Napoleon

There are several games named for Napoleon or based around Napoleonic themes or battles. The original board game, Napoleon, now in its third edition, was published by Gamma Two Games in 1974, as part of a series of games all concerning major battles or battle game scenarios. Subsequent variations have included strategy games, simulations, and educational computer games. Overall, the usage of Napoleon as a generic title for strategy or war games centring on the battle of Waterloo demonstrates its usefulness as a trope, rather than its genuine success in any particular title.

Napoleon is a block Wargame. This means that the units displayed on the board are represented by small wooden or plastic cubes. The cubes are marked on at least one side with a unit designation, and are initially placed on the board facing the player, so that their opponent cannot see which block represents which unit. Some block games have an additional mark on the block showing if the unit is incapacitated or “dead”—this is initially placed face down. Obscuring the nature of the units is one of the many tactics used in Wargames to express the “fog of war,” whereby the nature of the unit is initially invisible to the enemy player. Block Wargames initiated from L'Attaque (1908), which was itself an early version of Stratego. Napoleon was one of the first block Wargames.

Napoleon is turn based, with players taking part in the Waterloo campaign, beginning on June 15, 1815. Each turn lasts a third of a day, with the French moving first on the morning of the 15th, the English and Prussians in the middle of the day, and the French again in the evening. The next day, this order is reversed, and so forth. The game can be played with two or three players (French, English, and Prussian sides). If three players are used, there are caveats for the Allied (English and Prussian) side. The board shows a map of the area around Waterloo, with lines denoting transport routes connecting various points. Markers can be grouped together or separately across the board and must move along these points.

Napoleon's second incarnation is as a card game of trickery and tricks, in which each player is dealt a hand of five and must win each trick in order to succeed. Each player bids in order to win each trick, and on the amount of tricks they will win, with each subsequent bid becoming higher, or else the player must pass. “Nap” or “Napoleon,” “Wellington” and “Blücher” (the names of the three major generals at Waterloo) are used to describe various bids within the game. The highest bidder chooses trumps, and his or her companions must try to beat his or her card by progressing around the table. The winner of each trick begins the next trick, and so on.

The game is won when all possible cards are [Page 414]played and all tricks are won; the player who has won the most tricks wins. The game can also be played for money, where it is usually referred to as “Penny Nap.”

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