Prussia 1805

[aprezto]

Has anyone managed to win this?

I am really struggling to stop the French from winning on glory. They trounce the Austrians and then the Russians, getting them about 500 glory and then it is just plain sailing to 1000 on political points.
The Austrians usually try and put one into them later, but they still have their many armies and trounce them again.

If I try to attack I usually make some headway but my troops lack for morale, numbers and usually the French will make it a condition of surrender for either the Austrians or the Russians that they attack Prussia.

I have tried to snipe at their depots whittling them down on forage losses but the initiative of the French Generals usually means I get caught sooner or later. Splitting my units out of the armies to further this seems to make him do the same, and I am on a hiding to nothing if it becomes a numbers game.

I can usually accrue about 4-6 units before the glory meter seems to make the conclusion out of my ability to attain, short of making France surrender - which of course means a head to head with the grand armee in French territory (the capital).

I have played this scenario times now with the same conclusion every time - French win on glory?

[Joram]

Yes though on default conditions it can be challenging.  The main thing to do is not to take France on head-on.  You either need to avoid them completely or be very opportunistic in when you declare war on them (i.e. anytime their grand armee is headed somewhere else!).
 
If they declare war on you early as they will often do, you have two options.  Get as many allies on your side immediately, or surrender.  Whatever you do, do not futiley throw your army away.
 
If you have some kind of binding treaty preventing France from attacking you, then your best bet is to beat up on Austria, Sweden and if you're very confident, Russia (especially if they recently lost to France which can happen).  Whatever you do, don't attack a large minor power (namely Denmark) if it enjoys good relations with France as it will just push them into France's sphere of influence.  If you're not sure, at least wait till you have some kind of enforced peace with France so they can't stomp on you if Denmark goes running to them. 
 
If you can win a few wars and avoid being beaten up by France too much, then yes you can win. 
 
If not of that helps, then just about any difficulty level you're comfortable with, if you set France to a -1 power, this helps reduce the 10-ton gorilla down to just a 5-ton gorilla.  It will still beat down on any one nation but I find that setting helps make coalitions much more likely in checking it's power.

[arras]

French are very good at the beginning of standard scenario. So good that any other country can not hope to beat them alone. That is why Britain formed alliance of Austria, Russia and Sweden against France. Unfortunately Swedes and Russians will not do much to help Austrian army and Austria is usually doomed to surrender. Next on the French menu is usually Prussia.

You cant do much in this case so I would recommend to surrender immediately and hope for fair conditions.

At that point France is on its way to get 2000 glory and win the game ...that is why I play with "Highest Glory" win condition. 2000 is too low a limit for France.

To stop France you need allies, so you should start to work on getting some. Your most natural ally is Britain. Send your diplomats to charm Austrians and Russians. If you can not manage to get alliance at last try some forced peace. Swedes are at war with France to so ally them if you can too.

You also need to expand your pitiful army and get economy going. If you can protector some minors or defeat them, do it.

Rest depend largely what French are doing and how well you can coordinate with your allies.

Usually it takes France two defeats to get it on equal to other countries. once this happens, you can start to challenge your ex allies.

Also if you manage to get surrender from France, try to impose conditions which will hurt their military the most. Wait for your allies to impose surrender terms, next turn do yours (that will prevent you from imposing same terms as your allies). Force them to liberate Bavaria, Low Countries and Italy since they all contribute significant forces to their army. You only need to force them to liberate one province of each of them, other provinces belonging to country will be liberated along a way.

[ptan54]

Playing highest glory 23 years is best IMHO. In "glory terms", France in 1807 was off the chart, but it still failed in the end....you have to play the game with a "long term" outlook like the anti-Napoleon forces back then...and highest glory is the only game setting that allows you to play like this.

[aprezto]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. This makes me feel much better. I just could not see how you could win this scenario as it stood and naturally thought I was not stepping up to the plate by making the changes.

[morganbj]

ptan54 does what I do.
 
I've beat the Franch playing as Britain, and Austria very frequently.  Never as the other countries, although I came close as Prussia a few times.  The problem is that once you get a slight lead, everybody hates you.  Sometimes the trick is to stay close in second or thord place until there's not enough time for someone to catch up once you get the lead.  This only works if you can declare war on, and beat, those ahead of you, of course.