Operational Studies Group News              8 March 2000         Page Two

NAVAL STRENGTHS FOR 1792 VARIANT OF LA GUERRE DE L'EMPEREUR
From: Peter Landry <plandry@cyberus.ca>

I reviewed with interest the discussion about naval strengths of the various
European powers in the 1792 variant of Emperor's War. My gaming group has
already given this topic some serious thought and I would like to offer a
few observations which may be of interest.

1. It is very important to distinguish between numbers of ships of the line
on the Admiralty lists versus the number of ships that were in fact
operational, combat-ready, and deployed in European waters. A case in point
is Spain. In numerous places it is mentioned that Spain has about 56 ships
of the line. However, never during the revolutionary period or during the
Napoleonic Wars did she have more than 30 SOL's in a fleet in European
waters (Cape St. Vincent = 27, Trafalgar = 15). Our group uses the game
scale of 1 fleet = 12 ships of the line. Furthermore, in 1792 Spain was not
yet mobilizing for war. Therefore, I would suggest she really only had 1
squadron that would have been ready for effective action.

In terms of starting numbers, I would suggest the following starting numbers
and positions:

Britain = 3 squadrons in British Isles, 1 squadron at Gibraltar
France = 2 squadrons in Britanny (Brest), 1 squadron in Savoy (Toulon)
Spain = 1 squadron in Murcia (Cartegena)
Russia = 1 squadron in Baltic Sea (St. Petersburg), 1 squadron in Crimea
(Sevastopol)
Ottoman Empire = 1 squadron in Constantinople
Minor fleets = 1 squadron in their respective territory.

As a general rule, Britain was able, as a product of naval numbers and
quality to fend off and eventually defeat the combined fleets of France,
Spain and Holland. If it just become a straight numbers game, this very
significant result may be overlooked. I am not suggesting historical
determinism, but a fair case can be made that the historical outcome should
have at least an average chance of occurring.

Also, each minor and major power should be considered to have 1 transport
fleet, with the exception of Britain and France, who should have 2. The
rationale for this is that France invaded Egypt with approximately 40,000
men (i.e. 2 corps) while Britain never deployed more than 40,000 British
troops on the continent (again, roughly 2 corps). No other major power
transported effectively more than 1 corps. As well, battle squadrons should
not be considered as having transport capacity - they were already packed
with sailors and marines! It also prevents D-Day assaults on Normandy that I
have witnessed in our games where 5 British corps (100,000 men) descend on
the French coastline. By way of comparison, the Allies landed only 156,000
on June 6, 1944, some 150 years later!

2. The current rules, in my opinion, do not sufficiently reflect the varying
naval quality of the different major powers. Our group plays with the
following die roll modifiers for each major power's fleets when determing
combat results:

Britain = +3
Russia = +1 (many officers were British or British trained)
Denmark = +1
Holland = +1 (until it becomes the Batavian republic under France, after
which the fleet declines)
France, Sweden, Portugal = 0
Spain, Ottoman Empire, Naples = -1

I hope this may provide some insight into the naval situation of the period.
Of course, there might be things I have overlooked. One book to consult is
called "Navies of the Napoleonic Era" by Otto Von Pivka.