My goal in designing I, Napoleon was not to produce a competitive game since as a solo design the only opponent to beat is the game itself. While it is quite possible to “lose” the game, and there are a wide variety of different potential “wins” that can be achieved, in I, Napoleon the play is the thing. I wanted players to experience the narrative of Napoleon’s extraordinary life, and also the narratives that could have been.

But from the start, I was faced with the question of how far from Napoleon’s actual biography I could go. That Napoleon remains such an object of fascination 200 years after his death has less to do with his achievements or his crimes, than the sheer improbability of an obscure Corsican artillery officer rising to rule over the greatest European empire since Charles V.  In a period of only 22 years Napoleon packed in more events than a score of normal lives. Simply including the events that did happen was obviously going to take up the bulk of the game’s 220 cards.

As a result, there is not a divergent narrative in the game for a Bonaparte who, failing at Toulon, abandons the military and politics for a life as a scientist, though it was Napoleon who said, “The only victories without regret are those over ignorance.”  As a recent book has noted, Napoleon also was an avid gardener, but there is no path in the game where he comes down to us mainly as a man who designed parks. Nor did I have room for an escape to America, and a new life in the New World.  

Instead, the narratives in the game focus on a narrower range of What-Ifs? What if Napoleon died on the bridge at Lodi? What if Napoleon was sent with the French expedition to Ireland? What if Napoleon never went to Egypt? What if Napoleon was caught up in the Terror? What if Napoleon married a Romanov instead of a Habsburg? What if Napoleon didn’t sell Louisiana to the United States, but sent a military expedition there instead? What if Napoleon won in Russia, or lost at Austerlitz? 

Yet even within this more historical range, the course of Bonaparte’s career can take a huge variety of twists and turns. It can be cut short by execution, enemy bullet, assassination, or political failure. It can extend to the founding of a dynasty that rules over Europe at Napoleon’s death. It can include abdication and exile or avoid both. The famous campaigns of the Emperor can be won, lost, or avoided altogether. No two narratives produced by the game will ever be exactly alike, and many will be very different both from Bonaparte’s actual biography and from previous plays. 

A lot of these varied narratives will rest on the draw of the cards or the roll of a die, but your Napoleon is not merely a plaything in the hands of chance. The narrative will also depend on the decisions you make. How you spend your Diplomatic points (and what treaties you break)  will help determine whether you face potential enemies one at a time or in a coalition that could overwhelm you. How you spend your precious Administrative points will influence your success both on the battlefield and on the domestic political front. Who you marry -or divorce-will affect matters beyond the bedroom.  The pursuit of Glory will determine how history remembers you but could cause you to overreach and end up on an island in the Atlantic.  

In all this, Fate will have its say. But so will you. Your destiny awaits.  But unlike the actual Bonaparte, if luck or your mistakes deal you a losing hand,  you can always try again.

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Previous Articles:

Getting to Know I, Napoleon: Part 1: The Components

I, Napoleon: A Brief Look At How It Works