This scenario requires some preparation in terms of reading & understanding the ReadMe & in terms of planning. Going into my first turn I was actually feeling nervous, which is a good thing in my book. Having played your other scenarios I know this is going to be a challenge. I have to say that, although I'm only on turn 2 I absolutely love it!
The game will challenge you for certain but even in the darker moments don’t underestimate France’s capacity to recover and retake the initiative if you manage your resources and leaders effectively.
Every move feels like a major decision that could have consequences down the line. I took Ulm on turn one but held back on other fronts hoping to lure the Austrians into a pitched battle. They did not disappoint. I've just managed to route them in both Bavaria & Northern Italy and caught Charles in Munchen with the full weight of my artillery, commanded by Bonaparte. I couldn't have hoped for a better start.
As I’ve mentioned in a past post, artillery combined with your judicious usage of your leaders is key to being successful on the battlefield. Light infantry is good for mopping up battered enemy units. Of course don’t neglect your cavalry, who when combined with Murat can shred enemy forces to pieces.
Now that boogieman is out of the way (or will he regenerate?) I can throw my full force against the Austrians in the center & end this war quickly before Russian numbers tip the balance.
British and Russian leaders are from the very beginning of the scenario subject to a one in four chance of being killed on the battlefield, which means once that occurs they are permanently removed from the game. If they are merely ‘wounded’ than they will randomly return after a number of turns.
For technical reasons, it was more complicated to do the same for the Austrians and Prussians leaders and as such they are only subject to the ‘death’ event starting with the War of the Sixth Coalition. Prior to this war, if they are defeated during a specific Coalition War they are simply removed from play but may return in a subsequent Coalition war (for example, if Charles is killed in the War of the Third Coalition he will return in the War of the Fifth Coalition).
I realize I'm very early in this scenario but I can already feel it's a classic. I'm hooked. Bravo tootall
I’m pleased to hear your initial experience is positive. I will be very interested to hear your feedback and potential overall summary of your game play.
Thanks, that's helpful. I think it will be a while before I even get to 1815, let alone win.
Like I mentioned to you in our correspondance, don't worry in your first play tests about playing the perfect game. Just go ahead and play a full game no matter how well or poorly things are going. Then based on that feedback I will be better able to judge what changes I should envision making (in addition, to the ones I've already indicated I made in post #53).
Re: Countmc's comments about 'never ending British attacks on coastal cities' - I think he may have meant the shore bombardments. I've found these inflict heavy and unsustainable casualties, far beyond the historical effect of such attacks. I've adopted the tactic of pulling my troops back from coastal cities, esp. on the Channel, and leaving them empty, and have cut my losses of Line Infantry in half as a result. Is there another way to force the French to keep large coastal garrisons, without wiping out whole divisions of troops each turn?
Okay thanks for the added explanation. During my own initial play tests, I encountered this same issue where the British 3 Deckers vessels would regularly attack the cities of Amsterdam, Anvers, Calais and on rarer occasions Brest and Cherbourg. As you indicated this could cause a high level of French losses, though the frequency of attacks and the number of casualties inflicted did vary significantly, in my experience, from one play test to another.
As I previously mentioned, to remedy this I first simply added the ability to build Coastal Fortress improvements (with none actually built in any city at the start of the scenario). But that still proved insufficient, so in my last play test I added one each in Amsterdam and Calais, which seemed to bring about more acceptable results.
Since it seems to be a more persistent issue than I anticipated, I will test adding more of these improvements as part of the initial set up (probably in Anvers and Brest). If other players are just starting a new game, feel free to make these additions through the Cheat menu.
I was so used to the system in Vietnam where units move right to the end of the track. 
