Bonaparte at Marengo

Steven McDougall 10th October 2013

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Set Up

– Place black marker on Turn Track (6am), red and blue markers on
Morale Track

– Place blocks on board in corresponding boxes to inventory

– French set up units in start-up locales (as per board schematics)

• these are drawn blindly by French player and begin play
inactive (they are unable to move)

– Austrian blocks only enter play as reinforcements

– Blocks within a locale are in Reserve and/or at an Approach

• note that locale capacities cannot be exceeded

– Army Demoralisation:
• an Army loses Morale Points as it suffers combat losses
• Army becomes Demoralised if its Morale reaches 0
– opponent will receive 5 Morale Points at the start of the
next Round if its own Morale is > 0

– French Activation
• the French player may freely activate 1 unit on French Turn 1
• the French player may activate 2 units at the start of each
subsequent French turn if either:
– a French set-up locale has ever been enemy-occupied,
or
– it is 11am or later
• in addition, a French unit automatically becomes active if any
adjacent locale is occupied by Austrians at start of French turn
• active and inactive units should not be mixed (keep separate)
• inactive units are still able to block/retreat from enemy
Manoeuvre Attacks

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1
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Game Play – Series of 16 Rounds, each comprises 2 turns

Austrians take 1st turn each round, followed by French

– Active player receives 5 Morale Points at the start of the Round if his
Army Morale is > 0 and opposing Army is Demoralised

– Austrian player resolves Artillery Bombardments that were declared at

end of his previous turn
• only artillery pieces can bombard and this is always optional
– unit must be at an Approach – not in Reserve
• an artillery piece cannot move or assault this turn if it fired
(except to leave an Approach that becomes newly unopposed due to enemy units
leaving the adjacent locale; move artillery to Reserve)
– a bombardment can be voluntarily cancelled at any time
• turn unit face down again
• unit is free to move

– Austrian player conducts Infantry/Cavalry Assaults

• an Assault is a type of movement, where friendly units attempt
to move across an enemy-occupied Approach
• active player may conduct a maximum of 3 Assaults/Moves
(total: not 3 of each)
• no new Assaults can be started by a Demoralised Army

– Austrian player conducts Movement

• active player may conduct a maximum of 3 Assaults/Moves
(total: not 3 of each)
• a unit cannot move this turn if it assaulted earlier
• a unit cannot move into a locale that was successfully assaulted
by other units this turn
• a unit cannot move across any Approach that was assaulted by
other units this turn (even if that Approach is now clear)

– Austrian player declares future Artillery Bombardments

• only allowed if artillery unit did not fire or assault earlier this
turn (although it may have been moved this turn)
– artillery unit must be at an Approach – not in Reserve
– turn artillery piece face up in situ
– bombardment will be resolved at start of next turn
• turn non-bombarding friendly artillery units face down

– French player repeats turn sequence and this ends the current round
• note: new units may now be/become activated (see Set Up)
• remember that inactive French units can only block or retreat
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2
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Bombardment Procedure

– Select target:
• enemy units in the adjacent Approach must be targeted if
present, otherwise
• enemy units in the locale Reserve are targeted if present,
otherwise
• enemy units in another Approach of the locale are targeted

– Calculate bombardment strength:

• equals strength of artillery piece
– -1 per artillery penalty symbol in the adjacent (i.e. defence)
Approach if enemy target is at that Approach

– Apply losses:
• defender chooses step losses equal to net bombardment strength
from any piece among those targeted
(replace with reduced unit or eliminate if last step – turn unit face up)
• reduce Army Morale for each hit suffered

– Face-up defending unit that suffered losses is now re-hidden

(the bombarding artillery remains face up but will be hidden at end of turn)
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3
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Assault Procedure

– An Assault is an attack that occurs when units attempt to move

across a blocked adjacent Approach
(remember, max of 3 move/assaults per turn total)
• the assaulting force must start in an adjacent Approach
• only one assault per Approach per turn but any number of
pieces can make up the assaulting force
– not all pieces in the Approach have to assault
• attacking force must include at least one piece capable of
leading the attack
– this must be infantry or cavalry unit of strength ≥ 2
– if defence Approach contains a cavalry-obstructed
symbol, then cavalry cannot lead an assault

– Attacker declares lead unit(s)

• attack lead units are declared
– 1 or 2 lead units can be named if defence Approach is
wide. Only 1 lead unit otherwise
– lead units must be either all infantry or all cavalry and
each unit must have strength ≥ 2
– strength of each lead unit must also be > terrain penalty
of defence Approach corresponding to that unit type
– if defence Approach contains a cavalry-obstructed
symbol, then cavalry cannot lead an assault
– turn lead units face-up as they are declared

– Defender declares artillery defence

• only possible if defending force contains an artillery unit that
neither fired nor declared a future bombardment in the previous
turn
• turn artillery unit face up if artillery defence is declared

– Artillery defence resolved

• reduce attacking strength one step for each artillery symbol
– lead pieces take losses first (enemy player’s choice)
– other pieces take losses once all lead pieces have been
eliminated (owner’s choice)
– reduce Army Morale for each hit suffered

– Defender declares lead unit(s)

• defender lead units are declared
– 0, 1 or 2 lead units can be named if defence Approach is
wide. Only 0 or 1 lead unit otherwise
– lead units must be either all infantry or all cavalry
– if defence Approach contains a cavalry-obstructed
symbol, then cavalry cannot lead the defence
– turn lead units face-up as they are declared

4
– Strength of assault calculated
• total strength of all surviving lead attacking units
– -1 per penalty symbol in the defence Approach
matching the attacking lead unit type
– note that the net value may be negative if artillery
defence successfully reduced attack strength
– each attacking unit also suffers a -1 strength penalty if
their Army is currently Demoralised

– Result of assault calculated

• subtract total strength of lead defending units from assault total
– each defending unit suffers a -1 strength penalty if their
Army is currently Demoralised
• if result > 0: attacker wins
• if result ≤ 0: defender wins

– Losses from assault applied

• winner: number of losses = 1
• loser: number of losses = 1 + |final result|
• lead pieces take hits first (enemy player’s choice)
• other pieces take hits once all lead pieces have been eliminated
(owner’s choice)
• reduce Army Morale for each hit suffered

– Cavalry pursuit declared

• possible if winner had non-leading cavalry units in the assault
and loser did not have cavalry as his leading units
• declare and turn pursuing cavalry units face up
– 2 pursuing units can be declared if defence Approach is
wide. Only 1 pursuing unit otherwise
– if defence or attack Approach contains a cavalry-
obstructed symbol, then cavalry cannot pursue

– Strength of pursuit calculated

• total strength of all pursuing cavalry units
– -1 per penalty cavalry symbol in the Approach
of the fleeing pieces

– Losses from pursuit applied

• pursuer: number of losses = 1 (applied to pursuing cavalry)
• pursued: number of losses = final pursuit strength
• reduce Army Morale for each hit suffered

5
 – Winning pieces own locale
• if defender won assault:
– all assaulting attackers return to Reserve in their locale
– defenders remain at the Approach of their locale
• if attacker won assault:
– all defending units in the locale must Retreat (see below)
– attackers advance into the Reserve of the new locale
• a cavalry unit may use Continuation to move to
an Approach where enemy units are in the
adjacent locale (although this will count against the 3-
move/assault limit per turn)
• all pieces involved in the assault are now re-hidden

– Retreat Procedure
• all units are turned face-up and must leave the locale
– artillery units are eliminated
– apply one hit to one infantry unit occupying the Reserve
(owner’s choice)
– apply one hit to one infantry or cavalry unit
occupying each Approach other than the defence
Approach that has just been assaulted (owner’s choice)
– reduce Army Morale for each hit suffered
• all retreated units are moved to the Reserve of adjacent
locale(s) and are hidden again once retreat ends
– not into attack locale
– not across impassable approach
– not into enemy-occupied locale
– not in excess of locale capacity
• units unable to retreat are eliminated
– reduce Army Morale for each strength point lost
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6
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Movement Procedure

– Units are moved in groups (remember, max of 3 move/assaults per turn total)
• a group is a set of one or more units that start and end their
movement in the same place
• each unit moving by a secondary road is considered a separate
group
• any number of units can move “for free” via a primary road
per turn
• locale capacity limits must be honoured at all times
• units can enter an enemy-occupied locale, so long as the
associated entry Approach is free of enemy units and is not
impassable (this is a Manoeuvre Attack)
– if attacking group crosses a defence Approach that
contains a cavalry-obstructed symbol, then force must
include at least one infantry unit

– Movement options:
• units in Reserve can move to an Approach in their locale
– but only if the adjacent locale contains enemy units
– cavalry can do this “for free” via a Continuation move
along a primary road within the locale
– units at an Approach must return to Reserve if the
enemy leave the adjacent locale
• units in Reserve can move to Reserve in an adjacent locale
– but only if Approach of destination locale is enemy-free
– not across an impassable Approach
– this will result in a Manoeuvre Attack if enemy units
are in the destination locale
• if attacking group crosses a defence Approach
that contains a cavalry-obstructed symbol, then
force must include at least one infantry unit
– cavalry can split off and perform Continuation,
blocking an Approach in the destination locale if it is
enemy free
• this counts against move/assault limit
• units in Approach can move to Reserve in their locale
• units in Approach can move to Reserve in an adjacent locale
– but only if Approach of destination locale is enemy-free
– not across an impassable Approach
– this will result in a Manoeuvre Attack if enemy units
are in the destination locale

7
 – Road Movement
• units that start in Reserve can move up to 3 enemy-free locales
along connected roads, ending in Reserve after move
– movement along exclusively primary roads does not
count against move/assault limit
– only cavalry can use road movement to enter an enemy-
occupied locale and perform a Manoeuvre Attack
• this counts against move/assault limit unless via
a primary road
• however, only 3 units can cross any Approach per road per turn
– only one unit can cross as its 1st move
– only one unit can cross as its 2nd move
– only one unit can cross as its 3rd move
– the moves must be made in order (see P5 illustration)
• cavalry can perform Continuation along the road to block an
Approach in the destination locale if enemy free
– this counts against move/assault limit unless via a
primary road

– Reinforcements
• these enter using road movement from reinforcement boxes
– reinforcements can be voluntarily delayed
– 1st unit entering can move 3 locales
– 2nd unit entering can move 2 locales
– 3rd unit entering can move 1 locale
• cannot exceed capacity of entry locale
• cannot enter enemy-occupied entry locale
• Austrians can bring in 1 additional reinforcing unit per turn via
the pontoon bridge using non-road movement
– this counts against move/assault limit

– Manoeuvre Attacks
• occurs when units move into a locale containing enemy units
• defenders may choose to block the attack, if
– attackers started from their Reserve, and
– defenders have units in Reserve of the locale
– defenders must move unit(s) from Reserve to the
blocking Approach
– attackers can return all units to their Reserve or leave all
units blocking the opposite Approach
• or split the group between the Reserve and the
Approach (but this costs an additional command)
• otherwise, defender must Retreat his units
– attackers move into Reserve of destination locale
– any attacking cavalry units moving by road can
continue their movement (and Manoeuvre Attack again)
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8
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Victory Conditions

– Army loses if it is Demoralised (Morale = 0) at the end of Round 16 and the

opposing Army is not

– Otherwise, victory is awarded for control of objective locales

– Austrians win if they have a unit in at least 2 of the 8 starred locales
(but not all the same colour)
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