Napoleon is a strategic

Strategy game

A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...

-level board wargame

Board wargame

A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer, or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The hobby around this type of game got its start in 1954 with the publication of Tactics, and saw its greatest popularity in the...

 covering the Waterloo Campaign of the Hundred Days

Hundred Days

The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...

 after Napoleon's return from Elba

Elba

Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...

 starting with the French invasion of Belgium on June 15, 1815. Each turn is one-third of a day (with only one player moving per turn, so the French move first on the first day, and move that night, then the Allied forces move first the second day and that night, and so on).

It was one of the early block wargame

Block wargame

A block wargame is a board wargame that represents military units using wooden blocks instead of cardboard counters or metal/plastic miniatures. These blocks are typically square, have a labeled and an unlabeled side, and are generally thick enough that they can be placed on their side with the...

s published by Gamma Two Games in 1974

1974 in games

This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1974. For video and console games, see 1974 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 1974:...

. It was later published by Avalon Hill

Avalon Hill

Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...

 before going to the creator's new company Columbia Games

Columbia Games

Columbia Games is a maker of board and role-playing games including Hârn and a variety of games, mostly wargames using blocks instead of the more conventional chits...

which currently publishes the third edition.