July 1st, 1798. 35,000 French soldiers landed in Alexandria. Where to next? In this series of articles, we will highlight mechanics of the Napoleon in Egypt game by simulating the first Turn of the Campaign Scenario.

The French Player is the first to go every Turn. This is especially important on that very first Turn, as they have a chance to strike hard using their overwhelming initial forces. The most classical opening is to recreate the “Battle of the Pyramids”. Cairo being four Spaces away from Alexandria, the French Player needs to play a card worth at least 4 AP to do that but they have a better idea.

The two brown triangles offering an alternate route to Cairo are called Inhospitable Spaces. Not only do they cost 2 AP to move to instead of 1, they also trigger an Attrition Roll, which has a chance to eliminate some of the moving Units. The more Units in the moving Formation, the harder they will get hit by the Attrition Roll. Fortunately, Across the Desert circumvents both these problems and allows the French Player to re-enact the harsh march that Napoleon took historically to reach Cairo.

Before moving, the French Player must create a Formation. Leadership is of paramount importance in this game. A Formation without a Leader can only move a single Unit! However, Units up to the combined Strategy Rating (Black number, upper-right corner) of up to two Leaders can be included in a Formation. The French Player wants to leave Alexandria with as many Units as possible, so they use Napoleon and Desaix to bring 22 French Regulars to Cairo across the desert. This leaves 8 French Regulars with Kleber in Alexandria, a nice secondary force to capture the Minor Cities around Cairo.

Now, Murad Bey is sitting in Cairo along with 10 Mamluk Cavalry Units. That’s no match for the French juggernaut. The Allied Player will thus attempt to have Murad Bey and six Cavalry Units Avoid Battle to the Open Space south of Cairo, leaving enough Units in Cairo for a tough Siege. In Napoleon in Egypt, Avoid Battle and Interception attempts are modified by both the attacking and the defending Leader’s Battle Rating (Upper left, in red for Generals, in blue for Admirals). Only the Formation’s best Leader’s Battle Rating can be used.

The Allied Player has to roll 2D6 and get a result of 9+. They get +2 for Murad Bey’s Battle Rating, +1 since their Formation is composed exclusively of Cavalry Units but -3 for Napoleon’s Battle Rating (It’s hard to evade Bonaparte!). They roll an 8 and fail. The Battle of the Pyramids will thus take place and it will be a bloody one!

Even in a Field Battle such as the one that’s going to take place, not every Unit takes part in a Combat. Players, Attacker first, have to once again put together a Formation, but this time, the Formation is limited to a single Leader. The French Player obviously sends Napoleon to the front line along with 12 French Regulars (Thematically, Desaix and the rest of the French troops are in reserve). The Allied Player can and will use everyone at hand.

Now is the time for Reaction Events that can be played at the outset of a Field Battle. The Attacker plays as many cards as they can/want and then the Defender follows suit. The French Player will use their powerful Home Card to perform the very effective Infantry Square, allowing them to consider the square face on the Elite blue dice they will roll as hits. It’s certainly a precious card but early in the game, the French Player can’t pull any punches and have to hit the Allied Player hard. The French Player flips their Home Card to its Unavailable side; it will flip back up at the end of the Turn. The Allied Player wants to avoid Murad Bey being Captured, which will happen if the Units with him are wiped out. They thus play Feint from their hand, which will allow them to strike first instead of simultaneously. The black cube underneath the 1 AP value means the Allied Player immediately gains an Espionage Point (EP, represented by black cubes in the game) when the card is played. This EP symbol is present on every 1 AP card in Napoleon in Egypt. A little consolation prize for an otherwise low AP card!

Both sides now compute their Combat Dice Pool. Each involved Unit contributes one Combat Die of the color indicated on its counter to the Combat (This is called their Combat Quality). Combat Quality can be Elite, Drilled, Average, or Mediocre. The number of hit faces (see image below) on each die vary accordingly. The other faces are blanks, though some dice also sport a square face which can be considered a hit when the relevant Reaction Event is played, much like in the case of the French Home Card above.

With Napoleon at the helm, the French can bring 12 French Regulars to the Combat. To these 12 Elite Combat Dice are added Napoleon’s Battle Rating of 3 for a total of 15 Elite Combat Dice. A Leader will always contribute dice of the best color provided by a Unit in its Formation. The Allied Player gets 10 Average Combat Dice from their Cavalry Units + 2 more thanks to Murad Bey’s Battle Rating for a total of 12 Average Combat Dice.

The Allied Player manages to roll 5 hits, not bad considering there are only two hit faces (see image above and to the right) on an Average Combat Die. Normally, that wouldn’t impact the French Player’s roll, but because of Feint, they are forced to remove their losses right away. Five precious French Regulars are eliminated and when this happens, they are sent to a space on the board called the Military Hospital, on their flip side. As we will see in a future article, these former Regulars will be able to come back as Grognard Units when the French Scientific Expedition has made sufficient progress to heal their wounded on the field.

Instead of the originally planned 15 Elite Combat Dice, the French Player will only roll 10. Still, with their Home Card ability, each of these Dice has a 2-in-3 chance to score a hit.

Well, we anticipated blood and weren’t disappointed! The French Player answers with six hits of their own. After eliminating six Units, the Allied Player must retreat since the French Player scored more hits. Murad Bey could Withdraw Behind Fortifications in Cairo with all four Units but that would probably seal his fate as his chances of surviving repeated Assaults of the City are very low. Instead, the Allied Player elects to leave one Unit in Cairo to defend the City (Which is now considered Besieged) and Murad Bey Retreats south toward Meniet with the other three Units.

With their last AP, the French Player could pursue Murad Bey with one of their two Leaders but Murad Bey would be able to Avoid Battle automatically since he lost a Field Battle earlier in the Impulse. Thus, the French Player instead opts to Recruit a French Militia Unit in Alexandria. Recruitment is possible in Fortified Spaces whose Public Order is Favorable to your faction.

How will the Allied Player respond? We’ll cover that, and more, in the next article!

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