Hoorah!

Command #39

by Rob Markham

Reviewed by Carl Gruber

If you play this after SN, the title is what you'll be shouting. Hoorah! is another one of XTR's looks at "alternative history", here a continuation of the earlier and also similarly, jubilantly-named Wahoo", which postulated a Confederate attack on Washington. With Hoorah! the Rebel Wet Dream continues. They have taken Washington and, with the Confederate treasury no doubt swollen by revenue from the District of Columbia Parking Enforcement Division, Lee's army, together with a British Expeditionary Force, has pushed on into Pennsylvania to end the war. The broken Army of the Potomac waits at Pittsburgh for reinforcement from the Army of the Tennessee for a final showdown to decide the war. This scenario will no doubt sound very dumb to a lot of readers. It didn't bother me too much, because history has shown us even dumber and more unlikely events.

For Hoorah!, Rob Markham uses the Blue and Gray system jazzed up to 90's standards. Corps are randomly activated by chits, and the CRT has been upgraded to a 2-12 die roll with more varied combat results, including retreats and disruptions. One problem I did have with the game is that there is no stacking, not even during movement. Whether large bodies of troops could move through each other is an issue that could be argued either way but in Hoorah, units cannot even move through friendly artillery!

The centerpiece of the game is the highly random manner in which the battle develops. No two games play alike. Die rolls are made at the beginning of each turn. The Rebs are rolling to get Stuart's cavalry and the British Expeditionary Force (two divisions' worth), while the Yanks are rolling for river gunboats and the appearance of the Army of the Tennessee. What's more, the cavalry and infantry, when they appear, enter the map from random directions! For example, the Brits can enter behind the Union lines or not at all. The Army of the Tennessee can enter through the West or South mapedge. In the case of the latter, they have a fair chance of not only stopping the Rebs from achieving their victory conditions but may even cross the river and flank the Rebs. The Union gunboats, if they appear, are a major headache to the Rebs because they bombard and disrupt the troops that are trying to burn the Susquehanna bridges.

In all of the above cases, no one knows who's coming to the party, when they'll arrive or from what direction. And that is the strength of the game: it's not history, nor is Hoorah! the latest word in game design. Rob, however, has given us a game that makes us gamble, sweat, and look for dust clouds on the horizon. This uncertainty makes Hoorah! one of the better Command games I've played lately.

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© Copyright 1996 by Richard Berg
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