J. R. Tracy - Jun 15, 2005 11:15 am (#10153 Total: 10186) "I no drive just for drive. I drive for to finish in front." - Milka Duno, Le Mans Last night we had four folks for Friedrich. Bill Terdoslavich pulled the Prussians, Dan Raspler had the Rooskie/Swedes, David Fox was the Austrian/Imperials, and I was the French. I got off to a rollicking start, unleashing le Blitzkrieg Francais against the Hanoverians. Bill just didn't have any cards to stop me, and soon the Hanoverian forces were reeling back toward the Baltic. Meanwhile, David was pulling loads of cards out of the Prussian hand but was getting a little beat up in the process. As far as I could tell the Russians were advancing unchecked as Bill focused on Austria. Elsewhere, the Swedish and Imperial caterpillars were steadily and implacably devouring their victory cities. By turn five, my French were in a position to win in one move, with an army occupying Magdeburg and only Halberstadt left to flag. There were no Hanoverians to be seen, with only Seydlitz in range to save the day. I wasn't worrried, as I had a 9, 12 and 13 of hearts and two reserve cards. Seydlitz came on, and weathered my 54 points of playable cards to decisively defeat me, leaving me with a single strength point surviving! To add further humiliation, despite having declared the end of major combat operations in Hanover, I soon found myself facing a burgeoning insurgency in my rear areas. I made a mistake here, engaging the pests rather than relying on my 'zone of influence' to protect my flags. Also, I misread the Reinforcement section, and thought Bill could place his new armies anywhere in the home grid square of his depot, when this is only allowed if the depot itself is occupied. It didn't matter much, as until I had some hearts I wasn't taking Magdeburg. In the south, David's Reichsarmee was in Torgau, a city away from victory, but his hesitancy made me suspect the Imperial hand wasn't exactly optimized for the local combat suit. The Swedes were also close to a win, and the Russians were sitting on their last city, but needed to drive off a strong Prussian force to flag it. It took two battles, with Dan managing to pull it off for the win on turn 8. This was a very exciting game, and Bill's solid play made it a good experience for everyone. Managing to save Magdeburg from the French was a tasty victory, and despite lousy cards his Prussians hung pretty tough in the face of large losses. David's Austrians kept the allied forces moving forward, by hurting Bill in multiple suits. I was surprised at the potential of the French, but my own success was largely the result of some terrific card draws. I also appreciated the power of the minor powers (Sweden, HRE) to distract, and perhaps even win. We checked the Fate deck, and Bill was four turns away from the death of Catherine, but would've lost a couple Prussian card draws in the meantime. In terms of mechanics, I liked the combat system very much, and noticed a subtlety or two over the course of play. For instance, I made the mistake of sending a superior force after the denuded Hanoverians - by doing so, I allowed Bill to refuse battle with only a small loss. If I'd sent a weaker force, I could have slapped a sizeable card on top of him and wiped him out a turn earlier than I actually did. Defending at the edge of a grid square feels like a bad idea, offering the enemy a litte flexibility in suit choice. Also, the three space zone of influence is a nice substitute for the more familiar interception mechanic seen in many point-to-point games. Big thumbs up for this one, and I look forward to trying this again as any of the four powers. JR William Terdoslavich - Jun 15, 2005 12:18 pm (#10154 Total: 10186) Shamelessly pitching my book on CSW--The Jack Ryan Agenda--pre-order on amazon.com, coming out in May. Playing Prussia is a rough deal in Friederich. In other games on this period, leader counters are used and their factoring will usually give Freddy some zoom-on-afterburner capability so he can zip all over MittelEuropa to keep the French, Russians and Austrians off his back. Not here. In Friederich, you have to be Frederick. Not everybody is up to this challenge, and I am one of them!. First, nothing is mobile. Where ever Freddy is placed is pretty much the area where he will be spending the game. The Prussian leader advantage must do as a substitute for interior lines. The Prussian dilemma is interesting. Fight the invaders, and lose all your cards needed to fight defensively when their turn comes after yours. Do nothing and they gobble up flags like Pac Man. So I tried picking my battles, sometimes unwisely. If I was strong in a suit, I figure it would be a good time to swat away a Russian or Austrian force. Card tempo matters here. Ideally, You need to finish the exchange by a card that exceeds the enemy by enough to cut his army by at least half. Better yet, if your last card exceeds his army total, even better. His puck gets vaporized and he has to spend at least a 6 card (or any combination amounting to 6) to get the puck back into play. Hanover was nothing but alternating frustration and desperation. The cards never came up for this power, so slaughter was inevitable. By rebuilding armies between the French and their supply wagons, Hanover turns a weakness into a strength, as the French must push the pucks back to move south on other flags. The tactic was admittedly gamey, but it worked. In retrospect, I have to agree with Dave Fox's observation that the Prussian must never give up East Prussia too easily. I figured that having the extra leader to keep the Russians off-balance around the core of Prussia made more sense, as "he who defends everything defends nothing." (I think Freddy said that.) But the fallback did nothing to stop the Russians and make them go away. Friderich is one of those games that I hesitate to buy but never hesitate to play. I'd still give it another go.