Manoeuvre

Yesterday I was to my local gaming store...I could not resist to buy me a new board game...I realy wanted to have it for some time...

Manoeuvre by GMT Games. Its a easy boardgame set i the napoleonic era. I´m not a real fan of napoleonics but I realy like the easy rules and the format of the game. I can set it up on my kitchen table and still have room over for beer and snacks and its possible to finish a game in an houre or so.

In the box you get all the stuf you need to get started, and if you get some extra dice and fix some extra redoupt markers you can play up to 8 players at the same time only using one box...

I have only had the chanse to play some test games last night but I already like it very much:)



Here are a short rundown about the rules writen by Peter Stein

There are eight countries represented: France, Britian, Russia, Spain, Austria, Turkey, Prussia and the US. Each country has 8 units and a deck of cards(60) specific to the country.

Two ways to win: Kill off five of your opponents units, or control more territory on your opponent's side of the map if both players go through their decks.

Each turn you can move one unit, one square for infantry, two for cavalry. You don't need cards to move, but you do need them if you wish to attack. Each unit has several cards in the deck that will let you attack with that unit. Combat is simple:

1. You play a card to activate an attacking unit
2. The defender plays any cards that might help him. The unit cards can also be used to add to defense, leaders and Withdraw cards are good.
3. The attacker can now play any additional cards. If you want two or more units to combine on an attack you'll need a leader, other special cards help here too.
4. Basically it's the attacker's unit strength plus whatever die roll the card played offers vs. the defenders strength. Weak units roll a 2d6, good units might roll d10s. There are terrain mods and other things to add - it's simple.

If the attacker wins by a little the defender chooses to take a step loss or retreat. If he wins by double he gets to choose and it gets worse as the difference gets worse. If the defender empties the square the attacker MUST advance (unless the unit card played says you don't have to). If the defender wins, all attacking units lose a step (Don't lose a battle as the attacker).

Certain unit cards will let you Bombard or Volley fire, you roll the die and hope you get lucky. No harm if you miss.

After the battle you can try to restore a unit that took a step loss. There are several cards that will do that; there's also a Guerilla card that will stop your opponent from resupplying.

That's a rough sketch of how a turn works.

The designer did some homework when it comes to each country's units and cards. Spanish cavalry is lousy. Russian units don't start off too strong, but if they take a step loss there is little drop off in effectiveness. The Prussian and French decks have good leaders. Austria and Spain have several Guerilla cards in their deck used to cut resupply attempts. The Americans aren't that great, but they've got Ambush cards which you can use to knock off units that have taken a step loss, even if they've retreated from the front line. And so on.

I hope that gives you an idea of what the game is like. Simple, Simple, Simple. Game should be done in under 60 minutes, even if it goes the distance.