Talk Elections

It is January 1, 1813.

Napoleon’s Grande Armee has just returned to France after a disastrous invasion of, and retreat from, Russia. The Armee initially numbered 650,000 but returned to France with only 22,000 men left. While Napoleon was unable to force Emperor Alexander’s capitulation, much of Russia is left scarred and starving, crippling the great Eastern Empire for the foreseeable future although there have been some whispers of a Russian campaign into Poland in the coming months.

Napoleon’s hold on Iberia is under pressure as well. An Anglo-Lusitanian-Spanish force has liberated Portugal from French control and has made preparations for a larger campaign into Spain, in hopes of restoring the House of Bourbon to the throne.

Tensions between the British and the Americans are at a new high, unseen since the heat of the Revolution. President James Madison ordered an embargo of British goods, which led to a formal declaration of war between the new Republic and the old Empire. An attempted American invasion of Ontario has been repulsed but it remains to be seen how the British will respond.

The world at large stands at a critical crossroads. In Europe it appears that the Old Guard of Napoleon is under attack on several fronts. In North America the American Grand Experiment is in danger of collapsing from what is being called the Second War of the Revolution. Even in South American rumblings of colonial uprisings are beginning to reach courts in Europe.

This is the ultimate tests of The Coalition System.

Basic Rules:
Borrowed, with some amendments, from Lumine

1. Turns: We will follow the BoP/SoD model (also seen in the brilliant Concert/Encore duology) as players play turns of a year (seven days in RL, with mid-turn updates possible at the fourth day), react to ongoing crises and events and post their policies, moves and reactions to what other players do. The Game starts on the first months of 1813 and history is, of course, considered to have gone as it did before that.

2. Messages: Secret messages between the players must include the GM, all of them. Assuming conversations take place off the forum I will insist on receiving some sort of summary of what is being discussed, in order to follow the events in a proper manner. I do not like Discord and will not be taking part in any Discord-based discussions.

4. Historical Events: I will be using a Random Number Generator to determine the outcomes of events. A 100 will indicate a great success, a 50 will indicate a push, and a 0 will indicate a terrible failure. I will not, however, rely solely on the RNG to determine the outcome of events, to account for game trends, disparity in forces, and other factors. Instead, I will determine if the RNG has produced a realistic, or plausible, outcome and then adjust accordingly.  

5. Stats and Warfare: The stats for each player will be focused on "Popularity", "Legitimacy" and "Economic Status", with the special "War Morale" whenever a player nation is facing a conflict. This is one of the first periods with the use of professional, standing armies across Europe. As such, a return to the specific man-power numbers to signify military strength will be in order. Although must nations now have some kind of standing, professional army, they are not equal and that should be taken into account when planning military affairs.

6. Game Over: Game Over can come in a number of ways: Being deposed by another player, being deposed in a coup or revolt, or having your dynasty die out or lack an heir to continue playing. Having your monarch die, even by enemy action, won't be, by itself, a Game Over and the player will retain preference to continue playing said nation should they wish to do so. Potentially, the death of a monarch under a complex succession scenario could trigger a War of Succession and spin off into a new mini-game. In the few democracies, losing an election will also be considered a Game Over and that country will be made available to new players to take over.

7. Players, Nations and Simulation: NPC countries will be simulated as always, but with a twist. While it is my stated objective to answer all player questions within 48 hours (and will request that people post in public should I fail to answer to be reminded), the amount of information I can provide will be very limited, to represent both the limited amount of information reasonably available to the character being played and to avoid giving too much of an advantage to players as GM. Questions such as "What does NPC Nation want in return for this?" or "What would happen if I did X" will either not bring an answer or a very limited one.

Playable Characters:

Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: Prince Regent George of Wales (GoTFan)
United States of America: President James Madison (SawxDem)
Empire of Austria: Emperor Francis I (JacksonHitchcock)
Empire of France: Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (Kingpoleon)
Ottoman Empire: Sultan Mahmud II (Lumine)
Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarve: Prince Regent John (Mycool)
Kingdom of Prussia: King Frederick William III (TrumanJohnson)
Russian Empire: Emperor Alexander (Dereich)
Bonapartist Spain: King Joseph Bonaparte (HenryWallaceVP)
Bourbon Spain: King Ferdinand VII (YPestis)
Kingdom of Sweden: Prince Regent Charles John (KingSaul)
Mexican Rebels: Father Jose Maria Morelos (Gorguf)
Kingdom of Italy: Viceroy Eugene de Beauhamais (Dr_Novella)

Other nations and characters may become available based on need, desire, and the course of the game.

I'll take USA.

Can I have Russian Empire or Kingdom of Sweden,please ?.

Confirming I wish to play as Napoleon.

May I take the UK please?

Id be interested in Austria

Can I play as Prussia?

As King Saul didn’t specify, if he’s willing to pick Sweden I’d ask for Tsar Alexander please.

Granted. Welcome!


Granted, as Sweden. Welcome!


Granted. Welcome!


Granted. Welcome!


Granted. Welcome!


Granted. Welcome!


Granted. Welcome!

Was going to take Prussia but deleted the post, it's about time I changed nations. Are there any other nations/characters available other than the outstanding five on the list? I must admit neither of them seem to appeal to me right away.

I could see opening up William I of the Netherlands, China under the Jianqing Emperor, King Kamehameha I of Hawaii, or really anyone else you could think of. You're a supreme player and would bring a depth of experience and fun to the game.

Why thank you!

I must confess I'm curious about Bonapartist and Bourbon Spain, yet a bit puzzled on how they might work given Joseph's puppet status and Ferdinand's prison in France. Could I ask how you envisioned gameplay for those options?

I viewed Joseph as a natural ally of Napoleon who could operate independently of Napoleon if he so chose. I think it's up to how ever the French and Bonapartist players wanted to play the game out. I also figured that the Napoleon player would have so much on their plate that having the Spanish rule broken out into a seperate player would a) alleviate some stress and b) create more room for a dynamic alternate history.

As for Ferdinand, Napoleon released him from prison at the end of 1813. I envisioned the Bourbon player playing a Ferdinand in prison, for the time being, negotiating with Napoleon (and possibly other forces) and controlling the Bourbon forces (probably under Francisco Javier Castanos) by letter and proxy.

I’d be interested in playing. Although, it would be as a relative novice to this type of RP. That being said, I would be interested in Portugal if that seems like an okay fit.

Granted. Welcome!

Hell, I'm up to the insane challenge, Bonapartist Spain it is!

Count me interested! I'd quite like a swing at Bourbon Spain if possible. I'm sure Lumine and I will find a way to make the Peninsular War even more devastating than irl ;)

Granted. Welcome!


Granted. Welcome!

With the two Spains claimed, we're only missing two players - the Ottomans and the Mexicans. Neither of which I expect to be terribly critical to the game play, but could be VERY fun. I'll keep sign ups open until Monday and it's my hope to have the turn up by Tuesday.

Best of luck with this game DKrol
 I sadly won't be able to play it.

Sad not to have you.

Actually (sorry for being undecided) could I ask for the Ottomans instead? I was reading about Mahmud II and found myself keenly interested on his work.

Sure!

Never played one of these before, but I'd like to try this out. Seeing as they're the last ones left, I'd like to try the Mexicans.

I'll take Bonapartist Spain.

Granted. Welcome!


Granted. Welcome!

Now that we have a full cast, I'll get to work on the first turn. As I said, it's my hope to have it up by the end of the day tomorrow. Until then, if there's still interest from potential new players, please feel free to post characters or nations you'd be interested in playing and I can see if we can work them into the storyline.

Not sure if you need maps, Dkrol, but if there's need for them I did found a Europe (needs work) and a World (generally accurate) Map for possible use:

Those are great, thank you Lumine.

What site do you use to post your maps to in order to be able to embed the photos into your Atlas posts? I used to use Photobucket but they've changed their terms and the free option is no longer an option.

Imgur, actually, works really well.

Please hold off on having an discussions or posting anything until I get the player crises posted, please. I don't want my prompts to be swayed by any PMs or discussions that have taken place.

I'd be down to join as Eugène de Beauharnais and the Kingdom of Italy.

Great! Welcome!

The first turn is officially open for business! The turn will, tentatively, end next week, on Sunday, January 27 at 11:59 PM.

Mexico is rebelling against Spain, not France...

While that is technically correct, everything that I gave been able to find indicates that Napoleon had direct control over affairs in Mexico, despite it technically being under Joseph's command, hence why I made it a French problem rather than a Spanish problem.

I wouldn't want to meddle too much, but I would have to point out all of the Spanish colonies outright refused to recognize Joseph as King and that the Napoleonic Empire never had any influence whatsoever in Mexico - perhaps there's a confusion of sources with Napoleon III's 1860's invasion? -, and indeed the Mexican War of the Independence was historically fought by the Spanish Loyalists, not the French.

This is terribly embarrasing on my part, but I have corrected the error.

Just to make sure I'm read this correctly, I'm rebelling against the Spanish, not the French, correct?

Correct. I, incorrectly, was reading source material on Napoleon III's intervention in Mexico, not the revolution sparked by Miguel Hidalgo.

It should also be noted that there was a whole bunch going on in the other Spanish colonies (except Peru and possibly Uruguay which I believe were entirely loyal) at the time. Argentina, for instance, was technically in revolution (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Revolution), though I think at this point in time the "revolutionary" side still claimed to be fighting for control in the name of Ferdinand VII against the officials appointed by the Spanish regency. I believe Chile and Columbia were in revolt as well, while the Venezuelan revolt had been crushed.

The whole thing was a mess due to everyone claiming right to rule for Ferdinand while he was imprisoned and it being difficult to tell who was really loyal to the crown  and who was just using Ferdinand as an excuse for independence from the mainland. I'd recommend looking into the ideas of Retroversion of Sovereignty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroversion_of_the_sovereignty_to_the_people) and of the  junta systems (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junta_(Spanish_American_Independence)) which were very important to the period. It really is an interesting time for the game's purpose for the game as it seems like almost any result could be possible in the Americas.

Sorry, but I think I'm going to have to drop out due to lack of time.

I am preparing for a trial on Friday so I apologize if I become less and less responsive as the week goes on.

Requesting an extension due to Bonapartist Spain. I just now saw he dropped out.

The turn will end on Tuesday at 7:00 AM.

So everyone has decided to turn against me. Great.

My apologies for my slow start, my vacations started only yesterday afternoon and I was swamped with delivering my final reports. Orders will be sent within two hours.

I’m still awaiting several NPC responses...

Could you please re-send those to me? They must have gotten lost in the deluge of other PMs.

Done and done.

The turn ended at 7 AM this morning. I will accept the orders sent in up to this point, but anything sent at right now will be disregarded.

My sincere thanks! Next turn I'll be far more active and on point.

I still need a response before sending in orders...

You did not submit any specific questions that merited responses. You presented certain NPCs with your opinions for what they should do. There is no guarentee that they would a) take your advice or b) give you advance notice as to what they are planning to do.

Everyone, stop sending PMs. Nothing I received after 6:16 PM will be counted for this turn.

Very well. I don’t understand why I’m being penalized, though. If you could please explain it, I would surely appreciate it.

I don't see how you're being penalized. You sent me two generic comments, suggestions to NPCs, that I did not feel required a response. You're not being punished in any way. The NPCs may follow your suggestion, they may not.

I do promise I am working on the new turn.

No worries. It's Super Bowl Weekend, and we all got our own lives, my dude

So is it fair to say that this game is now over?

Yes. The interest was not there, as the PMs received during the first turn showed me.