Below is Part 2 in a series from David Waldorf covering a Manoeuvre: Distant Lands tournament “March Madness” style. Part 1 can be found here. Enjoy! -Rachel

---

Pregame Analysis

Tokugawa is the stronger army per the tiebreaker rules, and is favored to win this match. They have a very powerful infantry, but no cavalry and fractured leadership. Their cards are also fairly powerful (in the right circumstances the Death with Honor card could win the game by itself), but the poor leadership and the frequent “volley only” cards mean that getting strong combinations can be difficult. Each of their units basically has to act on their own, only using leaders when chance happens to put the right one in the right place. They will have to make sure they coordinate movements to keep a cohesive line, and use their strength to shove through the enemy defenses.

India is the opposite of Tokugawa in many ways. Their units have weaker starting numbers (though less drastic reductions), and they have increased mobility with four cavalry units. Their leadership is also fractured, but slightly less so than Tokugawa’s. Their cards are low-powered, but do have some flexibility with the alternate effects on them. Bombardment rolls and pursuit values are both decent, and they also have some rockets at their disposal. They get to start this match with the more defensible east side of the board, and should probably try to play defensively.

Gameplay

Tokugawa sets up first on the west side, spreading out power and keeping the Date Han in the back row because of the lake. India goes next, keeping nationalities close together for possible leadership benefits, while also positioning themselves to quickly take the line of hills in the southeast quarter of the field. At start, the battle lines look like this:

The game begins, and both sides move toward the center. First contact occurs between the Tokugawa Han and the Indian Maratha Cavalry, when Tokugawa fires a volley that reduces the Maratha Cavalry. The cavalry fight back, only to be disastrously outdone in defense and thus eliminated. There follows some back and forth, with reductions and restorations on both sides. Through it all, India is working through their deck a bit faster. The Shogunate’s Asano Han pushes the Mysore Infantry back and crosses into Indian territory, but this leaves a hole in their line that the Mysore Cavalry are quick to dart through, using rockets to help scatter their opponents. At this point, the field looks like this:

The breakthrough for India is short-lived, as the both the Matsumae Han and Maeda Han shift sideways and the latter attacks. The attack causes the Mysore Cavalry to take a reduction and retreat, and the Maeda Han eliminates them on a lucky pursuit roll. This movement, however, moves the hole in the Shogunate’s line and allows the Mughal Cavalry to punch all the way through with a forced march. The Matsumae Han manage to back up and reduce them, which causes the Mughal Cavalry flee further away. The Tokugawa Han also backtrack to fire a bombardment at them, but misses. At this point, with both sides a bit more than halfway through their decks, the field looks like this:

After yet more give-and-take, India finally makes a dent in the Tokugawa forces when the Punjab Infantry eliminates the previously-reduced Ikeda Han on the north side of the battlefield. Not to be outdone, in the very next turn the Shimazu Han eliminate the Punjab Cavalry. A few turns later, and now with nightfall only a short way off, the Maratha Infantry eliminate the Mori Han, leaving the field ragged and disorganized:

The Asano Han attack the Mysore Infantry from a hilltop, driving them back and reducing them, then eliminating them on pursuit. Now the southern end of the field is wide open to the Shogunate, and they have only to score what should be a fairly easy battlefield control victory or eliminate one more Indian unit. The Indian hope for victory is looking dim, unless they can manage to even up the odds a little. Which they in fact manage to do a few turns later, with the Maratha Infantry successfully reducing the Matsumae Han via bombardment, and then the Mugal Cavalry charging up from behind to eliminate them.

India now draws their last card. They begin to move their units with an eye towards maximizing their endgame positions. The Tokugawa Shogunate’s Date Han moves and attempts to bombard the Punjab Infantry, but fails. By looking at the amount of cards remaining, India now knows it has only two moves left on a field that looks looks like this:

India does what they can, but Tokugawa uses supply lines and a forced march to strengthen their position for their final move. India now cannot win with the cards they have; even though they muster 14 points at the end, Tokugawa beats them with 16 points.

Analysis and Discussion

The game was noteworthy in the way that both sides essentially lost control of their side of the field at the end of the game as everyone tried to spread out and maximize points. Granted, reductions were such that it was impossible to hold much of a line, but both sides ended with more units on their enemy’s side than on their own.

India did well for itself, coming just short in the final round. Perhaps if they had driven a little faster toward nightfall things would have been more favorable to them. That, or perhaps they should have been a bit more aggressive at the beginning of the game, as the losses on both sides ended up being nearly equal. They managed to score high at the end of the game, just not high enough. Tokugawa for their part probably could have done a little better with their final moves, but they were too fixated on trying to eliminate one more opponent for the attrition victory. They need to be careful about letting cavalry get behind them, and perhaps they should have played a touch more defensively. However, they made it through this round and will go on to face the Qing Dynasty in the final round before the championship game with France.

---

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