I first heard of Warangel when it hit the top 10 in ranked games on Boardgamegeek. I had never heard of the game and was intrigued that out of many comments, there were no negative comments. From what I could tell, the game is a huge hit in Italy. Then I tried to find the game for purchase and had a difficult time, as the only company I could find that carried it in America was New Wave. I finally was able to get the game directly from the designer, Angelo Porazzi from Italy, who self-publishes the game.
So is Warangel worth all the hype it's gotten (mostly from Italians)? The short answer is that it is an excellent light war game, with replayability options I've seen in few other games. It's a terrific game, and I'm glad I took the trouble to track it down. Now for the longer answer
First, a short description of game play
Each player takes an army of their choosing. (10 armies are included in the basic set, with 80 more armies included in the expansions.). The armies included in the basic set are the Insects, Tentaculates (Octopus type army), Ghosts (evil guys), Felinians (humanoid cats, tigers, etc.), Barbarians, Centaurs, Ninja (ninjas with dragons), Sirens (mermaids and sharks), Gladiators, and Eagles. Each army is very unique, with different statistics for the units. An army comes with a master, who is the leader of the army and has the best statistics. Then, each army has four other units, ranging from a powerful "dominant" class to the regular foot soldiers. Each army is made up of about 50 cardboard counters, with illustrations of the units on them. Each army comes with an army sheet that shows the statistics of the units along with explanations of their special abilities. The first ability is power. The number of a creature's power shows how many shields it can flip when attacking in hand to hand combat. The game comes with tokens that have a picture of a shield on one side, and blank on the other. If a creature has a power of "5", they can flip 5 shields, inflicting from 0 to 5 hits.
The next statistic is vitality, which determines how many hits a unit can take each turn. If my creature with a power "5" attacks a creature with vitality of "4", my creature must show 4 shields when flipping to kill the creature it is attacking. Wounds are not accumulated, as each creature "heals" between turns. However, in one turn, several units may combine their power to take down a creature with high vitality.
The next statistic is movement. This determines how far a creature can move on the maps. The maps, made up of many different terrain types, are made up of many hexagons. Each player has a map of their own; these maps are not connected to each other in a physical sense. Instead, there are 10 "Blue Holes" on each map that correspond to the "blue hole" on the opponent's map. It costs three movement points to move through these holes. The holes are the only way to move from map to map. Other terrain types, such as mountains and water, cost more movement points to move through than regular terrain.
The next statistic is warrior amount. This number determines how many of that type of creature each player starts the game with. When the game is begun, each player takes their total number of units (varies from army to army, but is usually around fifty) and places them on their map, putting a shield up between the maps so that initial placement is secret. Each player also sets up 7 fortresses, each with a resource point underneath. These resources range from 1 3 points, and determine game victory. Each player starts with 10 resource points, and needs to control only 12 resource points to win the game capturing only one or two of their opponent's fortresses will win. Each space may only have one unit in it, except for fortresses, where a unit may reside as a garrison.
The next statistic is value, not used in Warangel being used in Warbeast, a compatible game system. The final statistic is specializations. This shows what terrain type, if any, that the creature is most comfortable in. In this terrain, the creature only spends one movement point and may re-flip their shield when attacking. Most creatures also have other special abilities. There are a wide variety of these, but they include: flying, jumping, holding (holding an enemy, keeping it from moving), weapons (attacks that may be combined with the normal close combat attack, or used to attack a different unit), shooting (attack with weapons from a distance), mental attacks (convert units to your side, confuse them, etc.), and more! These special abilities, when combined with each race's statistics, make each race very different from each other.
After setup, each player takes their turn. On a player's turn, they may move their units, attack with their units, and use the unit's special abilities. Each unit may do these actions in any order, but may only do them once per turn. Once one player has captured fortresses so that they control 12 resources (including their own remaining fortresses' value), they are the winner!
Some comments on the game:
1). Components: First of all, I must stress the fact that this game is produced by the designer. Mr. Porazzi designed the game, promoted it, produced it even did the artwork! The counters for each army are laminated cardboard, and are of okay quality. However, Mr. Porazzi also sells small wooden blocks for a reasonable price. When these blocks are painted in the armies' colors, and the cardboard counters are pasted onto them they look fairly sharp. I will admit that this is a piece of work, but the designer recommends that you only do it with a few armies your favorite choices. I'm a completist and painted as many armies as I could, and plan to paint all of them but it's not necessary. The game also comes with three maps two ordinary maps, as well as a large, special "Grail" map. These maps are laminated, and hold up well on the table. Each of the first thirty armies of the series has their own "home" map, and these are available from the publisher, also. These maps are not laminated, and are just large sheets of paper, but are easily laminated, and hold up well. The same cannot be said for the box, however, which is a thin, cheaply made box. Once the armies are mounted, they don't fit in it. I keep all mine in one of my game drawers, and if I transport the game, just take the armies with me that I'm going to use. The shield counters flipped for attacks and special abilities are a good method to use, but it felt a little unwieldy to use. We love dice, so we just rolled a die for each shield, using a 1-3 as a miss, and a 4-6 as a hit. The components for this game aren't the best, but they are good for being self-produced. The game is good enough that I hope that it's picked up by a bigger company and produced with higher quality components. But even so, I'm very proud of my armies and maps, and am eager to show off the game to people.
2). Artwork: And one of the main reasons for this is the artwork of the game. Very few designers are their own artists, and very few game artists are as good as Mr. Porazzi. The artwork on all the counters is very good, and for having 450 different images in the game, very easily distinguishable. But the most incredible artwork in the game is on the army sheets and the maps. The army sheets each boast a nice, fantasy style picture of that army in fighting action. The maps are incredibly beautiful I'm trying to think of ways to use them in other games they look that good.
3). Rules: The designer not only did everything else with the game, he did his own translation work, also. Therefore, the translations into English are not that great. I was able to read the rules without any problems, but they were a little "clunky" in places. However, I know for a certainty that they are being rewritten by a native American, so future editions should be much easier to read. The website, www. warangel.it, also has a host of information, but is mostly in Italian, with only parts translated into English. The rules are somewhat lengthy, but are easy to teach and learn, with many examples. The game is a light tactical game, and doesn't present too many decisions. However, there is enough for players to decide. Should a player block certain blue holes, preventing the enemy coming in from that side? How many units should defend, and how many should attack? Which fortress should a player head for, and with which units? How best can the special abilities of an army be utilized?
4). Game play: I was very pleased with how easy the game played. After reading all the special abilities (there are about 30), I thought the game might become complicated. However, each individual army only has a few different special abilities. Some armies may seem weaker or stronger than others, but they have more subtle abilities. Overall, they seem extremely well balanced. The time for the game isn't too long, and seems to run a little over 90 minutes for a two-player game. I think the game plays better with only two players, unless the other players play on teams. Even then, it would certainly drag out the time involved.
5). Availability: While it's hard to get a hold of the game, it's easy to get in touch with the game designer. Mr. Porazzi was incredibly helpful, and was very easy to deal with via email. I received the game quickly and with little trouble. Hopefully, if there is enough demand for the game, it will become easier to procure in America.
6). Variety: The biggest thing in favor of Warangel is its variety. With only the first ten armies provided in the basic set, there are 90 different match-ups available. If you use all 40 armies that are currently available in English, you can have up to 156,000 different match-ups. That's a LOT for a war game. You could never play the same game twice and every army is fun to play. All the different maps, the different units, and the different special abilities create a unique experience each time one plays.
7). Fun Factor: Warangel is brimming with fantasy theme. The armies all have a unique flavor, and their special abilities act that flavor. It's a lot of fun to use flying creatures to pick up other creatures and drop them into volcanoes. It's fun to drag other units into chasms and let them fall to their deaths.
It's great fun to see a tiger attack a mermaid, a mammoth attack a giant spider, a knight fight a barbarian, and a penguin attack a T- rex. There are shades of Kings and Things in this game, and it's certainly fun to play. A good background story is also written for each army, and contributes to the overall theme and fun. The flipping of the shields adds a lot of luck to the game, but the luck seems to even out with good tactics.
So I have to highly recommend Warangel. If you like fantasy games full of theme, light war games with plenty of variety, great artwork and fun, fast play then this is a good game to pick up. The components could be a little better, but I think overall the game is a blast to play. If you get the chance to play or buy Warangel, give it a shot you may really enjoy yourself! Now excuse me while I go lead my army of dinosaurs against the evil pigs!
Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 15
To Game! List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2005 by George Phillies.
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