeburg to hit the remains of Kutusov’s army in Polesia while the East Prussian garrison follows the retreating Russians northeast to Courland.

Another powerful force from Posen hits Austrian Galicia as well. The punitive Probe northeast into Courland damages a Russian army and sends it into St. Petersburg, but takes two hits with one step loss and a retreat back to East Prussia. The Assault on Galicia goes off at nine dice to six on the first round, causing each side to take a step loss.

But on the second round the Austrians score three hits on four dice while the Prussians score none, causing the Prussians to sacrifice one army rather than take a step loss on their elite 4/2 army. Finally, Hohenlohe’s Assault on Kutusov’s former army goes off at 11 dice to 11 and gets a bad bloody nose, taking four hits and scoring only one. One weak Russian army is destroyed but two Prussian armies flip and retreat.

After all that, the Austro-Prusso-Russian front is exactly where it was at the start of the turn. The ghost of Frederick the Great nods in sympathy.

Since Turkey’s eastern garrison is holding down the Russian attack on Amasia, her western forces are free to go on the attack. The forces in Epirius move up the coast to besiege neutral Dubrovnik, a 3/2 Turkish army in Bosnia attacks Wien, and a Turkish fleet out of Sinope moves to blockade the Russian Black Sea Fleet at Amasia.

With the Black Sea Fleet blockaded, the Turkish army at Constantinople is free to move north to Wallachia and defend against southward moves by Bagration. The Turks spend 3 Money for an under-strength Assault on Wien, hoping to knock out the 2/1 Austrian army there. But they score no hits on either round while taking two hits and a step loss, and retreating to Bosnia. But the siege of Dubrovnik (with 3 Money spent for unlimited siege rounds) succeeds.

A new Spanish Armada sails from Galicia, but rather than take on the Royal Navy or invade Britain and get blockaded there they sail for Morocco, leaving a 3/2 army in Galicia to protect the northern Spanish coast. Admiral Jervis in London sails out and intercepts them as they enter the Eastern Atlantic and a naval battle ensues.

Jervis gets the Wind Gauge and scores one hit on eight dice, sending one Spanish fleet back to Galicia. The Spanish do only one hit in return, but honor demands that they remain for a second round of naval combat. It is foolish bravado, because Jervis scores three hits to Spain’s zero, and the Armada takes another step loss and retreats back to Galicia.

Spain’s other fleet is in the Mediterranean and won’t be able to get past Gibraltar without being intercepted by the British Gibraltar Squadron, so it stays in Etruria to guard against an Austrian attack.

Britain’s Admiral Jervis returns to London, picks up the 4/2 and 3/2 British armies there, and heads back out to the Eastern Atlantic to invade French Bretagne. The French fleets on the coast are too weak to take him on at sea, so they wait for him under the protection of their shore batteries.

The fleet at Bretagne is the weakest, and Jervis goes in and for a coastal naval battle at six dice to seven. Jervis does zero hits while the French do two, causing a 3/2 fleet and the 3/2 army it’s carrying to flip and retreat. Jervis’ other fleet retreats rather than braving the shore batteries again.

With Jervis now on station in the Eastern Atlantic, another British invasion force sails from Wales and tries to take Gascogne. The French fleets in Normandie and Bretagne both intercept it, but must attack separately since they’re not in the same group.

The British get the Wind Gauge on the Normandie fleet but neither side does a step loss the first round. On the second round the British do two hits, which equals a step loss to the Normandie fleet, which retreats back to Normandie. The British also get the Wind Gauge of the Bretagne fleet and do a step loss to it before it can fire, sending it back to Bretagne.

The Brits head into Gascogne (which has no fleet to defend against amphibious invasion), and pay 3 Money for an Assault at seven dice to seven. Neither side scores a hit on the first round, but on the second round the Brits score two hits to none. That’s enough to make one French coastal army flip and retreat to Vendee, but the other remains and Gascogne stays in French hands.

Another British fleet sails from the Midlands to take up station in the North Sea, and a Midlands army heads down to guard London. Then two British fleets sail from Scotland to join their Swedish allies in a counterattack on the Russians in Finland. The remaining French fleets on the north coast fail to intercept, and the attack goes in at eight dice per side. The British-Swedish force scores no hits to three by the Russians, and the Swedish army and British relief force are repelled out to the Baltic.

The blunting of the Russian grand offensive puts a serious damper on Austria’s plans. It leaves her with with powerful Prussian forces to the north in Posen and East Prussia, Turks to the south in Wallachia, Bosnia and Dubrovnik, and Davout’s French armies right next door in Piedmonte. She can’t reposition any of her armies without leaving some avenue of attack open for an enemy, unless she counterattacks eastward from Wien toward Bosnia. But that would take forces away from the main threat in the region, which is Davout’s four armies in Piedmonte. Instead of attacking she reinforces Tirol to protect against Davout.

For France, Davout goes right down the Italian boot to besiege the Papal States, while Massena sends forces north and east to hit Baden and Kleves and Napoleon himself heads east from Holland to Hanover.

Prussia plays the Burned Bridges card to keep Napoleon from pressing on to Magdeburg. Nobody spends money to ally with the Hanover army, which will die at Napoleon’s hands even though the Burned Bridges card makes him attack at half-strength. So everybody rolls two dice, and Prussia rolls high and gets the alliance. Napoleon spends 1 Money for a Probe since he hits on a 5 or 6 the first round, and does three step losses to the Hanover army, flipping it to half-strength and expelling it to Magdeburg where it joins its Prussian allies.

Then the sieges begin. Napoleon besieges and conqueres Hanover in one round for free. But the siege of Kleves goes nowhere, while the garrison at Baden inflicts three hits on three dice, sending a 3/2 and a 2/1 army back to Lorraine — and killing Massena!

Massena’s 4/2 army stays to maintain the siege, but scores only one hit on the fortifications there in two rounds of siege.

Davout does little better, keeping his life but scoring no hits on the Papal palaces, taking one hit and one damaged army for his troubles.

So at the end of spring 1803 the best-laid plans of almost everyone have come to naught. Two generals have died in combat, another has been executed for disgracing the Banner of the Prophet, armies and armadas have been hurled back where they came from, and the only territorial gains have been Turkey’s conquest of Dubrovnik (worth 3 Money), Napoleon’s conquest of Hanover (3 Money as well), and Bagration’s pitiful conquest of Moldavia for Russia (1 Money).

Much blood and money have been spilled, but tomorrow is a new season. Will Bagration rally his troops and stop Hohenlohe’s counterattack? Is it all over for Nicholas and Emily? Will the Austrians figure out how to move before the Turks take Croatia? Will Britain ever figure out how to make landfall?

Tune in next time for summer 1803!

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