Soldier Emperor:
Playbook Edition
 Between
1803 and 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte lent his
name to an entire age. Soldier Emperor covers
the entire sweep of the Napoleonic Wars from
1803 to 1815, as fleets and armies clash
from Ireland to Persia. Military, economic
and political factors come together in a
game playable to completion in just a few
hours.
Each player has armies and fleets. There
are also a handful of generals and admirals
to assist these in battle and in movement.
The best are Napoleon, Nelson and Wellington,
standing head and shoulders above every other
general. The worst is Austria's unhappy General
Mack, along with the hapless Prince of Orange,
Spain's arrogant Cuesta and Napoleon's profligate
brother Jerome.
Players have allies; some are set at the
beginning of the game, other alliances are
forged during the course of play. Everyone
else is an enemy. No one is “neutral”;
those are just enemies you haven’t
attacked yet.
 The map is divided into land areas and sea
zones. Armies move on land, fleets at sea.
Each land area is rated for the amount of
money and manpower it generates each turn.
Manpower represents not just fresh recruits
for your forces, but also the things made
with human labor: food, uniforms, weapons
and so on. Money is, well, money. You expend
manpower to rebuild your forces, and money
to finance their actions. Thus you need to
hang on to areas that generate these resources
for you, and take them from the other guy.
You do that by defeating enemy armies, and
besieging enemy areas. Combat is conducted
by rolling dice, one for each attack factor.
These hits must be sustained by enemy armies
by reducing them in strength, or eliminating
them. A good general lets you roll more dice.
Each area is rated for its garrison strength;
to capture it, you have to defeat the garrison
troops through siege (in addition to driving
off any enemy armies there). The procedure
here is very similar.
   
Throwing a twist into all of this is card
play. The universe is loaded with random
elements; life does not unfold as an orderly
series of “phases.” After a short
countdown to start the game, players can
play cards at any time, in any order.
 The cards (over there on the right) are the centerpiece of the game,
giving it its free-wheeling nature. Dysentery
can strike. Generals can vacillate. Local
militia can appear to help. Soldiers might
run off to loot. Bridges get burned, snow
falls early, the harvests are bad, the harvests
are good. Royal marriages, minor country
alliances, the rise of new leaders — all
sorts of events take place during card play.
Soldier Emperor includes eight scenarios plus a campaign game covering
the entire era. Play ends on a pre-determined
turn or when a player has achieved his or
her conditions for automatic victory, whichever
comes first.
The game comes in Playbook format (that is, with a book and not a box).
Contents:
- 180 ultra-thick one-inch-square tiles representing fleets and armies
- 165 regular pieces representing leaders and markers
- 64 high-quality, poker-style playing cards
- Eight full-color player aid cards (one for each player, plus one for all)
- Two-piece map, 28 inches by 40 inches
- 36-page rulebook, 16-page scenario book
Links:
Stock Code: APL0042
Game Price: $119.99
Status: Available Now
Click here to order Soldier Emperor right now.
Global Empires
Soldier Emperor
Soldier Emperor: Indian Empires
Journal No. 40: Byzantium Eternal
Retail Price: $205.97
Package Price: $160
Gold Club Price: $128
You can experience the Global Empires Package right here.
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