514 Chateau-Thierry (12 February 1814)

514 Chateau-Thierry (12 February 1814)

TAG Search:
- Banners: 8
- Years: Sixth Coalition
- Army: French / Prussian
- Game Box: Marshals&Tactician
- Special Rule:
Exit Victory Banner; Temporary Victory banner;
Conscript Infantry;

Another big unbalanced escape scenario I fear ...

It was an 8-3 victory to the Prussians but only because they got the Le Grande Manoeuvre card at a time they could use it to exit 4 units in one turn. French frustrated at start with unsuitable cards to close on the Prussians till near the end.

The French had good cards at the start, a Force March and Bayonet Charge. This was not in itself decisive, but forced the Prussians to react. The Prussian strategy was to pull off the map of course, and indeed were able to get 6 units off by the end of the game, but in the process only destroying one French Light Infantry. The French however had many one block units which had distanced themselves far enough from the Prussians to avoid elimination, including all of the Guard infantry units. The French Cavalry won the scenario by capturing both bridges and forcing the remaining infantry into squares. French victory 8-7. I did not believe it would be close at all upon set up. A surprisingly interesting scenario in which the initial card draw will likely play a significant role.

Very unbalanced and boring

The French needs to have better cards and dice than the Prussians to have a chance at victory, and even that may not be enough. As the Prussians, I had terrible cards (and 4 left section cards I could not use for half the game when I had no units in my left section), terrible dice (I did not eliminate one French unit) and the French had better than average cards and very good dice. Despite all these advantages, the French only managed to win 8-7 and I even had a low odds attack on my last turn that could have brought me victory.


Of the two dozen scenarios I've played, this is the worse and it's not even close. The only thing for it is that it plays very quickly for a 8-banner scenario.