SONG FOR WAR : MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS

 SONG FOR WAR

MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS

FROM 

INVICTA REX

In 2023, I had the good fortune to encounter Invicta Rex games and their prototype for their first game, Song for War: Mediterranean Theatre.  I was able to experience the game through play with the designers on Tabletopia and reviewed the game here on the blog.   

I followed their progress and initial Kickstarter, which I immediately pledged for, and was majorly disappointed when it didn't reach its target goal. 

Fast forward two years and the expected and heralded new launch on Kickstarter rapidly passed its target and unlocked several goals.  This time there has been the opportunity to select one of two pledges.  The major pledge is for a revamp of the original game with its massive two mounted boards.  This has been greatly augmented by including two closer focused Operational scenarios: North Africa and Italy.  Each of which is played out on individual maps, each printed on the reverse side of one of the main maps.  If I say that each single map is 31"x27", you get the size of the two-mapper main game. 

Italy Map

It should be no surprise to those who've read my previous review [click here if you haven't], that I've immediately pledged for the full package.  

However, a second pledge has been offered in the new Kickstarter, which gives you just a single mounted board with the map for the North Africa scenario on one side and the map for the Italy scenario on the other.

Invicta Rex have kindly provided me with a prototype copy of this smaller game and that is what I shall be reviewing here today.  It's differentiated from its Song of War big brother by having the sub-title Mediterranean Operations.  As would be expected, it embodies all the component qualities of the massive Mediterranean Theatre game.  This starts with the stunning and vibrantly coloured maps.  Italy you can see above and below is North Africa.

North Africa map

The counters too are the identical stylish wooden pieces that cover a wide range of air, sea and land units, embracing destroyers, cruisers, naval transports and even an aircraft carrier, fighters, heavy and light bombers, AA guns and artillery, infantry, tanks and trucks. Each of the four nations featured in the game has its own attractive compartmentalised storage box making sorting and organisation an easy task. 

British Units Storage Box

Below is what you see when set up for play of the North Africa scenario.  Normally in the full Mediterranean Theatre  scenarios, the blue units are Great Britain and the green units are United States, whereas here blue and green represent Great Britain's XXX and VIII Corps.  

This is most noticeable at the start in Alexandria, where units from both Corps are located, one in the northern sector and one in the southern sector.  However this distinction does not have to be maintained here, nor in anywhere else on the map as the game progresses.

Opposing them are the Germans (red) and the Italians (yellow).  Obviously, this allows for four players, but these Operational scenarios easily facilitate play by two players, especially as both sets of units on a given side move and have combat simultaneously.  The only feature not to be seen on map is the Hidden Fleet marker which in the North Africa scenario is the German fleet.  As can be seen below, it contains two troop transporters, one containing 2 tanks and 1 infantry units, the other tank, infantry and AA, which are guarded by an aircraft carrier ( with a fighter and light bomber aboard) a cruiser and a destroyer.

All the vital information, not just for set up but play, is contained on a single double sided Play Aid; one for each player.  There is a substantial amount of information to be absorbed, which is greatly eased when playing in teams of two.  When playing two player - which is my normal situation, outside conventions -  I would strongly recommend overlaying the Set-Up Play Aid with the Standard Units Play Aid.  This allows you to see all the ability explanations for the symbols used on the unit display chart.

Again when first getting started, I found it well worth while to spend some time simply taking each group of units: land, sea and air and separately practising their movement and combat factors and abilities a few at a time.  These displays differ from those in the massive Theatre game by being much more monochromatic and this is particularly reflected in the change from the accompanying coloured dice to white, grey and black ones.  I'm unsure whether this change reflects the final intentions for both this new Operational version and the original Theatre version of the game.  If so, I personally preferred the use of the coloured dice and the matching colours on the Combat part of the Play Aids which I found greatly helped my understanding of the combat process.  My only other concern lies with the very small print (seen on the left most panel above) which explains the symbols used.  These I did strain to read.

What remains identical is the multi-stepped movement and combat process that I would describe as the signature feature of the game system.  It is this feature that absolutely sold this game for me and recent details from surveys conducted by Invicta Rex confirms that the game system is far and away the key element for the vast majority of those who've pledged to Song for War.  It is that incremental movement and combat aspect that gives the game its defining quality and its engrossing game play.  Each player is immersed in the action as it switches back and forth from player to player with none of the lengthy ennui of observing and waiting for someone else's turn to be completed.  

It is a richly layered experience significantly enhanced by the visual splendour of the maps and the tactile enjoyment of manoeuvring your equally colourful wooden units.

In short, Song for War: Operations gives you everything that can be experienced in the even larger scope Song for War: Mediterranean Theatre, but with a more specific and localised geographic focus.  In stepping down from the wider picture of the Mediterranean Theatre to these two specific Operational fields, only a single stage is omitted - the National Support Phase. This tech tree element brought to the wider conflict the possibility of purchasing cards to influence the development of your war whether in terms of new weapons, upgrades, significant events or strategy.  With the shorter time scale and narrower focus, it is an appropriate omission.

I know that purely from the point of view of having the time to get Song for War: Operations easily to my gaming table, I shall see much more play of Italy and North Africa individually, but for those longer periods offered by residential conventions Song for War: Mediterranean Theatre awaits.