Kerry Anderson for Microgame Co-Op
Battles from the Western Front in 1915 do not sound like ideal subjects for a wargames. Whilst WW1 is more popular now than ever before, Western Front games tend to concentrate on 1914 and 1918, not the years of bloody attrition, barbed wire, mud and trenches that existed in between. The second battle of Ypres is the one simulated. This saw the first large-scale use of gas by the Germans. The result was a hole in the allied line four miles wide, success that the Germans had not anticipated and did not have the reserves to exploit fully. Battles from this period must be difficult to simulate in an entertaining manner and only a clever, brave, or stupid designer might attempt to do so. Having played the game three times I am confident that Kerry Anderson is of the clever variety.
This is a small and very inexpensive item with an 11" by 17" hex based map sheet and 280 unit counters. The units are single sided and use NATO symbols with fire and melee factors shown except for artillery units, which show fire factor and range. Movement factors are not shown as units all have the same number of movement factors per turn. As this is a DTP effort the units must be mounted and cut out before play can commence. Some find this a tedious chore and to those players I would ask you to believe me when I say it will be worth the effort. The really feckless might like to note that MIH are said to have picked this title up and are publishing it under their own banner in the year 2000 if all goes well. I would not wait till then but if you really cannot bear mounting counters you may prefer to. The graphics used are very good for a DTP and certainly to the standard of many professional games. Up to ten days of combat are simulated in a total of 38 turns but a game need not run the full length. The rules booklet seems error free and is fairly short, as this is a simple game.
A game turn commences with the weather phase. Two dice are rolled and these determine the speed and direction of the wind. This is resolved three times on game turn one with the German being able to use the best result. This is very important as the battle commences with the release of a gas cloud by the Germans. A fast wind carries the gas further but thins it out making it less effective. A slow wind has the opposite effect. A continuous line of markers that are moved across the map represents the cloud. Units in hexes the gas markers enter suffer an automatic loss and undergo a morale check. The German player has twenty gas markers and can use them as he sees fit throughout the game but each marker can be used only once. My experience has been that gas should be used as early as possible. This is because it is released from German trench hexes but these will be in the left behind in the rear once the game has run through a few turns. Also, the weather can prohibit the release of gas if the wind blows in the wrong direction, or if rain is called for. Gas markers effect either players units equally so obviously you don't want to gas your own troops.
Each player has markers on a track denoting the current morale of each formation, generally divisions but with some brigades for the Germans. This is similar to the method used for morale in GDW's Beda Fomn game for those who remember it. Losses lead to a reduction in morale rather than an actual reduction in strength. There is no flipping a unit to its weaker side. That said, units can be eliminated in some extreme cases. Morale checks are resolved by rolling between two to four dice depending on circumstances such as supply etc, and comparing the result to the owning formations current morale. If the result is higher then the unit failing its test must retreat. Morale levels fall as losses are taken but recover on night turns provided the formations units remain stationary and are not involved in combat, even defensively. The only way to be sure of this is to take them out of the line. However, a lack of troops will make this far easier said than done for the allied player in the early stages of this game. Once weather has been determined and any gas effects been resolved the phasing player may attempt to entrench any friendly units. Such units cannot move nor have combat and if in an enemy zone of control are required to pass a morale check to entrench successfully. Trenches provide favourable modifiers for units that are barraged or assaulted later in the game.
The phasing player then has a movement and combat phase followed by a second movement and combat phase. However, only units that did not move in the preceding movement phase may conduct combat in combat phase that follows. Consequently, units must start adjacent to a defending unit to engage it in combat but in doing so will be subject to defensive fire. Movement is fairly standard with units spending points to move across various types of terrain on the map. There is no infiltration of zones of control and retreat through such hexes leads to automatic losses, as mentioned, the effect being a reduction of the owning formations morale.
Combat is anything but standard and is quite brilliant in its conception. Each combat is resolved as follows. The phasing player starts by using artillery units in range to barrage the units in a target enemy hex. Simply total the barrage factors involved and roll a die on the fire CRT. The terrain in the target hex will modify the die roll. If successful the barrage result will give a numerical figure. Defending units now use their fire factors defensively against adjacent enemy units, together with the support of one friendly in range artillery unit if available. However, the figure obtained as a result of the barrage will be used as a negative die modifier making defensive fire less effective. If defensive fire is successful this will also give a numerical result which is then used to likewise effect the die roll for the third part of this combat, the melee. Assault by adjacent units is odds based with losses and or morale checks for either or both players resulting. If this sounds in any way complex it is only because of my failure to explain myself clearly. It becomes second nature after resolving no more than a couple of combats. It also gives this game an excellent WW1 feel. Reread the last paragraph if it is not clear. During night turns neither player has the benefit of artillery so only defensive fire and melee need be resolved.
Victory points are awarded for capture of geographical objectives and destruction of enemy units. However, if a day passes without any objectives changing hands players can call a stalemate and if both agree victory points are totalled to determine the victor.
A few optional rules exist which I recommend the use of. These cover such things as French reluctance to commit to battle and German hesitation to Advance to far after their initial gas attack. A mixture of confusion and the German troops own apprehension of their new wonder weapon caused this. A fog of war rule is also included but by without it the game can easily be played solo.
I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. Despite its simplicity it provides players with a good many decisions to make. It also gives a feel for WW1 that few games can equal. If I were MIH I would perhaps look to provide larger hexes on the map to aid stacking and a couple of short scenarios otherwise it is just perfect. This game is a diamond that I would recommend you all buy.
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© Copyright 1999 by Charles and Teresa Vasey.
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