Studying the map of

MARIA

MARIA is primarily a 3-player game,
although it can be played by 2 players as well.

For both settings, MARIA offers the introductory and the advanced variant.
The introductory game has less rules and takes about 90 minutes.
The advanced game uses the complete set of rules and takes about 3 to 5 hours.

No matter in which variant you want to play the game, it is a good idea to study the gameboard,
thus stepping into the political constellations during the War of the Austrian Succession.



The Gameboard

The gameboard shows cities, which are interconnected by roads and main roads. Some cities are minor or major fortresses. Nine of these fortresses give the owner one electoral vote each. Electoral votes are deciding the Imperial election. – The gameboard is divided into 2 maps: The Flanders map (left) and Bohemia Map (right). Playing pieces can move from one map to the other only in the southern part.
Austria. The large white area is the home country of Austria. Austria also has home country territories on the Flanders map, the so-called Austrian Netherlands (which are about nowadays Belgium). Austria is one player. During the game, Austria has to fight against a big number of attacking powers.
Bavaria. During the War of the Austrian Succession, Bavaria laid claim to a wide range of Austrian possessions, and even desired the German Imperial Crown. And so will do Bavaria in MARIA. Bavaria is one of the attacking powers. Ruleswise, Bavaria is called a minor power.
France is the "big brother" behind Bavaria, and the arch-enemy of Austria. France is a major power. France and Bavaria are one player, which conducts the moves of France and Bavaria simultaneously.
Saxony, a minor power like Bavaria, also wanted some pieces of the Austrian empire. However, Saxony was a quite disloyal ally and defected to the other side in the yeart 1744. In MARIA, Saxony starts as an Anti-Austrian power, but will maybe later in the game switch sides. In this case, Saxony will be played by player "Austria".
Prussia. The third player is Prussia. This player also takes Saxony (until its defection). It was the Prussian invasion of Silesia which started the War of the Austrian Succession.
Silesia. In the game, Silesia is not home country for anyone. Although historical not 100% correct, this is an pragmatic method to portray Silesia's status of a "disputed province". In the advanced game, Silesia can become Prussian home country.
Netherlands. Did we use the word "pragmatic" in the above paragraph? Yes, and it was well intended: The only ally of Austria is the so-called Pragmatic Army, an army set up by Great Britain, Hanover and the Netehrlands. The Pragmatic Army is the fourth major power in the game. Her home country is the Netherlands. Note that the Pragmatic Army is NOT a fourth player, but will be played by player "Prussia"! As you see, this player has a schizophrenic role: With Prussia he is the ally of France and the enemy of Austria, while it is just the other way round when he plays the Pragmatic Army! – Don't worry. This concept is working very good, due to the map split up in 2 parts.
The time track. The game is played in a series of turns. The introductory game lasts 9 turns, while the advanced game last 12 turns. The turns are recorded on the time track.
The Electoral College. In the advanced game, there will be one Imperial Election. In order to become emperor, you need 5 out of 9 Elector votes. You have 1 vote for each Electoral fortress you control. Which is fortress is controlled by which player is summarized on the Electoral College.
The pool of victory markers. In the advanced game, each major power has a certain number of victory markers in its pool. A major power wins as soon as it has placed all its victory markers on the gameboard. (A minor power cannot win the game.) Typically, victory markers go on conquered fortresses, — Next to the pool there is a smaller box, called off-map box, which is used for generals sent to distant theatres of operations, for instance Italy. As long as a general is in an off-map box he is out of the game.

The victory boxes. Victory markers can also go the victory boxes if special conditions are fulfilled. For instance, if you score a major win in battle you are allowed to put a marker into the box "battle victory". There are victory boxes for winning the Imperial election, for the domination in Italy, for the annexion of Silesia, etc.



The rules for download
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