CRETE

FROM

STRATEGEMATA

This is the third game that I've reviewed in the Great Battles of Small Units series from Strategemata and each one has built on and improved on its predecessor.  Crete is no exception to this steady progress onward and upward.  Like its immediate predecessor, Carentan, the box art has maintained the combination of strong, aggressive images and colours.  

In this new game, though the actions themselves remain very playable because of the small number of units involved in each battle, the scope is much greater.  For, as the game's title readily tells us and the picture heralds, we are pitched into the famous German parachute invasion of Crete.  Operation Mercury may not have spawned the volume of games that the Normandy landings, the Battle of the Bulge or Operation Market-Garden have, but it still stands worthy of the "Great Battles" of this series' title.

There are so many developments to celebrate, beginning with the maps - not just one this time but four.  Each covers one of the major focal engagements of this epic action.  Maleme airfield, Heraklion Bay, Rethymno airfield and Prison Valley (whose map can be seen below).  

Each individual battle can be played in a couple of hours with plenty of replay value, as the game provides cards giving 4 alternative set-ups that give the German player a varying number of units.  Not only is this great for re-playability, but also for play balance.  Add to that you can combine all four maps and scenarios into a much more sizable complete game of the initial three days of the Crete campaign.

The four scenario cards for the Battle for Maleme Airfield 

Accordingly, this is one reason why I think it is such a good game for varying levels of player.  It's perfect for a more experienced player to use as an introduction for a newer player and yet should equally satisfy two players familiar with wargaming conventions and has the potential for team play as well.   

However, as an introduction to board wargames for the novice by themselves it may not be the best choice.  This is because, though the rules are brief, they introduce a system that contains a significantly high level of originality and so need careful reading to guarantee a sound grasp. Much of what I wish to say here can be found in my earlier review that can be accessed via this link.  For those who don’t want to bother with the link, I've appended at the end of this review a substantial extract that covers the major concepts of the system.

This is a very accessible system and swift playing.  My only criticism would be the Close Combat rules, which seem to stand in contrast to the ease of basic Fire.  This is high lighted by the fact that virtually all the Examples of Play section at the end of the Rules is taken up with how to resolve Close Combat.  This procedure starts with both players drawing a card from the draw deck and placing it face down for each unit that they have in the Close Combat. Then they either draw a second card or choose one from their current hand of cards to be placed face up.  If only one player has Combined Arms, they can draw another card or choose one from their hand and the player who has initiated the Close Combat can add an extra card for each hex that they entered the combat from.  All cards are then turned face up and totals determined.  Highest number wins the combat, while ties go to the Initiative player.  There is even the possibility of the defender making a Counterattack  which involves further card draw.

Just as the game provides so much more than its predecessors in maps, so too does it need far more counters.  These counters are very similar to the previous games, but once again there is that small but steady improvement in quality and most important is that each battle has its own set of counters with only one battle needing a single group of reinforcements to be drawn from another of the battles.  This has made the organisation and storage very easy.  For each battle I have a labelled, medium sized zip-lock bag for the Allied units with a smaller bag inside containing the German units. 

The play aids include a comprehensive terrain chart, an Allied set up card for each battle and a full display of German air and artillery assets for the linked four map battle.

German air and artillery assets display

All in all this is very good value for money, with a wide variety of situations each offering four different levels of difficulty and encompassing a significant campaign which many, like me, will relish the opportunity to play out over all four maps.

A final glimpse of the Allied set up for just one of the four battles

{Extract from Black Cavalry review}

 First of all the rules introduce a system containing a number of very interesting concepts.  The first and perhaps most important is the use of a deck of ordinary playing cards to regulate and introduce a mixture of control and randomness into the game.  This is an element not unfamiliar from some miniatures rules and systems.  [An excellent instance being To The Strongest - a superb set for conducting Ancient warfare!] However, I haven't previously encountered this in board wargaming.  Here all court cards count as 1 pt, while all other cards have their face value.

From the outset, these cards govern everything, including who will have the Initiative and play the turn.  This latter rule stands out for me as a leading innovation and one I have certainly never met with before.  There are four Initiative markers, one for each of the four suits in a pack of cards: Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades.  On one side of the marker is a flag to denote the German player, on the other a flag for the Allied player.

A pre-game card draw will determine which suits will determine each side's potential starting Initiative.  From then on, each Turn begins with a card being drawn, the suit determines the Initiative player and the Initiative marker for that suit is turned over to the opponent's side.  Thus a rhythm is established that overall evens out, but can throw up surprises and causes each player to focus very carefully on what he/she needs to do when they have got the Initiative.

What is even more novel is that only the player with the Initiative gets to directly activate their units with a choice of actions from Movement/Improving a Position/Fire and Rally.  However, and this is the third original idea, the non-Initiative player's units have a limited reaction ability.  Each unit can either move away one hex when an enemy unit comes adjacent or, at the point when an enemy comes into range and line of sight, can"roll" [i.e. draw a card] to see how many reaction pts the unit gets.  This will allow the unit from 1 to 3 Defensive Fire opportunities. 

This sets up a highly interactive system that benefits defenders well dug-in on good defensive terrain, especially when the Initiative player has to cross open ground.  It also creates a fairly fast flowing pace to each turn, with the opportunity for reaction, but without an overcomplex set of rules and conditions. .

What I like even more about the use of cards instead of dice is that each player starts a Scenario with a a limited hand of cards, with rare Random Event opportunities to refill or exchange some of those cards. In a variety of cases, a player will have the opportunity to play a card rather than randomly draw one.  

Nowhere can this be more crucial than when you have the Initiative, as your first decision is always how many formations you are going to activate.  To activate a single formation is free  and guaranteed.  To activate more than one formation, then each formation costs 2pts and each support weapon costs 1 pt unless it is stacked with a unit from its formation, an Artillery strike costs 2 pts and an Air strike similarly costs 2 pts.  You must first announce what you are attempting to activate.  Obviously then you can use one of your precious cards in your hand to guarantee success, but if you choose to risk a random card draw and don't pull a card that will pay all your costs, then you forfeit all activation!  

Lots of tense moments here, especially if you have a lot of nice court cards in your hand which count as 1 pt - and remember you can only ever play one card.  So, perhaps you'll be saving those high point cards for activation purposes in crucial turns, but they're equally useful in Fire and Close Combat.  

Fire is very straightforward with each unit firing separately.  It involves simply the play or draw of a single card plus double the unit's firepower compared with the defending unit's morale added to its terrain cover.  If the Attacker scores higher, the Defending unit is disorganised and, if twice the Defender's score, then the unit takes a step loss as well.  Gun/Armour factors add a few more twists too, though the main problem here lies in the minute size of the print on the counters!

Close Combat involves a more complex combination of cards, drawn randomly/played from hand, both face down and face up.  This takes a little thoughtful reading, but help is at hand as a substantial amount of the two pages of examples is devoted to a very clear sequence illustrating these particular rules.

 ITALIA 1917-1918

A FAREWELL TO ARMS

FROM

NUTS PUBLISHING

The Italian Front in WWI is definitely one of the lesser known periods in military history and so, not surprisingly, one of the less frequently gamed episodes.  The narrative in the famous Hemingway novel, from which the game's sub-title is drawn, was my first and only encounter with any battles in Italy during WWI, until SPI's folio game on Caporetto came out in 1978 as part of its quad, The Great War in the East.  Currently two other games on the battle are underway, one of which has just been published as I write. Caporetto, in fact, is probably the best known and often only known battle from the period.  Sadly too it was a major disaster for the Italian army. Though Italia does include this battle, it provides far more than that single devastating rout. What we do get is a very full and impressive package.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the three splendid maps, two of which are double-sided, plus a mini-map.  

The mini-map, Monte Grappa, is intended to allow you to dip your toe into the basic rules.  Billed as an introductory scenario, it does that job admirably. Though small in scale it introduces virtually everything in the Basic Rule Book.  It focuses on the major Central Powers attack at the end of the campaign and provides a short, brutal gripping defence by the Italians which historically stopped the Central Power forces.

Perhaps, it’s no surprise that the first full scenario is Waffentrue: the battle of Caporetto and this gets its own full size map.  

The Battle of Caporetto map

The remaining four scenarios are all played out on two full size maps that together are entitled 1918: The Battles of the Piave. On the reverse of two out of these three maps, you again combine them together to form the map for playing the whole Campaign game that covers a period from October 1917 to November 1918.  This major undertaking in game time is covered by the Advanced Rule Book which introduces many new concepts and rules, but more about those later.

The larger scale maps combined to form the Battles of the Piave

Italia 1917-1918 is the third game in the series using the same basic system.  The first two games designed by Nicholas Rident were Marne 1918 Friedensturm and Somme 1918: Bloody Spring.  Whereas this latest Italia, designed by Stephane Senechal, introduces several modifications which are easily identified by being printed in blue and can retrospectively be introduced into the previous two games.  In addition, rules specific purely to Italia are printed in red.  Being unfamiliar with the system, I found that they needed careful reading, despite being only 18 pages long.

The turn sequence overall is very easy to sum up and grasp, as it is made up of only three Sequences: Administrative Declaration, Operational and Victory Point. The last is very, very brief and takes little time to carry out and the first is hardly any longer.  This Administrative Sequence has three Phases - Offensives Declaration which can only be made by the Initiative Player and is determined by a Scenario's rules, a Supply Phase carried out by both players and an Air Superiority Phase which is an optional rule, but so simple, quick and easy that it's hard to see why you wouldn't always use it.

The core and depth of the game all comes in the Operational Sequence.  It contains four steps: Movement, Combat, Disengagement and Exploitation.  All four steps are executed first by the Initiative Player and then by the Reacting Player. As the Scenarios range from a single turn to two Scenarios lasting 3 turns Scenarios and two Scenarios lasting 4 turns, even the longest two initially appear likely to be playable in a short time. However, this is misleading, as in each Scenario's special rules, the Initiative player has to launch an Offensive every turn.  Launching an Offensive means that the Operational Sequence is carried three times in each turn!  You quickly realise that most of the Scenarios take nearly the equivalent of 9 - 12 turns and certainly cover a lot of action and require considerable rules' knowledge.

First of all the game layers in many familiar features: weather, creating pontoon bridges along with building and destroying bridges, forced march, the use of trucks, designating reserves and their use and activation, supply depots, disorganisation and reorganisation.  Along with these are some interesting developments such as  disengagement which follows combat and can only be applied to units identified by disengagement markers placed at the end of the Movement Phase.  

However, what significantly enriches, but also adds to game length is an exceptionally detailed combat system.  The first complicating factor is the distinction between conventional units, primarily infantry, some cavalry and, for this late stage of the war, an element of tanks as opposed to Support units.  The latter include HQs, artillery, a variety of assault troops specific to each nation, along with the optional air support units.

Combat starts with the indication of the standard combat units involved and then each side allocates artillery support types that may either be for bombardment or counter-battery purposes and the resolution of whichever types have been allocated.  This is the first significant increase to the length and complexity of the combat process.  

Familiar Odds Ratio CRT and Combat Modifiers

The next step is wholly familiar and easily applied:- a normal odds ratio CRT [Combat Results Table] comparing each side's strength points to find the appropriate column to roll on.  Then add many typical DRMs for terrain, morale difference between lead units, tanks, assault troops, being out of supply etc. One original touch that I like is that should the attacker be left with no unit that fulfils the requirements for a lead unit, the attack is cancelled and the attacking unit with the highest morale loses 3 steps.  Ouch!

Normally, the last step rolling the dice and checking the result is the easiest.   What is added to the system in Italia gains my qualified praise. Four dice are rolled - two white, one blue and one green. The summed total of the two white dice referenced to the ratio column on the CRT gives you the basic number of hit points each side takes.  So far so good. But then you have to reference the blue Central Powers die and the green Entente die to an additional Tactical Coordination Table that has both its own modifiers and set of results that produce both compulsory and optional actions.  

Tactical Consideration Table

My praise goes to the granularity of detail added to the combat results, but my qualification is for the considerable length of time that every combat takes.  Nor is everything finished yet. The results from the Tactical Coordination Table have all to be applied before the CRT results are dealt with and the hit points have to be converted into step losses. 

Hit Point Conversion Chart

The Operational Sequence is rounded out by Disengagement and Exploitation.  The first of these, Disengagement, allows units so marked at the end of the Movement Phase to leave enemy ZOCs, however it doesn't allow Support units to move. The other, Exploitation, is even more limited as only those rare few units qualify that received an Exploitation marker because of a Tactical Coordination result during combat.  It allows those that are adjacent to an enemy unit to have combat if wished while those marked with Exploitation (or a Reserve marker) that are not adjacent to an enemy unit may move.

Finally, a Turn is rounded off with the removal of appropriate markers and the conventional totalling of VPs.  What I've detailed so far allows you to play all the Scenarios.  One Scenario is played on both maps that together make up the map labelled 1918 The Battle of Piave, while another Scenario uses the southern portion of both those map sheets.  Two further Scenarios are played, one on the west map and the other on the east map of 1918 The Battle of Piave and finally the Caporetto Scenario is played out on its own single, full sized map.  They all provide substantial medium to medium/high level games.  

Having absorbed all the not insignificant number of basic rules, we come to the Advanced Rule Book and another 18 pages of rules.  Its introduction states,

"The Advanced Rules do not make the game any more complex.  In the majority of cases they are organised such that players can learn them as they go along."

Just looking at the list on the front cover of the Advanced Rules Book (seen above) had me doubting that statement and reading and assimilating them hasn't changed my mind.

First of all, there are both totally new rules and significant modifications to the basic rules. On the simple level, each player has a new Phase, Strategic Movement, which takes up a full two pages of rules.  In many a game, this entails a simple doubling of movement while remaining a specific number of hexes away from enemy units. In Italia 1917-18, these detail the use of Strategic Movement markers and their use in Offensive and non-Offensive turns, the movement of units from the map to the Strategic Reserve Box or Rebuild Track and strategic movement on rail lines.

However, what is the most complex new addition for me is the Unit Admin Phase.  It introduces the rebuilding of eliminated units, units’ rest and recuperation and the managing of artillery support.  Apart from its extension of the rules, it substantially adds to an already sizeable play area by needing two display charts, one for each player.  The relevant rules add two more pages explaining the use of morale tracks and a brigade or regiment track along with four separate boxes for resting, loss, eliminated and encircled units.

Inevitably what I do like most in the Advanced rules are the extensive decks of Event cards of which the four illustrated below are a mere taster.  They are something I intend to explore adapting into some of the basic game play. 

So, to sum up, the basic game is a detailed and very thorough treatment of this infrequently covered theatre of WWI.  It provides real value for an amazingly low price (£50.95 at Second Chance Games - my go-to supplier), though as always I've Nuts Publishing to thank for providing this review copy. Its three maps are an exceptional geographic presentation and the package provides a good range of substantial scenarios with Caporetto probably being the one that most gamers will plump for.  For me, the Advanced rules took it to a level of depth outside my comfort zone, so the grand campaign will probably remain unexplored and I would suggest is more likely to be played at conventions where time can be devoted to it.

 PHANTOM FURY

FROM

NUTS PUBLISHING

First published in 2011,  Phantom Fury was my initial reason some years ago for contacting Nuts Publishing in hopes of reviewing it for A Wargamers Needful Things.  A copy by then was sadly unobtainable and, though I’ve had the opportunity to review many excellent games from Nuts Publishing since then, I’ve always harboured the desire to review that earlier game. Until now, the nearest to my wish being granted was Urban Operations which included a scenario on 2nd Fallujah.

After a long wait, however, at last the oft-promised second edition of Phantom Fury is in my hands and currently on my gaming table with many thanks to Nuts Publishing for this review copy.   

The physical quality of the new release displays all the familiar advances in component production, especially in the counters that are substantially thicker and benefit from their easy to press out, rounded edges.

Similarly the two play aids are on glossy card stock.  The first being a double-sided Sequence of Play, the other a single-sided presentation of all the necessary tables.

The map, though essentially identical to the original, has undergone one or two major important changes. With the original, the location background strongly emerged, while the Zones and Locations critical for play disappeared into that background.

Whereas the new presentation reverses that process, making play substantially easier.

As a result things like the various record tracks create a stylish impression, while the Zones become easily readable.  At the groundfloor level you have the Courtyard distinguished by its red colour, the letter C and a small door symbol, subsequent levels have a connecting arrow, with usually one or two rooms until you reach the Roof marked in black and with the letter R.   Though identical in these respects to the first edition map, the ability to read them at a glance stands as a huge improvement in game play. In addition, as you can see, the outlying borders displaying the Turn track, VP track and various holding boxes, has been given a much stronger palate.  All this adds to the visual enjoyment of the game.

From visuals, we come to the situation which is broadly the USMC [United States Marine Corps] tasked with securing the town of Fallujah.  The focus is specifically on the morning of 9th November 2004 and the 3rd Battalion 1st Marines in the Jolan District in the north-west of the town.  Despite this attention to detail, it's hard not to view the game as a generic slice of any Middle East conflict involving a broadly typical action.   

The top two rows of counters are your enemy Insurgents, while the smaller counters below them are mainly the Suspect markers which are what will be the first that will be placed on the map as you approach each Zone.  When these are rolled for revelation, there's a 50% chance nothing will be there. When real opponents appear, they are an anonymous force of two types of unit, labelled Guerrillas and Martyrs, which you randomly draw from the familiar cup or bag.

This might seem appropriate for the sort of enemy and situation presented here, but your own troops are an equally simplified and faceless bunch.   Their only individuality lies in their strength factors, ranging from 4-6 and that a small number of them can be assigned a CAAT support marker which can be used 4 times to add +2 to Fire actions or Assault actions.

As the design is expressly noted as being based very strongly on an article entitled  "Infantry Squad Tactics.  Some of the lessons learned during MOUT [Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain] in the battle of Fallujah", published in the Marine Corps Gazette, I'm sure the elements involved are accurate.  Nevertheless, I consistently felt I was gaming a system, rather than a specific historical event.

That said, I enjoyed every minute of that gaming and the lack of individuality to the units may be a help in not focusing on the horrors of modern warfare.  What you do experience is the grinding progress, block by block, using fire and movement tactics to advance and assault block by block.  

Early progress in the south-east quadrant of the map

You’ll encounter the deadly dangers of crossing streets, unless you have the one and only  M1A1 Abrams tank in the locale and the endless uncertainty of Suspect markers and actions that reveal them.  You have a 50% chance that each one will prove to be nothing there, but I can assure you that I haven’t yet played a session where the number of negative sightings is anywhere near the number of actual Insurgents revealed!  You’ll face the difficulties of fighting your way upward from floor to floor of a building or the potentially swifter task of fighting from the roof down.

Virtually all your efforts depend on your Marines, with only 4 squads having the benefit of CAAT support being attached [these give an +2 bonus to fire or assault rolls].  Each of your turns begins with the ability to attempt call in some of a very, very limited number of additional missions.  In all, there are only four Dragon Eye aerial vehicle reports that merely identify suspected insurgents, two AH-1W Super Cobra close air support missions and a single F/A-18 Hornet.  Even your attempts to call these in have their dangers, as a failure to call in the mission allows a random Insurgent reaction to take place.

One feature that makes this system all the more engrossing is that there is no enemy turn as such.  Instead virtually all Insurgent action takes place as reactions to your individual actions.  Mainly these are Defensive Fire attacks when you enter a building and simultaneous fire when you are assaulting from one level of a building to the next level.

Green markers indicate Zones still under Insurgent control

Though the imbalance of the strength of your Marines against the Insurgents’ strengths is markedly in your favour, the reverse is true of the number of their units as compared to yours. You begin with 9 squads have 3 more squads as reinforcements and can take a further 3 squads at the cost of losing VPs and finally will gain 3 Iraqi squads.  The latter are absolutely essential as they are the only ones allowed to enter the area’s mosque.

To avoid automatic defeat, you have 16 turns [13 turns if you play the historical variant!] in which to clear and control every one of the 61 zones on the map.  If you avoid defeat, your tally of victory points may earn you anything from a major victory to a costly victory. Time and the number of zones to fight through and eventually control makes this a very tough task.

I've found it an uphill struggle to achieve any level of victory, but Phantom Fury has the supreme quality for a successful solo game, namely the minute that I finish one play, I want to set it up and start all over again.

My final thoughts are on the rulebook which is equally attractive.  As, I believe, it is identical to the first edition's, that is a good recommendation for its quality and clarity.  It's extensively illustrated with examples through out the text and complemented by a very good example of a turn's play.

A section of the example of a Turn's play

The layout and organisation takes you easily through the Sequence of Play with concise but very clear rules' sections.  As there are a significant number of original concepts to represent the features of urban warfare, initially I found myself frequently checking the rule book to make sure that I was getting things right  purely because of their unfamiliarity.  However within less than half the 16 turns of my first game, I was playing swiftly with hardly any further checking.  What I've found even more satisfying is that a very swift glance over the rules when I return for another game is all that's necessary to have me playing very smoothly once again.  It's a very immersive experience where you are focused wholly in the action and the situation.  As a result those rather faceless-seeming men under your command suddenly take on a very personal degree of commitment and interest on your part.

I give Phantom Fury a strong thumbs up!  Get this 2nd edition while you can.

  

 CUIDAD DE PATRIOTAS

(CITY OF PATRIOTS) 

FROM

TRAFALGAR EDITIONS

I expect that many, like me, first learnt about this bloody episode in Spanish history from the celebrated painting by Francisco Goya reproduced below.  

Tres de Mayo or The Execution

However, Goya's painting that relates most specifically to Trafalgar Editions' game depicting the Spanish uprising in Madrid during the Peninsular war is this second painting.

Goya's Dos de Mayo or The Fight Against the Mamelukes

Indeed the game's very short introductory scenario, designed to familiarise you with the basic game system, is entitled "The Charge of the Mamelukes."

To set the scene in its historical context, Madrid had been occupied by the French since late March 1808 and the Spanish king, Charles IV had been forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Ferdinand VII, but both were being held by the French in Bayonne. General Murat was in command in Madrid and appeared to be intending to move Charles's daughter and her children along with Charles's youngest son to Bayonne as well.  These actions were what sparked off this brief and bloody uprising on May 2nd [Dos de Mayo] 1808.  Quelled by the end of the same day, the spontaneous rebellion was followed on the next day by harshly repressive reprisals in which several hundred Spanish citizens (madrilanos) were rounded up and summarily shot, as immortalised by Goya's painting.

Cuidad de Patriotas presents the action of that day of rebellion in simple area-movement form with a brief set of rules and Trafalgar Editions' customary excellent quality.  So, it's with many thanks to the company for providing me with this review copy and giving me the opportunity to explore this unusual and highly individual event depicted with some equally individual features.  

The mounted map board vividly lays out the districts of Madrid in bold colours.  Each district is further divided into a number of neighbourhoods.  For a French victory, you need to control six out of the eight districts by end of the game's six turns, other wise it's victory to the Spanish player.  The quality of a French victory can range from Decisive to Pyrrhic!

Inevitably the Spanish player's task is, somehow, in the face of many more powerful French units, to delay and delay... and delay.  For the French player, it is constantly to move and attack.  Each district must have all its neighbourhoods cleared of Spanish units and occupied by at least one French unit, at which point it comes under permanent French control and cannot be re-entered by Spanish units or have their reinforcements appear there, nor do the French units have to remain there to maintain control. It's not so much a race of the hare and the tortoise as the steamroller and time!

As mentioned the components are of very good quality, especially the mounted board and the counters.  The latter have perfectly rounded corners and press out smoothly with none of the occasionally irritating side tags found in some games.

There are rule books both in Spanish and in English and the latter suffers slightly in being printed on plain white, A4 sized paper that doesn't quite match the smoother, glossy Spanish booklet.  The Play Aids are double-sided again to accommodate Spanish and English text.  The package is rounded out with an attractive, neat draw-string bag (a little small for its purpose), a pack of Command cards and a 10-sided die.

Though the basic rules are a bare six and a half pages long, there is quite a bit of originality to be embraced that takes them beyond the ease that might be expected for the suggested novice wargamer.  Also like many games that have fairly brief rules, you need to concentrate carefully in your reading.  The rules on Reinforcements are a good example of what I mean.  Their detailed explanation comes on page 11, five pages after the basic rules and is located after optional rules, designer notes and a full page table of Troop Composition.  Among them is the information that "the French player receives reinforcements from out of the city and from the accesses marked on the map."  This instruction can only be fully understood when you link it up with the overall information on page 2 about neighbourhoods "In some neighbourhoods there are flags with numbers and letters.  They are the barracks where the French and Spanish troops were stationed and are used to introduce reinforcements.  There are also French flags at the entrances to Madrid, they are entry areas for other French and some Spanish reinforcements."  Put these details together with the following play aid,

and the Order of Battle display cards (seen below) and you're nearly there for knowing exactly where to place most of your reinforcements.  Sometimes you will still need to locate the hard to find name of a road on the map board that some French troops arrive on to solve it.  I have to say it wasn't plain sailing!

Order of Battle Play Aids

When you've set up your units on these displays, the disparity in the forces is all the more striking.  First of all, more than half of the Spanish units are civilians and more than half of all the Spanish units have only a strength of one.  In total, they have 46 strength points.  In contrast, the French are all military units.  They have 32 units, but 11 of those are four strength and each can be broken down into 4 single strength counters.   These are essential both for the massive punch they have in combat and that they can be broken down in order to spread out to occupy the many neighbourhoods needed to gain control of six out of the eight districts that lead to victory.  In total, the French muster 90 strength points!

The shot above gives you a clear idea of the quality of the large counters - as mentioned earlier, not a marring side-tag in sight.

So there's the overview of the contents and a glimpse of the opposing forces.  Now to the sequence of play and the game's system.  

PHASE 1 REINFORCEMENTS, EVENTS AND COMMAND CARDS

New random Event chits are drawn and each player plays one chit.

Place reinforcements.

Draw command cards.

PHASE 2 COMBAT AND MOVEMENT

Unlike the majority of area movement games, there is no variation in cost whatsoever between entering a friendly or enemy area or adjacent to an enemy area.  Movement couldn't be easier - 1 MP (movement point) per area.

Combat on the other hand is a different matter altogether. You only have combat within an area; there is no combat between adjacent areas.  Combat resolution begins with a very familiar simple differential between total attacker and defender strength points, with a few equally obvious modifiers for such things as unit type, card play and Event chits.  Roll on the Combat Table and apply the loss in points to the loser.  However, how those loss points are applied is distinctly unfamiliar and took some getting used to.  At first it seemed straightforward.  If all individual units are higher in value than the loss, then all losing units simply retreat 1 or 2 areas.  If the combat loss is equal to the strength of the weakest unit, then the unit is dispersed - i.e. removed from the board. If French the unit is automatically returned as a reinforcement on the next turn, if Spanish roll the D10 and a result of 6-10 it too automatically returns as a reinforcement, but a roll of 1-5 eliminates it.  Any other units are retreated.

However, any loss result greater than the strength of one or more units will cause some element of immediate elimination and possible dispersal and retreat.  I couldn't discern a simple, logical process to work this out, but had to rely on following the summary of results.  Fortunately, this summary is fairly short and with practice becomes familiar.  Bu it wasn't initially helped by the use of "scattered" instead of "dispersed" at one point and "retired" instead of "retreated".   Just a bit more focus in proof-reading would have avoided this.

Close up of the strongly coloured map board

PHASE III THE UPRISING BOX

(Note that the sequence of play printed on the back of the rule book labels this phase as REVOLT BOX).

Each player keeps a tally of combat points lost for units and characters (i.e. leaders) and these are called the player's Fury Points and at the end of the turn the French total is deducted from the Spanish total.  The result is called The Uprising Box and determines which player draws 3 Event chits and the other 2 Event chits at the beginning of the next turn.   Again all seemed very simple, as all of these scores are reset to zero at the beginning of a turn.  However, the second example in the rule book for this Phase contradicts the rules by stating that each player started a turn with +2 Fury Points which was added to that turn's casualties.  As this didn't seem to make any sense, I simply disregarded the example.

The basic rules end with the Victory Conditions.

An automatic Spanish victory occurs, if the French do not control at least 2 districts by the end of Turn 4 - an outcome I cannot foresee ever happening.

Otherwise, the French win, as stated earlier, if they control at least 6 out of the 8 districts.  If the French win, you determine the scale of victory which runs from Decisive to Pyrrhic with the proviso that if the French lose 22 or more points their victory shifts down a level meaning that a Pyrrhic level victory would shift to a Spanish victory!

Continuing on from the basic rules, there are a few optional rules that add a little more colour and detail.  They cover such things as cavalry charges and special French cavalry movement, officers and significant historical characters, unit support, further combat modifiers, French garrisons and fog of war for Spanish civilian units which are randomly drawn and set up face down.  Most are simple and easy ti introduce and personally I would choose to play with nearly all of them as standard.

The rules booklet is rounded off with something I always like to see, namely Designer Notes, a troop Composition Table and rather oddly only now do we get the rules for Reinforcement Placement and the Set-Up and Reinforcement Schedule.

The last neat touch is to present an historical narrative of the day, hour by hour, giving details along with the appropriate unit and where to place them. 

Well illustrated rules

To sum up, Cuidad de Patriotas is an essentially light and intriguing exploration of a brief and small. but significant event in the Peninsular War.  The game is very attractively presented in all aspects and the rules are generally short and comprehensive, with one or two grey areas that would have benefited from a little more detail and clarity.  With a maximum of six turns and a small unit count, it provides a swift game that can easily be played in a single afternoon or evening's play.

As always it's with many thanks to Trafalgar Editions for kindly providing this review copy and their rapid replies to my rare queries on a few rules.

LIMITS OF GLORY

NAPOLEON'S EASTERN EMPIRE 

FROM

FORM SQUARE GAMES

Almost a year ago, I reviewed the prototype of this game.  I was majorly impressed by the quality and the originality of this game.

What I had to say then can be found by clicking on this LINK.

The game was launched later last year on Gamefound and rapidly reached its target for publishing and was a complete sell out.  Roll forward less than a year and here is the published product safely and proudly in my hands with many thanks to Andy Rourke, the game's designer and founder of  its publishing company Form Square Games.

In this brief reprise, I mainly want to highlight the extra notch or two by which the final professionally published game extends the existing qualities of the prototype.  Perhaps the most obvious step up is the map which suffered in its original draft from a strange abnormality in the colour of the sea.  Here, below, everything is as it should be with a perfect translucent blue sea, but my photograph still cannot capture just how strikingly bright the whole effect is.

Next come the counters - identical in every way to the prototype, but just that bit sharper and perfect in the images; especially the circular counters, two for each leader, one of which goes on the map and the other marking their Glory Points on the Leader Displays.

The Leader Displays too reveal the same increased precision with the background colouring and outlined cartoon images distinct and clear.

However, what I want to comment on most is the rule book.  In its prototype it was a simple set of black and white A4 stapled sheets.  It did the job clearly, despite the originality and novelty of so much of the rules.  The final product deserves my wholehearted praise and approval.  It's magnificent!  So here goes for a quick dip in, from the front cover...

to the admirable index on the back page.

Everything about it signals quality perfection.  Physically, it is a delight to hold and turn the substantial, smooth pages and reading the rules is a pleasure.  Large print and spacious layout complement the presentation and add to the ease of reading and comprehending what you read.

Substantial illustrations simply enliven the text...

while the majority serve to support and clarify the explanations.

The text, as in the prototype draft, is designed to be read consistently in chronological order.  This may seem an odd comment to make.  Surely all rules should be read in chronological order?  True, but I know many experienced gamers often turn to certain sections (e.g. Combat or Movement) for a preliminary scan.  This game and series introduces so many intriguingly original, yet simple, mechanisms and takes you carefully step by step through them at each appropriate stage of the game play that I think it worth emphasising.

There is so much to like about this presentation from the massive main headings for each stage of the rules to the comprehensive alphabetical Quick Reference page on the back of the rule book.  Understanding of the rules is supported by the many examples, all immediately recognisable by being highlighted in pink background boxes, and a factor I always like is the detailed explanation of all  the Events, which are particularly important in this game.

The richness and the attention to detail throughout in the artwork, the colour, the cartoons drawn from the historical period and the sheer physical quality contributes so much to the pleasure of the game.  It also testifies to the designer's love and appreciation of the game's subject and his desire to communicate this in a way that is so much more than just a set of rules.

If you did not back the boxed version of this game, it is still possible to buy the folio magazine version either directly from Form Square Games  or Second Chance Games.

And finally, I am more than happy to say that the second game in this series, Maida 1806 is well under way and shortly you will be able to read my review of the prototype here on A Wargamers Needful Things.