Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: Part 1 of this article focused on the Diplomatic aspects of French Congress of Vienna strategy. This, of necessity, required some reference to the game’s military considerations.

But with this article’s Part 2 of 2, CoV Designer Frank Esparrago takes a deeper dive into how a French player could succeed with emphasis on what the game offers France militarily… and it is substantial!

French Key Map Locations: The Prussia, Castile, and French Mountain  Spaces: An extreme stubborn defense of Track B’s Prussia space is of critical importance to a potential French early game victory. In addition to denying an additional card to the Russian player, it grants a card to you.

If fortune smiles upon you, France could have available superior Military Character Cards: for there’s no certainty the Allies will gain Blücher or any commanders of great talent. Of course, the Coalition is guaranteed having one VERY talented general at game start: the elderly yet still militarily dangerous Mikhail Kutuzov, who died in 1813. This translates into the game by the Russian player needing to roll for Kutuzov’s survival EACH turn.

 Now consider the challenges of Spain: The space of Castile on Track C which faces the powerful British Army of Portugal. It presents another difficult decision for the French player. If you decide to withdraw from there, France will no longer receive 2 VP each turn and suffer a future one card reduction from its hand while Britain reaps 2VP each turn and gains a card for the game’s duration!  This is not a pretty prospect.

Successfully defending Castile requires very good military cards (and, alas, the French have few available prior to the Armistice) as well as more than a bit of luck. That makes for a difficult decision! For only when you have such cards and know Wellington is not in the British hand (e.g. you have it yourself or see it used during the Diplomacy Phase) only then can you face a Castile battle with a potentially decent chance for success.

Turning to Track A, the mountainous French Homeland spaces of Alsace, along with Track C’s Gascony, are among the toughest on Congress of Vienna’s map to capture. To take such a space, the Allies must win a battle with a differential of two or more since a French compelled retreat from Alsace into Paris through a loss differential of one can be cancelled by losing an additional unit (as long as that unit is not the only unit remaining to a French Army). 

Hopefully, this space’s inherent strength allows sufficient French units and military cards to be devoted to Track B’s Army of Elbe and prevent it being forced into Paris.  For if that occurs, Track A’s Grande Armée is displaced without battle from wherever it is directly into Paris!

The War of 1812 Box: Although this theatre of war seems a purely British affair of indirect concern to France, American defeats and victories result in lost and gained VPs… perhaps causing a perception that your winning there is a daunting task. However, nothing is cheaper than recruiting 1 French unit for “conversion” into an American militia unit or putting a French Military Support marker into each Front G battle to add power to the American militiamen who automatically regenerate each turn.

For that reason, you can make life miserable for the “hated” British (as they’ve been fighting against your beloved France for more than 20 years since the distantly yet still gloriously remembered 1793 Siege of Toulon!). Furthermore, if the British player is clueless, being distracted by other matters in Europe, you may get a net superiority in victories in America and gain 1 or 2 VPs for the War of 1812 Box each turn and even Annex Canada to the United States to earn truly big “French” VP rewards for a game’s duration. So never forget this Front!

France’s Inveterate Enemies’ Top Commanders:

Continuing this French grand strategy analysis, we next consider two of the main French enemies’ most powerful military cards: Wellington and Blücher.

Although they are powerful 5-value cards, their deadly effect is truly felt when they are used during the War Phase. Should the British player have Wellington in his hand; it allows him to more easily advance in Spain; no matter how you try to contain him! Only Track C’s French Homeland space of Gascony can help you since the British player loses the guerrilla DRM modifier received when fighting in Spain. Furthermore, Gascony is mountain terrain which inflicts a -3 Allied DRM and provides a French +3 DRM for Homeland defense. Finally, if the Soult card is in your possession, France receives another +5 DRM… Wow!

However, keep in mind that Wellington and any supporting British military cards which enhance his effectiveness are not restricted to Track C.  WELLINGTON can be transferred to Southern Spain, Track D, to make things miserable for you there: so, don’t neglect that possibility and how capturing Track D spaces, through the “linked Fronts rule” facilitate Spain Track C advances.

Here’s a final comment regarding these cards: during “Deal Game Cards”, when you receive the character and event cards for your hand; the first turn of a Campaign Game gets France an impressive 15 cards. This provides an almost 50% chance to receive either Blücher or Wellington.  Should that occur, just inwardly smile without seemingly being too happily enthusiastic with one (or both) of these Allied cards in your possession. For this means your enemies cannot use one of France’s most obstinate enemy commanders against you during the turn’s upcoming War Phase. 

Blücher’s card in the Russian player’s hand is terrible news for you, for he can act on either the North or Central European Fronts (Tracks B and A respectively). However, Eugene (before Armistice) and Davout (after it) can genuinely help if you manage to have one of those cards in your French hand. This ability to resist is enhanced when you have other military cards, Military Support, and sufficient troops (units) with them to tempt fate and try to defeat Blücher and his minions.

When to Stay and When to Go: The Merits of France Withdrawing from a Map Space: If you lack adequate French military cards to mount a credible defense, withdraw from a map space! We like games where players have a viable option to escape doom even if it is a desperate decision. For example, the possible lower unit losses through declaring a Withdrawal are wonderful to accomplish against powerful Allied Armies. Military Support markers and good military cards could be wasted in a futile doomed defense. They’re better committed to a confrontation later and elsewhere. This is the perfect practical application of trading time for space.

Here’s an example of applying this, if Central European Front A seems defensively daunting for France and there’s space to trade, e.g. abandoning Saxony, it could be better employing your Napoleon Leader during the Diplomacy Phase to secure a French “double Recruitment” Issue and bring six more units into the fray! If this could be combined with a Replacement turn’s French units, a significantly strengthened Grande Armée could challenge Track A’s Allies. 

 “The Armistice” Issue from a French Perspective: Let’s consider ideas regarding the Armistice Issue. Normally, France must delay its implementation because, after Armistice, the Austria at War Issue can take place and then you will face the Russian Army of Silesia joined by Austria’s Army of Bohemia.   This means you’ll be facing two Armies on Track A. Not a pretty prospect as Austria can do a lot of damage to France both in Central Europe as well as with a newly active Track F Italian Front.

Only when you’ve been thoroughly roughed up by Russians and Prussians, or there is a rapid advance by Wellington and he has arrived in France to occupy Track C’s Gascony, with Toulouse being next, then you, as France, must seek Armistice to hopefully use its time to reconstitute your forces and be able to defeat, or at least forestall, Wellington with his nemesis Soult.  Of course, this is also an opportunity to utilize Napoleon to win a double Recruitment Issue (as referenced above) or focus on the War of 1812.

…but sometimes not everything goes as planned

At the start of a Congress of Vienna game, it’s likely many French players will seek reaching 80 VP for an automatic victory, whether by means of counter-offensives or putting up a sufficiently strong defense to avoid losing territory in the first place, along with probably topping their initial 60 VP off through winning Minor Country Issues, the War of 1812, Liberalism, and committing Resources to Sound Government.

However, that window of opportunity could close, and you’ll likely find yourself pushed back over time with the 80 VP automatic victory goal elusively receding from your grasp as the Allies converge on Paris.

The longer the war drags on, the more likely a French strategy will need to switch to one of holding on to the bitter end and hoping that by that end you still come out on top.

Final Thoughts and “Fortress Paris”

Despite your best efforts as France, there may come a time, hopefully late during a game as time is running short for the Allies, when Napoleon and what is left of his once fearsome Grande Armée is forced into the Paris space. Once in Paris, the Allies must conduct sequential attacks, Front by Front, to literally bludgeon and bleed the Grande Armée into submission and force Napoleon’s surrender (abdication into exile on the island of Elba).

This surrender is accomplished by reducing the Grande Armée to less than four units and by France not being the game’s VP leader.  The question is whether your “Fortress Paris” can survive the Allied onslaught.

Hopefully, this exposition provides a prospective French player sufficient “ammunition” to avoid, or at least mitigate, a desperate last-ditch defense of Paris.  This will help you attain a glorious imperial victory!

Conclusion by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: As gamers, we all know a game such as CoV, with all its variables, does not have a truly “perfect plan” for any of its four Major Powers… but it is certainly fun to seek one and then try it!

By variables, this refers to “luck with the cards and luck with the dice”.  For battle, when one side rolls a two “snake eyes” versus the opponent’s twelve “box cars” there’s naught to do but for the players to chortle about the vagaries of dice rolling and move on to the next battle.  As Napoleon famously said: “I base my calculations on the expectation that luck will be against me”.

In a Full Campaign Game of Congress of Vienna there are so many card hands and so many dice rolls that they should average out, shouldn’t they?  If not, hopefully, Frank’s advice to prospective players of France should help put the odds more in their favor.

Next up… Strategies for Austria 2024 Edition!

---

Previous Article: How to Play with Each Major Congress of Vienna Game Power: France (2024 Edition) Part 1 of 2, Emphasis on Diplomacy