Preview of 'The Soft Underbelly 1943-1945'

by

Dissimula Edizioni

 Our very own Polydor has done a review of one of Sergio's earlier games:

FROM SALERNO TO ROME - A Wargamers Needful Things

 My name is Sergio Schiavi, I live in Turin, Italy;

I started designing games (and making them) recently, my first design was Radetzky's March, released in 2019; it’s about of the 1849 campaign in Piedmont, a very short campaign that ends with the battle of Novara. Now I'm about to print the second edition of the game, much improved.

The following year I published From Salerno To Rome, about the Second World War in Italy, a decidedly complex game but which had considerable success, over 1500 copies sold.

In 2021 I released Give Us Victories, on the Chancellorsville campaign, a game that uses the same RM system a more refined. In the box there are two other games, one strategic and one tactical, and a system for playing the campaign alone.

I usually draw everything in my games: system, maps, counters, box; I fund them if I can with Kickstarter and then I produce them.

Some time ago I came across Yasushi Nakaguro's Bonsai games and was very impressed by them; I designed a small game inspired by his design: little format, very cheap but very deep and fun.

The Soft Underbelly is a very small, inexpensive, two-player game that typically lasts about an hour.

It concerns the Second World War in Tunisia, Italy and southern Europe, the period I know best.

Some of the Map

It uses a very simple system where there are wooden blocks, which represent generic forces, and traditional counters, which instead represent specialized forces: tanks, planes, elite forces, fleets. The blocks, in addition to fighting, are used to buy specialized forces.

It is a game that generates a lot of tension, it does not admit mistakes; to win it you need a good strategy together with a little luck. It is asymmetrical: the Allied has many forces but must be able to make space to be able to deploy them all. The Axis, by contrast, must attempt to defend key areas, but inevitably must divide its scarce and costly forces widely. And eight turns pass quickly. There are events in the game that players can trigger by playing a chit: new reinforcements, premature end of a battle, partisans, and so on.

I also designed this game to bring new players as close as possible to our hobby and at the same time offer a good game, fast but not simple, on a little treated topic.

If it is financed, I intend to make others with the same system, on different themes, which I am already thinking about, including the Korean war 1950-53; the attack on Yugoslavia and Greece during World War II; the Norwegian campaign in 1940.

Among the next traditional projects instead, in September I will present a very large game about Husky and, later on, if I can, the continuation of From Salerno to Rome, which will be called To The Alps, which many are inciting me to draw.

https://www.dsimula.com/

The Soft Underbelly 1943-45:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/guv/the-soft-underbelly-1943-1945

 Scope U-Boot

by

Draco Ideas

  Churchill said that the only thing that scared him was the war in the Atlantic Ocean between the convoys and the U-Boats. Oddly enough, in 1942, just as the U-Boats were sinking the most ships they ever had, the tide turned against them. They changed from the hunters to the hunted in a matter of months. 

This is what comes in the box

 

 So, what do we have here? This is a small card game about the war in the Atlantic. It is mainly a game about U-Boats hunting convoy ships. However, in turn the U-Boats are being hunted by the convoy escort ships. This is what Draco Ideas has to say about the game:

"Playing time: 15 minutes

SCOPE U-boot is a game for 2 players, in quick and dynamic 15-minute games, recommended for ages 12 and up.

It is an independent and very different installment of the SCOPE system, the only similarities are its grid of cards forming the board and the many strategic possibilities it offers!

 In U-Boot the German player will remain hidden under the surface and the Allied player must find him and avoid being sunk. The ships move on the surface, although the cargo ships move more slowly. The submarine gives away its position when it fires a torpedo, but beware! You will have to choose as an ally whether you prefer your freighters to dodge it or move your destroyer to the area from where the torpedo was fired and sink your opponent.

SCOPE U-boot has several game modes, with different levels of complexity and duration."

Yes, it is in Spanish. However, the game is simple enough to get the gist even without knowing the language.

 The game is a bit like cross between Stratego and the old card game concentration with the ability to actually move your pieces. The Rulebook is only seventeen pages long. There is both a basic and an advanced version of the game. There are also some Alternative Scenarios to allow the player to play some variant scenarios and to make up their own. You can also have a surface naval combat between the two players. 

 The Game Area is made up by placing Empty Sea Cards as the map that you will use in the game. Four of the Empty Sea Cards make up a quadrant. The game comes with these card and tokens:

12 - Allied Ship Cards

 2 Freighters

 2 Tankers

 3 Destroyers

 1 Battleship

 1 Escort Carrier

 2 Flower Corvettes/Mies

 1 Armed Freighter

 

7 - German Ship Cards

 3 Submarines

 1 Destroyer

 1 Battleship

 2 S-Boot/Mine

35 Sea/Empty Area Cards

6 Surface Firing Cards

6 Tokens

 4 Torpedo Tokens

 1 Allied Direction Token

 1 German Direction/Ping Token (Sonar)

  The scenarios are listed by the amount of Empty Sea Cards that you will use. These are:

Lone Wolf (One Submarine) 5x5 Empty Sea Cards

Coordinated Attack (Two Submarines) 5X6 Empty Sea Cards

Wolf Pack (Three Submarines) 5X7 Empty Sea Cards

 The German Player then secretly exchanges his units for some of the Empty Sea Cards in the first row on his side of the game area. The Allied Player does the same with the first two rows of the Empty Sea Cards on his side. Each player is allowed one action per turn. They then alternate turns. The actions allowed are:

Submarine Movement

Torpedo Launch

Fast Ship Movement

Slow Ship Movement

 The game continues until Target Points listed for each side in the scenarios are met or there are no more operational Cargo Ships. Each ship has a value number.

 For a small simple game, the players need to use strategy and learn the game's nuances. While this type of game is really not my cup of tea, I can see where others will really enjoy it. The components are very well done and feel like they will last through a great number of games.

 For those of you who like tactical hex and counter games, I suggest you look at Draco Ideas 'War Storm Series'. These are five games that are well worth their price. Their 'Saladin' game is also a good one.

Robert

Draco Ideas:

Home - Draco Ideas editorial

Scope U-Boot:

Scope U-boot (dracoideas.com)

War Storm Series:

“Normandy” and “Alone in the Storm” (War Storm Series) - Draco Ideas editorial

 ONUS TRAIANUS

FROM

DRACO IDEAS

Back in September 2016, I reviewed Onus from Draco Ideas which, if you check via this LINK, was a remarkably small, but impressive game.  With this latest addition to the series. things have got a whole lot bigger and what a stunning package it is!  In my previous review I used the cliche "good things come in small packets": well even better things have just come in a much, much bigger packet.  The simple comparison below makes that very clear!

I also wasn't wholly sold on the rather cartoonish original box art and, as you can see, that too has taken a turn for the more serious.  The period has also shifted from the early days of the monumental clashes between Rome and Carthage to the glory days of the Emperor Trajan and an incredible range of cards to cover an amazing tranche of opponents - Celts, Dacians, the Germanic tribes, Parthians and Sarmatians, along with a massive deck of Mercenaries and to help out the Romans, a deck of auxiliaries.  The system remains the same, an admirable transformation of miniatures using cards for units instead of metal or plastic figures.  

Lifting the box lid and focusing purely on the cards, you can see just how many are stacked up.  There is ample storage not just for the cards, but also measuring rulers, dice and all the many markers. 

There are in total a magnificent 272 unit cards, 34 General cards, 98 action cards and 6 quick reference cards.  What I value even more in the storage facility is that all the compartments are designed to be large enough to hold the cards, if sleeved.  Usually, sleeving is my immediate choice, but in the case of Onus Traianus, I'm reluctant to sleeve the cards that represent the units, as I find them harder to manoeuvre over the battlefield.

Set out above are the five enemy nations, the Roman core units and below them the auxiliaries, the extra large stack of mercenaries, on the far right the stack of generals, with Trajan uppermost, and below them, the largest stack of all - the many action cards that determine your orders.

Even when you add in all the other components, the box remains delightfully spacious.  So much so that I'm intending to transfer my cards from the original Onus to this storage as well.

Impressive as all this is, it is the various books that add a distinctly luxurious feel to the game.  The original rule book was small, compact and did a very, very good job of setting out the rules.  For its small size, it included an amazing number of illustrations, but it was crammed to bursting with eye-straining text!  The new rule book is capacious and voluminous.  The print is still on the small side, but with double-spacing of all the text, plus frequent use of extra white space it is ease itself to read.  Combined with this are a steady flow of illustrative pictures to support the many examples of each clearly explained step in the sequence of play, a comprehensive 2-page Contents list at the front of the rules, a 2-page alphabetic Index at the back, a single page Important Rules Summary and finally on the back cover is a summary of all the Modifiers neatly headed according to each element of the game that they apply to.

Comprehensive  Summary of Modifiers

All this makes it a genuine pleasure to sit down to read, whether for the first time or simply to browse and refresh your memory.  An awesome accomplishment in rules presentation that deserves full praise as does the striking and handsome front cover illustration.

The rule book begins with a one page Introduction, which draws you in with a pictorial display of the card backs of all the nations included in the original game, its two expansions and now this stand-alone game. Then a page of new additions to the rules is followed by three pages explaining the three types of card in the game: Unit Cards,  General Cards and Action Cards.  Each page offers a compact illustration of a typical unit card with brief explanations of all the symbols they contain.

We quickly pass on to Setting Up which covers Historical Scenarios and creation of Scenarios by point count, Victory Conditions and Troop Deployment which details how to set out your card units on the gaming area.  The bulk of the book [32 pages] takes you through the Turn Sequence in order providing all-embracing, detailed, step by step rules. They provide an admirably clear explanation throughout which, as mentioned earlier, is significantly helped by the layout so that you never feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the level of detail.

In brief, the Turn has 7 Phases.

Activation

Movement

Ranged Attack

Skirmish

Melee

Flight

End of Turn

Among the many easy to understand rules, those explaining movement and melee stand out for me.  Especially the latter - melee rules - have so often with other sets of miniatures rules been a nightmare of complexity merely to understand, never mind actually carry out in a game.  Having watched in the past with other systems, ten or more minutes of number crunching, percentage calculations, modifier applications et. al. result in both sides suffering no effects, Onus' method is a gamer's blessing.

Many capitalised side headings, sequences of short simple statements, exemplification distinguished by its text being in italics and plentiful full-colour illustration all contribute to take the work and effort out of absorbing these rules.  I have two sets of very substantial miniatures rules for gaming battles in the ancient world which I thoroughly enjoy reading, but Onus Traianus covers so much in a straightforward way that leads to an ease of execution.

When you get down to play on your tabletop, this ease of understanding is augmented to a major extent by the fact that the units are cards not miniatures.  First of all, I always know immediately what a unit is simply because its nationality and type is written on the card.  I have a rather nicely painted set of 10mm ancients miniatures, but because of the scale I often strain to make out even such simple things as exactly what type of cavalry I'm seeing.

Typical set up for a basic game

Even more important is that all the key data needed for movement capability, ranged fire, melee strength in attack and defence, morale and health are also printed on the card.  

No need for reference to a multitude of extensive tables to extract this information.  The only limited reference needed is to the icons for special abilities and even here there are benefits, as colour coding on the cards quickly distinguishes those special abilities that are triggered automatically [orange and green circles] and those that need to be activated [blue circles] by placing a distinctive marker on the card.

Finally, the unit card serves as the base on which to place a range of markers, such as marching or fleeing, broken morale, number of wounds, the presence of a hero or loss  of an officer - all of which simplifies the organisation of your game in the course of play.

Romans v Celts

Whatever you're level of experience as a gamer, Onus Traianus provides a great range of qualities.   Perhaps the most important is that you're getting a satisfying depth of game play coupled with an ease of learning and a sand box of material with

 a very easy point system to design your own battles. Next it allows you to explore a wide range of conflicts from this period of the Roman Empire against so many different opponent nations.  This is not just because of the unit decks for these nations, but because of the impressively large Campaign Book - all in all, 95 pages and 38 battles organised into 4 Campaigns.  If the Rule Book looks superb, this Campaign Book is gorgeous and of a very substantial weight and thickness.  You really have got a book in your hands .

There are four campaigns covered and each one is prefaced by a simple map with the battles marked on and the order in which they occurred.  Each individual battle is illustrated with a full colour set up map, an historical outline, any special rules and victory conditions.  The one drawback is that only approximately half of the battles can be played easily with just Onus Traianus alone.  Frankly, if the Campaign Book had given you only those eighteen alone, you'd be getting huge value for money, but to play the others you will need the Terrain and Fortresses Expansion box, which will be explored in my follow-on review.  I defy you to withstand the lure and I must thank Draco Ideas for their generosity in providing the Expansion to review as well as the core game.

The last item in Onus Traianus is a very slim booklet for playing in Solo mode and here I did struggle to understand their workings because of the brevity of explanation, especially after the thoroughness and clarity of the Rule Book. In particular, I think the several tables used need much fuller explanation to make the system work smoothly. I have to admit that it is not something I would choose to support me in playing this game solitaire, but nor is it needed for me to enjoy playing the game solo rather than against a live opponent.  For those who absolutely insist on playing solo only by using a game system, it might not serve.  However, there are few miniature gamers I know who would consider this essential or even how they would play solitaire.

So, to sum up.

Excellent components throughout

Visually attractive 

Comprehensive rules well set out and clear to understand

Ease of play

Magnificent Campaign Book - extensive range of battles linked into four campaigns

Solo mode only weak point

I really hope that Draco Ideas will look at producing an Expansion for the Republican battles between Julius Caesar v Pompey the Great and/or the battles between Marius v Sulla.

Once again many thanks to Draco Ideas for providing the review copy for Onus Traianus and the Expansion Terrain and Fortresses which I shall be reviewing next.

  

 

Epic Battles

by

Historical Games Studio

 This is a write up about the first game in the Epic Battles system by Donato Maglionico. The game and system looks to be a good one. It looks to be small enough for anyone to play and yet deep enough for us grognards.

 I have been playing at the historical simulation games and wargames since when I was a teenager.

I have been one of the founder of "Alea Iacta Est" a historical magazine which included a wargame designed by me. 

It has been the first Italian magazine that wrote about history and wargame. The wargames in AIE had carboard counters with rules also in English.

Epic Battles project was born from the wish to create a game system which can work well for any historical ages.

I made a great research work on historical sources studying books on tactics and military manuals written by both antique and contemporary authors.

I hoped to publish Epic Battles earlier, but the pandemic has been dramatically slowing down my plans and I had to weave again relationship with suppliers trying to handle the increasing costs of the raw materials.

Now Epic Battles prototype is ready and I hope to make it come true by way of crowdfunding that is going to start on kickstarter.

The official presentation at the Kursaal Center conference hall, San Marino May 6th 2023.

Epic Battles is the only wargaming rulebook that makes it possible to relive all the great battles fought from the dawn of history up to the beginning of the XX century, incorporating the development of tactics and weaponry throughout more than five thousand years of history.

In fact, the tactics the players will need to use to win the game are remarkably well aligned with the historical progress and limitations of the Armies that have written the course of history and with the terrain features of the battlefields on which they fought.

The rules - innovative to the world of wargaming - are intuitive, and easy to learn, understand and play - making any battle both a new and engaging experience.

Fornovo 1495

Setting up a game of Epic battles is really easy!

First of all, you have to select the battle you want to play from the historical booklet choosing one among the four proposals of Renaissance age.

The Scenarios’ booklet contains a short description of the historical background which the events took place. Each scenario also includes few special rules, provides the victory conditions, how setting up the terrain configurations on the map and how deploying the armies on the battlefield.

Once you assemble the game map, place on it the tiles that define the features terrain and, finally, deploy the armies. Now you are ready to start the battle.

In the volume of this wargame boxset, you are the Condottiero who has to lead his Renaissance army at the victory.

Close Combat

In Epic Battles you have to lead your army at the victory forcing the opponent's army at the withdrawal.

The core of your army is composed of combat units differentiated according to the tactical purpose they were used for and characterized by strength, combat value, morale, armour and manoeuvrability. In addition, some combat units may have superior skill to the average ones in the same class. This due to the specific training they have acquired.

Combat units sustain the bulk of the fighting, sometime they are asked to maintain a strategic position or, in others, to gain ground by pushing back the enemy.

They are organized in groups led by generals and typically they can move just by receiving orders from them. There are leaders who controls the units hierarchically and others who controls them directly, because there is not lower ranking general in their chain of command who can issue orders to that group of combat units. The geometrical shape and the colour strip on the counters of the combat units and leaders identify the group they belong to.

Information markers on the plastic stands of the game counters give the status of the combat units as well as the cohesion of the combat groups. Losses in the combat units strength also cause the reduction of the cohesion of the group they belong to.

You win as soon as a number of combat groups of the enemy army disband due to the casualties the combat units have suffered during the battle.

Scenario Booklet

Each game turn is divided in phases. Each phase may be divided in actions, or it may contain interrupts of the inactive player. Whenever a phase or action cannot be executed will be simply jumped.

Each game turn follows the following sequence:

1. Initiative

The players establish who has the initiative in that turn of game. Overall Commanders with the best command capability have higher probability to gain the initiative.

2. Number of orders available for each leader

The players roll the dice for the eligible Generals to determine the number of orders that each of them can issue. The number of orders a leader can issue in a game turn depends from his command capability. There are seven classes of command capability that go from incompetent general (the lowest) up to the legendary (the highest).

3. Spontaneous movements

The commanders inside the unit might issue an order as their personal initiative before a superior order comes. This represents the instinctive reaction of the combat unit due to the training received and it is triggered from something occurs on the battlefield.

Units that have moved as result of a sudden impulse without premeditation cannot move again neither if they receive orders from their generals.

For example, a colonel who lead an infantry line battalion could decide to deploy his men in square to resist at the incoming cavalry charge.

4. Command Activations and orders

The player who has gained the initiative decides if they want to activate one of own generals or letting that his opponent to do it. From that moment on, the two players take turn in the leaders’ activation up to all the generals have no more orders to issue.

The command activation starts when the activated leader issues an order and it ends as soon as the order is performed by the combat units.

The generals issue orders to the units moving them on the battlefield to engage the enemy. Combat units that have been charged from enemy might evade the charge if they are able to do it.

During the activation of a player, his opponent might try to steal the initiative to activate his general in his place.

5. Ranged Attack

The combat units equipped by ranged weapons that are not involved in a melee may target the enemy at distance or they might try to stop the enemy charge against them by the last volley of their weapons.

The effectiveness of attack depends from the ranged weapons of the attacking unit and from the protection of the target.

Each ranged weapon is characterized by rate of fire and piercing power. Higher is the rate of fire greater are the number of projectiles that reach the target while better is the piercing power better are the possibility to damage the target one time hit.

The morale of the combat units that are exposed for a long time to a ranged attack could be compromised and there is the risk that it could break down suddenly.

6. Disengagement from the combat

The combat units may try to disengage from a melee combat where they are involved if they are faster than those enemy. 

In this way, the light units that have moved close to the enemy to harass it by using long range weapons might attempt to avoid staying engaged in close combat whereas, heavy units involved in close quarters combat after attacking might decide to withdraw in order to crash with the enemy later in a series of violent waves.

7. Melee combat

The combats among the units will be resolved by area.

Once that has been defined the combat units engaged in a melee area each combat unit attacks only one enemy although it can defend from any attack. 

Combat units that are charged might try to stop the enemy charge against them by the last volley of their long range weapons with the risk, in this case, to be unprepared at the close combat if they do not have success.

The players identify if there are combat units that gain the impetus of the charge or which of them have a tactical factor superiority due to the effectiveness of the opposite weapons systems. Finally, the players establish how the terrain conditions the melee combat and if there are other tactical condition that affect the combat resolution. 

The combat units that have lost the area might be forced to do the cohesion test running the risk, if they fail, to retreat from the enemy.

The combat units that have won the melee might pursue the retreating enemy giving rise to a new fight that has to be resolved immediately.

The results on the involved combat units become effective as soon as all the foreseen actions in a melee area are solved. The combat phase ends when all the melee areas have been solved.

8. Reorganization, regroup and reorder

The units that have received an order of reorganization or regrouping might respectively recover their harmed morale or the ones in rout might try to rise their broken spirit coming back in fight. The eligible units recover a disorder point.

9. Update the time marker

The turn is over. The players move the time marker forward of 15 minutes.

Game Turn From The Battle of Fornovo

The game box includes:

• Epic Battles Rulebook©, the only game system to live again all the historical battles up to the beginning of XX century. Cover artwork by Giuseppe Rava.

• Scenario Booklet contains all you needed to play out four battles of the Italian Wars: Fornovo 1495, Agnadello 1509, Pavia 1525, Ceresole d’Alba 1544. Cover artwork by Paolo Maria Taddei.

• 93x65cm full-colour modular battlefield map. Hexagonal grid side 2 cm

• full colour terrain tiles to ricreate the historical battlefield

• 199 full colour counters printed on both side (6,5x3,2cm). Generals portraits - Artworks by Paolo Maria Taddei. Warriors portraits - Artworks by Giorgio Albertini

• Information markers (1,1x1,1cm)

• full colour summary tables (Two folding out cardboards - 5 papers each)

• 50 plastic stands for counters in two colours

• Time marker to mark the game turn.

• 10 Dice.

The Epic Battles map consists of a 24x18 hexes grid, it has been designed in modular blocks easy to assemble in order that even the huge battlefields could be obtained when the future expansions will come out.

Over the map the players will place the configurations tiles in order to define the terrain features where the battle was fought.

Epic Battles is the only rule system that makes it possible to live again the great battles of history, incorporating the development of the tactics and weaponry up to the beginning of the XX century.

Scenario booklet contains a short description of the historical background which the events took place as well an overview of the type of warriors who fought the Italian Wars. Each of the four proposed scenario includes few special rules in addition to how to set up the battlefield and deploying on it the armies.

Summary tables contain a short description of all the procedures used in the game making unnecessary to consult the rulebook every time. Indeed, the information you can find on them help the players in all the main phases of a turn making the game easier and faster.

Venetian Cavalry

The cardboard counters are printed on both sides, one side represents the front of the combat unit while the other is its back. In this way it gets a more realistic scene of the fighting on the battlefield and it is easy to identify the front from the rear of each unit. Put the counter into the base so that the picture portraying the front side is aligned with the vertical side of the base while its back with the oblique base side.  The oblique side of the plastic stand is used to carry the information regarding the current status of the combat units (their current strength and attrition points collected in the fightings) or the cohesion points of the combat group which that leader identifies.

The clock marks the historical time passing during the battle. Each game turn covers 15 minutes of real time. The scenario reports the time when the battle starts and ends. 

The first box set includes everything necessary to play four battles from the Italian Wars where the players put themselves in the shoes of the famous Condottieri who led their armies into the Italian battlefields during the Renaissance era. The four scenarios are the battles of Fornovo 1495, Agnadello 1509, Pavia 1525 and Ceresole D'Alba 1544.

The journey does not end there!

We have many other ideas to make this game even more remarkable and all this thanks to Epic Battles rulebook that is the unique framework of rules that covers five thousand years of history. One history, one rulebook to play the history!

Beside the initial box set, new scenarios will come that cover further historical eras. You could unleash the war chariots of the first civilizations or be at the head of the triumphant Roman legions. Moving forward in the time, you could order to your feudal knights to sweep out the enemy army or, why not, you could put the shoes of a Lieutenant Generals of the Napoleonic Wars who is in command of an Infantry Corps appointed to storm the enemy lines.

All these historical moments and even more can be simulated because Epic Battles rulebook allows to do that.

Soon the upcoming releases will allow to the players diving into the battlefields of all the ages and the next expansions will make to live again the greatest battles of the history as well. Indeed, the Epic Battles battlefield is modular, this allows to cover even the hugest battles just using more map tiles.

Stay tuned, the Epic Battles of the history are just started!

 Pavia,"All is lost save Honor" I cannot wait.

Historical Games Studio:

Historical Games Studio – Un nuovo sito targato WordPress

 Nguyen Hue '72

by

Cadet Games

  The Vietnam War, at least the US involvement phase, was something I always stayed clear of in wargaming. I think it has something to do with growing up during it. The nightly list of the dead and wounded was something I will never forget. The kids I knew, including myself, always assumed we would end up going there. It was talked about only once in a while. The way we talked about it was more in low tones and usually at night. A year when you are ten years old lasts about ten of one of your years when you hit sixty. So, the memory of these late-night talks has stayed with me.

 This game is about the 1972 North Vietnamese offensive, and as an extra for the grognard, it also has the last offensive in 1975. Historically, because of US and Allied help, the 1972 offensive was finally stopped. In 1975 it was just a straight up fight between North and South Vietnam. The collapse of South Vietnam took only fifty-five days. You probably remember the pictures of the helicopters at the US embassy.

 This was reported about the actual offensive:

"Time Magazine - April 17, 1972…”The offensive began in the sky—with a shattering barrage of at least 12,000 rounds of rocket, mortar and artillery fire across the Demilitarized Zone, which divides North and South Vietnam. Said Specialist Fourth Class Michael Hill, a U.S. adviser with ARVN units in the area: "It was like nothing we ever expected and nothing we ever saw." Then came the ground attack. Some 25,000 North Vietnamese troops, with Russian-built tanks and artillery, swept down through Quang Tri province, sending 50,000 refugees fleeing south and U.S. advisers scurrying to their helicopters…”

 This is what Cadet Games has to say about the game:

"Strategic-level oversize hex & miniatures treatment of the huge conventional contest in 1972, as the Northern Communists attempted to militarily defeat the South before the US presidential election at the end of the year. Fast-paced and easy-to-play but complex enough for the true wargamer. Event cards and mystery units make for great re-playability. Terrain effects, supply, ZOC, airmobile moves, air and naval gunfire, amphibious operations, air defense, NVA tanks and artillery, B-52s and more.

Grand Strategic treatment of the 1972 campaign with aircraft and armor, artillery, infantry and helicopter minis, two big beautiful maps at 10 miles/hex, event cards every turn, weekly turns, ZOC, terrain and supply effects, US airpower, airmobile and amphibious movement, a real mystery unit dynamic, and max replay-ability. 1975 campaign scenario included!"

The two full sized maps together

 

 Speaking about childhood, this game tries to reach your inner child by using plastic soldiers etc. instead of cardboard counters. Many of today's computer wargames use 3d representation of units instead of the tried-and-true square NATO symbol ones. It does not affect how the game plays, and some other games actually give you a choice between the two different sets of graphics. 

Allied Ground Forces displayed

 The game box is a big and hefty one. Cadet Games describes the maps as "two big, beautiful ones". I cannot argue with that statement at all. The maps are both standard wargames maps at 22" X 34". They show South Vietnam and a small amount of North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia at ten miles per hex. I agree with Cadet Games that the maps are beautiful. The Rulebook is in full color and is twenty-pages long. The Rulebook is this size because this game is much more than an Axis & Ally clone. The rules are written out in an easy-to-understand manner. There are two Player Aid Setup Charts. These are made of the same material as the mounted maps. One of them has the NVA/NLF Deployments and Reinforcements and the other has the Allied ones. The reverse on both Player Aids has the Terrain Chart. There is one Counter Sheet that has 117 circular counters on it. They are mostly color coded to show their use. They come wrapped in plastic because they do want to jump out of the surrounding cardboard. There are twenty-seven cards for both sides. For each scenario, both sides get thirteen 'named' cards and one mystery one. The cards are the usual card type you find with wargames. The information side of the card come with a black & white photo and are easily read and understood. Next up, we have the plastic soldiers. These plastic minis are colored brown and green. I will say that they have brought some childhood angst with them. Because of their small size, the gun barrels and the wings of the aircraft sometimes come, Oh the horror, bent. While almost 60 years ago this would cause my OCD to rear its head. It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it might. The minis are actually pretty cool looking. The Allied Skyraiders (I love those planes) are a little bland, but it is because of their size that they have to be. The B-52s and everything else look very good. So, all of the components as a whole, are very well done. 

It also comes with two Spookies or Puff the Magic Dragons. For those of you who do not know, these were Douglas AC-47s that were loaded to the brim with anti-ground armament.

 This is the Sequence of Play:

NVA Player Turn

Reinforcement & Card Phase

Movement Phase

Combat Phase

Rally Phase

Allied Player Turn

Reinforcement & Card Phase

Movement Phase

Air Attack & Naval Gunfire Phase

Combat Phase

Game Turn Advancement

NVA/NLF Minis

  The game is much deeper than I thought it would be. So, kudos to Cadet Games. The supply rules are not just if a unit is in or out of it. There are different supply states for NVA and Allied units. Allied units are considered in General Supply if they can trace an unobstructed line to any un-besieged Allied controlled town or base. It does not matter how far they are from them. They are also in General Supply if they are in a town or base hex. If an Allied unit cannot trace a hex line for supply, it is unsupported.  The NVA has three supply states. These are Attack Supply, General Supply, and Isolated. During the Combat Phase a 'Real Supply Token' is expended from a supply center within eight hexes of the unit. That unit has Attack Supply for that entire Combat Phase. Any NVA units in the eight-hex range are in Attack Supply also. An NVA unit is in General Supply if they are within eight hexes of an NVA Supply Center. If any NVA cannot make an eight-hex line to a Supply Center, it is considered Isolated. Due to the NVA buildup before the 1972 offensive, all NVA units have Attack Supply for the first two game turns.

  At the beginning of each player turn they are allowed to pull one card from their deck of fourteen. Each player can only have one card to play each turn. So, if they do not use a card during a turn, they will need to discard one of the two that are in their hand at the beginning of the next turn. They can use that one card anytime during the game turn. 

 This is the Combat Sequence:

1. Determine strength and supply status of all attacking units.

2. Reveal and hidden defending units.

3.Reveal strength and supply status of any defending units (including militia) and air/naval effects.

4. Check and terrain effects on the combat.

5. Attacker plays and desired card.

6. Defender plays and desired card.

7. Determine combat ratio and CRT column and roll die.

8. Apply combat results immediately.

9. Advance after combat option.

10. Re-hide any defending units.

 As you can see the game uses the tried-and-true CRT (Combat Results Table) method.

 

The game laid out before placing the minis

 Thank you, Cadet Games, for allowing me to review this very good game. They have eight games on Vietnam and its environs right now. They go from this game's strategic look at the conflict to tactical battles. Speaking of which, I will have a review coming of their They Were Soldiers/Dak To Hill 875 tactical game. F-105 Thunderchiefs here we come. I hope they get to work on a Dien Bien Phu game.

 I just read on the game's BGG website how to straighten out the bends in the plastic pieces. It is a pretty simple process that just involves immersion into hot water.

Robert

Cadet Games:

Cadet Games LLC - Cadet Games

Nguyen Hue '72:

Nguyen Hue '72 - The 1972 Easter Offensive in Vietnam - Cadet Games LLC

 Philippines '44

by

Wargame Design Studio

 

 On the cover is the dramatic moment when MacArthur lands back on the island of Leyte in the Philippines. A lot of people do not know that he was a Field Marshal in the Philippine Army. He had actually retired from the US Army in 1937. His own history is full of defenders and detractors. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1941, he had been in charge of the defense of the Islands. One day after the attack on Pearl Harbor and war was declared, his air units were still nicely lined up on the airfields for the Japanese to destroy a good number of them (the Japanese could not fly on December 7th because of the weather). The rest of the '41 campaign saw the Japanese break through the Philippino/American forces time and again. The forces under MacArthur were nowhere near ready for war as the Japanese forces were. Unfortunately, the Philippines was lost to the Japanese in a matter of Months. This game is about the American invasion of the Philippines in 1944.

 This is what Wargame Design Studio has to say about the game:

"On October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur delivered his famous “I Have Returned” speech upon landing on Leyte Island. It is one of the most iconic phrases of the war, coupled with some of the most famous photographs, that captured the moment as he waded ashore.

With the return to the Philippines in 1944, both Roosevelt and McArthur’s pledges were honored, but this was to be a titanic struggle to liberate the islands for the next eight months.

In Philippines ’44, as MacArthur you will command units from both the US Sixth and Eighth Armies as well as US Army Air Force and Naval air groups. The Japanese forces, led by General Yamashita, had at his disposal, three major commands, the Shobu, Shimbu and Kembu Groups. Yamashita’s command outnumbered the Allied forces but had to defend a vast territory with limited knowledge of where the Allied forces may land. All that is lacking is for you to kick off one of the largest land campaigns of the Pacific War."

 The campaigns you will be able to fight are:

The liberation of Leyte: Oct 20, 1944 - Dec 23, 1944

The liberation of Luzon: Jan 9, 1945 - Jun 22, 1945

The liberation of Manila: Mar 3, 1945

The Northern Luzon Campaign: Mar 6, 1945 - Apr 26, 1945

 Once again, Wargame Design Studio has sent me a game to review that is too large to really do so, unless I devoted my entire gaming life to playing this game for about six months or more. There are too many scenarios, and they are so large that the campaign games cannot really be played until their outcome is decided. Luckily the game does come with some smaller scenarios that can be played in full. I am talking about the time a review would be expected of the game. Once you buy one of their games, feel free to forget about your life and dive in.

 While this is a brand-new game from Wargame Design Studio most of their games came from the John Tiller stable of wargames. These were originally released by HPS about 20 or so years ago. However, all of Wargame Design Studio's games have been updated thoroughly within the last few years. The games might have a resemblance as to their looks, but their DNA has definitely been changed. Even the resemblance is starting to go away with how many changes that WDS has built into the games. Some people have complained that Philippines '44 should not be listed under the title of Panzer Campaigns. It has been placed there because the only WWII campaigns that were released had Panzers. If you look on their web site and see Japan or the Philippines, it should not cause your brain to misfire. 

 As I mentioned before, these games are huge. The real work with these games is behind the surface. Look above at the listing of the troops and units that were included. These games go down to each single man, machine gun, and other weapons. I cannot even believe the amount of work that would need to be done to get this correct. Yes, we do have computers now but still the amount of cross checking boggles my mind. Look at the numbers in this breakdown below:

"Philippines '44 includes 76 Scenarios – covering all sizes and situations, including a solo tutorial scenario plus specialized versions for both head to head play and vs. the computer AI.

The master maps for Leyte (24,570 hexes) and Luzon (184,800 hexes) cover the main landing beaches and subsequent advances to liberate cities such as Manila.

The order of battle file covers the Axis and Allied forces that participated in the campaign with other formations added in for hypothetical situations.

Order-of-Battle, Parameter Data and Scenario Editors which allow players to customize the game.

Sub-map feature allows the main map to be subdivided into smaller segments for custom scenario creation.

Design notes which cover or include the production of the game, campaign notes and a bibliography that includes the sources used by the Wargame Design Studio team to produce this simulation game.

Philippines '44 provides multiple play options including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play as well as two player hot seat."

184,800 hexes! Try and roll that neatly off the tongue.

 Now we have to dispel at least one myth. "My grandfather told me that the AI in these games is terrible". Yes, when using Microsoft 3.1 that AI was not that good. However, it never stank. People would play one game until they found a weakness in the AI and then use it and post about it continuously. If you have enough time in your life to spend doing that, then my hat is off to you. I would be able to play maybe once per week for a few hours. The amount of time that came between those hours of play were enough for me to forget about what I was doing, and possibly what my name was. As you can see from above, nowadays there are certain scenarios that have been set up from the very beginning to be played against the AI. Believe it or not, about 80-90% of the PC game players play against AIs. This number includes all of the multi-player games that abound now. 

 So, where does all this leave us? What we have is a game that if judged by board wargames would possibly be the size of a 4' X 4' skid or pallet. Just think about it. If you could ever find a place to put the maps, maybe a gymnasium floor, the next hurdle would be to start slicing and dicing the 30 lbs. of 1/2" counters. Unless you had hired out a good number of workers, there is no way you are not getting carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. The sheer vastness of what goes into these games should make your head spin. A very large board wargame with this much depth would cost into the hundreds of dollars (ask my wife she knows). These can be bought for $39.95! I could paint that car for $39.95 (you have to be a certain age to get the joke).

 To try and explain how one of these games are played would be a pretty big task. That is why much smaller and easier scenarios are included in the games now. You would need to learn about Logistics and combined arms to name just two things that come to mind. If you tried to print off an AAR of one of the big scenarios, you'd better hope you have enough ink. One of the best things about these games is that they are meant to be played in a historical manner. These are not Panzer General clones. I am not saying that you are forced to only play the game out historically. You have to play it like a general from the 1940s. Japanese tanks out in the open against Shermans is just a foolish move. Now, if you dig in those tanks and put some other antitank forces with them, then you are talking. 

 

 The odd thing about the 1941 and 1944-45 campaigns is that both sides had changed places. In 1941 you had a smaller but better equipped Japanese force invade the Philippines. In 1944 the American invasion force was smaller but better equipped than the defending Japanese.

 Grognards who have played these games for many years will only have to get used to the new upgrades to this group of games. The smaller scenarios are where a tyro to these games should begin. These are very deep games that give you the control of units that a board wargamer is more used to than a computer wargamer. You have to control not only your tanks and infantry but also your air units and artillery.

 This game is going to be different than slicing Panzers or Shermans and T-34s across Europe. The terrain can be both a hindrance and a help depending upon your victory conditions in your chosen scenario. I almost always play the underdog in any wargame. In these scenarios it is the Japanese. The maps in most of the scenarios are large enough for you to give up land to keep your units intact and slow the American advance to a crawl. Unlike Yamashita, who historically had to deal with the Japanese Banzai attitude, the game allows you to give orders to your troops that will be obeyed. The American artillery is your greatest fear. You will always read in books that the Russians' God of War was their Artillery. The Russians would release the power of thousands of guns. Strangely, if you read the stories of Germans who fought on both the Russian and Western Front you will read a different tale. They say that nothing on the Russian Front had prepared them for the onslaught of the English and American artillery, especially the American. You will also have to deal with the American Air Forces. They have almost complete control of the skies around the Philippines. On the invasion beaches you will also have to deal with the guns of the American Naval Forces. One destroyer with four or five 5" guns can ruin your day, let alone the massive fire from a capital ship.

 Thank you, Wargame Design Studio, for letting me review this great addition to your already huge stable of games. In the time that it has taken me to review this game I see you have released at least two more updates to the other games. Now then, let us get you back to work on some of the more unknown battles and campaigns in history.

Robert

Wargame Design Studio:

Wargame Design Studio Store (wargameds.com)

Philippines '44:

Philippines '44 – Wargame Design Studio (wargameds.com)