Manoeuvre Toeurnament: Groeup Phase Complete

Another update on our Manoeuvre Toeurnament since the Groeup Phase is complete. Here are the final results of each Groeup. I’ve added some recaps of the games I witnessed.

Groeup A: Rick, Sara, Hai
#1 Rick (Russia) vs. Hai (France)
I initially underestimated Hai’s abilities and tried for some quick kills. Hai played well and was able to capitalize on my eagerness. After taking out 4 Russian units and only losing 2 of his French, Hai was on the verge of victory. In his excitement, a couple of mistakes were made. The hardy Russians used these to their advantage and took out 3 more French units for the Victory.

#6 Sara (French) vs. Hai (Russia)
Sara and Hai sat down for their first game and it was a good one. They each played cautiously and only traded a couple of eliminated units. As nightfall approached we knew it was going to be a close one. Final score: 16 to 16! However, Sara only lost 2 of her French while taking out 3 of Hai’s Russians for the tie break.

#8 Rick (Prussia) vs. Sara (Russia)
Sara continued her success by crushing Rick in a 5-1 elimination victory. It started out Ok, but quickly went down hill for Rick.

#16 Sara (Prussians) vs. Hai (Ottoman)
#17 Rick (French) vs. Hai (British)
#18 Rick (Ottoman) vs. Sara (British)
Sara, Hai and I go together to finish out our games. We had a fun night of duking it out. Although I have to apologize to Sara for dragging the last game out. I was doing well most of the game. I was ahead on units and with 3 cavalry nearing nightfall I thought I had this one. My weak Irregular Cavalry stumbled moving into position though and I ended up losing them. Sara had gone through her cards and I was near the end of my deck handicapping me from playing anything. I took quite a bit of time trying to salvage a victory but there wasn’t a way out.

Final:
Sara 4-0 (-11)
Rick 2-2 (+7)
Hai 0-4 (+4)

Sara went 4-0 while I barely escaped my group with a .500 record! The number next to our names is a “strength of schedule” value. A high number represents using weaker armies against stronger armies and is used for tie-breaking similar records.

Groeup B: John, Russ, Aaron
#5 John (Ottomans) vs. Russ (Austrian)
#7 John (Russians) vs. Russ (British)
Russ took back to back losses to John. These games were going on at the same time as game #6 above.

#9 Aaron (British) vs. Russ (Prussians)
#10 Aaron (Prussians) vs. Russ (Spanish)
A week or so later Russ took Aaron on in back to back games to put himself back up to 2-2. Good enough to tie for the 4th best record in the toeurnament.

#14 John (Prussian) vs. Aaron (French)
#15 John (British) vs. Aaron (Ottoman)
Then John finished as strong as he started with back to back wins against Aaron.

Final:
John 4-0 (+1)
Russ 2-2 (+1)
Aaron 0-4 (-2)

John also goes 4-0. For those of you who don’t know: John and Sara are husband and wife. But the only way for them to play each other now is to meet in the finals!

Groeup C: Joe, Jess, Brad
My wife, Jess, hosted their groeup’s initial game night so I got to spectate the following matches.
#2 Joe (British) vs. Jess (Russian)
#3 Joe (Prussian) vs. Brad (Russian)
Joe found himself facing the Russian army once more, this time against his Prussians. The game was fairly close with the units lined up in the middle of the battle field trading shots. However, timely supply and restorations prevented the Russians from finishing off troops. The dice were also not with Brad he failed an improbable number of bombardments, volleys and pursuit rolls. To give you a taste, he bombarded a weakened Prussian unit (strength of 3) from a hill (+2 to his roll) with a d10… and failed. Joe racks up another victory.

#4 Brad (Austria) vs. Jess (Ottoman)
Brad and Jess then finished off the night with the Austrians and Ottomans respectively. The ‘weaker’ army choice was a strategic move for them save their stronger armies against their current group leader Joe. The battle was fairly evenly matched. However, the Ottoman cavalry took too many chances and Brad served Jess her second loss of the night.

Another game night with the groeup at our place:
#11 Brad (Prussians) vs. Jess (British)
This was a long game, but Jess happily won this one to keep from being shut-out.

#12 Joe (Russians) vs. Jess (French)
Joe clinches a position in the elimination phase with his win against Jess.

#13 Joe (Ottoman) vs. Brad (American)
Brad took a gamble by choosing the weakest army. He also picked out an unusual field of battle which included the lakes, marsh, and fields. However, Brad had all the right cards and his dice (unlike the last game) were on fire. He hit well above average on all of his rolls. The Ottomans faced strong defenses on most of their attacks. In fact, the only way Joe was able to eliminate any units was by surrounding them. Nightfall was approaching and the Ottomans were regrouping to wait it out. The Americans hadn’t even made it to the other side of the board. Then the wily Americans sprung an ambush. Only a 10 would give Brad the choice in the result and he amazingly rolled exactly that! Brad scores an impressive win.

Final:
Joe 3-1 (+1)
Brad 2-2 (0)
Jess 1-3 (-1)

Joe takes the top seed in Groeup C, while Brad joins his brothers at 2-2. Because of the ranking systems we used I would advance. However, there is some consensus in our gaming group that the Ottoman army should not be ranked second to last. If we re-rank the armies Brad’s strength of schedule value would shoot up and he would advance. So, Brad and I will choose from our remaining armies and have a play-in elimination game.

More Numbers
Here’s a summary of the armies used and their record in a Country Win/Loss format:
French 2/3
British 4/3
Russian 4/3
Prussian 4/3
Austrian 1/1
Spanish 1/0
Ottoman 1/5
American 1/0

I think the most interesting stat is the Ottomans losing 5 of their 6 games. Perhaps we over estimate the strength of the Ottoman army.

Groeup Phase Complete
That about wraps up the Groeup Phase. Brad and I will have a play-in game and then the Elimination Phase will begin. Sara and Joe will duke it out while John faces the winner of the play-in game. These semi-final matches will be the best 2 out of 3 games. All of the armies have been reset for this phase. However, during the semi-final and final matches each army can only be used once by each player. It should be exciting.

And one last thing, the trophy will now be unveiled. The winner of the 1st ever Margin of Victory Manoeuvre Toeurnament will win this:

Manoeuvre Toeurnament Champion Trophy