With the winter nights drawing in I have been able to play some of the games that have been sitting about the place waiting for their turn on the game table (or the floor for two mappers). Some comments on these follow.
DECISION IN FRANCE by Rhino Games.
Decision covers the Normandy campaign and drive across France in 1944. It avoids the D-Day landings by starting the play from 25th June when the battle of the build up commences. It comes with a single map, player aid cards, and GDW style counters. In my opinion these are all top notch and very commendable. The same cannot be said for the cover art which is very poor and might possibly deter some potential purchasers.
As with Rhino's previous titles there are some excellent, simple but innovative ideas throughout the rules. I feel Mark Simonovitch, the designer, has much to offer but sadly Rhino are said to be no longer publishing. I hope some of his designs surface elsewhere. That said, I do have some misgivings with this particular game. (CHV: Mark moved to Avalon Hill, but I thought he had moved on subsequently).
This is an excellent simulation of events but as a game is quite unsatisfactory. The battle of the build up is a dull trading of step losses, with the odd hex changing ownership, and the German player unable to replace his losses as effectively as the Allied. Eventually (after about ten game turns), his line gives way and the Allied player is only prevented by supply restrictions, from overrunning the whole map. If you are interested in studying this campaign then I would recommend this highly as an excellent tool to do so. As a game, the end result is inevitable and the German player's actions will do nothing to alter that.
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT?
Previous Ted Raicer games have not impressed me so when I heard of this games release I had no intention of purchasing it. However, the comments I read lowered my resistance sufficiently to purchase the game and I'm glad I did. Graphically, MIH have done a respectable job but it is in the playing where the game excels.
All Quiet's sequence of play is movement, barrage, combat and exploit movement. Combat is resolved not by odds but by totalling combat factors and rolling a die on the appropriate column on the CRT. Terrain can give the defender column shifts. Normally, the defender fires first with the attacker taking any resulting step losses before returning fire. However, when stosstroopen are involved they get to return fire at their pre-step-loss strength. The defender has a limited ability to retreat to reduce step-losses. If stosstruppen are involved in an assault they must take the losses inflicted by the defender so no taking any cannon-fodder along to preserve your best men. barrages can be used to soften up the defender prior to assault. During the exploit phase stosstroopen get to move at a favourable rate. Each payer's morale rises or falls as they take or lose various towns and cities on the map. The object is to drive your opponent's morale down to zero. This game has a much better feel for combat in 1918 than his previous titles, Storm In The West and The Great War In Europe.
On the downside this is a two-map game, which for me means I very seldom get to play the full campaign, and then only with special permission from the wife to take up so much room in our small house. It can also be a very long game. There is one single-map scenario provided which is useful for learning some of the mechanics but is quite short. The Kaiser Offensives or Allied counter-attack can be played as two separate scenarios or can be linked to produce the full campaign. Thus far I have not played either the full campaign or allied counter-attack scenario so have not seen how effective the Allied tank armies are. I suspect that like all the German stosstroopen, breakthroughs can be achieved but exploiting the breakthrough to the full may be difficult. A good game well worth trying provided you can spare the time to play it to completion.
CRUSADER (The Gamers)
Crusader is the newest addition to the Standard Combat Series. As such this is a simple game of movement, combat and then exploitation movement for the mechanised units. In addition there is a reconstitution rule that allows previously eliminated units to possibly return to play on a later turn. This is decided via a die roll with German units returning at full strength whilst Commonwealth and Italian units return at reduced strength. Single-step units cannot do this and are gone for good. The CRT favours the attacker and this sees players attacking one another until such time as one player's forces are exhausted, after which the initiative is firmly in the hands of the opposing player. The reconstitution rule tends to mean the Allied player must win early, or not at all. I have enjoyed some, but not all, of the previous titles in the series. I cannot make my mind up with regards to this game and have not yet decided if I shall keep it or sell it on.
It is a nice-looking game but the use of Axis game markers that are the same colour as some Allied units can cause confusion. Once a unit is hidden underneath one you tend to think of it as an Allied rather than an Axis unit. It is almost errata free but this is a simple game and part of a series so it is reasonable to expect this anyway.
My reservations about the game stem from a number of things. It is first of all remarkably fluid, far more so than I imagine the real battle was. Zones of control can be infiltrated at a cost in movement points. Mechanised units have very high movement rates so these units tend to rush forward and concentrically assault an enemy hex.
This should cause either high losses or elimination. If able, they then run back in the direction of their own lines during the exploit movement phase. I have experimented with locking zones of control for mechanised units but this is insufficient to cure the problem. Also the game seems unbalanced in favour of the Axis player. I think this is caused by two things. Firstly, the German units returning at full strength via reconstitution gives them a big advantage. Happily, it is easy enough to return them at reduced strength as indeed the rules suggest if you feel the game is unbalanced. I have not tried this yet but feel it may well help. My second reservation is not so easy to cure.
Historically, Rommel misread Allied intentions and sent his panzer divisions backwards and forwards in error until the Brits had the upper-hand. You cannot reproduce this when playing the campaign game though some of the scenarios start with the Axis in a weak position. One way to simulate this might have been to have some type of chit pull system, recreating the chaos within the Axis command. Unfortunately this cannot be done because the battle has had to be made to fit within the series rules. A lost opportunity but I still try and make the game work.
BLACK DAY OF THE GERMAN ARMY (Pacific Rim)
In recent years the First World War has become a much more popular subject with game designers. This quick-playing and simple game is a very welcome addition to that trend. It covers the Allied offensive of August 1918. Three Allied armies, with more than 500 tanks and 2000 pieces of artillery, broke through the Amiens salient and caused a rout that ended only with the signing of the armistice ninety-four days later. For the German army it truly was a 'black day'.
Published as one of Pacific Rim's 'Just Plain Wargames' range, this title comes with a quad sized map and one hundred counters. The graphics are quite an improvement on previous games in the range and are quite acceptable. One does wonder, however, at the choice of colours for the sole U.S. unit in the game. This particular unit is printed in red, white and blue, but in the style of the French tricolour rather than the stars and stripes! The rules are short and clear, the game has little errata.
A game turn commences with Allied artillery fire. There are no artillery units on the map, instead points are received that can be used in two ways. Firstly, they can be allocated to counter-battery fire, reducing the number of artillery points your opposing player receives in his player turn. One simply decides what number of points to allocate to this purpose and cross-references this figure with a die roll on the counter-battery CRT. Alternatively, points received can be used against enemy units within seven hexes of a friendly unit as a drumfire barrage. These can result in a pinned enemy unit, causing it to suffer an unfavourable column shift if assaulted later in the game turn. If a drumfire barrage is particularly successful it can also cause a step-loss. The German player gets a similar phase during his game turn, but with considerably less points to allocate. The Allied player, only, receives air points which can be used to improve the effectiveness of either barrage type (the result of observation I assume), or retained for ground attack later in the game turn.
Movement follows and is standard for infantry and cavalry units but not so for tanks. Before moving reach tank unit a die is rolled and on a result of six are either flipped to their reduced side if full strength, or marked as broken down if already reduced. Broken down units may neither move nor attack but do defend normally. The die roll check, representing mechanical failure, is also made for any tank units prior to advancing after combat.
Once movement is completed, or not in the case of some tank units, combat is resolved. The CRT is odds-based with shifts for terrain, tanks and being pinned by a drumfire barrage. The Allied air points, used in a ground-support role, are counted as extra combat factors when computing odds. Combat results in retreats and step losses. The CRT is quite bloody, but this is World War One.
There is not a great deal more to tell you about the mechanics of the game itself. Units that remain two hexes or more from enemy units can make a strategic move at up to three times their printed movement allowance. Broken down tank units can be repaired via a die roll, but this is a once only opportunity at the end of game-turn four in an eight-turn game. Supply is traced by each unit to a friendly map-edge but is not needed for the first three turns. Lack of a supply line results in a reduction in movement and combat factors. German infantry divisions can be broken down into regiments, some divisions start the game broken down. It is important to note that errata points out that the regiments are single-step units only, ignore the second step. This explained why some of my early games seemed unbalanced in favour of the German side.
Historically, this was a pretty one-sided affair and you might expect the game to reflect this. It is true that the German player will have few occasions when he is on the attack and these will be limited to counter-attacking the odd exposed Allied unit or attempting to halt a breech of a trench or river line on the map. However, the victory conditions require the Allied player to both exit units from the eastern map-edge and reduce, if not eliminate, the number of German units starting west of the Somme. These units are on the flank of what is likely to be the main advance of the Allied offensive and serve to draw forces away from the drive east. This results in a tough game for the Allied player but it cannot be denied that the German side is less interesting to play. Nevertheless, I found this a solid and very enjoyable game with a feel all of its own. Certainly worthy of a closer look.
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© Copyright 1998 by Charles and Teresa Vasey.
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