More Maurice

As trailered in the previous post, we played another game of Maurice last night. We used the same armies as before - basic troop quality, six infantry, three cavalry and three artillery per side - but this time we used nothing but figures from a single (pirate copy) Risk set, based on 1" squares. This allowed us to play on a 4' x 3' area (5' x 2' would have probably worked better), and gave the armies a more consistent feel. I do plant to paint these figures - at some stage.

Of course, both armies couldn't be Riskovia (it's too classy a place for a civil war), so for the purposes of this report I have dubbed the Riskovian's foes the Duchy of Sans-Couleur, in recognition of the fact that they were made up of the beige, brown and yellow figures from the game. The Riskovians went into battle arrayed in pale blue, luminous green and hot pink.

I played the Riskovians, Ralph played the Duchy and Caesar tried to keep order and look up rules as we bombarded him with questions.

The battlefield from the Riskovian perspctive - some hills to the right, a ploughed field and a large wood.

The Riskovians looked particularly colourful:

Their cavalry looked eager, and up for a fight:

The dour forces of the Duchy of Sans-Couleur. Truly beneath contempt:

The Riskovian artillery took long-range pot-shots at the Duchy's infantry. On the hill in the distance can be seen the Sans-Couleur artillery doing the same to the Riskovian infantry. Indeed this was the entire Sans-Couleur plan apparently; put the artillery on the hill and shoot:

After a cautious start the infantry of both armies slowly edge towards each other:

Sadly the ever dapper Geoff wasn't present so I couldn't tale the obligatory picture of him. Instead you get this picture of Caesar refereeing:

The infantry got stuck into a firefight, with the Riskovians having a slight edge:

After several turns of musketry, a Sans-Couleur infantry unit broke. The Riskovian Pink Grenadiers followed it up with a bayonet charge, routing a second Sans-Couleur unit:

The Duchy activated their cavalry. Two units swung across the table to plug the gap in their centre, whilst one turned to block the Riskovian cavalry. In the first melee it saw them off:

The Pink Grenadiers had turned onto the flank of a Sans-Couleur infantry unit, and routed it with musketry. But it was now under attack by massed cavalry:

A fierce melee saw the cavalry driven off. As they swirled in disarray, accurate musketry routed the Duchy's White Hussars:

On the flank the Riskovian cavalry got their act together and routed the Sans-Couleur delaying unit. At that point with the Duchy five units down and Riskovia yet to lose anything, the Duke conceded the game:

This was a much more satisfying game than our first one, as neither of us made any gross errors in deployment. It developed into a traditional 18th century fire-fight, with lines of infantry blazing away at each other for extended periods of time. I had a slight edge there, having drawn a good hand of cards enabling me to modify my firing with Deadly Volleys, whilst disadvantaging Ralph's with Thick Smoke. Taking fewer hits meant I could concentrate less of rallying, and rebuild my hand more quickly as well.

I was lucky to get a good selection of event cards as well. Ralph activated his cavalry with a Clear Instructions card, but I had one too and was able to counter by activating my cavalry as well. Another event card allowed me to move one of Ralph's infantry units such that it masked his artillery and put his infantry line out of easy command for a turn. Yet another card allowed me to activate two groups of units just after the first breakthrough in the centre, giving me the chance to quickly exploit it. And, finally, as Ralph's cavalry charged into the Pink Grenadiers, the Grenadiers instantly rallied, meaning they fought at full efficiency. So the key to the Riskovian victory was good cards played at the right moment.

We're eagerly looking forward to our next game. And, at some stage, I will look at painting the figures.