Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut†(thank you patrons, thank you so very much!); previous InsideGMT articles presented “Designer’s Notesâ€, “Game as History: An Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV)â€, “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Viennaâ€, and “Congress of Vienna Goes Electric with VASSALâ€. Now we present an example of how the rules and game components come together in this series entitled “Congress of Vienna Detailed Sequence of Playâ€. 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 and neutral game observer Enrique Trigueros: two players were in Spain and two located in the USA. These articles will hopefully provide readers insight as to how enjoyable, thought-provoking, and entertaining Congress of Vienna is!
The first episode of this piece took readers through this example turn’s initial set-up with Parts 2 & 3 conveying a recapitulation of the game’s Diplomacy and Government Phases… where much Skype-supported “wheeling and dealingâ€, imprecations, and the gnashing of teeth with Major Power positioning occurred. Part 4 left the diplomatic element of the game behind and commenced describing preparations for the actual battles to come both in Europe and in North America (War of 1812).
Kindly note the following text and ensuing increments of this article series are, 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 supporting detail as needed. For now, kindly accept our apologies for having the rules behind this example of play remaining implicit. However, any quotes from the latest rules are indicated by italics.
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.
With that, we conclude this narrative of a Congress of Vienna example game turn with its War Phase Part II. This will explain the turn’s battles and when the smoke of warfare settles conclude with calculation of the turn’s Victory Points for each of the Major Powers: France (Jesús), Britain (Jim), Russia and its Prussia Ally (Dick), and the still neutral Austria (Marina). There is a lot of game action to describe, so no more prattling on by me! Take it away Frank and thank you for a most entertaining and informative article series!
In the previous article we introduced the first actions of the War Phase! We showed how reinforcements are received, how they are sent to the different battlefronts, where military support markers are placed (representing warehouses, supplies, artillery, special support and elite units …) and finally how the players carried out the strategic movement of their military units between the different battlefronts.
This included the players and observers thoughts, their concerns and justifications, for everything which went on during these War Phase actions which you hopefully found interesting, informative, and entertaining.
The Military Operations and Battles
The inital situation of the Military Map at the begining of the Military Operations and battles sequence in the War Phase is depicted by Figure 1 and the remaining cards comprising each player’s card hand are shown by Figure 2.
Five military operations are placed in four different battlefronts: the first on the Central Europe Front (A) where an extremely weak Grande Armée (without Napoleon) faces the offensive of the Silesian Army under Kutuzov. The second is the Russian/Prussian Northern Army under Blücher against a now heavily reinforced French Army of Elbe in the Prussia space (Front B). Next is the Portugal Front (C), where the Army of Portugal led by Wellington and with significant Spanish and Portuguese support is seeking the reconquest Spain against a French Army under the weak leadership of Joseph Bonaparte. Finally, in the War of 1812 Box (CoV’s Front G), both the British and American forces are poised to launch military operations against their opponent. “The military operations that are going to take place begin with the A front and end in America G. At least one military operation marker must be placed in any army located there to activate that front†likewise the rules indicate that: “A front in which there is not, at least, a military operation marker; no military confrontation can occurâ€.
In Figure 2 the cards have been shown grouped in each player’s hand as they plan to use them in the different upcoming War Phase battles; although this allocation may change until the final and climatic sequence of War Phase Operations are resolved… players only “lock in†their card commitments on a battle-by-battle basis!
Military Operation (Battle) in the Central Europe Front (A): 9 Steps to Resolve
The Grande Armee has but a single military unit while the Russian Army of Silesia has three. Furthermore, Jesús knows the powerful Kutuzov card is in the Russian player’s hand. Jesús decides to withdraw so he does not have to risk losing a VP due to running out of military units. (“When all troops from an army (or inside box) are eliminated it loses -1 VP, the other army (box) gains 1 VP. If both armies run out of troops after a battle, all players lose -1 VPâ€).
Front A: The Battle for Poland – In Figure 3, we show a detail of the military map with focus on Battlefront A. This displays the cards the players are going to use for this first military confrontation of the campaign. Readers should recall that when the War Phase begins, most cards are hidden from the opposing player(s) since they are located face-down within each player’s card hand. Yup, this is CoV “Fog of Warâ€!
Also, we placed in the lower part of the illustration the game’s “DRM Battle Record Track†(it’s really located in the upper right corner of main window of the VASSAL Module used to conduct this game) to follow the two pawns movements that indicate the Battle DRM of each player (light blue for France and dark orange for Allied). These are essential to resolve each confrontation in an orderly manner; for this aspect of the game, in the description of this battle and subsequent battles, we placed numbers inside squares so readers can follow this exposition by looking at Figure 3.
2. Withdrawal: At this point Jesús indicates he is going to withdraw the Grande Armée from its position in the Poland space“as a way to fighting a rearguard battle and retiring from a space to the next space closest to its front entrance rather than fighting a frontal battle. Instead, a battle is fought with fewer losses than a standard battle with modifiers that mitigate the losses in either both armies†but “at the end of battle, the withdrawal army must retreat …; the opposed army must advance into the vacated space regardless of the number of casualties in each armyâ€.
6. Winner and Loser: No battle winner and loser in a withdrawal.
When the Russians occupy Poland they gain the VPs for Poland and the French lose the same number of VPs (“spaces with a black VP number indicates that those VPs are obtained (lost) by the power(s) that controls itâ€). The Russian player also receives another 4 VPs for capturing Silesia: in this case the French player does not lose VPs since the #VP in this space is inside a green rectangle (“a space provides VPs only to that specific power with the VPs on its background colorâ€).
Therefore, the Russian VP token is advanced from its 11-space: first 2 VPs (Poland) and then 4 VPs (Silesia) to the 17-space on the VP Record Track located around the military map’s perimeter. The French player then loses 2 VPs (Poland) by placing his French VP token in 59-space on the same Track (see Figure 4). Dicksaurus’ toothy smile appears in all its fulsomeness!
8. Major Battle: Not applicable in withdrawal.
9. End of Military Operations on this Front: “Once each front is resolved, all military support markers are displaced near each player’s chair. The military operation markers also are returned to their place on the board to be played again, along with the rest of the issues, in the next Diplomacy phaseâ€. In this case the “Russian Military Operation†marker is returned to the Diplomacy Display.
Now a Major Battle for Berlin (Prussia) comes!
The Military Operation in the Northern Europe Front (B)
Front B: The Battle for Prussia- Jesús, as the French player, decides to fight for Berlin (the Prussia space). The French Army of Elbe has been reconstituted from an initial “at game start†cadre of but 2 units, through new recruitment, allies (in this turn Westphalians from Hanover) and transfers from other Armies. Thereby creating an impressively-amassed nine French units in the Prussia space… the largest French Army on the map!
The Allied Northern Army of four Russian and two Prussian units face the French Army of Elbe. In addition, both sides committed two military support markers (i.e., cavalry, artillery, supplies, entrenchments …). As Jesús knows the powerful Blücher card is in the Russian hand; he therefore will use most of his available French generals in addition to his recently added military units to seek a much needed victory!
Dick, the Russian player, also decides to use all the general and battle event cards in his possession for this pending gargantuan battle in which the Coalition seems so badly outnumbered (9 units to 6). Sadly, thinks Dick, the capable Benningsen is unavailable since this card was used during the previous phase to boost Russian Recruitment!
In Figure 5, we show a detail of the military map with the focus on this battlefront B. We placed in the lower part of the illustration the “DRM Battle Record Track†to follow the two pawns movement that indicate the battle DRM of each player (light blue for France and dark orange for Allied). These DRM are essential to resolve each confrontation in an orderly manner. For this description of the Battle of Berlin we placed numbers inside white colored track border squares; so readers can follow this exposition by looking at Figure 5. Of course, the battle cards in each player’s hand are hidden to the opposing side until Battle Step 3; but they are shown in the figure to best explain Congress of Vienna’s War Phase game mechanics.
2. Withdrawal: Both sides decide to fight! Neither chooses the withdrawal option (the French player initially voices this), since the rulebook states: “beginning for the French playerâ€.
The six cards are simultaneously flipped for all players to see! At this moment, the light blue pawn (French) stands at their track’s +21 space and the dark orange pawn (Allied) stands at +20 space… close indeed! This short distance will be further resolved by dice rolls; which in any great strategy game such as Congress of Vienna will indicate the arrival of reinforcement corps; delays though misunderstood orders; inspired leadership; appropriate troop placements: all the imponderables of war as fate now weighs in…
4. Calculate Other Dice Roll Modifiers: In this battle, no modifier is applied for terrain, amphibious landing, home country, and guerrilla activity.
Now, we present Figure 6 in which the battle for Berlin is resolved. In this illustration we have placed the two C-in-C cards, Murat vs. Blücher, solely for their dramatic effect. This shows the development of the battle where we left the situation in Figure 5.
“The losses are simultaneously removed to the respective Force Pool as each player decides between his military units and fleet presentâ€. The French player removes 4 units and the Russian decides to remove 2 Russian and 1 Prussian units. What a bloody battle Berlin proves to be! Each side loses a substantial percentage of its original strength: in those losses are included attrition, desertion, isolated garrisons, detachments, etc.
6. Winner and Loser: “The winner is the army that inflicts more casualties; if both ones inflict the same number of casualties, no army has won the battle and the defender remains in their original spaceâ€. For this reason the Russian player wins the battle!
The Russians receive 4 VPs for occupying Prussia (but the French player does not lose VPs since this label is within a green rectangle (“a space provides VPs only to that specific power with the VPs on its background colorâ€).
Therefore the Russian VP token is advanced from 17-space to 21-space on the VP Record Track. The French player does not sustain a VP loss for this and France’s VP token stays in its 59-space (see Figure 7).
8. Major Battle: “Major victory gives 1 VP; major defeat -1 VPâ€. The Russians receive 1 VP for achieving a major victory and the French lose 1 VP for suffering a major defeat. Therefore, Russia’s VP token is advanced from the 21-space to 22-space on the VP Record Track and France’s VP token is moved from the 59 to 58-space (see Figure 7).
9. End of Military Operations on this Front: the “Russian Military Operation†marker and both military support markers are respectively returned to the Diplomacy Display and French and Russian Force Pools for possible reuse during another turn.
The Military Operation on the Portugal/Spain Front (C)
Front C: The Battle for Spain:
Let’s now go through the nine-step battle resolution process for this engagement.
2. Withdrawal: At this point Jesús, even before he sees Jim’s cards, indicates he is going to withdraw. The negative modifiers will reduce chance of unit loss infliction.
FIGURE 8, PART B
6. Winner and loser: There is no battle winner nor loser in a withdrawal.
8. Major Battle: Not applicable in withdrawal.
9. End of Military Operations on this Front: The “British Military Operation†marker and both military support markers are respectively returned into the Diplomacy Display and French and British Force Pools.
The Military Operation in the War of 1812 Box (G)
Front G: The Battle for Canada:
4. Calculate Other Die Roll Modifiers: In this battle, no modifier is applied for terrain, amphibious landing, home country, and guerrilla activity.
A much internally annoyed yet outwardly unagitated Jim, veteran gamer that he is, who has faced adversity many a time during a long gaming career, decides to remove 1 British military unit and 2 Fleets. The French player removes 2 US militia units; “the losses are simultaneously removed to the respective Force Pool as each player decides between his military units and fleet presentâ€.
6. Winner and Loser: The winner is the French player because he inflicts more losses than received.
7. Retreat and Advance: “No retreat or advances are allowed on the Norway/Denmark and War of 1812 boxes; Allied armies in their home spaces; and French armies in Parisâ€.
8. Major Battle: “In the “War of 1812†and “Norway/Denmark†boxes, the engagement is considered major battle if 6 or more military units and fleets are present between the two sidesâ€. In this battle 4 British and 5 US Militia units give a total of 9: making this a major battle!
The French player receives 1 VP for a major victory and the British loses 1 VP for major defeat. Therefore, Britain’s VP token is decreased from the 5-space to 4-space on the VP Record Track. France’s VP token is moved from the 58-space to 59-space (see Figure 10).
Furthermore, being an US major victory in America in the War of 1812; the Box’s Status marker is moved one space into -1 VP-space (light blue colored); “the War of 1812 status is considered as the difference between the victories in major battles achieved by the British player over the French player, acting on behalf of the United States (max +2 VPs; min -2 VPs)†(see Figure 10).
9. End of Military Operations on this Front: The “British Military Operation†marker and both military support markers are respectively returned into the Diplomacy Display and French and British Force Pools. The US Military Operation†marker is flipped (inactive) and placed near the military map for possible future use.
With this last engagement, turn 1’s War Phase is over. Now the last Phase of this game turn example begins!
End of Turn and Victory Checking Phase
This is an extremely short Phase that consist of:
Updating VPs
The rulebook cites: “The following factors are checked: If Castile… is French controlled space; France receives 1 VP. If Prussia is not controlled by the Allies, Russia loses -1 VP. While Austria is not yet at war, it receives 2 VP… Britain obtains the VPs indicated for the War of 1812 status marker (if it is positive); but if the value of this marker is negative; France receives its absolute valueâ€. For this reason, France receives 1 VP for Castile; as Russia now controls Prussia, it loses no VP; Austria receives 2 VPs; and France receives another 1 VP since the War of 1812 Status marker is in the light blue -1-space. The final VP tokens and Army positions are shown in Figure 11.
Determination of the Game Winner
“◠If France has up 80 VPs at the end of any game turn, it has achieved early triumph by imposing its military and political hegemony on Europeâ€. This is assuredly not the case!
“◠If in this turn Napoleon has surrendered; the game endsâ€: this is not the case!
“◠If this turn is the last turn of scenario; the game endsâ€: this is not the case!
For these reasons the game continues!
Continuing the Game
“If the game has not finished; the single Character and Event card deck is created again with the cards retained by any player, the discard pile and unused card deck. At the moment it will not be shuffled, because in the Initial phase it will be necessary to select a card before drawn the others (see “The Initial Phase”). The round markers are placed near the 1-space in its track; and all issues are placed in the appropriate space on the Diplomacy Display.
With these last arrangements the turn ends and the players can start a new game turn advancing the turn markerâ€.
Final Thoughts…
Our detailed description of turn 1 ends here; but the game continues… For France, Jesús will have Napoleon available to counterattack in Central Europe along with his massive replacements (it is a pair turn) and thereby try to decisively defeat the Russians and Prussians before Austria joins the Coalition and goes to war! The emperor is far from finished and Jesús will prove that with a vengeance!
Dick, pleased with the progress he’s achieved thus far, must rebuild his armies and tenaciously retain Berlin (the Prussia space) at all costs. The Barclay, Arakcheyev and Friederich Wilhelm III of Prussia cards, if he’s fortunate enough to receive them, can help a lot to collect manpower in a similar way to the French. Dicksaurus toothily grins in anticipation of the struggles to come!
Marina, as the Austrian player, must continue to “fatten” her army by collecting as many VPs as she can before Austrian entry into the war; so she will benefit by generating a more influential position than her powerful Allies for a final Austrian victory (she hopes!). The spirit of crafty Metternich will guide her in this effort!
Jim has many tasks in mind, financing his rival-allied beggars (and beg they shall); recompose Britain’s shattered position in Canada and improve the blockade of North America; while at least expelling the French from Spain! This will take quite the juggling act of Britain’s limited resources, but The Maestro believes he is up to the task!
But all this, I am afraid; is a story for another time!
We hope you enjoyed and found enlightening this five part InsideGMT series describing a sample Congress of Vienna game turn. Our next article will show how the historical Battle of Leipzig can be simulated using the CoV system… stay tuned! Kindly use the utility at the conclusion of this article for posing any question or request for additional information.
Thank you!
Congress of Vienna Detailed Sequence of Play – The Initial Phase (Part 1 of 5)
Congress of Vienna Detailed Sequence of Play – The Diplomacy Phase (Part 2 of 5)
Congress of Vienna Detailed Sequence of Play – The War Phase I (Part 4 of 5)
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