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 I haven’t done a strategy post in over a year! But I know you like them, so there will be more of them over the next months. Today, we’re returning to a mainstay: Here I Stand (Ed Beach, GMT Games) is one of my favorite games ever – if not my favorite game of all. (I should really do one of those T ..read more

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. The first strategy tip is (somewhat ironically) a tactical one: ruthlessly eliminate c ..read more

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: Video: Start of Game Strategy in Mr. President ..read more

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 ..read more

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. Missile Combat Time to discuss combat. Like nearly all wargames, SPQR has mechanisms for inflicting damage on the players’ units. Missile combat allows missile capable units to inflict Hits, generally only one, from a distance, and generally with no adverse impact on the unit doing the shooting. Reflective of the historical period, missile fire is generally not decisive; that is the job of Shock Combat which is covered in the next section. Unlike other grand ..read more

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 o ..read more

In the first two installments (you can check them here: Part 1 & Part 2) we explored strategy for the attacker breaking the line. In this final installment we will consider the role of the defender. Holding The Line If the decisive moment of engagement of the lines is so important to the attacker, it is equally important to the defender, who has as much to gain or lose from the outcome. Why one army might become the defender in the clash of arms is dependent on many things. Perhaps a disadvantage in command or unit strength, or an advantage in positioning and terrain, might ..read more

Breaking The Line, Holding The Line PART TWO 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. 3. The Potential Engagement Frontage We’re now ready for the third phase of the attack, the movement to engage the enemy line. A key concept in discussion of the clash of lines is the engagement frontage. This is the number of adjacent enemy units which may be targeted by the attacker when the lines meet in close combat. More important, however, I would like to differentiate this from ..read more

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 confli ..read more

When you have just learned a shiny new board game, especially one which is a bit longer and more complex than others, it’s nice to have some strategic direction. That’s what I aim to provide with my series Three Basic Tips – strategy advice for beginner and intermediate players that is easy to remember and yet gets you places. Today’s game is Unconditional Surrender! (Salvatore Vasta, GMT Games). With its 56-page rulebook and a playtime of 50-100 hours for a full campaign, the game can look a little daunting. Worry not! It’s a surprisingly beginner-friendly system – in fact, it ..read more