The following is a turn-by-turn replay of a La Guerre played on December 5, 1998 in Palatine, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. There was a group of six players: Pete Contos & Jeff Schramik of Chicago, Maurice Buttazoni & Joe Gerkhardt of Milwaukee, and Bob Haden & Bill Quoss of Palatine. The game lasted from 9am to 8pm. The bidding for countries ended as follows:

France - Bill/21 gold Austria - Bob/10 gold

Britain - Maurice/21 gold Prussia - Jeff/3 gold

Russia - Pete/10 gold Spain - Joe/0 gold

The replay is from notes kept by Bill (which includes the winter diplomacy discussions engaged in by France). Bob provided some commentary on the diplomatic discussions of the coalition against France.

FRANCE: invades and captures the Italian provinces of Rome and Brindisi, and the German provinces of Baden & Thuringia.

BRITAIN: allies with Ottoman (NPC roll). Invades and captures Bergen (Norway). Moves into and takes Morocco (with Portugese corps).

AUSTRIA: receives the leader Mack and deploys into the western provinces facing French holdings.

PRUSSIA: invades and captures Oldenburg & Mecklenburg.

RUSSIA: invades and captures Goteborg (Sweden) & Alexandria, Egypt.

SPAIN: Forms coalition with Prussia & Austria. No move.

Bill's comments: France negotiated an agreement to ally with Russia to counter what it perceived as an offensive-minded coalition of Austria, Prussia & Spain. No conditions were placed on the agreement with Russia, but France pointed out that if the coalition declares war on France, Russia will have access to Poland as a benefit of the alliance. France and Britain did not seek an alliance with each other. During these discussions, Russia & Britain agreed to divide Africa.

Bob's comments: The plan for a coalition was viewed as a ìdefensiveî measure by Prussia & Austria to guard against a French attack. The inclusion of Spain occured because Spain had requested and declared it. Austria had cautioned its potential allies during discussions that their early alliance might cause France to seek an alliance with Russia or Britain.

Spain rolls and breaks the British NPC alliance with Ottomans.

Prussia rolls and gets NPC alliance with Ottomans.

FRANCE: declares alliance with Russia. Redeploys expecting coalition attack.

BRITAIN: captures rest of Norway (Oslo). Invades and captures Copenhagen & Denmark, while continuing conquest of the western portion of North Africa by taking Algeria.

PRUSSIA: moves Ottoman army into Polish provinces in Prussia & Austria (Thorn, Warsaw & Galicia) to defend against possible Russian operations.

AUSTRIA: continues build-up on western border.

RUSSIA: continues conquering Sweden (Stockholm & Halsingborg) & Egypt (Cairo).

SPAIN: invades and captures Tunisia, blocking further British overland expansion in Africa.

PRUSSIA: no action.

BRITAIN: continues African adventure by taking Tripolitania. Invades and captures Sicily & Majorca.

RUSSIA: Napoleon remarries (so soon!). Continues eastward from Egypt by taking Palestine & Syria.

AUSTRIA: no action.

SPAIN: Declares war on Britain (finally someone declares war!). Castanos moves into Lisbon with 3 corps and attacks/defeats Portuguese corps (newly returned from Africa) & British garrison. Another 5 corps move into Alemtejo and defeat 1 British corps & garrison.

FRANCE: fails to take Naples and still waiting for coalition attack.

AUSTRIA: joins Spanish ally in declaring war on Britain. No other action.

RUSSIA: invades and captures Cyprus & Rhodes.

PRUSSIA: joins Spainish & Austrian allies in declaring war on Britain. Invades and captures Denmark from British garrison.

SPAIN: moves into and captures Morocco from British garrison.

BRITAIN: defeats Spanish fleet in Gibralter zone and blockades remnants in Bailen & Murcia. Invades Murcia and defeats garrison.

FRANCE: Captures Naples.

Bill's comments: France informs Russia that it is built up enough to declare and wage war on the coalition. Russia may decide to join or not as it sees fit.

Bob's comment: Austria & Prussia were not interested in the war declared by Spain against Britain, but joined to preserve the coalition.

Britain breaks the Prussian-Ottoman NPC alliance.

BRITAIN: negotiates peace with Spain. Spain keeps Portugal and Britain agrees to let Spain keep Morocco in exchange for allowing the British to take Tunisia.

SPAIN: no action.

RUSSIA: declares war on Ottoman (Austrian gets Ottoman as Controlled NPC). Invades Constantinople, defeats garrison, and captures Moldavia from garrison.

AUSTRIA: passes.

PRUSSIA: no action.

FRANCE: declares war on Austria. Napoleon with ten corps attacks Mack with six corps in Bavaria. During battle each side reinforces with an additional three corps. Napoleon wins battle.

OTTOMAN: moves five corps into Constantinople and attacks four Russian corps. The isolated Russians (Wallachia was controlled by Ottoman) were wiped out from losses in both the battle and retreat.

OTTOMAN: no action.

FRANCE: Napoleon with twelve corps moves into Tyrol and wins battle against five Austrian corps and then captures Venezia from Austrian garrison. One French corps captures Prague from garrison.

RUSSIA: makes peace with Ottoman and joins France by declaring war on the coalition. Moves into and captures Polish portions of Prussia and Austria (Thorn, Warsaw & Galicia) and captures Posen in Prussia.

BRITAIN: Invades and defeats Prussian garrisons in Denmark, Mecklenburg & Oldenburg.

COALITION (Prussia & Austria): Offer of peace to France & Russia is rejected. Blucher moves 9 corps into Posen against Barclay's 4 corps. Barclay avoids battle by withdrawing into Thorn to join Kutusov. Blucher moves with 9 corps into Thorn to battle Kutusov with 11 corps (including Barclay). Russians win battle and Prussians withdraw to Berlin. Austrians move into Tyrol & Prague and defeat the French garrisons. Austrians move 1 corps into Bavaria and lose a battle to 1 French corps. Charles moves 9 corps into Venice and defeats 4 French corps.

SPAIN: rejoins coalition and declares war on France. Castanos with 4 corps moves into Gascony against 1 Naples corp. The Naples corp avoids battle by withdrawing into Languedoc to join 1 French corps. Castanos defeats the garrison in Gascony. Spain also invades Rome and defeats French garrison.

Note: Prussian player withdrew from game at this point (about 6pm). Since Prussia was allied with Austria all along, the Austrian player was given Prussia as an NPC ally.

SPAIN: Castanos with 4 corps moves into Languedoc and wins battle against 1 French & 1 Naples corps. 2 Spanish corps move into Piedmont from Rome, and take it from French garrison.

FRANCE: 4 French corps move into and take Piedmont from 2 Spanish corps. Napoleon with 7 corps captures Venezia from 1 Austrian corps, then captures Tyrol from 1 Austrian corps.

AUSTRIA: moves Prussian NPC Blucher with 5 corps into Galicia against Barclay with 3 corps. Barclay avoids battle and withdraws into Bialystock. Blucher moves on to Warsaw. Charles moves and picks up Mack along the way to form an army of 12 corps and enters Tyrol against Napoleon with 7 corps. Napoleon avoids battle by withdrawing into Venezia. Charles continues to move with 12 corps into Bavaria and wins a battle against 3 French corps.

Russian: moves with single corps into and defeats garrisons in Galicia, Bukovina & Hungary. Invades Berlin with 1 corps after Britain loses naval battle to intercept. Kutusov rolls through central Prussia (Posen & Pomerania) and cuts off Blucher with Prussian army in Warsaw.

BRITAIN: Declares war on Russia, invades and defeats Russian garrisons in Halsingborg (Sweden) & St Petersburg.

The game was halted at this point and the group adjorned for the evening to a local restaurant. The tallys were:

# of VPsStarting % of VP's Endin% of VP's VP %

to Win VP's to Win: VP's: to Win Gain

France - 450 79 18 206 46 +28

Britain - 330 79 24 167 51 +27

Russia - 320 90 28 166 52 +24

Austria - 300 90 30 141 47 +17

Prussia - 220 97 44 119 54 +10

Spain - 175 100 57 132 75 +18

No winner was declared, but it was clear that Spain was well on its way to victory and probably about to ìdraw attentionî (interpretation: "a pummeling") from the others. All players agreed that La Guerre is a fun and interesting game, especially in the diplomatic interplay it generates among the players. For that reason, it is highly recommended that it be played by seven players if possible. The less the NPC's that are in play ... the better the simulation of the relationships that develop between nations and ... the more the fun!

Of particular note was a prior playing about one month earlier on November 7th. Four members of the group (Bill, Bob, Joe & Maurice) got together to play their first multi-player LaGuerre. The play itself was not noteworthy, being the first time and only four players, but the evening meal afterwards is worth mentioning. Bill's wife, Karen, prepared a meal that featured some of the Emperor's favorite campaign menu items: Chicken Marengo, Potatoes Fried with Onions and a bottle of Chambertin (a great burgundy). Karen complimented these selections with a warm goat cheese & pear salad and topped it all off for dessert with a Tarte Tatin aus Poires (pear tart). It was a memorable meal to say the least.

The inspiration for this meal began with an article by Leona Lochet in the magazine Empires, Eagles & Lions. The article described, among other things, Napoleon's favorite wine—Chambertin. So when Bill & Karen vacationed for the first time in Paris during October, Bill had two major objectives: spend lots of time at Les Invalides (as much time as Karen would permit) and find a bottle of Chambertin. The two articles by Leona Lochet that were selected were:

"Napoleon's Table and Wine;" Empires, Eagles & Lions, Issue #1, July-Aug 1993.

"A New Look at the Casualties at Marengo: The Chicken;" Empires, Eagles & Lions, Issue #2, Sept-Oct 1993.

Finally, the "potatoes fried with onions" came from David Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon. On the eve of the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon dined with his officers on a meal of potatoes fried with onions—his favorite campaign dish.

Good Gaming and Bon Appetit!