2 34" x 22" maps; 560 counters; Rules Booklet; 2 Player Aid Charts; ziplock bagged (and no dice). MIH; Order thru Admiralty 1-805-534-9723. c. $40 For years … many years … WWI as a gaming subject was perceived to be Beyond Dead. No one did WWI games; they simply were no fun and didn't sell. While the latter may have been true in many cases, the former never was. For every lethargic, somnolent moss gatherer like 1914 or Guns of August, there was always a To the Greenfields Beyond, a Verdun (remember that one?), or even the off-the-wall Sideshow. But Perception is Reality, and, much as everyone intoned the "Ancients Never Sell" mantra up to 1994, the same deathknell was annually sounded for anything even smacking of WWI … that is, until Ted Raicer made it his personal Quest to prove otherwise. And that he has done, and mightily so. Starting with 1918 (cf. BROG #4), to such as Where Eagles Fight (cf. BROG #13), reaching a crescendo with The Great War in Europe (cf. BROG #18), Ted has become the Rupert Murdoch of The Great War, single-handedly raising it from the dead, at least in the eyes of gamers everywhere. In doing so, he has even resurrected long-thought-dead design careers, as exhibited by the Bolt Phenomenon, a sudden interest in All Things David Bolt, a designer who also tried mightily to market the Mud and Gas Special over a decade ago, with such as The Cossacks are Coming. Despite a hefty price tag, and an even heftier set of rules, his latest herniatic epic for Clash, Home Before the Leaves Fall, has sold out (!!), bringing a vociferous clamor for a whole series of games from the pen of Hollywood Dave. And now, with what may be a half dozen WWI designs lying around his apartment in various stages of disarray - Cambrai, The Russian Civil War, you name it - Ted has gone back to his roots to resurrect one of his own designs, 1918, with All Quiet on the Western Front? - complete with non-Remarquian "?" in his title - covering the last major German offensive of the war (Spring, 1918), and the subsequent Allied counter-offensive that sealed the Kaiser's fate. The size of the game - two maps, 600 counters - reminds one of the approaching evil planet in "The Fifth Element", which, when attacked, simply doubled in size. It would be easy to say that's all we have here, a Boolean algebraic formula for wargamers: 1918 x 2 = AQ. Luckily for most (but not all) gamers, Ted has done more than simply blow up his former design. Assuming that the popularity of both Ted and the subject could carry the day, MiH has taken a bold marketing step in an effort to reduce costs (and price); they have ziplocked the game instead of boxing it. Personally, we think that's a mistake, especially if you are looking to move the game retail. However, it is too early to judge the effect. Regardless, even without the box, this is a handsome production. Despite Ted's stubborn, design-for-effect insistence that Abbeville should lie south of the Somme (that's two games now), the Joe Youst map is quite attractive, especially if you like green, and complete with an interesting, spidery road network as visual (and not needed for play) background. The counters are UN shorthand standard, but the rules booklet is top-level. (The game has a vaguely visual XTR air about it.) The system uses a three couplet turn sequence, basically a mild variation on Igo-Hugo, featuring move-barrage-fight, followed by possible exploitation … which is where all those beloved Stosstruppen come in (although this ability is not limited to them). Interwoven amongst all of this are rules for air intervention and a rather important Initiative rule. Initiative, which is reliant upon a country's morale, which in turn is based on how many objectives have been lost or gained, not only determines the usual Who Goes First, but also what a player can do when he has the Initiative. E.g., Stosstruppen are effective only when the German player has the Initiative. The transfer of Initiative to the Allies signals the end of the German offensive of 1918, and the beginning of the end of the war. The system is quite accessible, easy to learn but containing many hidden charms, charms that only become revealed during play. To this extent, the game plays much better than it reads. First, there's the daunting set-up. It not only takes some time to position several hundred units in their trench lines, virtually nose-to-nose, but you have to have a good idea of what you want to do before you deploy. This means that your initial play will be a learning experience, and you should not treat it as indicative of how the game really plays when you have some grasp of both the strategies and tactics. And, to a great extent, the value of the game lies in its deployment, as the Germans, who set-up last, can launch their offensive at almost any place between Nancy and The Channel - the entire spread of the map - which means that players can spend many, many weekends trying to come up with The Best Plan. That is, of course, if you do not mind what could be the one flaw in the game as a game: this is still WWI, eyeball-to-eyeball, trench warfare, whose monotony is broken only by a rather localized offensive. Whether or not that offensive turns into a war of maneuver depends on how the players act/react. One of the major mechanics keeping players on a fairly tight rein, in terms of their strategies, is a good HQ/Command rule. They put a logistical leash on your actions and do so without a lot of fuss and bother. HQ's being slow movers also make you choose to attack in areas where you can keep those HQ's close enough to follow up the attack. The HQ activation requirement also prevents unrealistic and indiscriminate attacks. This is 1918, and they didn't have the supply or mobility to run crazy all over the map. Since the HQ's also provide barrages, you don't launch offensives where you don't have HQ's. Another point is that the HQ's are staging areas for replacements and placement of strategic reserves. This makes their placement and later movement critical, because your HQ location is what commits you to action in a certain sector. In short, the HQ's force you to plan for the long term and very carefully choose where you precipitate combat. And there's lots of combat to go around, we'll say that. Carl particularly liked the defender getting to fire first. There are two CRT's, one for the Attacker and one for the defender, and both produce a fair share of step losses. Most units have two steps, front and back. Let's assume you're using four 4-4 units to attack a hex with two defending 5-4 units. The defenders get to fire first with his 10 combat "factors" (a word that has existed so long in the wargame lexicon that it has surpassed that it doesn't really mean what designers think it does), producing an average loss by the attackers of two steps. This means that the attackers are now down from 16 CF to 12, a one column negative shift on their CRT, which would produce an average defender loss of 1.3 steps. This means that the attacker gets punished pretty badly, unless he uses tanks and Stosstruppen, which get to fire even if they've taken losses. As you can guess, for a major offensive to succeed, you'll need solid reserves, as your first wave gets chewed up pretty badly and then you have nothing to sustain the attack. But AQWF's strongest suit is its requirement that players have a solid Plan. Since you cannot change the direction of a major offensive very easily, you have to choose an effective strategy right from the start. If the Germans choose a lousy opening offensive, they may as well write off the game because it takes too long to reposition troops and HQ's to correct the error. There are, though, a lot of interesting choices. The point of the game is to drive the other guy's morale down to zip. If you attack in a direction where you can grab a lot of victory point hexes, you trash the other side's morale. The location of those hexes and the forces in place (at start) to defend those areas give you a lot to think about and work with. The game also rewards you for reinforcing success (especially through use of its Strategic Reserve rules). You can't get distracted by a lot of little micro-offensives that go nowhere. You have to choose your objective, fight smartly and reinforce sectors at just the right moment with the correct amount of force. This is by no means a counter-bashing, mindless melee. Gotta think it all out and not get confused or panicked, like Ludendorff. In addition to the meat-and-potato aspect of the game - most of it will be quite familiar to long-time gamers - there are interesting, tangential rules to cover Alsace (as a sideshow), the use of trenches, and even an appearance by The Red Baron (Richtofen), complete with his own counter! As Raicer continues to design WWI games, and get feedback thereupon, he finds out what his fans like, dislike, and look forward to. Add to that the penchant, these days, for going big in terms of size and scale, and you get a game that pushes almost every button the WWI fans have. For that same reason, AQWF may not be that appealing to gamers who find the usual trench and breakout situation something they don't enjoy. That, however, is a function of situation, not design. And AQWF is one clever, crowd-pleasing design. CAPSULE COMMENTS Graphic Presentation: No box, but otherwise top of the line. Playability: Accessible, although this is not a short game. Good solitaire. Replayability: For those who like the situation, a major strong point. Creativity: Nothing new here, just good use of old mechanics. Historicity: Good feeling for campaign Wristage: Not tremendous, but a good workout for the ivories. Comparisons: Better than its progenitor, 1918, and the scale helps project the best aspects of trench/breakout warfare of this era. More fun than Uli B's Black Day (reviewed herein), but I can't remember much about Green Fields. Raicer competing with himself here, for the most part. Overall: A clean and concise design that offers a lot of choices and decisions (and a lot of room to blunder as well). Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. 2 #25 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com