Stake The Bunny,
Open the Box

Clash of Giants
(WWI: Tannenberg and the Marne)

by Charles Vasey

Ted Raicer for GMT

While I do not think it is possible to dislike Reds! On first sight I believe Clash of Giants is not a prepossessing specimen, yet one is forced to admire its structure. Clash of Giants covers the two campaigns of the Marne and Tannenberg at Corps/division level, and it does so in a way that impresses even if (I must admit) I would not say I particular feel enthusiastic about it. Why this lack of excitement? I'm not sure, perhaps the topic, perhaps the scale. However, (based on competitive Tannenberg and solitaire Marne) I can say this is a player's game. Keep your wits about you at all times folks, because the line between defeat and victory can be thin.

The most obvious thing about Clash of Giants that impresses is the eight page rule-book and 12 page Battle Book (Cor! just like in the old Avalon Hill days). This is not a game in which you will wrestle long with the system.

The sequence is old-fashioned symmetrical player turns. You check your supply, you take your reinforcement and replacements, and you then activate your armies one by one. Activation completed you have combat and then recover all "Done" units.

Supply is generous (infinite line to supply source) but in Tannenberg one cannot depend on this always being there (especially for the small German force). Supply (usually) goes through Attenuated into OOS so you may have time to escape (I think von Kluck's boys do not benefit after all their hard marching). Replacements can appear in action. However, any unit receiving them has a "Done" marker placed on them and cannot move or fight that turn.

Command is neatly handled by joining movement. Each Army dices separately and is moved, before going on to the next. The result can be a degree of confusion and mismatching. In the Marne the French/BEF are rather samey here, though von Kluck is a but more excitable on the German side (as well he might be). In Tannenberg (which really shows different systems) the two Russian Armies have very individual movement tracks, and 1st Corps is more sprauncy than the rest of Eighth Army.

So having messed up your armies and caused holes to appear in the lines in an open field campaign (the opening of the Marne for example) Ted moves onward. Combat is suitably original. You tot up the odds as usual and get a modifier to add to a die roll for each defender (and some Attackers). This is compared to the unit's quality rating, where it exceeds it there is a loss and variable retreat. The down side of this is a heck of a lot of dicing. The upside is that you really can feel the difference in quality between the units of the various armies. In Tannenberg the Germans must use 1st Corps and the other regulars to mince up those Russians. But the Russians are numerous and eventually you will suffer losses. But faced by two Russians armies you have no other choice. The BEF feel suitably professional compared to some battered French territorial units. The game uncompromisingly shows quality and the effect of quality (until you throw a six and then you remember that we are as grass).

The battle books have lots of individual stuff, the item that attracts most attention is a very neat Wireless Intercept rule in Tannenberg where the German chooses one Russian Army which dices for Command before the German plays. This leaves him not knowing where the Russians are going, but their speed.

Tannenberg also has the classic position of two large but slow attackers and one tough defender. At some point you will have to ship off to beat the "other" Russian Army, but when, and with how many, and at what cost in time. Every turn your German regulars are in the train is a train where they are not damaging Russian forces.

Clash of Giants is thoroughly professional, full of innovation and if it does not ultimately excite me it does at least impress me.

Stake The Bunny, Open the Box

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© Copyright 2004 by Charles and Teresa Vasey.
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