Marschall Vorwärts!
Marschall Vorwärts! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Length
The game lasts up to 6 turns (card deck shuffles).
Set Up
French first; III, VI Infantry (Inf) and III Cavalry (Cav) Corps in/adjacent to C7; IV Inf Corps at E7. All other (both sides) units enter as reinforcements.
One player shuffles a deck of cards (include 1 Joker card) to form the draw deck.
Turn Play
A player makes a card draw (CD).
- With an even value black suit card, two French units can activate.
- With an odd value black suit card, three units activate.
- A black face card allows any three French units to activate or to flip one unit from reduced to full strength.
- Coalition units activate the same way if a red suit card is drawn.
Eliminated units cannot return to play.
A turn immediately ends when the Joker card is drawn (for combat or activation) or all cards have been drawn (whichever comes first; ignore Joker card if drawn before both players have activated).
Activated Units
Activated units can:
a) Move 1 hex (2 hexes if both along connected road hexes), or
b) Attack an adjacent enemy unit.
There are no Zones of Control and combat is voluntary.
Stacking
Up to 2 units from the same Army may stack in a hex. French have 1 Army. Coalition has 2 Armies – North (N) and Silesia (S).
Reinforcements
It costs one activation to enter a reinforcement unit onto the map, starting on its turn of entry. If entry hex is enemy occupied, the unit may enter at closest unoccupied map edge hex.
- French units enter at the star hex (F6): Turn 3 V Cav and VII Inf Corps.
- Coalition units enter at any north map hex:
- Turn 1: Prussian I Inf, Russian IX, X and XI Inf Corps;
- Turn 2: Prussian VIII Inf and Russian III Cavalry Corps;
- Turn 5: Prussian III Inf and Russian XIV Inf Corps.
Combat
The player makes a CD.
- If CD is a face card, combat has No Effect.
- If CD is an Ace, combat is a Failure.
- If CD is a 10, combat is a Success.
- Any other CD value: add the attacking unit's AF to CD value and then subtract the defending unit's DF and modify by any terrain modifiers.
- If the net result is greater than the DF of the defending unit, the attack is a Success.
- If the net result is equal to the defender's DF, the combat is No Effect.
- If the net result is less than the defender's DF, the attack is a Failure.
Results
Success: If CD color is the attacking player's color, the defending unit suffers a step loss; otherwise the defending unit must retreat.
No Effect: Neither side affected.
Failure: If the CD is the color of the defending player, the attacking unit suffers a step loss; otherwise the attacking unit must retreat.
Retreats
A unit required to retreat must move away from the attacking unit one hex into a vacant or friendly occupied hex (if this does not cause over-stacking) so it is not adjacent to the attacking unit.
Units may not retreat across a river, off-map or into a swamp hex. If unable to retreat, they take a step loss instead.
Victory
The player who controls (occupies or last to occupy) hex F6 at the end of the game is the winner.
Terrain
| Terrain | Level | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | Level 1 | Town |
| Hill | Level 2 | Hex number |
| Woods | Level 1 | Road |
| Swamp | No Entry | River |
Terrain modifier: -1 CD if attacking into woods, across a river, or from Level 1 to Level 2 (use all that apply).
Note: Partial hexes (no hex numbers) are not playable.
Counter Key
- Unit name
- Corps numeral
- Type flag: grey = Coalition, blue = French. Yellow "C" = Cavalry.
- Army
- Attack Factor (AF)
- Defense Factor (DF)
- Reduced bar
- Morale Value (MV) (advanced game only)
Type flags: French Inf, French Cav, Russian Inf, Russian Cav, Prussian Inf.
Note: Units with an asterisk are used with the advanced game only.
Abbreviations (as printed): Whlmvch = Wilhelmovich; Provsnl = Provisional.
Unit Roster
Units shown on the card's top bar (AF-DF, with the morale value as a subscript):
| Unit | Type | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Pajol | VC (Cav) | 1-1 (3) |
| (Provisional) | IIIC | 1-1 (3) |
| Marmont | VI | 3-3 (3) |
| Reynier | VII | 2-3 (3) |
| Bertrand | IV | 2-3 (3) |
| Souham | III | 2-3 (3) |
| Random* | Event | – |
| Random* | Event | – |
Coalition units shown on the card's right-hand roster (AF-DF):
| Unit | Designation | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Woronzow | XIV-N | 2-33 |
| vonBulow | III-N | 2-33 |
| Tschaplitz | IIIC-S | 1-14 |
| Yorck | I-S | 1-23 |
| Wilhelmovich | XI-S | 1-23 |
| St. Priest | VIII-S | 1-23 |
| Kapzevich | X-S | 1-23 |
| Olsufiev | IX-S | 1-23 |
The card also carries a Turn / French Advantage track along the right edge, which is not legible enough in the source image to transcribe its values.