Napoleon Italian Campaign

[Capt Sharpe]

Dear friends, I won this campaign on N/N but had a more difficult time on H/H.
I had a few questions about the campaign. HAS ANYONE BE ABLE TO GET THE PIEDMONTESE FACTION TO JOIN THEM IN THE WAR WITH AUSTRIA?

It seems that they have tons of armies and simply run around their little country. There should be a way to get these guys to help their benefactors, the French, and particularly Napoleon to fight off the Papalcie and the Austrians, or maybe even the Vienees.

Help anyone.

Capt Sharpe
Green Jackets

[Gora sahib]

I just completed this campaign today set on hard (campaign: hard, battles: very hard) and got the achievement for doing so. I pressed hard the whole time, with only rare turns when I wasnt attacking someplace. Even with this hard charging strategy I didnt reach Klagenfurt till the next to last turn, troops haggard from non stop fighting and dying off due to winter - I placed to town under siege, repulsed a counter attack by the Austrians and in the last turn attacked and won by the skin of my teeth.

The long and the short of it is, I barley won ... which is I guess the way it should be when playing hard.

Want to beat this campaign on hard, my advice is to press home the attack at all times. "L'attaque, l'attaque, toujours l'attaque," indeed!

[Scourge of Wellington]

I finished the Italian campaign myself today too and I finsihed on the very last turn of the campaign. I played on H/H and I personally I didn't get hard pressed much but only because the campaign AI was downright stupid almost throughout.

What do I mean by stupid? Well they kept sending "armies" of just 2 units into my territories in the West of Italy every turn. I mean it, every turn 2 more Austrian units pass through Piedmont (after I make them my protectorate) and I end up destroying them with a 10 stack army I keep stationed in Turin... the interesting thing was that they appeared to be from a major army because a few consisted of Fusiliers and then occasionaly an artillery unit or cavalry unti would come by... it was as if they sent their army in pieces to attack me.

And another silly thing was that when I was besieging Klagunfurt and about to attack, the Austrians had three armies of around 10 units each in the vicinity. I only had a full stack and I was sure I was doomed because it was the turn before last, but when I clicked end turn all three armies went away! 2 went into Venetian territories and another went into French-occupied Tyrol... I would have lost if they attacked, but instead they left the path open and I ended up fighting against Armed Citizenry whilst the Austrian professional army was roaming about aimlessly...

Has someone encountered such behaviour?

P.S. Piedmont refused to join in the war against Austria personally as did the other states even though by the end it was friendly towards me. I think the Italian states start off with a too friendly relationship with Austria so that by the end of the short campaign relations with you wouldn't have improved much and those with Austria still remain quite good... I don't know though, I'm but one man with one opinion!

[Gora sahib]

CAI is pretty hit or miss I find in TW. I just finished the Egyptian campaign on H/VH and the CAI was pretty good actually, and it was believable in my Italian campaign. It seems to depend on how you play, and sometimes its pretty smart and realistic, while other times its just idiotic (as you described). Back when I was playing ETW with the Imperial Splendor mod I found the campaign mode much more challenging. This was in part because the battles were much much more difficult with IS mod than vanilla ETW.

I for one am really looking forward to IS mod for NTW.

[Red Hue]

I have played the campaign a couple of times and started a MP campaign.

I think it is pretty useless to waist time on them. They hate you and enjoy just moving units around.

They joined a war vs. the pope who declared war on them but they never moved south. I was left to do it all on my own.

I don't even think they would do a good job defending their cities. I think the pope actually took one city and I had to take it and move south to eliminate him.

Just build the troops you need and go into Austria. They are hopeless!

[kokonut666]

Won it h/h pretty easily at turn 34. Captured Mantua and the treasured 6-in howitzer at turn 20. Replenished easily with plenty of supply depots. Build 2 stacks. Then bribed the Venitian to take the southern road. It was basically a 6 turns free walk to Klaganfurt. A couples of hard battles and then it was over. Don't go north through the Tyrols since you have 2 territories to conquor in unfriendly land with no supply post.

Don't know if you can get Piedmond as ally since it became your protectorate when you capture Turin.

[Capt Sharpe]

Most Respectfully,

I finally won on H/H by October 1797. I pushed hard the entire time. At one point, after taking Parma, the good citizens of Parma revolted under my rule. I pulled all my units out of Parma, and the revolutionaries took the town again. Then they sued for peace and offered $ 520 gold as a bribe. Naturally I took it.
---Cute note that Parma is a rather large suburb of Cleveland Ohio.

I finally got to the mountains with two stacks. The Austians put up a big fight in the mountains and I took many casulties but won. I finally put seige to Klugsfort (?). The Austirans tried to counter attack but they made one huge mistake. I set my lines back farenough and the Austrians fialed to advance. They simly sat in line waiting for my attack. I took my time and used my one howitzer. I decimated at least four full units and sent them to the rear. With 15 minutes of battle time showing on the clock. By this time their units were thinned out and the charged easily took the day. That one howitzer greatly reduced their numbers and they failed to attack which was a big mistake.

Respectully submitted, I remain your most humble servant, Capt Sharpe, Green Jackets