Friedrich

A tutorial for playing Friedrich via CyberBoard

by László Á. Koller

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:

[Updated September 17, 2008 7:15am EDT]

Before Your First Game

You will need to install CyberBoard (by Dale L. Larson) onto your computer. To download the latest version of CyberBoard onto your computer, visit: http://cyberboard.brainiac.com

CyberBoard Game Box and Scenario Files

In order to play Friedrich via CyberBoard, you will need to download the following compressed file (.zip):

Friedrich v08.zip

Once downloaded, you will need to extract the compressed file (.zip) and save its constituent files into a folder on your computer. The following constituent files can be found in the compressed file (.zip):

Filename Description
Friedrich v08.gbx CyberBoard Game Box file
Friedrich v08 (4-player).gsn CyberBoard Scenario file for a 4-player game
Friedrich v08 (3-player).gsn CyberBoard Scenario file for a 3-player game
Friedrich v08 (2-player) - The Austrian Theatre.gsn CyberBoard Scenario file for the 2-player "The Austrian Theatre" game
Friedrich v08 (2-player) - The War in the West.gsn CyberBoard Scenario file for a 2-player "The War in the West" game

This CyberBoard game box was designed to be used with CyberBoard v3.03. This implementation of Friedrich is bilingual, and as applicable and appropriate nearly all labels are in both German (Deutsch) and English. If you find any errors or discrepancies, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you and good gaming!

The complete, current rules for Friedrich may be found here: http://www.histogame.de/e_download.html

CyberBoard playing board
Screenshot of CyberBoard playing board

Understanding CyberBoard Files

There are four (4) distinct files that CyberBoard uses when playing any game. Two of these are used by the CyberBoard program to create your game, and two will be used by the players during the course of your CyberBoard game. They are:

File Type File Extension Description
Game Box .gbx The CyberBoard game box file contains all of the graphics and other game elements that your computers needs to visually render the game you are playing.
Scenario .gsn The CyberBoard scenario file contains the instructions used by CyberBoard to implement game specific aspects of the game you are playing, such as how many players are in the game and the initial setup for the game.
Game .gam The CyberBoard game file contains all of the details of your CyberBoard game from your point-of-view. Each player will have his/her own unique game file during your game.
NOTE: This is the file you will need to play your game. When you play your CyberBoard game, you will need to load this file before you can make any moves (or watch anyone else's moves). This file will be updated by move files (.gmv; see below) created by all players during the course of your game.
Recording .gmv The CyberBoard recording file contains all of the recorded activity that a player performs at one time during his/her turn (or his/her opponent's turn in response to an opponent's attack; see Combat below). Many veteran CyberBoard gamers refer to this file as the "move file".
NOTE: When you play your CyberBoard game, you will create move files so that the other players can see what you did during your turns; also, you will load move files created by the other players so that you can see what the other players did during their turns.

CyberBoard Concepts: Trays and Markers

There are two more concepts to understand when using CyberBoard: trays and markers.

All pieces used during a CyberBoard game are located in trays. CyberBoard uses a movable window to represent a tray. Each tray window has a drop down list near its titlebar; you may change the tray displayed by choosing a different tray name in the drop down list. CyberBoard has three (3) trays: Tray A, Tray B, and Markers. All three tray windows may be open at the same time.

Tray Description
Tray A 
Tray B		 Any game piece originating in one of these trays may never be deleted; these pieces are a permanent part of the game. There are set, finite number of these pieces in the game. (However many you see, are how many there are.) You can move these pieces on the game board, rotate them, turn them over, or even return them to a tray, but you cannot delete them.
Examples of permanent pieces used in Friedrich include generals, supply trains, tactical cards, and control markers.
Markers The tray named "Markers" is a special tray. Any game piece originating in this tray may be deleted; these pieces are not a permanent part of the game. There are an infinite number of each piece in each marker tray. You can move these pieces on the game board, rotate them, turn them over, or you can delete them, but you can never return them to a tray.
Examples of temporary markers used in Friedrich include army-totals, comments, and reserve values.

NOTE: Some trays are "owned" by players, while others are public to all players. The contents (game pieces) of owned trays are marked as belonging to the owning player, unless and until he/she releases ownership of the piece.

Game Markers

The following temporary markers are used in this game box:

Marker Description
Gesamtzahl/Army-Total These markers are used to summarize each player's total army size. Additionally, during combat these markers summarize each player's current score.
Kommentar/Comment This marker is used to make temporary annotations during the game.
Spielmarken/Game Markers These markers are primarily used to annotate Card of Fate-related aspects of the game. These include the initial turn marker [the hourglass marker], and a marker to show that specific Cards of Fate have already been played during the game [the red "X"].
TK-Marken/TC Markers These markers are used to set how many tactical cards are drawn by each nation.
Wert der Reserve/Reserve Value These markers are used to set the value (from 1 to 10) of Reserve tactical cards played during the game.

Setting Up Your Game

Before you begin, you will need to decide whether you want to play a 2-, 3-, or 4-player scenario of Friedrich. Please note the 3- and 4-player scenarios are standard games of Friedrich, while the two 2-player scenarios are sub-games focusing on only specific region of the full game board. One of the 2-player scenarios focuses on the western front (France, Hanover, and Prussia), and the other focuses on the southern front (Austria, Imperial Army, and Prussia).

  1. Launch CyberBoard (CBPlay.exe).
  2. From the File menu, choose New....
  3. In the window entitled "New", highlight Game, and press the OK button.
  4. In the window entitled "Select Initial Scenario for Game", navigate to the Friedrich CyberBoard files on your computer, then highlight the scenario you want to play, and press the Open button.
  5. In the window entitled "Creating Multiplayer Game", press the OK button.
    NOTE: It is possible to create an optional referee game file (.gam) during this step. A referee game file allows its user to see all aspects of the game, including trays and game pieces owned by specific players.
  6. In the window entitled "Select Base Name for Player Game Files", type in a name for your game and press the Save button. (CyberBoard will now create a set of files named after each player in the game as well as a spectator game file.)

NOTE: CyberBoard assumes that the game box file (.gbx) is in the same folder as your game file (.gam); otherwise, CyberBoard will prompt you to supply the folder where you saved your game box file.

Starting Your Game

In all scenarios, the individual playing Friedrich will begin the game.

  1. Launch CyberBoard (CBPlay.exe).
  2. From the File menu, choose Open....
  3. Load your game file (.gam).
    For example, the player playing the part of Friedrich der Große (i.e., Prussia & Hanover) will select the game file (.gam) ending with "-Friedrich.gam" as his/her game file.

NOTE: The first time you open your game file, CyberBoard will prompt you to choose the game box file (.gbx) for your game—unless the game box file is in the same folder as your game file.

Creating a Move File

Each player is responsible for creating their own move files during the game.

Remember during a typical player's turn in Friedrich, a player will:

  1. Draw Tactical Cards.
  2. Move his/her pieces as well as perform any movement-related game functions.
  3. Resolve combat (if any).
  4. Resolve retroactive conquests (if any).
  5. Check for supply.

The complete, current rules for Friedrich may be found here: http://www.histogame.de/e_download.html

1. Tactical Cards

Drag a tactical card from the current draw deck to your nation's TK/TCs tray. (For example, for the player playing Madame Pompadour, the nation tray is named "TK/TCs: Frankreich/France".)

Sample Tactical Cards
Sample Tactical Cards (TCs)

When the game begins, the initial draw deck is the tray named "TK/TCs #1". When a deck no longer has tactical cards in it, begin drawing cards from the next available tactical card deck tray (namely, #2, #3, and #4).

If all of the tactical cards have been drawn, then select all of the discarded tactical cards in the discard pile with the most tactical cards in them, and drag these used tactical cards into the tray named "TK/TCs #1". Next, perform this again for the discard pile with the second-most tactical cards in them. All of the these tactical cards will automatically be shuffled and drawn randomly; no separate shuffling is necessary.

If your nation is required to discard a card, drag the card of your choice to the appropriate discard pile. After you do this, be sure to Release Ownership of the card.

NOTE: As you become more proficient with CyberBoard, you may want to use a single Compound Move to encapsulate all of your tactical card draws (and/or discards, as appropriate).

2. Movement

Exmaple of Movement
Example of Movement
  1. Select the piece (general or supply train) you want to move and then from the Actions menu, choose Begin a Plotted Move. (You can also press the 'zig-zagging arrow' button on the toolbar.)
  2. Click on all of the cities you want your piece to move through. After you have clicked on your final destination city, from the Actions menu, choose Accept Plotted Move.
    NOTE: At any time before accepting a move, you may abort a plotted move. To do so, from the Actions menu, choose Discard Plotted Move.)
  3. Repeat steps #1 and #2 above for all of the pieces you want to move.
  4. Finally, place "Kontrollmarken/Control Markers" on any objective cities that your generals mave have conquered. (The control marker pieces have two-sides, and come in two varieties: 1st Order and 2nd Order Objective markers. The reverse side of each control marker piece is the question mark symbol used for retroactive conquests.)

NOTE: There are buttons on the toolbar duplicating many of the functions of the File, Edit, Actions, and Playback menus. Additionally, you can right-click on the game board (or on any of the individual game pieces, after selecting them) to popup a context sensitive menu with many of the same functions available.

3. Combat

For each of your generals that ends its movement adjacent to any enemy general(s), you will have to resolve combat. This process will (potentially) require you and your opponent to create many move files (.gmv) as you play tactical cards during combat.

If you are the attacking nation [the active player], you use the top-half of the combat area; if you are the defending nation, you use the bottom-half of the combat area.

Combat Area
Combat Area
  1. Adjust the "Sektor/Sector" marker to the suits corresponding to each players' generals.
  2. Drag the army size piece (a light number on dark background) for the appropriate general from your nation's army sheet to the appropriate section of the "Kampf Tableau/Combat Area" on the game board. (If you are in combat with a stack of generals, then repeat this for each general in the stack.) After you do this, be sure to "Release Ownership" of the army size piece so that you opponent will be able to see its value.
  3. If you play a tactical card, drag the card from your nation's tray onto the appropriate half of the combat area. After you do this, be sure to: (a) Release Ownership of the card, and (b) turn the tactical card face-up.
    To turn a tactical card over, select the piece you want to turn over and then from the Actions menu, choose Turn Piece Over.
    NOTE: You can also press the 'turn over' button on the toolbar, or press the Ctrl+I shortcut keys.
  4. Use the "Gesamtzahl/Army-Total" markers to summarize your current score.
  5. At this point, you will save your move file. See below.

If combat continues between you and your opponent, then you will repeat steps #3, #4, and #5 until a winner has been determined.

Once a winner has been determined, move the "Gewinner/Victor" piece (the Pour le Mérite medal) to the left of the victorious general's name. (In a stack, this will be the lowest numbered general.)

Next, clean up the combat area by moving used tactical cards to the appropriate discard pile (be sure to turn the cards back face-down), delete the current score army-total markers, and return each general's army size piece to the army sheet. A defeated general (or generals, if in a stack) must adjust his army size appropriately as well as his nation's Gesamtzahl/Army-Total value.

Finally, if a general needs to be removed from the map, then drag that general's corresponding piece from the map onto the army sheet next to the left of his name.

NOTE: When combat is initiated, the first file exchange will usually only involve the attacker (the active player) setting up his/her portion of the combat area and revealing his/her army size piece(s), and then the defender doing same (plus playing tactical card(s), if he/she has lower initial score). Next, the battling players will play tactical cards, saving and sending move files (.gmv) between each tactical card played.

4. Retroactive Conquests

If you have any control markers on the map with their question mark ("?") side facing up, then you must now either: turn them over -or- remove them from the game board, based on the outcome of the relevant combat.

5. Supply

If at the end of your turn any of your generals are out-of-supply (OoS), then you must turn each of the out-of-supply generals face-down. To do so, select the piece you want to turn over and then from the Actions menu, choose Turn Piece Over.
NOTE: You can also press the 'turn over' button on the toolbar, or press the Ctrl+I shortcut keys.

Saving Your Move File

Each time all of your activity at a given point in a game turn (your own, or your opponent's, if responding to an attack) is complete, you must save your move file.

  1. From the File menu, choose Send Recorded Moves to File... and then name your move file (.gmv). See Move File Naming Convention below.
    For example, 001F.gmv for Friedrich's first move of the game.
  2. Save your game. From the File menu, choose Save.
    NOTE: You can also press the 'diskette' button on the toolbar, or press the Ctrl+S shortcut keys.
  3. Using your email program, attach the created move file (.gmv) and send it to ALL of the players in your game.

Loading a Move File

All players need to load every other player's move files. To load a move file (.gmv):

  1. From the File menu, choose Load Recorded Move File....
  2. Step through your opponent's individual moves. From the Playback menu, choose Next Move.
    NOTE: You can also press the 'play' button [">"] on the toolbar, or press the F3 shortcut key.
  3. When you have watched all of your opponent's moves, accept the move file. From the Playback menu, choose Accept Move File Playback..., and press Yes on the subsequent confirmation window.
  4. Save your game. From the File menu, choose Save.
    NOTE: You can also press the 'diskette' button on the toolbar, or press the Ctrl+S shortcut keys.

NOTE: Once you save your game file (.gam), you will only have to load move files (.gmv) created subsequent to the last loaded & saved move file.

Move File Naming Convention

Each player can name his/her move file in any way they wish. That said, it may be practical for all players to agree upon a standard move file naming convention before playing their game. One convenient method would be to name each move file with a three-digit sequential number following by the first-letter the player's (leader's) name.
For example, Friedrich's first move file would be named: 001F.gmv, Elisabeth's would be named: 002E.gmv, etc.

In Friedrich, the players (leaders) are: Friedrich [F], Elisabeth [E], Maria Theresia [M], and Pompadour [P].

NOTE: In this CyberBoard implementation of Friedrich, the name of Austria's and the Imperial Army's leader (at least initially) uses the German—not English—spelling of the name, hence "Maria Theresia" (not Maria Theresa).

I want to thank the following individuals for their help and support in making this CyberBoard game box possible. First and foremost, I want to thank Richard Sivél and histogame for their patience, support, and trust in making this project possible. Next, I want to thank Mark Christopher, Garry Haggerty, Brian R. Mullin, Bruce Spears, and Anton Telle for your individual assistance and insight; each of you helped propel this project in the right direction in your own way. Finally, I want to thank all of the playtesters who spent the time to help make this game box possible.

If you find any errors or discrepancies, please do not hesitate to contact me.
 

Thank you and enjoy the game,

László

Friedrich © 2004 histogame. CyberBoard © 1999-2008 Dale L. Larson. The CyberBoard implementation of Friedrich and this web page © 2008 László Á. Koller. All Rights Reserved. Permission to use graphical features of the original board game, Friedrich, was explicitly granted by histogame; these features are © 2004-2007 histogame. Permission is hereby granted to copy the CyberBoard implementation of Friedrich electronically for your personal use only, provided it is copied in its entirety. Any deletion, alteration, or selling of this work, without the express written permission of histogame and László Á. Koller is strictly prohibited.