From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: Montcalm & Wolfe review Montcalm and Wolfe (Markham Designs) This is a simulation of the Anglo-French war of the middle of the Eighteen century, a DTP project, the first one by prolific designer Rob Markham, here in the field that in my opinion he grasps better than the others: a strategic simulation of a peculiar war, not so simulated before. The quality of the components is very good: you have almost cut cardboard counters (my copy had a few problems with a couple of sheet that were not properly cut) and a laser print color copy of the map (a little bit on the glamour side as for the choice of colors, but otherwise good). You have combat units rated for combat value and movement, while leaders have a command rating (that tells how many units each leader may command), an attacking and defensive value, if any; and a seniority rank (if you have more than one leader in a single hex, the senior leader has to command at least one unit, player's choice). The combat units are Regular, Irregular (for the French), Light infantry (for the British), Militia, Ranger and Native Americans. All the units are double size (I don't exactly why; anyway, this is not certainly a problem). There are five regular season monthly turns each year, plus two winter turns (with a special attrition rule that severely hinders movement and combats during these months, plus a rule for Militia demobilization that could be terrific if the players make mistakes in stacking too many units in a hex), and a Strategic Interphase (where you check the Political track for reinforcements die roll differentials, and check for reinforcements). Each turn starts with the British activation phase, where the British player may activate one leader (and his units) or roll on the Command Table to activate (possibly) more leaders, with the risk to move none or activate one leader of the other side. Then, the British move, the French player may move his leaders put in reserve status, then the British player may/must have combat with units in the same hex than his, and then he checks for reinforcements (if you use the variable reinforcements rules) and for the activation of Native Americans; the same phases are taken by the French players; at last you check for supply (a rule that limits dramatically the movement of large stacks on the board). You may move by river (a must for both players if they want to move fast on the map). Combat use a system similar to that used, for example, in GDWs A House Divided: there is a battle board in which both players put their units according to their combat value (modified by terrain, type of units and leader bonuses); each unit scores a hit if the roll (of a 10 sided die, 0 equal 10) is less or equal the box it is in; each unit may be hit two times; the first hit puts the unit in another row of boxes on the board, with the value reduced by one). As in other game with a similar system, the defender rolls all his units and assigns his hits before the attacker may respond in the first round of each battle; after each round, the defender and then the attacker has the option to retreat; if this is not the case, combat proceeds with simultaneous fire round after round. The objective of the game is to achieve 5 political points more than the other player; you get them by occupying settlements and forts on the map, killing leaders and winning major battles (more than 4 units each side). There is plenty of chrome, especially regarding the native units, the rangers, and a very gentle rule for the exchange of captured leaders. But how does it work in practice ? Very well, in my opinion. Both players are forced by the rules to be extremely wary in their units movement, as they may be reduced to pieces by a few wrong die rolls in the supply phase. Movement by river is fundamental for a good strategy, as is the control of river forts . The game is very good even solitaire (a big plus for me) and having played this one and read the designer notes, I'm eager to try 3W's Give me Liberty, a previous effort by Markham. I rate this game 8 out of 10. A real gem.