I first learned many of the details of the First Barbary War from Ian Toll's excellent book Six Frigates, which was one of the best historical works I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It was quite the tale of a scrappy young nation deciding it was better to fight the local bully than to pay him tribute. Now Fort Circle Games has released their first board game, which captures this moment in history with a very elegant and simple design. The Shores of Tripoli is a strategy game for two players that can easily be played in under an hour. 

One player takes the side of the Americans, the other takes on the role of the Pasha of Tripoli. Each gets a hand of cards, but the actions that each player can take after that are almost entirely different. The American player has powerful frigates that they can freely move around the map, but these are very limited in number in the early phase of the game. America seeks to build up forces in the region, blockade the Barbary corsairs in their harbor(s), and potentially build an army on land. The Tripolitan player is racing against time to send their corsairs out on raids and gather all 12 gold coins before being overwhelmed. They can also win by managing to destroy 4 American frigates over the course of the game. Both players will feel stretched thin, and wishing they could take just one more action throughout the entire game. 

Sometimes things come down to a climactic battle!

The game is split up into 6 rounds each representing a year of time, and 4 turns within each year, with each player getting one action per turn. At the end of each year, the players draw more cards to refresh their hands, and potentially receive reinforcements. That means that, at most, there are only 24 actions to be had in a game of Shores. Therefore, every single action you take carries weight, and there is precious little margin for poor moves. At the same time, the game is so brief that if you do screw up, you won't have to wait long to get it over with and try again!

The cards each player has come in three flavors. Cards which let the player take a moderately powerful action, and then can be put in the discard pile to come back around later. Cards which trigger a unique event that can only fire once per game, and finally cards which can add on an extra twist to other specific events or battles. All cards can also be discarded to take a minor action (building a new small ship for both players, moving two frigates around for the US player, or going raiding for the Tripolitan player). On each turn, a player must either play one of their cards for an event, or discard one to take an action. There is also a hard hand limit, and so one must think carefully about cards they may want to hang onto for plans down the road.

While I haven't fully explained the rules, there isn't much more than that to the rulebook. Players move satisfyingly chunky ship pieces around on a relatively simple map, where there are really only a handful of spaces that are used throughout the game. Combat is resolved via very simple rules and rolling big handfuls of dice. The game can even feel very luck based at first. However, after just a few plays, another level to the strategy emerges. There are not that many cards in each deck, and every single one will filter through the game at some point. With many of the most powerful cards being one use only and very specific in their function, strategies begin to build around guessing which cards your opponent has in their hand at any given time, and noting which cards they have already played. It's definitely a game that benefits from familiarity and repeated plays.

The game includes a solo mode in which you play as the Americans against a Tripoli bot who will mostly play sensible moves, but is predictable. That said, you will still need to play very smartly if you want to find a path to victory. I lost twice to the bot before finally winning on the very last turn of my third game. While I would not recommend buying this game to only play solo, it's nice that there is a satisfying opponent in the box. 

It shouldn't be very difficult to find a live opponent for The Shores of Tripoli, as the rules are extremely simple to teach, and the game can be played in a casual manner as one learns, while still having fun. Neither player can roll over the other without extreme luck, and the quick turns keep the game moving at a good pace. My wife, an occasional board gamer at best, and certainly no wargamer, was able to defeat me on her first attempt! 

If you are looking to learn more about the conflict, this game is a great place to start. Each of the unique event cards is based on either events which actually happened or very much could have happened. Besides the rule book, the game comes with a historical supplement which offers a great deal of context for the design of the game and the cards. One nice bit of fluff in the box is a copy of the letter sent by Thomas Jefferson to Yusuf Karamanli just before the war broke out.

The Shores of Tripoli is a charming game that could fit right in on any gamer's shelf. The mechanics are simple, the game plays fast, and each side offers a unique approach. The American player will need to be active, moving ships around, attacking when the time seems right, and trying to find the balance between covering ground and spreading themselves too thinly. The Tripolitan player is racing the clock, weighing risk and benefit with each raid, all while looking for openings to exploit. If you are at all interested in the historical conflict depicted, I heartily recommend The Shores of Tripoli. 

The game can be ordered directly from Fort Circle Games or from other vendors on the web. 

- Joe Beard

 Romans at War

The Roman Military in the Republic and the Empire

by

Simon Elliott

 This book is oversized, at right around 300 pages long. It is also filled with pictures of reenactors, and art and ruins that the Romans left to us. The author gives himself a hard task to show the whole history of Roman warfare in one volume. Normally, books are written about Roman warfare with the history of it split between the Republic and Empire eras. Even if you are writing about just the actual Roman era, without adding in the Byzantine, you are talking about 1000 years of history. In this book the author has taken up the challenge to show us all 1000 years in one book.

 These are the chapters of the book:

1. The Roman Republic

2. The Republican Military

3. The Roman Empire

4. The Principate Military

5. The Dominate Military

6. On Campaign and in Battle

7. Non-Conflict Role of the Roman Military

8. Allies and Enemies of Rome

Conclusion

 From the earliest times of Rome, to the destruction of the Empire after more than 400 years, the author shows us this panoply of history. In the book are a number of maps and a very nice timeline of the entire period. We are presented with these personalities: Scipio Africanus, Marius, Sulla, Caesar, Trajan, Septimius Severus, Stilicho,  and the entire cast of those 1000 years.

 Naturally, given a book of 300 pages, this book can only do an overview of most of the historical information. However, I am quite surprised about how much the author managed to stuff into this book. This book is an excellent starting point for someone who wants to learn about the Roman system of war. It is also a handy reference guide for those of us who have already delved deeply into the field. Mr. Elliott has been able to do much more with these 300 pages than I thought possible. It is a pretty amazing feat. Thank you Casemate Publishers for allowing me to review this great book. Do yourself a favor and check out some of the other books by the author.

Robert

Book: Romans at war: The Roman Military in the Republic and Empire

Author: Simon Elliott

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Tiger Leader

The World War II Ground Combat Solitaire Strategy Game

2nd Edition

by

Dan Verssen Games (DVG)

 "Tyger, Tyger burning bright,

 in the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

(William Blake)

 Yes, it is a different Tiger, but the response of its enemies is pretty much the same: sheer terror. The amount of Tigers that Germany built compared to the totals of other tanks on each side was quite small. However the Allied soldiers would see them behind every house or large bush. Reading the Allied and Soviet reports, they destroyed 10,000 German Tigers. Germany actually constructed only 1,347 Tiger I's and 489 Tiger II's. Yes it is actually a Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B., not a Tiger II. However, not all wargamers have as much OCD about things as others do. Before we get pigeonholed, we have to remember that you will be in charge of a German Panzerkampfgruppe (Battle Group). You will not only have tanks under your command, but almost every other German land combat unit. It will also be a long time before you see or even dream about Tigers if you play the early campaigns. You may even start the game with Panzer I's. these were no better than any other machine gun equipped tanks from the mid 1930's. So, what does DVG actually give you in the box:

Enemy Units include units from the Polish Army, French Army, British Army, Russian Army, and the American Army.

240 Full Color Cards

440 Full Color Counters

12 2.5" Terrain Tiles

1 22"x 17" Mounted Display

1 11"x17" HQ Sheet

1 Player Log Sheet

1 Full Color Player Aid Sheet

1 10-sided die

 All of the DVG games I have played have four things in common:

1. Everything in them is large and easy to read.

2. When possible they fit everything including the kitchen sink in the box for the player to use.

3. They are all excellent solitaire games

4. Mounted map boards

 I could simply end the review here and say why are you bothering to read this, then tell you to go out and go buy it, case closed. However we have to conform to the standards, so here goes. The map board is well mounted; not a surprise there. The 'hexes' on it are almost as big as the bases for miniature wargame units. In reality they are actually 2.5" wide. The counters are 5/8" in size, and very easy to read. Your counters only have numbers at the bottom, to use in conjunction with the unit cards. The enemy counters have their designation, for example infantry, etc. They also have their Armor Piercing and High Explosive ratings on them. The cards are separated into six decks: Event, Unit, Special Condition, Objective, Battalion, and Leaders. The rulebook is only twenty-two pages long. It is also in full color, and is in large type. Examples of play are scattered throughout it. The one Player Log Sheet needs to be copied. I am not a big fan of manual record keeping. However, in this game it makes sense. DVG has given us so much in the box already that some of it would have to be removed to replace the manual record keeping. The twelve Terrain Tiles are double sided. Their use gives the game extra depth and replayability. 

 These are some of the German units you will be playing with:

Tiger Leader includes the following units:

Panzer I

Panzer II

Panzer III

Panzer IV

Tiger Tank

Panther Tank

King Tiger Tank

Stug

Marder

Infantry

Armored cars

Halftracks

 Naturally you will be fighting some of the above and more in your solitaire quest to survive the war. This is a list of the campaigns you are able to fight in:

The Invasion of Poland 1939

The Battle for France 1940

The Battle for North Africa 1941

The Invasion of Russia 1941

The Battle for North Africa 1942

The Fight for Italy 1943

The Fight for Russia 1943

The Days of D-Day 1944

The Final Days in Berlin 1945

 The game has been revised a good bit in this Version 2 release. Let me clarify that. If you own only the original Tiger Leader, there have been changes to the game to make it closer to Sherman Leader in the rules. If you already own Tiger Leader and the upgrade kit, the changes are mostly in the artwork. The upgrade kit fixed the issues that people found with some non-historical rules.

 The game is both Card and Die driven. The main driving force behind the game is Special Option (SO) points. These are given to you to use from the Objective Cards. You will purchase your units with SO points. The Leader games from DVG are not supposed to be a highly detailed simulation of whatever they represent. They are a commander lite simulation of the historical conflict that takes place in their area of focus. They are also eminently fun and great games. Just like any other wargame, people can argue about the different numbers given to each unit in the game. It is really a pointless exercise because each person has his own view of what they should be. When you purchase a wargame you are seeing the designer's thoughts on the effectiveness of each unit. I do have an idea, though. If you do not agree with the designer, then try your own. It is a boardgame that you have purchased. Feel free to fiddle with them as you see fit. However, realize that your own numbers might make the game totally unbalanced. There is a reason the designer used his numbers, and it is because play testing showed which ones represented reality in the designer's mind. 

 The game also comes with Optional Rules to enhance gameplay. There are three of them:

Tenacity

Battlefield Heroics

Flank Attacks

 For Tenacity you can decide to extend a battle by one turn, at the cost of each participating Commander gaining one extra stress point. For Battlefield Heroics, if a Commander's unit is destroyed, he can take over from a KIA, Unfit or wounded Commander from the same type of unit. Flank Attacks take place with a die roll at ranges of 0 or 1. Tenacity and Battlefield Heroics also cost one SO point for each week of the campaign that the rule is used.

 The game tries to be as user friendly as possible. The Sequence of Play is shown right on the top of the mounted map. This is the sequence:

Campaign Set-Up

Select Campaign Card

Select Objective Card

Draw Battalion Cards

Buy Units

Select Commanders

Start of Week

Special Condition Card

Assign Units

Pre-Combat

Event Card

Place Turn Counter

Place Terrain Tiles

Place Friendly Units

Place Enemy Units

Combat

Fast Move and Attack

Roll for Enemy Movement

Enemy Actions

Slow Move and Attack

Advance Turn Counter

Post-Combat

Event Card

Battalion Status

Record Commander Stress

Record Commander Experience Points

End of Week

Move Battalions

On Leave

Adjust Special Option Points

Repair/Replace

Priority R&R

End of Campaign

Campaign Outcome

 The game's rules are easy to understand and the fact that almost all of what needs to be done each turn is right on the map makes it that much easier to remember. The big difference in DVG solitaire games is the fact that you are playing campaigns and not separate scenarios. Many players win games by totally exhausting their troops to win one scenario. If they were forced into a battle again with the same troops, they would quickly lose the second battle. Tiger Leader and its brothers are commander games. The player is forced to deal with fatigue, loss, and all the other problems that a real commander is faced with. If you go into the first scenario with guns blazing you will quickly lose the campaign. The player has to deal with the battle at hand, but also keep looking at the long haul. You must win every battle, and also have a strong force left to fight all of the rest. This game has been tweaked to be even better than its first iteration. Tiger Leader has excellent gameplay and components, not much more can be asked of a wargame. If you are interested in WWII European Theater land combat acting as a commander, then this game is for you.

 DVG was nice enough to send me three expansions with the base game. These are:

Tiger Leader Expansion #1 Blitzkrieg

Tiger Leader Expansion #2 Panzers

Tiger Leader Terrain Tile Pack #2

 This comes with new:

Campaign Cards

Situation Cards

Special Condition Cards

Event Cards

Enemy Battalion Cards

Commander Cards

Enemy Battalion Counters

 This comes with these new items:

Vehicle Cards

Infantry cards

Vehicle Counters

Infantry Counters

 Among the new Vehicle Cards are one for a late war E-50 and E-100

 This set comes with these new tiles:

River

Bogging

Urban

Riverfront

Industrial

 You can also purchase a Neoprene mat to play on, and Tiger leader Terrain Tile Pack #1.

 These serve to make this excellent game even more so. Thank you very much Dan Verssen Games for allowing me to review Tiger leader 2nd Edition. I have reviewed about six of their games, and they just keep upping the bar with each new release.

Robert

Dan Verssen Games:

DVG

Tiger leader 2nd Edition:

Tiger Leader 2nd Ed - DVG (mcssl.com)

 Nights of Fire: Battle for Budapest

by

Mighty Boards

 Once again, wargaming is increasing my knowledge. I knew that the Hungarian Uprising took place, but I did not know any of the actual history of it. On October 23rd a student protest against the government started the Hungarian Uprising. Originally the Soviets started to remove their troops. However, Imre Nagy, the head of the new government, in a speech declared that Hungary was going to leave the Warsaw Pact and become neutral. This is seen by many as the turning point that made the Soviets decide to invade Hungary and remove the new government. On November 4th the Soviets invaded Budapest. The uprising was crushed, and 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviets were dead. This number does not include any Hungarians that were murdered during the crackdown after the uprising. Imre Nagy was grabbed by the Soviets and later was brought back to Hungary for a closed trial that ended with his execution. The Western powers were involved with the Suez Crisis at exactly the same time. Egypt's Nasser had nationalized the Suez Canal. In retaliation Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt. Most historians believe that there was not a chance that the Western Powers would intervene on Hungary's behalf. Mighty Boards has a game that is about the beginning of the Hungarian Uprising; it is called Days of Ire. This game is about the Soviet invasion and crushing of the uprising in Budapest. Let us see what comes in the game box:

Mounted Game Board

Rulebook

83 Cards (57mm x 89mm)

30 Wooden Blocks

Stickers

59 Cardboard Tokens (counters etc.)

4 Glass Bead Markers

1 Six-Sided die

 The game is one of the new breed of a cross between a Euro game and a Wargame. In its design you can see the influence of both. The board is separated into areas and not hexes. As you can see, the turn record track is done in a novel way in the lower right corner. There are both blocks and cardboard counters used in the game; this is another testament to its DNA. The blocks are done well, along with the stickers. The cardboard counters are very large and all of these pieces are easy to read. The card decks are extremely well produced. There are two double-sided Player Aids. Two are the 'Soviet Rules Reference', one is the 'Konev Revolutionary Rules Reference', and the last is the 'Revolutionary Rules Reference'. The Rulebook is done in vibrant colors and is easy to read with tons of illustrations. The rules are twenty pages long. This is followed by both a Historical Essay, and Designer's Notes. The Historical Essay gives the player all he needs for background on the Soviet invasion. The Designer Notes are very interesting and go through how this hybrid Euro/Wargame came about. 

 One thing about the game that you should know up front is that there is no way for the Hungarians to actually 'win'. You can win the game playing as the Hungarian by victory points (helping civilians flee etc.), but you will not defeat the Soviets. Your job, as the Hungarian player, is to slow the Soviets down and make the invasion as costly as possible for them. The game is set up for one, two, or three players. In solitaire or two player mode, the player faces Konev, the Soviet Marshal in charge of the operation, Mighty Boards name for their bot. In two player there can also be a Soviet and a Hungarian player. In three player there are two Hungarian players and one Soviet. The Rulebook states that you can pick who will play each side, or a player can demand to be the Soviets by banging his shoe on the table. The Rulebook is set up different than most. The rules for the multiplayer and solitaire are listed one after the other in each separate phase. The game comes with both Basic and Advanced rules. These are also listed in each phase, and not as usual in its own listing after the basic game. Both the Basic rules and the Advanced are shown on the Player Aid cards.

  The game is a card driven one. There are four decks: Soviet Tactic Cards, Konev Cards, Revolutionary Cards, and Headline Cards. When one player is playing against the Soviet, either a Soviet player or the Konev bot, the player draws 12 cards as long as the Revolutionaries morale is over 19. The Konev, Soviet bot, deals out 5 cards from the deck and shows 1,3, and 5. The other two cards are turned over. All the directions on the cards are easy to follow and pretty self-explanatory. As the Revolutionary, your job is to stall the Soviets and to help civilians flee. The more you stall the Soviets the lower their prestige falls. As the Soviet, you must capture Budapest with as much speed as possible. The Soviet player must attempt to capture as many civilians as possible. 

 This is the sequence of play:

1. Draw Phase

2. Tactics Phase

3. Reinforcement Phase

4. Operations Phase

5. Adjustment Phase

6. Clean-up Phase

 What is the Red Army Pack?

Days & Nights: Red Army Pack is an add-on pack that contains 28 miniatures compatible with both Days of Ire and Nights of Fire. It also contains a small deck expansion to Nights of Fire, and an additional deck allowing campaign play. 

In Campaign mode you can play a game of Days of Ire followed by a game of Nights of Fire (solo, cooperative, or conflict mode up to 1v2 supported), and have the winner decided only at the end!

 The game, as mentioned, has a Basic and Advanced rule set. Once you become used to the basic game, you can turn it up a notch. The game is easy to learn. The actual mechanics of the game are fairly simple. One or two playthroughs and you should not need the Rulebook again. The Player Aids should walk you through the game. The rules are simple, but like many games with easy rules there is still a lot to learn and do. The fact that setup is random means that the game is always fresh and you cannot work out a strategy that will work every time. Games are here for us to have fun. Wargames and historical ones have an extra onus. They should be fun and teach the player something. Nights of Fire is both fun and a learning experience, and that is all you can ask from a game like this. Thank you Mighty Boards for allowing me to review this great game.

Robert

Mighty Boards:

https://www.mighty-boards.com/

Nights of Fire:

https://www.mighty-boards.com/nightsoffire