"Anyone played Maria?" Topic

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What did they think? Worth the 50$?

With Respect
KTravlos

I have the game Friedrich on my wish list, and have played it once. Maria is the sequel. My friend thinks Friedrich is a better game. YMMV

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Have played it and think it is worth the 50 USD it is a really really good game.
William

Twice.

Unfortunately, it was my school's productions of West Side Story (1973) and The Sound of Music (1974).

Talk about getting typecast…… :o((

It was an all-boys school and there was no nearby girls school to "twin" with.

Just thought I'd make that clear.

I have Friedrich and Maria and think both games are great. The components are excellent quality and the maps are the among the most impressive game maps I've seen. For best play Friedrich (SYW) needs four players and Maria (WAS)three.
Both games have more or less the same system. In Friedrich it is three players against one but each have their own victory conditions and so are competing among themselves while trying to defeat Prussia. Historical/political events happen when they are turned up in the event deck and the players cannot influence this sequence.

In Maria the three players are very much out for themselves
They also have the chance to control the political events through the mechanic of a bidding system. However that uses the same cards as the military system which creates some difficult decisions.

Of the two I have a preference for Maria. It is a perfect three player game as you do not end up being ganged up on. Each player is fighting on two fronts. You can infuence the politacal events which in turn impact on the military situation.

Both games are worth the money based on production values and game play.

I played it twice recently and yes, it is worth it. It is very engaging withoug being bogged down with loads of rules.

Thanks Thistledo2. Good, concise reviews. You tempt me.

Never heard of it.

Thanks guys. A friend and me think of getting it so we can play with his girlfriend. They do look pretty awesome!

The neatest part for me was the interaction between players. One plays the Prussians, Saxons (until they go neutral), and the Pragmatic Army (Brits and allies). One plays the French and Bavarians, and the third player is the Austrians. The board is divided into two "fronts" with limited movement between them. So the Anglo-Prusso-Saxon player is working with the French against Austria on the eastern half of the board while simultaneously co-operating with the Austrians against the French on the western half. Of course only one player can win, so when I surged into the lead as the Prussians the Franco-Bavarians suddenly became much less aggressive toward Austria.

Have played Friedrich, and the system is very engaging. Have been reluctant to try Maria only because three players seems like an odd number. But I've read and heard only good things about Maria.

There are very active forums for these two games on BoardGameGeek. The designer is very active there answering questions, posting reports of games, etc. I would suggest going to BoardGameGeek and reading some sessions reports.

Since this is TMP, I should mention that the maps and army tokens would be excellent tools for running WAS & SYW miniatures campaigns.