A very interesting tactical situation for both sides. Outnumbered almost 2 to 1 the Prussian army – hidden by small rises in the ground – marches to the left flank of an Austrian army under Prince Charles of Lorraine and achieves total surprise. The greatest victory of Frederick the Great. This is a classic battle with the slightly smaller, but excellently led Prussian force attacking an Austrian army positioned on a series of hills. After his victory over the Austrians at the battle of Prague, Frederick attacks a second Austrian army under Daun to drive them from Bohemia. The Prussians’ have excellent quality troops and the strongest cavalry wing of the whole game, but the terrain favors the Austrian defenders. A small battle compared to later ones and a good place to learn the system. Frederick attacks an Austrian army under Browne that tries to cross the Elbe to support the hard pressed Saxon army. It should be bring an average game to a satisfying conclusion in one session of two to three hours. The game has a small physical footprint and a very reasonable playing time. This results in a streamlined play-experience and a visually pleasing, uncluttered gameboard. One major goal of the design is to eliminate every game piece, die-roll and game concept that is not strictly necessary for the game to achieve its objectives. Every combat also holds a certain risk of attrition for both sides. Attackers have access to less options than defenders, light troops generally have more options than other unit types. If not all hits can be absorbed, the unit is eliminated. These choices can be freely made by the owning player, but each option may be taken only a single time per given combat. These can be absorbed in three different ways (retreat, disordering the unit or lowering the wing’s cohesion – a pool of "steps“ common to each wing of an army). Combat usually results in 1 or 2 hits (sometimes more, sometimes none) the loser has to take. The combat system does not use a CRT, yet allows for complex results. Better commanders have larger hands of cards and therefore are better able to plan ahead than their less competent colleagues. This rewards the skillful use of reconnaissance assets (light cavalry and Vedette dummy-units), as revealing a unit not only offers information, but also hampers that unit’s agility. Revealed units may in general only be activated by certain cards. Hidden units can be activated with (almost) any card, representing the relative ease of commanding uncommitted units on the approach to a battle or when held in reserve. These cards also regulate artillery support, scenario-specific assets and the length of a turn. Which and how many units a player is allowed to activate is determined by a deck of cards (per side). All units are set-up face-down, so the opposing player gets to know their exact identity only when moving into contact. Fog of War and friction play a crucial role. Wings are important for activation and morale purposes. Units represent about a brigade of infantry (Grenadiers, Line Infantry, Grenzers, Freikorps) or cavalry (Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Hussars) and are grouped into wings. changing from column into line, deploying skirmishers etc.) and the exact positioning of artillery batteries are abstracted under the assumption that the commander-in-chief’s subordinate commanders are – more or less – “doing their jobs”. The rules are of low complexity and aim to give a good feel for the role of an army commander in the Age of Reason. Decisive Battles from the Seven Years WarĪbyss of Lament is a tactical game about six major battles between Frederick the Great’s Prussia and Maria Theresa’s Austria in the Seven Years War (1756-1763).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |