Note: Art shown is from the game prototype and is not final.

Napoleon is in a tight spot, anxiously waiting to see if the Allied Player can catch up with him for an epic Field Battle which could go either way. Unbeknownst to the French Player though, the Allied Player has a pretty troublesome hand to wrap up the Turn.

They start by playing Antique Artifacts for a meager 1 AP. They do get an EP in the process and will use the AP to move Ibrahim Bey’s Formation one more Space toward Napoleon, keeping the pressure (more the bluff, really) that they intend to confront him.

Now the French Event triggers. SP stands for Science Points, the means by which the game measures the progress of the Institut d’Égypte. Gaining SP moves the Science marker forward and some setbacks may also move it backward. The French Player didn’t find the time during their Turn to dedicate resources to this endeavor (you can bet French scientists also had grounds to complain about that back in 1798!).

The French Player now passes, which is an option since they have only one card left in hand and have used their Home Card. Back to the Allied Player, they have another annoying card in hand and this time, they want to get rid of it using La Patrie en Danger. Each player can discard a card once per turn on that track. It has two main benefits:

• The Event on the discarded card is ignored.
• The Active Player automatically gains the bonus indicated on the next space of the track.

The Allied Player will thus gain 1 EP in the process.

The French Player could now pass, as they had initially planned. But the appeal of reaching the end of the first Scientific Level is strong. They happen to have a 3-AP card in hand, just enough to get to the end of the Mykerinos Level. The French Player can gain SP for AP on a 1-for-1 basis. They play Surrender and celebrate the first scientific breakthroughs of the expedition!

Reaching the end of a Scientific Level has 4 benefits:

• Institut d’Égypte’s Influence: Gain the number of VP indicated at the end of the track (1 in this case).
• Spread of Revolutionary Ideas: Gain the number of EP indicated at the end of the track (1 in this case).
• Civil Engineering: Shift Public Order of Friendly-Controlled Spaces. In this case, the Public Order of a Friendly-Controlled Minor City can be shifted once. The French Player shifts Mansourah to French-Favorable.
• Military Hospital: From now on, the French Player will be able to recover Grognard Units from the Military Hospital at the end of every Turn (and there happens to be a lot thanks to the casualties incurred this Turn!) The better the Scientific Level attained, the better of odds of recovering Grognards.

The Science Marker is moved to the Start space of the Khephren Level, ready to move forward again.

So much for saving resources for next Turn, the Allied Player will also play their last card in hand and it’s a nasty one:

Graffitis has the potential to shift even a French-Favorable Space directly to Allied-Favorable. However, the Allied Player wants to shift Cairo, threatening to hamper the recovery of the Grognards and increasing the AP cost to fix that situation (Cairo being a Major City, it’s more expensive to shift its Public Order). And to top it off, this card once again grants an EP to the Allied Player and they are seriously starting to pile up – expect some mischief in the next Turn!

Each player being out of cards, the Action Phase is over and it’s time to proceed to the End of Turn Phase!

First, starting with the French Player, a Riot triggers in every Unfavorable Friendly-Controlled Space. Cairo is the only Space that fits the bill, being Controlled by the French Player but Favorable to the Allied Player. Four rioters (since it’s a Major City) will square off against the two French Regulars Napoleon wisely left behind.

Whoa, that was close! The rioters inflicted a Hit and so did Cairo’s garrison. The French Player being the Defender in this situation, they thankfully win ties and thus can retain Control of the City by a hair. They still lose a Regular though and will have to invest AP to shift Cairo’s Public Order if they don’t want to suffer through this at the end of every Turn.

Next is the time for the Allied Player to pay a 2-VP Ransom (Murad Bey’s Battle Rating) to recover Murad Bey and place him on the next space of the Turn Track. Murad Bey will reenter play in Thebes at the start of the next Turn.

Then is the Victory Check and it’s obviously too early for any player to have reached the conditions for an automatic win.

The final step worthy of mention is the much-needed recovery of Units from the Military Hospital. The late scientific progress by the French Player allows them to roll an Average die for each Grognard Unit in the Hospital and recover one for each Target rolled. As the Turn was especially bloody, 10 Grognard Units are hoping to get healed. The French Player rolls and gets 3 Targets so 3 Grognard Units are moved from the Military Hospital to Cairo (if Cairo is not French-Controlled, the Grognards are placed in Alexandria). Gradually, this “second wave” will allow the French to keep the fight going across Egypt!

Lastly, a few cleanup steps conclude the End of Turn Phase. Home Cards are flipped back to their Available side and so are the La Patrie en Danger markers, to indicate that players can once again discard a card to the track in the upcoming Turn. The Turn marker is moved forward one space and off we go!

Now that you know more about the overall mechanics, I will pass the baton to Pascal and Tom for some articles about the fascinating history behind the game!

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Previous Articles: 

Battle of the Pyramids: Napoleon in Egypt – Full Turn Example of Play (Part 1)

Fleeing Down the Nile: Napoleon in Egypt – Full Turn Example of Play (Part 2)

A Mediterranean Diversion: Napoleon in Egypt – Full Turn Example of Play (Part 3)

Cloak-and-dagger Operations: Napoleon in Egypt – Full Turn Example of Play (Part 4)