Last week I finally got an opportunity to play Friedrich, a game I’ve owned for some time. The group consisted of four players, including fellow BGGer’s Paul goldenboat O’Connor and Michael Galileo Arrighi, along with Matt, a friend of Paul’s who I hadn’t played with before.

Up front, I should say that after a single session of both Friedrich and Shogun, I’m left anxiously awaiting another game of Friedrich, while wondering if I’ll ever play Shogun again. This review will focus on Friedrich, with a few references to Shogun where appropriate.

So, what does Friedrich have the Shogun doesn’t? The short answer is maneuver. The longer answer follows.

Components



Both Friedrich and Shogun have great bits. Both use hard mounted maps, and wooden blocks (well, wooden discs in Friedrich) to designate armies. Both have tons of very nice cards sporting evocative artwork. Shogun’s components are slightly superior overall, with its thick player mats, full color rulebook, and cube tower, but Friedrich’s four decks of full size cards with period artwork beat Shogun’s smaller cards.

Rules/Mechanics

Both games enjoy simple and clear rulebooks. I and others have described Shogun’s basic mechanics elsewhere. For my full review of Shogun, please see: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/246589

A brief overview of Friedrich’s primary mechanics follows.

Objectives

Unlike in Shogun where each player has the same goal to achieve using similar tools, in Friedrich, each player must make the most of his force to achieve his unique objectives. For the Prussian player, that means either simply trying to survive until the players arrayed against him fall out of the game (by the play of Fate Cards described later) or by going on an early offensive to knock Austria out of the war. The other players (Russia/Sweden, France, Austria/Imperial) must each conquer some portion of Prussian territory to win. So while the allies cooperate to defeat Prussia, only one of them will win in the end.

Friedrich definitely gets the nod over Shogun for asymmetrical forces and objectives, but this introduces an interesting problem as well. Both Paul and Michael had played Friedrich before, and neither seemed overly excited by the prospect of playing as Prussia. After watching Michael (as Prussia) get pummeled by three opponents on three separate fronts (plus Sweden in the north) I can see why. I’m actually looking forward to playing as Prussia to try it out, but I can see how this might make it a bit harder to get a group to play, if one person always has to take on the burden of fighting everyone else.

Turn Sequence

The turns are pretty simple. On their turn (which is in a predetermined order) each player draws a number of cards. Prussia gets the most, but the allies all together get more (they cannot share or trade cards, however). For example, Prussia gets 8 cards while Russia and France get four each (I don’t have rules in front of me, but those numbers are about right). Also, the number of cards drawn can change as events unfold.

Once cards are drawn, the active player can move each army three cities (i.e. spaces), four if on a main road, and each supply train two cities, three if on a main road. Critically, an objective city becomes controlled by the active player only as his army moves out of a city, and only if there is no enemy army within 3 cities distance. This mechanic is BRILLIANT and means that even with the small handful of armies at a player's disposal (usually around 3-4 on your main front, Prussia has 8 scattered about its frontier) you can defend a decent amount of geography.

Armies



Each nation is given a small number of armies, each represented by a wooden disc with a sticker indicating that army’s historical leader (for example, 8 armies for Prussia, 4 for Russia). Each player secretly assigns a number of strength points to each army, up to a max of 8. I was worried this would be ‘clunky’ since its done with paper and pencil (on provided army strength forms) but it turned out okay. It honestly plays a pretty small part of the game and is extremely easy and quick.

Combat

Combat is handled simply. Two adjacent armies must fight. The map has a grid superimposed that shows the “suit” of the battle. Friedrich’s cards are suited and numbered like a normal deck of cards: hearts, clubs, etc, and numbered 2-13, with 11-13 taking the place of J,Q,K.



When combat occurs, the map is consulted to determine the suit in which the battle occurs. Then each player reveals and compares the size of their army. If a 5 strength army attacks a 2 strength army in a ‘clubs’ region, the weaker army starts the battle with a deficit of their difference, which they try to make up by playing cards of the proper suit. In this example, the player with a 2 strength army starts down by 3, and must play a club card or cards to match or exceed the other player. If they play a 7, for example, now the weaker army is up by 4 (i.e. 2+7=9 versus the other player’s 5). Now the “5” player can add cards to take the advantage back. If he plays a 10, now he is up by 6 (5+10=15 vs. 2+7=9). Player don’t actually need to keep their total strength in mind, just the relative difference as it swings back and forth. Combat goes back and forth like this until one player can’t or chooses not to play another card of the appropriate suit. The army that is down loses the final difference in strength points and retreats the same number of cities. In the example above, the defender, if unable to reply, would lose by 6, a crushing defeat that would wipe out most armies. A large army of 7 or 8, however, would be reduced by 6 and then retreat 6 cities.

There are also ‘jokers’ (called reserves) that are incredibly valuable because they can be used as any suit and any value between 1-10.

Reserve is the bottom right card

One of the best things about Friedrich is that it is often wise to lose a battle by a small margin rather than push it and potentially lose big. For example, if you are attacked in spades, and your hand is weak in spades, you might choose to play a reserves card for one less than your opponent’s total, thus losing by only one and retreating only one space. Otherwise, if you push it, your opponent might throw down a 13, and put you 7 or 8 (or more) points down that you cannot make up. Then you lose you’re entire army.

The other great thing about this card driven combat is that you can bluff. If you attack someone in hearts, for example, they will usually assume you are strong in that suit and chose a low cost retreat. Unless, of course, they are strong in hearts in which case they call your bluff and vigorously defend.

Finally, one more great attribute of the suits-based combat: you can be bled of suits in a previous battle, making you vulnerable in areas of that suit. This is an effective way for the allies to indirectly aid each other against Prussia. Russia, for example, might chose to attack in diamonds even if they are likely to lose, in order to bleed Prussia of diamonds to set up Austria for a critical attack. Of course, Prussia, if they sense this, can choose to play just enough cards to get out of the Russian attack with a single army point lost, thus saving their hand for subsequent battles.

There is so much going on based on such a simple rule set, I can hardly believe it. During the game I kept saying, “this is really a great game.” And I meant it.

But wait, there’s more! I haven’t yet described the best aspect of the game (and where Friedrich simply beats the pants off Shogun): Maneuver.

Maneuver

This game will have you frequently studying the map, looking for an opportunity to leverage your opponent out of a key city. Leverage is the key word here. If often feels like you have to use one army to push an enemy army back, thus opening the door for the conquest of a victory city. This is caused by the mechanic described above, where you cannot conquer a city within 3 spaces (i.e. cities) of the current ‘owner.’ So you attack the defending army and hope to make it retreat several spaces, thus allowing another army to conquer the target city.

You may feel like doing this some time

Combine this with the fact the heavily contested cities tend to deplete both parties of cards of the suit for the area in which the city sits. You may want, instead, to come around from another angle. This is because many cities lay near a suit 'border' where the city is located in one suit, but adjacent to a city in another. The attacker can manuever to just across the border and attack from a different suit (each side uses the suit in which their army resides, meaning they each combatant may be playing in different suits for a single battle). So if the head-on attack fails, it should at least have depleted the enemy of that suit. Swing around and try from a fresh suit, while he is stuck defending in the previous suit. Unless, of course, he manuevers to cut you off, as he needs only to stay within three of the city to deny it to you.

And add the supply trains to mix for more maneuvering fun…

Supply trains

Supply train (cube)protected by an army

When operating outside their home country, armies must stay within 6 cities of a supply train (represented by the square blocks). The supply trains are slow and defenseless. You cannot stack an army and supply source in the same space, but they must be defended none-the-less. An unsupplied army has one turn to reestablish supply or starve to death. That means if you are more than three spaces from your home territory, and you lose your supply train due to your opponent's clever maneuvering, your army is toast.

So while you attempt to leverage the enemy out of an area to push him three spaces away from your objective, you are simultaneously attempting to maneuver around his flank to threaten his supply, while trying to cut off any route from his army to your own supply. It is one of the purest and cleanest battles of maneuver I have ever played.

Shogun, by comparison, is slow and stodgy. With only, at most, 12 attacks per game (and no single army attacking more than 6 times), along with preprogrammed single territory moves, no real impact of flank marches, etc., Shogun feels more like WWI.

Cards of Fate

Another interesting and tension filled mechanic is the cards of fate. Each turn after the first 6, a single card of fate is revealed. Frequently they have some minor impact on play. Sometimes they have a more important impact, like adjusting the number of cards a certain power gets each turn. The cards of fate can also have a profound impact, by kicking Russia or other powers out of the game! This is a huge randomizing factor with all the pros and cons that come with it. As the Russian player, each time a card was flipped I literally held my breath hoping the Tsarina wouldn’t die (which means the withdrawal of Russia from the game). I’m quite certain the Prussian player held his breath hoping for the exact opposite result.

This adds a great deal of tension and means Friedrich should play out very differently from game to game. I don’t have nearly enough experience with the game to know if, for example, an early Russian or other allied power withdrawal would ‘ruin’ the game, but I’d love to see it play out. The impact of the fate cards clearly should add to replayability, but if that kind of randomness bothers you, beware.

Strategy

The unusual victory conditions pose some unique challenges for the players. As the allies, you want to help the other non-Prussian players, but not TOO much. If you hand them victories by bleeding your own armies to weaken Prussia, for example, you will also likely hand them the win. On the other hand, if none of the allies attack Prussia, since Prussia will always start with a card advantage (they draw 8 versus any one allies’ 4) then Prussia will build up an enormous hand of cards and get to pick and choose where combat occurs. That required limited cooperation brings tension to the allied players. On the Prussian player, the tension is built in, as they face assault from literally every point on the compass.

Prussia is surrounded, but also enjoys interior lines

Also, as the Prussians, you enjoy interior lines, which allows you to reinforce whichever front requires help, assuming that a more quiet sector exists from which you can draw. In our game, in one dramatic turn Prussia defeated a French army in the field and destroyed the supply train of the other invading French army. This allowed the Prussian player to move reinforcements from the west to the south, against Austria, where he was hard pressed. For the several turns it took for France to rebuild and move up, Prussia enjoyed a somewhat lightened burden. The key is for the Prussia to string together enough victories and reprieves like that to out-survive the alliance.


Summary

Friedrich was an incredible surprise. As the comments above hopefully make clear, it offers very deep game play at a number of levels, all neatly packed into just a few pages of rules. It is not at all dry (a problem I had with Shogun), and feels very much like a wargame. In fact, it is likely the best multiplayer wargame I’ve ever played, and certainly the best euro (if it qualifies in that regard). Whatever kind of game it is, its great fun, and I can’t wait to play it again. Only time (or other BGGer’s with more experience with the game) will tell if this game maintains its luster after repeated plays.

Which brings me to my biggest issue with the game. I understand it plays best with four, but is playable with three. Additionally, the game is pretty long at something like 3-4 hours (maybe quicker with more plays?) Unfortunately, I don’t often get a group together with that much time or with an interest in wargames. But I guarantee that the next time I do, I’ll suggest Friedrich.