From: "Mike NotSpecified" Subject: [Consim-l] Review: A Line in the Sand Thought I'd share a review of an older game I am re-discovering and enjoying.... A Line in the Sand Capsule Review This is TSR’s game of Middle Eastern conflict circa Desert Shield (the first edition was actually published before Desert Storm kicked off). It can be played with 2 to 6 six players, but it is the 6 player version, the so called diplomatic game, that is best. Players control factions (e.g. “Moderate Arabs”, “US and Allies”) or individual countries (Iraq, etc.). Each player draws a secret “War Aim” which defines his victory conditions, which might range from simply influencing other countries to outright conquest. The players can pursue these aims with a mix of military and diplomatic means, the later of which include a set of scripted initiatives and the natural interplay between players. In no sense are the various factions balanced and the random drawing of War Aims can leave players facing a very difficult, even impossible task. This last point may cause concern for the pure “game” player but it adds a very nice touch of realism if you are not too concerned about winning. The mechanics are mostly quite simple. Standard movement and combat are simple, the diplomatic effects of various actions are somewhat more involved (mostly because you have to remember to check for them) and there is also a quite clever mechanic for conducting secret negotiations, which nevertheless have a possibility of being discovered by foreign intelligence organizations. The game goes for ~ $5.00 on e-bay and is an absolute steal at that price. Highly recommended. Theme The game covers conflict in the Middle East. There is a two player game which is basically Desert Storm, Iraq starts in Kuwait and the Coalition Forces in Saudi Arabia. The US player needs to liberate Kuwait to win that one. Additional Scenarios are provided for additional players, so you can have a three, four or five person game as well. But it is the “Diplomatic” game, for 6 players, that really shines. The players command different factions/countries (Iraq, Iran, Moderate Arabs, Volatile Arabs, US & Allies, Israel). Each faction randomly chooses their War Aim from among 3 possibilities. These possibilities are different from faction to faction but generally range from an attempt to gain political influence by converting other countries to your point of view to outright conquest of large regions. The possibilities inherent in this mix of War Aims can put the player in nigh unwinnable situation from the start, but that is true of the real world also. The rule book suggest that if this really bothers you, well you may prefer Checkers…. The political environment is reflected in two gauges, “War Fever” and “Jihad” that respectively represent the US & Allies enthusiasm for war (starts at zero) and the likelihood of an Arab country deciding to switch their geo-political stance (starts at a neutral 5) For instance, Syria is one of four countries in the Volatile Arabs faction. Should the Jihad gauge reach 0, then each of the volatile Arab countries must roll for possible revolution, which could replace the government with one that decides to adopt the Moderate Arabs policies etc. These two tracks are effected by the player’s military actions, diplomatic initiatives and random events. Depending on which faction you play, which War Aim you have drawn, and what the other players are doing, you may find yourself favoring military action or diplomatic initiatives, but most likely you are going to need a fine mix of both to win. It is possible for none, some or all of the players to achieve their aims. Components The components are very nice. There is a tri-fold mounted map of the Middle East using irregular shaped areas for movement etc. National borders are color coded to match the various factions. The map runs from Libya to Iran, and Turkey to Diego Garcia. A very nice touch is that some of the territory is abstracted by single areas that that cost a whole turn to traverse. This allows the vast expanse of Saudi Arabia to be represented, without taking up most of the board with empty desert. A minor quibble is that even with this, some areas are pretty small and sometimes a little fiddly for holding the units, Israel in particular tends to get real crowded. Land and Sea units are represented by cardboard pieces that fold in half and fit into little plastic stands that hold them upright with their national flag showing on one side and unit type and strength on the other. This offers a bit of “fog of war” and a lot of color, there are a lot of nations represented and the flags look good. Air units are represented by large square counters. At first I was put off by their size, but in play they work well because they are often stationed at airbases and it is easy to stack the land unit plastic bases on them. Hits are marked on Land and Sea units with little “flags” that stick into the side of the folded over unit. Aircraft losses are marked by flipping the counter to it’s reduced side or removing it. Each player has a diplomatic envelope, into which other players can pass notes throughout the game. There is even a note pad for these secret messages provided. Not completely necessary, most games would probably make you provide your own, but a nice touch. Military Play Land units can move 2 spaces, Sea units 8 and Air units 10. All units are rated on a scale of 1 to 6 and you score a hit by rolling less than or equal to your rating. Some chrome is provided in that air units are specialized as either ground attack or air superiority and get to roll 2 dice when used as designed, and have their attack ratings reduced when used in the other role. Land and Sea units can take hits of 1, 2 or 3 before being destroyed, based on the same rating as used for combat. So an Iranian gunboat (rating 1) has only a 10% chance of hitting a US task force; and will be sunk on the first hit it receives. Whereas the US task force (rating 5) has a 50% chance of hitting and can survive 2 hits before sinking on the third hit. If you are playing the Iranians you might want to do the math. Diplomatic play Each turn starts with a roll for a random event that will likely move the War Fever and/or Jihad gauge. After that, it is up to the players. You can always move your units, but then you can decide to skip combat in favor of diplomacy. For diplomacy each player has 3 pre-scripted initiatives that they can try. Considerable chrome goes into these, down to and including real life quotes to throw into your “speech” but basically they come down to a roll which will give you a range of possible movements on the two gauges. Obviously each possible initiative has a different range of outcomes. You can also design your own initiative, which is called generically, “appealing to the UN”. Here you simply state the outcome you want and roll to see how well your speech is received. The two gauges are also effected by military movement and combat. For instance, Israel using a nuclear weapon (yes, they are in the game as well!) tends to drive Jihad higher. Iraq capturing oil fields pushes US War Fever up, and US casualties drives it down. Manipulating these two gauges is often an important concern for the players. If, for instance, you are playing the Moderate Arabs and your goal is to convert one or more volatile Arab countries by revolution, you are likely to spend a lot of turns on diplomatic initiatives to drive the Jihad gauge down. But you can also accomplish the same thing by invading a volatile Arab country (the idea being that your troops are “aiding the rebels” or some such). Such a limited invasion can drive down Jihad and hopefully spark a revolution, but you have to keep your incursion limited because outright conquering the country is not your aim! Tricky balancing of war aims and abilities is what this game is all about. Multi-Player considerations The actual interaction between the players adds another element. Each player starts with a set number of military units that can be deployed almost however he sees fit. Which promptly introduces a element of bluff. If your aim is to conquer Israel, do you really want to set up right on the border or would you rather hope to lull them into a false sense of security, maybe even hope Israel launches their own war against somebody else? The War Aims are secret, but you don’t have to keep the secret. You can tell people what you are aiming for, or you can just as easily lie to them about your aims! Table talk is encouraged, but anything you say aloud must be heard by all the players. If you want to communicate secretly with anyone, you slip them a folded note that goes into their diplomatic pouch. This is the only form of secret communication allowed. You can send notes at any time, but they can only be read at the beginning of the next turn, when all players simultaneously open their pouches. Once read, all the messages go into another envelop called Espionage. During their turn, players can try for espionage, which if successful allows them to read one D10’s worth of messages randomly drawn from this envelope. Of course they may draw some messages either to/from themselves that they’ve already read, or they may draw other peoples messages. Note that the other players will never know which messages were read! On a really good espionage roll the player can instead randomly draw from the War Aims pile, thus conclusively learning what one factions War Aim is not. In all of the above, there is no requirement to tell the truth, except that you cannot forge diplomatic notes from other players, communications can be intercepted but not forged. Gameplay Things move fast. A full game in 2 to 3 hours is quite realistic. Since movement and combat are so simple there is no need to refer to the rules and even the largest armies consist of no more than 3 dozen units. The diplomatic effects of any given action can require a bit more looking up at first because the same action by one faction does not necessarily cause the same effect if performed by another faction. Syria invading Lebanon is not the same as Israel invading Lebanon. But player aid cards help with this and it doesn’t take long for players to get the effects pretty well memorized. Diplomacy can take time, and/or provide a lot of the fun. Depends on your group I would think. There is a rule that you can only write messages when it is NOT your turn, specifically to keep things moving.. Conclusions The basic 2 player game is really of interest only for learning the mechanics of movement and combat, which aren’t that hard to begin with. The real fun is in the 6 player diplomatic game with its rich interaction of random War Aims, asymmetrical military capabilities and necessity of keeping an eye on the public opinion gauges. Very few war games even attempt to address all of these, let alone do such a good job of putting the conflict squarely in a larger context. Pick this up on e-bay for around $5.00 and have a blast! _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l