The Italian Campaign 1796 through 1797

A guide to your first French Campaign in Napoleon: Total War

France: Italian Campaign 1796 through 1797

Turn Length: 42 turns Early April 1796 to Late December 1797 inclusive.
(turns are two week periods)

Opponents: Piedmont-Sardinia & Austria

Neutrals: Papal States, Tuscany, Venice, & Lucca

Starting money: 3000

Starting Income: 1153

Starting forces:
1ts Army (Gen. Bonaparte, Heavy Dragoons, 2 6lbs. Foot Artillery, Grenadier, Fusilier, 2 Revolutionary Line Infantry, National Guard)

2nd Army (Gen. Sérurier, Chasseurs á Cheval (light cavalry), 6lber Foot Artillery, Chasseurs (light infantry), 2 Revolutionary Line Infantry, National Guard)

3rd Army [Nice Garrison] (Gen. André, Revolutionary Line Infantry, National Guard)

Starting regions: Alps Maritimes (Nice)

Campaign Objectives: Clear the way to Vienna (capture of Klagenfurt)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recommended Strategy:

Turn 1:
Send 1st Army east to attack 5 Austrian units north west of enemy town of Sovona then move into woods to block enemy approaching on the road running east. Genoa can not be reached and leaving the Austrian Army in your rear will cause you headaches. It should also give you the mission of building a supply post with the reward of a Grenadier unit.

Move 2nd Army north to capture Cunco then build a Supply Post in the town of Mondovi. This may also be a mission on turn 2 but the supply post is more important than waiting for rewards.

Dispatch 3rd Army to reinforce 2nd Army.

Recommended Builds; Barracks in Nice and Supply Post in Mondovi. Start Fusilier in Nice & Militia in Cunco.

Turn 2:
Send 1st Army on toward Genoa. Garrison Mondovi to prevent raids. Supply posts are essential to rebuilding lost troops. Strengthen your economy with buildings.

Turn 3:
Capture Genoa. Build second supply post in region. Build Supply Warehouse in Mondovi.

Turn 4:
You are on your own from here but be bold.

Advice:
Don’t loot captured cities. It will make them much too rebellious. Only loot cities you do not intend on holding.

You won’t need tons of troops to accomplish your mission. Reinforce Bonaparte and Sérurier until they have 16 or 18 quality units each. The rest of your cities should be safe with a unit of Militia or so.

When possible except surrenders.

Review your missions closely. It may be best not to accomplish each one ASAP. Particularly with the capture of Turin you may want another city or two first.

Watch for ambushes in wooded areas. It may be better to take the long way around.

Don’t forget diplomacy and trade agreements. Especially you are going to need and alliance and military access with Venice. Give them what they want for an alliance and if you must purchase military access for a number of turns. (20 would be more than enough by the time you need it) Chances are you won’t get either until you have eliminated Austria west of the Venetian regions but that still leaves you time.

You can fight them and everyone else in Italy but leave that for your next run through the campaign.

Soldats d'attention de la révolution! I am Marshalle Ney, your guide to the Glories of Emperor Napoleon The First and his brilliant campaign strategies in the defeat of the pitiful powers of Europe and the liberation of Italy!

Important things to know about the Italian Campaign

Your first campaign will function mostly around two major Armies (Whom I will refer to either as armies or Army-Groups, depending on my mood at the time) who will be doing most of your fighting for you. Your forces should consist of a few good Artillery units (6 Ibers Cannon works perfectly fine - And I prefer it due to it's higher levels of damage. However, 8 Ibers is good for when you want to do damage to your enemy at a distance), backed up by copious Infantry (Fusilliers of the line are expensive, but much more powerful in all forms of Combat. Revolutionary Guard are cheaper, but have terrible defense against Melee. Militia should only be used to Garrison cities, but in a pinch can be used as excellent cannon fodder for your better troops.) and between three and six Cavalry groups, depending on your taste for Melee combat. Napoleon will obviously lead your first army group, and your second group should probably be led either by Sérurier, or one of your hirable generals (The 4 star one is a good choice.)

By the time you are getting to beating up on the pope (See below), you'll want to hire that 4th general spot, and use him to ferry a 3rd army which has been building up in Mondovi up to your lines. The Third general will making siezing the last bits of territory much simpler.

Sardinia in a can
First off, there is something to be said for not going directly for the throat when forcing your Napoleonic will upon Piedmont-Sardinia. In truth, they will prove to be utterly ineffective allies, serving only to suck up time between turns as their eighty bazillion troops in the field run all over their territory and do a heck of a lot of nothing. If you're willing to take a little extra time (And risk) Going around the capital and picking up a few more pieces of territory will put some production spots a little closer to your lines, while simultaniously upping your cashflow. Although this will take a few turns of effort to swing around, it can make conquering the rest of the provinces a touch easier.

The Art of beating the crap out of austria

In Truth, the italian campaign is little more than a warm-up primer (With a few exceptions, which I will get to in a moment) For more challenging campaigns in both Egypt and Europe. Dont expect things to ever be this easy again.

The Austrians are more or less punching bags once you get some steam rolling. They also seem to be dumb as bags of hammers, falling to rear cavalry charges and heavy artillery barrages like no ones business. Your worst fights will likely come around the time you are swinging up to the last few territories before Venice, and even those (With a properly large force) will not be serious conflicts.

Stupid Pope. Stupid Papal States!

The pope, on the other hand...Has quite a vigorous army. As you come up to the Venitian border, you'll find yourself staring down his Popeness and be faced with the task of taking out his three measly cities for the reward of a fat purse of 8000 Cash - which is quite handy for building a 3rd major armed force somewhere, or putting together a Cavalry reserve. Keep in mind however, that he's going to have one massive stack of an army by the time you get to him - If you intend to swing into him, make sure you bring Nappy and some serious backup in the form of a second full army stack to make sure the job gets done. If you dont do this, though - Eventually that stack will come out to haunt you.

Who the hell is Lucca? And Tuscany?

Tuscany and Lucca are strictly side shows to the main event. You can swing an army down there to sieze the cities for some nice cash bonuses, but niether of them are ever a credible threat to your forces. Tuscany will occaisonally declare war on you, but it's just as easy to just ignore them and get on with the business of conquering your real threats.

Crushing the Venitians - Or, Who needs Diplomacy?

While making peace with Venice is an easy way to swing north through their territories to get at the meaty heart of Austrian territory, You are friggin Napoleon Bonaparte! Diplomacy is for sissies.

Once you get up to their borders, the odds are good Venice will declare war on you (Or they will once you knock the Papal states out of existance.) Make sure you've got your third army group coming up while Napoleon swings back up the contient (Leaving a nice stack of units in the Papal capital, as it makes a ton of cash which will be useful for funding your last push)

Beating Venice is deceptively difficult. THeir border cities will fall like houses of cards, but their "Capital" Will be heavily defended by no less than two major army stacks. This is why three Army groups are nessicary for the last big push, as reinforcing any attacking stacks will be required for victory here. Try to not hazard Napoleon this late in the campaign - You'll need him charging up the map to the final objective and the gloriious victory there. Let someone else take the credit for Liberating venice from thier cruel overlords.

Final Notes

The Italian campaign is a good place to get your feet wet in preperation for more difficult fighting in Egypt and Europe. It's also a solid place to learn how to properly build up your capitals and town buildings to best support your forces and keep the cash flowing. Money will become all important in later campaigns, and you should learn now how to use it to it's greatest effectiveness.

May you find Glory in The Emperor's name! Vive Le Emperor! Vive Napoleon! Vive La France!

It is safe to say that this can be an easy campaign when played on lower difficulty levels, or quite hard if you try to take on all of Italy and complete it on time when you play at the upper levels.

It can definitely add some twists when you replay the campaign.

HAVE Dowload LINK?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fisherking

It is safe to say that this can be an easy campaign when played on lower difficulty levels, or quite hard if you try to take on all of Italy and complete it on time when you play at the upper levels.

It can definitely add some twists when you replay the campaign.

---

Damn it i refuse to play on easy levels but i cannot get into turin on these harder levels but i will persevere lol Italian campaign take 4!!