Quickstart and Basic Concept of

FRIEDRICH


While the rules of FRIEDRICH are quite simple,
the basic situation of conflict and the the 18th century borderlines are not.
Therefore, it is a good idea to take a close look at the gameboard first.



The Gameboard

Time Track and the Cards of Fate. The game is played as a series of turns, four to a year. The first five turns are recorded using the time track printed on the game board (the game board text is in German, but translations are available here). After the first five turns, time is recorded by drawing a card from the Cards of Fate, one of which is drawn per turn.
Map Legend. The game board is essentially a network of cities connected by major and minor roads. Pieces occupy the cities and move by the roads. The heavy lines denote major roads, along which pieces are allowed to move faster. Cities can be specially marked as set-up, depot, or 1st or 2nd order objective cities.
Prussia. The medium blue territories constitute Prussia. For Prussia, victory is about survival (although there is an advanced game option that lets Prussia win by taking objective cities inside Austria). There are cards of fate that can knock France, Sweden, and Russia out of the war: if no Allied country has achieved victory before all of those cards have been drawn, Prussia wins the game.
Hanover. The light blue territories constitute Hanover. Hanover is Prussia's only ally in the game. Hanover has its own leaders, army, and territory, but there is no Hanoverian player, nor can Hanover win the game separately from Prussia.
Saxony. The dark yellow territory is Saxony. Saxony was an Austrian ally that was conquered by Prussia at the start of the war, and which was heavily taxed by Prussia to pay for the Prussian war effort. There is no Saxon army or player, although the Imperial Army can treat Saxony as its home territory.
Austria. It was Austria (colored grey-white) that initiated the alliance against Prussia. Her ruler, Maria Theresa, was a bitter enemy of Prussia in the wake of Prussia's seizure of Austrian's Silesian province (marked on the map with the German name "Schlesien"). There is no card of fate that can knock Austrian out of the war. Austria wins if at the end of any turn she controls all her objective cities, which not coincidentally, are mostly in Silesia.
France. France has no territory on the map, but she does have armies that start the game on the Hanoverian border. France wins the game if at the end of any turn she occupies all of her objective cities, most of which are in Hanover. There are two cards of fate that control French participation in the war: once both are drawn, France is out of the war.
Imperial Army. The light yellow territory is the home territory of the Imperial Army, which was the army of the Holy Roman Empire, a loose confederation of German states who sometimes acted together but more often apart. There is no Imperial player. At start, the Empire is controlled by the Austrian player, but if France is knocked out of the war, the French player takes it over. The player controlling the Empire wins the game if at the end of any turn the Empire controls all of its objective cities.
Russia. Russia has no territory in the game but her pieces start play in Poland (coloured medium brown). Russia wins the game if a the end of any turn it controls all of her objective cities, which are in eastern and northern Prussia. Russia's involvement in the war was motivated by the Tsarina Elizabeth's hatred of Frederick. There is a card of fate for the Tsarina's death, which once drawn, will knock Russia out of the war.
Sweden. Sweden has her own army and objective cities, but there is no Swedish player; Sweden is under the control of the Russian player. Even if Russia is knocked out of the game, the Russian player can still win the game if at the end of any turn Sweden controls all of her objective cities.



Learn to Play
Now we can make our first moves on the FRIEDRICH board.
You will notice that the most important thing is that you are able to count to three ...


(1) Generals and supply trains are the two types of playing pieces in the game. Pieces move from city to city along roads. Generals can move three cities a turn, supply trains two. Both can move one additional city by moving along main roads.

(2) Generals can conquer objective cities by moving through them, unless there is an enemy general within three cities, in which case the city is defended. A defending general can be driven off by a successful attack from an adjacent city.

(3) Each country has a hand of tactical cards, which is kept secret from the other players in the game. At the start of its turn, a country draws additional cards, the number of which varies per country and which can change over the course of the game. Tactical cards can be used to buy armies or to add to the strength of armies in combat.

(4) The board is divided into squares, each of which is marked with a suit. In combat within that square, only tactical cards of that suit can be played to add to the strengths of the armies. Players must constantly adjust the locations of their armies to take into account the continually changing cards in their hands.

(5) In combat, players take turns playing tactical cards to add to the strengths of their armies, which is denoted as a secret number on their army sheet. When one side runs out of cards or decides to give up, the weaker side loses armies equal to the difference in strength between the two sides and must retreat the same number of cities.

(6) Supply trains are needed to keep generals in supply outside of their home country. If a general outside its home country is not within six cities of a supply train, it has one turn to get back into supply or be eliminated. Supply trains are eliminated if an enemy general moves onto them.

(7) Every turn after the sixth, a Card of Fate is drawn. Each card is unique and describes an event that affects the game. Some are minor; others are major: there are cards that will knock France, Sweden, and Russia out of the war.

(8)The game ends either when an Allied country has conquered all of its objective cities or when the cards of fate have been drawn that knock France, Sweden, and Russia out of the war; if the latter, Prussia has survived the war and wins the game.



The rules for download
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