Marengo is a simple game, but the tactics required by the situation are anything but simple. Both players must, to have a chance at victory, be adept at both offensive and defensive tactics, while keeping their ultimate objective always in view.
The Austrian Player has the burden of the initial attack placed squarely on him. His advance is nothing if not constricted. He is hemmed in by the moat of Alessandria and the small number of bridges, not to mention the rough terrain on the flanks. Thus, the Austrian must get out of this bottleneck and into the open across the river as soon as possible.
Once across the river, the Austrian must divide into two thrusts. The basic tendency is to drive down the road to Marengo, but the Austrian must also send forces off to the flank, otherwise he will be corked up by French resistance. In the first Turns, the longer the Austrian can make his lines, the harder it will be for the French to cover everything. If the French line can be stretched (and weak cavalry units are excellent for grabbing weak flanks as well as semi-suicidal diversionary attacks), it can probably be ruptured by the more powerful units supported by the artillery. The Austrian should use both bridges to advance, and should not be afraid of putting his weight onto a stroke north of Marengo. If Marengo and Pietrabuona fall early, the Austrian should try and push the French back as far as possible, ideally to the large ridge in the center, and not let the French regroup for a counterattack. Keep the pressure on, or he will chew you up with the counterattack. Watch for cavalry slipping behind you, especially at this juncture.
One tactic, which both French and Austrian can profit by, is to sequence your attacks so as to surround a vital position, if not with units, then with Zones of Control, cutting off enemy retreat routes. Both Players should always surround the enemy wherever possible. Cavalry units are often able to get around to cut retreat routes, while artillery is especially valuable for diversionary attack.
The French Player must play a subtle defense. If he fights too far forward he will be engaged, surrounded, and put in the sack by the Austrians, who will then mop up the reinforcements a few at a time. The French must maintain their mobility and should only get involved in a slugging match early in the game if they can tie down and bottle-neck a sizable number of Austrian units. The French should not be afraid of withdrawing, even if this means abandoning engaged units. The large hill in the center with its surrounding villages is an excellent defensive position if you have enough units to keep a cohesive line. The French counterattack must be effective to win. Again, the French must put emphasis on operations on the flanks, as a drive up the road to Marengo will often be bottlenecked and slow down to a crawl. One should wait for the right moment to launch the counterattack, and go at the Austrians full force. If you have kept up a good defense earlier and inflicted loss on the Austrians, victory will be within reach.
The Combat Results Table for Marengo is essentially of a `surround` nature; that is, it is relatively bloodless and uncertain even at higher odds columns. Consequently, most units, particularly the larger ones, will be eliminated by being unable to retreat rather than as a direct result of combat. For this reason, the Players must sequence their attacks and advances after combat for the express purpose of trapping Enemy units and forcing them to retreat when they have nowhere to go. However, this must be done carefully, lest the advancing units become surrounded themselves if a subsequent attack fails. Combat odds should always be voluntarily reduced to 4 to 1 when attacking units which are surrounded, since this ensures their destruction and minimizes the chances of an exchange.
One other effect of this system of advance and retreat is that it encourages the use of `island` rather than `line` tactics. In other words, it is often better to alternate Friendly occupied hexes with vacant ones rather than have a completely solid line of units. That way the front can be held by a minimum number of units without any danger of being surrounded when adjacent Friendly units retreat. Of course, this is not always possible or even desirable, since it does allow the enemy to achieve greater concentration in his attacks.
Artillery should be used for low odds diversionary attacks (which allow a concentration of strength against other specific units), and to achieve the best possible combat odds. By the way, you may want to reduce diversionary attacks made solely by bombarding artillery to the lowest possible combat odds to avoid your `winning` the attack and forcing the Enemy unit to retreat out of a Friendly Zone of Control. Terrain should also be taken advantage of; particularly the doubling effect of ridge hexsides.
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