Strategy in ‘Soldier Emperor’
Fall and Winter 1805
By Doug McNair
September 2006

The third year of the Napoleonic Wars draws to a close in today’s episode of As the Emperor Turns, our turn-by-turn narrative of Soldier Emperor.

When last we left our heroes, impoverished Turkey had bowed to the inevitable and surrendered to Russia, whose Generals Bagration and Benningsen had been steamrolling Turkish armies in their drive toward Constantinople. Russia chose to take control of Serbia, leaving the Turkish general Ahmed cut off and surrounded by enemy forces in Bosnia.

Fall 1805

Turkey is still under siege by Russia’s new ally Spain, but with Russia now obligated not to attack Turkey for three turns, she may have a better chance at holding on to the few territories she has left that are worth anything.

For her part, Spain conquered Turkish-held Dubrovnik with the help of Russia’s minor-country ally Naples. That would give her the 12 VPs she needs to win the game, were it not for the British conquest of Spanish Etruria.

Britain now owns all of the boot of Italy, and has also reconquered Lisbon from Spain and given it back to her ally Portugal (so that Portuguese armies and fleets can once again be built and repaired). Britain’s other minor country ally Sweden has broken the Russian blockade of Scania, and if Russia doesn’t re-establish the blockade Sweden will be free to ship her armies across the Baltic to counterattack Russia.

Britain’s Major Power allies, Prussia and Austria, have put British money to good use and taken Hanover, Hessen and Piedmonte away from Napoleon. Prussian troops are currently contesting control of Holland with Napoleon himself, and Charles of Austria is in a good position to cross the Alps and invade Provence or Lorraine. But with Napoleon ready to counter any Alpine crossing, a push farther into France may be too dangerous. Instead, Charles may turn eastward and grab Bosnia or Dubrovnik from Turkey or Spain. Turning eastward may also be an option for Prussia, whose peace with Russia expired in the summer and who has no intention of leaving East Prussia and Posen in Russian hands.

The one person who wants such inter-ally squabbling more than anyone is Napoleon. If Prussia and Austria turn eastward to deal with Russia and Turkey/Spain, Napoleon will have a much better chance of stopping the erosion of his eastern conquests and fortifying his southern borders against an amphibious invasion from Admiral Jervis or Lord Nelson. Napoleon is in a cash crunch at the moment, so he’ll need to spend this turn repairing his damaged fleets and armies and then pulling back to defensive positions so they don’t get damaged and dissolve over the winter due to lack of maintenance.

Purchase Phase

Russia, France, Spain, Austria and Prussia receive the armies they purchased in the spring. Russia places her three new armies in Courland and St. Petersburg to deter a Swedish invasion. France places her two new armies in Lorraine and Calais to deter the British, Austrians and Prussians. Spain places her armies in Valencia and Estremadura to deter British invasions, Austria places hers in Croatia to prepare for an attack on Ahmed, and Prussia places hers in Berlin to oppose Russia.

All who can then repair their armies. Turkey spends the last of her Money repairing hers, as does France and Prussia. Russia ends up with only 5 Money, which will limit her ability to attack and then maintain any consequently damaged armies over the winter. Austria, Spain and Britain are all in much better shape.

Initiative Phase

With Prussia now broke, Napoleon doesn’t have to worry about attacks coming from the northeast. But he’s broke as well, so Austria doesn’t have to worry about a French counterattack either if Charles crosses the Alps. So Napoleon chooses to add +2 to his initiative roll to position his forces against invasions from the east and south. The initiative order ends up: Britain, France, Russia, Spain, Prussia, Turkey, Austria.

BRITAIN begins to feel the Curse of Empire. She has numerous options: invade anywhere along the French coast; have Nelson and Jervis sweep the seas of all French fleets; take another bite out of Spain. But her hold on the Boot of Italy is tenuous, with one army each in Naples and the Papal States, and a weak 2/1 army holding Etruria with a 3/2 fleet supporting. If Spain and her Russian ally reconquer any of those territories, Spain could pull off a victory at the end of the turn. The Papal States is of particular concern, since Spain is Catholic and would get double normal victory points for reconquering the Vatican from the British heretics. That would be 8 VPs, which would put Spain over the top for sure. And with three Spanish fleets at her disposal in the Med, plus the Neapolitan and Russian fleets, Spain is more than capable of doing it.

Britain defers her dreams of conquest and goes on the defensive. Lord Nelson moves out of Lisbon with a 2/2 fleet and heads east to blockade the two Spanish fleets and army at Epirus on the Balkan coast. Another 3/2 fleet out of Gibraltar moves to blockade the Spanish fleet and army at Dubrovnik, and then one 2/1 fleet each goes to reinforce the garrisons at the Papal States and Naples.

Then the British 2/2 fleet in Lisbon moves up the coast to blockade the Spanish fleet at Porto, while the Portuguese fleet in the Eastern Atlantic moves down to reinforce the British army in Lisbon. The British leave a 3/2 fleet in Gibraltar so it can automatically intercept anyone entering or leaving the Med, and Admiral Jervis stays with the fleet and army at Etruria.

Finally, the Swedes invade Russian-held East Prussia, just south of the Russian defensive buildup in Courland. It’s unoccupied, so they besiege it for two rounds with two armies and a fleet. They only get one hit, so it stays under Russian control.

NAPOLEON silently thanks his Spanish ally for drawing off the British, and then sees to the security of his own borders. He pulls his fleets back to the safety of French ports, then sends forces south from Calais to bolster his defenses against Charles of Austria. He also moves a 2/2 army south to Languedoc just to deter the Spanish from trying anything funny before winter sets in.

RUSSIA makes some very careful calculations. Though blockaded, her ally Spain can still win if she attacks overland and captures 4 VPs worth of territory this turn. As for Russia, she can do the same if she can capture 8 VPs worth of territory. She’s got plenty of armies to accomplish this, but only 4 Money in her war chest. This means she’s either got to invade several unoccupied territories this round and hope she can conquer them all for 1 Money per territory, or invade fewer enemy-occupied territories and hope she can eject the armies there in just one round each, leaving her money for more than one siege round where necessary.

Attacking and conquering Prussian-held Mecklenburg, Berlin and Magdeburg would be within the realm of possibility — Mecklenburg is unoccupied, and Berlin and Magdeburg are held by one weak Prussian army each. And Prussia has no money for a counterattack, so all Russia would have to worry about would be an Austrian sneak attack on her rear areas. But most of the Austrian avenues of approach are mountain routes, which would give defending Russian armies a hit on every roll of 5 or 6, and Russia can pull back Benningsen and Bagration to cover her rear as well, as long as her Austrian ally lets her through.

So she goes for the attack on Prussia. The Russian Baltic Fleets move down from Finland to Courland to pick up the two Russian armies there. The Swedish fleet in East Prussia fails to intercept them, and they go into unoccupied Mecklenburg. Then the Russian and Saxon armies in Saxony and Bayern head north to attack Berlin and Magdeburg, while Benningsen and Bagration pull back from Wallachia and Serbia to Bayern and Saxony. The Bavarian army moves east to cover Russian-held Posen, and the Russian army in St. Petersburg moves south to relieve the siege of East Prussia.

The Russians start with a one-round Probe in Magdeburg for 1 Money. The attack goes in at 13 dice to four, and does three hits, wiping out the Prussian army there. The Prussians do only one hit in return, ejecting one Russian army to Saxony. Then the Russians attack the Prussians in Berlin at a much more chancey six dice to four. They spend their remaining 3 Money for a two-round Assault. The first round sees no Russian hits to one for the Prussians, who eject a Russian army out to Posen.

The second round is at four dice to four, and the Russians get the one hit they need to eject the only Prussian army there. With Magdeburg under siege by two Russian armies and two fleets, the Prussian army in Berlin has nowhere to go and dies. But the Prussians make a valiant last stand, inflicting two hits on four dice and ejecting the Saxon army down to Saxony. This leaves just one Russian 2/1 army to besiege Berlin: not a good prospect.
The sieges go forward with one free round each. The Russians get just one hit each in Mecklenburg and Berlin, but they do three hits in Magdeburg and take it for Russia. This leaves Russia short of victory and discouraged, but then Spain shows her a card in her hand and Russia feels much better all of a sudden. . . .

SPAIN has money to burn, and this is the best possible time to burn it. Her armies in Estremadura and Porto move south to attack Lisbon, another army goes into Estremadura behind them, and then three more armies head north to Catalonia on the French border (dispatch riders from Languedoc head north in a hurry). Spain’s 3/2 army in Dubrovnik moves northwest to attack Austrian Croatia, and then she plays Forced March so that her 2/2 army in Epirus can move two areas northwest to join the attack.

Her blockaded fleets stay in Dubrovnik and Epirus, but she asks her Russian ally for the use of her allied Neapolitan forces. The Russians say yes, and the Neapolitan fleet and army land in Turkish Morea. The damaged Neapolitan army moves northwest to Epirus to guard against Turkish moves there. The Neapolitan fleet then moves out again to pick up the Egyptian army in Karamanlia, but Lord Nelson breaks the blockade of Epirus to intercept it. He rolls a 7 + 5 = 12 and does so, getting the wind gauge of it and wiping it out on the first round.

Nelson’s abandonment of the blockade leaves the two Spanish fleets in Epirus free to move. One of them, the 3/2 fleet, decides to take its chances against Nelson and sail to support the attack on Croatia. But Nelson intercepts it, gets the wind gauge, and scores two hits right away, sending it back to Epirus. The Spanish decide to just go with what they’ve got.
The attack on Austrian Croatia goes in as an unlimited Invasion at five dice to six.

Unfortunately for Spain, she does no hits on the first round while the Austrians do three, ejecting one Spanish army. The remaining Spaniard fights on at three dice to six, but it too is ejected after three more rounds. The Austrians hold!

Then the attack on Lisbon goes in as another Invasion at six dice to eight. The Spaniards get one hit on the first round, ejecting the Portuguese fleet. The second round is at six dice to six, and the Spaniards get another two hits, destroying the 3/2 British army there (it has no retreat route or evacuation fleet). They then spend 3 Money to besiege it for unlimited rounds, and take it in four. Spain now has a net gain of 11 VPs . . . just one shy of victory.

PRUSSIA is glad of this, but with no money there’s little she can do to stop the Russians besieging her in Berlin and Mecklenburg. Even her Danish ally can’t do much since her fleet is damaged. Prussia stays put, hoping British money will help her eject the Russians next turn.

TURKEY is also broke, and with the Neapolitan army in Epirus, the Spanish in Dubrovnik, the Egyptians in Smyrna and Karamanlia, and the peace treaty with Russia, there is no empty, enemy-held territory she can or would want to besiege for free right now. She also stays put.

AUSTRIA is not broke. Charles’ massive army in Piedmonte does not stand a good chance of victory if it crosses the Alps against Napoleon’s reinforced lines, but Spain’s weakened forces in Dubrovnik are another story.

Charles gets set to head east, but then Russia plays Vacillating General, and all of a sudden Charles gets troubling reports of Spanish ambushes along the way and decides to consult with his generals. His armies are out of action for the turn, and only one other army can get to Dubrovnik, so that attack is out. Russia also seems to have traded loyalty for filthy lucre, so Austria decides to devote her own lucre to teaching Russia a lesson. But Russia has positioned her forces so that her rear is very well guarded. Revenge will have to wait till next turn.

Austria takes the only path left to her — attacking Ahmed in Bosnia. Three armies from Hungary and Wien converge on him, and Austria pays 5 Money for an unlimited Invasion, which goes in at six dice to seven. Ahmed scores two hits in the first round to Austria’s ineffective one, and an Austrian army is ejected out to Hungary. The second round is at four dice to seven, and this time the Austrians score three hits, wiping out Ahmed’s surrounded army and capturing him. Austria then spends 3 Money on an unlimited siege and takes Bosnia in three rounds.

Winter 1805

It would seem the game is ready to enter 1806 after the harvest, but then . . .

Winter Action Phase

Spain plays Winter Campaign . . . on herself. She would have played it on Russia if she’d been able to take Croatia (thus giving Russia a chance for victory as well), but with Spain still one VP short of victory, the Spanish High Command finally gives an audience to an obscure Argentine officer named José de San Martín. He says he’s found a pass through the Pyrenees that’s not blocked by snow, and that he can take the three armies in Catalonia across the mountains to conquer French Languedoc.

With nothing to lose by trying, High Command says yes. Over they go, and Spain pays 10 Money (double the normal cost since it’s winter) for an unlimited invasion of Languedoc. The first round is at seven dice to four, with the French hitting on a 5 or 6 since they’re being attacked by mountain route. One Spanish army dies on the first round (it can’t retreat back over the mountains), but on the second San Martín scores two hits on five dice and ejects the lone French defender up to Paris. Spain has only 3 Money left, so he spends 2 Money for two siege rounds (double cost again) — and takes Languedoc!

Spain burned 25 Money this turn on her way to victory. The head priest of the Spanish army gives a mass of celebration, and the theme of the sermon is “Pecunia loquitur, stercus ambulat.”

The standings are:

Rank Order	Major Power	Conquests	Losses	Victory Points
First	Spain	Smyrna, Karamanlia, Dubrovnik, Epirus, Porto, Lisbon, Languedoc	Etruria	13 (Victory plus one)
Second	Russia	Finland, East Prussia, Posen, Saxony, Magdeburg, Bayern, Moldavia, Wallachia, Serbia	None	21 (four short of victory)
Third	Britain	Etruria, Papal States, Naples	None	12 (eight short of victory)
Fourth	Austria	Piedemonte, Bosnia	None	6
Fifth	Prussia	Mecklenburg, Hanover, Hessen	East Prussia, Posen, Magdeburg	3
Sixth	France	Kleves, Baden	Languedoc, Lorraine	1
Seventh	Turkey	None	Moldavia, Wallachia, Serbia, Bosnia, Epirus, Smyrna, Karamanlia,	–14

Spain wins, and Napoleon decides that Talleyrand may be right after all when he says it’s not really necessary to conquer the world.

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