1805 Campaign Emperor AAR (SPOILERS!)

[sIg3b]

This is my 2nd game of V&G, I am replaying the 1805 scenario, this time at Emperor difficulty.

To start with the bad news: Now that I know what I am doing, high difficulty feels even easier than medium difficulty in the game before.

The most interesting turn in the first session is the first; I hope it´s not going to be the only interesting turn in the entire playthrough.

The French start with a few sore points:

1. There is a French/Spanish Fleet in the Med that has to go to port in Marseille or it will go under.
2. A few Dutch/Belgian garrisons without a general will likely die to a British incursion; there is not much I can do about that.
3. A medium-sized German army in Bavaria (4 weak units), isolated and without a general, is likely to be wiped out by the Austrians. I have two options:

a) Let them die. This will cost the Austrians 1 unit at the most and will likely cause German morale to go down by 2. Roleplaying-wise it would be perfectly in character, since Napoleon despised the Germans.
b) Use my Force March card to reinforce them with a small (4 units) French army. This is very risky, because, if the Austrians attack, it will be a LARGE battle, meaning I stand to lose 20 Victory Points!

[sIg3b]

It so happened that I had 2 cards that made option b) viable: German Recruitment and Defensive Terrain. I decided to take the risk, force marched into Bavaria and recruited 2 additional German units. When the Austrians attacked, they had about a dozen units to my ten. Both armies had mediocre generals and mostly rather poor soldiers.

I played Defensive Terrain and the Battle of Hohenlinden began. It was a very close affair, with a lot of manoeuvering and routing. In the end, the Austrians threw in the towel and retreated in good order. I was in no position to pursue. They lost 4 Infantry to my 2; the papers called it a French Victory.

[sIg3b]

Everything went downhill for the coalition from there:

-The British sent a small expeditionary force to the continent, subdued the Dutch (which they deigned to call a "liberation") and fought an indecisive battle with a French force consisting mainly of militia. They had to retreat across the border, so the papers called it a French win, again.

-They also, in their usual annoying way, tried to stir up trouble with Prussia. Somehow they got their hands on 4 Political Points (I noticed only one Subsidies card, so I don´t know where the other 2 points came from) and brought Prussia down to level 1, giving them a 15% chance to go to war each turn. By 1806, the chance had increased to 25%, but to no avail: The Prussians wisely decided to not mess with the Emperor.

-Russia sent a very modest force to help Austria, which got annihilated together with every single Austrian army by two French armies led by Marshall Davout and Napoleon. The Austrians, bravely yet foolishly, by mid-1806 had still not surrendered, despite the fact that all their generals were dead and not a single Austrian division operational.

-Napoleon used the opportunity to create the Kingdom of Italy, and the papers promptly commented that they considered the affair so far a Marginal French Victory, which I think is a bit of an understatement.

[sIg3b]

Toward the end of 1806, Austria left the war and the Prussians, with their usual good sense of timing, joined it. The year 1807 went by with undecisive skirmishing, mostly due to the French failing to catch a British ghost army that was raiding France and evaded most attempts to force it to fight.

In the meantime Prussia and Russia reformed their army, shockingly doubling the effiency of their formerly poor Line Infantry, and managed a formidable buildup in Germany. Belgium was "liberated" and Napoleon chose to cautiously tip-toe around his opponents rather than rashly attacking them before the time was right. He even took some time to consolidate the Empire when no enemy activity was expected in Winter.

In April 1808, the blow came. Brunswick and the British general Moore felt lucky and decided to advance on Paris. Napoleon fell on Brunswick from behind, beat him soundly in the Battle of Waterloo and forced him to evacuate Belgium, thereby leaving Moore encircled in Picardy. Moore´s British-Prussian army was then completely annihilated by Davout, effectly removing Britain as a strategic factor for the next few years. The Pope decided to back the winner and signed the Concordat, increasing Napoleon´s influence even further. The papers in Paris and the United States began to predict a Substantial French Victory in the Napoleonic Wars.

[sIg3b]

The next month, Napoleon suffers a setback against a large Russian army in the Battle of Mainz. The Russians have higher losses, but refuse to leave the field. Napoleon has to retreat at nightfall. The British celebrate what they call "Napoleon´s First Major Defeat".

[sIg3b]

Napoleon calls up the next class early and bribes the Austrians with Venice to keep them neutral. Another year goes by and half a dozen French victories reduce the fighting power of the coalition. The Prussians are at the end of their tether and only one large Russian army is still blocking the road to Berlin.

[sIg3b]

Berlin is occupied by the French, though Prussia takes another 6 months to understand the fact and surrender. The coalition falls apart: Napoleon creates the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Duchy of Warsaw and the Confederation of the Rhine. Russia signs the Treaty of Tilsit and pledges eternal friendship with France.

[sIg3b]

Sorry I forgot completing this AAR. Long story short, my troops paraded through London, and Napoleon was master of Europe. The tricks to this game are these;

1. Never enter Russia, never enter Spain. Attrition in these countries can be horrible.
2. Never be at war with more than two continental foes. Two are manageable. Use diplomacy and forced peace to prevent the Grand Alliance forever!
3. Lure the English fleet away for a moment from the Channel, get Napoleon with his best units into Britain. This is risky, but should be doable. You will have to win two difficult battles (the British get an emergency army after their first defeat), but then perfidious Albion is done for, and once you are no longer at war with anybody, you win!
***

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[lt1956_slith]

There is a few flaws to your plan.

1. Cards are random and you may get garbage cards.
2. If you never enter Spain or Russia then later you will ALWAYS be at war with more than 2 Nations. Since you have to go into Spain to subdue it.
3. You do not always get the Ships to do an invasion of Britain.

You make the game sound easy but I think you just started with a good game. I wanted the developer to adjust the game a little more with options. Like instead of just easy maybe having a draw card each turn but not the negative recruitment or bonuses. Also any option to NOT follow the AI so the game moves faster, it is painfully slow in watching the AI make it moves.