
- BGG rank
- BGG #5,903
- BGG rating
- 8.0
At Any Cost: Metz 1870
- 1–2 players
- 120–480 min
- Complexity 3.3/5
- 2018

2023
Rules assistance for Vive L'Empereur!
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 1 player

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Vive L'Empereur! is a board game released in 2023 for 1–2 players, 180 minutes per game, and ages 12 and up. It was designed by Hermann Luttmann and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Hexagon Grid, and Simulation.
Vive L'Empereur! is an exciting, solitaire wargame depicting the Battle of Waterloo fought on June 18, 1815. Controlling the French side as the Emperor Napoleon, you have conducted a brilliant campaign so far against not one, but two, Allied armies, defeating Field Marshal Blucher’s Prussians at Ligny and forcing the Anglo-Allied army under the Duke of Wellington to retreat from Quatre Bras. You have sent a wing of your army under Marshal Grouchy to keep the Prussians and the British-Dutch armies separate. Meanwhile, Wellington and his Dutch allies with 68,000 men have fallen back to a ridge line before the small town of Waterloo. On this rainy and muddy day, your 72,000-strong French army must defeat the Anglo-Allied Army before the Prussians can regroup, avoid Grouchy, and arrive on the battlefield at Waterloo. Are you up for the challenge? Vive L’Empereur is a hex-and-counter war game that uses a chit-pull system to generate random force activations for both sides. The Anglo-Allied and Prussian forces (the forces of the solitaire side) move and conduct combat using random instructions from the game’s Activation Table. —description from the publisher
Vive L'Empereur! supports 1–2 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Vive L'Empereur! is 180 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Vive L'Empereur! for ages 12 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Vive L'Empereur! has a complexity rating of 2.7 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Vive L'Empereur! belongs to these categories: Wargame and Napoleonic. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Hexagon Grid, and Simulation. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Vive L'Empereur! are: Hermann Luttmann. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Vive L'Empereur! as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.