This first in the Levy & Campaign series is the brain child of the outstanding designer, Volko Ruhnke. Being an admirer of his COIN series and of his input into official scenarios for several highly regarded games in my collection, I was immediately drawn to know more. I was also aware that this was highly unlikely to be a light beer & pretzels game.
Tied in to all those preconceptions was the knowledge that with this being a GMT presentation, I could also expect a Rolls Royce standard of components. So, it was with high expectations that I did my initial unboxing of my review copy from Asmodee UK - to whom many thanks for this opportunity.
Stylish mounted mapboard with substantial turn calendar
As you delve deeper into the box you'll find the obligatory sets of cards - four decks of 21 cards apiece. a battle/storm mat, a range of very colourful cardboard play aids with a wealth of detail, 6 chunky D6, a substantial rule book naturally and an even more substantial 48 page Background book. The latter is a familiar item too in so many GMT games, though usually under the title Playbook.
Just a swift glance at the main play aid tells you something of the learning task.
In a more conventional system this would probably equate to reinforcements. Here there's a fascinating range of functions. First of all historically we are dealing with a feudal world where Lords have to be drawn in to a conflict along with their vassals and would campaign for a limited duration before returning home. Based on this, the designer has set the duration of a turn as 40 days.
Consequently each player has to check which Lords are available now to be "recruited" and whether each Lord already on the mapboard is coming to the end of their period of service. So, we need inducements to continue, such as payment in coin or from loot garnered in previous turns. There's disbanding, sometimes temporary and sometimes permanent. There's Mustering and the need to levy transport. Can't be many games where you need to consider when do you need carts or sleds or is shipping going to be your requirement to navigate the waterways. These are not simple actions, but ones governed by a fairly deep set of rules. Get your decisions and choices wrong and you'll probably find your Campaign part of the turn ending in disaster.
These are just a few of the reasons that I am still finding that I'm feeling my way, because first you've got to take in the rules themselves and then how they intermesh - all with nothing like it before to guide you. This is all without having explored the decks of Art of War cards from which draws are made at the beginning of a turn. These can throw in abilities that may affect actions and decisions in the Levy or Campaign part of the turn.
As mentioned earlier there is a substantial 14 pages of the Background booklet devoted purely to these cards. Assimilating that help and information is a task in itself. Though I have done a degree of skimming through this material just for the pleasure of reading, so far, I've mainly dealt with the cards in terms of gameplay on a need to know basis i.e. as a card has been turned up in play I learn what I can do with it and read the tip on it in the background booklet. Hats off to any of you who become so familiar with this game that you can retain this extensive of information and build it into your play strategy.
Right you've got through your planning for action, so it's on to...
The Campaign
More novelty. This is where your Command cards come into play, as you build simultaneously with your opponent a stack of face down Command cards that is your PLAN. Here's where solo play really gets tough. The uncertainty of what your opponent has decided to do disappears, but fortunately it is a short process deciding the order of between 4 - 6 cards [depending on what Season the turn is]. It's both important and a very enjoyable part of the system, but I long for the time when I've got a live opponent sitting opposite me and I only need to handle my deck of cards. As the number of cards you can play also depends on the number of Lords available to be activated, one player's stack may be smaller than the other's. An excellent solution to this is that you add Pass cards so that both players have equal sized stacks.
Each player reveals a card alternately and chooses from a Command menu of Actions as to what the leader revealed does. A realistic touch is that in certain situations some choices aren't possible, but again this all adds to the complexity of learning, as do the rules for many of the Actions. March, Battle and Siege are the three main choices. Fairly obvious, but the execution isn't.
March involves several considerations including questions of transport and being laden or not.
Battle can be played out in two ways: either on the Battle Mat with just the Lords' wooden cylinder or by placing each Lord's Play mat into position on your table top. As you will need to refer to these anyway, I find it much easier to go for this second way of laying things out. Otherwise, you're constantly looking back and forth between the Battle Mat and the Lords Mats. Doubly a pain when playing solo.
Whether using card board units or wooden, I also like the layout of the Left Flank, Centre and Right Flank, plus rear Reserve when putting the Lord Mats in battle array. No simple totting up unit strengths and consulting a CRT [Combat Results Table]matrix. There's lots here too to take into account; possible sallies, routs and advances, flanking and initiative, archery steps and melee steps, conceding, hits, protection, losses and the effect on service. Obviously many games do take into consideration in one way or another some of these factors, but there's a lot of new thinking in their execution here. The same goes for Siege and Storm, the alternative to Battle.
Beyond these are other choices of Commands; Supply, plus Forage and Ravage, Sail and Tax and when the dust has settled and the Commands are done you're into Feed and Pay and checking for Disbanding. Just when you thought it was all over, depending on the Season, there may come thoughts of Plowing and Reaping and always Wastage. Many of these points are very short and easy, but you can see that there's a lot there and, I'll say again, lots of innovation.
Fortunately, there are 5 Scenarios: one short, two medium length and two longer length and THEN Scenario 6, the full-length Scenario of up to sixteen turns.
It's not for the faint-hearted. It's certainly one I judge is for the experienced gamer. I feel that I'm still a novice with this game and it makes me view many, if not all, of my COIN games as easier learning experiences. It's not a game that you can lift down from your shelf and get back into quickly after a period of time.
BUT it is engrossing, it is original in lots of good ways and it has taken me to a new history and concerns that I've rarely faced in a wargame before. It is a challenge.
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