Siege of Mantua is a game of operational maneuver and tactical daring. Players move blocks on the mapsheet to threaten and deceive their opponent, with the object of bringing them to a decisive battle. These are fought on a battle display with counters drawn randomly from your unit pool. The quality of your pool improves with every victory; suffering losses will damage morale, degrading unit quality.

You must master both of these spheres if you wish to be victorious. Though outnumbered, the French player has the benefit of moving along interior lines, allowing greater coordination of forces. But those men are stretched thin to deal with two distinct lines of enemy advance. The Austrian player can use this to their advantage, bringing superior forces to bear at weak points in the enemy line. What results is a desperate battle of wits and nerve, and a novel take on the “block game” genre.

We posted an interview with the designer Amabel Holland and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2022/07/18/interview-with-amabel-holland-designer-of-siege-of-mantua-from-hollandspiele/

-Grant