Strategy in ‘Soldier Emperor’
Fall and Winter 1804
By Doug McNair
September 2006

The second year of the Napoleonic Wars draws to a close with today’s episode of As the Emperor Turns, my season-by-season replay of our Soldier Emperor game.

As fall approaches, Prussia has risen from the ashes of defeat with the appearance of Blücher. In the space of one turn he conquered Mecklenburg, made a successful alliance with Denmark, broke Prussia’s peace treaty with Napoleon and let Russia conquer Saxony so Bagration would have a clear path to Napoleon’s holdings in Germany. With the Peace of East Prussia set to run through summer 1805, Prussia has nothing to fear from Russia, so she can focus all her energies on building up her forces and letting her ally Denmark attack France until Blücher has some Money with which to work.

But Prussia isn’t the only power struggling with money troubles — Turkey is also broke and being picked apart by Spain, which has held Constantinople against multiple Turkish counterassaults and has now conquered Smyrna as well. Austria’s orchestration of the sultan’s overthrow and the debasement of Turkish currency does not bode well for Turkish fortunes, and Austria has begun reconquering some of the territory she previously lost to Napoleon.

Napoleon will have his hands full shortly, with Bagration’s 11 armies in Saxony poised to attack French-held Bayern. But at least he doesn’t have to worry about Britain marching up the Italian boot into France, thanks to the Old Guard’s brave stand in Etruria.

Britain and Spain are the only Major Powers with enough Money left to mount significant offensives this year, but Britain still hasn’t made a dent in Fortress France, while Spain’s mobility has become severely restricted due to Britain’s destruction and blockading of most of her fleets.

Fall 1804

Purchase Phase

Everyone except Turkey repairs all their damaged armies and fleets. Turkey and Prussia have no money for repairs, and after making repairs Austria has no money either. Russia is down to just 3 Money, and France is somewhat better off with 10 Money.

Then the armies which Turkey, Russia and France purchased in the spring arrive. One Turkish army each goes into the provinces of Sinope and Karamanlia to prevent Spanish eastward expansion from Smyrna. Three new Russian armies appear at Courland, from whence they can travel overland to join Bagration, or be picked up by the Russian Baltic fleets and attack France or Britain by sea. France brings in three armies at Lorraine, from where they can head east to help Murat against Bagration’s advance, or to the north, west or southern French coasts to counter invasions by Prussia, Russia or Britain.

Initiative Phase

Marshall Murat and just one French army are sitting all alone in Bayern, with Bagration’s 11 Russian armies bearing down on them from Saxony. Napoleon opts to add +2 to his initiative roll to try to get there first. The initiative order ends up as:

Britain, France, Turkey, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Russia.

BRITAIN is far less concerned about Spain than she once was, now that Spain seems focused on conquering Turkey. The British blockade of Galicia is therefore less important than pulling back fleets to guard against a French invasion of the British Isles. Also, Spain’s invasion of Turkish Smyrna has left the Dardanelles open, so the British fleet that has been bottled-up in the Black Sea dashes out and sails to a patrol station in the Eastern Atlantic. The British North Sea fleet takes up winter quarters in the Midlands and the Galician blockaders sail to Wales.

This leaves Admiral Jervis’ Mediterranean fleet at full strength, and Jervis decides that Napoleon needs to worry about more than just Bagration coming down from Saxony. He orders two British armies to take up defensive positions in the Papal States and Naples, and then takes his fleets and two more armies north to invade Provence.

The Neopolitan fleet intercepts the British invasion fleet transporting armies out of the Papal States, but the British get the wind gauge. Several rounds of inconclusive sea battle ensue, but on the fifth round the British get inspired and inflict two hits on the Neopolitans, destroying their fleet. This strands the Neopolitan army in Sicily, and Jervis and the invasion fleet go in at Provence.

Jervis spends 3 Money for a two-round Assault at 20 dice to seven. He scores seven hits on the first round, wiping out the French 3/2 army in Provence, and takes no hits in return. He then spends 1 Money to besiege Provence for two rounds and takes it for the King, finally breaching the French sea wall and giving Napoleon a threat from the southwest that’s almost as bad as Bagration’s from the northeast.

To round out Britain’s Annus Mirabilis, Sweden destroys the last Russian army at Scania and takes it back from the Russians. This will leave Sweden ready to attack France in the spring.

NAPOLEON has no choice but to repel Jervis’ invasion, so he sends the three new armies in Lorraine east to bolster Murat’s defense of Bayern. He leaves one weak army behind in Piedmonte to guard against an opportunistic Austrian free siege round, then marches north to Lorraine to avoid crossing the mountain route and giving the British dieroll bonuses in combat. He comes south and attacks Jervis in Provence, while the French fleet from Piedmonte attacks by sea.

He spends 5 Money for an unlimited Invasion, which goes in at 18 dice to 24. Fourteen of Napoleon’s 18 dice hit on a 5 or 6 on the first round — but on the first round, each side scores only two hits! The second round is at 16 dice to 21, and once again each side scores only two hits. The third round is at 14 dice to 18, and FINALLY Napoleon’s troops break the British lines, scoring five hits on the British. But the British score four hits in return, and when the smoke clears a lone British 3/2 army is holding out in the fortifications at Provence, while Napoleon is all by himself with his remaining 4/2 army. Undaunted, Napoleon attacks at eight dice to seven, and he destroys the last British army with no damage to his own.

But Napoleon has only 5 Money left, and much more damage coming from Bagration. He can’t afford to spend any money besieging Provence, and besieges it for free for one round. He rolls eight dice and gets two hits — not enough to take it. For its part, the British garrison does outstandingly well, scoring two hits on four dice and forcing Napoleon’s army to flip and retreat north to Lorraine. Provence remains in British hands, and Napoleon is now officially in trouble. . . .

TURKEY has no time to worry about her ally. She’s getting ready to starve over the winter, and has to find some quick cash for the spring. She tries to pull an army back from Bosnia to guard Wallachia while the Wallachian army sails to besiege Russian Azov, but Spain plays Early/Late Snows and blocks the movement of the Bosnian army. So instead, the army moves south to Dubrovnik, and the Turkish army and fleet already in Dubrovnik sail for Azov instead. The Spanish fleet in Smyrna fails to intercept them, as does the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and the Dubrovnik forces plus the damaged Turkish Black Sea Fleet all go in to besiege Azov for one free round. They score no hits, but at least there’s plenty of forage there for the winter.

AUSTRIA has no money, but since Turkey doesn’t either, she sends more forces west from Croatia to help with the siege of Venezia. She rolls 15 dice in one free siege round and does just one hit, which is all she needed to take Venezia back.

PRUSSIA also has no money, but her new ally Denmark does, so her army and fleet head out and sail for French-held Holland. The French fleet at Hanover intercepts them and damages the Danish fleet after several rounds, sending it and the consequently-reduced Danish army back to Denmark.

SPAIN is the only power left besides Britain with money to burn. France and Britain have weakened each other substantially in Provence, and with nobody but Russia remaining to go this fall turn the winter Victory Phase is just around the corner. Now is the time to go for the surprise victory.

Spain invades Portugal with two armies and a fleet from Galicia and Estremadura, and moves a third army westward from Valencia to Estremadura. Portugal’s army and fleet appear in Lisbon, which is better-fortified than Porto. Nobody but Britain has money to spend on an alliance, so Britain spends 3 money and also gets +1 for her fleet in the Eastern Atlantic, plus her natural +2 bonus for her traditional ties to Portugal. With a +6 bonus, she beats all other Powers with a modified roll of 13 and allies with Portugal. Spain pays 5 Money for an all-out invasion of Lisbon, and then plays Surprise Attack to bring in the 3/2 army she just moved to Estremadura (it will attack at double-strength).

The Invasion goes in at eight dice to seven, with Spain doing one hit on the first round and ejecting the Portuguese fleet. But Portugal does three hits on seven dice and expels both Spanish armies back to Estremadura! Portugal is saved, and Spain is denied her 12 Victory Points and the game, but she besieges Porto anyway and takes it.

Spain’s army and fleet in Smyrna also attack the Turks in Karamalia, spending another 5 Money on an all-out invasion at five dice to five. The Turks hold out for a long, long time, but Spain rolls two hits first and destroys the Turkish 3/2 army there, since only mountain routes lead out of Karamalia, and you can’t retreat over the mountains. Spain then spends 3 Money for an unlimited siege of Karamalia, and takes it. That puts her at 11 Victory points, just one short of victory!

With events moving in unexpected directions, RUSSIA would love to pull her troops out of impoverished Moldavia and have the Black Sea Fleet sail them to counterattack the Turks besieging Azov. But she only has 3 Money left, and all of that has to go to hitting Murat in Bayern.

However, Mother Nature gives Mother Russia some revenge on the Turks, as the Russian player plays General Winter on the Turks in Azov. The two Turkish fleets become icebound in the Sea of Azov and take step losses. Then the Russian player turns his attention to Bagration, whose stack of armies is so huge that the local territories can’t sustain them all over the winter. Three of them move south to winter quarters with the Austrians Bohemia.

The three new Russian armies bring up the rear and go into winter quarters at Posen, the Russian Baltic Fleets set up a blockade of the Swedish fleets at Scania, and then Bagration goes in to attack Murat at Bayern with eight armies. He spends Russia’s remaining 3 Money for an Assault at 22 dice to 16. Bagration does only two hits on the first round, but Murat does only one. The second round is at 20 dice to 14, and this time each side does three hits. The assault ends with Murat and two armies in control of Bayern, but before Bagration leaves for winter quarters in Saxony he plays Scorched Earth in Bayern, which means nobody can get Money and Manpower there this year, and Murat’s armies will both take losses from winter attrition.

Nobody wants to surrender to anyone at the moment. Even Turkey, who will be hard-pressed to deal with Spain in the Spring, does not surrender because giving Spain any more territory would give her the game. So, fall ends and we go into . . .

Winter 1804

Winter Action Phase

BRITAIN plays Winter Campaign and sends the Gibraltar garrison out on a lightning raid against the damaged Spanish armies that retreated from Lisbon. Britain pays just 1 Money for a Probe (which is doubled to 2 because it’s winter), but she fails to score a hit and retreats back to Gibraltar.

Winter Attrition Phase

The only armies that take winter attrition are Murat’s in Bayern, due to Bagration’s parting gesture of burning all the food stores and crops there.

Maintenance Phase

Russia, Turkey, Austria and Prussia all have no money, so all of their armies and fleets take losses due to lack of maintenance. The icebound Turkish fleets in the Sea of Azov break up and sink, and the stranded Turkish army in Azov takes a step loss. However, three Russian armies that took damage fighting Murat also die. Napoleon has only 5 Money but eight damaged units, so he loses two 2/2 armies in Baden and the fleet at Piedemonte, and lets all his full-strength armies take step losses.

Spain is set to maintain most of her armies, but the sultan gets some posthumous revenge when Turkey plays Graft and Corruption, doubling all of Spain’s monetary maintenance costs. It’s all she can do to maintain her two damaged armies that retreated from Portugal plus her army in Turkey (the rest take step losses). Britain lets the home guard go home for the winter and maintains her overseas forces.

Victory Phase

No conquered territories were vacated due to Winter Attrition or lack of Maintenance, so all territorial gains for the year remain in effect. At the end of the year 1804, here are the Victory Point totals and who’s in the lead (or not):

Money and Manpower Phase

Due to the valiant defense of their capital, the Portuguese prevent Spain from winning an Automatic Victory in 1804. So the game will continue into 1805, and Britain starts the Money and Manpower Phase by playing the Abundant Harvest card on Austria, giving her an extra 7 Money (and a knowing look).

On the other hand, Turkey’s look is decidedly sickly, because she now starts to suffer the ill effects of the Debase Currency card Austria played on her last year. The territories she still owns produce 25% less Money this year and every year until she or someone plays a Buy Back Debased Currency card on her. And with her richest territories in Spanish hands, she needs lots of help from her ally France next year. Will France be able to help her? The players count up their Money and Manpower take and end up with the following:

Outlook for 1805

Turkey has become the Sick Man of Europe long before her time, and after she repairs her remaining armies she’ll have very little Money left unless she gets heavy subsidies from France. But France has her own problems now, with the British in control of Provence and British Money just waiting to finance Austrian and Prussian attacks on her eastern borders.

Spain is the fly in this very expensive British ointment, and His Majesty will have to invade Spanish Etruria or Galicia to keep Spain from winning the game by gobbling up more of Portugal or Turkey. But Turkey’s weakness may also be Russia’s opportunity—– with Napoleon fighting the British and the Austrians, Russia may be able to shift her forces south and east to crush the Turks and possibly take Constantinople from Spain. That would certainly provoke an adverse response from Britain, who would use her fleets to transport Swedish and British armies to invade the Russian Baltic ports.

If Prussia can make an alliance with Britain and get lots of Money in the deal, she and her Danish allies can go after France’s north German conquests, and maybe even threaten French Holland. Finally, Austria now has a well-stocked warchest and will likely get an alliance with Britain and lots more money in the bargain. She has numerous rich targets within easy striking distance, and if she can keep Britain happy by carving up southeastern France, she may also be able to take a bite out of Turkey. Doing that would let her build a lot more armies in 1805, putting her in a position to challenge Britain for control of Italy and the south of France in 1806.

Will Spain quash all these grandiose Austrian plans with a quick Automatic Victory? Will Prussia and Russia make nice even after their peace treaty expires? Will Lulu keep the baby after all? Will the Turks decide to ditch this “war against the Infidel” thing, convert to Sufism, and go to an all-night jam? Tune in next time and find out!

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