Wargame publishers, like the Hollywood moguls of old they somewhat resemble artistically, if not financially, are inordinately fond of sequels and series. While, unlike the celluloid product, wherein Roman numerals eventually breed contempt, the recycling process seems to improve most wargames, GMT must be attempting to get a simulated Oscar for "Most One or Two Game Series by a Wargame Company". Joining these serried ranks is Invasion: Norway, a cleaner, refined, and much more literate follow-up to Britain Stands Alone. Now, while BSA was an interesting game, it was albatrossed by rules that read like a James Joyce novel in Arabic. For I:N, Britain's original designer, Jim "Scissorhands" Werbaneth, was dropped, and in his place GMT handed the baton to (very) enfant (very) terrible, Kevin Boylan, an interesting choice, as the Internet disagreements between the two as to who exactly did what while they left Britain standing there resembled nothing less than two aging extras from “Birdcage” slapping each other silly. Boylan then proceeded to do two things: pump his own balloon like an ill-equipped Montgolfier brother and then, when I:N development got hairy, disappear into the Great Ether. It was left, it appears, to Tony Curtis and Gene Billingsley, working as developers, to rein in the worst of Boylan's chart-happy excesses in Advanced Proceduralism. Amazingly, the result of all this rather acidic collaboration is, on the whole, a happy one, as I:N is certainly an improvement over BSA. Still, at 32 pages of rules, 12 pages of scenario and historical information, 16 pages of play example, and a wad of charts and tables, Norway is not exactly out-of-the-box-and-learn-as-we-go fare. What is apparent, out-of-the-box, is that Invasion: Norway is one great looking game. The two maps, one strategic and one operational, are simply mah-velous. The Joe Youst operational map somehow melds 28 terrain types, 7 charts, the entire Norwegian mobilization display, and a gazillion holding boxes into an attractive and harmonious whole. The Kranz-MacGowan counters, replete with silhouettes of ships, planes, and even Norwegian Colonels, just beg to be punched out and played. Even the box itself, featuring a depiction of land, sea, and air forces against the stunning backdrop of a Norwegian fjord, is striking. No doubt about it, the graphics gang at GMT has got the sizzle down. As for steak to accompany that sizzle, I:N is meaty enough to give a vegetarian conniption fits. While not particularly innovative (at least from the standpoint of systems design), the game smoothly reworks what has gone before. After a few turns, it becomes obvious to even the pickiest of players that someone was sweating the details. Of course, you may sweat too, wading through all those rules and procedures, but at least your battle to comprehend will not be wasted time for lack of designer effort. The game is intended as a portrayal of combined arms warfare, and, for the first few turns, it is. After that there are fewer arms to combine, as the Allied air forces and German navy should be pretty much kaput. Ships and aircraft move about on the strategic area map, which covers Norway, Germany, Denmark, and northern Great Britain. The primary mission of boats and planes is to transport and supply the land units, which move and fight on the operational map of Norway. The sequence of play consists of alternating phases (Allied Naval, German Naval, German Land/Air, Allied Land/Air, with each side getting another air phase during their opponents Land/Air phase). Though the sequencing is prosaic, an extensive system of detection and interception livens things up, keeping both parties on their toes. As stacks of ships move on the strategic map, detection is rolled for. The roll is compared to the detection number of the area, or zone. If the modified roll is less than the detection number, the stack is detected, and can be attacked by air or naval units equal to the differential. While moving, the interceptors are in turn subject to detection. In the narrow, counter-choked confines of BSA, this often resulted in a dizzying procession of counter-counter- counter interceptions. But Norway has plenty of invadable coastline, so there isn't all that much detecting to do. The limits on the number of detecting units aid the representation of combined arms warfare in another way. Many games portraying the complex interaction of naval, air, and land forces fail to prevent the Big Stack Syndrome, where players mass all available ships or planes in towering, Godzilla-like stacks. The Detection routine, coupled with strict stacking limits (8 air points and 6 naval units), helps keep things incremental. The need to keep aircraft and ships in reserve also lessens the appeal of massed forces. A lot goes on in a turn, and players who intercept at every opportunity are apt to be bankrupt when the big money attacks are made. Whereas, in Britain Stands Alone, the plethora of units resulted in battles of grind-em-up attrition. With Invasion: Norway, the scarcity of assets makes the detection procedure a cause for fear and trembling, for combats tend to be short, sharp, and decisive. Naval combat, and air-naval attacks, showcase the usual mix of ship defense numbers, AA ratings, and air-naval bombing factors. With only two steps, ships are rather fragile, and have a distressing tendency to sink. This is particularly true in ports, where detection is automatic, coastal batteries are blazing away, and severe modifiers get everyone to feeling like the French at Trafalger. Of course, ports is where the Germans are going, and that means bad news for Berlin. The Norwegian navy, whose collective prowess lies somewhere between the Monitor and the Merrimac, is no special threat to the landings. But the Brits, with more ships than they know what to do with, can laugh off whatever losses the Germans deal them. Barring fantastic luck, by turn 4 the Kriegsmarine will be hunting for giant squid. In the air, the Luftwaffe rules wherever it has airbases. Unfortunately these are few and far between, a problem exacerbated by the need to fly in Air Supply points from Germany and Denmark. Despite a huge pile of airplane counters, there never seem to be enough of the boys in blue to go around (especially the workhorse Ju52s). Air Missions are diverse, and critical to success: flying in reinforcements, hauling air and ground supplies, bombing ships and installations, dropping paratroopers, making air landing attacks, and providing die roll modifiers for key land battles, to name the most important. The Allied player usually contents himself with a more modest role, engaging in such pinpricks as Installation raids, and the occasional shot at unescorted bombers. Particularly pathetic are the Norwegian Fokkers; you'll be calling them something similar-sounding long before the Germans overrun all your bases. Air detection and interception is similar to that of ships, but the paucity of allied aircraft results in precious little dogfighting. When air combat does occur, the mechanics are clean, familiar, and kind of fun. The cool plane silhouettes help. Ultimately, all the sailors and flyboys in this Scandinavian extravaganza are mere window-dressing for the ground game. Powered by a move-fight-motorized movement sequence, Norway might have ended up as an ordinary operational game on WWII, were it not for a clever use of special rules, plus a hefty dollop of chrome. One such rule, likely to lead first-time players into humiliating disaster, limits ZOCs to only clear terrain hexes, unless the adjacent hex is linked by a road, highway, or railroad. With clear terrain hexes about as common as surfers in Trondheim, players will find it difficult to maintain a cohesive front. The result is a fluid, and, for the defender, exasperating, gaming experience. One scenario witnessed a seemingly unbreakable Allied vise around the struggling Germans, who were depleted while attacking Oslo. But one Norwegian unit was misplaced, failing to cover a forest hex (no road, no ZOC). The Germans poured through, surrounding and annihilating the equivalent of 4 divisions in 2 turns. Particularly after the arrival of German motorized units, the Allied player must take great care in setting up lines of defense. Like the interrelation of terrain and ZOCs, the supply rules lend the game a distinctive feel. Playing on home tundra, the Norwegians have it easy, supply wise. They simply trace to one of the 20-odd mobilization centers, or a place called Dombaas, (not your opponent, but some sort of military WalMart). On the down side, Norwegians which end up out of supply do tend to freak, being removed in the Norwegian Surrender Phase. Germans and Brits are not quite so distraught when the kippered herring runs low, suffering a loss in combat strength, rather than outright surrender. Their problem is a dependence on Supply Points which must be air lifted or transshipped to Norway, putting a huge strain on the logistical infrastructures. Every turn, players must make hard choices about where to attack, and with whom. Armor and artillery, while adding valuable die roll modifiers which can make or break an attack, each expend an extra SP per attack. Thus, a combat with tubes, tanks, and foot costs an extravagant 3 Supply Points. In Norway, the quartermaster's lot is not a happy one, but an ongoing struggle to strike a balance between reinforcing combat troops and air/ground Supply Points. Despite its (relative) simplicity, ground combat takes place in the context of painful logistical realities, and thus requires careful planning. I:N requires serious commitment, but rewards players with more insight than can be had with mere counter-pushing and die-rolling. In addition to such well-crafted little rules as ZOC and supply, Boylan and company have jazzed things up with some right nifty chrome, such as Frozen Lake airfields (read the Thaw rules very carefully), capturing King Haakon, German seaplanes, glaciers, ferries, tunnels, and coastal artillery. The two pre-invasion turns, employing a number of special rules, allow the German's to send out transports, tankers, and warships loaded with feldgrau "tourists". There is no little risk here, as detection sinks tankers and transports outright, but a well-planned invasion is almost certain to secure the primary German objectives. This is because, on the actual invasion turn, there are two "the-fix-is-in" rules: automatic retreats for any Norwegian stack that suffers an adverse result, and 3 dice re-rolls, German players choice, representing fifth columnist efforts (sort of "Quisling while you work"). The key phrase here, though, is "well-planned", as a poorly planned invasion dooms the Germans at the outset. So critical are the first 3 turns, and so nervous is GMT that you will botch it, that I:N includes an extraordinarily long example of play. The 16 page QuickStart, with a chart detailing a sample German Invasion down to the last battalion, makes sure the player "gets it". Because it is so comprehensive, the QuickStart represents a genuine breakthrough in helping the knowledgeable gamer comprehend a complex game. Most examples of play are meant to illustrate either a rule or a subsystem, but Norway's QuickStart shepherds players through the tricky first 3 turns, allowing a glimpse of the game as a whole. Indeed, the authors suggest that players pick up the game where the play example leaves off, avoiding altogether the thorny tangles of the pre-invasion special rules. This mega-example of play accomplishes the purpose of making the game easier to learn, but not without a price. In a way, QuickStart puts a QuickStop to most of the fun in playing the Hun. Normally, I am irritated by reviewers and designers who bemoan the inclusion of player notes or tips in a game. Sure, I'd just loooooove to learn everything myself, playing a game 20 or 30 times before figuring it out. Alas, like many a graying cardboard warrior, I find that in middle age I have acquired the trappings of a real life - job, wife, 3 year-old, the works - and as such, don't have hours and hours to spend in discovering what a paragraph or two could tell me. The General has been a popular hobby magazine, year-in and year-out, precisely because it helped gamers hone their skills with articles detailing proper play. So, conceptually, there is nothing at all wrong with the revelations in QuickStart. The problem is, that, for the German player, Invasion: Norway is essentially a "puzzle" game. QuickStart is like that irritating couple, who, having already seen the picture, sit behind you in the movie theater and provide a running commentary on what comes next. It is curious to note that while the Germans have the strategic initiative in Norway, the Allies have most of the play options. This is because the Victory Conditions require the Germans to control virtually all the geographical objectives in Norway, while keeping their losses to a bare minimum. Now, the Wehrmacht will never have as good a chance to take Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, and Narvik as on the invasion turn. Indeed, after turn 3, the Kriegsmarine will be hard put to execute any amphibious assaults in the face of Royal navy dominance. I have a hard time envisioning ANY German Invasion plan which is demonstrably different from the one GMT gives you. You can tinker, but, on the whole, this is The Plan. German play will vary little from game to game: Hit the beaches, consolidate the south, form festung Narvik, and then drive north in relief. Ironically, it is the Allies who decide when and where to strike. Do you land at Mo, blocking the northern relief attempt? Or how about a fight to recapture Trondheim, precluding any sort of rescue attempt? Hit and run all along the coast, spreading the Germans thin 'till they snap? Maybe land north of Narvik, seize the city, and build up the air base at Bardufoss? In truth, the game will usually come down to Narvik. Hold it, and the Germans will probably win. If not, they will definitely lose. Because the Germans have to do everything, and do it in proper sequence, they have precious little decision making about just what, and when, to do. It's the Allied player who gets to play Churchill, stabbing his cigar on the map and rumbling, "Here, here is where we attack". His poor opponent can only follow the wisdom of QuickStart, hoping that precise play and good fortune will keep the juggernaut on track and on time. So, is there a fjord in your fjuture? Despite the above rumblings, the game is worth getting. Just make sure you play the side that suits your gaming personality. "Perfect Plan" gamers, who relish eking out every last modifier and chart break, will have a ball as the Germans. Once The Plan is in effect, the Teutonic Tribe will need a CPA's attention to detail in order to pull out a win. Those who march to the beat of a different die roller should play the Allies. If you love the chaos of cardboard battle, you'll have ample opportunity for an impromptu, counter punching, winging-it style of play with your rag-tag crew of Brits, Frogs, Poles, and Norwegians. So, crunch the rules, pick the right side, and break out the aquavit. Skol! CAPSULE COMMENTS Graphic Presentation: Oooo, ahhhhh, ooohhh! Playability: If you already made it through the Rules Hell That is BSA, no problemo. If not, it may take some doing, even with Q-Start. Replayability: Good for the Allies, instant replay for the Germans. Wristage: Jah, Jah, Jah. Creativity: More John Ford than Orson Welles. Not particularly innovative, but makes good use of the tried and true. The procedures are pure Coen Brothers. Historicity: Seems right, and has a nice feel. Of course, who knows if Nora Finnskoga is really in the right hex? Comparisons: The definitive treatment of the campaign. Way better than GDW's Narvik, the old standard (and one of Europa's best.) Overall: 3 1/2 sardines. Very good game, but don't ask me to play the Germans again. from GMT One 22"x34" map, one 22"x17" map, one Rules Booklet, one QuickStart Booklet, one Scenario and Historical Notes Booklet, Charts and Tables, 560 counters. $39 fro GMT Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. II # 21 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com