Empires in Arms

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Empires in Arms is an out-of-print board game by Harry Rowland, published by the Australian Design Group in 1983. It was licenced to the Avalon Hill Game Company (now a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc.) in 1985. It was nominated for the Charles S. Roberts Award Best Professional Game of the Year at Origins '84. Although currently out of print, a computer-based version has been under development in the last couple of years, by Matrix Games, and it seems now to be finishing development.

[edit] Gameplay

Empires in Arms is a "grand strategy" wargame, focusing on warfare in the Napoleonic era of 1805-1815. Up to seven players can participate, each assuming control of a Great Power (France, United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Spain and Turkey). Variants have been developed that cover other time periods and allow for additional players by elevating a neutral country to a playable power.

NorthWest portion of map (about 25% of total map size) showing early-game moves

Each power has a unique mix of economic and military power. Additionally the properties of the available forces and generals vary widely, with France in general possessing the largest and highest-quality military.

The game covers the major elements of diplomacy and warfare. The full game lasts 132 turns, one turn for each month, playing time can be 100-150 hours or more. Each month is split into 4 (sometimes 5) phases:

The Diplomatic phase where players negotiate deals, forge alliances etc.
The Reinforcement phase where each player in sequence adds reinforcements due.
The Naval phase each player conducts naval moves in sequence.
The Land phase where each player moves and fights with his armies in sequence.
An Economic phase every three months, where players collect resources and purchase future reinforcements.

To win the game each nation needs to amass victory points. These are scored in the economic phase and are based on your nations political status. The political status of a nation is influenced by a number of factors, but mainly by winning or losing wars and battles. Battles are won by a combination of Generals available, the quality of the troops in the armies and a battlefield strategy selected prior to the battle. Troops are divided into elite guards, cavalry, infantry, artillery, militia and feudal troops. The troops have different abilities but differ mainly in their morale. Most battles are won by reducing the opponents morale to zero rather than be destroying all factors in the army. With few exceptions, wars can only be won through a surrender and the appropriate time and condtions of a surrender is one of the key elements of the game.

The nations possessing the most powerful economies and military forces in general also have to amass a higher number of victory points to win.