Napoleon: Total War – Italian Campaign Diary
The mountains loom over the terrain.
Grey rocky slopes, newly green with the grass of spring.
The land is always watching.
A massive explosion reverberates around the stone, carrying from valley to valley. Then another. And another.
Huge chunks of rock rain from the slopes as the mountains themselves are shaken by cannon fire.
Dust and smoke drift through the pass carrying with it the screams of the dead and dying.
In the fading light of the day the dust brings with it silhouettes, shadows of men carrying one another, tripping and falling; dragging comrades to the safety of the valley.
The bloody mess of a man emerges from the dust, his face caked in grime. Thick crimson streaks scar his face; some of it is his own blood. A bandage has been haphazardly applied to his forehead; already it is crimson from his wounds.
His uniform is tattered and torn, his feet bare. He wears the blue and white colours of France but there is neither pride nor bravery in his expression. With a great effort he lifts himself and his rifle over a pile of rock and slides down the short, gentle slope the other side.
He comes to a rest and lets his rifle fall by his side. Others soon join him.
He closes his eyes and succumbs to exhaustion. His thoughts lead to home, to his village in the west. Would that he were there, not here. Anywhere but here.
Here is the northernmost tip of Italy, the land that bore the Roman Empire forth to crush the barbarians, the land that saw the armies of Caesar tame the world.
Here is the now forgotten war.
Looking to his left he sees a group of men huddled, trying to start a fire amidst the ash of the ground and the sparse vegetation of the Italian spring.
They can’t get the kindling to light and night is approaching. They look emaciated.
He has been here for too long. Fighting the enemies of the revolution, fighting for the ‘glory’ of France. And nobody in France even notices, nobody even cares. The war in Germany consumes the militaries resources and the nation’s attention. They are the forgotten few. The broken band that is the Armee d’Italie.
Another defeat like today’s at the hands of the joint Austrian-Piedmont force and this campaign will have no men left to fight it.
He hates the Austrians enough to know he will die here. To know he will die fighting them. The old order of France has been swept away and Europe’s kings, emperors and aristocrats fear it. They fear the great revolution that equalises all men and gives title to none other than those who earn it.
He had thought to earn his here.
To fight and win glory for the new world that France will create.
But looking now he is unsure. They have barely any men, and their commanders are no better than the aristocratic generals of old. Leading them into seemingly senseless blunders day after day. They simply hold. They go no further and retreat not a foot. They are content to die here.
Amongst these damned mountains.
There is a spark and he sees the men to his left smile as the first lick of flame begins their small fire.
Today sees the arrival of a new General, yet another erstwhile commander from Paris. A nobody who has nothing of himself, either in personal stature or indeed in renown.
“I heard he stopped the royalist revolts in the south.” Whispers one soldier as he warms his hands over the growing fire.
“Stories. He will arrive, do little, say much and abandon us.” Remarks another, cynically.
His hands are blackened from soot and grit as he extends them, palms out, to the fire.
“He doesn’t look like much of a soldier.” Sighs the first figure.
The fire pops loudly and sends an ember into the sky.
With that he turns from the group and looks to the tents that house the officers. They too are torn and in poor repair.
With effort he pulls himself to his feet, resting on his rifle to do so. He must command his small unit, what remains of it, and he needs information on the supply situation. If they cannot eat, they cannot fight.
He barely registers the pain in his feet as he steps over razor like stones and rocks. Walking in the fading light to the closest tent. Ready for more bad news and ill received words.
He coughs politely, then enters.
Before him is a man, short in stature, with his back to the entrance. He pours over a map of the position, identifying the Austrian cannon positions and asking questions of his officers.
He recognises Massena, much famed for his victory at Loano. He knows also Pierre Augereau. The officer peasant.
He stands straight as Augereau slams his fist onto the table and remarks in characteristically blunt terms that the situation here is dire.
Finally the remaining figure turns to face him.
He is momentarily lost for words. He is struck by some quiet confidence, by some, power.
There is something about him.
He stammers…“General, the men are injured, tired and unfed. We must withdraw to more fertile ground and find provision.”
The General regards him for a moment. A youthful, soft face with piercing eyes. Dark hair swept over his brow.
He feels like the man is looking into him, like he is somehow reading the fear and failure he portends.
“Stand straight.”
“I will see to it you are fed. And I will see to it we crush the Piedmont Austrian alliance on these very slopes.”
This young upstart from Paris looks at him flatly as he delivers the words.
It is at that moment that he realises. This General really believes he can do it. He honestly believes he can drive the mighty Austrian army from the very doorstep of southern France.
He feels something he hasn’t in a long time. Hope.
This man can do it. This man can actually change things here.
“Go and tell your men to be ready to assemble, for I will inspect the army, I will feed it, and then we will engage our enemies and defeat them utterly.”
The General turns back toward the map, ready to move the first of his armies against the first of his nation’s foes.
History is about to be written.
“You will not die here soldier. You will be born here.”
The officer takes a step back, regarding the generals back as he does so.
“I am General Napoleon Bonaparte. And I will lead you.”
The war for Italy has begun.
From what I have seen already (screenshots etc) this is not Napleonic war in Italy, Egypt or anywhere else. It is the tried and true Total War system which provides for armies of, tops, 2000-3000 men under a single command – all the spaces in the army list filled. This is far short of the minimum size of armies in the Napoleonic wars. Perhaps if you had cut out the saw mills and other peripherals, provided a reinforcement/replacement system and remodelled the army and AI to boost army size it might have been worthy of the name Napoleonic. I suspect that is far too much work; much easier to stick Nap’s name on an upgraded ETW.
Posted by Robert Low on January 22nd, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Hello,
Very well written. I hope the campaign is as good as the description. Let’s hope we get an Egyptian one next !
Posted by Montcalm on January 22nd, 2010 at 9:29 pm
amazing. truly amazing. makes me want the game to come out even more
Posted by austin on January 22nd, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Lovely im just imagining my wife arguing with me for the late hours im gone lose with NTW !
Posted by oOIYvYIOo on January 23rd, 2010 at 4:40 am
please include narratives about his self loathing, insecurities and failings as well.
Posted by janneson on January 23rd, 2010 at 5:30 am
I have been waiting for a good Napoleonic game for a long time. I would like to have the series go to the first world war. There was an old game called Age of Rifles>
Rome needs to be updated. I will not play it any more. The graphics are poor compared to todays
Keep up the good work
Posted by anthony n panzica on January 24th, 2010 at 5:13 am
nice work.. sounds good and is well written… can’t wait for Napolion TW. sounds like it should be an awsome gaming experience 😀
Posted by Andrew McCall on January 24th, 2010 at 10:30 am
Cool,
anyway, what date does napoleon actually come out some people say 10th feb and others 23rd does this refer to retail and steam respectively or what?
Posted by oogaboga on January 25th, 2010 at 5:58 am
can u make any total war games based during the period of renaissance??? Also in the previous medieval tw games u left out some important factions like Inca empire,China,Mughal empire,Vijaynagar etc. Can u add them in any future total war series???
Posted by amit sengupta on January 26th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Yeah!! I just can’ t wait to get my hands on this sequel. I can’ t speak for all my countrymen (The Netherlands), but I am counting off the days until I can buy it. ETW is, after all the updates, a fantastic game, wich I play over and over.
With those postings, like this diary, the game becomes alive. History will be rewritten on my PC…..
Posted by Edwin Bouw on January 27th, 2010 at 8:55 am
‘Dust and smoke drift through the pass carrying with it the screams of the dead and dying.’
How do dead men scream?
Posted by Bedders on January 27th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
…And AI charged enemy with his artillery crews, followed by line infantry, which stunned enemy by reforming into square withing 5 meters of enemy formation.
– Fall back! – they shouted. – General this mad should have some kind of fiendish trick and we are doomed!
And so they ran..and saved 80% of all troops because AI of pursuing cavalry can’t handle scattered troops.
The end.
Posted by Austin on January 28th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
wow, im really going to buy this just to get a few new uniforms and wow the greatest general of the day NAPOLEON!!!!!!!!!!!!, yeah he is going to be so hard to be with ur broken battle ai, and tell me why this game isnt an expansion.
Posted by fail on January 30th, 2010 at 7:38 am
French soldiers didn’t have rifles Napoleon prefered muskets for their fast loading.
Posted by Andy Holcroft on February 2nd, 2010 at 7:35 pm
After knowing the list of historical battles, both of us think that you guys shouldn’t have excluded the battle of Marengo because it’s one of the most important battles of the napoleonic era. Because it made him legend. We know, since the realese date is coming up and you don’t have time to change this.
Kind Regards:
Teodoro and Pedro, Portugal
Posted by Teodoro and Pedro on February 4th, 2010 at 10:35 am
The Multiplayer game needs to be changed . I play World in Conflict allot and like that you can dip in and out of a game without ending the game knowing someone will be taking over. I hope Total War will try to do the same as World in Conflict (WIC) and have a Multiplayer game that as flexible and enjoyable as WIC Multiplayer. Currently Total War Multiplayer is generally frustrating with folk leaving when loosing and having to wait for folks to join.
As for the Campaign Multiplayer I think would be better to have a dedicated server with one realtime game with players taking up roles as Leader doing all the strategy and other players being his general/admiral marching off the war with orders to attack of defend. A Hot Seat Multiplayer is the way forward to fit in with busy lives.
Posted by Grumpy on February 8th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
ITS GREAT THAT FINALLY THERE WILL BE CAMPAIGN MULTIPLAYER. HOW EVER IM AFRAID THAT WITH THE GAME BEING STEAM ENABLED I WILL HAVE TO HAVE MULTIPLE CD’S. DOES ANY ONE KNOW IF THE GAME CAN BE RUN ON MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER WITH JUST ONE CD. IM SURE IT WOULD NOT WORK ONLINE BUT MAYBE A LAN??? LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE AN ANSWER TO MY ?.
Posted by David Brosnan on February 10th, 2010 at 1:12 am
um I havent read every thing on this game but I would like to know if this will use steam? Because after i bought a new video card and every thing i could not run Rmpire because of an error in steam so i had to spend another 100 bucks to get that error fixed and then my game started crashing because of steam so bcz the computer guys had not go it working perfectly they gave me a discount on fixing the crashing but i spent like 500 dolloars on just getting empire to work(not including buying it 1 month after it came out)
Posted by Brett on February 11th, 2010 at 2:36 am
fuori…fuori…fuori….ma quando esce?
Posted by Massena on February 11th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Salve a tutta la comuniti, ho dei gran disaggi con ROME TOTAL W…., il gioco comprato in originale nel più bella di una campagna mi si bocca e si chiude il gioco, non facendomi finire la campagna, capirete l’incazzatura dove può arrivare se nel più bello il gioco ti lascia! come devo fare per risolvere l’inconveniente? Ho provato innumerevoli volte a reistallarlo ma il risultato non cambia. Help my!!!!
In oltre mi domando se a Salerno posso comprare i giochi total war e dove.
saluti a tutti
Posted by Amerigo on February 11th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
sigh why would a man of the french or austrian army let his rifle fall by the side of him? he wouldnt even have a musket :/…………
Posted by simon harris on February 16th, 2010 at 12:53 am
but i say overall i look forwards to playing this game expecialy if its graphics are any better than empires:)
Posted by simon harris on February 16th, 2010 at 12:54 am
For people saying to upgrade rome, did Civs get updated when 4 came out? Did COD 1,2,3 get upgraded when 4,5,6 came out? I don’t know a single series of games that get updated every time one comes out. Developers have to make new games, not spend their time on old ones. The whole point of a game series is that it keeps getting better with each title. Not that every few years every game in the series gets better. Also, to address the guy who said NTW will not be Napoleonic, any Total War player should know a strategy game cannot have the scale of real life. In Rome and Medieval we didn’t see Caesar’s immense armies, or legions of conquistadores consisting of 2000 men per battalion. In a 2005 video game nobody expected anything close to 1000 men in an army. Moving forward, the Total War team has the choice to increase army sizes with roughly the same graphics as in 2005, or increase detail to make you feel immersed in the game, maybe with a few more men than before. Doing both would require all customers to buy $3000 computers. Personally I would rather great animations than more men with cheesy-looking animations. Anyone expecting better graphics with Napoleon size armies should wait 50 years. Maybe there will be games like that then. Until that time, I am content with Napoleon, which looks like it will be amazing.
Posted by John Croxton on February 17th, 2010 at 1:38 am
So Does it come out 26/2/10 for UK or 19/2/10???
Posted by MRMJ on February 17th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
#12 is so true! haha
You should write battle reports.
Posted by Ric on February 18th, 2010 at 3:59 am
When will the Game Get Realesed?
Posted by MRMJ on February 19th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Great descriptive writing, I especially loved the inital part with the description of the man emerging from the battle. Solid work!
Posted by James on February 20th, 2010 at 8:11 am
On empire Total war you should add instead of grassy flatlands add snowy flat lands too.
Posted by Sean on February 20th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
I have bought every product Total War has marketed. Steam is a disaster. They are incapeable of servicing the product. I have an Empire game I can’t use. If Napoleon can’t be bought without Steam you lose me.
Posted by Richard Darby on February 22nd, 2010 at 6:57 pm
I cant wait till it comes out plus im on olympic break and can play till break is over.
Posted by joseph on February 23rd, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Sounds awesome, but not historically accurate, a frenchman wouldnt not have had a rifle, they were fairly new and the french were not armed with them, and the were only used by armies widely in Peninsular Wars by European countries, but Napoleon efused to armed his skirmishers with them, so every frenchman was armed with a MUSKET not a rifle
Posted by Josh on February 24th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Also, he appears to be an officer if he commands men, so he wouldnt have a long arm (musket or rifle) only a sword and maybe a pistol
Posted by Josh on February 24th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
STEAM is the worst system requirment ive ever encountered, why is this forced upon us? make it an option, or better yet, get rid of it.
Posted by hosa on February 24th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Thank you Creative for letting us play in your world. Great work on NTW! It is so much fun and is a worthy follow up to ETW. Thanks for all your work and ignor the nay sayers; they need to go and make their own game.
Posted by Dan on February 25th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
What a bunch of whingers you do attract! Total War is generally fantastic, I’m really enjoying the Napoleon instalment and looking forward to the American Civil War (nudge, nudge). I do wish, however, that I had bought the game in-store rather than online from Steam. For the same price, I would have far more extras than the Scots Greys. Oh, well. Will I be able to buy those extras separately? I’m thinking: yes.
Posted by Tony on March 2nd, 2010 at 4:29 am
i have got napoleon total war and like it. but it wontt let me play the italy campainand europe campaings. any help?
Posted by ieuan on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:46 pm
My Vista based machine will not load all campaigns through Steam (so far have not been able to get it to run the Italian Campaign).
Posted by pat on March 4th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
I can’t complain about Steam: I live in Cambodia and do not have the option to purchase in a store. Everything works fine for me so far (except that I just got my butt kicked, but what else is new?)
Posted by Hanno on March 5th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Had the game a week now. On the whole happy. The only down side is that the French AI seems very passive with me as the British. Which is a point that seems still to be neglected as with E:TW. As an old timer I look back to the good old days of Waterloo by Peter Turcan (1990) on the Amiga: Very tough AI, terrible graphics, and historical accurate.
It’s obvious where the time and energy goes nowadays, which is graphics. The AI always comes at the back of the queue. This is the case with all games nowadays and Multiplayer is there to compensate for the lack of a decent AI. Which is a great shame.
Loved the ‘historical battles’ except you wouldn’t learn much about the historical battle that took place. As I wrote earlier I played Waterloo 20 years ago and the N:TW version is a sad. Only a artist impression of the battle which is a crying same. So please please CA can you change the way you do historical battles especially large scale ones. In my view the next product should be Waterloo. I understand that you currently have only 20 units to deploy so what you do is what Sid Meier did in Gettysburg. Which is split the battle in to set pieces, like a sub battle for Hougoumont and other set piece critical clashes during the day. Using scale of one to one and could be a real epic fight. The actual battle lasted 11 hours not an hour as with N:TW,
Also please don’t take Total War past the Victorian Age. For me TW is all about the hand to hand combat. There are loads of games covering the 20th Century please look else where. Even concentrate just one or two epic battles in History. If you go on to the American Civil War , please, please , be better than Sid Meier’s Gettyburg otherwise I will cry. N:TW v Waterloo by Peter Turcan, sorry it’s even.
Please while I’m here have more hand to fighting, with boarding ships the only way to take a ship. Plus some way of controlling the battle once boarded instead of crossing figures at present.
Posted by Grumpy on March 9th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
This is a good representation of his presence in italy. there is a very famous quote from one of his first lower officers in italy. when he first arived he made his presence known and then the officer said” I don’t know why, but the little b****** scares me”.
Also PBS did a very long, but amazing documentary on napoleon. It is posted in over four hours of videos on youtube.
Posted by james Martin on March 13th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I have onlu just bought this and after problems with Steam not down laoding to folders once this was solved (by deleting folders and starting all over again, I must say i am impressed by the game.
I have onlly so far tried one battle scenario and when the french were controlled by AI why did they not attck in ‘column’ as they tended to do right up to Waterloo. \\ca the game not make tactics historically accurate?
Posted by Murray1865 on March 16th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
The italian campaign is detailed!
Posted by Swedensghost on March 22nd, 2010 at 9:10 pm
well said story, I cant wait to play Napoleon Total War now..I have ordered it from several days ago but still hasnt come yet
Posted by andrew on March 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 am
Have you seen de game ‘napoleonic war’? it looks NTW, but the graphics ar very bad, can anybody me tell wat that is?
I may bought de game over a few days of my parents! (i’m a child, en maybey is my enlish not to well, because i am 11 years old en from Holland, that lays in Europe)
Posted by Ringo on April 4th, 2010 at 7:55 am
How do you join the game.
Posted by Griffin on April 10th, 2010 at 10:31 pm