The Games
La Guerre de l'Empereur
Designer: Kevin Zucker
Publisher: OSG (Operational Studies Group)
BGG entry:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/276
La Guerre de l'Empereur is a game of maneuver and battle between the forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and six other nations that both opposed and supported him at various times in the years between 1805 and 1815. Anywhere from two to seven players vie for dominance of early 19th Century Europe.
The rules are relatively simple and fast moving, even though a host of subtleties and complexities of the Napoleonic period are represented within the game system. The means by which this relative simplicity was achieved was (largely) through the use of self-explanatory strategic event charts. Be warned: This game is easy to understand and play, but very difficult to master.
This game is mostly free -- while the map, rules, player mats, and charts are all available for free on the website, the counters are not available for free. Since you need the counters (and there are over 500 counters necessary for gameplay), and the counters must be purchased, I don't consider this game to be free and have removed it from the main list.