HALLS OF HEGRA
FROM
TOMPET GAMES
When my gaming friends and I first heard of this title, the general consensus was that it must be a game in the fantasy genre. Intrigued, I'm glad I delved deeper to discover that it was a distinctly unusual WWII battle in the Norwegian defence against the invading German army and so I contacted the publishers, Tompet Games, who generously provided me this review copy. On its very rapid arrival, a first sight of the components and a reading of the historical background made me think I had got my hands on the next David Thompson design in his series of "siege" games. Though that is not the case, the reasons for thinking so will quickly become obvious. First the components - they are all excellent whether it be the mounted playing board, the variety of cards, the wooden pieces, the cardboard counters and the full colour rule book. Second, the historical situation - quoting from the back of the game box and the front of the rule book - "From an abandoned mountain fortress you command a group of Norwegian volunteers fighting numerically superior German forces in the early days of WW2."
The continuation again quoted from both back of the game box and the front of the rule book sounds very familiar - "Halls of Hegra is a solo only game where you play as the commander during the siege, which is divided into three stages. The mechanisms you will use are worker placement, bag building and area control/tower defence." Certainly the game shares many of the system features seen in David Thompson's designs and three stages calls to mind Postmen in Soldiers' Uniforms, while the map section of the game board has visual echoes of Lanzerath Ridge. Considering both are set in snow bound locations that's not surprising.
Knowledge itself of the Norwegian campaign is for most British citizens very, very limited and despite playing most of the few rare games related to either individual battles or the whole campaign, this last desperate defence was a revelation for me. Its details certainly promised some intriguing and novel situations. The situation spans 11 turns corresponding to 11 days. As mentioned, the game plays out the three stages of the historical event.
Stage 1 Mobilisation [Days 1-3] - during this stage, you as the defender will explore, clear snow, find equipment (some damaged and needing to be repaired), establish supply routes and gather supplies and defenders.
Stage 2 1st Attack [Days 4-6] - you will be defending against a variety of German attacks, while continuing final preparations for the siege and gathering supplies.
Stage 3 Siege [Days 7-11] - Fortress Hegra is defended by you against bombardment and infantry attacks while you try to maintain morale amongst your volunteer force.
So, there's the overall picture in brief, now on to how the game fairs accomplishing this.
The complexity of the mechanics of playing this game is reflected in the two pages of the rule book dedicated to SetUp. There are eleven tracks needing a marker cube to be placed to record each's initial starting point, German artillery pieces to be set out on the Artillery Track; Air tiles, Damage tiles, and Status tiles to be placed; German Patrol tokens; wooden discs for the Defender units and Doubt discs and wooden German unit meeples. All these have their allotted places at start either on the game board, in a Reserve Area [any conveniently handy area near the game board] or placed into one of the colourful three draw bags.
... and when that's all complete, there is a wealth of cards to be sorted into a variety of decks and shuffled! 49 Event cards get sorted into five decks, 22 Morale cards into two decks, Hope & Despair cards into two decks and last but not least 11 Snow tiles!
Above are some of those Snow Tiles revealed that give one-off benefits or provide permanent actions that you can allocate defenders too.
While below is the busy game board before any of these elements are placed on or near it.
The bottom left hand section even has a double-sided mini-board placed on it at the beginning.
The side above is needed for Stage 1: Mobilisation and then turned over for Stage 2: 1st Attack and then removed to reveal the section of the whole game board it covered, which is used for Stage 3: Siege.
As you can see, there is quite a lot to follow through carefully in the Rule Book just to set up the game.
When it comes to Gameplay, which is the meat of the rules, the outline beckons as tantalisingly simple. The eleven turns are broken down into three Stages. Stage 1: Mobilisation covers turns 1-3. Stage 2: 1st Attack covers turns 4-6 and Stage 3; Siege covers turns 7-11. These three Stages are each divided into the same three Phases: Event Phase - Morning Phase - Day Phase. What follows and how it is organised in the Rule Book belies that simplicity. First of all, the actions for the Event Phase for each of the three Stages are explained in order. Then the shortest Phase - the Morning Phase - is explained Here steps you carry out are identical in each of the the three Stages and are largely simple steps. Hurrah!
Finally, you come to the third and last Phase for each Stage and that is the Day Phase. This is by far the most complex and lengthy section in each turn of the game. The basic concepts are logical. Each Stage prepares for the next Stage. So in Mobilisation you are largely creating supply routes and gathering supplies, building up the numbers of your defenders and clearing snow to reveal actions and objects that you can use in Stages 2 and 3. As you move into these later two Stages, the enemy actions gather in number and power and work to reduce the number of your defenders and limit the range of actions available to you.
I love these ideas and the realistic feel it gives to the game. I just wish the rule book could have explained them more clearly. There are two major difficulties to learning and understanding the rules. The first difficulty is the tendency to explain a number of actions for Stage 1 and then move on to Stage 2 and tell you which are identical to the previous Stage and then explain what's added and finally Stage 3 tells you what is the same as in Stages 1 & 2 and now explains what's new in Stage 3. Take for example, the Day Phase. There are in total Seven numbered sections (0-6) to learn. BUT there is no turn when all seven sections are ever performed in full. For example section 0 only occurs on turns 1 to 3, while section 01only occurs on turns 4 to 11. Similarly what actions may be carried out in each section is not consistent for every turn. Sometimes, a specific action is just not performed on certain days. Other actions depend on a variety of circumstances, such as whether the item to be used has been dug out of the snow on earlier turns or damage has been repaired to make it usable and, of course most important is whether one or more of your defenders has been allocated to perform it.
Here we are for example part way through the game. Working from left to right. Gun 1 has one section active, the next is jammed and the third is damaged. The ability to send out a new Supply Run is available, but no Defender has been assigned to activate it. Below is the Medicine Cabinet that was dug out of the snow earlier on and has had a medic Defender allocated to gain its benefits. To the right is another action, Counter Patrol, that was revealed earlier in the game. It too has no Defender currently assigned to take this action, but notice the cross on the medic symbol, which tells you that a medic defender cannot be placed here. After all, your medics are far more valuable doing jobs elsewhere! This is just one small area of the board with the potential for so much to be happening there.
On top of all that is the need to work through different steps on each Event card as it is drawn. which add a lot of flavour, but also mechanics to the game system. The outcome I've found is that you will spend quite a few games with the rule book in hand with frequent reference to it and, even with much more familiarity, it will be a game where you will still forget whether you can or can't perform an action and will need to check.
The second major difficulty is that there are quite a number of symbols to be mastered, some of which direct you in adjusting markers on the many tracks in the game or affect actions that you can take. These are not all clearly explained and has led to doubts about interpretation of rules. These add to the central complexity of the game that stems from the many interactions that build up and multiply as the game progresses. It's fascinating, but I've found there's a steep learning curve that only comes through repetition.
In my view the key to learning and coming to enjoy the game is to avoid trying to take in everything at once. In fact, it is one game where I would suggest that you don't even skim through all the rules.
Start by playing through Stage 1 Mobilisation [Turns 1-3], perhaps even practising them several times. Then move on to play Stage 1 and Stage 2: 1st Attack and finally settle down to play through the whole game. The other important advice is watch the several excellent videos on YouTube that play through several turns. I would particularly recommend "JP Plays Halls of Hegra", but as always with such videos remember that there will be a few changes, often minor, that have taken place since the videos were made and the game was published!
So what are my final thoughts. First of all it is a quality product in all its many components. The situation, like quite a few other Siege games, is unusual and focuses on a brief and for most people unknown and obscure incident in WWII. It's engrossing and has so many options with the constant pressure of multiple choices of action clamouring for your attention, but so few defender units to carry them out. It has great replayability, both because of these many choices of actions, but also because the different Event cards and the order in which they get drawn will always throw up new problems to solve each time you play. Consequently, it is a game that will constantly test you out with little likelihood of a winning formula emerging- for me that's always a good quality. I hate games, especially solitaire ones if they turn to have either a limited focus or a method that's soon mastered All these are very positive elements, but you will also need to put in a good deal of time and effort to learn and understand the game's mechanics. It's definitely not a game for beginners in the board war game world or those who want a "light" game. Nor is it for the gamer who must have absolute certainty or suffers from "analysis-paralysis". On the other hand it is definitely a game to get your teeth into and bury yourself in the action.
0 comments :