Serbia '14

by

John Tiller Software

 

 Serbien muß Sterbien (Serbia must die), this was the jingo phrase the Austro-Hungarians used in 1914. Conrad von Hötzendorf, the head of the Austro-Hungarian Army was responsible for all of the calamities that his own army suffered. His plan in 1914 was to crush both Russia and Serbia almost at the same time. The AH 2nd Army was to help with the Serbian invasion and then jump on trains and become part of the invasion of Russia. In actuality it gave almost no help in the Serbian invasion, and then was too late to stem the Russian tide. The Serbian invasion was considered to be a walkover by the AH Army. Unfortunately for them, it was an unmitigated disaster. The next two attempts by AH to invade Serbia ended almost exactly the same way. It was not until late 1915, and then with German help, that Serbia was finally conquered. So this is the background for the game. This is what you get in your handy little megabyte package:

"28 stand alone scenarios, 4 campaigns to choose from, as well as 4 "Grand Campaign" scenarios designed to play with France '14 and East Prussia '14.

Battles include:

Mount Cer
Syrmia Offensive
Macva Peninsula
Mount Jagodnja
Serbian offensive in Bosnia
Mackov Kamen
Drina Stalemate
Romanja Planina
Valjevo
Kolubara (the full battle, as well as separate A-H and Serb offensive phase scenario)
1st Beograd
2nd Beograd (1915)
Pozarevac (1915)
Timok (1915)
Bulgarian invasion of Macedonia (1915)
Krivolak (1915)
Kragujevac (1915)
Kosturino (1915)

Campaign scenarios consist of:

The 1st Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia (102 turns)
The 2nd Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, which includes a simultaneous Serbian invasion of Syrmia (131 turns)
The 3rd Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia (319 turns)
The massive 4th Austro-Hungarian and German invasion of Serbia (389 turns), which includes forces from Austro-Hungarian, German and Bulgarian forces against Serbian, Montenegrin, Russian, British and French forces.
A bonus small campaign/large battle scenario covering the ill fated Serbian invasion of Bosnia to "liberate" Sarajevo, which occurred between 2nd and 3rd Austro-Hungarian invasions of Serbia (278 turns)
Three Grand Campaign scenarios designed to be played along with Grand Campaigns scenarios for France '14 and East Prussia '14, which are intended to establish context and allow the player influence the outcome of the war across many different scenarios (102 to 389 turns)"

 Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them, and the info will be displayed in the upper left hand corner.

 There is not much to say about the above, except the usual exclamation used with a John Tiller game: Wow! With many games, board or computer, you would get one campaign to play out. The lists of them in a JT game is nearly endless.

 I am very late again with a review for a John Tiller Software game, but you have to realize it is all their fault. Oh, I could play a turn or two of the smallest scenario and say that I have played the game enough to do a review. Of course, I would be lying. Even though I have played the game a lot it still doesn't mean that I have even scratched the surface of it. When wargamers are looking to get the most bang for their buck, you could do no better than picking up any Tiller Software title. The other thing that Tiller Software does is lie. Look at this title, it says Serbia '14. So, you would think that you were getting only the battles and campaigns of 1914 in Serbia, when in actuality you are getting the entire campaigns and battles for Serbia until its fall. I again apologize for the lateness of the review, but please remember it is your fault not mine. 

 This is a blurb from JT about the game that lists other important things about the game:

"Game features include:

Game scale is 1 hex = 1 km, 1 turn = 2 hours, with battalion and company size units.
Scenario Editor allows players to customize the game and create new scenarios.
Sub-map feature allows the main map to be "chopped" up into smaller segments for custom scenario creation.
Multiple play options including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play, and two player hot seat.
Game engine changes that model the Montenegrin Army's irregular soldiers, Austro-Hungarian mountain troops, expiring objectives that put pressure on the attacker and allow the defender to fight a delaying action, river boats and monitors, and many other improvements.

A highly detailed Order of Battle, where the ethnic composition of every regiment in the Austro-Hungarian Army was researched to determine their unit quality."

  So we are always told that size does not matter. However, in computer wargaming that is just not the case. At all times, but especially now, we are looking to get the most for our money. This game is $39.95, as are pretty much all JT games. I dare anyone to find a better deal in the wargaming world. Now we will have to revisit the usual when talking about JT games. The cry from the wilderness will be, "but the AI is no good". Yes, twenty years ago the AI was less than stellar and it would have been relevant. That is far in the past and these games have "Come a long way Baby", for those of you who remember ads from the 1960s. If you are a player who plays one scenario to death over and over again you will find the cracks in the AI armor. However, if you have a life, you can easily play these games against the competent AI. As I have mentioned in other reviews, (some will be listed below), the player has the ability to edit almost everything he wants except the copyright. The knowledge that gets poured into JT games is only equaled by the time that they go through testing. So much goes into each JT game that I am tempted to believe they have a small army of monks, sworn to silence, that work into the wee hours each day toiling on these games. I am once again in debt to John Tiller Software for allowing me the privledge of reviewing one of their games. The only thing I could possible add, is if you have any interest in the campaigns for Serbia or World War I in general, please take a look at this game.

 If I sound like a parrot in my John Tiller Software reviews, I apologize. There is so much to talk about concerning these games it is hard to know where to start. I am also guilty of always trying to dispel the myth, at least to me, that these games have bad AIs. If I come over as a 'true believer' in my reviews, it is because I am precisely that.

This is a list of some of the extra files that come with the game:

"Designer Notes (PDF file)
Planning Map - 1st Invasion (PDF file)
Planning Map - 2nd Invasion (PDF file)
Planning Map - 3rd Invasion (PDF file)
Planning Map - 4th Invasion (PDF file)
Planning Map - Bosnia (PDF file)"

John Tiller Software:
www.johntillersoftware.com/

Serbia '14:
www.johntillersoftware.com/WWICampaigns/Serbia14.html

Campaign Eylau-Friedland review:
https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2019/04/campaign-eylau-friedland-by-john-tiller.html
Shenandoah Campaign review:
https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2020/03/shenandoah-campaign-by-john-tiller.html

Robert

NEVSKY

FROM

GMT GAMES

I love the confident, bold, single word title: Nevsky, as if that says everything.  If you're like me, it means only two things - a film and the Battle on the Ice and I only originally knew about the latter because of the former!!  I'd have been hard pushed to say who was fighting whom or who won or exactly when and why.

So, now's your chance to find out and explore the conflict through what is intended to be a new series.  For the moment, I'll just establish that the period is mid C13th and the Teutons are squaring up against what the game calls the Rus!
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.

There's a substantial content and this photo does not give any idea of what it all looks like when spread out on my table  In fact, the rule book even goes so far as to provide two diagrams for how to layout the game to cater for different shapes of table tops.  As far as I know that's a first! Visually this is a WOW factor 10!  Oh and another extra that I'll always go for are player screens for an added dose of hidden knowledge.

A beautiful mounted mapboard contains a stylish geographically based playing area and surprisingly large turn calendar  and is that needed. Twelve 5"x5" thick cardboard mats, wooden pieces [122 in total and a very familiar component in any Volko Ruhnke design] and three sheets of equally splendid counters and markers - the latter play a variety of functions in the game and include a section purely for those who might prefer them to using the wooden pieces.  Both look the part in play, but the latter do have a certain lure that's hard to resist; still, it's a pleasure to be given the choice. 

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. 

Love the front cover illustration

I find these Playbooks invaluable and this one for Nevsky is perhaps the most useful and compendious of all in every way.  There is the obligatory example of play which here is 15 pages long and did it help me.   This is followed by a Campaign Synopsis and historical biographies of the many figures involved in the game.  Next comes 14 pages of analysis of each sides Art of War decks, giving tips on usage and historical background for every card.  That's an undertaking just in itself!  It ends with two pages of Design Notes and two pages of Selected Sources.  Sit back, read and digest.  Beware indigestion!  Among this mass of detail is tucked in a single short paragraph entitled: Solitaire Nevsky.  If your mind immediately leaps to BOTS - you're wrong.

Instead a simple statement begins the paragraph: "Nevsky includes no solitaire system, but a single player readily can handle both sides."  I'd love to say I agree with this, because I did not have a chance to start playing Nevsky before the current world crisis consigned most of us to lockdown.  But I have found getting to grips with this new system a major upward learning curve. 

Just a swift glance at the main play aid tells you something of the learning task.

This, for example, is the inside of the 4 page spread for both players that explains: Commands, Forces, Strongholds, Battle and Storm and the detailed Sequence of Play.  Each player also has a double-sided reference card detailing the Leaders and all relevant information in purely written form and then again on the other side in a more graphic display.

The amount of information to take in is large, but crowning that is the innovative nature of this game.  Innovative in turns of mechanics and innovative in terms of what aspects have been chosen to concentrate on.  Each turn has two parts the Levy and Campaign.  The first part, the Levy, is the preparation that takes place before any Actions are carried out on the map, which is obviously when we move to the Campaign section.

The Levy
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.

I hope you've stayed with me to the end and these photos, but I didn't want to interrupt the details I've explored.  Here's the set up for the first and shortest Scenario: Pleskau 1240.  A mere two turns.  I should point out that this does not show the decks of cards, nor the piles of wooden pieces or any of the other markers and counters that might be needed.  But this should give you some idea of the foot-print needed on your gaming table

Here are the beautiful fronts of the decks of cards

and then a few examples of what's on the Arts of War cards

and finally the Command cards

A single sheet of the glorious counters

The fronts of the two player screens for an extra hidden factor

Assorted Play Aids

There are games made by development teams numbering in the hundreds, with multi-million dollar budgets, and cutting edge graphics. These games are usually good fun, and feature impressive visuals and audio, professional writing and celebrity voice actors. Many are also largely forgotten within months or even weeks of release. Why? At their core, many of these games are rudimentary and derivative. They look and sound great, but at the end of the day they aren't all that interesting to play. Then there are games made by ambitious one or two person development studios. Games that push the boundaries of creativity and aren't afraid to not only ask "What if?" but to go ahead and make it a reality. Passion projects that would never get the green light from corporate. 

So what is Shadow Empire? It's a game that asks: What if you took a hardcore hex-and-counter wargame, set it in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world, added on detailed economic and logistics modeling, and threw in some Crusader Kings elements just for fun. It's a game with a research tree you would expect from a 4-X title, story elements you would expect from an RPG, and detailed budget allocation decisions you would expect from a city builder. It's a game that seriously has a lot going on, and will take some real effort from the player to put all the pieces in order. The game sports a hefty 350(!) page manual, to give you some idea of just how detailed this experience is going to be.

Now, at this point you're probably either thinking this game sounds amazing, or this game sounds terrifying. If you are in the latter camp, don't run off just yet, it's not all that scary. Shadow Empire (SE) is kind enough to let you start off small, and forgives you for ignoring many of the mechanics for at least a few dozen turns. That's because you start with very little in this game, and must work to accumulate the means to have much more than that. SE, like many other 4-X style strategy games, starts you off with one city, and a small military force. The world around you is a mystery to be explored and eventually conquered, but that world is a hostile one. The game gives off a vibe reminiscent of the classic Mad Max wasteland where there's no telling what might out there. It's a world of roaming bandits, weird religious cults, and the occasional battlemech. Check out my preview AAR for a detailed look at how the early game goes - Part 1 and Part 2. That run at the game came to a halt because of updates breaking my save files, but also because I realized I had done a very poor job of building  up my economy, having splurged all my excess resources on unnecessary military units early on. A bit more study of the manual was required to recognize and correct my mistakes. 

This is the thing about Shadow Empire which will either draw you in or push you away. The game has layers like an onion, layers which you won't even expect to find until you get there. On the surface you see a wargame. In some wargames you might be expected to build some roads to extend your logistical network and keep your units in supply. Okay, that's not too crazy, we can handle that. However, just building roads isn't enough, you also need to build transport hubs, truck stations, and supply bases. You'll likely need to micro-manage even further by tweaking how much supply is sent down a given road. If you're planning an offensive to the west, you can't afford to be sending precious supplies down the eastern road to some unit just sitting there idling. Now, what are these supplies we are sending  the troops? Just some generic "supply" points? Oh no, we are talking food and ammo and replacements. That food is coming from your farms, farms which are consuming water and require workers to operate, workers who have a morale level that can drop if things are going poorly at the front. This is a game that tracks and models far more than you might guess from a first glance. 

Like many wargames, your units in SE are organized into a detailed order of battle. Unlike many wargames, here you have a great deal of control over what that hierarchy looks like. It isn't enough to just put all of your units into one big army, because that will make you inflexible and limit your options. Having mid-level headquarters units allows you to have greater control over where and how supplies are doled out. It also allows you to apply "stratagems" to your formations, which can give them massive bonuses to different types of combat, but usually at a cost. For example, giving a boost to attack while lowering defensive values. You wouldn't want all your units weak on defense at the same time, you would want to stick that modifier on your blitzkrieg style formation out on the flank, while another formation holds the line in the middle. Your offensive formation can also be led by a character with a higher skill level at, you guessed it, offensive combat and leading motorized units. In fact, you will be staffing numerous positions in your military and government with characters. Characters who all have fully fleshed out RPG style stats, skills, and experience levels. On top of that, these characters all have opinions, they have factions that they belong to, perhaps even a cult. Every decision you make will influence how they feel about you, based on all of these things, and of course, how much you are paying them. 

The stratagems I mentioned above are made up of dozens of different "cards" that you can play to take a wide variety of actions. The stratagems are split up into several categories, like warfare, diplomacy, and bureaucracy. I found this to be a neat way of giving the player tons of additional options, without further complicated the game with more and more menus and buttons. It also limits your choices on any given turn, and rewards you for investing in a given facet of government, by giving you more of these cards to play over time. So, for example, if you want to conduct some diplomacy with a neighbor, you'll need to play a stratagem. You can't just open up the diplomacy menu and pick an option, you need the relevant card for what you want to do. Things like improving relations, asking for an alliance, or offering scientific cooperation. To get more of these cards, you'll want to form a foreign relations council, give it an adequate budget, select a leader from your pool of characters, and then wait for them to get back to you. This is just one of eight different councils you can form, each of which performs multiple tasks critical to your nation, and each of which needs a budget and leader. 

Now, so far I've described how the game has a ton of mechanics and details bordering on being a bureaucracy simulator. It is that to some extent, but it's a wargame and bureaucracy simulator set in a wild sci-fi world with a detailed back story. It's a world where you might stumble upon a super computer powered AI that your science team is scared to activate, or you might have a cult within your empire that asks you to help fund their very own super computer AI. You might think, why would I want to give funding to these fanatics? Oh look, my best general and most effective administrator are both members of the cult. Well, that complicates things a bit. Also, the cult is offering to give you free stratagems that boost your military formations by supplying them with priests who boost morale. There's no up front cost to doing so, and I can't imagine there would be long term consequences to such actions down the road! As you explore the world, you'll often come across relics from the past golden age of humanity. Facilities that can boost your economy, and machines of war which can single-handedly turn the tide of a conflict in the early game. What caused the end of that golden age anyway? I'll let you read the 15 page long backstory in the manual, but let's just say it involves mind controlling nano-machines motivated by the vengeance of a long dead emperor. This is the "shadow" in Shadow Empire. The shadow may be present on your world in any given game, and it might not be. How would you know?

Shadow Empire is an extremely ambitious project. One that may be too much for some players to enjoy, but I know others will revel in it. It's got everything you would expect from a hardcore wargame. I didn't go into too much detail about this, but it's all there. Endless stats, morale and combat ratings, flanking attacks, entrenchment, artillery support, and so on. The designer is the man behind the Decisive Campaigns series, after all. It's got detailed management layers and research trees for days, stuff that will pique the interest of any 4-X fans. Adding flavor to all of that is the fully fleshed out setting and detailed characters which wouldn't be out of place in a Paradox grand strategy game. The developer has made clear that he is dedicated to this game, and will continue to improve it after release. It's a game that requires some real commitment from the player as well, to get the full experience. I would be lying if I told you that I had even come close to mastering the game after a dozen hours of play. I was just beginning to understand the basics of all the different systems. However, the entire time I was playing, I didn't feel like I was wrestling with the interface, I was immersing myself in an engrossing experience, one where I was learning how to lead a small city-state in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Oh, and did I forget to mention, this game has a variety of nightmarish alien monsters that might show up and attack you? Yeah, it has that too.

Shadow Empire, developed by VR Designs, is available directly from Slitherine and looks to arriving on Steam at some future date.

- Joe Beard

 

Last year saw the release of Field of Glory Empires from AGEOD and Slitherine. It represented a new chapter for AGEOD, best known for their deep, yet infamously difficult to get into, series of historical grand strategy games. Empires took most of their best ideas, added a few new ones, and combined it all with a much more user friendly interface. Another interesting twist was linking traditional grand strategy gameplay with the tactical battles of Field of Glory II. This allowed the player to assume direct command of any battle if they so chose, by launching FOG II, an entirely separate game, playing out the battle, then sending the results back to Empires. This was a bold decision that worked quite well, though you certainly wouldn't want to play out the majority of your battles this way, as it would take ages. All in all, I really enjoyed the game and how it encouraged the idea of civilizations rising and falling over time, allowing the player to "win" even after their glorious empire had faded into a has-been. 

The recent release of Persia 550-330 BCE, steps the game start further back in time, and as the title suggests, features the rise of Persia as a central highlight. The player can step into the shoes of Cyrus II, aka Cyrus the Great, and see if you can match his conquests. Although your neighbors at the start, Babylon and Media, are massive, they are old and worn down empires that have rotted from the inside. It won't take you long to overrun their lands, but after that you will find yourself facing stiffer resistance from the Greek city states. Lucky for you, this DLC also introduces some new features in addition to the new campaign.

Regional Decisions will be immediately familiar to any fans of the older AGEOD games. These are essentially bonuses or special powers that you can apply (for a cost) to qualifying regions. They represent all sorts of historical events and realities, but do so in a simple and abstract way that doesn't over complicate things. For example, you can invest resources in attempting to turn the Greeks against one another so they don't have time to ally against you. You can federate barbarian warriors on your borders to improve relations and sap their manpower, or you can invest in building up newly conquered lands. There are many different regional decisions, and all have a cost and potential benefit. Some are unique to certain civilizations, while others can be employed by anyone. This is a perfectly natural addition to the game that makes things more interesting without adding any additional complexity.

Another new feature adds a bit of randomness and replayability to the game. Impediments and Boons are, respectively, bad or good features of any given region that you may find as you go about painting the map your color. Things like an impenetrable forest or a bandit infestation which can slow down development in a region until you find a way to deal with the issue. Occasionally you can also find an especially good boon that makes a region far more important than it might be the next time you play the game. This feature isn't quite as meaningful as the Regional Decisions, but anything to mix up strategy and increase replayability is a win in my book. Both of these features are also added into the original campaign timeline, in case you were wondering.

Special effort was also made to add extra flavor to playing as the key nations of the time by giving them unique events, missions, and more, so that playing Persia won't feel anything like playing as Athens. So far, I've only played a campaign as the Persians, and I have to say it was a new experience compared to my plays of the base game as Rome, and then as various barbarian tribes. I happily found that, much like in Europa Universalis IV, playing as the big names and the little names of history can be fun in different ways. Playing as Persia was a delight. Finally, a chance to play as a rapidly expanding and wildly successful (for a while) empire not named Rome! That said, you can play this campaign as Rome if you wish, though you will be starting from very humble beginnings. Dozens of other tribes and empires are available to play as well, from the Picts up in the far North, to a still powerful Egyptian state, or perhaps you'll lead the Spartans in kicking people into wells all over the Mediterranean. 

Field of Glory Empires might not have dethroned the Paradox grand strategy games, but I maintain that it is still a very strong contender in the genre. As I discussed in my original review, the combination of multitudes of trade goods, semi-random construction options, and deep but accessible empire management make it a great choice for anyone interested in the genre. Being able to play out your battles in tactical turn based combat is a cool twist, though entirely optional. The Persia DLC seamlessly strengthens that gameplay with its additional features, and the timeline chosen is perfectly suited to the core theme of the game, the never ending balance between progress and decay.

Field of Glory Empires - Persia 550-330 BCE can purchased from Slitherine directly, or found on Steam.

- Joe Beard

Conflict of Heroes Storms of Steel: Kursk 1943 (Third Edition)

by

Academy Games

 Kursk was one of the biggest battles in World War II, although it was not the largest tank battle. That distinction we now know goes to Dubno in 1941. Still, it was a massive clash between the Russian and German armies. Guderian had worked tirelessly to rebuild the Panzer force in the early months of 1943. He was able to build a large hard hitting force by the Summer. Kursk was an on again off again operation that kept being postponed from April until it finally occurred in July. Hitler was staking all on his new pet cats, the Tiger and Panther, and the massive Ferdinand, although the Germans took an incredible toll of the Russian forces. They also were damaged, but they just couldn't break through to Kursk. Then the other Allied Nations invaded Sicily, so the offensive was called off. Manstein had wanted it to continue to bleed dry the Russian reserves. The Germans lost a good number of tanks and men at Kursk, but they were really bled dry by the defensive battles they had to fight in the Autumn of 1943. So, this is the backdrop to the game; let us see what comes with it:

4 Folding Mounted maps (19.5" x 14.75")
1 Mounted Board That Comes With 6 Various Shaped Pop-out Geomorphic Pieces

4 d6 Battle Dice

2 Custom d10 Spent Dice

4 Counter Sheets

 1 with 70 German Units
 1 with 70 Soviet Units
 1 with 15 German Units, 15 Soviet Units, and Hit Markers
 1 with Miscellaneous counters

1 Round and Victory Track

4 Command Action Point Tracks

48 Battle Cards

7 Weapon Cards

10 Veteran Cards

1 Rulebook 40 Pages long

1 Mission Book 36 Pages - With 14 Missions

2 Rules Summary Sheets

 This is the Third Edition of the game. Here is a rundown of what is new:

Featuring the latest 3rd Edition Conflict of Heroes Rules!
We have updated the maps and overlay artwork to be highly detailed and more beautiful than the original!
Storms of Steel 3rd Edition will feature a number of new firefights in addition to classics from the original!
All new counters in addition to new versions of the previous counters!

New box format, with updated tray inserts designed by Game Trayz!

 The maps are very well done, and the hexes are huge at 1 1/4". They represent a lot of the same terrain, so there is not that much difference in color from map to map. However, they work extremely well and the size of the hexes makes it very easy to determine the terrain. Each hex has a dot in the middle of it. Whatever terrain that dot is in represents the terrain for the entire hex. The map hexes represent 50 meters of real terrain. Now we get to the really good stuff. The counters are fantastic and are a full inch in size. This means we can not only read them without glasses, but they are also easily handled by less nimble fingers. The unit and armor pictures on the counters are very well done. It is also very easy to see what each counter represents. The Rulebook is in full color and fits in with the rest of the components, meaning that it is very colorful and wonderfully put together. The way the Rulebook is setup up is this: You read x amount of pages and then play the suggested scenarios. After playing those you read a few more pages and then you are ready to play the next few scenarios. So each scenario has a level of the rules involved in playing it. So, by the end of the Rulebook you are thoroughly prepared to play any scenario that comes with the game. Everything about the components is meant to thrill a wargamer. Even the trays for the counters are done differently than normal. Instead of just laying in a heap, they are laid out for the player like a flattened out rolodex. The two Rule Summary Sheets are the only pieces where the writing is a bit small. 

 The game is played in 'Rounds' with players taking alternate Turns. Here is a description:

"The Player who has the Initiative takes the first Turn.

On your Turn, take a Single Action or Pass.

The Rounds ends when both players Pass consecutively."

 "To take an Action follow these steps in order:

1.Select a Unit.

2. Perform an Action.

3. Determine the Action Cost.

4. Make a d10 Spent Check."

These are Common Actions a Player can take:

"Move to an adjacent hex / pivot.

1. Attack a Target hex.

2. Rally to remove a Hit Marker.

3. Stall.

4. Play Action Card."

 As you can see the game uses many elements that we wargamers are used to. The game works with Command Action Points as its main mechanic. This way of giving each side a certain amount of points to use each turn for actions is also a well known feature of wargames. In Storms of Steel, it is the interconnected usage of these mechanics that makes this such a great game.

 Storms of Steel won a ton of awards when it was first released, and it only keeps getting better. The greatest praise that you see for the game is that people believe it is one of the best games for teaching a new player its rules. The Rulebook states that you will be up and playing in five minutes, even if you know nothing about the system at all. I would believe that amount of time is right on the money. However, that does not mean that this game is a beer & pretzel one. Each player has to keep thinking, and thinking quickly, because the rules make it so that everything can change in a heart beat. All of your well laid plans can go up in smoke in an instant. The play is not only very fun, but very deep. The Third Edition has been worked on for a few years, and it includes many suggestions from players. The designer team of Uwe and Gunter Eickert originally released a winner and each edition just keeps getting better. 

 I was first introduced to the Conflict of Heroes series when Matrix/Slitherine were developing the PC versions years ago. I liked the games and played them a lot. One of the things I remember about them was that the designers were trying to make them as close to the boardgames as possible. A lot of the players of both were surprised how much they got right in the PC games. Now that I have had a chance to play a boardgame version of COH Storms of Steel I am completely blown away. Everything about the game feels and looks so well done. I do not think I could ever go back to the PC version. This boardgame is that good. This is pretty astounding when you add in the fact that it was meant, and succeeds, to be a players game, and not a rule heavy monster. 

 Than you so very much Academy Games for letting me review this excellent edition of an already great wargame. For anyone who is looking for a game that you can quickly learn, here it is. People looking for a historical portrayal of the Kursk battle look no further. Those two sentences are rarely seen together in a review about a wargame. When they do coincide you know that you have a real winner.

 I changed the size of the boards to represent their actual size. I forgot to times by 2. I am still not used to this getting old stuff.

 This is a blurb that one of the designers sent me that explains the difference in the Third Edition, better than I could.

"The biggest change in the 3rd ed is that a player takes an action with ANY of their fresh units. No more tracking APs. After the action, you test to see if the unit becomes spent by taking a stress test. That's it. Quick and simple
The stress test checks that Unit's cognitive suppression probability (its natural tendency not to move towards or interact in fire interchange. Units will often 'stop to assess the situation' before continuing on.
And this is what makes the 3rd ed so much different from the previous editions"

This is the Academy Games site:

https://www.academygames.com/

This is the Storms of Steel site:

https://www.academygames.com/pages/sos

This is a review I did earlier on Academy Games 1754:

https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2017/08/1754-conquest-by-academy-games.html

Robert

EUROPE DIVIDED

from

PHALANX

I'm a great admirer of David Thompson's designs, particularly his two solo games that I've already reviewed and, in the current situation, are getting even more play.  So, I was eagerly anticipating his next project. Knowing that this two-player game was scheduled to be released by Phalanx, a games company noted for the quality of its products was an added bonus.  Once again I have not been disappointed.

I was intrigued above all by the highly individualistic box art with its haunting, enigmatic face and its symbolic colouring of red and blue.  For me, there is something cold, emotionless and withdrawn about that face - a curious, but effective choice.  By serendipity, I chanced to play a friend's Kickstarter version the day before my review copy arrived!  I was even luckier in also being able to take my copy along to the last convention I was able to attend shortly before the current lockdown descended on us. 

The game spans the period from 1992 - 2019 [essentially the present day, as when conceived],  as such it may be considered Son of Twilight Struggle.  In that respect this is only because the first covered the Cold War, while this covers what has been termed the Post-Cold War.  The most obvious difference is that the latter game spanned the whole globe, whereas as the title proclaims this focuses more narrowly on the European continent alone.  The mounted map is less abstracted and I find it particularly appealing in its rich colours.

Mounted map

My copy is the retail version, while, as mentioned at the beginning, I have also played with the Kickstarter version.  There are very few differences, namely the Kickstarter has metal coins and wooden pieces for the armies and the many D6s, highly important to the game, have a symbol in place of the six pips for number 6.  

My personal preference is for the card board armies of my retail version for their clearly distinguished colouring and shape for each side.  Metal coins are frankly always attractive, but my stock from other games is such that I have no real need for more and I know that many of my friends and fellow gamers prefer a supply of poker chips that they introduce into any game that features currency.  As for the dice, I'm totally at home with the totally standard ones seen below in the retail version. 

There are a few more card board counters and then the other wholly attractive components are the various decks of cards, which I shall explore when looking at game play. 

The few cardboard components

Once more we are in situation of mutual rivalry for influence over the many countries of thee realigned Western and Eastern Europe.  This influence is symbolised by the use of the various coloured dice.  Red unsurprisingly are used by the Russian player, while his/her opponent fields a double set: Yellow representing the EU and Blue for NATO.  This and the fact that this player [whois named the Europe Player] starts with more cards and more money may give the initial impression of a one-sided contest.  Sufficient ink has been spilt already on the perennial game question of which side is the more likely to win.  My experience has been that all games so far have been close, with an almost equal balance of wins for both sides. 

The essence of this Euro-board wargame hybrid is a 20 turn game that takes in [1]the achieving of a victory points by accomplishing a series of short term goals and [2] two rounds of scoring each player's influence, one at the end of turn 10 and the other at the end of the game.  The central mechanic is the play of cards, that involves a limited form of deck-building.   That this takes place in rarely more than 2 hrs of nip and tuck play has certainly gained my vote. 

The game takes place over two 10-turn Periods: Period 1 includes events from 1998-2008 and Period 2 from 2009-2019. Each player has a separate Headline Deck and separate sets of Action and Advantage Decks.  

A sample of the Headline Cards

The Headline cards are played by each player from his limited hand and resolved on alternate turns.  Each depicts an Event from the period. It also carries a goal to be achieved by the turn on which the card will be resolved and awards points for their achievement.  This is the first stage of each turn and, after Turn 1, you will always have one pair of objectives laid out that are imminently going to be resolved at the end of the turn and one pair that will be resolved at the end of the next turn.
This is the first major aspect of the game's systems and is one that I relish.  This battling for short term objectives provides ongoing tension.  Sometimes the decisions are clear cut, as when preventing your opponent gaining 3 victory points [in game speak Prestige] is balanced against you gaining 1 VP.  But more often than not the choices are more subtle and balanced.  
I'd also add in that if, like me, you enjoy reading the cards, there's quite a bit of knowledge as well as geography to be picked up on route.  Though that might have more to do with my poor geographical knowledge!
How do you go about achieving these goals?  That takes us on to the main meat of the action, namely playing Action cards and sometime supplementing them by the play of an Advantage card.  Each player starts with their own separate deck of Action cards, the play of which leads to the build up of influence in various regions of the map.  The cards in your deck at start represent all the countries that you "control" and which can never fall under the influence of the other player, because your opponent can never place dice in them.

The Europe player starts with more in their hand than the Russian player.  This is a double-edged sword; on the one hand you will have more options initially, but the Russian player will be able to cycle through their deck faster.  This sets up a simple and effective dynamic.  Each card will contain some or all of a number of basic Actions to choose one from and execute.  All the thirteen cards the Europe Player starts contain purely a mixture of these basic  actions: Increase Influence, Gain Money, Build Army and Move Army.  Each card also has a background of one of the EU or NATO constituent countries.  

In contrast, Russia starts with only seven cards.  These too hold a range of basic Actions, but several also include a Special Action in a textual instruction and here is where the power often lies. It's also interesting that only two refer to geographic regions, while the others have titles such as News Media, Military Industrial Complex and Secret Services.

The bottom two cards illustrate part of 

the Russian at-start deck

Before I move on, I think it's important to say a word or two about Build Army and Move Army.  You can never have more than one Army in a region and the entry of an enemy Army into a region where you have an Army means mutual elimination.  This concept of "Army" needs some explanation and sadly this is the one thing missing from the excellent rule book.  There are no designer notes - a section in any game I look for eagerly to see the thinking behind concepts.  The decision was a deliberate one to keep the rules to a slim booklet.  However, there is a superb and very extensive Designer's Diary that I've included a link to at the end, if you share my interest in this aspect of a game.  It also includes a cracking AAR playthrough too.

So what are Armies and what is happening when they come into conflict?   Rarely if ever, is this guns and bullets directly flying between the two players historically - not that in the regions affected there weren't people dying by military actions sometimes.  They're a very wide range of effects from the overtly military as seen say in the Ukraine or other regions of the former Soviet Union to threats of military action, sabre rattling manoeuvres, promises of aid [military or political], treaties etc, etc.
To return to the Action cards, we come to the next feature that wins my praise hands down.  Each Player also has a set of twelve additional Action cards:  one for each of the twelve Regions that the Players are vying to have most influence in.  You gain your copy of the card when you have 5 or 6 pts of influence in a Region.  Consequently, both players may come to hold a copy of the same Region's card.   But each card contains different basic actions to choose from and a different Special Action too.  Not only does this reflect the different political and historical perspectives of each side, but also continue the elements of asymmetry in two sides' play.  Full marks for this design feature.

Just to stir the mix a little more, there is each Player's small deck of Advantage cards that as you can imagine throw in a few more distinctive traits of both sides.

Russia Advantage Deck

Europe Advantage Deck

The rule book provides understanding of this highly innovative design through a simple text supplemented at each step by a substantial parallel set of illustrations and exemplifications.  The next two photos show exactly what I mean.

Some of the Basic actions explained 

Information on Armies and Influence Dice

The one thing that you cannot do is play this game solo.  You might try to or at least practice a little solo to acquaint yourself with this new design.  But it really demands the two players for which it is purely designed.  At the moment, it's languishing under lockdown and social distancing, but like other games [as I've discovered] providing both of you have a copy FaceTime, Zoom or other such means of communication work fine or, of course, there's always tabletopia and perhaps somewhere down the line a vassel module.

This is another great design from David Thompson and another corner stone of my collection.  Enjoy.

Link to Designer's Diary