1 22"x 34" map; 560 counters; rules booklet; 3 player aid charts; boxed. SPW PO Box 19770, Austin, TX 78760. E-mail: spw1@airmail.net. $29.95. Once again, the lamps are going out all over Europe with David Schroeder's release of The Schlieffen Plan. The Plan simulates those busy days at the opening of The Great War in the Western front at a division/brigade level, 20 kilometers per hex, and four days per turn. The area that this game covers is from Tours France in the west to Stuttgart Germany in the east and from the Ruhr valley in the north to Bern Switzerland in the south. Naturally, the eastern and northern third of the map is not going to be used, but the Plan is to link The Plan to about 40 other maps in a gigantic series of games to cover operational combat of all of European and Mediterranean WWI, WWII, and modern periods, using the same maps and system. Boggles the mind, doesn't it. Strange that there are so many WW1 enthusiasts in the first place. For me, the Great War doesn't lend itself to fun gaming or historical interest. Those interested in the drive of personalities in conflicts aren't given much during this time period, as WW1 looks to be a faceless war where personal identity is blurred and the commanders come across as a collection of reactionary harrumphers who butchered their generation. I don't know how long this new-found popularity for things Greatwarish will continue, but Schroeder has used it to introduce a nice design into the hobby, for which he charges relatively little. The components of TSP are solid; the rules are clear and have good examples, the charts and tables work quite well, and the 1/2" counters are hallmarks to functionality. NATO symbology on the counters is used and the values show their attack and movement factors and what the maximum attack factor the unit can be when it is rebuilt (really only a concern for the BEF whose rebuilt army can't match the performance it had). The counters that stand apart are the fortress counters, which use an icon that looks like the Pentagon, and the army HQ counters that sport their national flags, of which the German is the most impressive. The one thing in the game that stands out most of all is the map. Each 20mm hex is like a pie with six pieces that represent the terrain of the hexsides. This feature gives the map a kaleidoscopic effect which struck me as strange at first, although I found it pleasant nonetheless. The one bad point to the map is that, since the game system covers warfare from 1914 to modern times, there are features on the map, such as suburban terrain, industrial and resource centers, and macrohex and megahex lines, that obfuscate play. Use of these features will come later with games that will have air and naval warfare rules. If the system is still around. SetUp Setup of the game takes some time, as this is a division-level WW1 game and there are a hell of a lot of divisions, a bunch of brigades, and a lot of forts to place on the map. The defensive strength of these forts can range from the minuscule 2 of Hirson to the nigh-impregnable 48 of Metz. These "ratings" represents the number of forts in the area's complex and the armament present in them. After everything has been set up, play is hampered by the fact that these great armies on the map are not yet fully mobilized, so for the first few turns only a few divisions and some cavalry are moving on the map. When the ball finally gets moving (turn 3), the Entente player is in a precarious position. All but the BEF and one French army are on the southern German border, committed to their "Plan 17" attacks, the bulk of Kaiser Bill's forces are massed in the north, and the Belgian army is bugging out of harm's way to stay placidly in Antwerp next turn. If the German player wants to "play the rules," then he may merely mass his forces as they are mobilized against the front of Liege and then let the defenders retreat to the north as they must on turn 4. As there is nothing worth victory points in Belgium, and the forts do not impede supply (no ZOCs for forts), then the German player merely waits for the Belgian bug-out, bypasses the abandoned Liege fort, and then brings his weight against the two rearguard units in the fort of Namur. Handling little, neutral Belgium is a tricky point. It would be unrealistic to have the army of Belgium run away to Antwerp at the first sign of trouble, and it would be equally wrong to have them fight to the last man to buy France time. The German war planners operated under the assumption that the Belgian Army would instantly scatter before such an invasion but this token force offered a little better than token resistance, as the commander of the Belgian forces at Liege was told by King Albert to "hold to the end." The special rules for Belgium in the game fly in the face of this tenacious, although futile, defense to the point of being dismissive of the valor of the Sprouts to make the Bosche pay for their invasion. Play of The Schlieffen Plan is pretty straightforward. The sequence of play is reinforcements, move, combat, and replacements which is completed in order for each side. No weird initiative rules as in Command's Great War in Europe (which ruined that otherwise good game for me). The differences in TSP are the army headquarters units that spend their allocated supply points to have units within their radii fight. One supply point will supply so many combat factors worth of troops and each nationality is different. But it usually boils down to one point equals one full-strength division on the attack. The attacking units' total combat strength is added up and this number is rolled for on a CRT that runs from one strength point to 50. The result, modified by terrain, is the amount of defending combat points lost. The defender may counterattack with these defending units except their combat strengths are tripled (or just doubled if the defenders are going to retreat and retreating artillery can't counterattack). This effectively simulates the bloody effect that bolt-action rifles, machine guns, and artillery had on massed attacks of that period, even before all the trenches and barbed wire went up. The down-side to this is that supply costs are doubled for counterattacking units. The reason given is that artillery ammunition was low (3000 shells per gun for the Germans and 2000 per gun for the French) and as the French had a greater shortage than the Germans, they should run out of supply faster than the Germans, since the French will be doing most of the counterattacking in the game. Personally, I would have preferred an artillery point track to all supply point math, which slows play down a hell of a lot. One other wrinkle to the game is the stacking limits. Since this is a division/brigade level game with 20 kilometer hexes, you can load a lot of counters in those hexes. The example in the rules shows a hex legally loaded with 13 counters, a worst case example. On the other hand, the players are going to form up super stacks to do most of the attacking and those stacks are going to be composed of the maximum six divisions of infantry strengthened with extra brigades (artillery, cavalry, engineer, infantry, etc.) along with strength loss markers. I alleviated the obvious, digitally-oriented math by using the army display tracks and army substitution counters from my old copy of Avalon Hill's Hitler's War. Of course, at the later stage of the game, these super stacks won't exist, as the game inflicts grievous attrition on all sides. Even with the terrible losses from counterattacks, the Germans stand a very good chance of being able to bash their way to Paris (basically, the only thing worth victory points in the game) by the weight of their numbers and better supplied HQs. It seems the best French strategy is to abandon their border with Germany (for nothing in the south is worth veeps, anyway) and form up some sort of Parisian defense. Even with some strange aspects, The Schlieffen Plan gives a good feel to combat in 1914. It plays smoothly, has lots of action, and incorporates enough chrome to keep the period enthusiasts happy. CAPSULE COMMENTS Graphic Presentation: High. The map can be a bit eye-wobbling, though, and the box is too shallow for the components. Playability: Pretty good, even with the skyscraper-like stacks. The box rates its solitaire suitability as "very high." This is an obscene lie; doesn't lend itself well to solitaire play. Replayability: Depends whether you liked the first game; there is only one scenario in this game. Wristage: Fairly light for an operational game. Creativity: Some quirky stuff herein, but the game gives a good feel for the campaign. Historicity: Except for the special Belgian rules, pretty good. Comparisons: I liked this better than Command's 1914 Glory's End. For strategic WW1, I liked ADG's Fatal Alliances, mostly for its more unique play. SPI's old (and DG's newer remake) World War I is good for fast play. Most of the other WW1 games out there are just boring. Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. 2 #27 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 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