Contents

Introduction

QuickStart

Historical Background

How to Play

Game Rules

Designer Notes

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Introduction

By the spring of 1815 the French were already tired of the fat new Bourbon King the Allies had given them.  Napoleon, his allowance unpaid and feeling himself a marked man, set out on a comic opera progress to Paris.	By the time he reached that capital city on the 20th of March he was once again Emperor of the French.

If Napoleon was to remain Emperor he had to strike quickly.  On June the 15th he pushed his reconstituted army north into Belgium in an effort to drive a wedge between the two most implacable and capable of his many opponents, Wellington and Blucher.

He came very close to succeeding.  Wellington's desperate holding action at Quatre Bras was not the help Blucher's Prussians at Ligny were counting on.  That the Prussian Army was only badly defeated and not crushed was the result of errors on the part of the French.  Exactly who amongst the French, Ney, Napoleon, or D'Erlon remains a matter of bitter controversy to this day.  Still Wellington and Blucher showed a trust in each other beyond what had been normal amongst Allies throughout the long Napoleonic Wars.  Instead of retreating in opposite directions along their different lines of supply they both instead retreated towards Brussels.  The British withdrew to Waterloo and the Prussians to Wavre.

While Wellington bore Napoleon's attacks at Waterloo through a long afternoon Blucher pushed his battered troops over muddy farm tracks.  Wellington held and the Prussians first fell on the French flank and then led a relentless pursuit of Napoleon's defeated army.  The Emperor himself only narrowly escaped capture.

"Napoleon the Emperor" is a shareware computer wargame of moderate complexity that simulates the battles that occurred during these days.  The evaluation version deals with the battle of Waterloo, the registered version covers the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras as well.  The game runs under Windows 3.1 and is basically brigade level in its detail.  As well as being an enjoyable challenge playing "Napoleon the Emperor" will help you acquire a better understanding of the choices, problems, and resources the Emperor and his opponents had.


Quick Start

The game begins with the "game set-up" phase.  You can see the phase indicated in the Time and Place window.  Note that the Time and Place window, the Action Reports Box, and the main map display are all fully moveable sizeable.  You don't have to keep the default arrangement the games starts up in.  The units of both sides can be accessed during the "game set-up" phase.

First thing you should do is decide which side(s) the computer is to play.  To do this pick an option from the Starting Setup pull down menu.  (It's the second from the left on the top menu).

That done click on the Next Phase option of the main menu.  If both sides are human or the computer is Allied it'll be the French turn.  Assuming this to be the case you can now look at the French units and give them orders.  You don't have to do this in any particular order.  You should note that if you give orders to a commander unit that's in command any undetached units subordinate to it will have orders they were directly given previously overridden by new orders from their commander.

There are two ways of accessing units to give them orders.  The first is picking the Units option of the main menu and then selecting the desired unit from the listing box that appears.  The second is by left clicking directly on the unit symbols on the map.  If there are more units than one in a location, you'll have to chose which one you want from a short list.  A "Short Report" dialog box will appear for the selected unit.  There will be a button marked "Orders" at the bottom of this, click on this and you'll be taken to an "Orders" dialog box.

The "Orders" dialog box although largely self-explanatory is covered in the "How to Play" help section.  Basically there are two things most units can do Move and Attack and they can do either to a location or in a direction.  Units ordered to attack, in fact, will move much like units ordered to move only they'll be much more aggressive when they encounter an enemy unit.  The "Defend" order is essentially a "no orders" order, units will defend themselves whatever their orders.  Artillery units can also be given "Fire" orders.  The locations on the map are about 200 yards in size so effective fire between other units occurs within them.  The formation a unit has important effects on its movement and combat capabilities which are covered in the "Game Play" help section.

You can toggle between the overall map view and a zoomed in tactical one by right clicking on the map.  When zooming in the tactical map will be centered on the location you clicked.  There is also a Zoom toggle option on the Display menu.

Having looked at all and given orders to all the units that you wish you move to the next player's turn or resolution by clicking on the "Next Phase" option of the main menu.

Resolution events and their outcomes are reported via scrolling messages in the Action Report Box.  Also the movement of units will be reflected on the map.  The reports made during resolution will be stored in the action box memory and can be reviewed by scrolling backwards once resolution is completed.  Players may find it convenient to resize the action report box to take up half of the screen and to reduce the map size to quarter screen size during such reviews.

Each resolution phase lasts 20 minutes of time and the player orders phase/ resolution phase cycle will go on to 900PM or 1100PM (depending on scenario) in game before the game comes to an end.

It is possible to check the current victory point totals using the "Victory Point" option on the main menu at any time during the game but the totals are only genuinely meaningful once the game is over.


Historical Background

The Period

Politics

Tactics

Command Structure

Waterloo Campaign

Battle of Waterloo

Battle of Ligny

Battle of Quatre Bras

Battle of Wavre


How to Play

Requirements

Top Level Display

Tactical Map

Top Level Menus

Gathering Information

Giving Orders

Determining the Winner


Game Rules

Overview

Units

Terrain

Movement

Combat

Victory Conditions


The Period

It is difficult to pronounce with surety on the Napoleonic period, because in a real way we're still living in it and therefore don't enjoy a  genuinely historical perspective.  The 25 years of strife and upheaval that ended in 1815 with the battle of Waterloo created the modern world.  It might have taken well into the 19th century for the aristocracies that defeated Napoleon to realize it, but the Ancien Regime was past being restored.

That big decisive stirring events occurred, that men were heroic, bad, sometimes good, that there was a great deal of flamboyance and many reversals of fortune, that much is obvious.  It is enough to lend considerable fascination to the period.  Also although we're at the beginning of modern age in 1815, the dark satanic mills, the machine guns, the ovens at Auschwitz, and the Bomb all had yet to be built.  On a more mundane level parking lots for malls didn't seem to cover the whole earth.  It's easy to be nostalgic.

And misleading.  Both Napoleon and the British Governments of the time counted it among their more important accomplishments, that they managed to see that the supply of bread to their populations was sufficient that the poor didn't revolt against high odds out of sheer desperation.  The gap between the aristocracy and the common people remained immense.  Wellington likely didn't feel he was expressing an opinion merely stating a fact when he described his soldiers as "scum".  Napoleon as friendly as he could be with his troops left half a million of them dead in Russia.

So it was a hard time.  Still men seem to have believed that their wit and courage could change the world.  Even turn it upside down.  After all they'd seen it done.


Politics

"war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, carried on with other means."

Clausewitz

Napoleon's policy was that Charlemagne's European Empire was to be restored with himself in the role of Charlemagne.

Europe's aristocracy mostly just wanted things set back to the good old days before the French Revolution.  Some of the less frightened Monarchs, wouldn't have minded keeping some of the increased powers that governments modeled after that of Napoleonic France enjoyed.

That's the background the politics played out against it were no more straightforward or honest then our politics today.  So I'm not going to try to make coherent sense of it, but here are some more "facts" you might find interesting.

The Austrians as much as they disliked Napoleon on principle were willing to compromise with him if that was the price for a predictable and orderly Europe Austria could feel safe in.  Some of the military pyrotechnics Napoleon was able to get away with the year before in 1814, seem to have been due as much to Austrian foot dragging as Austrian incompetence.

The Russian Czar had something of a personal crusade going, but much of his aristocracy would have just have soon,  having seen Napoleon off in 1812, left Western Europe to sort out its own affairs.

The Prussian King and aristocracy by and large had the same attitude as the Austrians.  They weren't entirely happy with the liberal reforms that had been part of the national effort to defeat Napoleon, and wanted to reverse them as soon as possible.  The one consistent figure in a position to do something about that, that felt differently was Blucher.  Blucher was the major individual around which anti-French, do what it takes, national sentiment coalesced.  He was also the one Allied general to consistently seek battle with Napoleon.

Wellington's situation in the Netherlands was politically precarious.  The British government had already started disbanding the British army and sent many remaining veteran units to America.  Belgium and Holland had been part of France proper during the Napoleonic Empire, and many of the officers in the Dutch-Belgian units under his command had been in the French army the year before.  He couldn't be entirely sure of his troops and he couldn't afford to lose a big battle.

Blucher had had his problems earlier also.  Some of the Saxon units under his control mutinied when Prussia took over bits of that state and the Prussians tried to reassign some of their new subjects from their Saxon units to Prussian ones.  The Saxons didn't make good Prussian patriots.

Napoleon's troops and junior officers were loyal enough to him.  Unfortunately his senior officers, the people who had forced him to abdicate the year before, were a little shaky.  Their soldiers knew it too.  The commanding general (Bourmont) and staff of the first division to enter Belgium had deserted to the Allies.  Not good for morale.

Although, it's open to debate (as even my "facts" are) this all suggests to me that Napoleon had a great deal to gain from a couple of quick undisputable victorys over Blucher and Wellington.  It would have consolidated his own position with his officers.  It might have led to the disintegration of Wellington's army and a collapse of Allied political authority in the Low Countries.  The elimination of Blucher's army or with luck Blucher himself would remove his most active and persistent foe from the field.  He could have hoped to do a "dance" like 1814 around the remaining Prussian, Austrian, and Russian armies until the Allies tired of it and then reached a political settlement that left him on his throne.

But he needed to badly defeat Wellington and Blucher first.


Tactics

Combined arms was as valid a military doctrine in the Napoleonic era as it is today.  It was important to use ones cavalry, infantry, and artillery in a co-ordinated fashion in order to obtain consistent success at a reasonable cost.

If any one arm dominated it was the infantry, specifically the line infantry.  The smoothbore flintlock musket of the time wasn't much as an individual weapon.  More importantly the average soldier, with the exception of the Frenchman of the Republic and early Empire,  couldn't be trusted to fight steadily as an individual.  So the tactics of the era revolved around long lines (so everyone could bring their weapon to bear) of men thoroughly drilled to fire as fast and move as precisely as possible.  The immense volume of fire put out by these moving human batteries was "area" not "aimed".  Between the ranges of 100 and 200 yards perhaps 5% of the shots fired hit something.  At greater ranges the fire was ineffective.  At ranges below 100 yards some impressive massacres could be achieved.

These linear tactics had dominated the 18th century and it is this system of warfare that Frederick the Great's Prussia developed to its zenith.  Problem was that those lines were very slow and clumsy to maneuver making decisive battles hard to achieve.  Also the soldiers this system used were too precious because of the time it took to train them to be used very freely.  They also weren't very enthusiastic and the need to run armies as mobile prison camps limited their flexibility to an extreme degree.  Armies were tied to extremely slow and awkward supply trains because they couldn't trust their soldiers to forage for themselves.

The French Revolution changed all of this.  It brought large numbers of men into the French Army that although they were ill-trained from the traditional point of view had enthusiasm for the cause and could be trusted to fight hard without having to be minutely supervised.  These men were useful in two roles.  First as skirmishers they could move forward in loose clouds using the terrain to advantage and harass units formed up in the traditional fashion unmercifully without presenting a useful target for retaliation.  This was demoralizing to the enemy, caused them some real damage, disorganized their formations, and it hampered their movement.  It also provided cover for light artillery batteries and the main body of the assault infantry to move up.  The French had excellent artillery from before the revolution, moved up to within a few hundred yards of formed troops it could have a devastating effect.  The second role that the enthusiastic new recruits were useful in was as masses of infantry in assault columns.  Covered by their skirmisher compatriots they had little to fear from the technically greater fire power enemy lines could generate.  They would usually be accompanied by some traditionally trained infantry that once they got close to the enemy lines would deploy into lines and deliver a few volleys to finish the work of demoralizing and disorganizing the enemy units that the skirmishers and artillery had begun.  The infantry columns would then charge home.  Often the psychological effect of this alone would be enough to break the enemy unit and set it to running.  If not then weight of numbers and superior morale would carry the day.

Cavalry could capitalize on this initial success by pursuing the fleeing enemy troops, unable to defend themselves as individuals against men on horseback,  until most of them were dead, and the rest hopelessly scattered.

This system continued to have a degree of success right up to the end of the period.  It's true that Wellington devised effective ways of countering it that were particularly suited to his troops who were both highly motivated and professional, but it's worth remembering that without the assistance of the Prussian Army equal in size to both his own and the French army he would likely have lost the Battle of Waterloo.


Command Structure

In all armies the basic maneuver unit was the battalion of 6 to 10 companies.  The number of men could vary between roughly 400 to 1100.  For purposes of maneuver there was an intermediate unit between company and battalion named like the unit intermediate between corps and brigades a "division".  A confusion between the two sorts of "divisions" is said to have led to the massive French grand columns that Wellington beat off at Waterloo.

All armies also had regiments which served a recruiting and administrative role.  They were the main repository of corporate identity and tradition.  In many armies including the French and Prussian, regiments made up of several battalions were part of the battlefield command structure.  The British on the other hand had regiments usually made up of only one battalion and even when a regiment had more than one active battalion they wouldn't serve together.  The British Guards regiments were an exception to this rule, but otherwise a British regiment is a battalion and other nations regiments are several battalions.

 	Napoleon has been described as unwilling to delegate and not innovative in military affairs.  The French command structure, which seems to have reached its final form in 1805, was an innovation by him that meant a lot of devolution of authority to subordinate officers.  The French army was divided into two wings and a reserve.  The wings had two combined arms corps and two cavalry corps, the reserve consisted of one weak corps (Lobau's) and the Imperial Guard, which might be considered to be an oddly organized Corps with extra artillery and cavalry.  Napoleon felt free to reassign units, especially cavalry between Corps but this was his starting point.  Corps had two to four infantry divisions, some heavy artillery,  and usually a cavalry division.  Divisions were divided into 2 brigades usually of 2 regiments, and a supporting artillery battery.  The battery would be a foot one for infantry and a horse one for cavalry.

The Prussian organization was inspired by the French one and superficially similar.  The Army commander commanded the Corps directly, and each Corps consisted of three or four units called brigades, a cavalry division, and an artillery brigade of between half a dozen to a dozen artillery batteries.  The artillery assigned a corps was not standardized but would include some of all the three main types, foot, heavy foot, and horse.  Some of the artillery, along with some of the cavalry would be parceled out to the infantry brigades in penny packets.  There was no divisional level in the Prussian system, their brigades of three or four large regiments were the size of most other armies divisions.  One standard system for a brigade was for it to contain one regular regiment, one reserve regiment, and one Landwehr regiment.

The British/Allied army had corps, divisions, and brigades like the other armies, with roughly three divisions to a Corps, and two brigades and a couple of artillery batteries to a division.  Cavalry seems to have been in roughly a dozen brigades most of them directly under the command of Lord Uxbridge.  Most of the British/Allied brigades had four battalions each.

That said Wellington didn't pay much mind to his formal command structure or permit his subordinates much independence.  At Quatre Bras and even Waterloo he disposed of individual battalions as he saw fit.  The British writers particularly claim that he interspersed British and Allied battalions so as to bolster weaker units with more reliable ones.  Nevertheless brigades were generally kept together.  His divisions and corps he seems to have ignored altogether, preferring to give his orders directly to lower level units.


Waterloo Campaign

If Napoleon was to remain Emperor he had to strike quickly.  On June the 15th he pushed his reconstituted army north into Belgium in an effort to drive a wedge between the two most implacable and capable of his many opponents, Wellington and Blucher.

He came very close to succeeding.  Wellington's desperate holding action at Quatre Bras was not the help Blucher's Prussians at Ligny were counting on.  That the Prussian Army was only badly defeated and not crushed was the result of errors on the part of the French.  Exactly who amongst the French, Ney, Napoleon, or D'Erlon remains a matter of bitter controversy to this day.  Still Wellington and Blucher showed a trust in each other beyond what had normal amongst Allies throughout the long Napoleonic Wars.  Instead of each them retreating in opposite directions along their different lines of supply they both instead retreated towards Brussels.  The British to Waterloo and the Prussians to Wavre.

While Wellington held Napoleon's attacks at Waterloo through a long afternoon Blucher pushed his battered troops over muddy farm tracks.  Wellington held and the Prussians first fell on the French flank and then led a relentless pursuit of Napoleon's defeated army.  The Emperor himself escaped only narrowly.


Battle of Waterloo

June 18th 1815, about 12 miles south of Brussels, Belgium.

The Battle of Waterloo took place entirely to the south of the village of Waterloo between Mont. St.Jean and Belle Alliance on the road between Brussels and Charleroi.  This all being in Belgium.  The road to Brussels runs roughly along the division between two watersheds and there are a series of low gently rounded ridges roughly at right angles to it on the battle field.  Mont St.Jean being at the top of one and Belle Alliance at the top of another.  A third lower rise lies between these two.

This middle rise is where Napoleon positioned his grand battery across from La Haye Sainte and the middle of the Allied line.  La Haye Sainte was the center of three Allied positions in advance of their main line along the top and reverse slope of the Mont. St.Jean ridge.  These advance positions in Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, and a series of villages (Papelotte, La Haye, Smohain, & Fischermont) to name them from west to east took advantage of the extremely solid Belgium construction and were mini-fortresses.  Of them only Le Haye Sainte was completely taken during the battle.

Napoleons plan was a straightforward push against Wellington's center.  There was supposed to have been a through artillery preparation first.  Unfortunately for the French the same mud (the day and night before had been very wet) that argued against attempting to maneuver also lessened the effectiveness of their cannon.  The battle was in fact delayed to allow the ground to dry some.  This was before Napoleon realized Grouchy was not going to hold the Prussians and their Army was marching on his flank.

The battle got under way between 1100am and noon.  It began with a barrage from the grand battery and an attack by Jerome Bonapartes division of Reilles Corps on the left against Hougoumont.  This attack, which was supposed to be a diversion, ended up drawing in a division and a half of French troops.

At around 1:30pm D'Erlon Corps on the French right launched a massive infantry attack against the Allied center.  The Allied cavalry charged in a spectacular and successful counter attack and failing to rally carried on towards the French positions where they were all but destroyed.

By this time Napoleon and his commanders had realized that Prussian troops were marching on their flank.

Perhaps it was this knowledge that inspired Ney to make a series of magnificent cavalry charges on the Allied center.  Being totally unsupported and being made against steady infantry these charges were futile.

By the time these charges had failed Lobau's VI Corps and the Young Guard of the Reserve had been committed against the Prussians of Bulows Corps in Plancenoit.

At around 6:00pm Ney finally managed to take La Haye Sainte. He moved up artillery and began to bombard the Allied center at close range.

There were no adequate reserves to support this success as Napoleon had to commit part of the Old Guard to Plancenoit to rescue the Young Guard.

The Old Guard battalions having had spectacular success in clearing Plancenoit, Napoleon was able to launch them on his final and most impressive attack of the day at about 7:00pm.  By this time though Wellington had patched his line up.  The Guard failed for the first time.  This, the arrival of yet more Prussians on their flank, and their distrust of their own officers broke the morale of the French troops.  The French Army broke and fled.


Battle of Ligny

June 16th 1815, 8 miles North-West of Charleroi

The battle of Ligny took place between Fleurus and Sombreffe, around the villages of Ligny, St.Amand, and Brye.

These villages and Ligny Brook formed an apparently strong natural position that the Prussians took advantage of in positioning their right and center consisting of the Corps of Ziethen and Pirch.  Neither army began the day deployed on the battlefield.  Ziethen's was the first Prussian Corps to arrive in place, Pirch's the next, Thielmann on the Prussian left was still moving units into position at 2:00pm when Napoleon began his first attack.

The weakness of the Prussian position was that despite its terrain advantages it was too long for the troops they had and it formed a salient in which their troops were vulnerable to artillery fire.

Some historians claim that these dispositions were made in anticipation of the arrival of English reinforcements.  The English claim Wellington said he'd come to Blucher's aid if he wasn't attacked himself.  It is certain Wellington was fighting a battle concurrently at Quatre Bras at any rate.

The desperate fighting in the villages went on for several hours.  Napoleon was about to launch the Guard in the climatic attack intended to break the Prussian center, when troops arriving behind the French left wing were spotted.  Napoleon had been expecting D'Erlons Corps to appear from the direction of Quatre Bras behind the Prussian Right wing.  It was his plan to annihilate the Prussian Army between D'Erlons Corps and the Guard.  He had no idea who these new troops on his left rear were though, he delayed the Guards attack and sent troops to find out.

By the time he found out that these were, in fact, D'Erlon's troops it was 7:00pm and although the Guard's attack now crushed the Prussian center, a desperate counter attack led by Blucher of massed Prussian Cavalry in conjunction with the fall of dark allowed a large portion of the Prussian Army to escape the field intact.  Worse D'Erlon had received recall orders from Ney just as he was approaching Ligny and failed to participate in the pursuit.

D'Erlon's is the famous corps that if it had been present at either Quatre Bras or Ligny could have decided the campaign in the French favor.  Instead it spent the day marching back and forth between the two battlefields.


Battle of Quatre Bras

June 16th 1815, 8 miles north of Charleroi, on the road to Brussels

The French Army's left wing under Ney spent the night of the 15th around Frasnes north of Charleroi on the Brussels road and not far short of the vital crossroads of Quatre Bras.  It was Napoleon's intention that Ney would have occupied that crossroads, by the 16th,  and keeping Wellington busy with Reilles Corps, send D'Erlon's Corps down the Nivelles road from Quatre Bras towards Sombreffe.  D'Erlons Corps arriving in the right rear of the Prussian Army would clinch a victory intended to annihilate it.

Actually Ney and his generals having had some experience of nasty unexpected encounters with Wellington in the peninsula had allowed themselves to be bluffed by several thousand troops belonging to Perponcher's 2nd Dutch-Belgian Division.  They were not yet in Quatre Bras and had not even launched a serious attack when Wellington arrived on the scene around 10:00am on the morning of the 16th.  In fact Wellington had time to visit Blucher at Ligny and get back for the beginning of the battle at 2:00pm

Wellington still had only Perponcher's single division on the battlefield and the cautious French attack made considerable headway particularly to the east on the Allied left wing.

Fortunately Picton's division was beginning to arrive and as it did Wellington fed it in piecemeal to stabilize the situation.  Wellington got these units into place just in time to meet the major French attack made in large columns on the center.  He ordered his battalions into counterattacks in line formation, that owing to restricted visibility amongst high crops of rye, caught the French still in their columns and unable to effectively match the Allied firepower.

The fortunes of battle favored the French though on the west end of the battle lines near Bossu woods.  The Duke of Brunswick was killed and his troops were fleeing.  Pire's Cavalry Division was in pursuit.  By this time the Allies had achieved numerical parity with the French and despite some close calls and unorthodox drill the Allies managed to hold.

At about this point Ney heard about the diversion of D'Erlons corps by an Imperial aide d'camp.  He lost his famous temper ordered D'Erlon's recall and for good measure ordered Kellerman's cavalry into an unsupported attack on Quatre Bras.  Kellerman had his troops gallop the entire length of their charge instead of gradually working up to it as was normal.  This was to hide from them the odds they were facing.

Against those odds they managed to smash three battalion squares of the four battalions in Halkett's brigade.  They took the only British color a unit under Wellington's command ever lost.  They rode around the streets of Quatre Bras, but without infantry they couldn't hold the ground and they retreated with heavy losses.

By this time(6:30pm), Wellington had numerical superiority.  He counter attacked regaining most of the ground he'd lost during the day by 9:00pm.


Battle of Wavre

June 18th 1815, 14 miles South East of Brussels

Strategically the battle of Wavre was the rearguard action that the Prussian Army fought as it moved, against the grain of the road net, from Wavre to Waterloo.

Theilmann's III Corps already battered from its stand on the Prussian left at Ligny, had to hold Grouchy's two corps.  Grouchy commanding the French right wing had been given charge of pursuing the Prussians after Ligny.  Both he and Napoleon had been convinced that the Prussians were retreating eastwards towards Leige or Namur.  So in addition to being slow in getting started Grouchy's pursuit started off in the wrong direction.  Consequently on the morning of 18th Grouchy wasn't up to Wavre in force.  History records that Grouchy  had a late breakfast at which he was urged to march on the sounds of the guns which were coming from Waterloo.

He insisted on instead following his last instructions which were to attack Wavre.  Despite the desperate requests Thielmann sent to Blucher for reinforcements, Grouchy's progress was not quick or decisive.  In particular he was a long time in clearing the town of Wavre.

By 5:00pm when he received orders to move to Waterloo it was too late.  The next day he managed to clinch a tidy little local victory that was completely irrelevant.

"Napoleon the Emperor" does not cover this battle.


Requirements

This program requires Windows 3.1 running on an IBM PC compatible.  Although the code should work on all 80286's and above, it would be much better to have at least a 25MHz 80386.  The necessary video resolution is 640X480 and a minimum of 256 colors.  Some of the symbols can be quite crude and hard to read at 640X480.   Most of the game development occurred at a resolution of 1024X768, but some beta testers found the fonts at this resolution to be rather small.  The best compromise seems to be a resolution of 800X600.

The game will take up about a Megabyte on your hard drive.  It is advisable to have at least 8 megabytes of RAM memory and 16 megabytes is better.


Top Level Display

The top level display consists of a maximized main program window mostly taken up with the top level strategic map, and two smaller child windows, the Action Report Box, and the Time and Place box, in the lower left and right corners of the display respectively.

You will note that this means the game starts up with the smaller windows obscuring parts of the map.  The key here is that this configuration is not fixed.  You can move around and resize all of the windows (including the top level map one) at will.

Windows you're not currently using can be minimized.

As is usual in Windows the main menu runs along the top of the window just below its caption bar.


Tactical Map

At times just re-configuring the Top level map will not be enough to give you a clear view.  In this event you can use a right click on the map or the menu zoom toggle to select the Tactical Map.

The Tactical Map shows half as much as the top level strategic map, but shows it twice as large.  The display will be roughly centered on the location where you right clicked the top level map.  The menu toggle selects a Tactical Map centered on the currently selected unit or if there is none the center of the strategic map.

Except for its scale, the Tactical Map is currently identical to the strategic map.  You can select units to give reports, give units orders, and even watch the resolution phase from the Tactical Map in the manner as you would if you were using the strategic map.


Top Level Menus

The top level menus along the top of the main display are from left to right, File, Starting Setup, Display, Units, Victory Points, Next Phase, Pause, and Help.

The "File" menu allows to save and restore games, read scenario files, and quit the game when you're done.

The "Starting Setup" allows you to select who if any one will be played by the computer.

The "Display Settings" menu allows toggling the map zoom and whether a small number of message boxes designed to help novice players with the game will be displayed.  Various toggles which determine which symbols will appear on the map when a player has listing boxes, reports, or the orders dialog open form the last part of this menu.  A checked option is "on" an unchecked option is "off".  The target cross (thick black with yellow outline) option shows a units target or destination locality when the long report or orders dialogs are open.  If the the "Subordinate Dots" option is checked when the long report, user listing, or orders dialogs are open and the currently selected unit is of the commander type all of its immediate subordinates will be marked with yellow dots.

"Display Settings" also allows you to toggle the Message Boxes between phases on and off with the "Phase Separator" option.  Command structure is much easier to see with the "Command Letter" option on Army commanders are marked with an 'A', Corps commanders with a 'C', Divisional commanders with a 'D', Brigade commanders with a 'B', regimental commanders with an 'R', and all other commanders with an 'L'.  Resolution can be paused at any point with the "Pause Resolution" option an echo of the option on the main menu.  The "Action Message Speed" sets the maximum rate at which resolution will occur.  "Unregulated" will allow your machine to do its best, and "Continue on Toggle" will pause after each resolution message.

The "Units" option brings up a listing box with the names of the units for the side whose turn it currently is.  Selecting a unit here is one way to get a report on it and give it orders.  During the Game Setup and End Game phases the units of both sides are accessible from the listing box at the same time. If the current selection is set (i.e. there is a unit name highlighted in the main box) that unit will appear outlined in yellow.  If the currently selected unit is a commander unit and the "subordinate dots" option is checked in display settings than all the current units immediate subordinates will be marked with an outlined yellow dot.  These features are a great way to look around and get an overview of your forces.

The "Victory Points" menu gives you the means to determine who has won at the game's end.  It is also a means of tracking how things are going during a game.

Selecting "Next Phase" ends the game setup phase or  your turn.

Selecting "Pause" has effect only during resolution, it pauses it.  The option text will change to "RESUME", chosing "RESUME" will restart resolution.

"Help" is what got you here.  Here being  a fairly extensive standard Windows help facility.


Gathering Information

To get an overview of the current situation the best method is to move the "Action Box" and "Time and Place" windows out of the way, and to left click systematically on unit symbols on the map.  This will bring up short reports identifying units and their current formation.

Versions 1.1f on have yellow boxes outlining the currently selected units when any reports or listing boxes are open.  When the unit listing box, long report box, and the orders dialog box are open and the display setting "Subordinate Dots" is checked the immediate subordinates of a currently selected unit that is a commander will have a yellow dot placed on them.  These features mean that an excellant overview of your units can be gained just by moving around in the Unit selection listing box and watching the map.

For your own units you have the option of selecting the "More..." button which will bring up a longer report.  The long report has  information about the units current strength, condition, and orders.

Versions 1.1f on have a "target cross" which appears (if this option is checked in display settings) whenever a long report or orders dialog are open.  This cross shows the destination or target location of a unit.


Giving Orders

Orders are issued via the "Orders" dialog box.  This box can be reached either through the main menu Units Selection Listing Box, or by clicking on the unit's symbol on the map and going through the short or long report.

In both the short and long reports there are buttons marked "Orders" that will take you to the Orders Dialog.

There are four basic orders and a variety of formations you can order a unit to have.  For the most part you will wish to order units either to move or attack, either in a direction or to a location that you select by clicking on the map while the Orders Dialog box is open.

A unit will move in it's assigned direction or to its assigned destination location in the same manner, regardless of whether it has move or attack orders.  The difference between the orders lies in the way a unit will react if it comes across an enemy formation.  With move orders a unit will accept combat if it must, but tend to avoid it if it can.  Units with attack orders will aggressively engage enemies they encounter.

Defend orders amount to a null order, mark time in place instruction.  Units will always do their best to defend themselves.

Fire orders can only be issued to artillery units.  You designate their targets simply by clicking on the target location on the map while the Orders box is open.  You will be informed automatically of problems with line of sight or targets being out of range.

"Line" and "Column" will be the main formations you use.  They apply to infantry and cavalry units.  Commanders pass selected formations down to their subordinate units.  "Line" is best for combat and "Column" best for movement.  "Square" for infantry fearing cavalry attack should be formed automatically.  You may occassionally wish to dictate it as infantry caught unsupported by friendly cavalry can be very vulnerable to enemy cavalry particularly if it is tired or has poor morale.  Infantry in a square moves slowly if at all, and is vulnerable to other infantry and artillery.  The "Limber" and "Unlimber" formations apply to artillery only and units will adopt the appropiate posture themselves without your intervention.

There are also two check boxes, "In Command" and "Detached", in the "Orders" dialog box.  These have to do with the passing of orders through the command structure.  When "In Command" is checked commander units will pass orders they are given onto subordinate units.  If you wish say to move a commander unit across the battle field with out all his subordinate units following you should uncheck this box.  If you wish to simply "detach" a subordinate unit, that is prevent the subordinate unit from getting orders from his commander, you should check the subordinates "detached" checkbox.


Determining the Winner

The "Grand Total" option of the Main Menu selection "Victory Points" will at all times during the game tote up the current victory points and declare what the results mean.  This declaration only has genuine meaning after the game has ended.

If you wish to review how the points for locations have been determined you can select the "Location Victory Points" option of the "Victory Points" selection.


Rules Overview
Game Rules Overview

"Napoleon the Emperor" consists of a simple cycle of French turn, Allied Turn, Resolution Phase.  At the beginning of the game there is a game startup phase.  At the end of the game there is an end game phase.

During their turn players can access their units for reports of varying length and to give orders.  There is no required order for doing this.  Orders can be given both directly to units or to their commanders.  Any order given to an "in command" commander will be passed on to those of its subordinate units that are not detached.  If orders are given both directly to a unit and also to its commander then the last set of orders issued prevails.

Units fall into four general catagories; commanders, cavalry, infantry, and artillery.  Each catagory of unit has its own strengths and weaknesses in regards to movement and combat capabilities.  Cavalry and Infantry units also have formations that significantly effect their abiltity to manuever and fight.  Roughly units fight better in "line" formation and move better in "column" formation.  Formations specified for commander units are adopted by its subordinate units rather than the commander unit itself.

The various types of terrain on the map, clear, forest, buildings, swamp, stream, and sloped, affect the movement and combat capabilities of units as well.  Units may hold on when defending buildings or forest locations, under circumstances that would lead to retreat in clear terrain.  Line formations are impossible to maintain among buildings and in forests.  Streams and swamps will reduce the order of units.  Units that lose enough order because of terrain, fatigue from moving, or combat will become unable to hold regular formation.  Buildings, forests, and slopes also block the lines of sight that artillery units must have to their targets before they can fire on them.

Only so many men (roughly 5000) can be fit into one location.  This has the effect of creating a stacking limit.  Only so many units are allowed in one location, the exact limit depending on the size of the units in men, and units will not move to locations if that would cause this limit to be exceeded.  This stacking limit applys both during and at the end of movement.

Units of more than a hundred men also have "Zones of Control".  This means that enemy units that move next to these units must stop.  Furthermore units may not move from one location next to an enemy unit (with more than 100 men) to another that's next to an enemy unit.

Units of different nationalities will exhibit varying capabilty.  French units for instance may be 20 to 30% more effective man for man on the attack than troops of other nationalities.

Combat is resolved in a one unit on one unit fashion.  A unit may participate in multiple individual combat resolutions during one combat phase.  There can be multiple combat resolutions between the same pair of units if they are in good shape and evenly matched.

Units involved in combat suffer losses in men, increased fatigue, and decreased morale.  Once the damage units suffer becomes severe enough they will retreat.  Often they will only do so for a short distance and be capable of being rallied by their commander.  For this to happen they must be out of contact with the enemy and within 2 or 3 locations of their commanding units.  When units are being rallied it will be reported at the end of resolution in the Action Report Box.

Units can also be destroyed.  This will happen before their numbers of men reach zero.  Once the number of men in a unit falls below a certain percentage of their original strength it is considered that the unit cannot retain cohesion even if the men don't break and run.

It is primarily the destruction of enemy units by which victory is acheived.  Victory Points may be a multiple or fraction, depending on the scenario,  of the actual numbers of men each side has.  Reinforcements yet to arrive on the map are included in the totals.  The factor may differ depending on side, for instance, in the WaterLoo scenario each Allied soldier counts for only half the victory points of his French counterpart.  This balances the fact that the Allies end the day with two armies to the french one.  Also one side or the other may awarded a handicap in Victory points.  Locations have some worth in victory points also.  It is not direct occupation of Victory Point locations that counts, but rather having a preponderance of force within two or three locations of them.


Units

Units fall into four general catagories; commanders, cavalry, infantry, and artillery.  Each catagory of unit has its own strengths and weaknesses in regards to movement and combat capabilities.  Cavalry and Infantry units also have formations that significantly effect their abiltity to manuever and fight.  Roughly units fight better in "line" formation and move better in "column" formation.  Formations specified for commander units are adopted by its subordinate units rather than the commander unit itself.

Commanders, although basically undifferentiated, command units of varying size and level.  Each side has an army commander, and in the case of the Allies at Waterloo two (Blucher and Wellington).  Most other commanders are corps and division level, however, brigade commanders can also be found.  It should be noted that what is called a "brigade" in the Prussian army would be a division in other armies.  The symbol for a commander is an empty box.

Cavalry units are divided into sub-catagories of light and heavy.  Hussars, Lancers, Uhlans, Mamelukes, and Chasseurs are all considered light cavalry.  Dragoons, mounted Grenadiers, and Cuirassiers are considered heavy.  These distinctions currently have no effect on game mechanics and are included for flavor.  The symbol for cavalry is a box with a diagonal line running from the top right corner to the lower left one.

Infantry units are divided into Line and Light sub-catagories.  Light troops include Jaegers and Rifle regiments.  The line vs. light distinction currently has no effect on game mechanics.  The symbol for infantry is a box with two diagonal lines forming an "X".

Artillery units have three sub-catagories, Foot (field), Heavy Foot, and Horse.  If not otherwise specified you can assume a artillery unit is an ordinary foot artillery battery.  Each sub-catagory moves at a different rate, heavy foot being rather slow, ordinary foot can keep up with infantry, and horse artillery can keep up with cavalry.  Ordinary and horse artillery both have a range of about four locations.  Heavy Foot artillery has a range of about seven locations.  The symbol for both sorts of Foot artillery is a box with a large solid circle in the middle.  The Horse artillery symbol has a diagonal line from the upper right corner of its box to the lower left corner, in addition to the solid circle in its center.  Horse artillery in essence combines the artillery and cavalry symbol.

Only so many men (roughly 5000) can be fit into one location.  This has the effect of creating a stacking limit.  Only so many units are allowed in one location, the exact limit depending on the size of the units in men, and units will not move to locations if that would cause this limit to be exceeded.  This stacking limit applys both during and at the end of movement.

Units of more than a hundred men also have "Zones of Control".  This means that enemy units that move next to these units must stop.  Furthermore units may not move from one location next to an enemy unit (with more than 100 men) to another that's next to an enemy unit.

Units of different nationalities will exhibit varying capabilty.  French units for instance may be 20 to 30% more effective man for man on the attack than troops of other nationalities.


Terrain

The various types of terrain on the map, clear, forest, buildings, swamp, stream, and sloped, affect the movement and combat capabilities of units as well.  Units may hold on when defending buildings or forest locations, under circumstances that would lead to retreat in clear terrain.  Line formations are impossible to maintain among buildings and in forests.  Streams and swamps will reduce the order of units.  Units that lose enough order because of terrain, fatigue from moving, or combat will become unable to hold regular formation.  Buildings, forests, and slopes also block the lines of sight that artillery units must have to their targets before they can fire on them.


Movement

Movement occurs as a series of shifts between locations on the map.  Each location is roughly 200 yards square.  Faster moving units (cavalry, commander's not in command, horse artillery) shift location more often then slower units.  Infantry and ordinary foot artillery move at a moderate pace, and heavy foot artillery moves rather slowly.

Units in column move faster than units in line.  Swamps, forests, and streams slow movement down.

Movement also causes unit fatigue.  Again unfavorable terrain such as swamps, forests, and streams has an effect.  Moving up a slope also increases the fatigue incurred.

Only so many men (roughly 5000) can be fit into one location.  This has the effect of creating a stacking limit.  Only so many units are allowed in one location, the exact limit depending on the size of the units in men, and units will not move to locations if that would cause this limit to be exceeded.  This stacking limit applys both during and at the end of movement.

Units of more than a hundred men also have "Zones of Control".  This means that enemy units that move next to these units must stop.  Furthermore units may not move from one location next to an enemy unit (with more than 100 men) to another that's next to an enemy unit.


Combat

Combat is resolved in a one unit on one unit fashion.  A unit may participate in multiple individual combat resolutions during one combat phase.  There can be multiple combat resolutions between the same pair of units if they are in good shape and evenly matched.

Units involved in combat suffer losses in men, increased fatigue, and decreased morale.  Once the damage units suffer becomes severe enough they will retreat.  Often they will only do so for a short distance and be capable of being rallied by their commander.  For this to happen they must be out of contact with the enemy and within 2 or 3 locations of their commanding units.  When units are being rallied it will be reported at the end of resolution in the Action Report Box.

Units can also be destroyed.  This will happen before their numbers of men reach zero.  Once the number of men in a unit falls below a certain percentage of their original strength it is considered that the unit cannot retain cohesion even if the men don't break and run.


Victory Conditions

It is primarily the destruction of enemy units by which victory is acheived.  Victory Points may be a multiple or fraction, depending on the scenario,  of the actual numbers of men each side has.  Reinforcements yet to arrive on the map are included in the totals.  The factor may differ depending on side, for instance, in the WaterLoo scenario each Allied soldier counts for only half the victory points of his French counterpart.  This balances the fact that the Allies end the day with two armies to the french one.  Also one side or the other may awarded a handicap in Victory points.  Locations have some worth in victory points also.  It is not direct occupation of Victory Point locations that counts, but rather having a preponderance of force within two or three locations of them.


Legal Disclaimer
DISCLAIMER

        Continued use of this program constitutes acceptance of this disclaimer of warrenty: Napoleon the Emperor is supplied as is.  The author disclaims all warrenties, expressed or implied, including,without limitation, of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose.  The author assumes no liability for damages,direct or consequential, which may result from the use of the "Napoleon the Emperor" game program.

        Reality Engine Computer Games retains full rights to this program and its look and feel.  You have permission to make copies of the evaluation version only and as long as you distribute the full intact package it is part of, including the associated files: "readme.txt", "vendors.txt", and  "order.txt".  You may not charge a fee for distribution of this games evaluationg version in excess of $5 U.S. without obtaining permission.  You may not under any circumstances distribute copies of the registered version of this program, "Napoleon the Emperor".


Desginer Notes
Designer Notes

"Napoleon the Emperor" was intended to be a simple game.  A pleasant overview of the battle and a chance to change some of the major decisions made to see what would have happened, were what it was to offer its players.

In fact, the game is a bit more complex than that.  I'm afraid I allowed myself to be seduced somewhat by the intricacies of Napoleonic tactics.  Those tactics built very directly upon the tactics of the 18th century.  The 18th century, the age of the Enlightenment, was when the intricate rationalism of our society originated.  The military practice of the era was one of its most characteristic flowerings.  The linear, "Prussian", tactics of the 18th century were precise, detailed, involved, very geometric in character, and rational.  Although the ethos and practice of the Napoleonic era were in some measure a reaction against this, they nevertheless built upon it.  Battlefield success required a mastery of the strengths of 18th century warfare as well as an eye for its weaknessess.   Furthermore, as the unique conditions created by the French Revolution began to recede there was a degree of return to 18th century tradition.

Unfortunately a game which attempted to handle the manouvering of companies within their battalions as they moved and changed formations would require either an immense degree of attention to detail on the part of the player (very boring for most of us) or a computer AI more sophisticated than anything I have yet heard of being programmed.

The minaturists in their games seem to have evolved solutions that they find acceptable.  However, I am myself only casually familiar with minatures and I don't wish to confine my audience to those that are immersed in the lore of that hobby.

I have come to the conclusion that any attempt to characterize the warfare of the period as clashes between standard formations (line, column, ordre d'mixte, skirmish order, square) which interacted with each other in predictable fashion is a severe distortion of reality.  The linear tactics that failed for the Prussians at Jena-Auerstadt Wellington made work.  The skirmishing tactics the French were so adept at around 1800 were no longer being used by them to the same degree by 1815 (or 1809 at Wagram for that matter).  Given the experience and quality of the French officer corps I believe that means something had changed.

Nevertheless, I chose to group the possible formations a unit might adopt under two broad umbrellas, line and column.  There is a square formation, but it is basically a limited defensive expedient adopted by unsupported infantry in the face of enemy cavalry.  Broadly units in line formation are more effective tactically,  but columns manuever more quickly over more sorts of terrain.  A compromise I hope will prove acceptable.

A similar compromise was effected in regard to command structure.  A command structure exists and it is possible, in fact, to confine oneself to using it when giving orders.  It is also possible, however, to give orders directly to each of your units without restraint.  Knowing the willingness of wargamers to descend into detail if it will lead to victory I expect many of you will ignore the formal command structure under these circumstances.  I preferred leaving you this choice to forcing you to accept my command structure.  The rally morale rule which requires units to be within a certain (short) distance of their commander in order to regain morale should temper your willingness to use your freedom some.

As regards the computer player code I plumbed for a somewhat unpredictable, generic computer player over one that was apparently more skilled, but less flexible.  After a few trys any human will work out the tricks and static plans used by such a computer AI and begin to beat it regularly.  My AI doesn't cheat in any manner, it has only the resouces and information available to a human player.  The reason for this is simply that that's the way I like it.  I plan multiple upgrades to this game that those of you who register will qualify for (on request with S&H) in these I plan to refine the behavior of the AI for subordinate units (this AI is used both when the computer player and a human player are giving orders).  My experience with other games has been that such refinements can dramatically increase the preceived proficiency of Computer players.  It's those dumb blind errors that computers make that do the most to dispel the illusion that they're thinking.  To this end I welcome any and all comment on this level of the game mechanics.

Actually all comments or suggestions you may have about the game are welcome.  It is my intention to produce a series of these sort of games and to be continually improving the underlying game engine as I do so.  You will find how to contact me in the "Register Me!"section.

Overall I set out to do a simple game that illustrated the forces and decisions involved in a certain set of battles.  The game requires a certain investment of effort, but should be accessible to anyone willing to make that effort, without being offensive to most hardcore "grognard" wargamers.  Enjoy!

Stephen St.John


Register Me!

Please register me, or me and mine face extinction!

More formally to legally use this program past the 30 day evaluation period after the time you first acquire it you must register it.

Its also illegal to speed, and you're more likely to get caught too.  With that in mind here are some more positive incentives.

1/  You get two whole new battles, with different maps,and different Orders of Battles.  Even when the same units appear they're often at a different strength and divided up into subordinate units differently.  Quatre Bras is a much tenser battle an a map half the size of the Waterloo one (as its scaled to the screen this should be a blessing to those of you with tired eyes).  At Ligny the Prussians get to show their stuff much more fully and the French too, have an opportunity to develope their plans more fully than was possible at Waterloo.

2/  You get upgrades.  I plan to be continually upgrading the underlying games engine "Napoleon the Emperor" uses while developing new games that use it.  These improvements will be backfitted to the existing "Napoleon the Emperor" as upgrades.  In addition I already have a list of planned upgrades.  Check the list below for these.  Suggestions for additions to this list are welcome from everyone, but, of course, the requests of registered users will carry extra weight.  These upgrades will be provided to registered users free whenever they make additional orders from Reality Engine Computer Games.  They will also be independently available on request for the cost of Shipping and Handling. ($4 in North America, $6 elsewhere).  In the event (God forbid) of a major bug fix being needed you get that automatically and I pay the full cost.

3/  You get Technical Support.  Problems or bugs?  Want some detail explained.  Well my Compuserve address is 102127,3106.  On the Internet that's "102127.3106@compuserve.com".  An alternative Internet address is "sstjohn@atcon.com".  Being in rural Nova Scotia (Canada) it's not economical to use much America Online yet, and difficult to even access other online services like Prodigy and Genie.  In addition you get my phone number you that you can call (at your expense)  for limited (but convenient hours) Monday through Friday.  E-mail is preferable but I understand that not all of you may have it and that you may want to actually talk to someone human.  In this connection I should note that the 800 number of the PsL registration service is for ORDERS ONLY and that no one there can help you with the program or provide technical support.  Not "won't" rather "can't".  For the desperate or patient there is also regular mail.  The address is

Reality Engine Computer Games

R.R.#1,

Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia

B0J 2P0

Canada

4/  Last, but not least, you get onto my mailing list.  I finally figure out how a scenario editor can properly provide for a good computer player.  My next game comes out.  A major upgrade or minor bug fix you should know about gets done, or I just feel like passing on some gossip.  In all these cases I will send you some mail.  If I have your address and you're a registered user.

You don't know what SHAREWARE is?

Apparently you form part of a majority in the population.  Shareware is where you get to try and evaluate a computer program, either for free or at a cost that just covers distribution, before deciding whether you want to keep it and pay for it.  If you don't pay for it its not legal to use the program after the evaluation period its owner has set.

This confuses some people as with most other things you buy a copy of the thing and the right to use it at the same time.  Since the cost of building a car, for example, is quite high, and you can't use a car without having your own physical copy which is hard to make, the car companies can recover the costs of designing and engineering your car by just adding a certain amount onto the price of the physical object you buy.  With software it's very expensive in terms of skilled human effort to produce a product in the first place.  However,  once the program exists it is very inexpensive to make copies.  In practice any one can do it.  So it is not their skill at copying programs that software companies sell, it is the right to use that program at all (a license).  Just because you have a copy of a program, even if you paid for the copy, doesn't mean you have the right to use it.  In practise, retailers often bundle the license to use a program, along with a copy of it and a nice box and sell them all together, which is why sometimes it doesn't seem like you get much for your money.  Shareware on the other hand asks you to pay for the license (plus maybe some incentives, including a more capable version of the software) after you already have a copy of the program.

How to Register:

By paying Reality Engine Computer Games $25 in U.S. funds.  For Americans and Canadians there is $4 Shipping and Handling.  People elsewhere must pay $6 Shipping and Handling.  The Canadian G.S.T. is included in the basic price.  I'm afraid my fellow Nova Scotians will have to pay the Provincial Sales Tax of 11% though.

How to Order:

There are a number of ways of ordering, but in all cases you should identify the product as "Napoleon the Emperor".  The Public (software) Library's product ID# for "Napoleon the Emperor" is #14422.

CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY

You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from Public (software) Library by calling 800-2424-PsL or 713-524-6394 or by FAX to 713-524-6398 or by CIS Email to 71355,470. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705.

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY.  THE AUTHOR OF THIS PROGRAM CANNOT BE REACHED AT THESE NUMBERS.

Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds,registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts,dealer pricing, site licenses, non-credit card orders, etc, must be directed to Reality Engine Computer Games.  To insure that you get the latest version, PsL will notify us the day of your order and we will ship the product directly to you.

PsL's operators are available from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST Monday-Thursday and 7:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday.  Their 800 number can only be accessed in the States.  This product's ID number is 14422.

CompuServe Shareware Registration DB (GO SWREG)

CompuServe members can just GO SWREG, follow the instructions and register SWREG ID#9656.  The registration fee will be charged to your CompuServe account.  CompuServe will e-mail your order to Reality Engine Computer Games which will fulfill it.

Direct from Reality Engine Computer Games

In this case you must pay with either a International Postal Money Order (in U.S. funds) or with a cheque drawn on a U.S. or Canadian bank.  When making direct purchases Canadians may pay $37 in Canadian funds if they wish instead of the $25 U.S..  I may wait for cheques to clear before fulfilling orders possibly adding a couple of weeks to the normal 3 week time for mail delivery.  Direct orders should be mailed to:

Reality Engine Computer Games

RR#1, Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia

B0J 2P0

CANADA


Upgrade List

- Variable speed action box reports that players can set. Done for 1.2

- Visual link between current action report box resolution message and the units concerned on the map. Done for 1.2

- One of the beta testers very much desired that the map could be flipped upside down so that you would always be on "your" side of the map.

- Visual link between current unit in list box and unit symbols on map.  Done for ev1.1b

- A little pop-up cursor box that continuously reports current location of mouse cursor over map.  Could be toggled on and off by users. Done for 1.2

- A grid to distinguish locations, could be toggled on and off.  Done for 1.2

- An option to turn display of units off entirely so you could look at just the terrain.

- Labels for the names of villages, forests, and streams.  It would be necessary for the player to be able to toggle this on and off at will. In 1.2 for VP locations only.

- Roads shown.

- On the tactical map the facing, and current formation of units shown by their symbol.

- Some beta testers found getting to the orders menu cumbersome.  An option to go directly to order when the unit was left clicked on, an to show reports when it was right clicked on perhaps?

- Improved method for picking out particular commanders and determining which units are subordinate to them  1.2 addresses this.

- A display (also print out?) of the entire Order of Battle embodied in the game.

- The reports made less text orientated and more graphical in nature.

- A means of tracking which units have currently been given orders.

- Being able to scroll the tactical map around the strategic one.

Feel free to add to the list or indicate which of the upgrades under consideration you consider most desirable.