designed by Al Wambold for The Gamers I have only played one other game from The Gamers - the terrible Austerlitz. However, Drive on Paris comes from a different series of their games (the Standard Combat Series) that shares little with that game. Drive on Paris is a simple game in terms of its rules (though the designer does his best to confuse Exploitation Movement) with many very subtle nuances that combine to give the feeling of an old SPI game, but one designed properly with all those annoying details dealt with. Though easy to play it can be ferocious to win, as a 2d6 combat system brings a considerable range of results. As such it represents a very effective game for those of you who like playing games. Delightfully it also has a lot of the feel of the real thing with perhaps one area that will give some concern. Overall a very impressive package, demonstrating that less can be more. Let us start not with the rules system but the problem that designer is setting you. This will lead straight to the main area of historical difficulty. The topic is the 1914 campaign in France. The received wisdom is that the German units are better than the French and that the topic requires a French Idiot Rule to encourage compliance with Plan 17. Mr Wambold does not agree. Firstly, most of the active corps on both sides are the same size and strength (though an official amendment permits a one modifier on the dice in BEF battles). Secondly, he is determined that the French generals should have a very good reason to do what they did. To this end he incorporates two very neat devices. Firstly, he prevents the Sneak to the Left so popular in games on 1914 by slamming down a French Doctrine Line (running south from Givet). Forces that are on the map to the east of this must so remain, and those to the west also may not cross this line. Recovered dead units can be reconstituted on a different side of the line, so some slippage is possible, but other than that the French armies fight to their front. All this changes if the Boches reach the French Panic Line (just to the north of Paris) at which point it's all aboard the train for Paris. The second device is a host of Revanchist Victory Points in Alsace and Lorraine. These towns (many of them well-known to me from The Franco-Prussian War) yield VPs if captured by French forces even if subsequently lost. As French Generalissimo one must feed the amour-propre of France even if later events force a tactical retreat. The German Armies of Rupprecht and Von Heeringen are themselves a tempting target and can be broken providing one does not waste too much time in the Vosges. However, the French logistics limitations are going to keep them south of the Rhine (though Metz may be overrun yet). Indeed, the temptation to the Germans of reinforcing this fragile front is considerable. Of course, the difficulty with the above is that the actual result of the campaign was some very unsuccessful attacks that so weakened the Fourth and Fifth Armies that Rupprecht could actually counter-attack strongly. Many designers have interpreted this result as meaning there was never any chance of French success. Mr Wambold takes a different view, you certainly can achieve this result but it is far from inevitable. The French Player thus has the inviting prospect of attacking as well as defending. He can certainly lose the game against Von Kluck and Von Bülow, but he must win in Alsace-Lorraine. This opening up of the game is a very strong part of its attraction. I was impressed with the historical effect, though I think the average gamer will not be quite as profligate as some French commanders were, though a few low scores can make fools of all of us. The map is a pleasantly rendered single sheet that takes us from the Rhine to Dieppe-Rouen and from Antwerp south to Paris. The major terrain features (rivers and woods) are clearly laid out. The Plan 17 hexes have a jolly tricolour and counters represent fortresses. This is terrain oft fought-over and I saw nothing that struck me as wrong. The counters are also pleasantly constructed and uncluttered. Units have an Attack, Defence and Movement Allowance and an "Army" colour band. The colours of these are often rather too close to each other. However, they are only informative and have no game effect. Most counters have a second step. Counters that can use Exploitation movement are clearly marked. Overall a pleasant, clear and playable physical package. The only messy features are tracking rail-control with those damned railhead counters. The scale is divisional in the majority, and each turn is four days long. You can therefore expect a long game, though the presence of good scenarios prevents this denying you value from the game if you only have three hours with which to play. The basic rules are a mere six pages long with a lot of that illustration, believe me this game is not going to hard to play, though it may be rather harder to win (or avoid losing). First thing to strike one is that the game ditches the old SPI rounding conventions. 4.65 to 1 is not 4:1 it is 5:1. This means that much of the time getting extra units into combat is wise. However, you may not examine enemy stacks before combat and there is nothing quite so horrid as running into two Algerian divisions sheltering under a reduced French division. This really encourages aggression. The sequence is basically Move, Fight, Exploit (but only in a very limited fashion) and check supply. ZOCs are sticky but not locking, especially with exploitation units. Solid lines are best, though the size of the front will prevent one being able to block other than specific areas entirely. There is provision for Overrun combat as part of movement. Combat Combat is robust, you use the new Rounding Convention and take your luck with the defenders. However, combat is never mandatory. Results come in terms of a number of steps lost and of retreats inflicted. In addition, Fortress Steps may be destroyed and "Breakthroughs" occur. A Breakthrough permits a further combat after limited advance after combat. Because the CRT uses 2D6 it can have a wide range of results. A 1:1 attack has results ranging from the Attacker losing 4 steps (a whole corps) to the defender suffering the same and retreating 2 hexes. This is warfare closer to 1870 than 1917. The raw step losses over the range (not adjusting for probability) are 19 for the attacker and 14 for the defender. Combat in Drive on Paris is never boring, and entire campaigns can turn on a foolish attack or under-supported defence that rips the line apart. Drive on Paris has managed to grasp that attacking is more deadly than defending (something that eludes most popular WW1 games). However, the lack of mandatory combat should allow a degree to cherry picking in attacks to overcome what might otherwise by a stalemate of one division per hex. Exploitation is limited to certain kinds of unit, which are Cavalry and some German regular divisions. It consists of a further movement phase but no combat. The Game Specific Rules are 24 pages long but this includes many scenarios. Without tank units the only exploit capable units are cavalry, certain regular German divisions (but only for the first few turns after which they tire of this) and other German units rolling well on a die-roll. However, all units in reserve may double-move in the Exploitation Phase if they did not move in the Turn and had been nominated as reserves at the beginning of the turn. The sequencing means these units cannot engage in combat while in reserve. This can lead to dramatic advances as well as "strategic movement". Such reserve units cannot be in an enemy ZOC when nominated, something of with annoying French cavalry units are only too well aware. Trains act as fast transport even so you are unlikely to get very far across the map with them. A very considerable degree of delay appears to have been factored into the counters. Railways are important not only for running troop trains but for their supply effect. (They also act as roads through poor terrain). Supply is run off supply lines, and these are railways converted (for the Germans) by infantry divisions. The requirement of a division, not just a Landwehr brigade, should not be overlooked. The Marine division often finds itself tramping through Belgium for me. The French cannot convert railways and so are limited to the distance they can enter Germany. Headquarters have no immediate command control role (Drive on Paris) is not that sort of game. However, if a unit is eliminated the turn of its reappearance (for reconstitution) is influenced by HQ position. A unit out of command range will spend three times 1d6 turns off the map, but it is only double if within command range. In addition, the HQs are vital to prevent the very bloody CRT emptying the map. Each HQ has a Reconstitution capacity (Von Bülow has a capacity of three for example). This is the number of steps that can be rebuilt on units stacked with the HQ. You can also combine rebuilding destroyed units. The advantage of a strong line is that one can withdraw damaged units and rebuild them out of enemy ZOCs (which defeat reconstitution) and possibly overcome the cost of attacking. A weak line cannot withdraw its damaged units, and they will as a result die. The existence of three good HQs on the right of the German line (von Kluck, von Bülow, and von Haussen) versus two Allied HQs (French and the 5 Armee commander) is noteworthy. It means that for much of the game the Germans can afford to attack strongly because they can recover 3 divisions worth of troops a turn. The arrival of new French HQs is vital in stabilising the line, especially as there seems very little way of simulating the fatigue of the German units as they near the Marne. The Germans do get extra HQs though. Although the Command rules are not onerous neither are they non-existent. Fortresses appear as multi-step counters (usually) which can only be killed by high scores (rather like in the Verdun game). However, the Germans can benefit from special assault-pioneers (who die and cannot be reconstituted). In addition they have Krupp and Skoda pieces that can kill fortresses without assaults. The Belgian fortresses will not prevent movement, but they will delay it, so it is useful to hit Liege, Namur and Maubeuge as soon as possible. I also feel it is then worthwhile to send the guns north to smash up as much as Antwerp as possible since the Belgians will otherwise tie up a lot of troops. Fortresses do not supply large formations sitting on them. These are networks of forts, not the depot cities of Vauban's era. Trenches can be built but the Germans get to choose when they are built after turn 11 (mid-September). One of the scenarios uses them. The game uses Mobilisation Points counters to handle reinforcements in the full-blooded scenario. Each of these is pre-programmed with troops, but you can switch their positioning away from the historical set-up. Though do not let them be overrun. Three levels of freedom exist for the French Player. Historical is the actual set-up. The French Doctrine Line limits which Mobilisation Points may be west or east of the line. Finally, there is a free set-up. Forces arrive in waves in a fashion that does feel very like the real thing. This is a painless piece of historical simulation. The French and British fail to co-operate in the usual fashion. Belgium is also rather tardy at letting its (new) allies into the country. (This is helpfully noted on the Turn Chart). The French receive lorries and taxis for a few Miracles of the Marne (but panzer-armies they are not). There are some special rules for Foch who gets all the glory from Papa Joffre. The German benefit from a single command structure, though for historical purposes many of the old German states have their own coding so you can tell your Hessians from your Saxons. They also can invade the Netherlands and avoid sending troops to the East. The latter is, in my view, too poorly punished in VP terms. The main scenario of the game is very long (over 20 hours) but the designer provides ample other choices. The Introductory Scenario is three turns long and takes the Germans from the Sambre towards the Aisne. Though small it is a very good introduction to the fun of the game, rather than being a bland mini-game. Scenario Two La Revanche is 6 turns long and covers the campaign in Alsace Lorraine. Scenario Three ("Home before the Leaves Fall") is 8 turns long starting at the siege of Namur and running on to 20 September. You can add the Alsace Lorraine to this game or just play from Metz to the West. Scenario Four ("From the Marne to the Sea") is 12 turns starting with the stage when the Germans realised they were flanked (and their supply railroads open to impeachment. Once again Alsace Lorraine can be joined to this game. Scenario Five is only 6 turns long and features the Race To The Sea with lots of trenches and Reservists. The Campaign Scenario is 25 turns from mobilisation to stalemate from Switzerland to Dunkirk, and Cyberboards are already available. Drive on Paris has been a notable success for The Gamers. It contains solid gaming, little of the cluttered rules that curse so many games, and is clean and pleasant. The choice of equality amongst the major combatants might irritate one, but I think the game has demonstrated that its view is not wrong. (Whether it is absolutely right is another matter). Certainly its feel of two battles in which each side has one with "home field advantage" is very enjoyable and close to the descriptions of the period. I thoroughly recommend this game. It is one you will play, enjoy and from which you will learn. One cannot say fairer than that. Back to Perfidious Albion #101 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. 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