The Nations
Here's a quick rundown of all the playable nations in Fire & Maneuver
GermanyGermany has strong artillery that can be killed if the enemy gets too close, make sure to treat your artillery like they are your nuts, protect them at all costs (Unless you have reasons).
Germany also has efficiency on most of it's infantry meaning they can change formations 2 times or switch formation then move (and vice versa) Which can be incredibly powerful if used right.
Unfortunately Germany suffers not being able to shoot far with small arms.
Strengths:
-Powerful artillery
-Mobile
Weaknesses:
-Close range shooting for infantry (Except the Bavarians)
In a nutshell
Artillery focused, Maneuver focused
France
France has good infantry and along with the chassepot rifle can shoot 2 times in a 2 space range (Powerful). The French also have some powerful units, like the oldgaurd, foreign legionnaire and the mitrailleuse.
They have a versatile play-style
But these great buffs come with some expenses
Strengths:
-Great rifles
-Decent infantry
Weaknesses:
- Expensive at times
In a nutshell
Infantry focused, Versatile
Britain
Britain has strong infantry that have strong shooting capabilities, meaning that they can do more shooting damage.
But you rely on shooting and your limited manpower, so I recommend shooting at a distance.
But with great power comes great payment, since Britain has very good units they are expensive, so I recommend you play on the defensive and make great predictions and little mistakes.
Strengths:
-High shooting damage
-Great Units
Weaknesses:
-High unit cost
-Small army
In a nutshell
Quality focused
Russia
Russia has the advantage of lots of manpower and can summon hordes of troops.
Since the Russians have so many units, I recommend you have some in reserve because you don't have enough orders to command all of them efficiently, and their big army does allow them to stay in battle for longer
However the Russians suffer from not being able to recover cohesion quickly
Strengths:
-Large army
-Inexpensive
Weaknesses:
-Low cohesion gain
In a nutshell
Quantity focused
Ottomans
Turkey has the advantage of lots of manpower with insanely inexpensive units, so they can easily spawn a horde.
I recommend you have some in reserve because you don't have enough orders to command all of them efficiently, and since you have a large army, you can stay in battle longer.
I also recommend to shoot at a distance, because of your weak cohesion.
But the Turks suffer from their easily broken cohesion, meaning that once they lose their cohesion, they'll retreat.
Strengths:
-Large army
-inexpensive
Weaknesses:
-Easily broken
In a nutshell
Quantity focused
Austria
Austria has good light infantry, such as the Field Jaegers and Kaiser Jaegers, and so rely on their skirmishing.
But light infantry is vulnerable to close hand-to-hand combat, so I recommend you keep your valuable safe with infantry.
Austria has some good infantry with a variety of perks and guns.
They also have a versatile play-style.
Strengths:
-Good units
-Versatile
Weaknesses:
-Expensive at times
In a nutshell
Skirmisher focused, Versatile
Italy
Italy has some very cheap units, and some good light infantry
but the Italians lack some professionalism as they recover cohesion slowly, or don't have a lot
Italy also has some mobile troops that are not that expensive, but are not that great in endurance
Strengths:
-Good light infantry
-Affordable
Weaknesses:
-Low cohesion (Gain)
In a nutshell
Quantity focused, Skirmisher focused
United States of America
The United States have affordable units and some militia, so it's definitely good to use Quantity.
But some units of the United States have less cohesion, so far range is your best bet.
The United States has some good units like the U.S. Sharpshooters and the Iron Brigade.
Strengths:
-Decent Infantry
-Affordable
Weaknesses:
-Low Cohesion
In a nutshell
Affordability, Infantry Focused
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States have units with efficiency meaning that they can out maneuver an opponent.
and just like the United States, The Confederate States have some low cohesion units and decent units of variety, but this means that it can get a little expensive at times.
Strengths:
-Infantry focused
-Mobile
Weaknesses:
-Low Cohesion
-Expensive
In a nutshell
Mobile Focused, Infantry Focused
Phases
There are three types of Phases: Deployment Phase, Planning Phase, and Battle Phase
Deployment Phase
This is the phase you see when you first start the game
In this phase you must place your units, there cannot be any units not placed
Place units on your coloured tiles by left clicking the card of the unit you want placed, then right click the tile you want to place it on
Click on a unit to change its formation when it has been placed if you want to
Order Phase
This is the phase where you command your troops with orders (more on orders in the next section)
There is a limit on how many orders you have, so I recommend you have some units not being commanded, like a reserve so you can command your current troops more efficiently
to move a unit, hold right click and drag to where you plan your unit to go, then release
Battle Phase
This is the phase where the orders actually go through, so if you commanded your troop to move, then it will move
Beware, your enemy may block your unit's path or range, or charge them before you could move, shoot etc. These orders will be thrown out
The game has both sides move at the same time, with one order from both going
And arrows will show troop movement
Orders
Upon entering the game, you need to know how to command your troops
There are two types of orders: Fire orders, and Maneuver orders
Maneuver orders go first before Fire orders
Fire Orders
Charge Order
To charge, you need some movement and one attack order
Ex. You can't move then charge, but if your formation allows you to (let's say attack column) you can move but have at least one space to move left to charge (so move one then charge in this case) because charging requires you to move too
Click on a unit you want to charge the enemy, click the button, then right click the enemy (if you can in the range)
Great for pinning down opponents and killing low health units
Volley Fire
Fire at your enemy, with the cost of one attack order
Ex. You can use one attack order to shoot once, and two to shoot twice
Click on a unit you want to shoot at the enemy, click the button, then right click on the enemy
Great for damaging enemies from afar
Your target doesn't have to be in range in order for you to place the order, but if the enemy unit you placed the order on doesn't get into range of the unit you want to shoot at it, it will do nothing
Fire at will Order
Shoot at your enemy when they come into range (only one damage per shot)
Ex. Fire at will is used mostly to inflict damage when an enemy moves forward
Currently does 2 base damage
Click on a unit you want to fire at will
Great for defending
Maneuver Orders
Formations
This order is used to change unit formations (will be discussed after this current section)
Ex. It's mostly used to increase mobility or endure less damage
Click on a unit you want to switch formation, then select the formation you want
Great for adapting to the battlefield
Reserve swap
This order is used to swap to a unit behind on the same tile
Ex. If you need to recover your unit infront, then swap to the back line to keep the fight going
Click on 2 units on the same tile, then press the button
Great for cycling units
Formations And Frontage
In Fire and Maneuver, it's important you know how many spaces a unit can move, the formations, and the frontage. And it's important to always know the guaranteed range, and damage
Only Infantry can use formations
The initial base charge damage is 1
The base shot damage is 2
FormationsClose Order
We have the good 'ol close order formation, which is basically your standard line. It's a good formation, as it can endure charges and fires like normal.
Pros: Max shot damage Can endure frontal chargesCons: Flank Vulnerable Max enemy shot damage
Attack Column
Attack column is mostly used for charging or for more mobility and the unit may attack in this stance.
Pros:
+1 Movement +1 initial charge damage
Cons:
-1 Max shot damage +1 Enemy shot damage received limited frontage
Open Order
Open Order is mostly used to reduce shot damage received.
Pros:
-1 Enemy shot damage
More Frontage
Cons:
-1 Max shot damage
Charge vulnerable
RANGE REDUCTION BONUSES WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT IF ALL COHESION IS GONE
March Column March Column is used to get the most mobility, and it can get more by going on roads. But the unit may not attack in this stance.
Pros:
+1 Movement
Can cross corners
+1 Movement on roads
Cons:
Charge vulnerable
Enemy shot vulnerable
Cannot attack
Square Formation Square Formation is usually used if an enemy unit is charging you.
Pros:
Less initial charge damage
360° frontage
Cons:
-1 Max shot damage
+1 Enemy shot damage
Frontage
Frontage is key to shooting
Close Order
Attack Column
Open Order
Square Formation
Angles
Angles will dictate bonus damage, important to calculate total damage
Frontal Hit: No Bonus Damage
Side Hit: +1 Bonus Damage
Back Hit: +2 Bonus damage
Perks
In F&M, perks can be positive or negative. Perks can add on to a unit's stats or give it new buffs/debuffs
Efficiency perk
+1 Maneuver Order
Ex. Can change formation then move (or vice versa)
Great for fast movement and out maneuvring an opponent
Range Drill perk
+1 max shot damage
Ex. Can do 3 base damage instead of 2
Great for shooting
Shock perk
+2 initial charge damage
Ex. Will do 4 base charge damage when it charges first, but no more extra damage during the charge. No affect on the defensive
Great for charging units
Melee Drill perk
-1 Initial melee damage endured
Ex. Will receive less damage when being charged at or charging
Great for charge vulnerable units, and for charging units
Rugged perk
Ignore all terrain penalties
Ex. Will not be slowed down going through a forest, marshland, creek, etc
Great for going through terrain that would slow down other units
Skirmishing perk
Does not get affected by attrition
Ex. Wont take damage when moving without cohesion (more on that in "Health and Cohesion")
Great for units that have low health, like light infantry
Disorganized perk
will recover half the cohesion of the unit
Ex. Will regain half of the unit's cohesion (so if a unit has 4 cohesion, it will gain 2 per turn)
If the cohesion of a unit is uneven, it will get +1 more than half (so if 5 cohesion, 3 per turn)
Bad for units with low cohesion
Breakable perk
Will retreat one tile when all cohesion is eliminated
Ex. Will retreat to a tile behind immediately, if no possible area to retreat to, the unit will die
Bad for units with low cohesion
Anti Personnel perk
+2 adjacent damage
Ex. Will deal +2 damage when firing at an enemy unit bordering them (Including Corners)
Great for shooting adjacent targets
Indirect Fire perk
Can shoot over units
Ex. Can ignore units that would block the range
Great for long ranged artillery
Cumbersome perk
Can only do one order, except firing
Ex. Can shoot (Twice with the breech-loader perk) but can't move in the same turn
Bad for units
The Armoury
In Fire and Maneuver, the armoury is used to give your units additional perks
Breech-loading
This will give your units +1 Fire order
Ex. Can shoot twice, shoot then charge, etc.
Great for close range shoot outs
Rifling
This perk will allow you to fire farther
Ex. Will give 2x range, so opposed to 3 x 1 infront, it will give 3 x 2 infront
Great for shooting at a distance
Example of range:
The four gun types
(The names are for clarification on the picture)
1. The 'smoothbore' (Model 1842)
2. The 'breech-loader' (Tabatiere rifle)
3. The 'rifle' (Minie rifle)
4. The 'superior breech-loader' (Chassepot rifle)
Prices of guns shown are the same for all nations
How to equip for units:
Buy a unit, the left click the gun, then right click on the unit you want to arm with the gun
If you don't want the gun simply right click the armed unit(s)
Beware that some guns for nations are only for specific units
Ex. German Bavarian line infantry are the only ones with access to the 'superior breech-loader'
Recommended uses for guns:
The 'smoothbore' should be used to save money or meat-shields
The 'breech-loader' should be used for units that get close to charge, harass or deal more damage
The 'rifle' should be used for professional shooting units, and as a cheaper alternative to the 'superior breech-loader'
The 'superior breech-loader' should be given to units with high shooting capabilities
Health And Cohesion
The blue bar is the cohesion of a unit
The green bar is the health of the unit
Cohesion kinda acts like a "shield" that will soak up damage until it's gone. When a unit's cohesion is gone, it will take attrition, and the health can be affected with any other damage to come.
Attrition will remove one health whenever it moves, and attrition can only be removed when a unit recovers its cohesion
Cohesion can only recover when not bordering an enemy unit (including corners).
Health will dictate how many troops are alive on the battlefield and will not affect a unit's performance.
The Units
In Fire and Maneuver, there are different types of units
The circles at the top are the perks a unit has, the maximum perks a unit can have is 4
(potentially 5 or 6 if you add the armoury)
Speed is basically movement
and the rest are just base unit stats
Here are the units and their types:
The unit pictures are just for show, none of the additions are for all unit types and sub-types
Infantry is good for filling the ranks, and a good source of fire power and man power
Militia Infantry
Militia Infantry is typically used for quantity, but they do not have access to open order and square formation
Militia Infantry typically has the 'Easily Broken' perk
Overall it's a unit if you have extra money to spend or just as a living wall
Line Infantry
Line Infantry is a very versatile class of units, as it can hold many perks for defending or attacking
Line Infantry is typically used as the main force of an army and can be utilised in a variety of ways
Overall Line Infantry is a good filler and is the main backbone of good armies
Light Infantry
Light Infantry is a skirmisher class, utilising hit and run tactics to deal damage to the enemy and not take much damage in return
Light Infantry can also hold some perks, mostly 'Skirmishing', 'Rugged' and/or 'Range Drill'
Overall Light infantry is good for harassing the enemy, but they are vulnerable to charges
Heavy Infantry
Heavy Infantry is a class of units that mainly deal strong damage, and is usually protected by infantry, etc.
Heavy Infantry is a class of units that mainly have strong perks, such is 'Range Drill', 'Shock'', 'Melee Drill' and other perks, and they also have 5 cohesion
Overall Heavy Infantry is good for dealing damage to opponents and being a strong source of damage in an army
Cavalry is a special class, as it relies on it's melee and maneuvrability. But it takes +1 enemy short damage and also gets +1 mobility from roads
Light Cavalry
Light Cavalry is a good class for harassing the enemy, especially good at sniping vulnerable units such as artillery
Light Cavalry can have 'Shock' and 'Skirmishing' and a quality of light cavalry and cavalry in general is that cavalry can cross corners and has great mobility
Overall, Light cavalry is a good class for harassing the enemy and going behind enemy lines
Heavy Cavalry
Heavy Cavalry is a good class for hitting the enemy hard, especially at the flanks
Heavy Cavalry usually has 'Shock' and/or 'Melee Drill', but heavy cavalry doesn't have as much mobility as Light Cavalry
Overall Heavy Cavalry is good for leading a charge or decimating units not good against charges
Dragoons (Heavy Cavalry Sub-Class)
Dragoons are a hybrid between infantry and cavalry, their main strength is mostly shooting, not much charging per say
Dragoons have some perks of variety depending on nation but don't have the fastest speed
Overall if you want to out flank your opponent and deal some shot damage then be my guest
Artillery hopefully makes up for it's slow movement with it's striking range. Overall good for softening the enemy up, but vulnerable to charges and shots
Light Artillery
Light Artillery is cheap but doesn't have a lot of range compared to other artillery
Light Artillery usually has 'Anti Personnel', but a bad quality of all artillery is that they have the 'Cumbersome' perk
Overall Light Artillery is good at close ranges and not that expensive
Heavy Artillery
Heavy Artillery is a bit pricey, but it has some good range
Heavy Artillery usually has 'Anti Personnel' and/or 'Indirect Fire' and can fire at a longer distance than Light Artillery
Overall Heavy Artillery is great for hitting the enemy at a distance
Horse Artillery
Horse Artillery has an advantage of being more mobile than regular artillery
Heavy Artillery usually has 'Anti Personnel' but range can vary from nation to nation
Overall Horse Artillery is good for mobility
Modern Artillery
Modern Artillery is expensive, but makes up for it by have astonishing range
Modern Artillery has the 'Breech-loader' perk, meaning that it can fire two times
Overall Modern Artillery is good at long ranges and softening an opponent
Rapidfire Artillery
Rapidfire Artillery is a bit pricey, and has the shortest range of all artillery types
Rapidfire Artillery has the 'Breech-loader' perk, meaning that it can fire two times and has 'Anti Personnel'. But it doesn't have the 'Cumbersome' perk, making it fit for close ranges
Overall Rapidfire Artillery is good at close ranges
Geography
In Fire and Maneuver, terrain can affect how much damage you can endure, your mobility, and range
Symbols:
Can give the mobility bonus Ex. March Column
Will not allow Maneuver Orders for one turn, but may use Attack Orders (except charging)
Will reduce enemy shot damage by -1
Cannot be stood on
Can give the mobility bonus and will reduce enemy shot damage by -1
Will not allow Maneuver Orders for one turn, but may use Attack Orders and will reduce enemy shot damage by -1
Road Tile
Roads will give +1 mobility to the March Column formation, Cavalry, and Artillery.
Bridge
+1 mobility to the March Column formation, Cavalry, and Artillery, and allows access over water.
Can currently be crossed by units in all formations
Farm Tile
A tile with a farm on it will provide soft cover and will not slow your units down, will block the range of a unit.
Forest Tile
A tile with a forest will provide soft cover but will delay your unit's down by one turn, will block the range of a unit.
Rock Tile
A tile with rocks will provide soft cover but will delay your unit's down by one turn.
City Tile
A tile with buildings on it will provide soft cover and can give +1 mobility to the March Column formation, Cavalry, and Artillery.
Creek
Creeks will not provide any cover of sorts and will delay your units by one turn.
Shallow River Tile
A tile with a shallow river can be crossed, but it will delay your units by one turn
Hill Tile
A tile with a hill with grant you one more layer of range (Like the rifling perk), will block range of a unit.
Ex. If a unit doesn't have rifling, it will gain x 2. But if a unit has rifling, it will get x 3 range
Cliff Tile
A tile with x 2 the elevation of the hill cannot be stood on and will block the range of an unit.
River Tile
A tile with a river on it is impassible, but it will not block the range of a unit.
Basic Strategy And Tips
When you get into battle, your goal is to defeat the enemy
Here are some tips:
Exploit your opponent's weakness
Your opponent has a nation, and knowing the nation's weakness can give you a chance to exploit it
Ex. if your opponent is Germany, then you should try to take out their artillery, as it is a strong focus.
Also use guns at a long range, because Germany doesn't have the ability (mostly) to shoot far with small arms.
Predict Movements
You should try to predict movements of your opponents units and prepare for it
Ex. If you predict your opponent is going to hit you from the side, then face your units to the side and place a volley order (and hopefully you predicted right)
Block Ranged Attacks
Shield a unit by blocking the range of the opponent
Ex. If you have a unit that you know is gonna get hit if the opponent shoots at it, then try to block the range with a unit close by moving the unit in the reserve (completely useless if the opponent is using 'Indirect Fire')
The rest of the strategy I recommend Taylor's guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2688500623
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2798585682
More Fire & Maneuver guilds
- All Guilds
- How to destroy the Russians as Prussia
- How to Britain (VERY OUTDATED DONT EVEN USE IT TBH)
- Combat & Strategy: An In-Depth F&M Guide