By Peter Ruth II

Friends, I’ve decided that I’ve been remiss in not sharing with you the vast pool of knowledge that I’ve learned over the years regarding tabletop miniatures gaming, and so this is the first of many articles that will pass on some of the laborious research I’ve carved out of the Internet. The tag will be “Miniatures Gaming 101″ and I’ll be putting articles ranging from figure sources, game rules, painting tip sites, terrain building help, the best books to buy, and all manner of things relating to all things miniature. I’m not a great figure painter, though I can hold my own, but I am a very capable terrain builder, so I’ll likely share some of my projects with you fine folks as well. So, let’s begin with a great source of material to quickly and cheaply get a table going for a skirmish: Pegasus Hobbies (PegasusHobbies.net).

There was a time, so long ago, that I was playing Battletech, Mage Knight, and all manner of miniature game on paper mats. Yes, they do serve a purpose, but why would you want to if you didn’t have to, and further, if it wasn’t prohibitively expensive? It’s because I didn’t know just how many miniatures companies are out there, nor did I know just how inexpensive miniatures terrain can be if you know where to look. Well, I was at a game store just before I got sick a year and a half ago, and I saw this wonderful, detailed church sitting on a Warhammer table. After inquiring, it turns out that the guy spent all of two hours painting and assembling it, and the amazing part, he spent just over twenty dollars on it.

I immediately got online and found that this company’s products are both inexpensive and ubiquitous, and so I jumped in with both feet and got both a Gothic City Ruins and the same church set that I had seen at the store. As soon as I got it home I realized just how easy it was going to be to turn the box into what would be the ruins of the Esoteric Order of Dagon church, an ancient, decaying factory, the burned-out hulk of an old apartment building, and so many other terrain features. Within an hour I had glued it and assembled it, and because I tend to overthink things, three hours later I had the whole thing primered, painted, blackwashed, and three-color dry-brushed. It is simply amazing how wonderful these things look once you’ve got them painted.

I’m never one to do something half-assed, so I took it further once I’d had it for a year and really got interested in making beautiful landscapes to play on, so I then based the entire set, flocked it (including adding moss to the model), and put another ten dollar Pegaus set of rubble in the center to create the illusion that the top of the building had fallen in long ago. In all, it looks just like I hoped it would, and I’m out maybe a total of 6 hours time and forty bucks in materials. That said, it was very nice looking with a simple blackwash/drybrush treatment, and the flexibility of the sets are such that if you were to buy two, you could present them on the table as four sides of the same ruined building.

The second set I got was, as I noted, the church itself. The beauty of these sets is that you can make them in a great many configurations, and so I made mine a little non-standard, since I’m a pretty non-standard individual myself. I ended up making it an “evil church”, airbrushing the entire thing flat black and following with a grey drybrush treatment. I also airbrushed ~flame light~ on and around the lanterns but it didn’t turn out as well as I liked. It’s still got some work to go, a year later or so, but it’s been good enough for my table so I haven’t put effort into it to get it to what I consider “quality work”.

About a month ago I downloaded and printed the free rules for “The Skank Game”, otherwise known as Warlords of the Wasteland 2085, which is a post-apocalyptic skirmish game that includes vehicles and very light RPG elements. I was looking for a Fallout-esque game and therefore I needed to have some post-apocalyptic game pieces. Well, a forum member at Fortress:AT was talking about Pegasus’ Syberclicks terrain, which is the Warhammer 40K equivalent of the Hexagon terrain (shown left), so I bought both the large and small packs, which cost a total of $32.00. Well, let me tell you, it’s really quite modular in that you can build virtually anything you can imagine, much like Lego products, but with a very “hodge-podge”, scavenged feel to the buildings. As usual, I couldn’t follow the directions as listed, so with the small set I made something not remotely resembling the shown product, which integrated into the walled wasteland outpost I

created using the large set. The wife likes it, and she’s a tough customer to please, so I’m content. It’s very lightweight, so I think it really will need to have a base on it to sturdy it up. It snaps together with these clips that I believe were sent by the Devil himself, because after 2 hours of modelling, my fingers were LITERALLY bleeding. They’re a real bitch to assemble, no doubt, but it’s worth it. As you can see from the photo of the frames, there’s a bazillion little rippy bits and each one is sharp as a razor, even after you’ve removed them from the frame. The clips come in six styles, from 90 degrees to multi-angle three-way, and there’s a lot of flexibility in what you can do. Again, these things bite into your hand like a spur when you assemble the buildings, so be advised that you will not get out of this without some serious finger damage. I’d argue that it’s worth it.

I spray painted the assembly after I glued it, and while you don’t need to glue it, I wanted this to be a permanent structure so I used some CA and with a fine needle tip, dispensed a small drop at each joint and let the capillary action draw it into the connector. It’s very durable now, and I left several joints unglued so that I can break it into two pieces for storage. I’ll base it using some small lengths of plasticard epoxied to the bottom and flocked with sand. I may even use some modelling clay or Sculpey to create small berms along the base to make it look as if the structure has been there a while.  What I was going for, in all honesty, is something like a scaled-down version of the”juice” refinery in The Road Warrior. This photo shows what I built, and in retrospect, I really should’ve primed it, but the Rustoleum Hammered Copper spray paint usually sticks to pretty much anything. This is just the first coat, and only sprayed from top down. I ran out, so off to the store I go after work for another to finish the job. Once I’ve got it coated, I’ll airbrush several layers of brown, grey, red, orange, and yellow on it to create a very rusty metal look, then I may or may not hand-paint some “hot spots” of dripping rust effect.

Along with the Hexagon stuff I also got the Pegasus Technobridge, which runs $15.00, and will save me a ton of time having to scratch build it out of Plasticard and balsa. It’s the same as the church stuff, very simple to construct and looks great right out of the box, although I’ll be painting it, probably to match the outpost, and then putting some sand on it here and there to give it a more realistic look.

Now, Pegasus also creates some pre-painted stuff as well. For fantasy, or even some early American settings, you can buy a lot of small buildings that come ready-to-play. These are made of a hard stone material, perhaps even dental stone, so they’re really rather heavy for their size compared to the Gothic stuff. This Small Stone Cottage cost me $13.00 and its larger brother cost me maybe five dollars more. They’re a single, solid cast piece, so these are really only good to create the feel of a village rather than actually allow you to have door-to-door fighting. I’ve used these for Strange Aeons, and they fit in passably with my 1920′s period pieces fairly well. It beats having to build and paint a Plasticville O-scale building, which I’ll get into in a another Miniatures Gaming 101 article, when all you want is a prop piece to sit on the table as a thematic line-of-sight blocker.

In conclusion, you can get a lot of really great terrain, and I mean an entire city block’s worth, for around a hundred dollars with Pegasus, and the stuff is so easy to assemble, aside from the Hexagon finger-scourge stuff, that it’s a no-brainer. My only complaint with any of it is that they have only a few “lines” to choose from. I’d love if they moved into doing something like Plasticville, but in different time periods. It would certainly save me a lot of time in sourcing parts to kit-bash into what I want. Hope you enjoyed the article, and there’s much more to come.

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By Mark Rivera from Boardgames in Blighty

From Victory Point Games

Designer – Steve Carey

Art – Tim Allen

Victory Point Games provided a copy of this game for review

The latest in the States of Siege Series of games brings Steve Carey’s design skills to an interesting aspect of the 2nd World War in the Mediterranean. Having set such a high standard with We Must Tell The Emperor, my expectations were high for Malta Beseiged: 1940-1942.

In this solitaire game, you are in charge of the Commonwealth forces and are tasked with maintaining the beleaguered island of Malta while supporting Allied efforts to interdict the Axis war efforts in the Med which will have an impact upon the war in North Africa.The games system plays the Axis forces against you.

Unpackaging

Another typical Victory Points release with their standard production. Within their parameters, they surely make the most of space and resources. You do get a lot in a small package. The map is on cardstock, and shows the operational area for the game. There is a lot there but it makes good use of the space and it is relatively easy to negotiate. And it looks very good.

The counters and markers are die-cut cardboard and look really good and thematic.

The cards, which are the heart of the game system, are small but give you the information you need in a nicely laid out format which is easy to follow.

The rules are 8 pages, which is really something special considering the depth of the game content.

Gameplay

A card driven game, Malta Beseiged: 1940-1942, as other games in the series,  relies on the Event cards to drive the game. These cards are divided by colour into 3 different Epochs or stages of the conflict, each of which provides an increasingly difficult set of circumstances to deal with. The cards, which are nicely laid out, provide the following information -

• The Headline – which is the main event for the turn
• Advancing Unit – Which Axis forces are advancing and thereby creating a greater threat
• Resource gains and losses
• Die roll modifiers
• Actions – these are the number of actions available to you to take
• Historical flavour text

The sequence of play is as follows:

Headline phase – pull the next current event card

Military phase – Move Axis armies, and naval and Air units

- ULTRA Escort attempt – the Allied ULTRA intelligence can really be helpful

- Battle Stations – Flip Active Axis Fronts

- Conduct each battle

Resources phase – Adjust resource markers, and add new fortifications to the Holding Box

Orders phase – You may attempt to expend the ULTRA marker to gain intelligence, then perform the allowed number of Attack,  Support, Fortify, Resource, Raid, and/or ULTRA Actions. You can also expend Supply points for extra Actions. You will certainly need to do this.

Housekeeping phase -

A – Check for Convoy arrival

B – Determine if the game is over

C – Refresh map

D – Turn Ends

As with other games in this series, its a case of following the steps and although it sounds like a lot to do, after the first couple of turns it all moves pretty smoothly and quickly. The Axis AI which is revealed with each new card puts you under considerable pressure and puts you in a situation of having to choose, sometimes between the lesser of too evils, hoping for the best.

The information you need is ready to hand and very accessible, and the feel of the game is Operational with an interesting mix of land, sea and air threats and the ever present Rommel moving across North Africa.

Did it work for me?

Boy this is a tough game to win but its terrific. Steve Carey’s previous effort, We Must Tell The Emperor remains a Victory Point Games best seller and Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 is at the same standard of tension, playability, frustration (this is a good thing…) and clever design. Some nice wrinkles such as the ULTRA intelligence and the convoys mark this game as a unique theatre of warfare. The history revealed through the flavour text is interesting and the feel of impending doom is never very far away. But you always feel that you just might crack it and when you get beat up, you just want to have another go.

I do marvel at VPG‘s ability to squeeze so much into a small package. The map is very busy, and may look overwhelming but it works well. The counter artwork is excellent. Yes, the scope is quite as grand as the War in the Pacific but this game really brings out the challenges and importance of the War in the Med and the desperate scrape the Allies found themselves in. It clearly illustrates the problem that Malta created for the Axis and why the Allies needed to hang onto it to disrupt their operations. There are very few games covering this theatre of operations and particularly covering the varied operational issues and Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 brings it all to life in a playable way. Fans of the States of Siege system will not be disappointed and if you haven’t tried out any of these games, this is an excellent entry point.

Another absolute winner for Victory Point Games!

Boardgames in Blighty rating – 9 out of 10

Family friendly? No, its a war game and solitaire

For more information – www.victorypointgames.com

By Paco Garcia Jaen

This is what the publishers say:

X610Z: On the Ruins of Chaos is a living card and board game. In this game you control a brave band of survivors seeking refuge from the dangers of Mount Vargah. You achieve this by making your way towards the relative safety of a victory point, or by destroying your opponent in direct combat. Play your cards in order to gather resources, summon powerful allies, and cast dangerous fluxes or catalysts. However, you will suffer defeat if you run out of cards, so make sure you either defeat your opponents or reach the victory point before that happens.

The box contains four ready-to-play decks, four sets of playing pieces, a rulebook, a quick reference rules sheet, and a game board presenting a map of the world to track your adventures.

But is it worth your money? This video is not a review of the gameplay, but a review of the game components, the quality and the looks. This is to help you decide if your money will be better spent elsewhere or if this game is what you should be adding to your shelf

It is!

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Review – U-Boat Commander from DVG Games

By Mark Rivera from Boardgames in Blighty

Designer – Dave Schueler

Art – Val Nunez

A copy of this game was provided by DVG games

No, I don’t like being convide in close spaces which means I would have never volunteered for the submarine service although I surely tip my hat to those who did and continue to do so. I just don’t know how anyone could do it, but they certainly did. The Battle for the North Atlantic during World War II was typified by the German U-Boats hunting for convoys, and causing havoc until the Allies were able to develop parity and greater numbers and resources. Although I don’t know a lot about the history of that expect of the war, I know enough to have a sense of what went on. Films like Das Boot, certainly the best submarine film I’ve seen, give a view from the German side of the conflict, and it was certainly harrowing for the sailors to say the least.

When it comes to playing war games, I’m a land lubber really. The only submarine game I’ve ever played was the old SPI game, Wolfpack  so it was certainly interesting to see how things have moved on in the design and development of submarine games with U-Boat Leader. I’m not a tactical fan either but I can see the attraction for war gamers who enjoy playing at that level of conflict. So I went into playing this game a low level of interest. I did some checking and the DVG Leader series of games is pretty well regarded so I thought that at least the pedigree of U-Boat Leader was good.

What you have here is a solitaire game, for age 12+, which means it will be a systems anchored approach to playing it. In other words, the system was the thing as in may solitaire games and a good solitaire system shouldn’t be something you are fighting with, in fact the more seamless it moves from stage to stage, allowing the story to command your attention, the better.

Unboxing

Inside the sturdy box you get -

• 165 full colour cards – representing Merchant ships, Escort ships, Naval ships, U-Boats, Events
• 264 die-cut cardboard counters representing U-boats, other ships, torpedoes, and other bit and pieces
• 4 campaign sheets
• 2 player sheets – Tactical Display and Help Sheet
• a 10-sided die
• 1 Player log sheet

The components are pretty typical war game fare and are very functional. The information is laid out for you, the solitaire gamer in a way that you can get a hold of easily enough and thankfully, they are presented in a concise way without tons of tables, charts, etc. The artwork is very effective and accessible and I found it all very appealing. There have been some comments about the lack of mounted Tactical Display and Help sheet and I would have to agree that for the price, that would be a reasonable expectation, although, I have no real problem with them being on sturdy cardstock.

U-Boat Leader includes the following type of U-boats:

• Type IIB/C coastal submarines
• Type VII A/B/C Atlantic submarines
• Type IX A/B/C long-range submarines
• Type XXI Elektro-boat

U-Boat Leader includes four campaigns covering different stages of the Battle of the Atlantic:

• The Battle Begins: covering operations at the start of World War II to about mid-1940.
• The Happy Time: covering the period from mid-1940 to mid-1941 when the U-boats and wolfpacks dominated the seas.
• Operation Drumbeat: covering operations off the American coast and in the Caribbean in early 1942.
• The Hunted: covering the time period when the tide starts to turn against the U-boats.

The campaign structure makes things manageable  and allows you to pick up and play in short time settings. Very nice.

Gameplay

As a solitaire game, U-Boat Commander has a system that takes you through each campaign. Dave Schuelerhas put things together in a reasonably easy to follow set of rules, which at first, seemed a bit much, but were actually fine for me to go through and get playing. I haven’t played any other games in the DVG Games Leader series so I can’t compare, but from what I’ve read, this game fits in well alongside the others in the series.

Helpfully, the rules start by giving you the lay of the land by walking you through the components.

The important Campaign Sheets are divided into areas and you place your U-Boats in these areas and move between them. They also provide information on Ports, Patrolling, Number of movement cards you can draw, Number of enemy contacts, Searching, and special Missions.

The Help Sheet holds the Merchant, Naval and Escort Ship cards to make things nice and accessible.

The Tactical display is cool as this is where the tense action takes place as you resolve combat using U-Boat and ship counters as well as torpedoes in status counters to reflect you tactical decisions.

The U-Boat cards give you information on U-Boat ID, Captain, Class, Years in service, Special Ops cost, Skill rating, Experience, Special Abilities, Crew Stress

Event cards indicate what happens as a U-Boat moves during the relevant year Campaign year.

Convoy cards show the ship types the U-Boat encounters as well as how to deploy them, the type, and any special conditions.

Merchant, Escort and Naval cards detail the ships in the convoys. Details include – Name and type, Tonnage, Speed, Victory Points, Experience cards, Torpedo and U-Boat Gun Hit numbers, and Surface Attack numbers. Escort Cards also have Detection values and Surface and Submerged Attack numbers.

Set-up

You start by choosing a Campaign sheet from which you will choose the Campaign length, how many Patrols you will make, how many Special Operations points you have. You will also set up the card decks and Select your U-Boats.

Sequence of Play

Strategic Segment – You may Expend Special Operations Points on Air Search, Supply ships to refit (reduce stress), Intelligence to improve Contact results, Priority R&R  (to reduce crew stress), Advanced Torpedoes, Radio Call to try and form  a Wolfpack. You may also assign Special Missions – To place Mines , Attack enemy units, Aid a German Surface Raider.

Operations Segment – Very simply, this is about moving your U-Boats across the Campaign map (resolving Event cards and Special Missions) and then you can choose to end your patrol once you enter a Port box.

Tactical Segment – During the Contact phase, for each U-Boat you determine if there is a contact, and then, the number of them. Then you draw a Convoy card to see what the contact is. If you don’t choose to retreat, you set up the convoy and your U-Boat on the Tactical display. Then you can see if you can form a Wolfpack!  Combat is resolved through movement on the Tactical display, revealing targets, dealing with Escorts before they get you, firing torpedoes to hit enemy shipping, firing with your deck gun, causing enough damage to sink the enemy, dealing with their counter measures by taking evasive actions, etc. There’s more but you get the picture.

The Post-Combat Resolution Phase is where you Add Stress to surviving U-Boats (I really like this as it talks to the human element which tends to be missing from these types of games), Reloading Torpedoes, Recording experience points, Recoding Victory points. If there are Contacts remaining, you can do nothing, return to the Contact phase and have another go for different Contacts, Re-Attack the Convoy  or take one last shot at a heavily damaged ship (which will be a juicy option if you’ve taken out the Escorts),  or end the phase for that U-Boat, choosing another to carry on with.

During the Refit Segment, you can promote U-Boats to the next experience level (so there is a progression which gives you more of a stake in your U-Boats’ survival), determine if you have reached the patrol limit for this Campaign, Recover Stress, restock in Port, Reload at sea, and reset the Campaign map markers.

Lastly, you have the Campaign outcome where you add up your victory points to see how you’ve done.

On top of all this, there are optional rules for different types of U-Boats, Snorkel, and Linked campaigns.

Yes, there is a lot here, but it is reasonably followed as you track through the rules phases. Its all explained pretty clearly, with some supporting example illustrations. Interestingly, and to the credit of the design, unlike many other war games, no one aspect of the rules is complex or difficult to follow in its own right. On top of this, the mechanics reflect the feel of the U-Boat war rather than the technical effects which to me, makes it very playable and not a simulation exercise. A very successful of a design for feel approach by Dave Schueler.

Did it work for me?

Having said up front, that tactical games aren’t really my thing, I found that I enjoyed U-Boat Leader for a number of reasons.

First, it’s actually not purely a tactical game. Yes the tactical aspects are there when you get into the fight but this is a stripped down view and approach which I appreciated. It didn’t feel like I was dealing with very technical aspects and not simulating being a U-Boat captain but gave me enough for my level of tolerance. Also, you have the operational and strategic aspects of the war and campaigns which broaden the picture nicely and make things very interesting indeed.

Next, the rules were pretty good to go through to play the system. I didn’t feel that I was struggling and it came together for me without too much effort. The rulebook is done rather well and reasonably user friendly which helped me learn the game.

Third, the information I needed was readily available through the cards and Player aids. I didn’t have to refer to myriads of charts and subsets of rules. U-Boat Leader was easier than I expected it to be, if I’m honest, although it by no means is an easy game that I would recommend to newbies. I would say moderate complexity is accurate as you do need to invest the time to familiarize yourself with how the system works.

Overall, this is as deep as I would care to go with this type of game. A very interesting experience which was enough to give me a feel for the key aspects of this aspect of the War in the Atlantic without burning my brain up and worse, boring me with the technical details found in more simulation-type games. I found it to be just the right mix in depth, strategy, and most importantly, fun, and it all comes in this very nice game from DVG Games. A nice production and a good alternative for those who like me, don’t like tactical simulations.

Boardgames in Blighty rating – 7 out of 10

Family friendly?

Nope, its a solitaire war game

For more information, go to – http://www.dvg.com/

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By Mark Rivera from Boardgames in Blighty

Designers – Grant Dalgliesh and Justin Thompson

Art – Karim Chakroun and Mark Churms

Thanks to Columbia Games for kindly providing a review copy of this game

As a long-time war gamer, I have been very remiss. I’ve never really played block war games. I guess I just never found them appealing but I couldn’t tell you why to be honest. So its about dang time I discovered whether I’m missing anything don’t you think?

So from what I’ve heard, Columbia Games is the bees knees in the world of Block war games and as they are now a sponsor of Boardgames in Blighty, I better try their games on for size! The awesome Grant Dalgliesh suggested that Julius Caesar would be an ideal place to start so here we go.

This 2-player game for age 12+, depicting the later Roman civil wars (49-45 BC). The forces of Caesar are pitted against those of Pompey. This is an entry level game and at the simple, less detailed end of the scale which should be ideal for beginners. So the main perspective of this review is how it stacks up as an entry level experience.

Unboxing

The first thing that I noticed from the game was the artwork which is very nice indeed, from the cover painting to the lovely map (although the names of the smaller cities are a bit hard to read). The unit information stickers are adequate and functional with nice icons and unit strengths as are the Command cards. The map could have used a location reference system as it took me a bit more time than I would have liked to find some of the locations to place units but this is a minor quibble. And of course, you get a bunch of wooden blocks – Tan for Caesar’s forces and Green for Pompey’s with a Purple one for the wily Cleopatra. I would have preferred the map to be on thicker cardboard stock as well but otherwise, I’m happy with the presentation and components.

Gameplay

The object if the game is to score 10 victory points by controlling cities and or killing leaders. Or after the 5 yearly turns, whoever has the most victory points if 10 isn’t reached. The Pompey player starts controlling 7 points worth of cities so the pressure of the offensive is upon the Caesar player.

I found the rules pretty clear and easy to digest and was up and running in relatively short order. There are useful visuals and written examples of play which are very helpful. The Game Turns are as follows:

There are 5 Years in the game, each divided into 5 game turns. Each turn has three phases.

Card phase -  Each player starts with 6 cards in a game turn, discarding one without showing it to the other player. Then each player starts each game turn by playing 1 of the 5 cards left in their hand face down. These cards are turned over and the player  with the higher Move value is Player 1 that turn. If a player plays an Event card they go first. If there is a tie, Caesar is first.

Then you must play the card, most of which have differing movement and levy values. There are a small amount of Event cards available as well. You will find yourself thinking about which card to play for best effect and when.

Command phase – Player 1 moves between cities or across the sea and levies (raises extra or replacement troops) and then player 2 does the same. There are rules for Group moves, Roads, Navis, and Amphibious movement. Rules for Levies are simple and important as you will need to replace losses and build up your forces.

The use of blocks with multiple strengths is a very nice and effective mechanism and very clean and efficient. As you lose strength from combat hits you just turn the block to the relevant side and as you gain a levy, you do the same. Simple and elegant.

Battle phase -

Battles are fought between blocks in the same city area. They are only revealed at the moment of combat. require a number of considerations -

Battle sequence – Player 1 determines the order in which battles are fought

Battle turns – Each player has 3 choices in a battle – Fire, Retreat (except in the first round of combat), and Pass. The sequence of turns depends on the combat rating of the blocks beginning with “A” units and having combat firing first, and and so on. Defending blocks fire before attacking blocks. A block has a limit of 1-4 dice you roll as its attack. A hit is scored against the strongest enemy block in the same area for each die roll equal or less to the attackers firepower rating. Very simple again.

Battle reserves – these can be declared and added to a battle

Other rules cover disruption, Battle hits, eliminated blocks, retreats and regrouping.

At the end of each year, when all cards are played, there is a Winter turn where forces are consolidated, Cleopatra returns home, Navis go to a port, and supply is checked.

Finally, victory point levels are checked.

The process works very well and is easily understood, particularly for experienced war gamers. New gamers will take longer to learn the game but overall this is a very comfortable game to get into. There is nothing overly innovative but it all comes together well in a clean, effective and elegant system. The nice thing about not seeing your opponent’s block values until the moment of combat is you are never quite sure what you are facing so this needs to be factored into your own movement and combat choices. All very playable.

Did it work for me?

Taken as an entry-level war game, Julius Caesar works very well. I would happily teach this game to a newbie to whet their appetite for war gaming. It plays fast and cleanly. The system is elegant, rather chess-like, in its simplicity and introduces just enough key war gaming concepts such as concentration of forces, capturing objectives, limited intelligence, reinforcements/replacements, varying combat engagement capability as well as land and naval warfare as to bring a newbie a light feel for the campaign. You won’t find this a treatise on the Civil Wars and with the great depth found in other games which are simulations.

This is a light game to be played in a short space of time first and foremost with enough flavour and theme for the entry level player or those who want a light experience that won’t overload you with details. On that level, I think it absolutely hits the mark very well. The odds really seem stacked with Caesar if you play out the full 5 turns so although the pressure is on for the him to attack, it seems like a bit of early luck could steal a victory for Pompey but it seems like a tough ask. Must keep playing to find out for sure. The combat system is very simplified but works very nicely as does the levy system. The hidden information due to not knowing the actual combat strengths until combat is declared is a very nice feature which adds a good level of suspense. Ok, the Gods event cards seem random but war has a sense of being funny that way and the unexpected does happen, so call it the fortunes of war. The rebellion rule is a nice touch as is the Cleopatra changing sides rule so you can never totally hedge your bets. The small components quibbles mentioned earlier don’t detract from the experience but keep this from being nearer a perfect game.

Overall, Julius Caesar is a lot of fun and a great way to have a war game experience in a short space of time without the work needed to play a more detailed simulation. As my time is at a premium, this fits nicely with what I am able and willing to play often. Definitely recommended as a great introduction and I look forward to playing more block war games.

Boardgames in Blighty rating – 7.5 out of 10

Family friendly?

Not necessarily designed for the family, this game could be a nice teaching tool for parent and youngster.

For more information go to – http://www.columbiagames.com/

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By Mark Rivera from Boardgames in Blighty

Review – Birth of a Legend: Lee and the Seven Days from Against the Odds Magazine

Designer – Michael Rinella

Graphics – Mark Mahaffey

Cover painting – Keith Rocco

Thanks to Against the Odds Magazine for providing a copy of this game for review purposes

Being a war gamer at heart is a funny thing. With most games I want to have fun and a social experience and I love strong theme and story so I tend to lean towards Ameritrash and war games. Amongst the gamers I associate with, my love of war games is in a minority but I have to say that I find them to be the most satisfying. This is because I find war games to be more of an experience where I bring my many years of studying military history and i find it fascinating to play games about battles and campaigns of which I am familiar. Particularly games  set in the American Civil War and the 2nd World War.

So here we have a recent issue of Against the Odds Magazine, which is a very interesting publication on military history with a game in every issue. What more can I ask? Years ago, I used to subscribe to Strategy & Tactics magazine and I’ve played games published in the Wargamer, so this is all familiar ground for me. The magazine is of high quality with excellent articles, artwork, etc. and I highly recommend it to war gamers.

In issue number 32, we have Birth of a Legend: Lee and the Seven Days a 2-player game game which looks at the Seven Days Campaign conducted  by General Robert E. Lee with the Confederate Army against the Federal Army led by General George B. McClellan. Civil War buffs will know that this is the campaign where Robert E. Lee established himself as a force to be reckoned with.

Along with the magazine, including an article about the campaign written by Michael Rinella, you get a brilliant looking 22″x 34″map and 176 cardboard counters representing the armies and leaders. The artwork of the map and counters is first rate – colorful, clear information. My only issue with the map is that it was just a bit hard to tell where the boundary lines are between areas  (they are very light) and this is important as this is an area movement game. I did get used to it and its not a major issue. There is clearly a trade off being made to have the game map look more like a map and not have the areas segments take away from the look and feel. A reasonable trade off and as I said, its not a major issue.

Gameplay

The object of the game for the Union player is to capture the Confederate capitol Richmond or prevent the Confederate victory conditions which involve capturing key victory point locations, White House Landing, Harrison’s Landing and Malvern Hill.

The mechanics are similar to Rinella’s previous Civil War game, Not War But Murder, and are centered around Leader activation during the impulse phase. If you are familiar with the system it will take little effort to get into it. If not, the rules are reasonably clear but as with many war games, you will need to play through a few turns to get the feel of it and then all should be hunky dory.

What I really like about the system in particular is the emphasis on Leader activation. All the leaders are rated according to their capabilities and some are harder to activate (based on a die roll) than others. If the Army leaders are activated (more likely Lee than McClellan) they enhance your chances of activating their subordinate commanders which then frees you up to launch assaults. However, and this is where the decision making gets precarious for the Confederates, as you activate leaders there is a greater chance of the day coming to an end sooner and so you need to look at taking actions such as regrouping movement which doesn’t require Leader activation. And for the Confederates, time is of the essence as you need to get your troops moving to try and flank the Federals, forcing them to have to cover themselves and stretch their forces, which will be tougher as McClellan is less likely to activate.

Each turn is a day long. The game process is as follows:

Dawn phase – roll to see if the army comanders are active and the Inion player declares if they are relocating their Supply train

Daylight phase – Players alternate impulses, taking actions – assault, regroup, pass

Sunset – the Confederates may bring on the end of the day

Night phase – Replacements can be brought in and entrenchments built

End phase

It is all pretty straightforward and although different from the traditional hex-based system, works well to capture the ebb and flow as well as the challenges of command coordination, maneuver and bringing your forces together at the right place and time for maximum impact. The complexity level isn’t too heavy which makes this more game than simulation but there is enough there to give me what I want, an experience of Civil war era problems of warfare with all the names and places I have studied over the years.

And it looks great on the map which adds to the overall impact of the story.

Did it work for me?

Generally, I really felt that Birth of a Legend, gave me a good war gaming experience. The rules took a bit of getting used to but after working through a few turns, it came together well. This is typical in war games and comes with the territory. The mechanics add to a sense of the problems faced by the commanders on the ground. This is an operational level game and demonstrates Lee’s challenge of trying to flank the Federals to get at the supply areas while not leaving Richmond exposed and then the Federals have the problem of whether or not to push hard for Richmond early, or gradually fall back towards Harrison’s Landing once their supply train has been relocated, all with the problem of hoping to activate McClellan for useful assaults to keep Lee at arms length. Definitely recommended as a well designed, very interesting game.

Boardgames in Blighty rating – 7.5 out of 10

Family friendly – nope this is for war gamers

For more information go to -

http://www.atomagazine.com/

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