As promised, here is the first article in the follow-up series to the Manoeuvre tournament I wrote a few months ago. I’m back now with the Distant Lands expansion, and I will pit those armies against each other in a series of elimination battles with the winner moving on to fight the French army (the champion of the base Manoeuvre tournament). 

I will run this tournament similarly to the first one, so if you missed that or forget how it works, click over to this article and take a read. I’ll use the rules from the base game (there are only a few minor changes anyway), but I’ll use a new random map with sections from the expansion to make things fresh. The map that will be used for all the games looks like this, with north at the top:

The randomly-generated bracket looks like this, with First Players denoted by an asterisk and the letters of the compass designating what side of the battlefield each army will set up on:

So then, this short tournament will start with Sweden vs. the Qing Dynasty.  Let’s jump right in to game one!

Pregame Analysis

Sweden is favored to win this battle in every way. They have better cards, better units (both full and reduced), and a better side of the board for defense. They only have to make sure they don’t do anything stupid. Contrariwise, the Qing Dynasty have almost nothing going for them, and had better make good use of their extra horseman and their rockets if they want to have even a chance of winning.

Gameplay

Sweden sets up first on the eastern edge of the map. The lake is in the way for the most advantageous setup, so they leave that row unmanned and set up units two deep on the northeast corner. The Qing Dynasty sets up with their cavalry spread out across the line and more powerful units alternating with weaker ones. They too have a lake in the way, in the northwest; they choose to double up near the center of the line where action is bound to happen. At start, the battle lines look like this:

Sweden goes first, but both sides exhibit timidity with their opening moves. Sweden eventually attacks first, with the Kalmar Regemente engaging the Standard Cavalry on the northernmost hill. Their attack successfully reduces the Standard Cavalry, who dig in with a redoubt on their next turn.

Sweden punches over middle line first, with the Livgardet till Häst charging straight ahead over the hill in front of them and onto enemy territory. Rockets force them back to the hill on the next turn, but do no damage.

In a few turns, the Qing Dynasty’s Manchu Bannermen get flanked on both sides by the Jämtlands Dragoner and Livgardet till Häst units. The Qing use a spy to investigate the Swedish battle plan, and finding both flanking units ill-prepared to defend, they spring an ambush on Livgardet till Häst, with General Delantai bringing in the Manchu Bannerman for support. This combined attack only succeeds in reducing the Livgardet till Häst, nothing more.

The next time it is the Qing Dynasty’s turn, they throw all their cards away and the still-reduced Standard Cavalry springs a sudden attack on the Kalmar Regemente. This turns out to be disastrous, as the defense was stronger than the attack and the Standard Cavalry are eliminated.

Continuing to strike an aggressive posture, the Qing Green Standard Elite try to knock out the weakened Livgardet till Häst with rockets, and fail. On their next turn, however, the Standard Elite carry out a successful long-range bombardment that eliminates the Livgardet till Häst, evening the score between the two sides.

By now the Qing Dynasty is about halfway through their deck, while Sweden is considerably further behind on that front. 

The Mongol Bannermen attack the Swedish Kalmar Regemente, who decide to withdraw. The Bannermen inflict damage on them in pursuit, and now they are on a hill while the Kalmar Regemente is in a town. The Swedish retaliate by having the Västerbottens Regemente reduce the Standard Infantry in a bombardment, but an attempt to rally the stricken Kalmar Regemente by Carl Johan Adlercreutz fails. The Mongol Bannermen press the attack; the Kalmar Regemente is forced to retreat or be eliminated, but as they retreat the Bannermen pursue them and finish them off.

The Swedish Jämtlands Dragoner cavalry, having gained the hill on the west side of the southern lake, now attack and reduce the Manchu Bannermen cavalry, leaving the field looking like this:

The Qing Dynasty’s Standard Elite troops use a forced march to move up alongside the Jämtlands Dragoner cavalry. The Manchu Bannermen initiate the attack, with General Ming Liang bringing in the Standard Elite. The Jämtlands Dragoner put up an admirable defense, managing only to be reduced by the onslaught. They restore themselves to full strength, are again reduced by the Standard Elite, but still manage to eliminate the Manchu Bannermen. The score is now even, with both sides having two units knocked out of the competition.

Some time passes with give and take on both sides. The Jämtlands Dragoner cavalry penetrates deep behind the Qing line, only for the Han Bannermen to slide over and eliminate them.

After a little jockeying for position the Svea Livgarde move up to attack the Tuan Lian Sichaun and eliminate them outright, again evening the number of units eliminated per side and advancing after combat across the central line.

The Qing Dynasty reshuffles their deck and begins anew, with Sweden still having a good bit of cards left. Sweden forces some retreats, and eventually all the Qing units end up back on their side of the center line, with the Swedish Svea Livgarde far back in Qing territory. Now Sweden is down to only one card in their deck, and night is about to fall over the battlefield. The Qing Dynasty knows it will only have two more turns to try to scrape out a victory. The Mongol Bannermen cavalry makes a sideways move, preparing to dash across a hole in the Swedish line, while the Tuan Lian Shaanxi fire rockets into the Svea Livgarde, which causes them to take a reduction and to retreat.

Sweden takes it’s last turn before nightfall, moving the Värmlands Regimente across the middle line and restoring the Svea Livegarde to full strength. It should now be almost impossible for the Qing Dynasty to win.

The Qing Dynasty draws a whole new hand of cards. They are able to use a spy, and so know exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of Sweden’s position are. Also, they have a final opportunity to use rockets, if they so desire. Looking at the positions of units on the field, the Qing Dynasty sees that if they move the Mongol Bannermen up and manage to drive back the Svea Livegarde with rockets, they can win. Rockets being what they are, the plan has a 60% chance of succeeding but hinges on the roll of a single die:

The rockets are launched, and they succeed in driving the Svea Livegarde back. Night falls, and the Qing Dynasty wins the field by a hair. The final positions look like this, with the Qing Dynasty using the purple victory markers and Sweden using the red ones:

Analysis and Discussion

What an exciting first game, with an enormous upset at the end of it!

Sweden’s error was in not being aggressive enough. They also potentially should have matched the rate at which the Qing Dynasty was burning through their cards. Had their luck been better, however, the slow and safe approach might have worked just fine. The Qing Dynasty just had a lucky final turn.

The Qing Dynasty, for their part, did exactly what they had to do in burning through cards ruthlessly. They were halfway through their deck for a second time by the end of the game, which gave them that much more tactical flexibility over Sweden. However, their win was due to a lot of luck on the final turn, drawing the rockets card they needed and then being able to successfully deploy them. They were an unlikely victor, but will go on to face either India or the Tokugawa Shogunate in the next round.

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Articles in this Series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4