J. R. Tracy  - Oct 19, 2005 10:51 am (#11024 Total: 11030)  
"I no drive just for drive. I drive for to finish in front." - 
Milka Duno, Le Mans 	 

(our weekly game report, with an expanded explanation of The First World War ):

We had six players last night, and Britt arrived with Ted's new First
World War tucked under his arm. We split into a group of four playing
Ted's game and Dan and Dr. Rob facing off in a Wilderness War rematch. 

For First World War, Herr Fuchs donned the pickelhaube, Dave had the
Western Allies, Britt was Franz Ferdinand (the emperor, not the band),
and I was the last of the Romanovs. 

This game lives in the wilderness between euro and wargame. Turns are
approximately yearly, with four impulses per turn. The map of Europe is
divided into eleven zones, or fronts, each with a string of cities that
really represent a 'progress track' for action in that sector. If an
attack succeeds in a sector, the winner advances along the chain of
cities. If he reaches the final space, his opponent on that front is
burdened with a 'surrender chit' that raises the possibility his power
may give up the ghost at the end of that year. The conquered city spaces
themselves represent victory points as well, as you pick up a point for
every one captured but lose a point for every home space lost. Some
cities also represent replacement depots. Eliminated units come back
each year but only as many as you have replacement cities, with any
excess permananently lost. 

The winner is determined at game end - if a power surrenders at the end
of the turn (by rolling less than or equal to the number of surrender
chits collected that year), the game ends with that power's alliance
losing. Whoever has the most points in the opposing alliance is the game
winner. If the game goes through the end of 1918 without a surrender,
then the sum of alliance VPs determines which 'side' is the victor, and
again the leading VP power in the victorious alliance wins the game. 

As mentioned, a year consists of four impulses by each player, played
one at a time in a fixed order (Germany, Western Allies, Russia,
Austria-Hungary). An impulse may be an attack in a zone, movement of any
number of units from a zone to adjacent zones, strategic movement of up
to two units to a non-adjacent zone, or a pass. With only four impulses
to work with, you really need to think ahead - if the enemy disrupts
your plans or your initial actions fare poorly, it's tough to react and
redirect your resources accordingly. 

Combat is very straightforward. After declaring the attack, the defender
reveals all his units in the zone (some of which may be dummies) and the
attacker reveals as many as he wishes to commit to combat. Crafty
attackers may hold back dummies or actual units - given the mechanics he
is motivated to reveal only as much as he needs to max out his modifier.
The combat value is based on the strength of the lead unit and a die
roll, with an additional plus one to the side with the most supporting
combat units in the zone. If support is tied, no one gets this modifier.
Either side may commit a combat chit as well, which could modify the
roll by anywhere from minus one to plus two (the minus chits are
mandatory plays if they find their way into your hand). The die itself
is unusual, with an 'S' on two sides and one through four on the
remaining facets. The Ss are equivalent to a zero for combat resolution,
but allow the draw of a combat chit for future use. After the die
rolling, highest value wins, with the losing side losing its lead unit
and the winner advancing a city. Ties are stalemates with the defender
retaining the city but both sides losing their lead units. 

Combat power varies from zero for the Bulgarians and Rumanians, ones for
Serbs and Belgies, ones and twos for the French, twos and threes for the
Brits, ones for the Russians and Austro-Hungarians, and mostly threes
for the Germans. The Russian gets a little help as the game wears on
with a two-factor MEF and a three-factor (!) Army of the Orient. This
seems like a tight spread in values but given the combat mechanic a +1
advantage is material. 

Our game saw the Germans romp through France and punch up to St.
Petersburg early on. The Entente was looking pretty shaky but Mother
Russia survived her surrender rolls in 1914 and 1915, and we started
taking it to Austria Hungary. I managed to grab an AH replacement city,
Lemberg, and given the inherent Russian replacement advantage I opted
for a war of attrition. Next, the southern fronts opened up - these add
weaker troops and very short 'progress tracks'. With the Western Allies
pounding AH in Italy and me hammering him in Rumania and Bulgaria, he
was taking irreplaceable losses and getting pinned back to his surrender
spaces. At this point Germany had to stop spending impulses on the
attack and instead used strategic movement to prop up Hapsburg fortunes
with German armies. 

Entente offensives in 1918 hammered Austria-Hungary, which finished the
year with three surrender chits. Sadly, Britt passed the die roll,
leaving the Central Powers the victor, 13 VPs to 12. David's Germany was
the overall game winner. It was a fun, tense game with nice swings of
fortune, some interesting strategic dilemmas, and very fast pace. We
wrapped up in 3.5 hours, including teaching the rules and some breaks
for food. The physical package is impressive, typical Phalanx quality,
though the rules were a touch sparse. Our one major question concerned
redeploying dummies at the end of each year - following a query on
ConsimWorld we find the answer is yes. 

I like the game and will be picking it up as soon as it hits the Strat. 

At the other end of the table, Rob's Frenchmen seemed to be sitting back
watching the Indians do most of the dirty work. It was good to see Rob
embrace the role of Imperial oppressor so heartily. Dan steadily drove
north, however, and appeared on the verge of winning a major
conventional battle. Next I looked, Rob had Dan's redcoats on the run. I
don't know if it was a die roll or cardplay that smashed Dan's fortunes
but the upshot was a French victory. 

JR