What the heck is the deal with playing Napoleon's Battles???

Spartan480BC

Howdy!

A little help please.

I just attempted to play one of Napoleon's historical battles for the first time. The historical battle I selected to play was Friedland.

To my astonishment, I discovered that I was allowed to control only a fraction of all the French units on the map. About three out of four French units on the map were locked; therefore I could do nothing to influence what they did. I attempted to fight the battle with the small number of French units I could control, but, within minutes, the large number of French units I couldn't control were ineffectual in responding to Russian attacks and were routed off the field. Minutes later, the small number of French units I could control were overwhelmed by Russian units converging from all over the field and were themselves routed.

What the heck?

What am I missing?

What's the trick for being successful in this game?

Thanks!

Spartan480BC

I have now advanced all the way through the historical Napoleon's battles. I now see that Friedland is the only game in the historical Napoleon's battles series to behave as I described above. So, I'll now venture an answer to my own question: Friedland is intended to be played as a multiplayer game with co-players playing those parts of the French Army over which I have no control, correct?

Spartan480BC

Okay, I'm getting smarter all the time. No it is not a multiplayer battle, and yes, the French player controls only a fraction of the French units on the field which is a totally asinine bit of game design. The French units which the French player does not control are routed off the field within a very few minutes of the game starting and there's not a thing the French player can do about it. Stupid!

Hrusi

Well, apparently you do speak english, so you should be able to understand the intro of the battle. In EVERY SINGLE historic battle, Napoleon tells you exactly what to do. In the battle of Friedland he tells you, that the other armies are directed by different generals, not napoleon. He also tells you that the russians made a grave mistake: underestimating your right flank. IT IS DESIGNED so you have to follow the instructions.

ALL you have to do:
-send your army to the right flank
(-can send your artillery anywhere, personally I put them on some hill)
-overrun the russians with your greater forces
-then turn to the other side (where the other generals have been holding the russians off)
-beat them
-kill the general who's on the other hill
-win

Spartan480BC

Thanks, Hrusi. But I found I had the best success setting up my forces atop the big, bare topped hill that is at the middle of the near side of the playing field. The Russians are too uncoordinated to carry out simultaneous attacks with all their forces on the left and right flanks of the hill. By being quick and agile in how I swing my forces back and forth between the left and right faces of the hill, I can defeat the several successive piecemeal Russian attacks in detail. Eventually, their casualties are so heavy they break and run, leaving me to enjoy a victorious pursuit.