Designer: Dan Verssen

The Field Commander series by Dan Verssen is celebrated as one of the big standouts in the world of historical solo war gaming and while admittedly this is a very niche genre of gaming, it’s small community of fans is fiercely vocal, passionate and loyal. This is a series that counts Field Commander Rommel and Field Commander Alexander as two of the most highly regarded of the series, but It is Field Commander: Napoleon that is universally hailed as the best in class by fans and by no small margin.

In these pandemic times while we are stuck in our homes waiting for the vaccine to arrive that will mark the day when we get back to our usual gaming routines, I have spent a great deal of time playing solo board games. While the list of games is long and distinguished, I felt like I was not really branching out beyond games based on World War II and I really wanted to. I decided I wanted a new game in a different era and I have to be entirely honest that I picked the Napoleonic Era almost completely at random. When you do a search for a Napoleonic Era solo game, Field Commander Napoleon is the one google screams at you to try.

With only the most cursory research, I found and bought a copy of Field Commander Napoleon on sale and that is pretty much the entire story. I knew very little about the Napoleonic Era when I bought this game and it would be my first exposure to the Field Commander series. I have to admit however I felt quite comfortable with that because Dan Verssen as a designer and DVG as a publisher has built up a lot of good will with me. After all it was DVG that made B-17 Flying Fortress Leader a permanent fixture in my hobby room, a game I have played more times then I care to admit and if the Field Commander series was even half as good as the Leader series, I had nothing to worry about.

Overview

Final Score: (4.45 out 5) Great Game!

Field Commander: Napoleon is a war game about the entirety of Napoleon’s career on the battlefield, from his early exploits in 1796 in Italy to the 1815 “War of the Seven Coalitions” which produced the infamous Battle of Waterloo.

The game is split up into two separate parts of waging Naploeon’s campaigns, the first a top level strategic game where you move armies on a more grand scale in a bid for dominance in an area control game and the second the more zoomed in level of play where you actually command your troops on individual battlefields in a tactical mini game.

Throughout the game you transition between these two separate but very related sections of play as you attempt to complete the objectives of 11 unique scenarios that are linked together into a campaign which when completed gets you a final score for self judgement and/or bragging rights.

I find solo games to be very hard to review because it’s difficult to know when your experience and expectations of standard multiplayer board games should be applied as a point of comparison to a solo game and when you have to judge it by the unique standards that apply to the solo genre. A solo game is a very intimate experience which lives in your head and your opponent is essentially a sort of AI built from some governing rules which often include a decision process driven by dice. This is certainly true about Field Commander Napoleon and almost entirely foreign ground in standard multiplayer board games.

This rather unusual setup, unless you are already used to playing games like this, is going to feel very much outside of your experience, which is really a round about way of saying that while this is a board game and it has many of the usual bells and whistles of a board game, the experience of playing a solo board game is wildly different from playing a game with an opponent which includes multiplayer games that you play solo.

Field Commander Napoleon is no exception in this regard, but Dan Verssen has made every effort to make this game as strategic and tactical as possible while simultaneously thematic and historically vivid which are the real selling points here. In the end, if I had to give this game a description, I would call it a strategic and tactical puzzle because in a sense, this game presents you with challenging problems to solve in its grand strategy and on its tactical mini game and those problems are solved by coming up with very unique and I would argue very clever ways of exploiting the mechanics.

In a sense the core mechanic of the game is quite simple, but each new scenario presents you with new conditions and rules that change the dynamics of those base mechanics and so with each new scenario you sort of start over and have to rethink and reassess the whole game. What works in one scenario to “beat it”, will fail horrifically in the next.

Components

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Pros:  Feels like a Deluxe edition, great example of good use of tokens, great production value all around.

Cons: It’s pricey.

The sticker price for Field Commander Napoleon is about 100 bucks which is considerable (almost twice as much) if you compare it to the cost of the other Field Commander games like Rommel or Alexander. I got lucky and found it on sale, but it did have me wondering what it was about this particular game in the series in comparison to the others that warranted such a big bump in cost. In my review of B-17 Flying Fortress Leader, another DVG game I also bitched about the price, though I didn’t find it outrageous or anything, but I’m finding more and more that historical war games seem to carry considerably higher cost then any other genre and solo games seem for whatever reason to be the most expensive of them all.

When I cracked this box open, it became immediately apparent why this game is so expensive. The game comes with 7 full color mounted boards for the campaign portion of the scenarios which includes a separate battlefield map for fighting the zoomed in tactical battles. There are also 6 Full very thick counter sheets with beautifully illustrated tokens, various index sheets for campaign tracking and quick reference and of course a full colored rulebook.

This is a very nice production and while pricey, I think it fits the price quite respectfully, in fact it felt like what you were getting here is a deluxe version of a game that might otherwise have a cheaper alternative version.

I always appreciate mounted boards and I’m happy to pay for the privilege, DVG could have cut the games cost and sold this with paper maps and that would have been fine too. Solo games with a paper map is probobly the one time I would say I’m considerably less adamant about high quality mounted board productions. Clearly, DVG felt this game deserved the extra production value and having played quite a bit of this game at this point, I have to agree with them. As you will discover in this review, I adore this game and when a board game is this good, I want that deluxe component treatment. Clearly DVG anticipated this games success and never bothered putting out the “cheaper” version of the game selling it as the Ferrari it is.

I always say that there is a right time to use tokens and a wrong time, every game is different and it really depends on the purpose of the tokens in the game, whether having them facilitates play or hinders it. Historical War Game publishers and designers are notorious for being so adjusted to using tokens for everything they often fail to make this assessment and very often get this wrong.

In the case of Field Commander: Napoleon, the tokens actually have a mechanical purpose in the tactical battles to help represent unit formations, logic in their organization on the campaign map and are easy to distinguish at a glance without having to manipulate them which all works to facilitate gameplay. They are gorgeous of course which helps to sell the theme and general feel of the game, but pretty tokens is not a design decision, its an artistic one and this game was clearly made by a great designer that understands that functionality comes first. Dan nails it here with perfectly designed tokens that serve to make this game better as they are functional, informative and multipurpose.

When it comes to the components here I really have no complaints, its a game on the expensive side, but their is no price gouging on the cost to value so you get what you pay for and what you’re paying for is deluxe.

Theme

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Pros:  Great sense of drama, fantastic connection between mechanics and theme, looks great on the table.

Cons:  This game nails it, no complaints!

When it comes to solo games, the presentation of theme is quite important and I will always tilt the review score towards it. When you play a solo game you are playing alone, you are in your head which means the game your playing needs to inspire your imagination, give you that internal dialogue and story about what the game is trying to convey thematically.

In the case of Field Commander Napoleon you are meant to actually be Napoleon, in fact, if Napoleon (represented as a token in your armies) is ever killed on the battlefield, the game is over and you lost! I love that, it personalizes the game but this is just one very simple way the theme is conveyed. The games thematic presence goes far deeper then that.

The true brevity of the theme actually pours through the gameplay and really the mechanics and theme are so linked that they are almost one and the same. This game does not rely on art, cards, flavor text or other abstract things or displays to tell Napoleon’s story and bring the theme across, it is almost all done exclusively through the decisions you make driven by the games strategic puzzles. Puzzles which in an abstract way are based on historical events, in other words, based on the same problems and decisions that Napoleon himself faced.

Now of course this is done with a light touch in abstract ways as clearly the events of Napoleon’s life on the battlefield undoubtedly came with immense historical detail, a game trying to replicate that would likely be highly complex and what Field Commander Napoleon tries to make out of that is to give you the sensation of the issues Napoleon faced in a more digestible form.

There are three layers in how the game accomplishes this.

First and foremost are the unique scenario challenges. Each scenario presents a number of unique problems assumingly based on historical realities of the times. For example the 1798 “Egyptian Adventure” scenario has you dealing with a “plague” rule which increases the cost to resupply (heal) units. “The Harsh Conditions” rule has you rolling for casualties anytime you move units as part of larger armies and the “No Cannon” rule means you have to win this entire scenario with infantry and Calvary units alone, no Cannons for you!

Naturally its hard to convey the impact of such details in a review in which your understanding of the rules is limited, but suffices to say the impact of these conditions create a very unique problem that requires a completely different approach to resolving it than you might otherwise take to complete the winning conditions of a scenario.

Each scenario takes this approach by infusing it with rules reminiscent of the special historical events of the period and through this the theme shines through. Now if you’re like me where you don’t actually know the history beyond the basics, these things might have less of an impact but their are more abstract associations you will make that really don’t require the history lesson. The Plague and Harsh Conditions rules for example are not that difficult to associate to thematically even if the real history is unknown to you, it’s Egypt (a desert), plagues are always easy to imagine taking place in the1800’s. It’s really not that much of a stretch to give your imagination some fuel to get those important thematic visuals. The designer probobly understands that while anyone who picks this game up is going to be a fan of historical war games and Napoleonic History, its unlikely we are all going to be history professors that will get every reference, so this is sufficiently gamified to allow the theme to shine regardless of how much about the history you actually know.

The second way, which again is a very mechanically driven approach the theme is conveyed is through the tactical battles. This is a kind of a mini grand strategy game and the campaign map, the movement of troops and management of resources are all part of the core game, but really the scenarios key moments are resolved on the battlefield. Hence the tactical battles are are fought whenever your units find themselves on the same spot on the campaign map as the enemy.

When this happens all of the units on the campaign map in that spot are moved to the tactical board, essentially its a bit like zooming into the campaign map to lead the troops personally on the battlefield. Just this act of zooming in on the battle immediately triggers your imagination as you see the game as this grand strategy campaign, but you don’t have to imagine the battles, you are actually going to fight them out, with actual battlefield tactics first hand.

On the tactical view of the game formations matter, position matters and the orders you give your troops matter. This is a round by round, straight up fight where you and your enemy move across the tactical map shooting cannons, forming lines, charging, flanking and all the fun stuff of war (in the game sense, obviously these battles were probobly quite horrific).

Now I will talk about the gameplay and mechanics of this part of the game in the gameplay section in more detail because they are absolutely brilliant, but if we are talking strictly theme, this way of handling combat is just dripping with it. Crazy stuff happens on this tactical battlefield. Sometimes soldiers get routed at the worst moment, sometimes they refuse to follow orders all together, they get caught out of position, or make valiant pushes that force the enemy to turn and run. Its just fantastic, the whole thing! For me, this is one of the most fun mechanics of this or any other solo game I have ever played but I don’t just love it for its mechanical genius but because of what it does for this games thematic presence. It just nails that Napoleonic Era feel with perfection.

The final peg to the Field Commander Napoloeon’s perfect handling of the theme is the time pressure aspect. Every scenario has a pretty harsh time limit in turns in which you must win the scenario (else you lose it by default). You can’t just dilly dally around and wait for that perfect circumstance to execute your master plan. Turns are extremely limited, you have to act and you have to make due with the circumstances you have at any given moment.

This creates drama, tough decisions and forces you to make a lot of high stake gambles. Put together when you successfully pull it off you can’t help but cheer at the table even though you are probobly alone and there is no one there to hear you while simultaneously when you fail, you will be pounding your table with a fist of rage. This very simple application of pressure applied to the game turns brings out tremendous energy, creates this constant tension and makes this entire game extremely hard which is exactly what you want it to be. You want to feel like Napoleon and nothing says Napoleon more then pulling a victory out of thin air when facing impossible odds by making hyper clever plays and gambling like a maniac.

The gambling however is not luck and this is where all three of the pegs of this theme kind of come together into a gorgeous thematic margarita. You know the conditions of the scenario so you are managing the campaign level game to ensure you limit the scenarios drawbacks as much as you can. You make tough, often risky decisions but because you control the tactical battle, you don’t have that “roll a die and hope for the best” battle resolution. You are the one managing your soldiers on the battlefield, giving them orders, setting their positions, making those tactical plays. So when you win a battle, it doesn’t feel like luck is driving your victory or your story, you feel in control and your success and failures are your own and because your under time pressure to get it all done before the clock runs out, the tension and drama of each round is vivid giving the whole thing this very thematic and story rich feeling.

It just comes together beautifully. Field Commander Napoleon is an amazing, thematically rich game and I can totally understand all of those accolades it gets from its fan base, because when it comes to the most important part of a solo game, the theme, F.C.N. sticks the landing like a Olympic champion.

Gameplay

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Pros:  Great use of scenario based rules, fantastic tactical battles that give you a sense of control and perfecting pacing.

Cons: Advanced rules for more experienced players would have been nice, AI can be quirky at times.

While the theme is absolutely vital to a solo game in my opinion, gameplay has to be a close second. Thankfully Dan V. understands this quite well and gives us a game in which I would describe the gameplay as a perfect garnish for the thematic main dish. Even if you don’t agree about my priorities here however, the gameplay isn’t going to disappoint here, it doesn’t play second fiddle to the theme, it is extremely strong on its own with mechanics so smooth you almost wish this game had a multiplayer mode.

In describing this game, its very easy to become fixated about various areas of play and while most parts of the game are very simple, one of the magic tricks that Field Commander Napoleon pulls off is knowing when more detailed mechanics pay off and when less detail helps to make the gameplay quick and snappy. As such I can’t say that any specific mechanic is some sort of revelation, but all of these different levers put together results in a game that just works.

The campaign rules for example that govern your resource management, troupe movement and resupply all work to support the games core in a simple and direct way. You always have a good understanding of the impact of your decisions on the main campaign map and their is zero confusion about how to execute the rules thanks to a crystal clear rulebook. All you are really doing on this map is making high level choices that will setup the second, more critical part of the game, the tactical battles.

The special rules of the scenarios however are what transforms this campaign mode into something much deeper and it’s within these special rules you will find yourself altering how you view this part of the game and how you use its mechanics. There is no one strategy fits all kind of thing happening here, even though without the special scenarios there would very obviously be one.

How you move troops, how you choose to re-enforce your battle lines, how often you save resources as opposed to spending them all, when scouts are important and when they are not. All of these micro decisions are going to be put to the test with each scenario and you will make very different decisions based on it.

If there is anything to complain about its that perhaps the game is too simple on this high level campaign mode. After a few plays, the decisions you make are driven by a kind of experience and informed view of the game as a whole you eventually gain. I think it would have been nice if there were some “advanced” rules that more experienced players could inject into this campaign level game to increase the complexity. It takes a few plays through all the scenarios to get to this point however which is going to give you hours of exciting gameplay making the discovery so it’s a minor complaint if one at all, but I do think its a missed opportunity.

I do understand that in the modernization of game design the mantra is “simple” which translates to approachable and is seen as streamlined and preferable in the eyes of publishers, but this game targets historical war gamers who appreciate some meat on the bone and I think designers have to remember who their game is for.

The AI movements and responses are as you would expect a bit robotic at times and a bit too random at others as dice and charts control them. This can create some wacky results, but typically the AI ends up being hyper aggressive and you can rely on it to charge into your troops to diminish your efforts every round. The time pressure element of this game doesn’t give you the luxury of buying your time, so you have little choice but to be equally aggressive in your pursuits and while the results can vary from game to game in how well the AI ultimately plays, it generally produces challenging and interesting games. Certainly the one thing you can depend on is that the AI will often act in unexpected ways which I think is what you want and strangely sometimes these odd behaviors though they might not pay off on the current turn, in the next two it may turn out that these strange moves give the AI a force advantage in some key area.

The scenarios themselves are definitely not easy, in fact, their are no “introduction” scenarios that give you an easy victory so that you can get your head around the game. The AI immediately crushes you in your first game and I found it took me a solid five or six attempts to win just the first scenario. You do get better at the game rather quickly and while each scenario presents you with a unique challenges that will trip you up, the difficulty of the game kind of levels out and while it remains “difficult”, in time you will build up the skill set needed to successfully complete all 11 scenarios.

In this regard while I can’t complain too much, the game does have that “I finished it” feel to it. While the game is varied and dynamic enough that you can play the full campaign a few times, I think most people will likely shelve the game after a few play throughs. It is a fun experience however that you will think back on fondly and eventually that will drive you to dust it off the shelf to have another go. I seem to cycle games like this into my gaming routinely every few months and I can see this one coming back around. This comment might belong in the replayability and longevity section, but to me this is a product of the really fun gameplay and strong mechanics of the game to such a degree that I think it must be stated here.

The big winner of this game however is the tactical battles which are really the addictive component of this game and the center that makes everything else look much better than any part individually. It reminds me a bit of an old Nintendo game called Genghis Khan in that, your efforts on the campaign map can either give you an edge in the tactical battles if you have done well or make these battles really difficult if your campaign management is lacking. Yet despite this, if you are clever about how you manage tactical battles you can flip the switch and produce victories where you should have been defeated, turning a short coming in the campaign mode into an advantage after a tactical battle. This aspect of the game gives you this amazing sense of control over your destiny and I absolutely love that about F.C.N, in the same way I loved it about that silly Genghis Khan game.

The tactical battles have you making round by round decisions like the formations of your units which can be column or line. You also give units special orders using order tokens that define things like charges, flanks and other more abstract orders that represent advanced preparations and things of that nature. Depending on formations and orders, you sometimes need to make checks to see if your units will actually follow your orders, which is a round about way of creating a sort of system of risk vs. reward in these tactical battles. Then there is the whole concept of timing, some of which you can calculate based on what you do know about the battle and other times you have to adjust things as you go or react to changing events and AI decisions. This is because the AI randomly draws from a cup of special orders and so the behavior of the AI on the battlefield is going to trip you up and have you scrambling during the execution of each round.

Rarely does a tactical battle go exactly according to plan and because tactical battles have a mechanic that randomizes the length of the battle , their can be time pressures you have to deal with here as well which really adds to the games many tough decisions you have to make and unpredictable results you have to contend with that will have you adjusting your overall strategy.

All of this results in some fantastic play elements that are both challenging, fun and thematic. All the things you need a game like this to be.

Replayability and Longevity

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Pros: 11 Scenarios with multiple ways to complete them successful will keep you busy for quite a while.

Cons: Some more meaningful goals beyond top score and some more advanced rules with high difficulty settings would have helped keep this one on the table longer.

Scenario based games have a tendency to get “played out” in the sense that once you have beaten all the scenarios a couple of times, the game sort of runs out of steam. It will definitely take some time to get their with Field Commander: Napoleon, it certainly is not an easy game, but eventually it will land on your shelf and collect some dust.

The question is whether or not you are likely to find the urge to pull it of the shelf for a second or maybe even a third round and I believe the answer is, yes… yes you will. I know I did.

I waited quite a while before writing this review just to see if after beating all 11 scenarios would be as interesting the second time around and not only was it just as much fun, but it actually reminded me of just how great this game really is as I discovered new strategies and alternative ways to beat some of the scenarios.

I of course wish their were more scenarios, advanced rules and perhaps a little bit more meaningful goals then just trying to beat your top score, but the game certainly has plenty of fun filled hours of gameplay that warrant its purchase.

Conclusion

Field Commander: Napoleon has easy to learn rules, a great sense of drama and theme, a subtle but meaningful grand strategy game layered with an absolutely fantastic tactical mini game built in. This is all wrapped up in a deluxe production and while price might be an issue, you certainly get what you pay for.

The short and sweet of it is that this game was a big hit with me, it certainly rivaled my other favorite solo game (B-17 Flying Fortress Leader), so if you like the Napoleonic Era and are stuck in your house playing games alone, Field Commander Napoleon comes highly recommended.