Wars of Religion

France 1562 - 1598

by

Fellowship of Simulations

"Paris vaut bien une messe!" Henri de Navarre (Henry IV of France)

Huguenot : "A French Protestant of the 16th–17th centuries. Largely Calvinist, the Huguenots suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Catholic majority, and many thousands emigrated from France."

"The young lion will overcome the older one,

  On the field of combat in a single battle;

  He will pierce his eyes through a golden cage,

  Two wounds made one, then he dies a cruel death." Nostradamus

 The death of Henri II of France brought to prominence his wife Catherine de Medicis. She was an astute woman who tried to ride the whirlwind of French politics. Henri II's death (supposedly prophesied by Nostradamus, see above), made her the regent for her brood of sickly sons. This period in France was dominated by the machinations of three groups: 

The League - Staunch Catholics

The Huguenots - Protestants

Royalists

 

 The history of the period is about as confusing as the Fronde period during Louis XIV's childhood. During both times the players shifted alliance back and forth between the different sides. Catherine's sons, Henri III, and Charles IX were rulers whose kingship was as frail as their constitutions. Henri de Bourbon Navarre became king Henri IV after Henri III designated him king from his deathbed from an assassination (Henri IV was Louis XIV's grandfather and he was also assassinated). Henri IV changed his religion and became a Catholic to become king (hence his quote above "Paris is well worth a Mass"). So let us see what Fellowship of Simulations has done to make this into a coherent game

 This is how Fellowship of Simulations describes the game:

"Wars of Religion, is a card driven game on the XVI century War of Religion in France.

The game can be played by two to three players ( three’s the best ). It simulates the clashes of the Religion Wars between the massacre of Wassy in 1562 and the signing of the Edit of Nantes in 1598. Eight successive wars were fought between the last Valois kings ( Charles IX and Henri III ) and the Huguenots, supporters of the new reformed religion and the Ligueurs, who held an uncompromising Catholicism backed by Spain.

Each of the three players will take control of the destinies of a faction and try to win at the end of the six rounds of the game. Not only will it have to impose itself militarily, but it will also have to win the mind through active propaganda.

a French Protestant of the 16th–17th centuries. Largely Calvinist, the Huguenots suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Catholic majority, and many thousands emigrated from France."

This is the Catherine card in the game

 This is what comes with the game:

One Mounted Map Board

One Counter Sheet

Three Player Aid Cards

Rulebook

Playbook

74 Character Card Deck

46 Event Card Deck

88 Black, Blue, and Red Colored Cubes

Three Die

Back of the box

 The map is smaller than most at 16 1/2" x 23 1/2". However, it is mounted and is done to look like a 16th century map. So, that does add to the game's immersion. It is made up by areas instead of hexes. The counters are 1/2" in size. This is too bad because the artwork on them is phenomenal. The writing on them could also stand to be larger. They use a script that is meant to match the map, but it leads it to be slightly less easy to read. The three Player Aids are pretty much identical except the amount of 'Turncoat Leaders' is larger on the Royalist Card. These are made of hardstock and are easy enough to read. The typing on them also matches the time period. The Rulebook is nineteen pages long with the rules themselves being seventeen pages. This is in full color and reminds me of a magazine. The writing in it is very large. It does not have examples of play in it but does have some of the components and artwork. The Playbook is of the same material and in full color also. The first fourteen pages describe the Campaign Game 'The Wars of Religion' and a short scenario 'Te Deum for a Massacre'. There is then a section of Historical Notes followed by a small biography of the different historic characters used in the game deck. Then there is a section on all the different Event Cards. The Character Deck has a picture in the middle of the card of the personage it represents. It also tells which of the wars the character is in; more on this later. The Event Cards have a smaller picture from the time to decorate the cards. There is also a full explanation of the cards' uses in the game. Taking in the ensemble, Fellowship of Simulations has done an excellent job of using art to add to the immersion of the game. The small writing on the counters is the only thing that some players might have trouble with. 

 As mentioned, this game covers the six wars that occurred between 1562-1598. The French were busy little beavers trying to kill their enemies during this time. Maybe my disparaging of the young kings is over the top because of what a snake pit they were thrown into. This is a game of war and diplomacy with both being as important as the other. Especially when you add in the game of musical chairs thrown in by all of the characters involved in the skullduggery. 

 The game can actually be played by one, two, or three players. The game is good playing solitaire or with two people. However, it really shines when you have three players. Then it becomes a much more interesting game of 'And Then There Were None'. Bitter rivals can become the closest of friends given the right inducement. Each side has a good number of possible turncoats that probably have a plethora of coats in their closets. 

 This is the very abbreviated Sequence of Play:

Every game is comprised of six turns, each divided into

five phases.

1. Initial phase

2. Event Phase

3. Court Phase

4. War Phase

5. End Phase

 This is the War Phase of Play:

During the War Phase, each faction tries to capture

enemy cities while protecting its own. The War Phase

continues until all factions decline to take further

rounds, at which point the war for the current turn ends

and the winner of the war is determined.

War phase sequence:

a) Draw War cards

b) Armies deployment

c) Army leaders placement

d) War rounds

e) Determine War Winner

 The Playbook goes through an extended game turn with three people playing. Some might call this a deck building game. In this game it is more nuanced than that. Sometimes it is better to take a less efficient leader. One of the ways to end the war is by treaty. So, it is usually a good idea to take a writer into your deck. This is one of those games that is like an onion. It is very hard to describe play because it has layer upon layer of strategy to win the game. If you are interested in a deep game that has more than just war at its center, this game is for you.

 These are the games victory conditions:

"

A faction may achieve automatic victory at the end of

any game turn if it meets the following conditions:

- Royalist: the number of League cities is less than

six and the number of Huguenot cities is less than

six.

- League: the League faction controls twice as

many cities as the Huguenots.

- Huguenot: the Huguenot faction controls more

cities than Royalist and League combined and

control Paris.

If no faction has achieved automatic victory by the end

of the final turn, then count the total victory points as

below:

City control: the faction controlling the largest number

of cities earns (7) seven points, the faction with

the second-largest number earns (5) five points and the

faction with the least earns (3) three points.

Political conviction: the faction that has created the

most treaties earns (4) four points, the faction with the

second-largest number earns (2) two points and the

faction with the least earns (1) one point.

The faction with the most victory points wins the game.

In case of a tie, the winner is by order of priority:

the Royalist faction, then the faction allied with the

Royalist."

 As you can see, creating the most treaties gives you four points so that number is nothing to sneeze at. The card play and events allows anything to happen at pretty much any time. You might have a perfect plan built in your hand only to see it swept away in the next moment. The only thing the game does not give you is actual daggers to stick in your opponent's back.

 Thank you, Fellowship of Simulations, for allowing me to review this game. I am very impressed that you were able to design a game about the convoluted events in France at this time. I can see where it would definitely help a player to have knowledge of these times. However, the game can be taught to someone who knows nothing of the history behind it. Below is a link to my review of their Verdun game.

Robert

Fellowship of Simulations:

FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS – FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS (fsimgames.com)

Wars of Religion France 1562-1598:

WARS OF RELIGION – FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS (fsimgames.com)

Verdun 1916, Steel Inferno my review:

Verdun 1916 Steel Inferno by Fellowship of Simulations - A Wargamers Needful Things

 

 Trench War

by

Wisdom Owl/Fellowship Of Simulations

 Le Grande Guerre, or The Great War, was a cataclysmic event that completely changed the world. The brutality of war was highly evident in it from the first day to the last. Flame Throwers, Poison Gas, and whatever could be used to kill was implemented. Even the combatants in World War II did not use gas on each other (of course, it was used in the death camps and by Italy in its grab for colonies). The term for the daily number of deaths on the Western Front was called 'wastage'. In actuality, World War I and II are now looked at by a lot of historians as the same war with a short peace in between, much like the Peloponnesian Wars. 

 I am finally okay with block games, and I do not break into a sweat anymore when a map does not have hexes. However, I am still a bit leery of a wargame played with cards. I have played a few, and have reviewed two I believe, but my pulse rate still quickens when I see it is a card game. Exposure therapy has worked for area movement, and for blocks. So, one would assume, after a few more card games I should be fine with them.

 Let us see what comes in the box:

50 Troop Cards

58 Bonus Cards

1 Gameboard

1 sheet of Counters (Markers)

1 Rule book

1 Optional Card

 This is a blurb from the creators:

"Trench warfare is a simple game for two players on the theme of the Great War. With games of less than 45 minutes, each player uses a deck of cards containing soldiers, tanks, planes and support weapons to take the opposing trench. With a simple rule, this game creates tense situations full of attacks of counterattacks."

 As you can see the game is a pretty minimalist one. However, the game makes up it sparseness with having very well done components. The gameboard is nicely illustrated to match the destruction of World War I. The cards are little pieces of artwork. The German cards have the Pour Le Merite on the back of their Bonus Cards, and the German Flag on their Troop Cards. While the French ones have the Knight of the Legion of Honour on their Bonus Cards, and the Tricolor on their Troop Cards. The Rulebook is in full color and it has plenty of play examples for only being twelve pages long. The game markers are round and it is easy to understand their meanings.

This is the Game Sequence of Play:

Each Player receives six Command Points (CPs) per turn.

These can be used to do any of these actions:

Discard up to eight cards (1 CP cost no matter how many cards are discarded).

Place a Troop Card (You pay the CP cost in the upper left hand of the card).

Move a Troop Card (1 CP cost).

Attack with a Troop Card (1 CP cost).

Place a Bonus Card (You pay the CP cost listed on the Card).

 The game is set in the last year of the war, and it is only between French and German combatants. Like many games this size the rules are simple. This does not mean that the game is a beer and pretzels one. It is a tense and well thought out game that gives the player plenty of choices to play well or mess up badly. The shortness of the game means that you could play more than a few times on game night. The smallness of its footprint means that setup and cleanup is a breeze. In my own games, and reading about the game, many times it comes down to the wire with the last card or cards being the difference between victory or defeat. I can easily recommend the game for a change of pace for us cardboard pushing grognards. Hell, the artwork alone is worth the cost of the game. 

 Thank you, Fellowship of Simulations for helping me to broaden my wargaming with this exquisite little game. 

Robert 

Trench War:

https://www.fsimgames.com/fr/guerre-des-tranchees/

Fellowship of Simulations:

FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS – FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS (fsimgames.com)

 

Verdun 1916 

Steel Inferno

by

Fellowship of Simulations

 As Sherman said, "War is hell". Soldiers from ancient times until now have been brought into bloody conflict. However, the intention was always to defeat the enemy and capture and kill or wound the enemy army. The charnel houses of Cannae, Antietam, Borodino, and Sadowa have all shown us the horrors of war. The advent of World War I brought the horrific toll to a crescendo. Then a general came up with a different plan. General Erich Georg von Falkenhayn, Chief of the Oberste Heeresleitung (German General Staff) from September 1914 until August 1916, came up with an idea that was new, and absolutely diabolical in its inception. He wanted to just kill and maim. His idea was to bleed France dry of her manhood. He thought that by attacking the French at Verdun the French Army would be forced to defend it to the last man. His original plan was not really to take Verdun or the forts around it. He just wanted to turn the area into an abattoir for the French soldiers. Luckily for the French the lower echelon German generals did not really understand Falkenhayn's plan. They attempted to take the forts and Verdun itself. In doing so, they they created a huge butcher's bill for the German as well as the French soldiers. The battle went on for almost the entire year of 1916. This is the battle that Fellowship of Simulations has decided to try and recreate.

A small piece of the Douaumont Ossuary at Verdun

 This is what comes with the game:

Two Decks of Playing Cards (one, French/blue, one German/dark green) 100 Cards in Total

One Mounted Map Showing the Battle Zone as well as Different Game Tracks  

120 Rectangular Wooden Blocks (60 German in Black, 60 French in Blue)

40 Wooden Trench Pawns (20 German in Black, 20 French in Blue)

One Rulebook

One Playbook

Two Player Aids

Game Markers (Control, Supply, Objectives, US Entry, Turn)

10 Six-Sided die

 Playing Time 1-4 Hours

3 Scenarios

Game Design: Walter Vejdovsky

Illustrations: Jacques Tardi

 Even just looking at the box, I am reminded of an old commercial where Ricardo Montalban would say "Marvelous, simply marvelous". I had never heard of Jacques Tardi before, I am ashamed to admit. Now that I have I cannot seem to look at enough of his creations. The Map is 38 1/2" x 19 1/4". Strange to say, it is the plainest of the artworks in the box. However, that does not mean it is not a very beautiful piece. It just means that the rest of the artwork is so over the top, sorry for the pun. The Map is an area one, not hex. The box artwork is so well done you almost do not want to take the plastic off it. There are two sets of cards, one German, and one French. These are each a small artwork by themselves. The depictions are so wonderfully done you may have a hard time remembering that they sometimes show a large amount of death and destruction. Your units in the game are not counters, but different sized small wooden blocks. The Rulebook is thirty-six pages long. It is in full vibrant color, with some of the cards shown along with some illustrations just for the game. The last pages of the Rulebook have a complete inventory of both sides Cards. The Playbook is twenty-four pages long, and has the rules and the setups for each of the three scenarios. There is also a full replay for the month of April 1916 that is seven pages long. Then there are Players' Notes, and then three pages of Designer Notes. Both the Rulebook and the Playbook are some of the nicest work I have ever seen in a game. Now, we come to the Cards. These have some of the best artwork I have ever seen in Cards used for a game. This is not a knock on game Cards that use historical pictures. However, these game Cards, along with the rest of the artwork, really draw the gamer in. The whole of the design is to immerse the player in the game. At that, it works tremendously well. The components are more than up to snuff. 

Illustration from the back of the Rulebook

 The Cards have a numerous plus and minus actions for each Player. let us take a look at the German Deck:

There are twenty-three Barrage Cards, that have a numeric value of one-six.

Some of the other cards are:

Air Support

Rumanian Offensive

Offensive in Russia

Jutland

Propaganda

Trenches

Chaos in the Rear

Submarine Warfare, and Total Submarine warfare

Reinforcements to and from the Russian Front

Flamethrowers

Kaiser's Visit, and Kaiser's Order

Offensive stockpile

No Event (Chatting lice in the cubby holes, trying to bury the dead)

The Red Baron

Bad weather

 As you can see, the game comes with a lot of chrome. It is not an especially hard game, but it was definitely designed to make the player feel he is commanding in WWI.

French and German Barrage Cards

 You can play these three scenarios:

Scenario 1: Operation Gericht The German Assault on Verdun (February-April 1916)

Scenario 2: The French Counter-Offensive (September-December 1916)

Scenario 3: The Full Campaign Game: Verdun 1916, Steel Inferno

There are three Optional Cards that can be used in the game:

Unknown Heroes: Discard to have each Defending Unit inflict three Hits in this Assault.

The Red Baron: The French Player discards one Air Superiority Cards, if any.

Bad Weather: In the next two Infantry Assaults, all attacking Units take one additional Hit.

 The Battle of Verdun is an excellent game to try and simulate, in my opinion, and I am surprised at the few number of games about it. Unlike some other battles, where counter-attacking and other gambits are brought to the table by the players. This game comes equipped historically with them. The actual battle was split up into the Germans attacking first, and then the French counterattacking later in the year. So right off the bat, the game will force both players into attacker and defender shoes. So, if you have a player who is much better on defense than offense it takes them out of their comfort zone. 

 The game is very easy to learn, especially for a grognard. It does not have a rulebook that can be measured on a scale or has enough addendum to make a few compulsory read throughs necessary. Where the game shines is in presentation and actual play. I really have to compliment Fellowship of Simulations on the depth of immersion that they have brought to the game. Being an old hex and counter player I sometime have a tough time getting my mindset in the time frame of a block game. I had no problem at all on that score with Verdun 1916 Steel Inferno. The games I played were all very close and most came right to the wire. This of course will vary depending on the aptitude of your opponents. I also had no problem playing it solitaire. Then again, I think that with a little work every game can be played that way.

 The Sequence of Play is:

Start of Turn Phase: Deck Construction

First Month Phase: Draw Card From Your Hand

 Month Resolution : Each Month Has Seven Rounds

Second Month Phase: Same as The First

End of Turn Phase: Cleanup Etc.

 Thank you Fellowship of Simulations for letting me review this great game. The game play and immersion is some of the best I have ever had the good luck to be able to delve into. 

Robert

Fellowship of Simulations:

FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS – FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS (fsimgames.com)

Verdun 1916 Steel Inferno:

VERDUN – FELLOWSHIP OF SIMULATIONS (fsimgames.com)

Verdun Steel Inferno

by

Fellowship of Simulations

 

 This is just going to showcase some of the beautifully done cards that come in the game. The game has smashed it's KS goals, but only has nine days left.

This is the best picture I have ever seen of him. Usually he looks emaciated.