Napoleons Quotes and Tactis and their Relation to RTW

**The Mad Monk** · December 20, 2008, 02:21 PM

As many you know, Napoleon Bonaparte, conquered a majority of Europe, rising from poverty in Corsica, to the Emperor of Europe. This obviously takes supreme Political, Logistical, and Military proficiency. Our Corsican was even vociferous to Paris, when asking for more troops, supplies or time. Even more so, he denied Paris of many things.

This great man left behind a series of Quotes and adage’s describing his, Napoleon’s, Art of War.

1. Chapter 15. Strategic Concept’s

“Passin on to describe the way in which Napoleon employed ‘principles’ or ‘ingredients’ for the prosecution of War, it must from the outset be understood that his strategical and tactical systems followed no closely ruled pattern. Every operation was unique; no two were ever quite the same. However, the underlying every Campaign and battle were certain fundamental, which were applied according to circumstances. These basic plans are worth of close study by any person wishing to reach an accurate assessment of Napoleons ability as a General.

‘Strategy is the art of making use of Time and Space,’ wrote the Emperor”

-from the Campaigns of Napoleon by David G. Chandler, Pages 161-162

2. Now we shall discuss these ‘principles’ Napoleon applies so effectively. Napoleon had ‘principles’ for Battles and Campaigns. Lets Begin with Battles.

-Napoleon looked at battles and broke them down into three (a, b, and c) stages:

A.The Move into Contact, the positioning of your troops

B.The Clash, the actual stage in which yours and your opponent’s troops are actively engaged in combat.

C.The Pursuit and General Exploitation, when your opponent’s troops flee like startled hamsters, aka routing.

Please note that in this can occur multiple times in a battle, ex. Cavalry Skirmishes, Missile Exchanges, et cetera

-Then there is his Campaign strategy, which is slightly more complicated and broad, consisting of three parts (I, II, III,)

I.An Army must have an objective. It must be clearly defined.

II.The Main enemy army is forever the Primary Objective. Destruction of the Army is complete military victory

III.Create a favorable Battle situation capable of producing decisive results

Once again, Please note that in this can occur multiple times in a battle

3.“I never had a plan of Operations” – Napoleon

Never enter a conflict, whether it is a Campaign or Battle, with a granite strategy that is unalterable. Allow all plans breathing room, change things at a whim, if you get a slap of intuition, follow it! Be ready to alter your formation, especially with Barbarian’s, Thrace, Carthage and Parthia. Flexibility is key. Remember, if something doesn’t work, trial and error! Try it again with a little altercation, move your right flank farther away so it can charge into the rear of your opponent’s troops.

4. Divide and Conquer! Using Locally overwhelming Superiority send troops to occupy a flank of the enemy army and use the rest of your army to crush the second flank then move and crush the other flank.

I f you attack the enemy right off with out dividing then you are at a 1:1 advantage ratio, If your attacked each flank individually you will have a 2:1 advantage over the opponent’s army.

5. “ Missile Weapon’s are now becoming the way in which wars are fought, and won” - Napoleon

Never, Ever underestimate archers and especially not mounted archers! I remember a battle as the Brutii against Macedon. I (Brutii) had assorted troops and 4 Archer units, while the Macedonians had two, TWO, full stacks of Pikeman. I positioned myself on a hill and placed the Archers at the summit of the small mountain, that which shall forever stain history. The Macedonians were obliterated! Those 4 Archers demolished 4000+ Elite Macedonian Units (and 2 enemy Generals) which routed then where cut down like crops with my Equites. VICTORIA! (I took 6 Causalities). For Example Anti-Hellenic Legions are almost 30% Missile Units, My Universal Legion is 1 General, 4 Cavalry, 4 Heavy Infantry, 2 Light Infantry, 4 Velite and 4 Archers. Obviously a Very Heavily ranged force.

6. “There is a moment in engagements when the least maneuver is decisive and gives the victory; It is the one drop of water which makes the vessel run over” – Napoleon

Chain routs are amazing. If one unit routs, all the units surrounding it are almost guaranteed a rout which shall leave that battle group open to overwhelming another section of the battlefield or continue with the penetration and strike the missile units behind. Cavalry charges crush morale, as do Elephant’s. Try to catch the Cavalry with spearmen before the charge. Or else.

7. “Our Emperor has discovered a new way of waging war; he makes us use our legs instead of our bayonets” – A Member of the French Old Guard

Unit positioning is Vital. Always take advantage of the Geography of the area. Charge downhill, attack phalanxes in forests or over rough ground, bottleneck Cavalry at a bridge. Get the Point?

8. “I may lose a battle, but I shall never lose a minute” – Napoleon

Time Management is all essential in RTW, not to mention life. Do this, then that, than this again, it is a recurring lesson in life. Never lose time. It shall never be recycled.

Thank you,

The Mad Monk

**Entropy Judge** · December 20, 2008, 02:47 PM

II.The Main enemy army is forever the Primary Objective. Destruction of the Army is complete military victory

As the AI is capable of raising far more units than a human player of similar size, this particular goal is of little value campaign-wise. One should always prioritize cities over armies.

Never enter a conflict, whether it is a Campaign or Battle, with a granite strategy that is unalterable. Allow all plans breathing room, change things at a whim, if you get a slap of intuition, follow it! Be ready to alter your formation, especially with Barbarian’s, Thrace, Carthage and Parthia. Flexibility is key. Remember, if something doesn’t work, trial and error! Try it again with a little altercation, move your right flank farther away so it can charge into the rear of your opponent’s troops.

Firstly, if something doesn't work, you should be able to, with little effort, figure out what was wrong with the plan or execution to begin with and adjust accordingly. Trial and error should be your last resort.

Secondly, I think there is a typo in your post (bolded). An "altercation" is a fight - something you should be doing already!

I f you attack the enemy right off with out dividing then you are at a 1:1 advantage ratio, If your attacked each flank individually you will have a 2:1 advantage over the opponent’s army.

This ratio (aside from ignoring actual unit ratio) is incorrect due to unit variables: one unit of Berserkers (24), despite being at a 1:5 disadvantage numbers-wise with a Warband (120) inherently possesses a greater than 2:1 advantage even attacking head-on (applying weapons directly to the forehead!). Experience and weapon upgrades, as well as inherent unit values, must be taken into account whenever attempting to create strength ratios between forces.

If one unit routs, all the units surrounding it are almost guaranteed a rout ...

Again, inherent unit values play a large part in this. While the above statement is true against low-morale units like low-tier non-civilized units, higher-tier units and many civilized units possess greater morale and are less likely to rout. Further, one must take into account the cause of the original rout: Simple shock value due to massive loss is less likely to have a worthwhile effect on neighboring units, while a charge by heavy cavalry against an Exhausted unit that is being flanked and within range of a Chant effect moments after the death of the General is extremely likely to create a chain-rout.

Furthermore, as the Battle Difficulty is increased, the Morale of AI units also increases, making routs (and chain routs) more difficult to accomplish.

Time Management is all essential in RTW, not to mention life. Do this, then that, than this again, it is a recurring lesson in life. Never lose time. It shall never be recycled.

Use of the Pause Key in battle is very effective at maintaining battle cohesion as - unlike the AI - a human player is unable to focus on the entire battle at a given point and possesses far inferior micromanagement skills.

Use of Save-scumming, however, is highly discouraged.

**aznflea** · December 21, 2008, 12:12 AM

entropy judge you are being somewhat harsh. 1:1 ratio implies that the opposition army is equal to yours. attacking both flanks with cavalry management is a sure way to increase the 1:1 ratio to up to 19:1 in the sense that with a fixed number of units you can kill a much larger number. most open field battles where the enemy goes all infantry i win without taking over 300 casualties most of the time.
chain routs exist pretty much through whatever mod you play. although they dont all rout instantly it is called chain rout for a reason. they rout one after another in a chain.
i also personally find pausing to help micromanage really weak. being a korean and a starcraft fan i have strong beliefs that strategy games should involve a degree of micro. and truthfully, pausing is a waste of time because time paused is time which could have been passed ordering and upping micro.

and yes, napoleon is a very helpful general. not all his strategies apply to RTW because of the stupid dumbshit AI but against other humans they are very helpful. i find it hard to believe you killed so many macedonian units with 4 archers. theyd run out of ammo by that time wouldnt they? or are you actually telling me that 4 archers killed over 4000 men

**Entropy Judge** · December 21, 2008, 06:09 AM

1:1 ratio implies that the opposition army is equal to yours.

Then where are you going to get the troops to flank/envelope the enemy in one (or more) place without risking being overwhelmed in another?

being a korean and a starcraft fan i have strong beliefs that strategy games should involve a degree of micro.

So do I - unfortunately, I'm an American (also a Starcraft fan) and therefore lack the 9000+ APM (and attendant multitask capability) that Koreans naturally receive. So, my options are either fight with smaller unit size and/or smaller armies in general, or pause the battle to give specific orders and ensure that what I'm planning isn't going to turn around and bite me.

entropy judge you are being somewhat harsh

I'm sorry you feel that way. My post wasn't intended to be antagonistic - truthfully, I was merely bringing up some points that I felt were important to the discussion.

**Pro patria populoque** · December 22, 2008, 06:51 AM

Talking Napoleon - do you think his tactic of:

swarms of voltigeurs (missile units) with massed artillery (onagers and arrows) followed by a column of heavy infantry straight at a thinly held enemy line?

Any good do you think. Obviously flanked by cavalry.

All shouting I imagine Hail Imperator instead of Vive L'Empereur!!!

**The Mad Monk** · December 31, 2008, 10:13 AM

I truely thought this would be more popular...

**captainbloodloss** · December 31, 2008, 01:16 PM

The Romans did use massed infantry attacks supported by missile fire to smash the enemy's center. As early as the Republic the Romans would form their maniples into a large triangle they called the "Boar's head" that was designed to concentrate as much firepower in the form of pila and as much men as possible on the center of the enemy line. Even Hannibal could not resist the central attack of a Roman army at Cannae.

Of course, this was the primary objective of many armies of the time but the key to the Romans' success was the pila they threw. It was a way to thin the enemy ranks at the middle of the enemy line so that the Romans could achieve more easily the strength ratio required to break through. Napoleon achieved the same strength ratio by forming "columns". These were, in reality, units of men much deeper than the customary three ranks and often sent in waves.