Below is Part Four in a series from David Waldorf covering a Manoeuvre tournament “March Madness” style. Parts 1, 2, and 3 can be found here, here, and here. Enjoy! -Rachel

Pregame Analysis

These two teams should be a pretty even match. The units of the Austrian Empire are slightly better on the full strength side, but some of them reduce more drastically than those of the Prussians. Meanwhile Prussia has better attack cards, but the Austrian Empire has the more defensible side of the board. The HQ cards for both sides are very similar. This game is going to be all about tactics and exploitation of weaknesses; victory could remain a possibility for both sides until the final moves of the game.

Gameplay

For some reason during the initial set-up, Prussia chooses to place all of their units all the way to the back of their side of the battlefield. Otherwise there is a fairly typical matching of strengths for both sides, with the Austrian Empire having a slightly stronger eastern flank.

Both sides use supply lines to push extra units forward during the opening moves of the battle. The Prussian Royal Escort, having a solid attack card and a follow-up bombardment, plunges deep into enemy territory to strike at the 14^th Infantry Division and reduce it. However, the Johann Dragoons move over to box in the Royal Escort and set up an attack:

The Royal Escort attempts to defend their position, but in the heat of battle chooses to retreat, suffering a reduction as the Johann Dragoons pursue them. With action heating up in this corner of the battlefield, the still-reduced Royal Escort skirmishes with the 4^th Infantry Division and shies away from further combat, digging in with a redoubt. However, the Austrian Empire’s 6^th Grenzer Regiment fires a 2d6 volley into them, finishing them off.

There are more advances and more battles as the Austrian Empire pushes northward. The Austrian 6^th Grenzer Regiment encounters a bit of bad luck when they attempt to attack a redoubt sheltering the Prussian 13^th Infantry Regiment; their attack value was less than the defense value, and they suffered a reduction. At this point, the battlefield looks like this:

The Austrian Empire continues to push forward over the halfway line, but their 3^rd Infantry Regiment gets boxed in, and the Prussian 10^th Dragoons initiate an attack with Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher bringing in the 27^th Infantry Regiment and the Guard Grenadiers:

The 3^rd Infantry Regiment is reduced and forced back, barely escaping elimination in the initial onslaught. But they are unable to withstand pursuit from the 10^th Dragoons, and are the first unit to be eliminated for the Austrian Empire.

Subsequently, the Johann Dragoons eliminate the Prussian 13^th Infantry Regiment. At this point, Prussia is significantly closer to running through their card deck than the Austrian Empire. The Prussian 10^th Dragoons cross over the halfway line, and the 27^th Infantry Regiment eliminates the Austrian Empire’s 4^th Infantry Regiment. Prussia draws their last card, and at the end of their turn the battlefield looks like this:

The Austrian Empire eliminates the 27^th Infantry Regiment, and even with several turns worth of supply lines and forced marches, Prussia cannot position themselves to win the game. At nightfall, the battlefield looks like this:

Analysis and Discussion

Prussia made a big mistake in setting up their units all the way back. This allowed the Austrian Empire to advance across the center line before them, and they never really looked back.

(Note: I think I must have been paying too much attention to the order and dispersion of the Prussian units while setting them up, and simply failed to place them on the second row as I almost always do. I did not even notice this until the end of the game.—DW)

There were a few technical rules violations by the Austrian Empire, one of which was caught and corrected, and the net result was judged to have little if any effect on the outcome of the game. The Austrian Empire will go on to Round 2 to battle either Great Britain or the Ottoman Empire, who face off in next week’s article. Will the awesome cavalry power of the Ottomans prevail against the second-favorite team in the tournament?

Previous Article in this Series: Manoeuvre Tournament Part Three: France vs. The United States

Next Article in this Series: Manoeuvre Tournament Part Five: Ottoman Empire vs. Great Britain

Author: David Waldorf