Age of Napoleon (board game)

Age of Napoleon is a 2003 war and strategy board game created in collaboration between Mayfair Games and Phalanx Games. It is focuses on the Napoleonic Wars in Europe from 1805 to 1815. The game's designer is Renaud Verlaque and its artist is Franz Vohwinkel.

Although its focus is a real world event, it is not designed to be an accurate simulation of history. Instead it is designed to provide balanced and streamlined gameplay.

Gameplay

Age of Napoleon is designed for 2 players. One player controls the First French Empire and its allies and the other player controls the countries of the Coalition, led by Great Britain. The other major countries, Spain, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and the Austrian Empire, along with 13 minor countries, can repeatedly change sides during the course of the game.

The two sides, France and the Coalition, fight on the battlefield with units representing armies, and compete using diplomacy, for control of these countries in order to gain dominance in Europe. Both players may also use cards that represent various events or actions that they can use to change the diplomatic situation of Europe, aid their armies or harm their opponent's armies in battle or movement, and aid their positions in other ways.

Army Units

The armies used to move around the board, fight battles, and conquer territories are made up by units that each represent a corps of about 40,000 soldiers.

Each of a country's corps is led and named by a real-life general. To represent the different skills and seniorities of each general, each corps is defined by three numbers, that corps's Battle Rating (the fighting ability of that corps), Movement Rating (the speed that the corps is able to move across land), and the Seniority Rating (the seniority of the general that leads the corps).

Diplomatic Alignment

Each country in Age of Napoleon begins with a certain diplomatic alignment, corresponding to their alliances or enemies in real life. This alignment can change during the game through war or diplomacy. There are five possible diplomatic alignments for every country:

A Coalition Member country is one that is an independent ally of Britain, and thus is under direct control of the Coalition player.
An Insurgent Country is one previously controlled by France that is fighting a rebellion against France. Insurgent Countries are under partial control of the Coalition player.
A Neutral Country is one that has no political allies or enemies. These countries are under control of neither player and thus does not participate in war or diplomacy.
A French Dominion is a country that has been directly annexed to France. French Dominions are under direct control of the French player.
A French Ally is a country that is independent and allied to France. These countries are under direct control of the French player.

Setup

Age of Napoleon has 3 set starting setups, starting from 1805, 1809, and 1813. The placement of units on the board and the alignment of various countries generally match the real-life situation at the start of that year. Although the diplomatic situation and the placement of armies on the board are constant in every game of a certain starting setup, the cards that each player has available to use differ.

Course of Play

The game-play of Age of Napoleon is divided into 'years' that correspond to years of the war in reality. Each year is divided into 8 "phases":

In the Diplomacy Phase, the players can play cards that change the diplomatic alignment of countries to their advantage.
In the Insurrection Phase, the Coalition player can start insurrections, or rebellions, in certain countries controlled by France.
In the Strategy Phase, the players receive new cards to use through the rest of the year.
In the Reinforcement Phase, the players deploy reinforcements to their armies on the board.
In the Campaign Phase, the players move their armies and fight battles with them.
In the Surrender Phase, countries can surrender if they have been conquered by opposing armies and will change alignment.
In the Winter Attrition Phase, large armies on the board experience losses due to starvation and lack of supplies in winter.
In the Victory Check Phase, the players determine whether either of them has won.

Historicity

Although Age of Napoleon is designed for fun and streamlined gameplay, it includes many realistic elements in order to enhance the historical feel.

Awards

Age of Napoleon was nominated for and won the 2003 Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Pre-World War II Boardgame.

In addition, it won the 2003 Walter Luc Haas Award for Best Simulation.

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