The relatively simple rules of Manoeuvre leave plenty of room for stratagem, despite the card-fueled bouts of dice-chucking. Sometimes the game feels like chess as you feint, counterattack, and reinforce on a tight map. And while combat may be subject to the whims of fortune, your movement across the map is almost always in your control. Thus, thoughtful movement of your pieces and careful hand management are crucial pillars of a successful strategy. Here are five strategy tips to try out in your next game.

The first strategy tip is (somewhat ironically) a tactical one: ruthlessly eliminate cards from your hand that are not doing you any good in the moment. Saving them for possible future use is a waste of hand space. Sometimes you may want to hang onto a few special ones to set up a perfect move, and that can be okay, but make sure you execute that move as soon as possible and then pivot to the next thing. If you find yourself hanging on to the same card for several turns, it’s probably time to play it or get rid of it. Play or discard your HQ cards as soon as possible; if you don’t need a Regroup card right now, consider discarding it so that you can draw a card that may be more useful to you in the present. The faster you cycle through your deck by ditching unneeded cards, the likelier you are to get a reshuffle and a chance to use some of your better ones over again. The major caveat to this tip is that if your opponent is using the same strategy and it’s a race to the last card, you have to make sure your guys on the map are ready for that to happen—and if not, you may need to tap the brakes.

Second, hold the line. It is important in Manoeuvre to use lines of troops to block your opponent’s advances. I hardly ever set up units on the back row of my board; much better to set them all on the second row, and then try to maintain at least some parts of that line when meeting the enemy. Go for a staggered approach if you can, so that to attack some of your units, your opponent has to move adjacent to two or more of them. When you start to sustain losses or have units that have forged ahead of others, focus on closing lines around your opponent’s cavalry to shut them out, or they may get behind you and control large swaths of your side of the board. You will not be able to maintain a line perfectly (beware of what could happen if you have to advance after combat), but on those moves where you have a little freedom to choose, maybe move a straggling unit up closer to your front to close that gap, or even retreat if absolutely necessary. In the image below, the Dutch-Belgians have not only overextended themselves and are in serious trouble, but there is a gap in the line that could allow the 1^st Cuirassiers to get behind the British line.

These first two tips are largely conventional. Nothing earth shattering, for sure. Third, however, I propose you consider designating a waste unit. By this I mean picking one of your units that you will always discard cards for and not use to fight if you can help it. It is probably best to pick a unit that is on an edge, preferably one that can get to a defensive position near the center line and just hunker there. Which unit you pick will depend largely on the first several hands you have and the situation on the board after the first few turns, when your opponent’s line of attack starts to emerge and you see what kinds of cards you can get. The reason why you should designate a waste unit goes back to the core of the first tip: hand management. You can freely discard all the cards you get for that unit and free up hand space. By picking an edge unit you limit the amount of potential attackers by at least one. Of course if that particular unit happens to be in a position to attack or be attacked and you have a card in hand that you can use you should absolutely do so. Depending on how your cards come and how the battlefield shapes up, you may even be able to designate two waste units. Sometimes, you may not even have to move your waste unit if the battle takes shape elsewhere on the map, which makes moving the rest of your troops that much more efficient.

Fourth, use your cavalry to punch through enemy lines. It gives you flexibility in picking targets, more room to—ahem—manoeuvre, and gives your opponent something to worry about. Try to move straight if possible, and waste as little time moving sideways as you can, which is also a general tip for all movement. Cavalry deep behind enemy lines can also pull your opponent’s units backwards to try to deal with the threat, costing them valuable progress made towards battlefield control.

Fifth and finally, force retreats to your advantage. When you get to make a choice, consider the strategic benefits of making your enemy retreat and thereby triggering your advance. It should not necessarily be the default choice, especially if you have a chance to win via attrition and so would rather deal damage, or if your advance after retreat would bring you into a pocket that you cannot handle. However, you can think of the retreat/advance in terms of a free move for your unit, and in this way you may be able to cover more ground in preparation for nightfall. Of course, if you are attacking with cavalry, forcing a retreat is a little more of a default choice, due to the hope that you can use the pursuit ability to deal damage anyway. And remember that if your opponent cannot retreat, they are eliminated; don’t make the mistake of choosing to deal a hit in that circumstance!

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