CAFE’25: 3rd Round

Austrian forces encircle the Prussian army at Frankenstein, but Friedrichs audacity will be rewarded with a resounding victory at this decisive battle.

The character of the Friedrich player is what sets the tone of the game above everything else. Alex Calderón was playing Prussia at this table and he is not the kind of person who waits passively. True to his character, he began the game by going after his enemies taking advantage of the great difference in cards between Prussia and the Allies at the game’s outset. Laughlin and his Russians were soon reeling from the attack, but the irishman kept a cool head and was able to maintain Dohna isolated from any reinforcements in the clubs sector, though unfortunately he was unable to best Alex’s clubs there throughout the game.

At the other side of the mapboard, France was kept busy by the Hannoverian pieces led with as much agressiveness as its Prussian allies. Meanwhile, in the middle sector of the board Arnold massed his Austrians for the conquest of Silesia while Alex set up a triple tower in Saxony, which didn’t wait there and went after the white pieces by the way of Bohemia. Arnold was waiting for him there and ambushed the three Prussian generals at Frankenstein (!) in an envelopment battle that, in the end, went very badly for the Austrians. Prussia was thus able to take back some cities in Silesia. This hight tempo was leaving Alex hand quite depleted, but the game ended with a Prussian victory in round 14 leaving no time for the Prussians to pay the price of attrition.

A Hannoverian defensive “hedgehog” at Minden which covers the blue supply train from all routes in hearts.

This game was a duel of two Ricardo. Ricardo was playing with Austria and Richard Sivél was playing as Prussia enjoying not just his vast experience in playing his own game, but also some luck with the Cards of Fate, as he didn’t suffer any subsidy reductions until late in the game. After a brief encounter in Silesia at the very beginning, Ricardo decided to concentrate his efforts in Saxony and an Imperial victory. But a Prussian general was able to hunt down Hildi and Austria went back to the original plan of conquering Silesia. This ended badly when three Austrian generals were surrounded and destroyed at Frankenstein, of all places.

Austria’s difficulties were of no help to her allies, Russia (Björn v. Knorring) and France (Alberto). The first one saw repeated attacks stopped cold both in clubs and in hearts, while the other was blocked by the two Hannoverian generals settling down comfortably at Minden with their supply train and – apparently – a great advantage in hearts that Alberto was loath to challenge. After 21 Rounds the game ended with Richard scoring another victory.

The Prussian probe into Bohemia ends in disaster as Austria manages to trap a triple stack of enemy generals from two different suits.

Thus far Jorge had done well in the championship, and thus there were some expetations about how well he would fare as Friedrich at this table. He began the game by leaving Silesia early and concentrating his defense against Austria in Saxony, only to launch and offensive from there into Bohemia after not taking the offensive option. This ended up very badly when the three Prussian generals attacking were surrounded and destroyed at Pirna.

The stress he was suffering by this serious reverse and  the apparent lack of clubs made Jorge give up ground before Russia too, concentrating his defense solely on Küstrin and hearts. Only the French, led by the OoC player Rubén gave him some respite by advancing cautiously, though in the end they were also very close to winning. The Prussian position deteriorated quickly and the game was over in round 12 with a double victory by Guy with both Austria and the Empire.

The French advance on Magdeburg was made easier by the support of the Austrians in the area.

For this game Javier – an OoC player – took the role of Friedrich. Mark Luta probed the Prussian defense at both Silesia and Saxony simultaneously, and as Javier gave ground in the second area, Mark went on to try an Imperial win. Meanwhile, the Prussian defense against Russia gave up one objective after another as a consequence of repeated battles, which eventually forced Javier to make a last stand with diamonds in Stettin. In the end the confluence of Austrians and French near Magdeburg benefited the red pieces – led by Juan Aguado – the most, and Pompadour achieved victory in round 11.