Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing Protestant player strategy in Here I Stand. You can also find this article on Clio’s blog. The previous articles in this series can be found here, here, and here. Enjoy! -Rachel
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.
Hi everyone! I made this second video to take a look at the initial U.S. special activations phase in Mr. President. It should be helpful to you as you get your games over the coming weeks. Here’s a link to my first video discussing start of game strategy for anyone interested. I hope you all have a great time with Mr. President! – Gene
Previous Article:
Hi everyone! I made this video to take a look at initial strategies in Mr. President. It should be helpful to you as you get your games over the coming weeks. I hope you all have a great time with Mr. President! – Gene
This article from Alan Ray is Part 2 in a 3 part guide to playing SPQR. If you would like to read Part 1 first, you can find that here.
The idea for this article came about after dusting off the C3I SPQR Player’s Guide published so many years ago and reading it from cover to cover. That handy guide is useful, even though outdated in a few places, in helping SPQR players understand and play the game better. The Players Guide, however, is a series of articles on a range of topics including some new scenarios but does not look at the play of the game in a wholistic manner. This guide is intended to present the game through an explanation of its rules and using one of the games more popular scenarios as a case study.
The method of presentation is one I would use in explaining the game to a new player. The discussion follows the Sequence of Play but pulls rules from anywhere in the rule book to support the explanation. I go into greater detail in some areas, less in others, and occasionally send the reader directly to the rulebook.
This article is structured into major topic sections, most of which are further divided into subsections, primarily to break up the text. I have attempted to keep cross references to internal sections to a minimum but have made copious references to the SPQR rules and play aids to support the discussion. All rule references are to the SPQR 4th Edition rules as amended by the errata dated October 2022 unless noted otherwise. After explaining the rules, I have added a section to address the often heard “what do I do” question once the game is setup. The final section has an extensive example of play covering the opening action on one wing of the Heraclea battlefield.
Let’s begin.
In the last installment we looked at the first two phases for an attacker attempting to break the enemy line, preparation and choosing when to attack.
There are many important elements that contribute to the outcome of an Ancients battle. Skirmishing, cavalry manoeuvres, feint and ruse, move and countermove, all play their part in the integrated coordination of arms that leads to success on the battlefield and a good commander must be skilled in all of them. But as in real ancient warfare, the decisive moment on which the battle hinges is invariably the bloody clash of the main infantry lines. Marathon, Plataea, Cannae, Leuctra, Chaeronea and many more, battles that were turning points in history, all decided at the sticky end of the conflict, close and personal, spear and sword against armour and shield.
