Each
year is composed of 2 turns, an early season and a late season.
Each turn players get 8 cards, but this can vary based on event
cards. This is a larger hand size than many of the other games
in the series and allows for more planning. Plus you can hold
over one card till the next turn, allowing you to plan a major
action, such as an amphibious assault on Louisbourg. At the end
of the year comes winter attrition that will decimate any forces
not in winter quarters. In game play typically the last few activations
are spent dismantling the army and spreading it out so as not
to over stack. In the spring it takes an activation or two to
concentrate. This works well and simulates the ebb and flow of
the campaigns. The movement system is interesting. In addition
to naval movement, units may either move by land (slowly) or by
bateau along rivers. The game centers around establishing strong
points along rivers so you can rapidly cross the board and react
to enemy incursions. In the later game as the British are building
a line of stockades and forts towards the French forts the French
will have an opportunity to conduct operations behind enemy lines.
There are a wide range
of event cards, from the ever fun Ambush to reinforcements to
the devastating Small Pox (kills all Indians in the space). Some
of the event cards are rather powerful (Diplomatic Revolution
and William Pitt becoming PM) and there can be a lot of variability
in the game. Cards may be played to activate a force, as an event,
or to build forts and stockades, as well as in battle. The game
typically sees both sides building stockades to secure their lines
of communication and protect their settlements from raids. Raiding
is a big part of the game, and consists of moving some Indians/woodsmen/rangers
into enemy settlements and rolling on the raid table. Each raid
scores ½ a victory point and if ignored all these little nips
will cost you the game. The answer is building militia, stockades,
and deploying troops. Afterwards the raiders are automatically
repositioned at a fortification, ready to try again. The thing
that slows them down are all the mountains. A stockade built in
a mountain allows units to move through without stopping.
If the British allow the French to build some of these mountain
stockades they will be inundated with raiders. But those stockades
are worth 1 VP if taken so the French are taking a risk building
them. And if the garrison them they make tempting targets for
a large British force.
Battle consists of moving forces led by a leader into an enemy
space. Leaders have limited command control so they need
subordinates to help move large armies. Just don't lose your
main leader in combat because the second in command may be
awful. If Montcalm falls and is replaces with Vaudreuil you'll
be hurting. Roll a die add your leaders rating plus any
modifiers like stockades, amphibious landings, or wilderness
battles. Losses are in steps and it helps to have cannon fodder
along such as Indians and provincials (Americans). The winner
gains a VP and the loser must retreat. There is a limited force
pool and destroyed units may not be rebuilt. This can be painful
for the French who have to make some critical decisions such as
how long to stand in battle and how strongly to garrison
Louisbourg. Forts can be besieged and once breached the
assaulting forces have to fight another battle against the
garrison. Of course there's the Surrender card that takes the
fort without bloodshed.
Players gain VPs for raids, battles, capturing stockades and
forts. Typically the French get off to a big lead by massive
raiding. The British need to protect their colonies and build up
their forces because they ultimately have a much larger force
pool. Then they face some interesting choices. Do they try to
take the river fortresses of Louisbourg and Quebec? They are
worth 3 VP each and 6 VP goes a long way toward winning the
game.
The advanced game adds rules for battle avoidance, interception,
and infiltration. Infiltration is a great way for Indians to
sneak through garrisoned stockades and raid the settlements.
These rules are not complex and add another dimension to the
game and I suggest using them.
For the French to win the campaign game they need to raid early
and often, while recruiting tons of Indians. The Indians are the
key to the game. They make up for the British superiority in
regulars, they can take losses, and they can be rebuilt. The
danger of concentrating large forces is that small pox can be
devastating. The British have a much larger force pool and once
they mobilize (which can take a few years) they will need to
make significant advances to win because of the early French
lead. They can advance on multiple fronts and try to stretch the
French to the breaking point. Once they get going they still
must be careful as the French contract because they can be
defeated in detail. The French can pull back from Ticonderoga
and rush Montcalm and the main body to Ohio Forks by river,
driving the British back. Once the threat is dealt with they can
rush back to save Montreal.
The game is subtle and the situation different from most others.
It's a fun challenging game, but more than that the designer has
captured the feel of the period. I think it has greater
simulation value than the other card games. The game has
interested me in the period enough that I will read
one of the books the author recommends.
Brandon Einhorn plays and reviews wargames. |
KASSERINE &
WILDERNESS WAR
two reviews by Steve Pfarrer
KASSERINE: ROMMEL'S BATTLE FOR TUNISIA
KASSERINE
is Vance Von Borries' updated version of his earlier treatment
of this classic World War II battle between a still-dangerous
Afrika Korps and the inexperienced American troops that landed
in western North Africa in late 1942. The battle of Kasserine
Pass, as the February 1943 struggle came to be known, was
the last shot the Axis had at regaining the initiative in
North Africa. A sudden attack by two panzer divisions and
supporting forces at first rolled the Yanks back in disarray,
as Rommel sought to defeat the Allied troops in central Tunisia
and then turn on Montgomery's 8th Army pursuing him from Libya.
But after initial success, the Germans lost momentum and were
finally stopped by Allied reinforcements, fatigue, and indecision
within the Axis high command.
Borries' new game is an operational treatment of the battle with
some grand tactical flavor as well. The scale is two miles per
hex, with 12-hour turns covering 10 days in the full campaign
game. Units are battalions and companies representing German,
Italian, American, British and Free French forces; included in
the 420-counter mix are armored, infantry, artillery, antitank
and reconnaissance units. Air power is represented by by a small
mix of tactical aircraft. Also present are headquarter units and
three leader counters -- the latter represent Rommel and U.S.
generals George Patton and Ernest Harmon -- which provide
favorable combat modifiers. Positional defenses come in the form
of minefield and strongpoint counters.
For starters, the game's components are generally outstanding.
Mark Simonitch's 22" x 34" map is superb, using subtle
tans, grays and browns to depict the rocky, mountainous terrain
that was fought over. The rules and charts are well organized,
though some players have grumbled that the combat-related
modifiers could be more clearly presented. The mostly two-sided
counters are bright and clean without being busy. Armored units
use icons of their predominant AFVs, while other units have
standard NATO symbols. Units are rated for combat strength,
movement, stacking value and efficiency; that last rating is
arguably the most important, as it represents a unit's ability
to withstand the rigors of combat.
In his designer notes, Borries explains that
KASSERINE
represents an amalgamation of sorts of his previous GMT
operational designs -- Invasion Sicily, Operation
Mercury, and the Eastern Front Series -- while also
retaining basic elements of his 1983 KASSERINE game for 3W. The
net effect has been to create a new game system, with an
improved order of battle, in which uncertainty is the
predominant element on the battlefield. Whereas some operational
games simulate command uncertainty by, for example, making the
availability of air and artillery support totally random,
KASSERINE
gives players full command of their cardboard forces. However,
getting those forces to operate at full efficiency -- or at all,
for that matter -- is another story.
That uncertainty is generated through coordination rolls, which
are used extensively for combat and for some movement options.
Attackers must designate a lead unit for each combat and roll
against its efficiency rating (ER) to see if the attack is
coordinated; rolling higher then the ER shifts the odds two
levels in the defender's favor. A number of die roll modifiers,
such as attacking a unit in tough defensive terrain or with
several units, can make coordination more difficult. Artillery
support can either be at full strength, half-strength, or zero,
based on a separate coordination check. Close air support, in
the form of a combat DRM, also hinges on an air unit passing its
ER check.
Bean counters, then, must beware. An attacker may anticipate a
3-1 assault with a -2 DRM for air support, but fail enough
coordination checks and you could get a 1-1 combat with no air
power modifier. This cuts both ways: Defenders also must roll
for artillery and and air support, so a 3-1 attack could instead
become a 4-1.
Though it takes a few play-throughs to get the hang of the
combat system, KASSERINE plays pretty smoothly, if not
necessarily that quickly. It's primarily a game of movement that
showcases the advantages mechanized units have in desert
warfare. Such units can move through enemy zones of control at a
+1 per-hex cost and conduct overruns in the initial movement
phase and during a post-combat mechanized movement phase.
Overruns can be made at any odds, and they can be a preferred
method of attack, with no coordination roll required. Defending
units forced to retreat are automatically disrupted, lowering
their efficiency ratings and making them more vulnerable if
attacked in the ensuing combat phase. The Germans have an edge
here because they can call in air support for
overruns while the Allies cannot, reflecting the better
air-ground coordination the Germans had at this stage of the
war.
Next
Page>>
|