A Wargamers Needful Things

 CRETE

FROM

STRATEGEMATA

This is the third game that I've reviewed in the Great Battles of Small Units series from Strategemata and each one has built on and improved on its predecessor.  Crete is no exception to this steady progress onward and upward.  Like its immediate predecessor, Carentan, the box art has maintained the combination of strong, aggressive images and colours.  

In this new game, though the actions themselves remain very playable because of the small number of units involved in each battle, the scope is much greater.  For, as the game's title readily tells us and the picture heralds, we are pitched into the famous German parachute invasion of Crete.  Operation Mercury may not have spawned the volume of games that the Normandy landings, the Battle of the Bulge or Operation Market-Garden have, but it still stands worthy of the "Great Battles" of this series' title.

There are so many developments to celebrate, beginning with the maps - not just one this time but four.  Each covers one of the major focal engagements of this epic action.  Maleme airfield, Heraklion Bay, Rethymno airfield and Prison Valley (whose map can be seen below).  

Each individual battle can be played in a couple of hours with plenty of replay value, as the game provides cards giving 4 alternative set-ups that give the German player a varying number of units.  Not only is this great for re-playability, but also for play balance.  Add to that you can combine all four maps and scenarios into a much more sizable complete game of the initial three days of the Crete campaign.

The four scenario cards for the Battle for Maleme Airfield 

Accordingly, this is one reason why I think it is such a good game for varying levels of player.  It's perfect for a more experienced player to use as an introduction for a newer player and yet should equally satisfy two players familiar with wargaming conventions and has the potential for team play as well.   

However, as an introduction to board wargames for the novice by themselves it may not be the best choice.  This is because, though the rules are brief, they introduce a system that contains a significantly high level of originality and so need careful reading to guarantee a sound grasp. Much of what I wish to say here can be found in my earlier review that can be accessed via this link.  For those who don’t want to bother with the link, I've appended at the end of this review a substantial extract that covers the major concepts of the system.

This is a very accessible system and swift playing.  My only criticism would be the Close Combat rules, which seem to stand in contrast to the ease of basic Fire.  This is high lighted by the fact that virtually all the Examples of Play section at the end of the Rules is taken up with how to resolve Close Combat.  This procedure starts with both players drawing a card from the draw deck and placing it face down for each unit that they have in the Close Combat. Then they either draw a second card or choose one from their current hand of cards to be placed face up.  If only one player has Combined Arms, they can draw another card or choose one from their hand and the player who has initiated the Close Combat can add an extra card for each hex that they entered the combat from.  All cards are then turned face up and totals determined.  Highest number wins the combat, while ties go to the Initiative player.  There is even the possibility of the defender making a Counterattack  which involves further card draw.

Just as the game provides so much more than its predecessors in maps, so too does it need far more counters.  These counters are very similar to the previous games, but once again there is that small but steady improvement in quality and most important is that each battle has its own set of counters with only one battle needing a single group of reinforcements to be drawn from another of the battles.  This has made the organisation and storage very easy.  For each battle I have a labelled, medium sized zip-lock bag for the Allied units with a smaller bag inside containing the German units. 

The play aids include a comprehensive terrain chart, an Allied set up card for each battle and a full display of German air and artillery assets for the linked four map battle.

German air and artillery assets display

All in all this is very good value for money, with a wide variety of situations each offering four different levels of difficulty and encompassing a significant campaign which many, like me, will relish the opportunity to play out over all four maps.

A final glimpse of the Allied set up for just one of the four battles

{Extract from Black Cavalry review}

 First of all the rules introduce a system containing a number of very interesting concepts.  The first and perhaps most important is the use of a deck of ordinary playing cards to regulate and introduce a mixture of control and randomness into the game.  This is an element not unfamiliar from some miniatures rules and systems.  [An excellent instance being To The Strongest - a superb set for conducting Ancient warfare!] However, I haven't previously encountered this in board wargaming.  Here all court cards count as 1 pt, while all other cards have their face value.

From the outset, these cards govern everything, including who will have the Initiative and play the turn.  This latter rule stands out for me as a leading innovation and one I have certainly never met with before.  There are four Initiative markers, one for each of the four suits in a pack of cards: Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades.  On one side of the marker is a flag to denote the German player, on the other a flag for the Allied player.

A pre-game card draw will determine which suits will determine each side's potential starting Initiative.  From then on, each Turn begins with a card being drawn, the suit determines the Initiative player and the Initiative marker for that suit is turned over to the opponent's side.  Thus a rhythm is established that overall evens out, but can throw up surprises and causes each player to focus very carefully on what he/she needs to do when they have got the Initiative.

What is even more novel is that only the player with the Initiative gets to directly activate their units with a choice of actions from Movement/Improving a Position/Fire and Rally.  However, and this is the third original idea, the non-Initiative player's units have a limited reaction ability.  Each unit can either move away one hex when an enemy unit comes adjacent or, at the point when an enemy comes into range and line of sight, can"roll" [i.e. draw a card] to see how many reaction pts the unit gets.  This will allow the unit from 1 to 3 Defensive Fire opportunities. 

This sets up a highly interactive system that benefits defenders well dug-in on good defensive terrain, especially when the Initiative player has to cross open ground.  It also creates a fairly fast flowing pace to each turn, with the opportunity for reaction, but without an overcomplex set of rules and conditions. .

What I like even more about the use of cards instead of dice is that each player starts a Scenario with a a limited hand of cards, with rare Random Event opportunities to refill or exchange some of those cards. In a variety of cases, a player will have the opportunity to play a card rather than randomly draw one.  

Nowhere can this be more crucial than when you have the Initiative, as your first decision is always how many formations you are going to activate.  To activate a single formation is free  and guaranteed.  To activate more than one formation, then each formation costs 2pts and each support weapon costs 1 pt unless it is stacked with a unit from its formation, an Artillery strike costs 2 pts and an Air strike similarly costs 2 pts.  You must first announce what you are attempting to activate.  Obviously then you can use one of your precious cards in your hand to guarantee success, but if you choose to risk a random card draw and don't pull a card that will pay all your costs, then you forfeit all activation!  

Lots of tense moments here, especially if you have a lot of nice court cards in your hand which count as 1 pt - and remember you can only ever play one card.  So, perhaps you'll be saving those high point cards for activation purposes in crucial turns, but they're equally useful in Fire and Close Combat.  

Fire is very straightforward with each unit firing separately.  It involves simply the play or draw of a single card plus double the unit's firepower compared with the defending unit's morale added to its terrain cover.  If the Attacker scores higher, the Defending unit is disorganised and, if twice the Defender's score, then the unit takes a step loss as well.  Gun/Armour factors add a few more twists too, though the main problem here lies in the minute size of the print on the counters!

Close Combat involves a more complex combination of cards, drawn randomly/played from hand, both face down and face up.  This takes a little thoughtful reading, but help is at hand as a substantial amount of the two pages of examples is devoted to a very clear sequence illustrating these particular rules.