Sometimes, a game is good not necessarily because it has groundbreaking or innovative mechanics or amazingly rich and deep gameplay. Such a game succeeds for no other reason than that it offers unpretentious fun, and at the end of the day that’s the highest praise one can really pay any game.
GMT Games’ MANOEUVRE, designed by first-timer Jeff Horger, is an easy-to-play battle game that falls squarely into this category of board games that appeal more to the pleasure and joy of playing them than to the trainspotter hobbyist position of focusing solely on the “elegance” of a design or the supposed sophistication of “clever” mechanics.
The game benefits from a plain-speech, “nothin’ fancy” approach and very basic mechanics hinging on cards, dice, and board movement that feels refreshingly comfortable and appealing in a way that many board games developed within the realm of hobby audience expectations simply miss. MANOEUVRE is a game that anyone—no matter their level of experience with the hobby, can apprehend, understand, and enjoy regardless of their level of interest in the 19th-century era warfare the game depicts.
It’s a game that I can imagine twelve and thirteen year olds playing on the kitchen table into the wee hours of the morning but I can also see older gamers enjoying it as a cool down after more intense or complex fare. It has an almost classical feel that anyone who has ever rolled dice, held a hand of cards, or moved pieces around a board can appreciate. In fact, I believe that hobby-oriented expectations may be the prime reason that many more seasoned gamers might find the game lacking in certain areas or deficient in terms of gameplay.
Frankly, I didn’t think that much of MANOEUVRE the first time I played the game myself, likely because I brought certain expectations that were not really in line with Mr. Horger’s intent. I initially felt like the game was too simplistic overall and strangely abstract- a particular oddity since GMT Games’ reputation rests squarely with some of the finest and most rigorously historical wargames on the market today. I felt a little disappointed because it felt sort of half-designed and almost lazy—a feeling not exactly helped by the game’s somewhat second-rate production, but in retrospect I think that I was probably just missing the point.
The theme is 19th century battlefield command, and to that end the armchair Napoleon or Wellington is provided with eight different nationalities with which to play a game of MANOEUVRE. Each nation has eight square counters depicting infantry and cavalry regiments of varying strengths and a deck of tiny cards with which to lead them to glory. The battlefield is variable, composed of four modular 6x6 tiles divided into squares featuring some terribly cartoonish terrain art. The game comes with 24 of these map tiles and combined with the eight distinct armies and their unique card decks, there’s a lot of variety and replayability in the box. And although it’s a two player game, it doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out that it’s entirely possible to play four simultaneous games with one set.
Playing MANOEUVRE is a breeze. On your turn you get to discard as many cards as you want and redraw up to five. Then you move one of your pieces (infantry one square, cavalry two). If you have a unit orthogonally adjacent to an enemy and an attack card or cards matching your piece then you can attack, which means you take your units’ basic strength and apply the die rolls prescribed by the cards- you may get to roll 2D6, 1D10, 2D8, or so on depending on the unit card.
The defender generates a “to hit” number based on its strength, any benefit imparted by the terrain it’s in, any matching unit cards, and commander cards. If the attacker’s total attack is higher, the defending unit may be reduced in strength (and flipped over to indicate disorder or casualties), forced to retreat, or both. Most successful attacking units then have to advance into the vacated square and cavalry gets to roll to see if a pursuit attack is successful, inflicting further damage. There are also rules for artillery- most units have matching artillery cards which essentially let them attack from a square away provided that no hills, forests, or towns are in the way. Overall, the combat is pretty basic but the interlocking cardplay, dice, and movement mechanics create a lot of drama and flexibility.
There are special cards that allow forces to build redoubts to fortify defensive positions, withdraw strategically, ambush the enemy, or regroup reduced units. Commander cards, each depicting historical leaders for each nation, allow units to combine attacks, rally, or add combat strength. Each nation has a unique mix of cards so the Ottomans get plenty of regroup cards to depict their tenacity and sheer numbers, the Americans have lots of ambush cards to reflect a more guerilla style left over from the Revolutionary War, and the French have the best leaders (including, of course, Napoleon). The cardplay adds some nice bluffing (is your opponent moving the 13th Regiment because he has a mitt full of cards to aid their attack?) and there is a definite hand management element as players will cycle through cards to be in position to attack or defend as the situation demands.
