Type: Jester Power
Effect Text: Set aside up to two of your units on the field until the start of the next round.
Flavor Text: Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Flavor Source: Napoleon
Artwork: Napoleon and his staff are retuning from Soissons after the battle of Laon by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1864)
Strategy:
Retreat is primarily used to bluff and stall by pretending to commit units to the current round, only to set them aside for the next. It can also be used for damage control, in case you realize you will definitely not win the current round, and want to recycle your units into the next.
About the card:
The retreat from the Battle of Laon signified the beginning of the end for Napoleon's first reign. Often outnumbered by Coalition forces in France, as much of his forces were tied down in French-Occupied Iberia fighting Spanish rebels (see also Assault), Napoleon realized he either had to make peace or rally troops throughout the French country side. Napoleon decided on the latter, but while he was moving his army south, Paris fell to the Coalition army. The French Senate soon deposed him as Emperor and Napoleon's generals would not take back Paris fearing the destruction of the city.
Napoleon, realizing that he had no other option, signed the abdication order with his familiar flair:
"Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces, for himself and his heirs the throne of France and Italy; and that there is no personal sacrifice, not even that of life itself, which he is not willing to make for the interests of France."
With his army disbanded, the French monarchy restored, and Napoleon himself exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, it would take a miracle for the Ex-Emperor to make a comeback (see also Grenadier).
