Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: As previously mentioned and lamented in other InsideGMT articles, space prohibited including in the published game several “goodies” Frank and the Congress of Vienna (CoV) Team wrought to enhance players’ appreciation of this fun and exciting game inspired by Mark Herman’s renown Churchill.  Many of these pieces may now be found in GMT’s CoV site: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna.  These articles, particularly the Quick Start Rules, should provide readers with background concerning the game as well as a foundation for understanding what is presented herein.

This article, the first of a 4 Part Series (one for each of CoV’s Major Powers: Russia, Britain, Austria, and France). It is intended to convey the team’s experiences in successfully meeting the challenges in playing Napoleonic France, which is seeking during the game’s 1813-1814 period to recover from the disastrous and calamitous 1812 invasion of Russia. 

These recommendations/observations for the game’s prospective players in the role of the French emperor Napoleon are for Congress of Vienna’s Full Campaign Game, without Optional Historical Rules (OHRs), or use of the game’s Solitaire Rules and/or Bots.   Contending with one or more of those have unique considerations all their own.  For readers curious to learn of these options, kindly reference the above link to GMT’s CoV Site.         

To additionally set the stage, here is an image of the Congress of Vienna Production Gameboard:

With that and this link to the game’s Quick Start Rules Summary Booklet InsideGMT article: Congress of Vienna Quick Start Rules (Bi-Lingual: English & Spanish Versions!) | Inside GMT blog, Frank, CoV’s Designer, will hopefully entertain you with this “How to Play” piece for Congress of Vienna’s Imperial France, through which he shares some “tricks of the trade” in surmounting the challenges faced by France, who is not without resources of its own, as it’s pitted against powerful enemies coming at it from every point of the compass.  So here is Part 1 of 2 of this “French Strategies” article, enjoy!

Strategies for France

France has two main ways to achieve a Congress of Vienna win: an “Early Victory” by imposing its military and political hegemony on Europe through obtaining 80 VP or more at the end of any game turn; or play a long game “Resistance Strategy” through stubbornly defending as much of its original territory as possible until the 10th and final game turn and thereby achieve a game win through having more VP than any of the other 3 players (Russia, Austria, and Britain).

Which approach France pursues depends on the means you have available each turn and the other players’ idiosyncrasies as gamers. In a multiplayer environment such as Congress of Vienna, your actions are governed not solely by your nation’s relative strengths and weaknesses, but also by the personalities of your opponents (as was the case historically!). This can be determined after the first few turns by observing the players new to you, such as at a club meeting or convention, or if you have a group with whom you regularly game, those personalities and their playing styles may already be well-known as you and your friends sit down for an enjoyable time at the gaming table! 

We have observed how many CoV play testers followed winning French strategies for this always fun-to-play nation. It is my pleasure to here share what we’ve learned.

Congress of Vienna’s VP Mechanics: How Can These be Optimized for France

As Congress of Vienna is something of a Eurogame; it is important to realize that diplomatic and political successes and failures are at least as important as military ones.  There is not a single dimension to this game.  Players who lose sight of this are severely limiting their opportunities for victory.

Therefore, for each great game-winning strategy, particularly for France, its necessary to understand how VPs can be lost or won either at the diplomacy table or upon a game’s many battlefields, below are some sources:

One way France gains VPs is by winning major battles (those having 4 or more military cubes on each side). However, this is a risky approach as you may not win such fights due to the vagaries of cards and dice. As France, it is therefore better to pick your battles carefully, or even bait your enemies into attacking where they think you are weak, but where you are in fact strong through your military cards and/or planned positioning of upcoming reinforcements, replacements, and strategic movement of units.

Remember, you lose 1 VP with each major battlefield defeat or worse -2 VP with Napoleon and his imperial prestige hazarded into the fray!

Do recall the French military maxim” “Reculer pour mieux sauter” (“Take a step back in order to leap forward”). A weak Grande Armée can withdraw and return heavily reinforced the following turn, particularly if the cards of Napoleon, Berthier, Murat (as commander of French cavalry) and other excellent subordinates are drawn and saved for the War Phase.

But the most efficient way for France to gain VP is through winning diplomacy Issues through the Diplomatic Phase and then spending corresponding Resource markers during the Government Phase. Unlike Russia and Austria, who need British Financial Aid Issues to improve their Resource paucity (which weakens Britain!), France is better equipped with Resources to carry out this task!

An obvious route to VP is winning the Liberalism Issue, which has increasing yields each time the pawn is successfully advanced on its Track. However, do recall when you earn Liberalism VP for France so does your rival Britain! However, the Absolutism Major Powers: Austria and Russia, are not going to make this easy for you to accomplish and on many occasions dastardly Britain will leave you in the lurch!

The best approach for France gaining VP is to focus on acquiring Minor Country Issues, as they not only yield 1 VP each, but can also provide an extra military unit if you currently hold that Issue’s territory.

Which course to pursue does not exclusively depend on the cards you’re initially dealt.  You can acquire others during the Diplomacy Phase through using France’s National Ability to demand card swaps and thereby gain some card hand quality improvements. Remember, no Allied player can Diplomacy Round refuse to trade a card with you: more on that later!

For best card-use effectiveness, you should be aware of their modifiers: e.g., if you have Davout, Talleyrand, GAUDIN, or Friedrich of Saxony, make certain to consider selecting them for Diplomacy use to win the Norway, Italy, Holland or Saxony Issues since these cards, respectively, help.

Finally, employ the French National Track to your advantage, as Issues placed on it are subject to a -1 in other players’ Issue movement.  Also, try to encourage dissent between your opponents (table talk can be a lot of fun… but be aware such activity, enjoyable though it is, increases game playing time).

Remember, there’s the end of Government Phase option of Sound Government which gives 1 VP in exchange for one Resource. This can be done every turn, so its acquisition is always worth contingency planning for when you’ve a Resource to spare.

Now let’s revisit, reiterate, and expand some of the preceding within context of winning French strategies.  

France’s Great Strategies

The first obvious strategy for any French player who wants a victorious Napoleon is to get an early game Automatic Early Victory of France (80+ VPs) before the Allies fully arm with Austria joining the Coalition. The emperor nearly reached that lofty goal historically during early June 1813; but a successful withdrawal by the Russians and Prussians, poor military behavior by Napoleon’s subordinates and Wellington’s sharply threatening advance in Spain (French VP losses in CoV terms), narrowly derailed
that strategy. Below is a table which summarizes Congress of Vienna‘s French Great Strategies:

As France starts the game with 60 VP this seems an attainable goal considering the game’s tremendous French martial advantages. However, this type of victory is difficult to achieve as the French lack resources to effectively obstruct the Coalition on all the map’s battlefronts, and especially when the rest of the players act as a fully coordinated Coalition! However, France can amass a concentration on at least one Front in hopes of earning VPs while seeking to impede their adversaries’ advances on the map’s other Tracks (for a defensive victory may still generate VP).  That, of course, is the challenge… but it can be done!

A different French approach is to carry out a “Resistance Strategy” with planned withdrawal(s) in Northern Europe (Track B) and then vigorously seek retention of most of Central Germany (Track A): particularly the critical space of Saxony. For while Saxony is French-controlled, the Allies cannot advance into Track B’s Hanover and beyond!

Spain? Abandon Track C Spain to the hated British until there’s need to stubbornly defend Gascony (a French Homeland and Mountain space).  Track D Spain is something of a sideshow where, if possible, it’s nice to defend since British advances on Track C can’t be accomplished without certain Track D spaces… particularly the easy to defend mountain space of Catalonia which, while in French possession, prevents a British attack on Toulouse and its 5VP. When Austria enters the war, staunchly defend Front F’s Italy.

As if accomplishing the preceding wasn’t enough; the French player must also conduct a three-element strategy: First, reap the maximum number of VPs obtained by diplomatic means each turn: this includes winning Minor Country Issues, Liberalism, as well as garnering Sound Government VP.  For this purpose, some French battle cards will probably be used for the diplomatic “struggle” (Carefully choose them! Losing a battle for want of a single military character card which is not War Phase available since it was played during the Diplomacy Phase is an unpleasant experience).  Second, accumulate the maximum number of troops (units), thereby making French armies as powerful as possible and difficult to defeat. This could even result in France having a chance to counterattack if circumstances permit.

Once this is accomplished and seeing how the different Allies are obtaining their respective VPs, you must perform the task of exploiting all the differences between these rivals. Hopefully, you’ll be more persuasive than Napoleon historically was.

The Third major French Great Strategy is a kind of intermediate approach between the two previously described approaches. Ah, but what is the right balance? That seems to be highly situational based upon how a given game is going. However, keep in mind the situation can be very difficult for France. Some play testers initially go for the 80VP victory during the game’s first turns and then switch to seeking a French survival win through the Resistance Strategy as a game’s time limit draws to an end.

Factors in any French Strategy

French Battle Advantages: To be well prepared for a War Phase, don’t forget Military Support markers (these represent auxiliary units such as HQ, sappers, cavalry, warehouses for logistical advantage, guard troops, an artillery reserve…). Military Support markers, with their +3 DRM each, can make the difference in battles by tipping the balance to victory or saving you from major defeat. Of course, they should be a priority if you’ve chosen the “Early Game French Sudden Death Victory” strategy.

In addition, you’ll realize that for most turns, especially during the early game, there’ll be many French Resources to allocate to realize France’s goals. On the other hand, Russia, without neutral Austrian help, shall have comparably few Resources to acquire Russian Military Support markers. Remember that Russia gets but a base three Resources each turn compared to your base of six.  That’s a ground for French hope.

Just one last comment on Military Support markers: be judicious with them! What do we mean by this? That when you anticipate a battle irretrievably lost; use them in another battle you believe France can win.

There is also the (historical) advantage of interior lines for distributing French troops (units) via reinforcement/ replacement/ strategic movement. Furthermore, do not hesitate to denude an Army down to its last unit which is not being attacked to reinforce other Armies during the strategic movement. Two units can be strategically moved back or replaced if needed later and if you have the Berthier card, it brings the advantage of swinging 40,000 extra men (2 more military units for a total of 4) into a given Front!

Another consideration about battles: a battle not won is not necessarily a battle lost! Both sides suffer attritional battle losses, but you maintain control of space if the battle is a draw. France’s excellent military cards, a good harvest of Military Support markers, and its central position can help make any Allied advance a thorny path indeed.

Fostering and Exploiting Potential Allied Dissention: A fundamental feature of CoV is that it is a multiplayer-game. Always keep that in mind! A French player must understand this well and exploit CoV’s game environment since, on many occasions, collaboration between the three Allied Major Powers of Russia, Britain, and Austria is crucial and should not be presumed.  To defeat Napoleon, they must effectively cooperate for success as a team… yet only one player of that team can win the game!   

Therefore, don’t assume such cooperation! If there’s disunity among the Allied players, which France should do all in its power to encourage, take advantage of any internal dissension, or foster such yourself via spirited and persuasive “table talk” so you win the largest number of Issues during the Diplomacy Phase.

Remember, it can be difficult to get an Issue onto your National Track; but once an Issue is on the French Track, make certain you get it into the depths of that Track, ideally your Seat, to discourage other players opposing your move via debate or an ensuing Diplomacy Phase Round

The need to encourage Allied internal discord cannot be understated.  Here’s why: while France begins a full Campaign Game with 15 cards in hand, the Allies collectively have better than double that at 33 cards (10 Russian, 11 Austrian, and 12 British).  This situation will only worsen with Allied battlefield successes.  If they play in a monolithic unified manner, France may be lucky to win a single Issue during a turn and there can be turns that set back may indeed happen.  Do not let such an occurrence discourage you… for until Napoleon is forced to abdicate, there’s always hope, yes hope (!), as only one of the three Allied players can win the game.  Exploit that!

France’s National Advantages During the Diplomacy Phase – Card Trading & Debate Pre-Emption: If the French player requests a card trade from another player; that player is MUST trade with France whenever that player has a French card in hand. This is especially true when considering the timing to use another French National Advantage, that of debating first via a pre-emptive action.  This ignores Round sequence by using a French National card. A pre-emptive debate should be employed later during the turn’s Diplomacy Phase to, if possible, keep the Allies guessing as to when to move an Issue, especially one key to France’s interests.

Since you can’t trade for cards in the discard pile, use this powerful ability and start applying this advantage as soon as possible during a Diplomacy Phase; because if you don’t, the other Major Powers will play your cards first and deny France the opportunity to obtain such cards later. Obviously, you must trade other player cards without significant military capability (e.g., don’t trade Wellington to the British player! Yikes!  Don’t do THAT!); although until it enters the war you can do such military character card trades with Austria since those avoid battle risk.

Don’t be afraid or hesitate to Trade Cards! You can potentially improve your hand a lot and receive some very helpful military cards via trading. Imagine the look on a British player’s face, who is eagerly anticipating launching a powerful attack on one of Spain’s Fronts, who is forced to trade Soult to you!  Don’t despair about not moving Issues on the National Tracks by trading instead. Through improving your hand quality, France should have debate opportunities and thus get Issues onto its Track for potential advantage.

There are some seemingly “humble” French cards you can receive through trading, but they have excellent military value once in your hand. The first is the Suchet card, a poor 2-value, but it has +6 DRM against Spanish units on Front D. Then there is Andrew Jackson, a card which gives a +4 DRM in the War of 1812 Box and, alternatively, can deprive Britain of a turn’s War of 1812 Box VP. The last example is Berthier, another humble appearing 2-value card; but played with Napoleonit awards a +2 DRM and allows you to select the better of two dice rolls in battle!  Berthier also doubles France’s strategic move capacity from two to four.

You may be surprised how many times you receive such powerful French cards in trade. Sometimes, as previously alluded to, you can gain one of these because your Allied trading partner simply doesn’t have a “worse” card to provide under “forced choice” circumstance. At other times, getting a good French card in trade is because that Allied player knows Berthier, Suchet or Jackson can’t be used against them. Furthermore, on rare occasion, you’ll get one of your opponents to “sabotage” the strategy of another player who is supposedly a friendly ally!  Imagine a British player’s annoyed shock when learning the Russian player traded JACKSON into France’s hand!     

Don’t forget cards that grant free-units: In addition to the French Reinforcement Issue, replacements (at each even numbered turn) and units obtained through winning controlled Minor Country Issues, you can have the French cards that give free units when used for such purpose. These are PONIATOWSKI (before the Armistice), CAULAINCOURT (after), as well as the NAPOLEON Leader card when you know it won’t be needed during the War Phase!

Conclusion by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: That concludes Frank’s suggestions to prospective Congress of Vienna players of France with emphasis on this Power’s diplomatic possibilities… although, as has been noted within this article Part 1 of 2 that these must be linked to the game’s war attributes.  Those war attributes shall be addressed in greater detail  by this article’s forthcoming Part 2 of 2.

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Readers who are interested in observing some of this article’s French Strategies in action, or perhaps in learning the game’s rules to actually play Congress of Vienna, may have the opportunity to do so during next month’s SDHistCon in San Diego. For those already attending, see the “Teach/Play of Congress of Vienna” event on Saturday in the Events Schedule on Tabletop Events. For more general info about SDHistCon, see: SDHistCon Summit 2024 – SDHist . -Rachel

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