Though inspired by the game Legion of Honor, I, Napoleon can also trace its origin to the line of solo narrative games that begins with B-17 Queen of the Skies and runs through the designs of Greg Smith such as The Hunters. It is a game where you are put in the shoes of an individual leader and have to deal with what the game throws at you. Except instead of leading a plane or a submarine, you are leading France, and what gets thrown at you aren’t shells or depth charges but the armies of entire nations.

When designing the game I wanted to give the player as much agency as was compatible with the historical situations Napoleon faced minus the hindsight of knowing that the story ended at St. Helena. This meant keeping three major things in mind. First, Napoleon as a general (the Commander Deck in I, Napoleon) had far less control over events than Napoleon as First Consul or Emperor. In game terms, this meant that Diplomacy and Domestic politics are only introduced into the game after the player takes control of the government. Furthermore, war with Austria (and possibly Prussia and/or Spain) is built into the situation you face on becoming First Consul, just as it was for the historical Bonaparte. 

Second. Napoleon won every campaign he led from 1793 to 1809 with the exception of Syria and the Polish interlude between Jena and Friedland (the latter arguably a draw). He then lost every campaign from 1812 to 1815 (while still winning a majority of the battles). The campaign system (on which more below) is tilted towards French victories until enough Allied cards show up to shift the odds. But nothing is certain.

Third, in every war but three, Britain and its allies of the moment declared war on France, not the other way round. (It is interesting to note that the three exceptions, Egypt/Syria, Spain, and Russia, were all ultimately failures.)  The player has tools in the game to try to keep Austria, Prussia, Russia and Spain from joining the latest British coalition, but ultimately the European monarchies are inherently hostile to France and the choice of war or peace is often out of Napoleon’s hands.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the mechanics of I, Napoleon. I’m going to be selective here, and not just give a summary of the entire rulebook because that would not only still be quite long, but also because the game is in development, and the rules are still subject to change.

As mentioned in the last article, I, Napoleon has three different decks covering Napoleon as a subordinate (Commander Deck), First Consul (First Consul Deck), and Emperor (Emperor Deck).  The latter two are added as (if) Napoleon climbs the ladder of his ambition.

Each game turn in I, Napoleon represents a year from 1793 to 1816, followed by a final one covering 1817-21, at which point Napoleon is assumed to die of the stomach cancer that killed him. Each year follows a set sequence (though Diplomacy and Domestic Politics are skipped with the Commander Deck) until/unless Napoleon abdicates, which triggers a special Abdication subset of the Emperor Deck with its procedure.

At the start of the year, Napoleon collects Administrative Points, based on his current position, his current chief of staff (if any), and other events. These points are used to pay for a wide variety of actions, above all to use various French generals to win battles.

After checking to see which nations are currently Hostile to France (in I, Napoleon, the term “Allied” means allied to France) which during the First Consul and Emperor Decks will determine what Campaign, if any, you fight this year. (As Commander potential campaigns will be assigned by card draw, though you have some ability to refuse the assignment.)

The heart of the game consists of drawing from the current Card Deck. Some cards will require you to play them immediately, some will be placed in Boxes on the game map for potential use later, and some you may decide to discard.  After 5 cards are drawn, you start rolling a die to see if the card drawing ends.

Now you resolve the current Campaign. You spend Admin points to add Commanders or other events to provide a positive die roll modifier (higher is better in combat) while the current Hostile power(s) may have events that subtract from the die roll. The result will be a Victory, a Bloody Victory, a Stalemate, a Bloody Stalemate, a Defeat or a Bloody Defeat. A Stalemate generally means you fight another Combat until you achieve Victory or Defeat, but mostly you can’t use Commanders in a Combat you’ve already used during the Campaign, which leads to some interesting choices as even with the best die roll modifiers, a Stalemate is always possible. Furthermore, some Campaigns require you to achieve more than one Victory.

A Defeat could affect you negatively in the accumulation of Glory (one of the major goals of your career is to Extend the Limits of Glory), cause you have to defend France against invasion next year, or even end the game. A Defeat in France as Emperor will lead to Abdication (and play of the special Abdication cards before ending the game).  Victory may allow the play of certain Peace Treaties that can turn enemies into Allies, raise your Glory, and have other effects.

Besides Campaigns, there are also Expeditions, to which as First Consul or Emperor you will generally assign a subordinate Commander.  These are resolved by a single Success/Failure die roll. If Napoleon gets caught in an ongoing war in Spain, by choice or a Spanish Revolt, these will become a yearly occurrence.

As First Consul and Emperor, Napoleon will then deal with Diplomacy, in which he will spend his very limited Diplomatic Points to try to keep Allied or Neutral nations from moving towards being Hostile. Alternately, if he is seeking Glory, he may tear up a current Treaty to provoke a war.

Then as First Consul and Emperor he has to deal with how the events of the current year have affected his political standing in France. He has again some ability to influence the die roll that will determine his standing among the French people, but too many Bloody battles, defeats, or Hostile powers can lower his Glory, which if it ever reaches zero leads to ending the game.

If the player is skillful, lucky, and wise, he may live out his full lifespan, dying on the throne of France, having established a ruling dynasty.  To do that, all he’ll have to do is avoid arrest and execution, foil assassins, conduct a coup, find a fertile wife, conduct skillful Diplomacy, win his Battles, reorganize France, manage his Commanders, deal with Treason, handle Domestic Politics, and perhaps return from Exile. In the next article, I’ll explore some of the myriad ways your life as Napoleon may play out, and why I choose to include various events.

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