COGEE-A completed game!

[montesaurus]

Just wanted to post that a group of 8 players have finally completed a full game of COGEE! It lasted a total of 4 years, and was played out for the full 276 turns. I would like to compliment the designer of this game for making such a bug free simulation. We played with some house rules which prevented some perceived imbalances to the game! I'm not sure anyone else has ever played this game to completion, other than in testing, but would love to hear about your experiences! In this game Turkey came out #1, Sweden #2, Russia #3, and Prussia was #4.
We started our game in Oct 2012, and finished this Oct 2016. One player had to drop out early(TU) but fortunately a replacement was found for him. Then later when the French player had to drop out the original Turkish player came back in after having resolved his computer issues!

The most pleasurable thing about our game was the determination of our group to finish this game. Too many times in the past when someone is not doing well they just disappear or give some excuse as to why they can't continue. Fortunately our group did not really experience this, and displayed remarkable determination to finish what we had started!

It makes me sad that such a cool game is no longer in favor, but anyone who has ever considered this game should go ahead and give it a shot! If you can ever find enough determined players to start the Grand Campaign game give me a holler and I would consider trying it again! I've played in at least a half dozen games, over the last 6-9 years(been playing so long can't remember when I actually started!) and am still enthralled by how well it plays!

Best Wishes to all Napoleonic enthusiasts!

Monte

[Nimrod 9th]

I'd be interested in hearing a short analysis of the game. What did Turkey and Sweden do so well that gave them a 1 - 2 finish? Or what the major powers not do so well?

I've only played again the AI on the most basic/easiest levels. I too would enjoy a large group PBEM game.

[montesaurus]

Hi Nimrod 9th. Thanks for the question. I can only give you my perspective as the Russian Player. So, here goes from a memory that has to draw back on 4 years of gaming!

As the Russian monarch I wanted to form an early coalition against the French. PR, GB, SW, and TU came on board early in the game, probably within the 1st couple of years, though not all at once. I made a deal early on with the Prussians to allow RU to get control of Poland. AU, as I remember, only was interested in an alliance against FR if he could get control of PO. Myself, I was happy to divide Poland up between AU, SW, PR, and RU, though SW early on indicated he didn't want any part of PO. BUT, I didn't want anyone else to get the Polish army or leaders. Because if AU had decided to team up with FR there would have been no stopping him if he had the Polish army!

Well PR declared war upon PO driving it into the RU camp. AU was livid. Eventually he calmed down when I advised I was going to allow PO to be dissolved and was going to divide Poland amongst us all, which of course no one were to obtain the Polish army and leaders. He agreed, but at that point AU had decided he was going to be in the French camp.(my perspective)..

The game then proceeded to be a series of wars, most involving AU. PR was defeated badly the first couple of wars, and even though territory was returned to it, eventually could not hold on to it's gains and wound up losing more. The last 3-4 years of the game PR stood on the side lines, till the final war.

FR did very well, forming the Confederation of the Rhine, which was the first game that I had ever seen that done! It threw a ton of levies into the French army. I believe FR only lost 2 wars. One early on where he surrendered to preserve the Confederation, a very smart move! The last time was when he was forced into insurrection the turn before the game ended!

In regards to SW and TU they did well as they avoided losing any wars, so preserved their glory!

GB was doing pretty well, till Sp entered the war on the side of FR, about 2/3rd of the way through. SW, GB, and RU were causing considerable discomfort against the FR, so the Spanish were pressured by FR to invade GB. Unfortunately GB lost that war when he crossed a river to attack the SP in southwest England. He lost the battle and was forced into insurrection. With that he lost Malta, and several other provinces he had control of, basically ending his chances of doing real well in the game. At that point I had decided I would dow on SP d/t that episode.

About 4/5ths of the way through the game FR gave me an enforced peace. With this, I then proceeded to sneak a transport with my main army and a corp to SP, after a dow!(the Spanish fleet was out of position to stop me). Both TU, and myself were at war with SP. My army proceeded to Madrid, and TU invaded SP possessions in Italy. I defeated SP in a couple of big battles and with the loss of several of his provinces he was forced into insurrection, and he had to surrender. SP was in second place but this loss put it into 8th place instead. I presently was in 5th place I believe. TU was in the number 2 position behind FR, who was number 1.

After this I went on to defeat AU one last time. With the peace conditions I prevented AU from making any DOW's upon either SW or PR. Plus with my victory AU was unable to dow on RU again in the game d/t enforced peace conditions!

Towards the end of the game TU and GB, and SW were still at war with FR. Most of the British army were locked up POW's in Paris, but his fleet had blockaded the French on the French west coast! d/t that TU was able to start taking FR provinces in North Africa. FR made a big mistake at that point. He moved about 1/5th of his armies to North Africa via a small squadron that wasn't blockaded. Then FR made another error by moving a full army into Sweden, advancing upon Stockholm. Well he did this about the time my enforced peace was about to expire. So, I moved my best army(full of Guards) into Malmo. The French had returned to Malmo on the turn our enforced peace expired. SO, I did a surprise attack and caught that army before it could cross the straits to Zealand. I defeated it soundly, and then pursued it across the straits to Zealand and again across the Straits to Holstein! Catching his army each time and defeating it!

In addition I attacked FR in Northern Europe with 2/1 odd and soundly defeated another army. This put Fr down to -832 on National Morale. Very lucky he didn't surrender that very turn! The next turn I moved to consolidate my armies and moved to be poised to attack Paris on the last turn of the game! While this went on another corp of mine took Modena, the Italian capital, and The Turks took Piedmont. So all the Piedmontese and Italian forces left d/t being conquered! This helped with making it easier to defeat the French by weakening his forces.

The second to last turn of the game, we took a couple more provinces, and then the FR were forced to surrender d/t insurrection. This put FR in last place, and TU moved up to 1st, and SW moved into 2nd. RU then moved into 3rd place d/t defeating Fr and winning lots of glory from winning battles!

One thing I discovered about this game is the big powers don't necessarily do the best, though they do have some advantages! By being small, and avoiding losing any wars, you can do very well! Hope this answered some of your questions, and keep in mind this is only my opinion, amongst 7 others! Plus many details had to be left out d/t it would take me all day to write it up!

Hope this helped answer some of your questions.

[Nimrod 9th]

WOW! Sounds exciting. Even went to down to the final couple turns. Lots of war, peace, war, and armies in strange places. Sounds like it was fun. Thanks for the analysis.

[06 Maestro]

Congratulations on finishing the game. I see this was from last year, but had to comment. I made it over 200 turns once, but never finished a PBEM game.

This was a pretty good game.

[BobDell]

Great report !
I didnt play PBEM this days, but i still play this game a lot alone.. i love it !

Roberto Dell'Agnola
aka
Von Bert