Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” (thank you patrons!); previous InsideGMT articles presented “Designer’s Notes”, “Game as History: An Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV)”, “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna”, and “Congress of Vienna Goes Electric with VASSAL”. Now we present an example of how the rules and game components come together in this series entitled “Congress of Vienna Detailed Sequence of Play”. Use this link to access copies of the preceding-referenced articles: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .

This series is based on a four player “across the Atlantic” VASSAL game narrated by game designer Frank Esparrago: two players were in Spain and two located in the USA. It will hopefully provide readers insight into how enjoyable, thought-provoking, and entertaining Congress of Vienna is! The initial episode of this piece took readers through this example turn’s initial set-up.

Please note the following text and ensuing increments of this article series is, with some editing, eventually intended as content for the game’s Playbook. As such, there will be ready reference to the Rulebook to explain related detail as needed. For now, kindly accept our apologies for having the rules behind this example of play remaining implicit.

With that, take it away Frank!

Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.

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Recapitulation of this CoV Game’s Card Distribution

In the previous article, we laid the foundation for introducing CoV’s Diplomacy Phase through explaining the dealing of Character (Personage) & Event cards to each player. These cards are virtually shuffled by the VASSAL System and a unique deck of Character & Event cards thereby formed.

Our four players have now received regular cards plus their respective Leader cards as directed by the Initial Event Card and die roll result for the Environment Table. The French player, Jesús,received14 cards plus Napoleon and Davout (#10); his wife Marina, the Austrian player, 10 cards; plus her Metternich Leader card; Dicksaurus (Dick Sauer, CoV’s game developer) the Russian player, received 9 cards plus the Leader Tsar Alexander I, Kutuzov (#22) and Blucher (#21) cards; and finally, The Maestro (Jim Gutt), the British player, 11 cards plus his Castlereagh Leader card.

It’s important to note a player can only view the cards of the Major Power under that player’s control: e.g. France can’t view Russia’s card hand!

Explanation and Analysis of Each Player’s Hand of Cards

FRANCE: Jesús Gordillo, the French player, divides his cards into groupings to better track what he has available. These are organized as follows: a) French and neutral cards for use in battles; b) the rest of his own and neutral cards without military benefit along with cards of other players regardless of whether they are useful for battle or not (since only French military cards are applicable to Jesús’ battles… otherwise, it’s a matter of denying them to their color-coded Powers… which can prove useful); and finally c) the Napoleon Leader card.

The French Berthier card (#53), despite its apparent benefit in battle, cannot be used this turn since its battle DRM can only be employed alongside Napoleon (Berthier was the emperor’s Chief of Staff). That cannot be since this turn’s initial event card forbids Napoleon’s use during the War Phase. Jesús must therefore patiently await next turn to unleash this dynamic duo upon France’s enemies.

The French hand is slightly below average (it has an average value of 3.0 compared to 3.2 for CoV’s full Character & Event card deck). However, Jesús has a good hand of five cards with battle use (excluding Berthier for the preceding cited reason): Davout, Murat and Oudinot can be deployed to the Northern front to oppose Blucher’s foreseeable liberation attack upon Prussia to seek Coalition conquest of its capital, Berlin.

In Spain, Joseph Bonaparte (#55) is no match for Wellington; but perhaps the Wellington card is not in the British hand? Its absence can complicate a British advance in Spain this turn (to say the least). Finally, in America, France has not received the Andrew Jackson (#56) card that would allow a better fight against the British in the War of 1812 Box. However, Jesús has Event card (#2) that gives him +3 DRM in battles with the newly obtained 4 US militia units. Consequently, the French situation is not an entirely hopeless one where their military cards are concerned!

France’s Diplomatic Cards are not excessively good since they posssess an average value of 3.0 and the Austian Stadion card (#59) has a -1 when used by the French player; so the average value of his hand is slightly lower than 3. Yes, in this game other Major Power cards can always be employed by France for diplomacy, but there are penalties for doing so!

Jesús’ only consolation is that some of these cards are not held by the Allied players who’d love having possession of them. For example, France having the Duke of York (#6) card means the British player is unable to receive a free military unit; Stadion prevents the Austrian player from receiving an additional resource marker, something Marina would very much welcome.

Furthermore, the Frederick William III of Prussia card assures the Russian player will not receive a Prussian military unit at no cost. By having in France’s possession many Russian battle cards, Napoleon ensures they’ll not be available for use against France in battles that could take place in northern and central Europe during the War Phase. It is comforting for Jesús to know Dicksaurus shall be missing a number of the sharp “teeth” these Russian military cards represent.

Unfortunately for his cause, Jesús did not receive any of the best French diplomatic cards such as Fouché (#33), Caulaincourt (#29) or Martin Gaudin (#46), nor has he been fortunate enough to obtain the excellent neutral Tayllerand (#30) or Frederick Augustus of Saxony (#54) cards.

AUSTRIA: Marina (the Austrian player) also divides her cards into groups: a) Austrian and neutral cards; b) the rest of other player cards; and c) her Metternich Leader card. In these first turns while Austria is neutral and not at war, military/battle cards have no interest for her. She has joined the neutral cards and her own because they both have an additional +1 when used for debate (Austria’s national characteristic).

The drawn cards have a value of 3.20; which is exactly the average value of all cards in the game (excluding Leaders). Marina has two excellent neutral cards in her hand: the first is Talleyrand (#30), which has a value of 5, but which has a +1 for two Issues usually of considerable interest to Austria – “Italy” and “Bavaria”. The other is a debating card (#48), which apparently a card of average value (3) becomes, when the Austrian player uses it for debate, a value of 5! Trauttmansdorf (#58) is a very powerful Austrian card with a value of 4, but +1 for the always seemingly needed “British Financial Aid” Issue. These are nice cards to have.

Marina plans trading the three mediocre 2-value cards (one Russian and two British) with these players to receive better value Austrian cards in return. For example, Eldon (#27) and Tecumseh (#60), are seemingly weak 2-value cards which a clever British player can use to gain additional resources or a better defense of Britain’s interests in America!

RUSSIA: Dick Sauer chose to be the Russian player and for this first turn he bemoans lacking a good card hand (although, poker-faced, he is not revealing this to the other players observing him via Skype).

In fact, he has not received any 4 and 5-value cards, except for the two he initially got; Blucher (#21) and Kutuzov (#22). Dick divides his cards into groups: a) Russian and neutral cards for use in battles; b) the rest of own cards without military use along with other player cards regardless of whether they have military use or not; and c) his Tsar Alexander I Leader card.

As much as possible, Dicksaurus decides to reserve his battle cards for the War Phase and “buy time” by trading certain cards with the rest of the players: especially the Sherbrooke card (#16) that can help Jim’s British in their Canadian “desperate defense” against those 4 American militia units with who knows what cards supporting them that Jesús has in his possession? It will only take the British player having a Russian card to accomplish the trade Dick seeks!

Russia having the Arkcheyev card (#45) is a fortunate blessing since it can be used to receive a military support marker or military unit at no cost. Dick mulls about the military support marker that will grant him a +3 DRM in a battle, as he especially considers the French occupied Prussia space awaiting Coalition liberation; for Berlin is well worth a Mass [1]!

BRITAIN: Jim Gutt, as the British player, has an extraordinarily good card hand. He has remarkably drawn Wellington’s card (only a 19% probability of receiving it!) and has a hand with a slightly above average value. He divides them similarly to the French player: a) British and neutral cards for use in battles; b) the rest of his own and neutral cards without military use along other player cards; and c) the Castlereagh Leader card.

The Maestro plans dedicating the Wellington (#1) and Spaniard General Morillo (#43) cards to his offensive in Spain. Enrique Trigueros previously provided Jim some ideas on how to best play as Britain; for this is the first time Jim controls Britain’s Congress of Vienna fate, but Enrique has played Britain many times during the development of the game to date!

However, Jim has but a single neutral battle card (#38) for use in the War of 1812 Box, where the Americans are likely going to attack! Fortunately, Andrew Jackson’s French card (#56) is in Britain’s possession (“muah, ha, ha!” internally chortles the British player) and Jesús will obviously not be able to use it. Jim also got the reinforcement card (#41) that allows Britain to receive an additional military unit (fleet or ground military unit as the player sees fit); whichever one is chosen, either is very necessary to reinforce Jim’s position in America.

The Diplomacy Phase Gets Underway (Initial Step and Four Rounds Explained)!

Now we describe the Diplomacy Phase, which occurs once the cards are dealt to the players during the Issues Selection Sequence; six Issues are already placed by the initial event card. Additionally, the players will get to jointly select 9 more Issues as follows:

Each player chooses one game card and places the card face down; the cards are then simultaneously revealed. This action for France is depicted by the 1 and 2 colored squares in the following figure 6.

Jesús (France) plays the Austrian “Stadion” (#59) card, since in this segment the positive or negative modifiers to the card’s value are not taken into account due to the rule:“Any associated text is ignored, and the card-numerical value only is considered (the Russian player adds +1 if this card is Russian or neutral)”. Therefore, in this segment of the game, this card has a 4-value. (During upcoming diplomatic rounds it would have a -1 modifier for the French player… but not yet.)

Dick (Russia) decides to reserve his best cards for the diplomatic rounds and especially for the upcoming War Phase since Berlin heartily beckons for liberation. If he uses his 5-value cards (Blucher or Kutuzov) they would now be worth 6! (Russia would win this segment.) However, since these high value cards are not to be played per Dick’s strategy, he decides to venture Poniatowski (#51), one of his worst 2-value cards.

Jim (Britain) reasons the situation the same as the French player. He plays the Fouché card (#33) which presently has a 4-value for him. Marina (Austria) places Soult (#24), another 4-value card, since she figures the other players are unlikely to use 5 value cards at this juncture; and in the event of a tie, the British player will decide to give her the victory (she has a non-threatening low level of VPs), for as the rules say: “In any tie situation, the British wins the tie if he is directly involved. If not directly involved, he determines which of the other three players wins the tie”. However, her hope is misplaced since the British player also played a 4-value card!

As there is a triple tie of 4-value cards, this is resolved in favor of Jim (Britain) as was clarified by the previous paragraph. Dick smiles slightly at having succeeded in not spending one of his 3-value cards at this point in the game. The Maestro decides to place one of his “Military Operation” Issues on the diplomatic board and places it in the 2-space of the British track. This is a calculation of the higher 4-value Fouché card minus the lower 2-value Castaños card (“The player with the highest value selects an available issue and places it on his own track at a distance equal to the difference between the highest and lowest card value”). It is indicated by a 3 colored square in Figure 6.

The next players’ decisions are shown by Figure 7, for the rules state: “Then, in clockwise order starting with the player to the left of the winner, each player selects two available issues and places them in the center of the negotiation table”. Therefore, Marina (Austria) chooses 2 Issues: the second “British Financial Aid” with “Bavaria” and places them in the Negotiation Table… the first Issue to get desperately needed money to pay for the Issues won and the second to get VPs and use the cards in her hand with maximum positive modifiers.

Jesús (France), who goes next, has decided on a defensive course this first turn and does not put any “Military Operation” Issue into play. Instead, he places “Italy” and “Norway” for the same reasons Marina selected “Bavaria”.

Dick (Russia), considers what Issue markers to place. After some hesitation and a bit of jovial urging to “move along” by his fellow players via Skype, he decides to take the “Absolutism” and “Russian Recruitment” Issues: the first because it will receive Austrian support and allow both nations to possibly obtain VPs (Austria and Russia can benefit through Absolutism’s successful progress as they’re both autocracies); the second Issue is to get more military units to reinforce Dicksaurus’ advance on Germany!

Jim (Britain) in closing this segment places two more Issues, his second “Military Operation” and a “British Recruitment” marker, in this case to help better dispute Canada against anticipated US attacking forces.

The four used cards are sent to the discard pile.

Now it’s time to describe the heart of the Diplomacy Phase, a key elements to a game of Congress of Vienna, the six rounds of Diplomacy:

1st Round of Diplomacy (See Figure 6 for Associated VASSAL Screen Shot)

AUSTRIA: Marina commences the action and decides to fight hard for British lucre. She plays the powerful 4 value “Trauttmansdorff “card (#58) for the “Financial Aid” Issue and this marker is moved 5 spaces on the Austrian track from the Negotiation Table’s center to get it in her possession (4 for the card’s basic value plus one for that specific Issue).

Immediately, Jesús, who has an “excess” of cards in his French hand, decides to play the “Duke of York” card (#6) to debate the Issue. This card has a basic value of 3 less one when applied to this Issue. Therefore, the marker is placed at the 2 space of the Austrian track; as the rules cite: “Each negotiated issue can only be debated by a player, and the debates cannot be “counter-debated”. Marina glares at Jesús for daring to oppose her but at least no player can debate this “Financial Aid” Issue any further!

FRANCE: Since card plays are in clockwise order, Jesús decides to use his Napoleon Leader card for a hugely important Issue for him: “French Recruitment”. This allows him to recruit two vital French military units in the Government Phase to reconstitute French armies. Furthermore, as the card expressly indicates, this Issue cannot be debated by any other Leader and, furthermore, it receives at that moment an additional French military unit immediately placed in Paris… Napoleon, after all, is Napoleon!

‑However, one of the cards in France’s hand must be discarded, as the rulebook relates: “the player using the leader must discard a card from his hand”. Consequently, the CoV experienced Jesús chooses to discard the weak Austrian 2-value “von Klenau” (#34) card. Now Napoleon is inactive for the remainder of the turn and the “French Recruitment” marker won since the rules state: “If an issue reaches the 7-space or more and no player debates it; and thus leaving it definitively in this last space it is considered won by the owning player and can no longer be debated in this turn”.

RUSSIA: The “Tsar” Dick weighs what Issue best to move and decides to make more certain of an Issue already located on his track. He uses the British “Baron Bexley” (#57) card to move the “Financial Aid” Issue to the 4-space of his track from its initial position at the 1-space of the Russian track. Jim and Marina decide not to debate Dicksaurus over this and when it is Jesús opportunity to debate, he dramatically pauses to think about it, but decides to reserve his cards for other purposes after having already spent three of them (one expended when he used the Napoleon leader).

BRITAIN: To finish the round, Jim, with British aplomb, decides to seek a trade with Russia, this is allowed by the rulebook which states: “In his round, a player may decide to trade a card with another player instead of negotiating an issue”. In this way The Maestro will help Russia improve its battle cards while he can obtain a card that better suits him: for example, a battle card for America. Furthermore, by not “spending” a card in this round and trading instead, he has preserved Britain’s hand size and saved cards to debate future French initiatives.

Jim starts by mentioning to Dick, “Wouldn’t it have been nice to offer me the “Baron Bexley” (#57) card rather than use it for yourself? Well, I have no hard feelings, so how about a trade?” Jim asks if Russia has any British cards, and if he wants to trade one with him. “Tsar” Dick looks at his cards and has in fact two mediocre British cards in his possession, so he says: “Yes!” since he doesn’t have much to lose. Now, dear reader, please note a Congress of Vienna card trade is done without actually revealing the subject cards… a player could indulge in deception, so trades are often done with more than a bit of wariness.

When Dick suggests a card which could militarily help Britain in Spain (he’s thinking of the 2-value “Castaños” (#12) card), Jim responds: “Not Spain, but I sure could use a card for fighting in America”. Dick growls slightly like a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the morning and looks at the 3-value British “Sherbrooke” card and its + 3DRM for battle in America. Jim pleads his case and tells Dick the Russian card being offered in trade is a very good one for Russia. With some resignation and trepidation Dick hands “Sherbrooke” (#16) face down and Jim performs the same operation with the 4-value “Benningsen” (#7) Russian card. When Dick receives this fine Russian battle card, a reassuring smile appears on his face for all on the Skype conference to see, the trade has not gone wrong!

With this last action, so ends the 1st of six Diplomatic Rounds!

2nd Round of Diplomacy (See Figure 8 for Associated VASSAL Screen Shot)

AUSTRIA: As always with this turn, Austria starts, because she is located to the left of whomever won the initial segment of diplomacy: which was Britain… at least in VASSAL’s virtual terms. Marina decides to play the Leader Metternich (#A1). With an impressive value of 7 he is able to take the Issue of “Absolutism” from start to finish at a single stroke, securing it for Austria. France cannot debate this move since Austria’s Leader card is being used. Dick is delighted with this, since this Issue’s success is a goal both Russia and Austria share. 

Seeing this play, Jim decides to save his Castlereagh Leader for a future round, to secure an Issue more interesting to him. Now, for playing a Leader, Austria must discard one of her cards and chooses one of the lowest value in her hand: the Russian Bernadotte (#3) card. The other possibilities are two 2-value British cards; but she decides to save them in case Jim wants to trade during upcoming rounds.

FRANCE: Instead of negotiating an Issue, Jesús decides to make a card trade with the Russian player due to the French national characteristic whose rule cites: “the other player must accept a trade unless there is no French card to trade”. Jesús turns Scharnhorst’s card face down (#25) which is only a 2-value card (it has a -1 modifier for France) and its battle DRMs are only usable in defensive battles which is not going to be relevant since France, at this point, does not anticipate any offensive actions against the Russians. 

With a sigh and expression of irritation, Dick hands Ney (#53) face down, a 3-value French card but with +3 DRM in battles against Russia! Alas, it is the only French card Dicksaurus has in his hand and therefore this trade is a forced choice! Dick is not happy with the French action, not happy at all, particularly as he now realizes with hindsight that he should have played Ney the previous round instead of Bexley!  

RUSSIA: Dick uses his 3 value Arakcheyev card (#45) to move the “Russian Recruitment” Issue to the 4-space of the Russian track (he has a +1 modifier for that Issue). Of course, Britain and Austria don’t debate this, but France does! Jesús uses the 3-value Debating card (#47) and returns “Russian Recruitment” to its initial Table of Negotiation position as if the move was never made; since it has a +1 modifier for debating. However, Russia gets an additional resource marker as indicated by the Arakcheyev card’s text (with a light green background).

BRITAIN: To end the 2nd round Jim uses the 3 value Martin Gaudin card (#46) to move the “British Mil. Op.” marker further along his track to its 5-space. Nobody decides to debate it, since France, although it has many cards remaining in hand, wants to save them for another round or the War Phase.

3rd Round of Diplomacy (See Figure 9 for Associated VASSAL Screen Shot)

AUSTRIA: Austria starts by trading card with the British player. Jim accepts it since he has an Austrian card for trading and is also interested in receiving a British card. Marina asks Jim if he prefers a battle card or one that should be very interesting to him for this Phase. The Maestro is intrigued by this permitted additional information, which is allowed as the rulebook indicates: “It is permissible to declare if you have an ‘attractive’ card to the other player”.

Jim considers the cards in his hand and determines he has adequate battle cards: Wellington is a heavy weight military advantage in Spain and Sherbrooke (#16), previously received by trading, is powerful in America. However, a good diplomatic card can help him with Issues or create difficulties for future French diplomatic action. Jim gives the Merveldelt card (#36) face down to Austria and Marina the 1st Earl of Eldon card (#27) face down to Britain accomplishing the trade. They both seem happy!

FRANCE: Instead of negotiating an Issue, Jesús decides to pass because, per the rules: “when a player chooses to debate an issue, he has the option of passing on his next round to advance an issue. When his round comes, if he chooses not to exercise this option, he cannot save the option for one of the following rounds”.

RUSSIA: Dick uses his newly acquired 3 value Scharnhorst (#25) card to move the “Russian Recruitment” Issue to the 3-space on the Russian track. However, the British player decides to debate this with the 2-value Suchet (#14) card. This may seem a stupid play, but by doing this the “Russian Recruitment” Issue remains on the Russian track and thus cannot be debated by the French player and entirely taken from this track! (Enrique Trigueros remembers this as a tactic Allied play testers sometimes use to counter the large number of cards in the French hand during the game’s first turns).

BRITAIN: To end the 3rd round Jim uses the 3 value Andrew Jackson card (#56): for this card “burns” in his hand as it’s the last French card in Britain’s possession. For if France requests trading, he’ll have no choice but to deliver it… a terrible trick against the British in America! The Maestro therefore uses it to move the “British Military Operation” Issue marker located on the Negotiation Table to its 2-space since playing this card as Britain reduces Andrew Jackson’s value by minus one. Jesús decides to debate this action with the Austrian 3 value Gyulay card (#40) which places this Issue in the 1-space of France’s track… point and counter-point, eh?

4th Round of Diplomacy (See Figure 9 for Associated VASSAL Screen Shot)

AUSTRIA: Marina plays the von Hardenberg card (#19) to move the “Austrian Recruitment” Issue to her track’s 4-space (from the Trading Table of Negotiations). Nobody debates!

FRANCE: Next, Jesús plays Barclay de Tolly (#31) and moves the “Italy” Issue to the 4-space on the French track. Russia and Britain don’t debate this, but Austria does with the Debating #48 card. It is 3-value with a plus +1 modifier for debating with another +1 modifier for an Austrian or Neutral card used for debating (the Austrian National Characteristic here comes into play: “Diplomacy first and foremost”: Austrian or Neutral cards used by the Austrian player in a debate have +1 value, in addition to any other attribute that the card may indicate). That’s 5 with a minus -1 for an Issue marker placed upon the French track (the French National Characteristic: “Persuasion by force”:… other players have a -1 value to movement of all issues currently on the French Track during either debate or negotiation play by the other players). Consequently, a net debate movement of 4 results, so the marker is placed back on the Table of Negotiation. Jesús’ play is completely countered by Marina’s riposte as if it never occurred!

RUSSIA: Dick decides to play his Leader Alexander (R1) to take the “Norway” Issue to the final space of his track. As Austria and France did when playing their Leaders, he too must discard one of his cards and chooses the lowest value one in hand: the 2 value Castaños (#12).

The only one who can now debate is Jim with his British Leader, but he decides to reserve Castlereagh for a future more important to British interests Issue.

Enrique Trigueros comments that Alexander is a powerful Leader, really a 7-value card, but with many negative modifiers causing him to be limited with some key Russian Issues (as he was historically). Had Dick used it to secure an Issue such as “Russian Recruitment”, he would win the Issue but would then suffer a -2 DRM in each of the two battles that are likely going to take place with Russian armies. By using it to gain “Norway”, Russia will have several Issues on its track. Dicksaurus therefore has a chance to win the Diplomatic Phase and receive 2 VPs.

BRITAIN: To end the 4th round Jim uses the 2 value 1st Earl of Eldon (#27) card to move the “British Recruitment” Issue to the 4-space on the British track (+2 modifier for this Issue). He also receives an additional resource marker… very necessary to feed Britain’s hopes for this game’s outcome!

In the next post we’ll conclude this explanation of the Diplomacy Phase (two Rounds to go!) and describe the Government Phase in detail!

Footnotes

[1] Paraphrasing the King of France Henry IV in 1593; “Paris vaut bien une messe (Paris is well worth a Mass)”.

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Congress of Vienna Detailed Sequence of Play – The Initial Phase (Part 1 of 5)