Out of Print Games

These four games explore the major battles of 1806-07, where the French Army encountered two different opponents with different capabilities, from the leadership-challenged Prussians in Saxony to the chaotic battle conditions in winter against the Russians.

The Autumn of 1813 was the most active period in the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon at the Crossroads covers the Autumn campaign at a scale which focuses on the strategic issues and emphasizes playability, with several battle scenarios playable in an evening, and full campaign in about 8 hours.

THE NEW 2022 EDITION CAN BE FOUND HERE.

These four French offensives all occurred within a single fortnight minus an important ingredient: the Emperor himself. After winning two major battles in the Spring of 1813, Napoleon agreed to an Armistice, ostensibly to prepare a path for peace, but actually as a cover for further war preparations.

HE TIME IS: 0500 hours., 17 April 1809
At the end of a 96-hour journey from Paris, as the Emperor stepped out of his carriage in Donauworth, Bavaria, his army was in an extremely hazardous position. Even if Davout and Massena had concentrated, the position would have been bad enough. But, thanks to Berthier's misunderstandings, they are ninety miles apart. 

Napoleon has decided on a bold move northward against the advancing Prussian Army, and the movement commands have already filtered down to the front line forces. Fifty-man patrols of cavalry vedettes from Doumerc's I Cavalry Corps are screening the countryside for any signs of the enemy, especially the dreaded Cossacks with their long lances. 

October, 1806: Zeitz, SaxonyThe commander of Napoleon's cavalry, Marshal Joachim Murat, found his staff interrogating the postmaster, minister, and mayor. A spy came forward with the critical piece of information they sought—the Prussian and Saxon armies lay to the west and north. This was put into a dispatch by an officer sitting outside the beer hall. A horse was brought for the spy who went with the dispatch to Napoleon's headquarters, 20 miles away. The whole army would soon make a sweeping left turn.

La Guerre de l'Empereur is a game of maneuver and battle between the forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and six other nations that both opposed and supported him at various times in the years between 1805 and 1815. Anywhere from two to seven players vie for dominance of early 19th Century Europe. As the French player, you'll set Napoleon and his armies upon a continent whose differing political statures plays right into your hands. The greatest army in Europe is at your hands...

The time is: 1630 hrs., 15 June 1815...The Imperial Guard light cavalry of Lefebvre-Desnottes encountered the Nassau infantry of Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. The Duke had taken the initiative to move one of his two regiments south from the vital crossroads of Quatre-Bras, in the rolling countryside of Flanders, to delay the lead elements of the French advance. 

Like a thunderstorm from out of the Alpine foothills, Marshal Wurmser's Austrian army jolted the French advanced guard of General Massena from their entrenched heights on Monte Baldo. Bonaparte summarized the bleak situation: "The enemy have broken through our line in three places; they are masters of La Corona and Rivoli. Massena has been compelled to yield to superior forces; Sauret has begun his retreat to Desenzano, and the enemy has captured Brescia and the bridge of Ponte San Marco. You see that our communications with Milian are cut off."

Napoleon rode upstream from Kovno to select a crossing place over the Niemen River. Removing his familiar colonel's coat he put on the jacket and black-silk kalpak of a Polish lancer. His companions who all advised against this invasion, Berthier, Davout, Caulaincourt, and the engineer Haxo-did the same. The Emperor was in a pensive, somber mood. Galloping back to headquarters, a startled hare got under his horse, causing him to fall.

Napoleon arrived from headquarters to meet with his key Marshals on the Pratzen Plateau. The Pratzen commanded a wide view of the whole region, and he was determined to fight here. Standing on the summit near a feature called the "Stari Vinohrady" and gazing eastward, Napoleon and his marshals beheld an amazing sight: the entire enemy army, some 72,000 strong, emerging from the village of Austerlitz and marching straight toward the heights on which they stood.

January 1807
The French army awoke from quarters and assembled into regiments and brigades, advancing cautiously into the winter fastness, passing alternately through the plains and forests of Masuria. Encountering determined opposition in a series of rearguard battles lasting a week, they finally emerged into a clearing about a mile and a half in front of the large village of Preussische Eylau.

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These four games explore the major battles of 1809, where Napoleon and his Army of Germany met their first setback in the shadow of Vienna, against a modernized Austrian Army under Archduke Charles . Each game shows the approach to the battlefield on the day before battle. The Wagram and Aspern-Essling games share one and the same battlefield on one map.

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