Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga

Solitaire Area Movement Series: Volume 1

by

Revolution Games & Take Aim Designs

 Stalingrad has almost as many games about it as Gettysburg or Waterloo. However, the actually tooth and nail fight for the city itself is not as represented in wargames as the campaign is. It has been compared with the Battle of Verdun in the First World War. The city itself was almost completed destroyed during the back and forth fighting during the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943. The battle is often called the turning point of World War II. It certainly was a turning point on the fighting on the Eastern Front. 

 This game has two scenarios, one between September 13th and September 30, 1942 for nine turns. There is also a smaller five turn scenario from October 14th until October 31st. It is a solitaire game where the player takes on the role of the Germans. It is an area movement game for those of us who love hexes. You as the German have only a few turns to win the battle. If during that time the Germans control every area on the map you win an Automatic Victory. If, however, the German Morale Track reaches '0' at any time the Soviets get an Automatic Victory. If the game runs all the way to the end of turn nine without either of the above, then these are the Victory Conditions:

"If Automatic Victory has not been achieved by the start of the End

Phase of Turn 9, the game’s final turn, the German player wins an

Operational Victory if they control at least one Heavy Urban Area

and the “German Controlled” markers on the Record Track are 40

or greater. Design Note: this is the roughly historical result. If

they fail to do so, the Soviet side is the victor and the player has

lost the game."

 This is what the designers have to say about the game:

"STALINGRAD: ADVANCE TO THE VOLGA, 1942 is a solitaire game simulating the campaign by the German Sixth Army to capture the Soviet city of Stalingrad between September 13 and September 30, 1942. The player commands the attacking German forces and the game rules handle the defending Soviet forces. In reading these rules, if any capitalized term or abbreviation confuses you, refer to the index and glossary at the end of this rulebook. The numerical references found therein and throughout these rules should be ignored during first reading and used only later to refer to related sections for greater clarity."

 As you can see, the rules come with both an index and a glossary. It also has a History and Suggested Reading section.

 This is what comes with the game:

17 x 22 inch MOUNTED Map

One sheet of 5/8" die-cut counters

One player aid card

16 page rulebook

Eight six-sided dice (4 red and 4 black)

Game Box

 This is the Sequence of Play:

1. Dawn Phase

  Reinforcement

  Withdrawal

2. Random Event Phase

  Roll 3d6 and consult the Random Event Chart.

3. Supply Phase

  Roll 4d6 for German Supply

  Consult Supply Cost Table

4. Combat Phase

  Bloody Streets

  German Movement/Attacks

5. End Phase

  Automatic Victory Check

  Flip all spent units to their fresh side.

  Reduce German Morale by -1

 As with all of the Revolution Games that I have played this game's motto is 'you get more with less'. This does not mean that they cut corners on their components. As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite.

 The game map is smaller than a lot of games. However, it still manages to have all of the needed features and adds a lot of immersion to the game. I am assuming that it was made from an original German map of the time. Either that or the artist added them all on top of his own map. As I mentioned, it is very immersive with the German language parts on it. All of the historical parts of Stalingrad that we have read about are on it and shown in English. Such as the Grain Elevator and all the rest. The counters are very well done. They have either a NATO symbol or a profile for the tank and panzer grenadier units. At 5/8" the counters are nice and large for a game this size. They are also not cluttered, and the information needed for play is nice and large. The Rulebook is only sixteen pages long. It is in full color and is easy to read and understand. It also has a few pictures and examples of play to boot. The actual rules only take up eight pages. Then comes a page of optional rules. Then there is the setup for the smaller scenario followed by an article on the history and one on game strategy. The back page is a checklist of all the areas on the map for both scenarios. There is one Player Aid that is made of card stock that has all the information you will need to play, and it has the Sequence of Play on it. It also has the setup for the first scenario on it.

 There are more and more games that are being released that either can be played solitaire, or like this one built from the ground up for it. This is a very good idea for our hobby. More and more people are finding it hard to get friends, or enemies, to play wargames. So smaller games that can be played by yourself and do not take up much space are really needed in the 21st century. That doesn't mean that monsters are dead; far from it. It is just harder to coordinate getting a group together. 

 Stalingrad is a game that gives the player so many choices. Besides that, there are so many changes and twists and turns from one game to the next that it never goes stale. The German supply is your currency for all you can do. This alone makes the game a nail-biter. You can make the most grandiose plans and then find out you cannot do half of what you intended. This is even before the random events kick in. I want, and will get, a monster game about the street fighting in Stalingrad. However, even after that purchase, this game will still find a place on my table at times. It is just that good.

 Thank you, Revolution Games for allowing me to review this game. The designer of this game is Michael Rinella. I will now have to be on the lookout for more games from him.

Robert

Revolution Games:

Revolution Games | Main Page

 Against The Odds Issue #58

featuring

Clash of Carriers

 The name of the magazine speaks for itself. In this issue, they really take on what in hindsight was not even against the odds, but pretty much impossible. The Japanese Naval Air Force was shattered and almost totally destroyed by the fighting of 1943. Japan did have carriers. However, they did not have trained pilots to fly off them. True, the amount of carriers Japan had seemed paltry to the amount the U.S. had. The one thing that Japan had still was the unsinkable carriers that were its island bases. The Japanese thought that with both, they just might be able to strike the U.S. Navy hard enough to stop its inexorable march across the Pacific. Japan had a plan that was called A-Go which was really just a rehash of their earlier plans, even before the war, for a naval showdown between the U.S. and Japanese Navies. The only real thing that the Japanese had on their side was that their planes had always been designed with longer ranges than the U.S. ones. They might just be able to spot and hit the U.S. fleet before their ships had even been sighted. Plan A-Go was a gamble but one that would have to be taken. The battle has become known as 'The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot'. This should give you some idea of the actual outcome. It is pretty amazing that the big gun battleships that until 1941 had ruled the waves were just bystanders in the battle.

 Hard to believe, but this is issue #58 of Against the Odds. ATO is a wargaming magazine whose production values are second to none. I have been a fan of ATO for some time now. Some of my favorite magazine wargames have been made by them. The actual name of the game inside this issue is Clash of Carriers: The Battle of The Philippine Sea. The designer is Mark Stille. The game itself is based off of ATO's issue #17 game Imperial Sunset.

 This issue of the magazine deals with the Battle of the Philippine Sea which was caused by the U.S. decision to invade the Marianas Islands. The Japanese knew that this invasion had to stopped or the Japanese mainland would be in the range of bombers taking off from the Marianas Islands. The magazine starts out as always with a succinct but invaluable retelling of the history of the game's battle. It is not just a primer on the battle but goes far deeper than that. Your reading of it will give you all the information you would want to know. It also comes with a list of sources used for it and the game. 

 This is what comes with the game:

Maps - One full color 22"x34" hex mapsheet

Counters - 160 large 5/8" and 160 standard 1/2" die-cut pieces

Rules length - 16 pages

Charts and tables - 8 pages

Complexity - Medium

Playing time - Up to 6 hours

How challenging is it solitaire? - Poor

Designer - Mark E. Stille

Development - Russ Lockwood

Graphic Design - Mark Mahaffe

 The articles that come with this issue are:

Clash of Carriers: by Mark Stille

Exploring a Hard Pounding Fight: Optional Rules and Ideas (This is about a game on the battle for La Haye Sainte during Waterloo. It is published by ATO's partner Turning Point Simulations.) by Paul Rohrbaugh

On Guards: How These Fish Sharpened Their Teeth (about the U.S. Submarine Fleet in WWII.) by Andy Nunez

And The Data Shows: Shooting Fish in a Barrel (About the airplane and its coming to age against Battleships) by Ed Heinsman

Thunder Gods: The Kamikaze Offensive, April 1945 by Paul Rohrbaugh

Simulation Corner: Wargames Around Taiwan: Who Won? by John Prados

The "Archive Rat" Passes by Kevin Zucker. This is a tribute to John Prados who passed last year.

The Fifth Columnist: The Hussite Wars (An upcoming game from ATO.) by John D, Burtt

 All of these articles are what you have come to expect from ATO. They are incisive and full off history and facts and figures and all of them are too short. They always leave me wanting the article to be much larger than they invariably have to be.

The Surface Battle Display (Map)

 The game components are excellent. They are just like you would find with a boxed game costing much more. The counters are especially well designed. They come with a nicely done profile of the ship or plane that they represent. The numbers that you need to play the game are large and the counters are not cluttered. The ship counters are 5/8" and the planes and informational counters are 1/2". Normally I like to play only historical wargames. However, in this case you have to go with the designer and his choice to make the USN victory conditions, as he puts it, tough. The game also comes with plenty of Optional Rules including Secret Movement. There are three scenarios included with the game. These are:

Historical Scenario

TF 58 Unleashed Scenario (This allows the USN to be unleashed from protecting the landings in the Marianas Islands.)

The Japanese Dream Scenario (All of the penalties for being untrained are taken away from the Japanese forces, among other things.)

 

This is a tense game for both sides, especially if you use the hidden movement rules. Because of the victory conditions and the fact that historically the USN was chained to the Marianas Islands does give the Japanese Navy a chance to pull off a big upset. Just be forewarned that playing the Japanese is a tough challenge and a draw should be considered a great outcome for you.

 

Thank you Against the Odds for allowing me to review another great issue and game from you.

These two have already been released by ATO:

ATO Annual: Beyond Waterloo

ATO Annual: Cruelest Month (The Airwar over Arras in 1917)

These three will be coming up from ATO:

ATO #59: Blind Faith (The Hussite Wars)

ATO Annual: Operation Roundup (Allies Invade France in 1943)

ATO #60 Cities of the Damned (Cassino and Aachen)

Do not forget to take a look at the line of games that Turning Point Simulations has to offer.

Against the Odds:

Against the Odds (atomagazine.com)

Against The Odds #58:

Against the Odds (atomagazine.com)

Turning Point Simulations:

Turning Point Simulations - Home Page

 

 

Dreadnoughts and Super-Dreadnoughts

by

Chris McNab

   In building the Deadnought, the English actually shot themselves in the foot. This one ship with its 10 x 12" guns was a radical change from the 'Battleships' that came before it. Overnight it made every other ship in the world obsolete. Until then, the armaments on battleships were a hodge podge of different size calibers, with at most four main guns of roughly 12". The Dreadnought's speed of twenty-one knots also made it much faster than all the other battleships in the world. However, just like any other country, all of England's battleships were also made obsolete by the Dreadnought. This meant that every country was now in a race to build their own Dreadnought. It also started a Cold War of sorts between the German and English Navies. Germany saw her chance for her Navy to become just as strong as the British Navy. While this did not happen (England started a massive program of battleship building), it did give the Germans a chance to become a world naval power. 

 All of the above is shown to the reader by the author. The story of the development of the Dreadnought herself and her contemporaries and then onto the Super-Dreadnoughts is all here. The arguments of the type of boilers (coal or oil), and the amount and placement of the main guns, along with their massive increase in gun size, are all shown.

 This book is about an era of a few short years, roughly 1906 until 1918. In twelve years, the naval builders had gone from the Dreadnought to the Hood and Bayern classes. For anyone who is interested in the First World War at sea, or just these mighty ships themselves, this needs to be in your library. It is filled with facts, figures, and photos of all of the world's different capitol ships of that era. Unlike most books of this kind, it does not show the later battleships built during, before, and after World War II. The author does show us the history of the Battlecruisers but does not go into them in the detail that is shown with the Battleships.

 This is a large book, almost what you would consider a coffee table book. Unlike those books which are mostly eye candy, this book is a naval history connoisseurs' version of meat and potatoes. Thank you, Casemate Publishers for allowing me to review this very good book.

Robert

Book: Dreadnoughts and Super-Dreadnoughts

Author: Chris McNab

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

 The Seven Days Battles

by

Worthington Publishing

  In Porter Alexander's mind the only real chance the Confederacy had to become free from the Union was during the Seven Days Battles. In truth both governments were upset with their army leaders in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War. The North was upset at the snail's pace of George B, McClellan's, the Union commander, advance toward Richmond, while the South was angered at how close McClellan was coming toward Richmond. Not only that, but Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederate commander, was not fighting the Union army at all. If McClellan got any closer to Richmond, he would be able to start using siege tactics and his larger artillery to bombard the city. Johnston was almost forced by Jefferson Davis to attack the Union Army. Johnston was subsequently wounded in the Battle of the Seven Pines and Davis put Robert E. Lee in charge of the Confederate Army outside of Richmond. Lee immediately started to build fortifications around Richmond. This was not taken well by the Southern press. He was given the nickname of 'Granny Lee', among others. While Lee was very well known in the U.S. Army (he was actually offered the command of the Union Armies) he was not very well known outside of it. In point of fact, he had actually already lost to McClellan in the fight to keep West Virginia from breaking away from Virginia and joining the Union States. So, that is the situation that we have here in Virginia before the Seven Days Battles begin. Lee is actually in command of the most troops he would ever have during the war, while McClellan, who has more troops, believes the Confederate Army is close to 200,000 strong almost twice the size of his army. Apparently, the Pinkerton Agency detectives were prone to double the number of troops that they investigated.

 This is the third game in Worthington Publishing's Civil War Brigade Battle Series. The other games were Antietam and Shiloh. The next battle that is on track for the series is Gettysburg. So, let us take a look at what comes with this game:

Two double sided hard mounted game boards (each map is 25" x 22---joins together to make a "44 x 25")

Four counter sheets of thick 7/8" counters with rounded corners

Two 8 page full color rulebooks

Two 12 page full color playbooks

Two player full color player aids

Two 10 sided dice

 So, the first thing to talk about is the maps. You get two double-sided mounted maps. No wonder why the box was so heavy. The maps themselves do not veer toward the artistic in their depiction of the battlegrounds. They remind me of SPI maps made in the twenty-first century. They were produced to be the playing field for a wargame, and in this they succeed. Their one big plus is that the hexes are one inch wide. There is a trend in some wargame companies to go with larger hexes than ever before. The older I get the more I am liking larger hexes. I believe Worthington Publishing was at the forefront of that design decision. Next up will be the counters. These are also large, coming in at 3/4" size. These have been produced in the same manner as the maps. Kind of a 'more is less' approach. Everything you need to read on the counters is nice and large. They are not cluttered at all. The brigades belonging to a division all have a colored stripe across the counter. This is because one of the big parts of the rules of the game is command and control through leaders. On the counters is also what larger force they belong to corps/division. The counters come pre-rounded and really want to jump out of their slightly confining cardboard sprues. Unless you are ready to have counters everywhere, hold them gingerly. There are two identical Player Aids that are made from card stock. These have all of the charts needed to play on them. The charts include everything but the Turn Record Tracks and Casualty Track, which are on the maps. There are only nine different terrain types in the game. The Series Rulebook is only eight pages long. It comes in full color and also has some play examples in it. The Seven Days Battles Playbook is twelve pages long. There are only a little more than two and a half pages of rules just for this game. The other pages are for the different scenario setups. On the back is a third copy of the Terrain Chart. The game also comes with two dice and small plastic bags for the counters. If you have seen one of these Brigade Series games from Worthington Publishing, the above will all be very familiar. I did a review of their Antietam game from the series, and I will include the link below. These were produced, as all of Worthington Publishing games are, to be played and not looked at lovingly. 

 So, we have gone through the components; what is the game play like? Worthington Publishing goes by the KISS method of designing wargames. The Series Rules being less than eight pages prove my point. They rules are clear and come with no ambiguity. You keep track of a unit's strength points by using the strength point markers. In some games these become a hassle because of there being so many units on the map. In the Brigade Series there are very few counters and no stacking of units (leader counters are the exception). So, dealing with the strength point markers is a breeze. The series is designed mostly around command and control of your various leaders. The usual command range is four hexes for a unit. The Army leaders, Lee and McClellan, bring this up to five. Your leaders can become casualties. A replacement leader only has a command range of three hexes. However, the commanders are able to give a nice -1 die morale check modifier for any unit they are stacked with. So, you must choose wisely when to put your leaders in harm's way. 

 What the rules give you is a relatively fast playing, but still deep, wargame about the Seven Days Battles, or at least about some of the battles. The Jackson Initiative rules are a simple, and might I say, an elegant way of dealing with Stonewall during these battles. You really have no idea if you are getting the Stonewall from the Valley campaign or the one from the Seven Days. The battles are bloody, just as in real life. Just like Antietam, the previous game of the series, I really like this game and the system in general.

This is the Sequence of Play:

First Player

1. First player COMMAND PHASE

2. First Player ORGANIZATION PHASE

3. First Player OFFENSIVE ARTILLERY PHASE

4. First Player MOVEMENT PHASE

5. First Player COMBAT PHASE

» Second Player Defensive Fire

» First Player Offensive Fire

6. First Player RALLY PHASE

Second Player

1. Second player COMMAND PHASE

2. Second Player ORGANIZATION PHASE

3. Second Player OFFENSIVE ARTILLERY PHASE

4. Second Player MOVEMENT PHASE

5. Second Player COMBAT PHASE

» First Player Defensive Fire

» Second Player Offensive Fire

6. Second Player RALLY PHASE

The Turn Marker is advanced to the next hour on the turn

track. Players continue the sequence until the end of the

scenario being played.

 See what I mean about KISS.

 These are the scenarios that come with the game:

Scenario 1: HISTORICAL BATTLE OF BEAVER DAM CREEK (one map)

Scenario 2: HERE COMES JACKSON (This scenario assumes Jackson is behind schedule but rouses himself to attack). (one map)

Scenario 3: JACKSON ARRIVES ON TIME (This scenario assumes Jackson arrives on time and is ready to fight). (one map)

Scenario 4: HISTORICAL BATTLE OF GAINES MILL (one map)

Scenario 5: BEAVER DAM CREEK TO GAINES MILL (two map)

Scenario 6: HISTORICAL BATTLE OF GLENDALE. (two map)

Scenario 7: HISTORICAL BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. (one map)

Scenario 8: GLENDALE TO MALVERN HILL (two map)

There are special rules to portray Stonewall Jackson's lethargy during this campaign.

The 'Jackson Command Initiative' is needed to play historically.

 Thank you, Grant Wylie, for allowing me to review another one of your fine games. Mr. Wylie is a scholar and a gentleman and one of the nicest, if not the nicest, persons I have met through wargaming. He also has an incredible knack for designing wargames. By the way, the maps have grown on me since I started writing this. I possibly made them sound too stark.

 This is the link to the Brigade Series Rules:

Brigade Rules v1.3b_v2.pdf - Google Drive

Worthington Publishing:

Worthington Publishing / Old School Wargames / Pungo Games

Seven Days Battles:

Seven Days Battles 1862 — Worthington Publishing / Old School Wargames / Pungo Games

My review of Antietam from the series:

Antietam Septmber 17, 1862 by Worthington Publishing - A Wargamers Needful Things

 

DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH TOMORROW OF THE RECENTLY REVIEWED

LIMITS OF GLORY: 

BONAPARTE'S EASTERN EMPIRE

FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

LINK

 

Wouter Schoutteten on his upcoming game 'Dreaded Flags'

Naval Conflict in the Age of Piracy 1568-1720

 This is look into Wouter Schoutteten's new, and first, game Dreaded Flags. Everyone, please practice your Arrgghhs.

 Dreaded Flags is a game for 1 - 3 players about historical naval conflicts between small fleets in the Age of Piracy. It's a hex-and-counter wargame of medium-light complexity, with playtime ranging between 30min and about 2 hours and available as a gamebook.

It is my first release and hence my first (very instructive and enjoyable) experience with game design! 

Robert asked me to write something about the game and since this piece goes together with a review, I like to give you an inside look into the development process.

Much of what we (think we) know about pirates, stories with protagonists like Blackbeard, is highly romanticized. Many of those stories can be traced to Charles Johnson's collection of stories (fact or fiction?), A General History of Pyrates. Nonetheless, when we look at the facts behind the legend, a fascinating story persists. These freebooters did manage to hijack ships or steal goods. How did they do it, with a small - often outdated - ship, only a few cannons and a very small crew? 

Rulebook

The few alliances we know of did not last (as we see between Bonnet and Blackbeard, and Every and Pharo, all featured in the game). Sea battles were deadly dangerous and the gains often unpredictable. A captain had to earn the trust of his men, and had to be able to maintain it in chaotic combat. And then there is the trick of just also being an agile, technical captain who can skillfully steer his ship and keep it on course. My first goal for the game was to make a realistic game in the setting of the age of piracy.

In addition, I also made an amazing observation. Just about all games about the age of piracy lose themselves in the romanticized, mysterious portrait of pirates. A historical simulation - or wargame - based on the facts at hand, is almost impossible to find. And the few I did find are outdated, cumbersome and/or out of print. That brings me to my second goal Dreaded Flags should also be a fun, playable game in addition to its historical depth.

The Counters are on the Back Page of the Rulebook

Playable for me meant that the game should not take hours. One of the mechanisms that slow down play is when the main action or narrative has to be interrupted to do some bookkeeping or when dice have to be rolled again (e.g. if a player rolls an X, roll again to see what happens). 

I wanted as much info as possible to already be hardwired into the game, before any dice are rolled. I believe we have succeeded in that, and it’s the strongest point in the gameplay, if you ask me. Some modifiers provide more or less dice, while others manipulate the value of the dice. Factors such as number of guns, distance, morale, wind speed...all are contained in one small table. Players roll a number of dice once for their cannon fire and immediately read the result. And with the addition of 2 colored dice for the optional hit table we increase the realism (and the agency of the players because with this rule they can aim at either hull or rigging). This way, Cannon fire and combat is very fast and yet yields incredible detailed results. To interrupt the action as little as possible, most bookkeeping and extra checks happen after the main action. 

Some Action from a Test Game

Another way we want to make the game accessible and playable is by avoiding jargon (and probably naval wargame fanatics will raise their eyebrows here!). But new players can't tell terms like backing, aft or port. And because there is already so much info for new players, we have left out any jargon as much as possible. This way gameplay is more intuitive and easier to understand for novice naval wargames. To preserve some of the atmosphere, the well-known terms bow and tern have remained. But wind attitudes have been translated to a number, from 1 to 6. We speak of small fleets - not flotilla, and so on.

Playable for me also means replayability. And that means versatility. In the choice of scenarios we have taken this into account. There are 2 completely solitary scenarios in it, while other scenarios are perfect with 2 players. There is 1 scenario for 3 players. Some scenarios are short and can be played in 30 min, others are longer but can also be played in 1 evening. Something for everyone. Another nice extra, I think, is that besides the 8 scenarios, players can easily create their own scenario. In the book are blank log pages with which they can work out their own duel. The system is perfectly scalable to play with even more players as well ( I think 8 players is a bit the maximum for practical reasons) Also, the standardized map makes working out scenarios easier.

Developing a game from A to Z is an incredible experience. But as a rookie, I still have a lot to learn. I am incredibly grateful to my test players and proof readers. It never ceases to amaze me that people want to take the trouble and time to test a game that may turn out to be rubbish. Or to pick out spelling errors from a text not written by a native English speaker! But it is indeed the passion, knowledge and willingness to help that makes our niche so wonderful. 

One of the things I had the hardest time with was deciding which input from the test players to respond to and which not to. In doing so, I tried to go back to my original goal: a fairly fast-playing, accessible game of medium complexity with the necessary historical depth and realism. Balancing realism with playability became a real obsession. 

You can also use Miniatures to play

For example, I was satisfied with how hits translated into damage. You always have to consult and execute the hit table in a fixed order. This yields predictable damage results. One test player found that not realistic enough and upon request I developed the Advanced Hit Table. Since this adds another layer of complexity to the game, I decided to make this an optional game rule (again, pondering how complex game rules should be).... But I notice that I now always play Dreaded Flags with that optional rule, so maybe that should become a standard rule! So, putting my ego aside here, input from playtesters is very valuable.

I think making a complex game is easier than a simple but challenging game. So what to delete and what to keep? If you want the development process to keep moving forward smoothly, you have to be prepared to make choices quickly. 

This whole process went pretty fast but that's what I had chosen. In a short period of time, this gave me a much better overall understanding of game development and what is involved. I hope Dreaded Flags finds a small, enthusiastic group of players. I am working on new games, and I hope the success of dreaded flags motivates me to continue working on them.

Thank you all for your support!

Wouter

 Thank you Mr. Schoutteten for giving us a look at your new game.

 These are some of the Battles:

The Trader (A learning Scenario) - 1716
The Ambush: John Hawkins vs. the City of San Juan de Ulúa - 1568
The Sacking: Henry Morgan vs the city of Maracaibo - 1669 (Solitaire)
The Heist: Henry Every vs. the Murghal Fleet - 1695
The Salvaging: Charles Vane and Henry Jennings vs. The Spanish Salvage Fleet - 1715
The Hunt: Frances Hume vs. John Martel - 1717
The Reckoning: Blackbeard vs. Stede Bonnet - 1718
The Menace: Black Bart vs. the people of Barbados - 1720 (Solitaire)

This is the Amazon page for the U.S.:

Dreaded Flags: Naval Conflict in the Age of Piracy 1568 - 1720: A Wargame Book: Schoutteten, Wouter: 9798390935064: Amazon.com: Books

 They Were Soldiers and Dak To - Hill 875

by

Cadet Games

 

 This game, or actually games, has done exactly what I love about wargaming. It has presented me with a piece of history that I know little about. So, naturally I had to find books about the two battles. I knew some about the Battle of The Ia Drang Valley, as it was the first time that a group of U.S. soldiers were used in Vietnam en masse and not just as trainers or Green Berets. I had never watched the film 'We Were Soldiers' either. I know, shame on me. I knew next to nothing about the Battle for Hill 875. The way I look at it is you cannot judge a historical wargame without knowing the true details about the battle or campaign.

 Cadet Games gives you both battles inside the box. Let us look at the historical synopsis from Cadet Games:

"At 10:48 A.M. on the morning of November 14th, 1965, the first 80 soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the U.S. 7th Cavalry landed in a small clearing at the foot of the Chu Pong Massif in central Vietnam near the Cambodian border.  The Americans had landed in the middle of the base area for an entire North Vietnamese division, and were almost immediately attacked from multiple sides of their small landing zone - called ‘LZ X-Ray’.

The battle raged over the next several days, with high losses on both sides.  In the end, the Americans had proved their new airmobility tactics and had inflicted high losses on the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers they faced.  The NVA had also learned how to fight the Americans - and had inflicted serious losses on a high-tech superpower enemy by using classic light infantry tactics with only a fraction of the firepower available to the Americans.

This game challenges the players to re-fight the first day or so of that battle - the critical time when the NVA forces had the chance to overwhelm the Americans and overrun the landing zone.  Can you, as the U.S. player, hold your ground and repeat history?  Or will the NVA player triumph and overwhelm the perimeter - cutting the Americans off from supply and reinforcement?  Get ready to re-live or re-write history in the battle for LZ-Xray!

At 09:43 A.M. on the morning of November 19th, 1967, the lead platoons of the 2/503rd Airborne Infantry began advancing south up the north face of hill 875 in the central highlands of Vietnam near Cambodia.  The Americans, just 330 strong, expected to face a company of the NVA.  The pre-assault bombardment by aircraft and artillery had created much deadfall, craters and holes in the thick jungle.

The battle that followed became one of the bloodiest in the Vietnam War.  The NVA had been expecting the Americans and had a plan of their own.  The 2/503rd was nearly wiped out but was quickly reinforced by their 4th battalion.  The battle for the hilltop raged for days with serious losses on both sides.  In the end, the Americans took the hill - but the NVA had slipped away with many of their soldiers to fight again."

Map for the Ia Drang Battle

 So, both battles have the U.S. player definitely on the backfoot. Your job as the U.S. is to survive the onslaughts. If playing as the Vietnamese, you must try and destroy the U.S. units without using up all of your troops to do so. 

 This is what comes with the game:

32 NVA And Vietcong Soldiers

20 U.S. Cavalry Troopers

2 105mm Howitzers

3 Huey Helicopters

2 A1 Skyraiders

1 Mortar

50 Number Markers

40 NVA Unit Markers

40 Wounded Markers

30 NVA Markers

100 Gray Chips

40 White Chips

23 U.S. Unit Markers

30 Bright Green Chips

50 Olive Drab Chips

20 Green Chips

5 Downed Huey Markers

78 Game Cards

10 Fire Mission Markers

2-Sided Mounted Map

1 Rulebook

1 Battleboard

1 NVA Reinforcement Card With Hidden Unit Boxes

1 Cavalry Reinforcement Card

1 Fire Support Layout

2 Status Markers

1 Initiative Marker

1 Game Turn Marker

2 Landing/Take Off Hex Markers

15 Airborne Unit Markers

2 NVA AAA Unit Markers

2 NVA Mortar Unit Markers

10 NVA Bunker Markers

1 Spooky Marker

 This is quite the list!

 The map is mounted and double-sided. The maps are very nicely done and really show off the terrain you have to deal with. Both Maps show a smaller area than you might have thought. The scenarios for the battles are very early in each battle and only show the part of the terrain that matches with the beginning of both battles. Think of it as a map of one of the fortified positions of Dien Bien Phu and not the entire valley. I cannot go over all of the game's components separately or this would be one very long review. All of the plastic soldiers and counters etc. are manufactured to a very high degree of workmanship. As I mentioned in my last Cadet Games review, if you do get soldiers or planes that are a bit bent, do not sweat it. Just put them in some hot water and they can be fixed into their original positions. One thing that is great for we grognards that are getting older is that all of the components are large. You will not have to fiddle with 1/2" counters in these games. The game comes with two rulebooks. One is for the Battle of Ia Drang Valley (and is the main rulebook for the games). The other is for the Battle of Dak To Hill 875. The Ia Drang Rulebook is twenty-three pages long, while the one for Dak To is just eleven pages. They are in full color and have some illustrations of the rules inside. The components, maps, and Rulebooks are definitely up the level of the other Cadet Games wargame that I reviewed 'Nguyen Hue '72, The 1972 Easter Offensive in Vietnam'.

 The different colored 'chips' to the side of the map are used underneath the plastic soldiers to show the unit's strength. A full-strength unit of either side has 7 'steps' and thirty-five soldiers. It is an easy and simple way to keep track of your units' strength points. 

Everything that was encountered by either side in the battle is included. There are NVA bunkers, anti-aircraft, and mortar units. The U.S. has Huey helicopters and howitzers. These are just a few of the units that you are capable of using in the game. 

 Victory is determined in Ia Drang by the U.S. casualties taken. The smaller the number of casualties means a U.S. victory. In Dak To Hill 875, the NVA player has to eliminate the U.S. soldiers and make sure none are on the top of Hill 875 at the end of the game. The U.S. wins even if they have a wounded unit on the top of Hill 875.

  The other game from Cadet Games that I reviewed was a strategic one encompassing the whole of South Vietnam. The rules for this game are not just leveled down compared to it. The Sequence of Play, movement, and combat have all been designed for a tactical game. The one thing U.S. players have to keep in mind is that neither of these battles shows off the immense resources that the U.S. had during the war. These are both very small action knife fights. In every hex toward your goal might lie an ambush. The NVA player in Dak To Hill 875 can take as many casualties as are needed to reach your goal. As long as you have one unit left and the U.S. has none you are king of the hill.

 

 Both of these battles, as has been shown, are very different from the ones in documentaries. The U.S. player has a very minimal amount of air and artillery to keep the NVA at bay. I am as impressed by this game's rules and play as I was by the Cadet Games strategic game I reviewed. The games have short rulebooks and are easy to learn but still have a lot of depth for the player to revel in.

 Thank you, Cadet Games, for allowing me to review another great product from your stable. Wargamers, and especially grognards, should look past the small plastic soldiers etc. to see the real wargame underneath. These games are not Axis and Allies clones.

Robert

Cadet games:

Cadet Games LLC - Cadet Games

They Were Soldiers, and Dak To Hill 875:

Vietnam War - Cadet Games LLC

My review of:

Nguyen Hue '72 by Cadet Games - A Wargamers Needful Things