James D Burns wrote:Ahem... what if Napoleon wins his Waterloo in game?
I would think/hope there is room to extend the game another 2-3 years to cover an end game that sees the entire world arise in a huge coalition that puts the Battle of Nations OOB to shame to finally defeat Napoleon should he win his first big battle after returning from exile. It would be rather demoralizing to game out 10 years only to see the game end in sudden death victory just because Napoleon wins at Waterloo. I doubt the world would have simply packed up and gone home had such an event occurred historically.
Jim
Fascinating what-if. However some thoughts on that -
- the anti-Napoleon Coalition in 1815 was massive enough to likely submerge the Emperor even if he won; Napoleon had won some stunning victories in 1814 (albeit smaller scale) without changing the basic dynamic
- the British and Prussians would probably not have been knocked out of the war by defeat, especially given the likely Pyrrhic nature that victory would take for Napoleon (loss of irreplaceable veterans)
- in addition to the foreign invaders, Napoleon had another serious revolt emerging in Vendee
- finally, the Emperor's government and armies in 1815 were much brittler due to the political environment (as the defeat at Waterloo showed, all it took was one big loss to tumble him again)
That makes me think an end of 1815 deadline is reasonable. You would need to hit a straight flush of things going near-perfect for Napoleon for him to make it another year. Is it possible? Yes, but it would be a valid design decision to draw the line here.