General Blownaparte’s 1st NES! THE NAPOLEONIC WARS 1805-1815 (9 players)

Gen Blownaparte

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General Blownaparte’s 1st Never Ending Story!
NAPOLEON’S WARS, 1805-1815

This is an easy Never Ending Story, just a few minutes to read the rules and join up. It helps if you have a little background on Napoleon, so do a search for him on the Internet.

The NES has 7 Major Power players: France, Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire. There are also 2 Minor Power players: Denmark and Naples. These nations are much smaller and weaker, but have a few advantages when trying to build a larger empire. So, all in all there are 9 players. Although you may prefer to be France, Russia, or England, the most obviously powerful nations, no nation is doomed to failure in the right hands, and all have a chance at victory.

Every two days, each player will send an Order Set set to me, via email, at “linoleumblownaparte@yahoo.com”. This order will contain the expenses of your nation as well as the movements of your troops, attack orders, and so forth. Every two days an Update will appear on this page which will include news, some random events, and a map showing the current state of Europe. Also, each player will receive [by email] an Internal Report of secret information such as the current state of your Treasury, tax income, and the makeup of each of your army Corps, which you will use to write your next Order Set.

The map shows Europe and part of Africa. The oceans are divided into named Sea Zones and the land areas are split into named, colored, and numbered Provinces. The name is for identification purposes, the color represents ownership [neutral or unowned is tan] and the number in a province represents its economic value. For example, Britain at the beginning of the game has a total economic value of 26. Some land spaces are connected by arrows, or Straits, which can be crossed under certain conditions.

The game begins in Winter 1804 and proceeds through Spring 1805, Summer 1805, Fall 1805, and Winter 1805, then Spring 1806, etc. Winter turns are especially important because your troops must be supplied if they are outside your territory, and being at war during winter has special penalties. Units may NOT move during Winter! Thus, your goal should be to conquer during Spring and Summer, consolidate your position in Fall, and make sure you have your troops supplied for the Winter season.

On the map, your military units - Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery - are combined into Corps of up to 4 units, identified with a letter [for example, French Corps G]. On the map, only the letter of the corps is shown, not the individual units which make it up; the owning player receives this information in his Internal Report, and it can only be discovered by other nations through Scouting or battle [discussed later]. Your Squadrons of ships ARE shown individually on the map, however.

WINTER

Units may not move during winter.

Income is calculated each Winter turn. The total economic value of provinces owned by you is added up, and up to 6 gold is added or subtracted randomly. This number is added to your current Treasury total. You do NOT gather income during Spring, Summer, or Fall.

Example: Britain has a total economic value of 26. A dice is rolled and a coin flipped; the results are Heads, 4. Four gold are added to Britain’s income for a sum of 30 gold. Britain already had 8 gold in its Treasury; hence, the Treasury total is now 38 gold.

During Winter you must supply your troops. Any Squadrons, and any troops in a space of your color or of a publicly declared Ally’s color are free. However, for troops outside your borders and Allies’ borders, you must pay 2 gold for each unit, for each space they are away from one of these provinces. For example, if France owns Alsace and has 3 units in Prague, it pays 18 gold; however, if Austria is a publicly declared Ally, it pays nothing.

If you don’t have enough gold, the unsupplied units are destroyed.

Even more importantly, a unit which is not in one of your [or an Ally’s] owned provinces, and cannot trace a line to one of these provinces through 1) provinces which belong to you or an Ally and are not occupied by enemy units, or 2) through neutral or enemy provinces which contain your [or an Ally’s] units, 3) through neutral provinces which are empty, 4) through seas with at least one of your [or an Ally’s] squadrons, or 5) across a strait, is automatically DESTROYED. This is called cutting off a unit’s supply.

Ex: France has a unit in Rome, and Austria has a unit in Piedmont & Venice. Even if the French player owns all of Italy, the French unit is destroyed unless it has a squadron in the Western Mediterranean, or Austria's an Ally.

Tip: surrounding units and cutting supply is an excellent way to defeat an enemy without ever fighting a risky battle. If you are invading an enemy country, be careful to shore up your flanks and keep your rear occupied, so enemy units cannot sweep around and surround you.

Remember that units are only supplied during Winter, so if you are encircled in Summer, you can “break out” during Fall and thus be supplied in Winter.

During Winter you may also ANNEX provinces, turning them your color. To annex a province which is neutral [tan-colored] and has your military units in it, pay 3 gold; however, to annex a province which currently belongs to another nation and has your military units costs 7 gold. Provinces which are annexed during Winter do NOT count as owned by you for supply purposes this Winter. Thus, if you are striking deep into enemy territory, leave units behind on your path to keep your supply chain open until you can annex the provinces.

Ex: In Summer, France enters Tyrol. In Fall, France goes on to capture Vienna. However, one Corps remains behind in Tyrolia to keep the supply line open.

BUILDING

During any season including Winter, you may build new units in your Home Provinces, the Provinces with which you started the game, if you own them; you may not build in annexed provinces.

IMPORTANT EXCEPTIONS! Britain may NOT build in Gibraltar. Naples may build in Rome, Piedmont, and Venice, if he owns these provinces. Denmark may build in Stockholm, Gotesburg, and Halse, if he owns these provinces.

Four kinds of unit may be built: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, or a Squadron. Each individual unit is called a Division [example: Infantry Division]. One Infantry Division costs 2 gold, one Cavalry Division costs 4 gold, one Artillery Division costs 6 gold, and one Squadron costs 12 gold.

IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: For Great Britain, each Squadron costs 8 gold, not 12.

In addition, no player may buy more than 10 Divisions each YEAR [and any number of Squadrons]; this represents the rate of conscription. If you are at War with a Major or Minor nation, then you may conscript 12 Divisions per Year. Nations which have annexed at least 7 provinces from enemies or neutrals may conscript an extra 3 Divisions, added to the conscription for Peace [total 13] or War [total 15].

Any new Divisions in a province are added to a new Corps and may not move this season, but may defend the province if attacked.

BANKING

Any money not spent each Season goes in your Treasury and is saved for future Seasons; however, there is a chance of random events, such as an economic crisis, which might affect banked gold, so spend when you can! Also, no nation can store more than 50 gold between Seasons. That means some very large or rich nations are going to lose money because they have a large income but are limited in how much money they can spend by their rate of conscription. Sometimes huge empires are not always the most efficient.

CORPS

A corps consists of 3 Divisions of any type, whether Infantry, Cavalry, or Artillery. In addition, a Corps may ALSO include a fourth unit which must always be Cavalry. This is called “Scouting Cavalry” and is important because it can screen your troops and scout the enemy.

New units may be added to Corps or exchanged between Corps, or new Corps can be formed, all of this being free of charge as long as no Corps ever has more than 3 units plus Scouting Cavalry and no unit is not in a Corps. Thus you may combine two Corps into a new third one and remove the two old “shells” since they have no units in them. And so forth...

DIPLOMACY

You may conspire, consult, or bargain with other nations, either publicly on the thread, or privately through email or Private Messages. All nations start at peace with each other.

You may form a formal, public ALLIANCE with another player, which must be announced by both players on this site for all to see. While it may seem better to keep your alliances secret, only a public alliance confers the following benefits:

-You may move freely through your Ally’s territory without fighting his units. For example, if Russia wants to attack France, he can form an Alliance with Prussia and send his units through to France.

-Your Ally’s territory counts for supply, so you can fight free from upkeep far from home.

-You may give money to an Ally. This must be announced publicly in the thread at least 24 hours before the next update.

-You may trade or sell provinces with an Ally. This must be announced publicly in the thread at least 24 hours before the next update and be agreed to by both players publicly.

The Ally of my Ally is not my Ally; if Prussia is allied to Britain and Britain is allied to Russia, Prussia is not automatically allied to Russia, but must sign another Alliance.

An alliance may be BROKEN by one player’s public declaration at least 24 hours before the next update; however, any units which are in the Ally’s territory are automatically transported to your nearest province.

One nation may DECLARE WAR on another; this must be done at least 24 hours before the next update and publicly, on this site. You may NOT declare war on an Ally, or on an Ally whose Alliance has been canceled this turn. For example, if in the 2-day diplomacy phase after Spring 1807 Prussia breaks his alliance with Russia, Russia may not declare war and attack during Summer 1807. However, in the next 2-day phase he may declare war, and then attack during Fall 1807.

Of course, you may freely declare war on a nation with which you have no previous relations. Invading neutral territory is NOT war and does not need a declaration.

DECLARING WAR confers the following benefits:

-Your conscription rate increases from 10 to 12 or from 13 to 15.

-You may attack enemy units in neutral territory, or move your units into enemy territory.

HOWEVER!

-If you are At War during a Winter turn, you must pay 5 gold to keep the populace happy.

You may SIGN PEACE with a nation you are currently at war with, ending a Declaration of War. This must be declared publicly at least 24 hours before the next update, and both players must sign the Peace Treaty. The terms of peace may include anything, including money paid by the loser to the victor, territory turned over or turned neutral, rights of passage through certain territory, signing of Alliances, and so forth. Be imaginative, and above all, negotiate!

FLEETS

Some special cases apply to Squadrons. When a Squadrons is built, it can be constructed in any Sea adjoining a space you could build a Division in. Squadrons don’t form Corps, and are represented individually on the map. Squadrons of different nations can co-exist in the same Sea without fighting during peace, and even if war is declared, unless one player orders his squadrons to attack the others’. Finally, as noted previously, some Straits connect the following Provinces:

-Gibraltar, Murcia, and Morocco
-Corsica and Sardinia
-Sicily and Naples
-Stamboul and Smyrna
-Stockholm and St Petersburg
-Halse, Denmark, and Copenhagen
-Sevastopol and Tagenrog.

If you have a majority of the total Squadrons in the Sea which contains a Strait, you are said to CONTROL that Strait [important for movement].

MOVEMENT

Finally we come to the orders themselves!

Squadrons which have been built this Season, or Corps containing at least one Division which have been built this Season, may not move, but may defend their space.

Otherwise:

Squadrons may move one Sea.
Any Corps with at least one Infantry or Artillery may move only one Province.
If a Corps is completely Cavalry, it may move two spaces.

A Corps MUST stop movement when it enters enemy territory or a space with enemy units in it.

A Corps may travel across a chain of owned or Allied Squadrons from one coastal province to another; however, this constitutes their entire move. More importantly, each Squadron may only transport TWO Corps each season. Be careful, because transports are very vulnerable to attack.

A Corps may travel from one Province to another connected by a Strait, but ONLY if you have the CONTROL of that Strait [majority of Squadrons in the Sea] or if the Controller of the Strait has given you public permission on the site. This constitutes the Corps’ entire move. For example, a Cavalry corps may not move from Algeria to Morocco and then to Gibraltar because it takes a whole Season to cross the Gibraltar straits.

If no player has Squadrons in the Sea Zone, then the Straits are free to all for crossing.

Combining, forming, or otherwise altering a Corps can never make any individual Artillery or Infantry travel more than one province, or make a Cavalry travel more than two provinces, or allow movement after crossing a Strait, and so on.

IN ADDITION TO THESE MOVES:

If one of your Corps has a Scouting Cavalry attached, you may use this Division to Scout any space adjacent to any space the Corps occupies during its move. Without a battle, you reveal the contents of each Corps in that space, unless one of the target Corps also has a Scouting Cavalry, in which case for that Corps only the presence of a Scouting Cavalry is shown.

If you wish to use the Scouting Cavalry, submit your orders early so that I can reply with the discoveries of your scouts and you can alter orders to take that information into account.

Example: It is Fall 1808. France’s Corps C, containing 4 Cavalry, moves from Alsace to Thuringia and then to Westphalia, where it will winter free in Allied Prussia. On the way, the Scouting Cavalry has orders to investigate Holland [bordering Thuringia], where three British Corps [F, H, and L] have landed. Corps F has two Infantry, while Corps H has 2 Artillery and 1 Cavalry, and Corps L has three Artillery and a 4th Cavalry. The full contents of Corps H and L are revealed to France; however, since Corps L has the special 4th Cavalry, only that Division is revealed, and the rest of the Corps is still a mystery! Since France now knows that the enemy has only 2 Artillery, 2 Infantry, 2 Cavalry, and 3 mystery units, the French player decides to launch a massive attack.

Rules continued in next post...
 
BATTLE ON LAND

If two or more players have units in a space, no battle occurs [and neither side may annex the province if it is Winter]. However, if the two nations are At War, then battle does occur.

Any battle is in three steps, but may end before all three are completed. First, any Scouting Cavalry get “pot shots” or free attacks at the enemy, during the first or Skirmish phase. Secondly, all Cavalry attack random units during the Charge phase. Attacked Infantry get a chance to form squares, in which case there is no battle and the Cavalry retreat; otherwise, the Cavalry finish the charge and some casualties are inflicted on both sides. Finally, Artillery and Infantry bombard and attack. There are bonuses for attacking squared infantry and for having more Cavalry left to outflank the enemy during this phase.

If during any step the enemy is outnumbered 4:1, they Rout. At the end of all three steps, the side with the fewest units Retreats.

Now there is a 4th Pursuit phase in which the winners get a free attack, UNLESS the winners’ Cavalry is outnumbered by the losers’ Cavalry. Casualties inflicted on the enemy during Pursuit are generally much higher if the enemy Routs than if it Retreats.

Retreating Corps must enter an owned, allied, or neutral province with only owned or allied units in it, otherwise they are destroyed. Corps may not retreat across seas or straits, so naval invasions are very risky!

The entire combat system is too complicated to explain here entirely, but you will generally win battles if you have more Cavalry to Skirmish, make the enemy Infantry form square, and outflank, and if you have a large amount of Infantry and Artillery to inflict the heaviest casualties. Generally, each type of Division is equally important.

Attacking from multiple provinces at once will give you a slight bonus, whereas attacking from sea gives a small penalty.

Naval battles are similar, except that the result depends almost entirely on the number of squadrons in the sea. Sometimes, squadrons arriving from other seas will be too late to help in the battle. The British get a slight bonus and the Ottomans a slight penalty in naval warfare.

Each battle, along with the contents of all Corps, will be published with the update.

VICTORY

Any nation which has Annexed 15 Provinces, in addition to keeping all its Home Provinces, wins the game. Thus the game can only be won during a Winter season.


This NES is now open! There are 7 free spots and 2 nations have been chosen.

When all 9 nations have been picked, there will be one day of diplomacy and then the game will begin in Winter 1804.

PLEASE READ ALL THE RULES BEFORE JOINING THIS NES! It's not THAT long :p

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

These are the rulers [and the colors] for each country:

FRANCE [Blue]: Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte - NAERVOD
RUSSIA [Light Green]: Tsar Alexander I ---ANARCHYRULZ
PRUSSIA [Orange]: King Frederick William III --- SKILORD
GREAT BRITAIN [Red]: King George III --- UKNEMESIS
AUSTRIA [Grey]: Emperor Francis I
SPAIN [Yellow]: King Charles IV --- REVOLUTIONARY
OTTOMAN EMPIRE [Pink]: Sultan Selim
NAPLES [Purple]: King Ferdinand IV
DENMARK [Dark Green]: King Christian V --- ICE-EYE


THREE OPEN SPOTS LEFT
 
TIMELINE

Winter 1804:

MAP [Current Date: Winter 1804]

NAPOLEON.jpg
 
I'll be Britain!

Nemesis
 
I'll be King Charles IV of Spain

That must have taken a long time! I have just finished reading the rules and may have to re read it a few times! I am always ask this but can you at least send me(by PM) what a model order would look like? Thanks
 
QUICK FIX: I've decided to change scouting to something automatic that comes with your Internal Report, as you can see, to speed things up a bit. All Corps with Scouts will automatically scout all adjacent provinces.

SECOND QUICK FIX: New Divisions subtract one movement point, and are not totally immobile. So new Infantry and Artillery can't move, but new Cavalry can move one province. If you attach new Cavalry to a Division, the total movement limit is 1 [even if all the rest is Cavalry] just as if the Cav were an Inf or Art. New Cav can still cross straits as one entire move, as if they were and Inf/Art. See Corps B and D below.

THIRD QUICK FIX: The prices of units have been lowered slightly to let you buy more units.


EXAMPLE OF ORDERS

example1.jpg


You're France and it's Summer 1809.

As you can see, Prussia and Austria are attacking you, Prussia from neutral territory, while Austria has annexed part of northern Italy.

The Internal Report you just received contains the pertinent information:

"You are at war with Prussia and Austria.

You are allied with the Ottoman Empire.

You have used 6 of your 12 Division conscript limit for this year.

Your Corps [C=Cavalry, I=Infantry, A=Artillery, *=has a scout]:

CORPS A [4C]*
CORPS B [2I, 1A]
CORPS C [3I]
CORPS D [2I, 1C]

Your total Treasury for summer is 17 gold.

SCOUTING: Corps A scouted all adjacent provinces and Prussian Corps K. P(K) contains 1 Infantry."

Here's how you might respond:

"ORDERS FOR FRANCE Summer1807

Buy 1 Cavalry Division in Paris and attach it to Corps B, buy 2 Infantry Divisions in Alsace and form Corps E with them.

Total 8 gold 3 Divisions. I have 9 gold left and 3 Divisions in my conscript limit.

MOVEMENT:

Corps A [4C]* moves to Belgium and attacks P(K).
Corps B [2I, 1A, 1C]* Move limit 1 because of new Cavalry, move limit 1 anyway because of Artillery and Infantry. Moves to Alsace.
Corps C [3I] moves to Belgium and attacks P(K).
Corps D [2I, 1C, MINUS 1I, 1C] donates 1 Infantry and 1 Cavalry to Corps E and moves to Alsace.
Corps E [2I, PLUS 1I, 1C]* receives 1 Infantry and 1 Cavalry from Corps D cannot move since it contains new Infantry divisions.
3 SQUADRONS in the English Channel remain stationary."

Notes: Because Belgium is being attacked from two different directions, the French will have the outflanking bonus [not that they'll need it against Prussia's measly decoy Corps!].

Tip: unless the enemy has scouting Cavalry, decoy corps which contain just one or two divisions can be very effective, distracting the enemy while the real force is occupied elsewhere.
 
I will be France.
 
There are still three nations open:

RUSSIA [light green]
NAPLES [purple]
DENMARK [dark green]

Remember that while the minor nations are much smaller, they get to build in conquered provinces in Italy and Sweden. So, with a little diplomacy and intrigue, you can probably "reconquer" the neutral areas of your kingdom. Historically, Austria protected Italy against France [but Napoleon defeated them both!].
 
We still need to fill in three places: Russia, Naples, and Ottoman Empire.

When that happens, the game will begin with 1 day of diplomacy and then you can send in orders for Winter 1804 [so it will just be building orders].

I wonder why nobody wants Russia :confused: it's the 2nd-strongest nation in the game, after France...
 
General. I have a few comments and questions:

1. The rules are nice, complicated as hell, but nice. Appropriate for the Napolionic era.

2. How much gold do we start with? (Swear I read the rules, I didn't see where they said)

3. It wouldn't be possible to train troops and then put them in reserve, as Prussia did after the French beat them, so as not to violate the treaty imposed on them. would it?
 
1. Thanks. They took a while ;)

2. The game starts in Winter 1804, so you collect gold [normal income] which I send to you in your first Internal Report and which you then spend on units in your W1804 orders. Remember that income can vary from -6 to +6 gold based on a die roll. As Prussia, for example, you could start with up to 29 gold. [but usually around 23].

3. If two players both sign a peace treaty, any parts of it that are marked "takes place immediately" happen in the next season. For example, France could write a peace treaty with Prussia which says "All Prussian military units are removed, takes place immediately", in which case next season all of Prussia's units would disappear. However, PROMISES or parts of the treaty which do NOT take place right away, can be broken or backstabbed. For example, if the treaty also says "Prussia promises never to build more than 10 military units", Prussia COULD break its promise, or it could decide to keep its word. Generally you want to keep your promises however unless you want to be seen as untrustworthy ;)

Let me reiterate, there's nothing keeping you from backstabbing except your own word. And the fact that it takes two seasons to backstab an Ally because first you must break the Alliance, and only next season can you Declare War.

If you DO build military units, they go on the board. There's no off-board box where you can store units or something like that.
 
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