When I first signed up to do this review, my editor warned me. “It takes a long time to play one of these.” I should have listened, but I did want to give this genre a shot. Commander: Napoleon at War is a turn-based war strategy game set in the time of the Napoleonic wars. Covering the period between 1805 and 1815, the conflict pits Napoleon’s French Forces against the allied coalition of Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia. So what happened to Spain and Portugal? Well, it’s the Grand Campaign that’s being played out here. The Peninsular War can be blasted through in an hour or so, and Waterloo? Pfft. Drop in the bucket.

Riding on the coat-tails of their very well-received Commander: Europe at War, Slitherine Games turned to another great period in war history, Napoleon’s Grand Campaign. The in-game map spans 150 by 72 hexes with United States in the west to Russia in the east, and Scandinavia in the north to northern Africa in the south. Every hex has a terrain type and also can contain a resource or a city. We are looking at the big picture here.

As a rank beginner to these games, the tutorial and manual were godsends. The tutorial outlined the major concepts and user interface, explaining the various icons and game features, so I got up to speed rather quickly despite how daunting the manual looked. The aim of the game is to conquer the other side — by capturing their capitals and other key cities. You have to capture cities to win, by the way. Wholesale destruction of armies won’t do it. How do we do that? By growing armies, improving them and hiring mercenaries — privateers in this case. The economic simulation is simple. Each side has three resources. These are production points, manpower and horses. They are generated each turn and used to create new units. All units require manpower, but only cavalry units need horses, and production points can be spent on scientists to research new technologies.

Apart from growing armies, you can hire privateers that will disrupt your enemy’s supply lines by raiding convoys and stealing resources. Oh, yes — there also are ships. With the naval aspect of Commander: Napoleon at War, You can blockage ports, transport troops and transport supplies with them. You also have to buy your commanders, with your big boys costing and arm and a leg. Which leads me to a niggle. How come France starts with Napoleon and the Coalition has to buy Wellington? Why buy the big boys? Because of the multipliers and leadership bonuses. Much like tabletop games, the higher the leadership rating, the higher the effectiveness of all units within his leadership range.

Scientists can perform research in five different areas: infantry, cavalry, artillery, naval and general, each with three technologies, which can be a completely separate strategic playing field altogether.

The weather and terrain also forces you to plan much further ahead than you’d think you needed to, especially if you turn on the weather option. It’s August, and you are pressing into Russia. Given that turns are monthlong, how long do you continue, or do you make a strategic retreat before the first snows?

Commander: Napoleon at War sacrifices historical accuracy to simplicity and playability. Each hex is about 60 miles across, and land units are corps size (commanders are attached to single units) and have only one troop type. There are no mixing of light companies — the skirmishers — with your heavy infantry supported by cavalry and artillery. Your artillery can fire across three hexes. Not too shabby for 19th century canon! Smooth bore, black powder, muzzle loaders at that! Your supply line is simply making sure you have uninterrupted hexes (non-enemy controlled) all the way back to capitals. The commanders also can be bought and deployed out of historical time and schedule. The game decides what is available.

The game can look quite confusing for the rank beginner (such as I was), but what Commander: Napoleon at War does very well is getting the player into the game with the tutorial. The user interface also helps. Although there are many important areas you’ll need to consider when planning your maneuvers, the most important aspects of your units, the strength and cohesion are clearly displayed on the unit icon on the game map. After you’ve moved all your units, set their attack and ended your turn, the AI takes over and does its thing, and the engagement plays out. After the first time I sat through a turn, I started taking breaks while the computer did its thing, heading back every now and again to check whether it was done.

Once I played a trial scenario, I started playing with the options. There are about eight scenarios you can play, including the Grand Campaign. You can set which side has an advantage and how heavy that advantage is. You can set Advanced Weather, which toggles between large areas and individual hexes, including greater movement penalties. There’s Fog of War which, if toggled on, hides the part of the map that your troops are not aware of, i.e. you can’t see all enemy units all the time nor see their production. You also can turn off the Scenario End Limit to play as long as you like, and finally, there’s Random Science, which could be a sudden unexplained breakthrough or accidental discovery.

Commander: Napoleon at War also can be played in TCP/IP or PBEM mode with a friend who must have the same version/patches. An option for quicker play is available — setting the time allowed to make a move. A further option available as described in the manual, is where the data files are, and the mention that Commander: Napoleon at War is set up to be easily “modded.”

So there we are. Commander: Napoleon at War, a turn-base Military strategy game developed by Slitherine Games, published by Matrix Games. It’s a fun game with plenty of options, balancing historic simulation with convenience and playability. For those not too familiar with the Napoleonic wars, the historical inaccuracies might not matter, but the abstractions taken could drive the nit-picky nuts.