Maurice - The Seven Years War Battle Continues
One of the best things about Maurice is its card-based action system. The Maurice flyer explains it well: “Each side keeps a hand of cards that he draws new cards into, and discards them as he plays them. Each card has the potential to do more than one thing, but can only ever be used for a single thing at any given time. Thus, the players always have to make the tough decision to use a card for one purpose and miss the chance to use it for another purpose.” Precisely!
Looking at my army morale of only one, I realized that I had to do something quickly otherwise I would be bounced out of the game. Luckily in my hand I had the card “Rousing Speech!” After playing it and rolling the dice I was able to add two back to my army morale, bringing it up to three. Huzzah! Apparently Michael’s Dragoons also heard portions of it and decided to fall back from the stirring words. I chose to rally my Saltzburgers and I was successful in removing the disruption (DISR).
Seeing my infantry split and feeling the spiritual need to attend church, Michael ordered his infantry to march forward. As my hand was short of cards (the defender starts with fewer cards than the attacker), I decided to pass this turn in order to draw three cards. Your choice of action determines the number of cards you draw. The more passive you are, the more cards you get. If you charge about like a loony, you will quickly run out of cards and your army will grind to a halt. Marshaling your army’s impetus and feeling how the battle is progressing is a cornerstone skill for a successful commander… and hopefully someday I'll do it properly.
After Michael failed to rally the disruptions off of his Dragoons, I marched my Infanterie de Provance forward a bit and then had them turn ninety degrees to form line and face his troops. The next turn I would be able to unleash a withering volley into his infantry!
Michael had the same idea. IR2 and IR9 halted and leveled their muskets. With the crackle of rolling thunder and billowing smoke, the Prussians unleashed a murderous volley into the French Provance infantry. Unbeknownst to Michael, I was holding the ideal Action Card for such an event: "Valeur et Discipline!" which removed all DISR from any one unit. We exchanged volleys a few times and even though the French took the worst of it, I continued to have the right Action Cards to keep the unit on the field.
I knew that my luck could not hold forever and that the Provance regiment would break under the combined fire of the Prussians unless something was done. Perhaps a bold move would win the day?
Looking at my army morale of only one, I realized that I had to do something quickly otherwise I would be bounced out of the game. Luckily in my hand I had the card “Rousing Speech!” After playing it and rolling the dice I was able to add two back to my army morale, bringing it up to three. Huzzah! Apparently Michael’s Dragoons also heard portions of it and decided to fall back from the stirring words. I chose to rally my Saltzburgers and I was successful in removing the disruption (DISR).
Seeing my infantry split and feeling the spiritual need to attend church, Michael ordered his infantry to march forward. As my hand was short of cards (the defender starts with fewer cards than the attacker), I decided to pass this turn in order to draw three cards. Your choice of action determines the number of cards you draw. The more passive you are, the more cards you get. If you charge about like a loony, you will quickly run out of cards and your army will grind to a halt. Marshaling your army’s impetus and feeling how the battle is progressing is a cornerstone skill for a successful commander… and hopefully someday I'll do it properly.
After Michael failed to rally the disruptions off of his Dragoons, I marched my Infanterie de Provance forward a bit and then had them turn ninety degrees to form line and face his troops. The next turn I would be able to unleash a withering volley into his infantry!
Michael had the same idea. IR2 and IR9 halted and leveled their muskets. With the crackle of rolling thunder and billowing smoke, the Prussians unleashed a murderous volley into the French Provance infantry. Unbeknownst to Michael, I was holding the ideal Action Card for such an event: "Valeur et Discipline!" which removed all DISR from any one unit. We exchanged volleys a few times and even though the French took the worst of it, I continued to have the right Action Cards to keep the unit on the field.
I knew that my luck could not hold forever and that the Provance regiment would break under the combined fire of the Prussians unless something was done. Perhaps a bold move would win the day? 
What a splendid looking force! The flags make a brave show.
ReplyDeleteI had my first encounter with Maurice last night, am very impressed.
BRB -
ReplyDeleteYes, Ioannis did a magnificent job with the figures. The GMB flags are the icing on the cake. There are extra flags with each unit as we were doubling up battalions to get the required four square bases to form them.
I am glad that you enjoyed Maurice as well. Michael and I had a very fun time playing out our mini-game. We both laughed very hard as he marched my unit right off the table! Ha ha!
I put some Crusader miniatures and some Front Rank figures on order. I hope that they hurry up and get here soon. I have been painting a lot of Zulus recently. Although they are gratifying due to there being a ton of them with a minimum of effort, they are not technically challenging. Getting some SYW figures in will scratch that itch.
- Jeff