Historical Battles
Napoleon: Total War ships twelve standalone historical battles under the
“Napoleon’s Battles” menu. Most unlock in sequence as you win, and they span
Napoleon’s career from his first taste of glory at Lodi in 1796 through the
Egyptian campaign, the great victories of Austerlitz and the near-runs of
Trafalgar and Friedland, to the Russian catastrophe at Borodino and the final
days of 1815 at Ligny and Waterloo.
Eleven of the scenarios are played from Napoleon’s side; the twelfth replays
Waterloo from the British perspective under Wellington. Friedland is included
with the Coalition Battle Pack DLC, which is part of the Definitive Edition. Land
battles here reward the usual line-infantry-plus-artillery formula, while the sea
battles (the Nile and Trafalgar) are about positioning and raking — line your
broadsides and cross the enemy’s T.
The arc of the twelve battles
Taken together, the twelve scenarios trace the whole arc of the Napoleonic Wars,
which is part of their appeal. The early Italian and Egyptian fights — Lodi,
Arcole and the Pyramids — teach you to use bridges, outflanking and divisional
squares. The middle period — the Nile, Austerlitz, Trafalgar and Friedland —
shows Napoleon at his peak, where decisive concentration of force wins against
numerically equal or superior coalitions. The late period — Borodino, Dresden,
Ligny and the two Waterloos — is the grinding, desperate endgame where position
and morale matter more than brilliance.
Because they unlock in order, the set doubles as a guided tour of the engine. You
learn bridge assaults, then squares against cavalry, then combined-arms set
pieces, then desperate defensive stands. By the time you reach Waterloo you have
practised every tool the game gives you.
The two sea battles
The Nile (1798) and Trafalgar (1805) are the only naval scenarios, and they are
unlike anything else in the set. At the Nile, Nelson’s fleet finds the French
anchored in Aboukir Bay; the lesson is to isolate and overwhelm ships one at a
time. At Trafalgar, you command the British line against Villeneuve’s combined
fleet, and the win condition is to break the enemy’s cohesion before he can form
a line of his own. Both reward the raking manoeuvre covered in the naval warfare
guide far more than raw broadside weight.
Land battles: the consistent formula
The ten land battles share a core solution. Hold your infantry in a steady line
on defensible ground, place artillery where it can enfilade the enemy approach,
and keep cavalry in reserve to punish routers and exposed guns. Battles that give
you the high ground — Austerlitz on the Pratzen Heights, Dresden where Napoleon
arrives with reinforcements — are won by refusing a flank and crushing the enemy
centre once he overcommits.
A few specifics help per scenario. At Lodi and Arcole, the bridge is the choke
point: control it and the enemy cannot bring his numbers to bear. At the
Pyramids, form divisional squares and let the Mameluke cavalry break themselves
on your bayonets. At Borodino, expect attrition — the bloodiest day of the
campaign rewards trading ground for time. At Ligny, Napoleon wins but Blucher
escapes, so the scenario teaches the cost of an incomplete victory.
Playing Waterloo from both sides
The twelfth scenario is unusual: the same battle, Waterloo, played twice — once
as Napoleon and once as Wellington. From the French side you must break the
Allied line before the Prussians arrive; from the British side you must hold the
ridge at Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte until reinforcement. It is the perfect cap
to the set because it forces you to understand the battle from both the attacker’s
and defender’s problems.
How the historical battles connect to the campaign
Although the standalone scenarios are separate from the Grand Campaign, the
tactics transfer directly. The concentrated-artillery-and-steady-line approach
that wins Austerlitz is the same one that wins your random battlefield encounters
in Mastery of Europe. Many players use the historical battles as a low-pressure
training ground before committing to a long campaign, because each scenario is a
self-contained puzzle with a known historical shape.
Practical tips
Approach each battle by reading the map before moving. Identify the enemy’s
decisive point — a bridge, a ridge, a stranded fleet — and aim your main force
there while screening with skirmishers. Do not rush; Napoleonic battles are won
by morale, and a patient player who holds formation outlasts one who charges
early. And if a scenario frustrates you, remember the console commands in the
cheats guide can reveal the map or auto-win a single fight, though that spoils
the historical challenge.
Why they still matter
The historical battles are the most accessible entry point in the game. They are
short, scripted, and historically framed, which makes them ideal for learning the
engine or for a quick session when you do not want to manage an economy. The full
list with years and types is in the table above; pair it with the naval and
tactics guides and you have everything you need to clear all twelve.
Scoring and what “winning” means
Each historical battle grades your performance, and the grade depends on how
decisively you win, not merely whether you win. A narrow victory that leaves your
army battered scores lower than a clean one where you preserved your units, because
the game rewards the same discipline the real battles rewarded. Chasing a higher
grade is a good way to practise, because it forces you to use terrain, reserves and
combined arms rather than throwing everything forward. The grades also act as a
natural difficulty curve: a player who can earn a decisive result on a hard battle
has genuinely learned the engine.
Difficulty and battle settings
Before you start a scenario you can usually adjust the battle difficulty, which
changes the AI’s aggression and the buffs it receives rather than the historical
setup. A new player should begin on normal to learn each battle’s shape, then replay
on higher settings once the map is familiar. The historical battles are scripted, so
the enemy’s plan is consistent from attempt to attempt — that consistency is what
makes them learnable, and what makes grinding for a better grade feasible.
Replaying for mastery
Because the twelve battles span Napoleon’s whole career, replaying them in order is a
self-contained campaign of improvement. Early on you learn bridges and squares; by
Waterloo you are composing combined-arms plans under pressure. Many players return to
the historical battles between long campaign sessions precisely because they are
short and self-contained — a twenty-minute fight instead of a multi-hour turn cycle.
Treat them as the game’s built-in training mode and they will make you a better
general in the Grand Campaign as well.