In a Dark Wood

C3 Module 4 - The Hof Gap

by

This Red Line Games

 I have mentioned before that I am not a big fan of non-historical wargames. By that I mean totally made up or completely distorted history. This would mean a Bulge game that has every German panzer division available at the time, even those on the Eastern Front, for use by the German player. However, I have no problem with games that are totally based on accurate portrayals of what might have been. This would be represented by an invasion of Malta in WWII. As long as those games' OOBs etc. are based upon history and are totally plausible. This game, simulation really, is based upon the solid foundations of what actual troops and weapons were to be used in Germany in 1985 if WWIII broke out. Think of the novels The Third World War, and The Third World War: The Untold Story by General Sir John Hackett. You can add Red Storm Rising, and others, by Tom Clancy. These, besides being excellent stories, are based totally in historical reality. In this, In a Dark Wood follows their footsteps. You are allowed to see and use exactly what was available to each side in this wargame. You get to tell the story of the Giant Russian Bear and his buddies being fought by the smaller but seemingly more advanced NATO forces. So, strap yourself in inside your favorite NATO or Warsaw Pact tank and let us see what story you can tell with these cardboard counters. You can always think of yourself as a bodyguard to Little Red Riding Hood trying to save her from the Big Bad Wolf as you travel In a Dark Wood. Of course, you could also play the wolf.

 This is what comes with the game:

98×85 cm matte plasticized map, covering the US VII Corps Area of Responsibility

7 countersheets, 1200+ 5/8″ matte plasticized counters

40 Action and Event Cards

24 pages full colour Rules Booklet

28 pages full colour Scenarios & Designer’s Notes Booklet

8 pages full colour Examples of Play Booklet

2x Tables booklets

5x Players' Aid Charts

2x 10-sided dice

10x zipbags

 I will go into the game pieces bit by bit later, but I just wanted to say that even before you open the box you get a feeling that you are holding something extremely well manufactured. The foreboding picture upon the front of the box really gets you into the mood to play a game about the possible ending of civilization.

Some of the Components

 This is what Thin Red Line has to say about the game:

"At 0400 Zulu Time, July 24 1985, Warsaw Pact forces cross the Inner German Border and assault NATO positions in West Germany. The offensive against the US VII Corps sector has a first echelon of eight Soviet and Czechoslovakian divisions, and three main objectives: Pin the NATO forces defending the area, inflict as much casualties as possible, and force CENTAG to commit its reserves to the defense.

Taking its roots from SPI’s Central Front and NATO: Division Commander, In a Dark Wood is the fourth module of the C3 series, focused on Command, Control and Communication and pioneered by Less Than 60 Miles - one of the five nominees for the 2019 Charles Roberts Awards as Best Post-WW2, Cold War, & Hypothetical Era Board Wargame.

Several typical wargame mechanics have been reinterpreted, and both sides must fight three equally dangerous foes: the enemy, their own plan and time. Even a simple action can quickly turn into a disaster when facing an opponent using more efficiently the real key to victory: the OODA Loop theorized by John Boyd in the early ‘80s and used today as the basis for several military doctrines.

Military doctrine, tactics and peculiarities for each side are represented, allowing a skilled commander to use his own strength points and exploit the enemy's weak ones. Some examples are:

US VII Corps command problems due to its multinational structure.

West German Auftragstaktik (Mission-Type Orders), giving Bundeswehr a flexibility hardly obtained by other armies.

French incomplete integration into the wartime NATO structure.

Soviet Sappers, first-line assault units used to crack the toughest nuts.

Soviet Assault From March.

The abundant but partially outdated Czechoslovakian artillery.

Warsaw Pact Axis of Advance.

Warsaw Pact vulnerable supply network

5 km per hex, 3 hours per game turn

Regiment / Battalion sized ground units

Detailed Order of Battle set in 1985

Close Air Support and Attack Helicopters

Command, Control & Communication related problems

Electronic and Intelligence Warfare

Artillery interdiction and Counter-Battery fire

Chemical and Nuclear warfare

Specific events for Warsaw Pact and NATO

Random events to further increase battlefield chaos

Two Campaign Games:

"The Main Problem", the Warsaw Pact offensive against US VII Corps.

"One Minute to Midnight", Unrestricted nuclear warfare after days of build-up.

Four Smaller Scenarios:

"Just a Second Away", US 2ACR and 1/3I Brigade meet the Soviet 28th Tank Division.

"Shortcut to Schweinfurt", Soviet 28th Army turns south and clashes with West German 12th PanzerDivision.

"Where the Forest Whispers", US 3rd Infantry Division faces one Soviet and one Czechoslovakian Army.

"Operation Marsh Harrier", the NATO counterattack after the arrival of the French forces."

The Map

 One of the best parts about this game, and the whole Thin Red Line WWIII games, is the immersion factor. Even the emails that get sent out by Thin Red Line Games are meant to get you into the WWIII mind set. This is the post on Thin Red Line Games about the 4th printing of 1985: Under an Iron Sky 4th Echelon:

"Comrade Colonel-General,

Despite the sincere and tireless diplomatic efforts of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to preserve peace in Europe, the aggressive and provocative actions of the imperialist United States and its puppet regime in Bonn continue to pose an unacceptable threat to the sovereignty of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the collective security of the Socialist Bloc.

 Accordingly, the Central Committee, with full authority and historical responsibility, has directed the Armed Forces of the USSR to commence OPERATION LADOGA. The fraternal forces of our Warsaw Pact allies stand shoulder to shoulder with us in this historic struggle.

 You are hereby ordered to immediately execute the OPERATION LADOGA Directive."

Warsaw Pact Counters

 

 As I stated earlier, it is only when you hold the entire components to this game in your hand do you really get the full picture of how well they have been crafted.

 We will start with the map. For those of us not in the Old World or the 3rd World it is 24 1/4" X 38 1/4". Even though it is about the usual size for wargame maps it somehow looks bigger. The matte plasticized covering is a nice touch. Nevertheless, woe unto them who comes within 50 feet of one of my wargame maps with a drink! It always surprises me how much of Germany, and Europe as a whole, is forest. The map is really a work of art. It is one of those wargame maps where you wish you had a second one to hang on the wall. It may just be me because I have been pretty much mesmerized by maps since I was a small child. The terrain in each hex, for movement etc, is decided by the 'most favorable terrain type' for the unit. Because the units are not actually taking up the entire 5km of hex it makes sense to be able to choose the actual terrain. This gives the map the ability to accurately portray what is in each hex without, hopefully, having arguments between players.

 The counters are also matte plasticized which will increase their lifetime by a large margin. They are done in the 'NATO' style and also have a dark silhouette in the background to show exactly what kind of troops they represent. They are 5/8" in size so this makes them easier to read all their information. There are over 1200 counters, but the vast majority are markers instead of units. You also get the obligatory roll of zip-lock bags to store the counters. The game comes with two ten-sided die.

 Next, we have the Action and Event Cards. There are two decks for both sides of play. They seem to be made of the same material as regular playing cards. This will help with longevity and bending etc. The cards have both Russian and English for the words Action and Event and a Russian or NATO emblem on the back of the cards. The top part of the cards come with a photo or map and below are the cards uses. The type size is a little small but still readable.

 The Rules of Play booklet is, amazingly, only 23 pages long. It is in full color and is double columns. The size of the type is about normal for wargames. So, the older Grognards might need a young-'un to read it to them. I jest; it is perfectly readable. Then we have the Scenarios and Designers' Notes booklet. This is again in full color and is 27 pages long. The first three pages are taken up by Additional Scenario Rules. Then comes the four scenarios and two campaigns. The designers discuss the forested and hilly map as being an anathema to mobile battle. This is under the title ' No Thanks, We Don't Need More Trees'. One of the biggest challenges for the design team was how to make the NATO command structure, which resembled a 1970s piece of string art, into something coherent for gaming purposes. While still making it historically accurate.

 The game gives you two separate player aids, one for each player, that are done in a fold out manner instead of a booklet. This gives the player pretty much everything they need at their fingertips. This includes the Sequence of Play on the back cover. These are both 11 pages in length. There are tables that have all the abbreviations used by the NATO and Warsaw Pact forces. Just as an aside, the Warsaw Pact has four abbreviations while the UK appears to have about 50 give or take. I am only exaggerating a bit. There are five card stock one-sided player aids. The first two are OOBs for both the Warsaw Pact Central Front and the NATO Centag. The next two are a NATO and Warsaw Pact Time, Command Points, Engineer Points, EW Points, Air Points tracks. The last one is a players' aid Ground Combat Chart. This has the sequence of combat and all of the different modifiers all on one hand sheet. Finally, we come to the Battle Operations booklet. This is in full color and is eight pages long. However, do not be fooled. This booklet should be kept under the players' pillow every night that the game is on your table. From movement to combat and the all-important orders phases, this is a Godsend for the players' health and wellbeing. 

 So, there you have it. This is my poor attempt to show exactly what you get with the game and how well manufactured all of the separate pieces to the game are.

NATO Counters

 Okay, so we have dispensed with the part of the review that just uses our senses. Now we have to get into the parts of the game that we use our mind for. That being said, I would make sure that you have a monster wargame under your belt, or at least one that has a good number of rules. To be honest, these games rules are pretty streamlined for what they have to try and simulate. In this game you have in your power and arsenal all that the commanders of the different sides had at their disposal in 1985. From Airpower to Spetsnaz (special designation or spetsial'noye naznacheniye) and everything in between, Oh and tanks do not forget the tanks. These are just some of the things that the game simulates:

Command and Control

Posture: March Assault/Tactical/Road/Recon/Screen/Close Support/Combat Support etc.

Engineers

Close Air Support

Artillery

"You will Issue Orders to your HQs by expending Command Points and using Order Chits, wait for the units to Execute the Order by placing a Time Marker on them. Then wait for them to Complete the Order"

Stacking

Delayed Movement

Forced March

River Crossing

Supply

Weather

Chemical Warfare

Nuclear Warfare

Warsaw Pact Card

 I know it is a bit long. However, I did want to post the Sequence of Play so that you would know exactly how involved the games is.

 Each Turn is played using the following sequence:

 

1. Weather Phase

 1.1 Warsaw Pact rolls for Fog and Precipitation (29.1).

 1.2 Both sides Ground or Unground Aircraft (29.4).

2. Events Phase

 2.1 Both sides receive Air, Electronic Warfare, Engineer and

     Command Points reinforcements (33).

 2.2 Both sides roll for Events (34).

3.Air Points Phase

 3.1 Both sides roll on the Air Points Table and adjust Current 

     Air Points (19.3).

4. Side 1 Action Phase

 4.1 Orders Reveal Phase

 4.1.1 Reveal Order Chits in the current Turn slot and adjust Max 

       CPs accordingly (14.5).

 4.1.2 Place Current CP markers in the same slot of the 

       corresponding Max CP marker (14.5).

4.2 Orders Execution Phase

 4.2.1 Complete Order Execution (14.7).

 4.2.2 Execute each Revealed Order Chit (14.6).

 4.2.3 Execute Authorized and Unauthorized Posture Changes 

       (6.1.2, 6.1.3).

4.3 Orders Issue Phase

 4.3.1 Issue new Orders (14.4).

4.4 HQ Reconstruction Phase

 4.4.1 Both sides reconstruct destroyed HQs (12.5).

4.5 Engineering Phase

 4.5.1 Prepare River Crossings (9.2).

 4.5.2 Build Defensive Works (31.1).

 4.5.3 Mine Bridges (32.1.2)

 4.5.4 Build Ribbon Bridges (32.2) and Panel Bridges (32.3).

 4.5.5 Allocate Sappers (37.1).

 4.5.6 Deallocate Sappers (37.2).

4.6 Attrition Removal Phase

 4.6.1 Relocate Supply Hubs (30.3.1).

 4.6.2 Rotate units Resting from previous Turn (11.4).

 4.6.3 Execute Resupply (11.3), Rest (11.4) and Refit (11.5). 

4.7 EW Points Phase

 4.7.1 Allocate EW Points to HQs (24.1).

 4.7.2 Deallocate EW Points from HQs (24.2).

4.8 Bombardment Phase

 4.8.1 Both sides attempt to gain additional Intelligence (25).

 4.8.2 Both sides execute Bombardment (20) and Interdiction 

       (21).

4.9 Movement Phase

 4.9.1 Execute Movement and Combat (8, 15).

4.10 Housekeeping Phase

 4.10.1 Remove Breakthrough, Interdiction and Intelligence 

        markers.

 4.10.2 Remove Engaged and Half-Engaged markers from 

        Phasing Units.

 4.10.3 Flip used Helicopters upright (18).

 4.10.4 Remove Delayed markers placed in the previous Turn from 

        Phasing Units (8.4.1). 

5. Side 2 Action Phase

 5.1 Side 2 becomes the Phasing Side and all the steps of 

     Phase 4 are repeated.

6. End Phase

 6.1 Check for removal of Persistent Gas (26.2.2)

 6.2 Check for removal of Nuclear Contamination (27.4).

 6.3 Advance Turn marker on the Time Track.

NATO Card

 So, by now you have either run away screaming for Stratego or some other much simpler game, or you are drooling like my Bassett Hound in anticipation. I drool a lot anyway (the dentist tells me it is a good thing, my wife does not agree) so you cannot judge by me. I will tell you though that games like these were what I was hoping for from a very young age. What I have said about other deep games also applies to this one. You will get out of it in direct proportion what you put into it. Yes Virginia, there is a lot of reading and comprehension, hopefully, involved in playing In a Dark Wood, actually any game from Thin Red Line. The orders and timing along with your unit's posture makes it seem like you are playing three-dimensional Chess, and in a significant way you are. Your unit's attrition and the destruction of an HQ can put your perfectly planned operation on a gurney struggling to live. Just as in chess, you will have to think a few turns ahead if not more. You will also have to have a plan B, C, and D ready in case things do not go your way. On the other hand, you will have to be mentally nimble enough to exploit calamities that occur to your opponent. As the NATO player your job is to play for time until support comes, or time has run out for the Warsaw Pact player. The Warsaw Pact player has a pretty hard job in front of him. The realities of the map make a sudden thrust with armored units a very tough proposition. Think of it as 1944 and you are the Germans trying to get through the Ardennes in the middle of winter. The threat of both Chemical and Nuclear Warfare are also a constant threat to be aware of. So, you have to keep all of the above plates spinning in your head along with mundane things like supply. In a Dark Wood, and its brothers, is a lot like taking a Polar Plunge. The only way to get through it and actually enjoy it is to dive right in. 

 Do not take me the wrong way. There is a ton of stuff in this game. However, the designer has done a marvelous job with the rules and the sequence of play to make playing the game as manageable as possible. 

Scenario

 Thank you, This Red Line Games, for allowing me to take this trip back to my youth and the unsettled political world at the time. It is very hard to believe that 1985 was 40 years ago. I also want to thank them for allowing me to review this excellent wargame. The game was designed by Fabrizio Vianello, and he also did the graphic design. He has designed or helped design the following games about WWIII:

1985: Deadly Northern Lights

1985: Sacred Oil

1985: Under an Iron Sky

The Dogs of War

Die Festung Hamburg

Less Than 60 Miles

In a Dark Wood

 The first three are at the Division/Brigade/Battalion level with 14km per hex. The last four are part of the C3 series and are at the Regiment and Battalion level with 5km per hex. The print runs on these games are small so if you can get into the reprint queue, do yourself a favor and go for it. You will not regret it.

 He also designed the game 'The Fate of All' about Alexander the Greats campaigns and the First War of the Diadochi, my personal favorite for ancient wargames. See the review below. Hint: we need more Diadochi scenarios please I am begging you!

All of the games of this series laid out

Robert Peterson

Thin Red Line Games

In a Dark Wood: C3 Module 4 - Hof Gap

My review of Thin Red Line Games 'The Fate of All':

The Fate of All by Thin Red Line Games - A Wargamers Needful Things

 The Fate of All

Strategikon Book I: Alexander's Campaign Against the Persian Empire, The First Diadochi War, and Other Deeds

by

Thin Red Line Games

 Megas Alexandros, the son of Philip II and Olympias, both of which have had numerous books written about them, was born in July 356 B.C. Philip II was a hard man and king who had two desires. The first was to be considered Greek by the Greeks; most thought of the Macedonians as barbarians. The second, to invade the Persian Empire supposedly in retaliation for the two Persian invasions of Greece. Olympias was another matter entirely. To Alexander she was a doting mother who considered her son to be divinely born, or at least half divine. To others, she was Mommie Dearest on steroids. Anything or especially anyone who got in Alexander or his offspring's way was considered fair game for horrific retribution. The story of Alexander's invasion of Persia and his marching all the way from India and back is the stuff of legends and is well known. However, the stories of his generals are not as well known. Napoleon was well served by most of his Marshals. In reality they could not hold a candle to Alexander's generals, especially the Diadochi (Successors). 

 I am breaking a rule that I have followed since I started wring for AWNT a good number of years ago. This rule was to never compare one game to another, the main reason being is that much like children, all games are different, and they are the offspring of each designer's thoughts. There are two games that I would never part with. These are the Art of Siege and The Conquerors, or just Conquerors. Both were released by SPI in the late 1970s. Between the two, The Conquerors is in the number one spot of this grognard's heart. I have three copies of the SPI version, two just for extra maps and counters. Both I got for a steal, and even another version by Excalibre Games released in 2011. As grognards we all have our most favorite games, and we also have extra copies in case of something untoward happening (much like how Foghorn Leghorn has his numbered feathers for emergencies). However, my heart skipped a beat when I opened the first map I came across and looked at the area of Lydia. I was absolutely enthralled. I was not really expecting to be. This game after all is about Alexander's invasion of the Persian Empire (The Conquerors also has a campaign about the Roman war with Antiochus the Great). Whilst I have read all of the books that have been written about Alexander and his great enterprise, I was never really a fan of Alexander's. Some things he did have really touched a chord with me such as smashing Cassander's head into the wall repeatedly when he laughed at the obeisance that the Persin nobles showed Alexander (Cassander being no favorite of mine). The Diadochi and their wars and battles have always meant much more to me than the great Alexander. I saw that one of the scenarios was about the first Diadochi War. Then I saw a counter that really grabbed my wargamer's heart. It was a counter for Antigonus, who according to Plutarch "was the oldest and greatest of Alexander's successors". To finally find a boardgame with a scenario about one of my heroes pretty much put me in awe of the game. It was from that moment that I began to realize that I had found a successor, no pun intended, to SPIs The Conquerors.

 Thin Red Line Games are known for their massive simulations about the Third World War happening in 1985. It seems the minute they go into print they go out of stock and the games then hit astronomical resale numbers? on those markets. I had read about those games, but never have I seen one up close to see for myself what all the other grognards were swooning over. Having seen the contents of this box I can now say that they have absolutely wonderful production quality. If they World War III games are like this no wonder, there has been such hubbub over them. This is a list of their WWIII games:

In a Dark Wood

1985: Under an Iron Sky

Less Than 60 Miles

1985: Deadly Northern Lights

The Dogs of War

1985: Sacred Oil

Die Festung Hamburg

 This is what comes with this game:

4x 90×60 cm matte plasticized map, covering Greece, Anatolia and the Middle East

1x Battle Map

5x 5/8″ matte plasticized counter sheets

20x Fate Cards

Rules Booklet

Scenarios & Designers’ Notes Booklet

Strategikon Booklet, containing examples and suggestions for the Commanders

2x Charts & Tables booklets

4x Player Aid Charts

2x 10-sided dice

10x zipbags

Game Highlights

30 km per hex, one month per turn

Units representing various formations, from Phalanx to Chariots

Order of battle and commanders based on primary sources and the most recent historical research

Realistic supply problems with realistic and possibly violent solutions

Cavalry Reconnaissance, Foraging and Raiding

Reaction Movement, not so easy retreats and catastrophic routs

Attrition and Army Morale, your first problems in the morning

Naval Warfare

Satrapies, Taxation and Bribes

Revolts, Treachery and worse

Five Different Scenarios with different complexity

A picture of all you get with your purchase

 This is what Thin Red Line Games has to say about their magnum opus:

"Loosely inspired on SPI’s “The Conquerors”, The Fate of All is an operational / tactical simulation covering the first four years of the campaign led by Alexander the Great against the Achaemenid Empire ruled by Darius III.

The final goal is to give a realistic representation of ancient warfare, without strange salads of godly interventions, auguries and Homeric duels. In the end, players will find that the problems faced were similar to those encountered during the Napoleonic era or the American Civil War.

The four maps cover Greece, part of the Balkans, Anatolia, Egypt and the Middle East up to Babylon. The scale is 30 km per hex with monthly turns.

The maps are designed using the latest archaeological studies and findings, but despite centuries of research several things are still only vaguely known: Some examples are the extension and path of the Persian Royal Roads, the location of several important cities and the exact route of Alexander’s Army. In these cases, the “most accepted theory” rule has been used.

Counters are 5/8″, each one representing a formation, from a Macedonian Phalanx Taxis (approx. 1500 soldiers) to a Cavalry Ile (200 – 300 mounted soldiers). Commanders and naval forces are also represented and will be key elements for the final victory.

Rules are centered on the problems of army organization, supply and morale: Commanders are essentials, armies must be organized in a balanced way, or they will move slowly, cavalry must be used for foraging, raid and reconnaissance, morale must be kept under control using sound military achievements or donations.

Political aspects are also a key element: Actions like Plundering and Sacking will have a negative impact on the local support by the ruling class and population, and both sides will have to use money or threats to gain it back. Last but not least, treason, revolts and dubious allies will be a problem too."

The map pieces put together

 

 I will just say at the beginning that the booklets and pieces of the game are really a sight to behold. There is a gaggle of player aids that come in the box. Here is a rundown on them.

 The Rulebook is in full color and is 23 pages long. The front and back cover have the famous mosaic of Alexander attacking Darius III in the latter's chariot. The different sections are headed by titles made to look like ancient Greek writing. This is a nice added touch to the game. Next up is the Scenarios and Designer Notes Booklet. It is 19 pages long and both of the above are designed in thick magazine style. The print is large enough where you do not need a magnifying glass and the rules etc. are written out so that you are not jumping back and forth to learn them. The Strategikon is an eight-page booklet of examples of all of the types of play. It is wonderfully illustrated for the player to follow along easily to learn the ropes. The charts and tables booklets, you get one for each player, are done the same way as all of the rest of the booklets mentioned. They are six-pages long and give the player everything he needs at his fingertips. There is a map made of card stock of the entire area of the map. It comes with the Forage Value of each of the different Satrapies. Then there are two card stock sheets for each side's Force Boxes. Each side has four armies and four fleet boxes with the Persian side getting an extra box for troops in Persepolis. This means that the map is not cluttered with large stacks of individual units. Last is a card stock sheet with the Calendar, Satrapies Alignment, and the Movement Points track. The counters of troops and markers are on five sheets and are a nice size of 5/8". The troop counters are little works of art and even show portraits of the different leaders on both sides. There are four wonderful maps from roughly Babylon to the entire Greek Peninsula. There is also a large fold out map for the tactical battles that comes with extra-large hexes. Both the counters and maps are in matte and come 'plasticized'. I know these help with waterproofing; however, it will be a cold day in hell before I let liquid of any kind near any of my games. Of course, this is a personal preference and is a very nice touch that has been added to the game. It will also help the life span of the maps. The game has a deck of 20 Fate Cards that are in line from an artistic point of view as the rest of the game. These give a historical feel to the game and also give it a bit of a wild card approach to play. So, there you have the long list of what you get. I cannot stress too much the excellent design and manufacturing of the game parts. You really have to see and feel them for yourself.

Phoenicia and Cyprus

Macedonia

 Just as with any other game, the gameplay is the real thing. As they say, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a barnyard animal. So, how does the game play? I was a bit hesitant about how the game was designed and plays. After all, this was a game that was meant to replace one of my favorite games for 45+ years. I am here to tell you that it not only matches, or surpasses, The Conquerors in gameplay, especially the tactical part, but blows it out of the water in the art department. It almost makes me a little sad. It makes me think of the games like Philip II and Alexander. One was excellent for its time and the other is just superb. This 'game' is much more a military and political simulation of the time period. The designer stresses the fact that supply is one of the major factors in the game, just as it should be. The game puts you in these ancient leaders' shoes. You do not feel that you could put Panzers on the map and the game would play out the same. Supply and strategic thinking are the name of the game in this simulation. You actually get to see if you can emulate Alexander, or you can stop him with Memnon's take on what strategy the Persians should have used. As Alexander, you have one of the greatest fighting forces of all time. However, they can easily be swallowed up by the vastness of the greatest of ancient empires up until that time. As the Persian player, you have vast amounts of troops at your disposal, but they are not a homogenous force whatsoever. Most of them are of a lesser caliber than Alexander's troops. The ones that are able to stand up to the Macedonians' foot soldiers are few and far between. The Perian Empire was based upon some of the greatest horseman that had been seen in the ancient world up to that point. The Persian player has excellent cavalry and also a good number of them. You need to use them both tactically and strategically to win against a deck that is definitely stacked against you. As mentioned, the rules are set up for the player to easily learn how to play and find a rule or situation that may come up in the game. 

 Just like The Conquerors, you can have land combat resolved in a simple way or actually use the tactical map for the battles to play out (the tactical portion of The Conquerors was the only real downside to the game). In this game the tactical gameplay is just as good as the strategic.

  This is the Sequence of Play:

1. Events Phase

 a. Fate Step

 b. Bribery Step

 c. Revolt Step

 2. Administrative Phase

 a. Taxation Step (January only)

 b. Maintenance Step (January only)

 c. Recruitment Step

 d. Build Baggage and Siege Trains

 e. Remove Depleted Markers (April only)

 f. Remove Requisition markers

 g. Adjust Plunder markers

 h. Flip Breach markers to the Siege side

 3. Faction 1 Campaign Phase

 The first Faction executes the following steps:

 a. Siege Resolution Step

 b. Siege Declaration Step

 c. Naval Assignment Step

 d. Sea Shipping Step

 e. March, Fight & Die (MFD) Step

 f.  Final Supply Check Step

 4. Faction 2 Campaign Phase

 The second Faction executes the steps of Phase 3

Two different event cards form the deck. Oops, there goes Cleitus the black. The latter might show his marriage to Roxana.

 The Fate of All has been able to make me decide to put an old friend on the shelf probably never to be played again. This is both a sad moment for me but also a revelation and a wonderful feeling of great gaming to come. The fact that the designer was also a fan and used The Conquerors as a steppingstone mitigates my sadness. I am a self-professed ancient's nut when it comes to military history. The fact that this game has a scenario about the first Diadochi War is just the best icing I have ever tasted on the cake. 

The Battle of the Granicus setup.

"The Shattered Bonds

The first Diadochi war, 320 BCE

In 321 BCE, most of the internal rebellions caused by the untimely death of Alexander and the subsequent splitting of his empire have been quelled, and the Diadochi are finally ready to put every energy toward their common goal: Killing each other.

As Perdiccas moves to settle the score with Ptolemy, a coalition formed by Antipater, Craterus and Antigonus prepares to invade Anatolia, hoping to undermine Perdiccas’ dominant position and to bring support to Ptolemy before it’s too late.

The defence of Anatolia is entrusted to Eumenes, a previous secretary of Alexander raised to the rank of general thanks to his capabilities. Perdiccas also assigns Neoptolemos, an able officer but with a reputation for troublemaking, to act under the command of Eumenes.

As Antipater and his allies move into Anatolia by land and sea, Perdiccas’ faction is hit by a string of defections: Neoptolemos, the fleet admiral Cleitus the White, the Lydia Satrap Menandros, and the Karia Satrap Asandros all side with the enemy.

It’s only the beginning of a bloody war that will claim the life of most of its protagonists."

Read the introduction carefully.

 Thank you, Thin Red Line Games, for allowing me to review this excellent addition to your stable of games. I have read so much and seen how well your Third World War games play and look. I was really wondering how you would do with a game from this era. I need not have worried. Great gameplay and wonderful artwork are what grognards' dreams are made of. In this game you have succeeded in making dreams come true. I hope the readers take a look at those Third World War games when they click the link below to this masterpiece. Luckily, Thin Red Line Games does do reprints on occasion.

Some of the counters in all their glory.

Robert

Thin Red Line Games

The Fate of All

 The Fate of All

Strategikon Book I: Alexander's Campaign Against the Persian Empire, The First Diadochi War, and Other Deeds

by

Thin Red Line Games

 When I saw that a new Alexander game was coming out my eyes perked up. However, once I saw the part of the title that says 'The First Diadochi War' I started to drool. The Diadochi (Successors) Period is my favorite in all of history. I cannot pass up the chance to say Antigonus "the oldest and greatest of Alexander's Successors" (Plutarch).

 This is an interview with Fabrizio Vianello about him, his company, and the game.

Please tell us how you got into wargaming?

I think I was 14 years old, already reading anything I could find about the Punic Wars and the battles of World War Two, when I stumbled on a magazine article about “War Games”, played with miniatures or paper maps and counters. In a matter of weeks, I was the youngest member of an Italian wargaming club and I had bought AH’s “Panzer Leader”, costing me a fortune. They call it the golden age, but at the time to obtain most of the games in Italy you had to put together a group order and have someone going in the US.

What games did you play the most?

I was (and still am) primarily an SPI fan, so we played a lot of War Between the States, The Next War, Global War, Fulda Gap, Sniper! and so on. Later on, I spent at least a couple of years playing only Squad Leader. I’m also an avid player of role-playing games, with 30 or more years gamemastering Dungeons&Dragons, Traveller and Vampires 

Tell us about your 1985 series of World War III massive games.

The 1985 series started as an air and ground simulation with an abstract naval element, and developed during the years into a full naval, air and ground simulation taking into account strategic and logistical problems on a planetary scale.

The 15 maps cover central Europe from France to Poland, Scandinavia, Iran and the Persian Gulf. Moreover, a Lines Of Communication area map covers the whole globe and allows to organize (and fight for) the supply and reinforcement lines. The three combined modules include 1700 land units at battalion, brigade, regiment and division level, 1000 aircraft units at squadron level, 300 helicopter units at squadron and regiment level, 400 naval units at single ship and task force level, and 90 submarine units. Practically most of NATO, US and Warsaw Pact armed forces are represented, plus a number of other countries like Austria, Sweden, Iran, Iraq, and several Middle East countries.

Given the scope and complexity of the scenario, we tried our best to include every important aspect of a high intensity conflict set in the ‘80s, without an excessive level of micromanagement. In the end, every possible weapon system, problem, and option is on the table, with a particular attention to air warfare – probably the decisive battlefield in a full-scale war between NATO and Warsaw Pact.

So, your newest game takes a right turn and goes to ancient wargaming and Alexander the Great. Why the change from the Cold War to ancients?

Well, I’ve been busy with the Cold War Gone Hot for the last seven years, and I really needed a change, no matter how much I’m interested to the topic! As my other great passion has always been the Classical Period, Alexander the Great looked like an obvious choice. Also, there’s a lot of space for new ideas in one thousand years of history! In any case, Cold War warriors do not have to worry. We still have 2 modules of the C3 series to develop, In a Dark Wood and Bavarian Rhapsody, not to mention the insane 1985: Mutual Assured Destruction project, containing all the three 1985 modules and delivered in a nuclear-resistant box.

I am a big sucker for anything ancients. Please tell us everything you can about the new game.

I’ve also played a lot of ancient games to the consumption, and with a very few exceptions I’ve found that ancient warfare is represented in an excessively simplified way. The main culprits are area movement, making a march from Greece to Babylon a trivial matter, and logistics, usually limited to a single die roll and a generic “winter is bad” rule. The Fate of All tries to give back to ancient warfare its operational, realistic traits and problems.

The first step in this direction was the use of a traditional hex map, opening all the possibilities when planning a move. A march from the Aegean to Cilicia could use dozens of different routes, each one with its own advantages and problems. Having a detailed map (30 km per hex) also allowed to assign a distinct supply value to the different regions, and to have realistic and precise march rates, taking into account the size of the army and its baggage.

The second step was to analyze and reproduce the logistics problems of an ancient army. This has been the research part that surprised me more, as I’ve discovered aspects and tricks that I never suspected; a good example is the number of draft animals needed to carry provisions beyond a certain number of days…you may find all the details in the Designers’ Notes.

When the map and the logistic constraints are put to work together, you find yourself with the same problems faced by the Macedonian and Persian commanders 2400 years ago, and suddenly some previously inexplicable choices made by them start making sense. Even the apparently simple, 20-days march of Alexander from Therme to Abydos requires some planning in order to be completed without incidents and in the same number of days.

Of course, movement and logistic are only the tip of the iceberg. Players must face money problems, difficult sieges requiring a bit of creativity, army morale problems that could be solved or worsened by the military events, revolts of cities and whole regions, treasons, and of course naval and land battles.

Asia Minor in May 334, just after the Battle of the Granicus

The land battles deserve a more detailed explanation, as they can be decided by using a faster “strategic combat” method, or by physically deploying the two armies on the tactical map and using the Tactical Combat rules. Both systems take into account factors like combined arms, morale, leadership, and terrain, but the Tactical Combat is of course the ultimate tool for a decisive battle and offers a detailed but not overwhelming insight of the tactics, advantages and weaknesses of the various troop types.

The Macedonian right flank in the final phase of the Battle of the Granicus

Last but not least, defining the order of battle and the exact characteristics for each unit and troop type was a fascinating research work. Here too, there was a lot of surprises, as it was immediately clear how much uncertainty there is still today about the equipment, the tactics and the numbers of both sides – Much more than I’ve ever thought.

In conclusion, I hope that The Fate of All will help understand how incredible Alexander’s campaign was, and why he really deserves to be called the Great.

The four maps in very low resolution

 Thank you for taking the time to write this up for us. I hope your ancient game will become a series like your '1985' games. I will keep my fingers crossed that it happens, and the games go at least until Antiochus the Great's time.

Thin Red Line Games:

Thin Red Line Games - (trlgames.com)

The Fate of All:

The Fate of All - Thin Red Line Games (trlgames.com)