Napoleon 1813

[mariovalleemtl]

COG:EE is very big. 1813 was smaller with focus on only one campaign. I prefer that because it is more easy that way to program a good AI. It is also more simple for PBEM.

[Alan Sharif]

I have to say guys I had never played this game but I have been looking at the links and reading all about it. If the AI were fixed and any remaining bugs eliminated this would be a fantastic game. I to prefer the smaller focus of one campaign. If anyone from Matrix reads this I think Beren here has a point.  

[argaur]

Napoleon 1813 is an operational game, CoG is an strategic one. So they are completly different. But in terms of realism and historicity, Napoleon 1813 is far much better.... not only in tactical battles (the comparison is not worth value, look at the grapichs and options from a game of 1999!!!).... but in a operational way, playing this game is like being in the headquarters... delay in orders, subordinates changing orders, a lot of fog of war... great details of units and OOBs.....

[Capitaine]

I have this game as well, having ordered it from overseas as soon as it became available.  It was never in a state where I could play it when it came out but I was anxious to have it due to what it was supposed to be able to do.  I really like the 1813 campaign and would also like to see whether it could be effectively salvaged by additional treatment as suggested.

[mariovalleemtl]

NAPOLEON 1813 - WARGAMER 1.[/b]
WHAT IS WARGAMER?
‘Wargamer’ is a flexible, REAL TIME, engine. The engine covers both the strategic and tactical level, allowing the player to plan his campaigns, utilize resources and take command for crucial battles. The emphasis is on command, leadership and sound strategic planning rather than the ‘micro management’ of individual units. The first game in the series is ‘NAPOLEON - 1813’
EASE OF PLAY - although Wargamer has a wealth of advanced options for the true buff, the casual player can maneuver his forces with a simple mouse click.
NAPOLEON 1813.
- ‘Napoleon’ covers the 1813 - 1814 campaign in which France under Napoleon was opposed by most of Europe. The remnants of the French ‘Grande Armee’ has retreated from Russia into Germany, pursued by the armies of the Czar. The Prussians, seeing an opportunity to avenge the humiliation of Jena swiftly rise against the hated French.
Massive armies sweep across Germany as both sides desperately raise fresh forces to throw into the fray. As the conflict expands, Sweden, Austria and Denmark are drawn into the campaign which culminates in the massive encounter outside Leipzig where for three days 200,000 French troops struggle against 350,000 Russians, Prussians and Austrians in the epic ‘Battle of the Nations’.
- Historically, in one of the largest battles ever fought in Europe, Napoleon was defeated. Forced back into France he waged a brilliant defensive campaign until weight of numbers forced him to abdicate in 1814.
- ‘Napoleon 1813’ recreates these titanic events. Historically the war concluded with the downfall of one of history’s greatest generals. Can the player succeed where Napoleon failed, or as Blucher can he lead his troops in triumph through Paris?
THE GAME.
- The player is cast in the role of supreme commander. As such he must organize his forces and plan a coherent strategy for winning the war. He will have to manage a wide variety of different troops and leaders of varying ability and forge his armies into a war winning tool. It is a game of leadership, command and strategic planning.
- ‘Napoleon’ covers both the strategic and tactical aspects of this vast conflict. The campaign map covers an area from Paris to Breslau (west to east) and from Hamburg to Vienna (north to south). A carefully constructed communication network system elegantly portrays the reality of Napoleonic maneuver without over burdening the player with a host of special rules. It is here that the player must make his strategic plans, raise fresh troops and organize his forces.
- A key facet of the game are the historical personalities involved, including the dashing Murat, the inspiring Blucher and Marshal Ney - ‘the Bravest of the Brave’. All the leaders who fought in the campaign are rated for Initiative, Staffwork, Charisma, Aggression, Tactical Ability (and more!). Those commanders who proved especially skilled at leading cavalry or commanding massed artillery are accounted for. Some leaders are even rated as ‘Lucky’! A key part of the game is giving the right job to the right commander.
- When a battle occurs the player has the option of fighting it out using Wargamer’s Tactical engine. Here he can see his army come to colorful life as his units maneuver (in real time) across the screen in their magnificent uniforms. Every battlefield is generated from scratch so every encounter will be different.
- Just as leaders have their own ratings, so do the units which range from the elite Old Guard (the Grognards’) to hastily raised conscripts (the ‘Marie Louises’). Units are rated for Morale, Fire Shock, Control and Response amongst others.  
 
WARGAMER 1 FEATURES. 
·         Combines both a strategic and tactical level simulation in one game. Players will organize and maneuver their forces across the main strategic map. When they contact the enemy the player may choose to fight the battle using the tactical engine (or simply ask the program to give him the result).
·         Advanced AI which gives a challenging game and incorporates the ideas of the foremost military theorists of the age - Napoleon, Clausewitz and Jomini.
·         This is a ‘real time’ wargame. However, wargamers who dislike this may instead opt to play the game in 'turns' of 1 day or 1 weeks duration.
·         Multiple scenarios, ranging from an all embracing campaign, to smaller scenarios and even single battles.
·         Emphasizes command control & leadership. The varying abilities of the historical commanders are accurately reflected in the game mechanics. The player may edit these should he disagree with the opinions of the designers!
·         The game includes over one hundred different troop types, all with unique characteristics & uniforms. The units represented range from the elite Old Guard to hastily raised Freikorps.
·         Factors such as supplies and resource management are included without turning the player into a mere quartermaster.
·         From the combat mechanics to the artwork care has been taken to ensure a true Napoleonic atmosphere is generated for the player.
·         Wargamer even includes effects such as changing weather conditions and generals falling ill.
 
BATTLE GAME FEATURES.
·       Realistic terrain generated ‘on the fly’. Not only is every battlefield different but the tactical terrain also takes account of the terrain in the strategic area (e.g. if the battle takes place in the Bohemian mountains then the tactical terrain will be considerable more hilly than one fought in the Low Countries).
·       The formations and uniforms of all the various troop types accurately depicted.
·       The special abilities of leaders who were especially skilled at handling massed cavalry (e.g. Murat or Nansouty) or concentrated artillery (e.g. Sorbier).
·       Fully integrated into the strategic game. Therefore reinforcements can ‘march to the sound of the guns’ and arrive unexpectedly on the enemy’s flank, perhaps turning a desperate rearguard action into a brilliant victory.
GAME OPTIONS.
The player can choose from a wide range of options, allowing him to customize the game to suit his own style of play. The game can range from a simple strategy game to a highly sophisticated model of Napoleonic conflict. It aims to appeal to both the casual strategy gamer and the true Napoleonic ‘grognard’. These options include :-
 
·         Fog of War. Limited intelligence on the locations, strengths and intentions of enemy forces. Such information will me influenced by location, leadership and the relative strengths of the opposing cavalry. This will be a feature in both the strategic and tactical games.
·         Command Control. Armies cannot respond instantly to their commanders orders, especially in the pre radio age. This option imposes realistic delays as orders and information travel up and down the chain of command. This applies to both the strategic and tactical game.
·         Leader & Unit Initiative. Commanders and soldiers are not 'mindless automatons'. With this option a player will have to deal with his subordinates believing that 'they know best' and modifying (or even ignoring!) their instructions accordingly. To what extent this occurs depends on the subordinates character, the information they have on the enemy and to what degree the orders they have been issued with are at variance to their 'natural inclination'. This applies to both the strategic and tactical game.
·         Attrition. Armies lost more men through disease, fatigue and desertion then they ever did on the battlefield. With this option on a player will have to plan his marches and supply chain carefully or risk seeing his forces dwindle to nothing before they encounter the enemy.
·         Random Events. Sometimes 'blind chance' can disrupt even the best laid plans. When playing with this option gamers will have to contend with commanders falling ill at inopportune moments, allied fickleness, bridges being washed away and quarreling high commands (to name just a few).
 
and many more.[/i]

[mariovalleemtl]

HISTORICAL DETAIL.
In addition to all the historical leaders and their units the game also includes the following:-
· Leaders are true personalities. The attributes detailed in the game include 'Initiative', 'Aggression', 'Charisma', 'Staff Work' and 'Tactical Ability'. Some leaders are even rated as 'Lucky'.
· Those leaders which specialized in the difficult arts of commanding massed cavalry or artillery are also present (with special rules reflecting their unique abilities).
· Unit attributes include 'Morale', 'Shock Value', 'Response' and 'Control' (plus many others).
· Vital 'non combat' units such as bridging & siege trains are in the game.
· Advanced order options. Although a unit can be moved with just a simple mouse click the player may add further detail. He can choose how aggressive he wants the force to be should it encounter the enemy. March speed can be varied ('easy', 'normal' or 'forced') and various tactical directives can be issued (such as 'march to the sound of the guns' and 'pursue after battle' and whether the force is to adopt an offensive or defensive posture). Sequential orders may be set up, allowing the player to order units 'to go there and do that' from a single window.
· A player must contend with political as well as military factors. Events modeled include the entry of Austria into the war, Napoleon's German allies switching sides and the 'National Morale' of the states under his (& his enemies) command.
· Should a battle occur during the campaign on the site of a historical battlefield the player can choose to fight it on the terrain the armies actually fought over (or alternatively can decide to fight on a new battlefield generated from scratch).
· Battles lasting more than a single day are catered for. The possibility that reinforcements will arrive whilst a battle is in progress is allowed for (so for example the player will be able to fight defensive actions whilst fresh troops force march to the fray).
· Armies can be supplied either through an organized supply train with a chain of depots or by foraging for themselves.


THE SCENARIOS.
Campaign game scenarios are a ‘full game’. The main differences between them is the length of time they take and the different starting positions (& strengths) of the forces. Each scenario will therefore present the player with a different strategic challenge.
Battle scenarios are simply that - a tactical game with no strategic aspect.

CAMPAIGN GAME SCENARIOS.
· ‘The Grand Campaign (1)’. Begins March 1813. The French are in disarray as Russian & Prussian forces advance into Germany. The French must buy time as the Emperor desperately raises new forces in France and plans his riposte. Play continues until one side has gained strategic victory.
· ‘The Grand Campaign (2)’. Begins April 1813. The Emperor has returned to the front, leading a new ‘Grande Armee’. The Allies must hold onto their gains and keep the French at bay as Austria prepares to enter the war. Play continues until one side has gained strategic victory.
· ‘Spring 1813’. Begins April 1813 and ends with the Armistice (summer 1813). Both sides must rebuild the armies shattered in the 1812 campaign whilst struggling for control of central Germany.
· ‘Napoleon Against Europe’. The summer Armistice has ended and Austria has joined the Allies. The French must somehow fight to preserve their presence in Germany, or failing this prevent the Allies from crossing the Rhine and marching on Paris.
· ‘Napoleon at Bay, 1814’. Napoleon has lost the titanic battle of Leipzig and abandoned Germany. The Allies are massing on the Rhine. Somehow Napoleon must raise yet another army and prevent the Allies from capturing Paris.
· ‘The Six Days of Glory, Spring 1814’. Blucher is marching on Paris. In a brilliant campaign of maneuver Napoleon and his outnumbered army drives him back and almost destroys him in the process.

BATTLE SCENARIOS.
· Lutzen. Spring 1813. The first major battle of the 1813 campaign. Both sides aim win the war with a swift knockout punch. Ney’s corps is surprised as the Allies attack. Napoleon calmly brings up reinforcements and attempts to crush the Allied flanks.
· Bautzen. Spring 1813. Retreating after Lutzen the Allies make a stand on carefully chosen ground. Napoleon once again aims to win the war with a decisive battlefield victory. A desperate 2 day battle ensued.
· Dresden, the 2nd day, Summer 1813. The Allied Army of Bohemia attempts to take Dresden and so threaten the main French lines of communication. Napoleon rushes to the garrisons support. After indecisive fighting on the first day Napoleon prepares to counterattack.
· Gross Beeran, Summer 1813. Oudiniot with a rather polyglot French force advances on Berlin and blunders into Bernadotte’s ‘Army of the North’. After a short and somewhat confused action in difficult country the French are driven back.
· Dennewitz, Autumn 1813. Ney attempts to succeed where Oudinot failed. Tauentzien with a corps largely composed of Prussian landwehr blocks his path. Somehow he must hold Ney in check until the ‘Army of the North’ arrives to turn the tables.
· Liebertwolkwitz, Autumn 1813. Notable for a series of massive cavalry charges.
· Leipzig, Autumn 1813. The largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars as both sides concentrated their main armies. Although outnumbered Napoleon resolved to crush the Army of Bohemia before Blucher and Bernadotte could intervene.
· Leipzig - the southern front, A smaller version of the above concentrating on Napoleon’s main attack against Schwarzenberg.
· Leipzig - the northern front. Another smaller version of the main Leipzig scenario featuring the bloody fight between Marmont and Blucher for control over the vital village of Mockern.
· La Rothiere, Spring 1814. In dreadful weather Blucher attacks Napoleon.
· Laon, Spring 1814. Blucher, having narrowly escaped disaster during Napoleon’s ‘6 Days of Glory’ decides to stand and fight.

[argaur]

· ‘Napoleon at Bay, 1814’. Napoleon has lost the titanic battle of Leipzig and abandoned Germany. The Allies are massing on the Rhine. Somehow Napoleon must raise yet another army and prevent the Allies from capturing Paris.
· ‘The Six Days of Glory, Spring 1814’. Blucher is marching on Paris. In a brilliant campaign of maneuver Napoleon and his outnumbered army drives him back and almost destroys him in the process.

I don´t have these 2 campaigns... [&:]

I´ve look into the campaign editor and is incredible, you can do whatever you want, even add more towns and villages, making movements even more realistics with more road links!

[sullafelix]

But do you guys who have tried it still think it is bad with all the work that has been done by the open-source project? I realize every game can always be improved but do you feel it is still unplayable?

[argaur]

yes, several unplayable bugs, very poor IA, and no PEBM tool... so the answer is a robust YES

[histgamer]

I know this is 3 years old but I would still love this!!!

[Titanwarrior89]

I am glad I didn't bump into it.  Sounds like more wasted money.  What percentage of games on the market are trash.  I would have to say probley around 40% or more(guessing).  I am not saying that about this game. Ive never heard of it. Ive wasted enough money.  I don't take chances anymore![:-]

[Anguille]

I have the game but couldn't make it work (despite using the unofficial patches from Greenius).

I Matrix edition would be great as the features are all what i would love in such a game. For memory, Greenius was the guy behind Microprose's Fields of Glory so some aspects are similar.

[mariovalleemtl]

[:(]

[Agathosdaimon]

this game in my opinion is the best napolenonic warfare game to never have worked. I played it briefly back on Windows 98 a decade ago - it seemed amazing in its massive scope all in real time at all levels - there seemed so much going on and to do - moving armies and recruiting soldiers and then the massive -real time battles - i didnt mind the top down pixel animation becuase it was stil so detialed with some much going on - however the AI in the campaign seemed to make no sense in how it moved its armies about and then when it got to a real time skirmish the enemies would never move - no matter how long i waited - they seemed to have no initiative and attacked only if went right up to them - after this let down the game overall just never worked on XP and i stopped waiting for some sourceforge patch to fix things
i just wish a game like this could be remade now - i dont need fancy 3d graphics for it - just stick with the same graphics and make it stable and with good ai and it would be awesome!

[Aurelian]

Lucky me. Bought it back in the day when you could return it.

[mariovalleemtl]

I am willing to pay a lot of $$ to play that game again if only it could work fine on my computer [&o]

[Agathosdaimon]

i am still hoping this could get redone - its open source and its just stopped from being a great game by the crappy bugs - please revive this game and realise its unequalled potential![:)]

[Agathosdaimon]

Again, I cant emphasise enough how good this game almost is - its open source now, wont someone please just finish. I say this as I played it last night - just in win98 VMware but it plays in win7 also. I played much of the grand campaign with no crashing and as the French and it was quite hard with trying maintain supply lines to my forces while also the allied armies grow bigger and bigger.

It is staggering how much you can do within the game campaign and battles and it is really easy I found to reorganise forces and put together new armies and I love all the times delays involved with the issuing of orders.

brilliant brilliant game and a number one in my books despite its unfinished state!

[veji1]

I remember being so disappointed with this game because it had so much potential. To me what they tried to do at the time is still what I would dream to see in a Napoleon wars type of game. It remains to this day by far my biggest disappointment because one could see the genius of the idea, the simple yet very efficient graphics of the battle engine, the dynamics behind the campaign engine, etc.. But it couldn't work.

If only a game inspired from this one could be made. One can still dream ?

[Zap]

A thread brought back from the dead. But no real news about the game.