Levée en Masse: Expansion Kit
Levée en Masse: Expansion Kit Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[1.0] Introduction
This expansion kit requires that you own a copy of Levée en Masse. It includes 12 additional Headline cards (two for the Blue Deck, seven for the White Deck, and three for the Red Deck) with red ID numbers, six additional playing pieces and these Rules for more varied game play.
The cards contain additional events that took place during the period of the French Revolution and supplement the game's main storyline.
Important: The game was designed to be challenging and regardless of the selection of cards used, the game should retain a high level of solitaire play difficulty.
[3.0] Setting Up the Game
Simply include the new cards with the old ones of the same "color," and place the six counters aside until they enter play when their corresponding card is revealed.
[5.0] Headline Cards
New Units
Stationary Armies: These have their Battle Values [bracketed] and are placed regardless of the presence of other pieces in their location. They do not move. If they are defeated in battle by a French Military Action (see 7.2 in this Expansion), remove them from the map.
No One Expects the Spanish Intervention: The Spanish Army enters play on Card #19 in the '4' space on the Vendée track (which it shares) and functions like other Armies in the game (see rule 5.1).
While the Spanish Army never seriously threatened Paris historically, there were a number of major battles between Republican forces and those of the King of Spain. The game allows many 'what if's' including the possibility of a successful invasion of France from Spain.
A British Thorn in Your Side: Cards #32 and #47 call for the placement of the British Support marker at a specific location along the Vendée track to assist the counter-revolutionaries in France. Regardless of this marker's current location or status, pick it up and place it as directed when indicated on the card.
Throughout the Wars of the French Revolution and continuing through the Napoleonic Wars, the British War Office supported enemies of the Revolution to aid in England's struggles. This included logistical support to the forces of the Vendée and Spain using French port cities.
The Russian Bear at Your Back: Cards #50 and #52 bring Russian Armies into the game. The Russians under Suvorov arrive in Piedmont on the '4' space of the Piedmont track; while another Russian Army under Korsakov arrive in Brussels on the '2' space of the Austrian track.
The Russians joined the Allied Coalitions to destroy the menace of the Republican revolution in France. The bulk of the Russian Army operated with the Austrians in Northern Italy and successfully drove the French out of Italy, Piedmont, and Savoy. In addition, the Royal Navy transported Russian troops to the Netherlands where they fought in conjunction with both Austrian and British forces.
It is the Best of Units; It is the Worst of Units: Card #44 brings Napoleon himself into the game, placing his marker in the Holding Box.
Military Benefit
At any time during an Action Phase, you may remove Napoleon from the Holding Box (at no Action cost) and assign him to fight (stack with) any single Army unit, where he provides a +1 DRM to Military Actions against that Army while fighting (stacked with) it.
Political Risk
The down side is that, while thus assigned to a campaign, there is also a -1 DRM to all Political Actions as Napoleon's reputation and importance to the State increases! While he is in the Holding Box, Napoleon has no gameplay effect.
Removing Napoleon
If, at the beginning of an Action Phase, the "Little Corporal" is attached to (fighting) an Army in either its '4' or '5' space, you may detach Napoleon from that Army unit (in triumph) and return his marker to the Holding Box (at no Action cost). Napoleon cannot be redeployed until a subsequent turn's Action Phase (because of the long travel time involved).
Historically, Napoleon fought most of his Revolutionary battles in Northern Italy and Egypt. The game allows many 'what if's' including the use of Napoleon to battle armies he historically did not engage. If you want to keep things more 'historical', then you can limit your use of Napoleon to the Piedmont and Austria tracks only. The time is takes to deploy, recall, and then redeploy Napoleon is meant to show the difficulty traveling in this period.
[7.0] Perform Actions
[7.2] Military Action: When more than one unit shares the same track, only the one in the box closest to Paris can be attacked by a Military Action (i.e., you cannot attack the unit "behind it" on that track). If more than one unit occupies that space, you must engage and defeat the one with a bracketed Combat Value before engaging the other unit. If neither stacked unit is bracketed, you choose which to fight. Note that they must always be fought separately!
[9.0] Victory & Defeat
The Victory Conditions remain unchanged regardless of Option, Scenario, or varied Level of Difficulty that you might select (see rule 9.0 in the original Rules booklet).
Defeat (Optional)
[9.1] If, during a Housekeeping Phase while the Blue deck is in play, the Vendée Army is in the Versailles (1) space, King Louis XVI is rescued and the game ends immediately in a Crushing Defeat.
[9.2] If, during a Housekeeping Phase while the White deck is in play, the Austrian Army is in the Arras (1) space, Louis XVIII is installed on the throne of France by Austrian arms and the game ends immediately in a Decisive Defeat.
[10.0] Optional Rules
You may employ any or all of the following Optional Rules in any combination desired:
[10.3] Nothing is Free: While the To the Barricades! rolls remain free Actions, this rule exacts a political price for them.
For each successful To the Barricades! roll, add one (+1) to Monarchy while in the Blue Deck, or to Despotism while in the White or Red Decks.
[10.4] "A Single Battalion Sometimes Decides the Day:" Once per turn, you may "commit your last reserves" and re-roll a Military Action. To do this, flip the targeted Army over and reroll that attack.
Regardless of the outcome, at the end of the Housekeeping Phase, flip that Army back and place a -1 DRM marker in the French Army area. The penalty for committing the last reserves is a -1 DRM for the French Army on the next turn (only).
[10.5] "He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat:" If Paris is in order, you can take the forces maintaining that order and commit them elsewhere in France.
At any time during an Action Phase, you may voluntarily place the Disorder marker in Paris and either:
- Take an additional Military Action that turn to fight any Army in a square (■) space (i.e., inside France itself), OR
- Receive a +1 DRM for a Military Action against any Army in a square (■) space (i.e., inside France itself) after the die is rolled! I.e., it can be used as a "tie breaker" to achieve a victory.
[10.6] Decisive Military Outcomes: The French Army can fight battles that lead to more decisive on-map outcomes. While it is rotated due to the effects of Card #9 (5.5.2), the Prussian Army and Military Actions against it ignore this rule.
[10.6.1] Decisive Victories: Army units have two new status levels: Disorganized (symbolized by rotating them 90 degrees on the map); and Routed (symbolized by rotating them 180 degrees on the map). No Army can ever be worse off than "Routed" (i.e., the effects of additional decisive victories on a Routed Army are ignored).
Enemy Army Recovery: When instructed to Advance a box, a Disorganized Army instead "recovers." That is, it remains in its current box and is rotated 90 degrees back toward its normal status. Thus, a Routed Army is reduced to merely Disorganized, and a Disorganized Army fully recovers when ordered to Advance a box.
A decisive victory is achieved whenever a natural 6 is rolled (regardless of any DRMs that might be applied to it) during a Military Action. In addition to any possible movement of the targeted Army itself, it is also rotated 90 degrees. Furthermore, add one (+1) to the highest marker on the Political track (if two or more Political markers are tied for highest, then this does not apply).
Where Napoleon fights, an automatic decisive victory occurs on a natural roll of 5 or 6, but then one is added (+1) to Despotism instead of the highest track.
Note that an Army in the highest-numbered box on its track can now be pressed by a Military Action. Each victory won against such an Army still does not retreat or remove it from play, but does cause it to be rotated by 90 degrees (i.e., so as to Disorganize and then Rout it).
[10.6.2] Decisive Defeats: While rolling a natural 6 (above) brings a decisive victory, rolling a natural 1 can potentially bring about a decisive defeat!
A decisive defeat occurs whenever a natural 1 is rolled (regardless of any DRMs that might be applied to it) in a Military Action against an Army.
After a decisive defeat occurs, roll a second die; if the result is less than or equal to (≤) the box number that Army occupies, it advances one space to the next lowest-numbered box on its track! If the second roll's result is greater than (>) its current box number, there is no effect (i.e., that decisive defeat did not allow the Army to advance).
Regardless of the above, after a decisive defeat, subtract one (-1) from the highest marker on the Political track (if two or more Political markers are tied for highest, then this does not apply).
The net effect of this rule tends to favor the player as it can significantly slow the advance of the enemies of the French Revolution – however, there is always the possibility that it could allow an Enemy Army to advance faster than it normally would, and that can be very exciting!
[12.0] Scenarios
Below are game set up variations, called "scenarios:"
[12.1] The Extended Game: Simply add the 12 new cards to their respective decks.
By forcing a player to hold out longer and deal with additional armies, the addition of more cards alters the level of difficulty slightly against the player. However, the expansion also gives the player Napoleon and an extra Liberation marker to help in their struggle to preserve Republicanism and the Revolution.
[12.2] Chronological Puree: Normally, the Headline cards can be shuffled within their respective decks to provide some historical 'what-if's.' In this scenario, shuffle all of the cards together into a single large deck and play through them that way. This could lead to some bizarre situations (e.g., Louis XVI attempting to escape from France after he's been executed), but the sequence of advancing Armies, the Political and Social events will mix to make a very different game experience.
For the purist, there is a degree of sequencing that can sometimes put one event before another in a strictly chronological sense but was done to preserve the challenge of the game and keep certain types of events together for thematic purposes.
[12.3] The Historical Game: For students of history, the game and this expansion can be played in chronological order by simply arranging the Headline cards in numerical sequence. This will give you a better sense of the historical narrative.
[13.0] Varying Difficulty
Besides using the above Optional Rules to alter the game's difficulty, the simplest way to adjust the difficulty level of the game is to add or subtract the number of Actions per Headline card. If you cannot seem to win, then add an Action every fifth card played - simply turn the fifth card played at a 45 degree angle in the Current Event pile to keep track. Conversely, if you feel that the game is too easy, subtract one Action point for every fifth card played.
[14.0] Designer's Notes
When I was offered the gift of an expansion kit for Levée en Masse, I jumped at the chance! I had created 66 Headline cards for the original game and so I returned to them to see what gems had been left on the 'cutting room floor.'
As I went over the various events, it struck me that I wanted to do more than add Headline card goodness to the base game – I wanted to add some new historical elements as well. This led to my request for six more counters which was generously granted.
My goal was to bring in some more of the key players of the French Revolutionary Wars without 'breaking' the existing game. In fact, four of the counters were designed to add more historical flavor while creating more headaches for the French Republicans. The Spanish Army, two Russian Armies, and a British War Office Support marker needed some specially crafted rules that would allow them to act as they did during the French Revolution but within the existing map and game mechanics – I hope you are as pleased with the results as I am.
The other two counters bring help to the player in the form of an extra Liberation marker and Napoleon Bonaparte himself! I was particularly excited to bring Napoleon into the game but he comes at a political price – much as he did historically. The additional 12 Headline cards bring the new units into the game and provide more of the narrative of the French Revolution (even an undeclared war with the fledgling United States). I hope this kit adds to your enjoyment of Levée en Masse.