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Here's a short note from Mike Siggins about the game Friedrich (which encouraged me to go out and purchase the game... my credit card company thanks you, Mike!)
Friedrich
Richard Sivel for HistoGames
Boardgame, £35.
I know many of you enjoy playing boardgames, either as a standalone exercise or as a driver for campaigns. A game I can recommend on all counts is Friedrich, designed by Richard Sivel and published by HistoGames.
While not a title you will find in Toys R Us, specialist game dealers will stock it at around £35.
The theme is the Seven Years War, it can accommodate either two, three or four players and has over twenty commander roles, happily lending itself to club projects. The play is at the strategic level and very neatly reflects the manoeuvre and supply issues of the period. It works for me on several levels, the most appealing being that I know exactly what I am trying to achieve in the game – something that doesn’t always become clear in strategic games. It offers a decent stab at ‘fog of war’ rules, so you don’t always know what you are up against and, partly as a result, there are plenty of interesting decisions. It is also highly atmospheric as it stands, but I am sure talented figure gamers can take it to the next level. Each army that moves around the map has a number of generic strength points, recorded on a separate roster. It would be the work of a few minutes to convert these points to actual units – perhaps 1/2 point for an infantry regiment, 1 for a cavalry or light, and so on. This would allow you to deploy in meaningful tabletop battles, adding that engaging dimension of there being ‘another day tomorrow’, and carrying losses through into the game system. Additionally, the board is a point to point affair, so resulting battles are readily named, adding flavour. The game is elegantly designed, flavoursome, relatively quick to play and offers a fascinating strategic situation. I think you will like it.
Mike Siggins
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