Interrogation of Marshall Barrington of Command Post Games

 Interrogation Files: Marshall Barrington of Command Post Games

**Q: Marshall, thanks for taking the time. Let’s start simple - who are you and what’s Command Post Games all about?**

**A:** I’m Marshall Barrington, founder and lead designer at Command Post Games. We’re the rebels of the wargaming industry - think of us as the Apple Computer of historical gaming. While everyone else is stuck making the same hex-and-counter complexity festivals, we’re reimagining what wargaming can be. Our flagship product is Pub Battles, and honestly, it’s causing quite a stir among the grognards.

**Q: “Rebels” is a strong word. What exactly are you rebelling against?**

**A:** The tyranny of the 100-page rulebook! Look, I love this hobby, but somewhere along the way we convinced ourselves that complexity equals realism. That’s like saying a car is better now because we just added 100 new buttons that you have to push while you are driving. 

 

I was at a convention last year watching two guys spend 45 minutes resolving a single combat because they had to total up and divide dozens of combat factors and cross-reference and apply 3 different modifier charts.  When they were done, somebody noticed that they forgot a rule 14.8.2.3 about the fatigue modifiers vary depending on different types morale.  Yep, so they had to start all over again.   Meanwhile, at the next table, two kids were playing Pub Battles and making brilliant tactical decisions in real-time. Which table looked more like actual command? The answer was obvious.

The entire industry has become obsessed with simulating every rivet on every tank instead of simulating the experience of command. We’re the guys saying, “Hey, what if we focused on the command decisions instead of the calculations?”

Monmouth

**Q: Tell us about Pub Battles. What makes it different?**

**A:** Pub Battles strips away all the mathematical noise and gets to the heart of command - making decisions with incomplete information. We use wooden blocks instead of counters, so you literally can’t see what your opponent is doing until you’re in contact. No charts, no modifiers, no PhD required.  You don’t have to roll on a table to ‘simulate’ the fog of war.  You just really don’t know where they are at. 

 

Here’s a story that sums it up perfectly: A veteran GMT player tried our Brandywine game at Origins. He kept asking, “When are they going to arrive?  Where are they going to come from?” Twenty minutes later, he was completely absorbed, moving his blocks intuitively, reading the battlefield like Washington actually had to. After the game, he said, “This feels more like commanding an army than any game I’ve ever played.”  That’s why the military loves to use are games for training.

   

That’s our secret weapon - we simulate the fog of war by actually putting it in the game, not by adding more rules that try to simulate it.

Real commanders didn’t have perfect information. They didn’t know exactly how many enemy units were in that forest or precisely what their combat strength was. They made gut decisions based on limited intel and battlefield intuition.

Traditional wargames give you godlike omniscience - you can see every unit, friendly and enemy.  You know every combat factor for attack and defense, morale, supply level, organization level and can calculate every possible modifier that could influence the combat result. That’s not command, that’s accounting. At the Battle of Antietam, McClellan thought he was outnumbered 2:1 when he actually had the advantage. Our hidden blocks system recreates that uncertainty naturally.

A friend of mine, a military historian, played our Little Bighorn game and said afterward, “For the first time in a wargame, I felt like I understood why Custer made the decisions he did - because I was making them with the same limited information he had.”

Brandywine

**Q: Are your rules too simple?  Don’t you lose historical accuracy and realism with only 4 pages of rules?**

**A:** That’s the beautiful irony - we’re actually MORE historically accurate and realistic, not less.  I’m not sure I can explain it.  It’s a paradox.  Like it’s really simple to design a very complex game.  It is extremely complex and difficult to design a simple game with few rules.  Less is more.  Here’s the key:  Just because there isn’t a rule for it, doesn’t mean it isn’t in the game.  It’s very deceptive in a way. 

   

Here’s an example:  You look at the pieces and they are just blocks.  No individually rated combat factors, movement factors, morale, etc.  They all kind of look the same.  Generic.  Like playing checkers, right?   WRONG!

It is all in there.  You just don’t see it.  It’s baked into the system.  We do have individually rated units.  Instead of different combat factors, or morale ratings, they are denoted by color:  militia, veteran and elite.  We also have gold, Guards units with special abilities.  They each have a very different feel and character in combat.   

Militia are very fragile.  With a little luck, they can dish out a blistering volley as good as anybody, but they can’t take it.  Their 1st hit in combat counts as 2.  So they will often break and run after the first round of combat.  Elite units are the opposite.  They shrug off and ignore their 1st hit.  This gives them a lot of staying power.  They have the discipline to just keep coming round after round under fire.  Pub Battles has all the same “crunch” and “detail” that we are used to seeing in wargames.  You just don’t have to slog through pages of rules to tons of number crunching to play it.  The system handles most of it for you. 

Antietam

  

**Q: Your games use miniature-style movement instead of hexes. That’s pretty radical for board wargaming.**

**A:** Why should geography be imprisoned in hexagons?   This hex is half woods and half clear, so what do we call it?  This road is in 1 hex but it zig zags around so much it should really be 2 hexes.  There are tons of inaccuracies and distortions in hexes.  You just don’t see them because the designers hid them all.  Real armies don’t do the drunken stagger across a hex grid and face only in 60-degree increments.

People are just used to hexes.  We don’t have to have them.  It takes a little getting used to.  I remember it felt a little confusing to me at first.  Where exactly IS this unit?  Is he in the woods or in the clear?  With a little practice, it’s actually really and very precise.  Do you know who picks it up right away?  Non wargamers.  Kids.  Wives.  It’s very intuitive, simple and obvious to them.  It’s in the woods because I put it in the woods.  It’s right here.  See?  It’s not confusing.  As wargamers, we’re just not used to seeing it that way. 

 

This is where our Apple DNA really shows. Steve Jobs famously said, “Think Different.” The wargaming industry has been so locked into hexes that they’ve forgotten movement can be organic and intuitive.  Especially when it comes to musket warfare.  It’s very linear.  The formed up in lines, fought to hold lines and moved in lines.  Trying to force all that into a awkward geometric hex grid just looks ridiculous.  It doesn’t fit.

  

With free movement, you can actually form your defensive line around the natural curve of Cemetery and Culp’s Hills.  Wellington can place his artillery just out of sight on the reverse side of the ridge line, not this weird hex sticking out here, that can’t be used because that’s where the grid hit out. Suddenly, terrain matters in ways that hex grids can never capture.

I remember watching a couple of grognards launching Pickett’s Charge in a regular hex game.  The line of contact is all jagged, right?  So they spent all this time, trying to analyze the hex grid.  Which attacks can they get 3 hexsides on vs just 2 or 1?  How many artillery factors do they need to add to each attack to maximize their odds ratio?

I mean to an outsider, it just looks silly.  Is that what Robert E. Lee spent his time doing to prepare for that attack?  Did Napoleon organize each regiment at Waterloo by calculating the best odds ratio for each exposed hexside?  In Pub Battles, it works like it does in real life.  Do you think now is a good time to send Pickett forward.  You move him up to attack or not.  Who exactly are they attacking?  We don’t know.  It might change before the end of the turn and we resolve the combat.  We shell the defender with artillery.  Did that flip them to spent?  They may rally.  They may fall back.  New units might move up to reinforce the defense.  The Federal artillery might open up and flip Pickett to spent status before contact.  There are many things at play but this is how war really works.  The game system encouraged historically accurate tactics organically.  It teaches you to think like a real general, not an accountant.  

Ligny

**Q: You face criticism from traditional wargamers. How do you respond?**

**A:** Same way Apple responded to IBM loyalists in the 80s - we stay focused on making better products for people who want something better.

Look, some grognards are never going to change. They’re invested in complexity the way IBM was invested in command lines and MS-DOS. They’ve spent decades mastering these systems and don’t want to admit there might be a better way. I get it.

But there’s a whole generation of potential wargamers who took one look at a traditional wargame rulebook and said, “Life’s too short.” We’re making games for them - and for the secret rebels inside the grognard community who are tired of being rules lawyers and accountants when they want to be generals.

One of our fans sent me a photo of him playing Pub Battles with his girlfriend.  “She hates my wargames but she does like Pub Battles.  She will play that.”  I’ve heard the same thing with kids too.  They grew up on computer games.  Their eyes glaze over when they see a 100 page, fine print wargame rulebook.  –but they will play Pub Battles.  “Dad, this is way cooler.”  If Wargaming is going to have a future, we need to start moving in new directions. 

 

In Development

**Q: What’s your vision for the future of wargaming?**

**A:** Yeah, exactly.  We want to be the gateway drug that brings a million new people into historical gaming. Right now, wargaming is this tiny, insular community because we’ve made it too intimidating for normal humans. That’s tragic, because history is fascinating and strategy is fun - when it’s not buried under mathematical complexity.

Hey, I’m a grognard too.  I love games like World in Flames or Advanced Squad Leader.  Pub Battles is too simple for you?  Fine, get it and play it anyways.  Here’s why:

Imagine walking into a restaurant and seeing a dad or grandpa playing Pub Battles with a kid.  Where regular families and people might actually see it.  Hey, what is that?  Looks like fun.  How does it work?   Imagine history teachers using games to show students why the South lost the Civil War and what command decisions really feel like. That’s our moonshot.

The traditional companies can keep making games for the 5,000 people who want to spend their weekend calculating combat ratios. We’re going after the 500,000 people who want to experience history without needing an engineering degree.

Coming Soon Austerlitz!

**Q: Any final thoughts for wargamers who might be curious about Command Post Games?**

**A:** Try thinking different about wargaming. Don’t take my word for it – go pick a Pub Battle at commandpostgames.com and try a game. We have a 100% money back, satisfaction guarantee.  Thirty minutes with Pub Battles will teach you more about command than thirty hours with a traditional monster game.

We’re not trying to destroy traditional wargaming - we’re trying to evolve it. The same way Apple didn’t destroy computers, they just made them human.

And to the grognards who are secretly tired of being spreadsheet warriors when they want to be Napoleon or Stonewall Jackson- welcome to the revolution. We saved you a seat at the pub.

-----

*Marshall Barrington is the founder and lead designer of Command Post Games. Their Pub Battles system covers conflicts from ancient Rome to World War II, all playable in under two hours with rules you can learn in ten minutes. Visit commandpostgames.com to join the simplicity revolution.*

 This is a rundown of games that are in development:

Pub Battles:  2nd Bull Run

Gruppenfuhrer:  Tactical WW2 Combat.

Supremacy SLBMs & Bombers

Fall of Berlin & Bulge:  Berlin is very close.  We are trying to rectify the system with Bulge and France 40.  If it works in all those places, it should be good for anything in WW2.

Pub Battles:  Borodino

Gettysburg Campaign:  Operational Scale.

Command Post Games

 

 

Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War

by

Matrix Games

 This is a piece that comes straight from the designers of Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War. If you play computer wargames, you will be well aware of their last two releases:

Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm

Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm

My name is Robert Crandall and I’m the founder of On Target Simulations, the studio behind the Flashpoint series of games.  I started work in 2002 after talking to Matrix Games, and I’ve been working on it ever since.  It was a solo project for the first few years, but then I smartened up and started recruiting partners to help out.  We divvied up the jobs, and I found that the game itself improved significantly once the others joined in on the design.  The downside was that the rate of development actually slowed as we added more people.  We had so many ideas that we wanted to do that starting them all made it very hard to finish anything!  (Cue the eye-rolling by Matrix here).  Such is the life of a software development team.  

We currently have a core group of perhaps 19 people who are seriously contributing to Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War.  Some are full-time, and some are evenings and weekends.  All get a say in what the game looks like. During our six-month beta testing period, we had over 60 devoted testers who provided feedback on scenarios, identified bugs, and made suggestions that we considered. There were over 700 surveys filled out by testers with feedback! There is no doubt about the players helping shape this game and will continue to do so beyond our game launch on November 20th.

The game itself?  Ah, yes, it is a tactical ground combat simulation set in 1989 West Germany, positing a war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.  It is as high intensity as combat can get.  You command a force ranging in size from a reinforced battalion to a reinforced regiment on a 500-meter hex map, 15 by 25 km or larger, for 4 to 14 hours of game time.  Maneuver units are typically platoons for NATO and companies for the Warsaw Pact.

We model equipment right down to the individual vehicles, guns, and sensors, but the real game is at a much higher level.  You are the overall commanding officer, and you must give orders that have time lags and uncertainty associated with them.  You don’t have time to micromanage your forces, you must think big and see the total picture through the fog of war.  

If you can operate a standard Windows program, then you can operate this game.  Yes, there is a learning curve, but we try to make it easy to start.  We have tutorials and lots of docs to get you going.  As much as possible, you just need to point and click to get things started.  The game is hard to master, though, because it tries to reward good tactics.  Good tactics are, well, hard and very situational.  With practice, though, you will develop an eye for these situations and get a feel for when and where you should push hard and when you shouldn’t.

As you get going, you will find yourself dipping more deeply into the support reports and map overlays to get a better sense of potentials and possibilities.  You don’t have to, but they are there waiting for you.  If you take the time to study the terrain and think about the capabilities of both your and the enemy units, you will find yourself doing better and better.

This being the Cold War, there is a lot of interesting new stuff for a gamer to play with beyond the usual tanks, infantry, and artillery.  We have attack helicopters, ATGM firing units, weapon locating radars for counter battery work, and off-map artillery that you can call in.  We have air strikes and air defense suppression assets.  We have ten nations in the database (so far) and 80 maps to play on.  The maps are some of the most beautiful you will play on in the wargaming realm. 

 

There are over 50 standalone scenarios and another 46 between 10 campaigns. We paid special attention to researching the historically accurate units stationed in the various locations across West Germany. Where we could find accurate orders of battle, we use them. It’s amazing how many fans and our own team members bring forward anecdotes from their own time serving in their respective military and share resources that we can draw inspiration and information from. 

 

New in this iteration of the game is tactical transport.  This allows you to load leg infantry into helicopters to do air assaults, something that was a big part of the Warsaw Pact plans and something the NATO allies really wanted to use as well.  Look for a scenario called “Rendezvous with Destiny” to see a big NATO air assault by the 101st Airborne Division.  I strongly suggest you do the “Tutorial -  Air Assault Operations” first though.  There is lots to wrap your head around here.

If you are familiar with the predecessor game, Flashpoint Campaigns Southern Storm, from three years ago, you will see numerous improvements in the UI, speeding up the orders giving, more variety of unit types, and new features like tactical transport, group movement, artillery fire support groups, and new Staff reports. We have also brought in Belgian and Polish forces to the battle, bringing the total nations represented to 10. I should mention that the game needs a 1920 x 1080 minimum screen resolution but otherwise makes no particular demands of your hardware. The standalone scenarios can be played from either side, but the campaigns are for one particular side only. All of the scenario editing tools ship with the game. Flashpoint Campaigns has always been designed to be played while wearing your tactical thinking hat on to be successful. It’s a classic wargame in the sense that it’s a safe environment for planning a bold course of action and witnessing as it unravels your force or pays off.

Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War

Matrix Games

Steel Centurions

 Italian Armored Formations of the Second World War 1940-43

By 

Paolo Morisi

 In WWII the Italian armored forces started the war with an Albatross around their necks. The Italian Navy had some very well-designed ships at their disposal. The Italian Air Force also had some designs that were comparable to the best in the world, although in limited numbers. However, the Italian tank forces were never equipped to fight in the war. Their tanks were found to be woefully inadequate even during the Spanish Civil War. There they had faced some Soviet Union tanks that put them to shame. Luckily for the Italians the British tanks early in the war were not much better. So, forced to go to battle with old designs and not much better officers, on the whole, it is a wonder how much the Italian tankers were able to accomplish. This book is about their story during the war. The author has given us a comprehensive account of their history from 1940-1943. This book proves that the Italians were just as brave and full of fight as any other participants in the war. They were just so handicapped by design and staff that what seems on the outside to be woeful attempts at warfare is really a story of complete frustration, with bits of brilliance at times.

 The book takes you from the beginning of the Italian Armored formations and tactics until the end of the Sicily campaign. These are the chapters:

The Birth of the Italian Armored Units and Their Development

Minot Armored Campaign (France, East Africa, and Albania/Greece)

North Africa

Further Advance

Gazala and Tobruk

El Alamein

Tunisia

Sicily

M Armored Division and Ariete II

Followed by five appendices

 Naturally, the book's main focus is on the North African campaign, simply because it encompasses almost the entire Italian timeline in the war. The Germans did not find the Italian soldier to be unworthy. Not in the least. When commanded well, even with their outdated equipment, they were viewed as Allies in every sense of the word. Their bravery under great odds is shown throughout the book. I have always been interested in the role of Italy in WWI and WWII. Their forces in WWII are now seen as a cliche or a punchline to a joke. I have always believed that the reality was something entirely different. This is another book that shows that it actually was.

 If you want to know the truth about the Italian Armored formations during WWII and not just read the usual pap, then I suggest you pick up this book to find out for yourself. Thank you, Mr. Morisi, for another excellent book on what some people would call the obscure parts of the world wars. I also want the thank Casemate Publishers for allowing me to review this excellent book.

 The author Paolo Morisi Has also written two other excellent books in my opinion. The first, The Italian Folgore Parachute Division: North African Operations 1940-43. The second is, Hell in the Trenches: Austro-Hungarian Stormtroopers and Italian Arditi in the Great War. This is a link to my review of the second book:

Hell in the Trenches by Paolo Morisi - A Wargamers Needful Things

Robert 

Book: Steel Centurions: Italian Armored Formations of the Second World War 1940-43 

Author: Paolo Morisi

Publisher: Helion & Company

Distributor: Casemate Publishers

 

MacGowan & Lombardy's The Great War Card Game

Expanded 2nd Edition

by

Lombardy Studios

Kyle Cisco, a colleague and friend who owns Iron Raven Editing, is helping me with a Kickstarter campaign for second, expanded editions of MacGowan & Lombardy's The Great War card game and the four World War One minigames I originally designed for the 2014-2018 centennial. You can see more here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2030222759/world-war-one-legacy-collection

This Kickstarter’s purpose is to raise funds to publish second, expanded editions (v2) of five World War One games originally created for the centennial commemoration events in 2014-2018. All of these games can be played solitaire as well as by 2-players.

If you have the original 2021 edition of the card game MacGowan & Lombardy’s The Great War (TGW) you can still use those playing cards with the v2 rules which will be a free download after the crowdfunding campaign ends. You can read more about the original card game development and view the 2021 game art, rules, etc., here: https://lombardystudios.com/2020/09/13/macgowan-and-lombardys-the-great-war-card-game

Briefly, each card has a value or "battle points" shown in a circle on that card. There are also icons that indicate whether a card can be used to attack (arrow), or cancel an enemy card (X), or be added to other cards (+) such as Observation Balloons added to artillery – a "force multiplier" in today's military terms. 

The expanded v2 games include revised rules for faster learning, larger card art that includes historical context for the cards, and a totally new illustrated historical guidebook about the war. Other World War One collectibles listed below are available as pledge levels or add-ons.

The second edition of MacGowan and Lombardy's The Great War (TGW2) card game features large tarot-size cards compared to the original 2021 poker-size cards. If you bought the first edition of TGW you can still play the v2 game using the original 2021 cards. The new second edition rules are simpler and can be downloaded for FREE when they are posted after this Kickstarter campaign ends.

 This is a YT video on how to play:

Kickstarter WW1 card game 102720

There are also links to a good number of books available.

Aviation Flight Badges of World War One

4-volume series of oversize hard cover books 9-inches x 11-inches

1,512 pages total with nearly 2,000 full-color photos and other images

Allied Volumes 1 and 2 

First time in English for the Allied books describing details about the Serbian, Japanese, and several other air services of France, Russia, Great Britain, and America. 

Limited print run

Central Powers Volumes 1 and 2

Germany, Austro-Hungry, Bulgaria, Ottoman Turk

 The Battle of White Plains

Twilight of the New York Campaign October 28th - 31st, 1776

Battles of The American Revolution, Volume X

by

GMT Games

  The American Revolution, at least in New England, was a much bigger historical period in people's minds than even the Civil War. There are hardly any summer weekends where reenactments of battles or just field camps cannot be found. The area where I was born and raised had several smaller battles, and the larger ones were  100-150 miles away. The memory of The Green Mountain Boys is a staple in Northern New England. Unfortunately, because of urban sprawl there is not much to see in Southern New York State except, of course, for the environs around West Point. I was a pretty young child, younger than five, when we lived in a house that had been part of a Revolutionary War battle. There was a plaque outside of the house saying that this was where Benedict Arnold's horse was shot during the battle and then buried. I am told that as a toddler I attacked the front yard like a mole or a budding Indiana Jones looking for said horse, or at least its remnants. I doubt I had enough wherewithal at the time to think the operation through to its conclusion. It is probable that this was my first steps on a lifelong love of history. Let us take a look at this newest entry in the Battles of the American Revolution series of games.

 The Battles of the American Revolution Series comprises these games:

Saratoga Volume I

Brandywine Volume II

Guilford Volume III

Savannah Volume IV

Monmouth Volume V

Pensacola, 1781 Volume VI

Germantown, 1777 Volume VII

Newtown Volume VIII

Rhode Island Volume IX

The Battle of White Plains Volume X

The Battle of Green Springs Volume XI - P500

 GMT also released two American Revolution Tri-Packs of the earlier releases. These are:

Monmouth, Germantown, and Newtown

Guilford, Saratoga, and Guilford - P500 reprint

 There is also a new series of Small BoAR with The Battle of Cowpens being Volume I.

 These were all designed by Mark Miklos

 This is what comes with the game:

Two Hard-mounted Maps Featuring 1-inch Hexes

245 Unit Counters & Game Markers (1.5 Countersheets), Including Seven Replacement Counters for Previous Games in the Series

52 Opportunity Cards: 26 American & 26 British

16 Tactics Cards: 8 American & 8 British

Two Full color, 4-page Player Aid Cards: 1 American & 1 British

One Full-color Exclusive Rulebook

One Full-color Series Rulebook

Two 10-sided Dice

Game Scale: 1 hr. per turn

Map: 200 yds per hex

Units: Infantry Regiments, Battalions & Companies. Cavalry Troops. Artillery Batteries. Each Strength Point equals 100 men or 2 guns.

Players: 1-2

 This is some information from GMT Games about White Plains:

"White Plains is among the least written-about battles of the American Revolution, an oddity when one considers the scale of forces engaged. Most secondary sources give it a passing mention in the larger discussion of the New York campaign while among the scant primary sources there is considerable disagreement as to key details. Source maps are scarce and often contradictory as well. To bring you Volume X in the Battles of the American Revolution series, exhaustive research was conducted in the sources and on the ground to bring to life the most accurate battlefield map possible.

Likewise, the order of battle was painstakingly reproduced from scraps of information: memoirs, General Orders, casualty lists, pension records, compilations of the Westchester County Historical Society, journal articles, Blogs, secondary-source histories, firsthand accounts, and a little intuition. As usual when studying the American Revolution, British records are more complete. American records less so. Where specific unit placements are known the corresponding units are placed accordingly. Where specific deployments are not known, deployments are notional but stand up to the litmus test of brigade and divisional integrity."

 The first thing we will talk about are the maps. You are given two sections of a large, mounted map. The map and game were designed by a consortium of Charlie Kibler, Rodger B. MacGowan, and Mark Simonitch. I am very impressed with its look. Somehow, they have illustrated exactly, to me, what the Colonial Era would look like on a map. The hexes are very large, and the terrain is clearly marked out for every single hex. So, you will have none of the arguing over what terrain is in each hex, or which type of terrain is the majority in each hex. The Army Morale, Turn Track, Terrain Key, Strength Point Loss, Leader Summary Table, and a few others are strategically positioned around the outside of the map. I am very much a fan of having these, as much as possible, on game maps. Having to make room for a map is sometimes enough of a problem without having to have those tables etc. strewn next to a map. There is also a small box with the story of the 'Headless Horseman'. He might have been a Hessian that lost his skull at this battle. The story comes from the northern settlements of New Amsterdam.

 The Series Rulebook is in large type and is double-columned. It is in full color and only 16 pages long. Next, we have the Exclusive Rulebook for the game. It is also in full color, double-columned, and the same large type in 36 pages. The actual exclusive rules for the game only take up 13 1/2 pages. The rest is taken up by the scenario setup/rules, Opportunity Card Notes, Design Notes, Order of Battle, and a Counter Manifest (I wish more games came with this). Each player gets his own 11" x 17" four-page fold out Players' Aid. These are made of heavy-duty card stock. The type size on them is sometimes smaller than the actual Rulebooks, with the 'October 31st Deployment Reference' on the back page being the only type that I need to bring closer to my aging eyes. There are four card decks that come with the game. Each side gets an 'Opportunity Deck' and a Tactics Deck. The Opportunity Decks have contemporary pictures on them. The Tactics Decks do not but only have the different modifiers on them. These are for Frontal Assault, Turn Flank, and Stand fast etc. The cards are the normal size for wargaming cards. However, they do seem to be a little stiffer than most. The Opportunity Decks are actually split into three different decks for each player. Each player starts out with deck one, and then on game turns October 30th and October 31st deck two and then deck three are added to the players usable cards. The counters are well done and are sized at 5/8". This is a good size for the less dexterous of us. They have either a representation of the troop type or a picture of the commander on them.

 The physical components of the game certainly pass muster.  

 Oh no! The game comes with some errata. There is one problem with the Player Aid Cards. Two minor problems with the rules, and one problem with the American Order of Battle. Thank you, GMT for being so thorough.

  Sir William Howe has been always described as being very wary of attacking the Americans when they were entrenched in any way. This was supposed to have come from his firsthand knowledge of what happened at Bunker (Breed's) Hill. This game uses that hesitancy of Howe's in a novel manner. Because of the nature of the ground where the American lines were, the ability of these troops to entrench themselves was limited. They did however do their very best to mimic real fieldworks with the material they had on hand. This was achieved with stacked cornstalks and clods of earth stuck to them like mortar. So, what looked to the British like a bristling line of dug in Americans was not exactly what it seemed in most places. This leads us to the game rule that is called 'Ruse de Guerre' (Trick of War). The rule is a little complicated and slightly devious, as its name suggests. The American player secretly designates 1-5 of his fieldwork hexes as containing a Ruse de Guerre. Then he rolls a die, and using the Ruse de Guerre Template in the back of the Exclusive Rulebook, he then consults the Ruse de Guerre Table situated on the map. These locations will be written on the template. It sounds a little more involved than it really is. Now comes the British part of the rule. If the British player does attack one of the hexes the ruse has been discovered, and the American player must tell the British player that it was a Ruse de Guerre hex. Then the British player is allowed to take the 'Probe' card from his Opportunity Deck. He can then use it to probe the American lines for other Ruse de Guerre hexes. The actual history of the battle has the Ruse de Guerre working so well that the British never attempted to attack the American lines. I think this is an elegant way to represent the actual history of the battle, since we know, or assume, that our nowadays British commander will not husband his cardboard pieces as Howe did his men.  

  As you can tell by the size of the rulebooks the game is not overly complex. It is rated as a six out of ten on GMT's complexity scale. That is assuming that you have played other 18th and 19th century wargames. These are some of the rules that you will encounter:

Initiative

Stacking (6 SPs and one artillery unit. Leaders and markers do not count toward stacking)

Zones of Control (All six adjacent hexes)

Movement/Strategic Movement

Rifle Fire

Defensive Artillery Fire

Close Combat

Tactic Cards (To be used by the player in Close Combat)

Rain Turns

Army Morale

Militia Special Rules

 This is the series sequence of play:

Each game turn consists of two player turns. During the initiative 

segment, players determine which player executes their player 

turn first. Each player turn consists of several phases that must be

executed in sequence. A more detailed version can be found in the 

Expanded Sequence of Play on the back page. 

A. Initiative Segment

 1.Determine which player has the Initiative this turn.

B. Initiative Player Turn

 1. Flip the game turn marker to indicate the correct player turn

 2. Movement phase

 3. Rally phase

 4. Defensive Artillery Fire phase

 5 Rifle Fire phase (simultaneous)

 6. Close Combat phase

 7. Move the game turn marker to the bottom half of the game 

   turn and flip it over

C. Second Player Turn 

  1. Movement phase

  2. Rally phase

  3. Defensive Artillery Fire phase

  4. Rifle Fire phase (simultaneous)

  5. Close Combat phase

D. End-of-Turn Segment

  1. Check for Automatic Victory

  2. If it is the last game turn of the scenario, determine a winner

  3. If additional game turns remain, advance the game turn 

marker to the top half of the next turn. 

This is the setup for the four-day scenario. Chatterton Hill is almost in the middle down at the bottom with just two lonely regiments.

 The game comes with three scenarios:

Historical Scenario: Chatterton Hill October 28, 1776 Four- and one-half game turns

Hypothetical Scenario: Howe's Grand Assault October 31, 1776, ten- and one-half game turns

Campaign Game: October 28, 1776, to the evening of October 31, 1776, 42 game turns

 As is the usual with me I dove into the deep end and played the four-day full battle scenario first. I have played some of the other games in the series. So, I felt that I could work through the exclusive rules somewhat easily. The historical Chatterton Hill scenario is an excellent one to teach tyros the game system. It has the least number of counters, and both of the smaller scenarios do not use some of the rules that only apply to the four-day scenario. 

 It is obvious that a lot of thinking went into making this game as historically accurate as possible. The Putnam Engineers counter only allows the American player to build up real fieldworks a hex at a time. This melds right into the rule about the Ruse de Guerre and the physical properties of the ground that the Americans are on. The Hessians also get an Amusettes counter. This was a very large caliber 'super' musket that was accurate to about 500 Yards. They are represented as having a two-man team. Think of them as a prototype bazooka without the exploding warhead. The American militia troops are also treated differently than the trained troops on either side. They can be exceptionally brittle. The British player also gets to roll a die before game turn 32 (7:00am, October 31). He then checks it against the Patriot Militia Attrition Table situated on the map. The American player then has to remove from three to seven militia units. The American player also suffers a -1 against his Army Morale. This occurs in the Campaign and Howe's Grand Assault scenarios.

 I did find one problem. Howe's counter is marked 2358 for setup. It should read 2538.

 Thank you, GMT Games, for allowing me to review this excellent addition to a great series. I might be more partial to this game and the Saratoga one because of knowing the areas and having visited them.

Robert Peterson

The Battle of White Plains

Battles of The American Revolution

GMT Games

 Crusades: Book I

Sword & Siege Series

by

Wargame Design Studio

 

 The words Deus vult! erupt across Christendom in the Year of Our Lord 1095. Pope Urban II has sent his best preachers all throughout Europe to drum up Lords and soldiers to retake Jerusalem from the Moslems. Never mind that the city has been under Moslem rule since 637 or 638 A.D. So, this call to the masses to rescue the city is almost 500 years too late. I guess the Pope felt that it was better late than never. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, was looking for some mercenary help from his Catholic brethren. Instead, he started an avalanche of the faithful coming straight at Constantinople. The date for the start of the 1st Crusade is generally given as 1095. However, it was not the actual first crusade to the Holy Land. The People's Crusade left for Asia Minor earlier than the Lords and martial crusaders. The People's Crusade was crushed at the Battle of Civetot in Anatolia. One of the leaders of this crusade was Peter the Hermit, who will become a big part of the history of the 1st Crusade. Wargame Design Studio has given us a new series of games in which this game is the flagship offering. So, let us see what the digital wizards of WDS have cooked up for us this time.

 This is what they have to say about it:

"Crusades: Book I includes 65 Scenarios – covering a variety of sizes and situations, including a solo tutorial scenario, five Training scenarios, Historical, Variant and What If versions for both head to head play and vs. the computer AI.

A range of maps are included covering all the significant locations fought over during the 1st & 2nd Crusades and some of lesser known locations.

The order of battle files cover the various forces that participated in the campaigns with other formations added in for hypothetical situations.

There are extensive 3d unit graphics covering all of the major armies involved.

Campaign and Scenario Editors which allow players to customize the game.

Sub-map feature allows the main maps to be subdivided into smaller segments for custom scenario creation.

Design notes which cover the production of the game, campaign notes and a bibliography that includes the sources used by the design team to produce this historical simulation game.

Crusades: Book I provides multiple play options including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play as well as two player hot seat."

 These are some of the battles that come with the game:

"Includes battles from all aspects of the 1st & 2nd Crusades - major encounters to small skirmishes. 65 stand alone scenarios and 2 campaigns. A sampling would be:

Nicaea

Dorylaeum

Antioch

Ma'arat al-Numan

Jerusalem

Ascalon

Heraclea

Ramla

Acre

Harran

Tripoli

Tyre

Aleppo

Edessa

Ephesus

Damascus"

 As is usual for a WDS release, they have taken a wonderful game and attempted to drive us mad with it. Instead of five or even ten scenarios for us to get lost in, we have the standard myriads of them to get mired in. And if that was not enough, there are also two campaigns that you can try to play. The reason I say 'try to play' is because there is only so much time that we are allotted on this Earth. Every game, some even more than others, released by WDS comes with a cornucopia of scenarios to be played from either side and with numerous differences to each scenario. Upon opening up one of WDS games, one feels a bit like Rip Van Winkle and wonders exactly when you will get your life back. Then when you have finally marched through the entire game you can then use the Campaign and Scenario Editors to further dig your hole into the time span of your life. Of course I jest, but only slightly. To click on any exe of a WDS game is not for the faint hearted. 

 The most amazing feature of this game is that we now can actually play out sieges. WDS has certainly given us battles and campaigns to play, as have other gaming companies, but none that I can recall has ever given us the ability to besiege cities, towns, and castles, at least in the ages before gunpowder. For someone who believes the boardgame 'The Art of Siege' by SPI is the crowning glory of their boardgame collection, this is really an epiphany. This not only opens up the ability, at some time, to play out the siege of Acre in the 3rd Crusade but so many others from these and other centuries. This is made even more amazing by the inclusion of both 40 meter, normal, and 100 meter per hex sizes. This will also help with counter density on the larger scenarios. Some of these are only available once you add the free expansion available for download. Please see below for more information on this.

 The ebb and flow of the battles in Outremer is shown in the game's design. The charges of small amounts of well armored knights do make a difference just as they did in real life. The masses of lightly armed Moslem horse archers swarming around the crusaders is shown just as well. These are the earlier years of the crusades. While you will not see any Mamelukes, you will see the different Christian Orders of Knights, as in the Templars and Hospitallers. The battles have been well chosen to give both sides chances to command infantry and knights and light cavalry, sometimes all in the same scenario. WDS has continued to work on the game engine. They have recently had almost weekly updates on many of their series of games. They also have kept tweaking the AI and picking scenarios that are especially made for the AI of both sides. In this day and age, all wargames, whether they be board or digital, should have the option to play a well-designed solitaire version of whatever game it is. Yes, if you play the game constantly and only a few, or one, scenario repeatedly each day for x amount of time you will learn how to 'cheat' or beat the AI. If, however, you play like most of us and can only get in a certain number of hours a week and choose different scenarios to play, the AI will do just fine. I believe that WDS is only getting better with each passing week and release or update. 

 

 So, what is the verdict? It was never really in any doubt. This is another stellar release from WDS that will keep you playing for as long as you want to. The release of Age of Longbow Volume I has only meant that they are fully behind the Sword & Siege Series and have many more planned after the battles of the Hundred years War. I am drooling over the prospect of a game that has the battles of the Wars of the Roses! I know that I cannot wait for a further release on the crusader battles and the chance to besiege Acre in the Third Crusade. Of course, we would also get all of the battles of Melek-Ric and Saladin. 

 Long time readers will know that I base my wargaming taste of the moment depending upon what book I am reading or have read. In this case there has been a lot of ink spilled about the First Crusade and the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. So, it is only natural that my favorite scenarios in this game deal with the crusaders besieging Jerusalem. The battles for Antioch come in as a close second. Both have some of the most desperate times for the crusaders, with the crusade itself hanging in the balance. At both Antioch and Jerusalem, the crusaders are, no pun intended, able to pull off miracles to not only keep the crusade going but outright win battles that they absolutely have to.

 Kudos, as usual, go out to WDS for this new game and series. We as wargamers have been truly gifted by not only their game releases but their constant upgrading and even at times throwing us freebie expansions.

 Since the arrival of Crusades: Book I into our hot little hands WDS has not been idle. They have released a freebie par excellence for us. This is what they have written about it:

"With the exceptional reception Crusades: Book I has got since release—just shy of 90 days ago—we wanted to bring you a further boost to this already great game package.

Today's expansion package will give you 9 new scenarios to play. The twist is, most of these are at the 100-meter scale. So, while they recreate familiar battles from the initial release, now those large encounters can be played with a lower counter density and larger individual units. When you extract the package to your main game directory, it will add these 9 new scenarios to the bottom of the list in the selection screen.

Oh, and did I mention this is a completely free addition to the game for existing owners? It certainly is. And when the next update for the game is released, it will be incorporated into that package.

Outside of counter density and smaller maps, some other differences relate to Siege Towers and Fortress Walls. The capacity for both has been increased from 75 to 150 men for the 100-meter variants. In the case of the walls, this is to account for the larger length of wall represented in each hex; for Siege Towers, it represents the increased amount of time available in a turn, which enables more men to traverse up a tower.

The following two images compare the 40-meter version to the 100-meter version.

The final two scenarios in this package are designed to be played from the Muslim side against the AI. One of them is a siege scenario and the other is an open field battle. Both of these scenarios are at the traditional 40-meter hex scale.

Additionally, today we are releasing another video focusing on this game, to add to the existing four videos in the Crusades Playlist. You can check that out below - Siege Playthrough, Part 1."

 Here is the link to the free expansion:

https://wargameds.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/CrusadesI_Expan_Pack.exe

 This is the link to the video described above:

https://youtu.be/wLxh8vLlaEQ

Robert

Wargame Design Studio:

Wargame Design Studio Store

Crusades: Book I:

Crusades: Book I – Wargame Design Studio