Sometime ago I spoke of a ping-pong-table-size map I had drawn on which to play a boardgame called EUROPE AFLAME (EA), a WWII game. As with all boardgames, the map provided by the publisher proved way too small to hold all the required tokens.
My huge map helped a wee bit, and EA started out as interesting, but the scenarios we played, despite the size of the field on which we set-up, turned out to be rather dull, as, in each game, Germany tried, but couldn't carry out, a two-front war.
My own version of EA, using 15mm armor instead of cardbaord tokens, isn't that much better than the original. It's still rather dull, as, again, Germany tries, but can't quite carry out, a two-front war. I've almost come to the conclusion that there's not too many variations you can impose on a gaming structure when you must start out with Germany, centrally located, surrounded by enemies.
Game balance is difficult; you can't give Germany too many assets, and on the other hand, you can't power up the Allies. Complicating this is the restrictive number of strategies given the Germans. If the Germans go east against Russia, they get zonked by the Brits and French in the west. If the Germans go west, then the Russians join in. In either case, the dreaded two-front war pops up, and the game grinds slowly down.
In subsequent efforts, I generated other gaming set-ups, all still using 15mm armor... tanks, infantry, etc. The trouble with these "modern" games is that, because of the map, their procedures are automatically associated with the historical events of WWII. I've tried to disassociate the game from the happenings of WWII, but it's difficult for the players to break away from the events of the era.
Hey, fellas, I say, this map may resemble Europe, but it's not really Europe; and that may resemble Germany, but it's not really Germany, and that's not really England... it's just a convenient, made-up map on which to move our tanks and infantry and aircraft.
No use. Europe is Europe is Europe.
Second Try
A second try at a gaming structure using the table-size map fares much better. Here, we use 15mm Napoleonics, and the game pits the north of Europe (Euronor) against the south of Europe (Eurosur). Due to its origins, i.e., its association with the boardgame EA, the map is completely labeled with all the European countries, but I've managed to divorce the game from the European political layout. Here, for example, the Netherlands is not a country but a province of Euronor, and Spain is not a country but a province of Eurosur.
In total, there are 11 Euronor provinces, and 11 Eurosur provinces. The initial set-up had France as one of the Eurosur provinces, but after some discussion, much moaning, lots of shouting, a wee bit of groaning, and some stamping of feet, France was declared neutral. Dividing Europe into competing northern and southern countries produces some interesting problems. For example, the Euronor provinces of England, Sweden, Norway and Ireland are all isolated by sea, i.e., 4 out of 11 political components of Euronor are cut off from the mainland.
In part, this is balanced by providing Euronor with a larger navy than Eurosur... 10 ships to 7. Each side gets to choose the types of ships it wants, warships or transports.
We've played several games, and Euronor players are still disputing what the correct northern naval strategy should be. One party advocates that, initially, all 10 ships should be warships... our navy is larger than their's, they say, so let's first clear the seas of Eurosur ships and then, in the logistics phases, build ourselves a fleet of unopposed transports.
I am not an advocate of the "sweep the seas clean" strategy; I'd rather start out with a smaller fleet of warships, and several transports, and immediately begin to ferry the British, Swedish, etc., troops to the mainland. The debate goes on.
On the map itself, between Euronor and Eurosur, lies a no-mans land of the neutral provinces of France, Germany, Poland and Russia. These provinces form a horizontal, east-to-west belt across all of Europe which separates the two antagonists. The neutral provinces are up for grabs... they're worth Resource Points (used to raise troops during the logistics phase), and also provide a buffer across which enemy troops must slog.
The "slogging" part comes into play, since, on the map, all the provinces are themselves divided into areas called "counties", and each neutral county may seek to resist enemy troops trying to enter.
Germany, for instance, is divided into a dozen counties or so, with its capital in Berlin. Until the capital of Germany is taken, Germany remains neutral, hence Eurosur units marching north must test each time they attempt to enter a German county to see if a militia unit springs up to offer resistance. There is a 30% chance this happens, which means that, on the average, a militia unit will pop up in every third county to impede progress.
Once the German capital is taken, the entire province is defined as friendly, and units may march through the counties unimpeded. The opposition, of course, still has to slog through the German countryside.
The mechanics of the game are simple, and its structure is "clean" in that the procedures for movement and combat and logistics are, as in any boardgame, rigidly defined. The difficult part is in setting up the game balance, how to initially apportion territories and points and troops, etc.
Each area, i. e. , each county, can hold a maximum of 3 stands of 15mm troops. The number 3 was chosen because that appears to be optimum number of 15mm stands (each measuring about an inch by an inch) one can squeeze into most of the areas without cluttering up the field. Combat is fought from adjacent counties, i.e., the attacking force does not directly enter the defending area.
Although the basic attacking force is thus limited to 3 stands, what the attacking force can do, however, is call upon allied forces in adjacent areas to assist. Depending upon a dice throw, anywhere from 1 stand to all the stands in the adjacent counties may leap into the battle.
Milton Bradley Ploy
Sometime ago, I noted, in a Milton Bradley game, an interesting ploy which I thought was well worth incorporating in several of my own sets of rules. If anything, Mr. Bradley should be grateful and proud that his procedures are utilized by an historical miniatures gaming buff such as I, a true devotee of military history, a fanatical perfectionist when it comes to promoting absolute historical accuracy on the table-top.
The Milton Bradley (MB) ploy concerns the type of battle resulting when two opposing forces come into contact. In the MB game, the attacker tossed a die, and there were two possible outcomes: (a) a simple skirmish in which not-too-much happened, and (b) a major battle.
I expanded upon the MB concept; there are now four possible outcomes:
- Both sides hold position and glare at each other,
A skirmish occurs in which both sides hold position but each loses a stand,
A minor battle in which both sides toss a die or two at each other, or
A major battle, in which each side adds up its points, tosses a handful of "Kill Dice", takes appropriate casualties, and the loser falls back.
The fourth outcome, the advent of a major battle, will happen 60 percent of the time.
Losing a major battle affects your disposition, your indigestion, and your victory point level. I have first-hand knowledge of this, for, working for the mighty forces of Euronor, Brian Dewitt and I managed to wipe out most of our troops.
Brian somehow got bottled up in northern France, along the Channel coast. Lots of Eurosur armies surrounded him. Several bad dice rolls later, not only did he lose victory points, but most of his forces, having to retreat a distance of two counties, i.e. 2 areas, had nowhere to go but into the Channel... a debacle, a disaster, a complete wipe-out. This was the mother of all Dunkirks, accompanied, of course by a loss of lots of victory points.
At this point, I overheard Brain and Fred Haub, another Euronor warrior, whispering to themselves: "Looks like France is a lost cause!" In addition, there were defeatist mutterings to the effect: "Let's start another game!"
This was too much for me. "No!", I cried, "For the glory of Euronor!", and I ordered my units, somewhere around the middle of Poland, to march west through Germany into France to try to assist the remnants of the Dewittian forces.
We had previously done quite poorly in our efforts to conquer Europe, and all of Poland, all of Germany, and all of France was enemy territory. Consequently, whenever my forces entered a county, defined as enemy territory, I diced (30 percent) to see if an opposing militia unit sprang up to bar the way.
In statistically improbable fashion, Polish militia popped up everywhere, and I could make no headway, being bogged down by a series of skirmishes.
The crowning touch came when one pip-squeaky militia unit dared to engage my forces in a major battle... and won! More victory points lost.
Yes, it was definitely time to begin another game.
Each side starts with 11 victory points (1 for each province in the nation). Losing a major battle decreases your victory points by the number of stands with which you engaged. Losing a big battle, therefore, can be quite costly.
When a side is reduced to 5 or less victory points, there's a test to see if the war is over. The test is repeated as long as the victory point total remains less than 5... it behooves one, therefore, to whip up a victory as soon as possible, lest disaster overtake the nation.
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© Copyright 1994 Wally Simon
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