Kris Hall: Coming Soon to a Gaming Table Near You--Obscure Wars!
A few nights ago, I got to try Multiman Publishing’s new wargame Warriors of God. If you’ve seen the reviews for this popular game, then you already have a pretty good idea of what I will say about it; my reaction seems to be a fairly typical response.
Warriors of God (designed by Makoto Najima and developed by Adam Starkweather) is a low-complexity wargame about the Hundred Years War. Each turn represents about a decade of time (at least in the Hundred Years War scenario; there is apparently another scenario, but I only played the main one), during which players collect new leaders, maneuver forces on the area-map of England and France, fight battles, and roll to see which leaders die of natural causes. There is a huge amount of randomness in the game. Your best leader could die off at the end of his first turn on the board, or he could last for decades if the dice are kind to you. A brilliant military campaign could yield few victory points if you fail to make the die roll that will add your control marker to a captured province. Because there are so many die rolls in the game, luck should tend to balance out, but I am sure that will be plenty of times that players feel cheated by the dice gods.
What is most interesting to me isn’t the actual mechanics of Warriors of God, but the fact that a game about the Hundred Years War has appeared at all. Wargamers are starting to see more and more games about the neglected conflicts of history.
This topic was suggested to me by the thread on Comsimworld on card-driven wargames. One gentleman went to the trouble of making pie-charts on the subjects of card-driven wargames. A quick review of the thread made it clear that more and more designers are passing by the former Big Three subject areas for wargames (World War II, the American Civil War, and the Napoleonic Wars) and seeking fresh historical pastures.
This can only be good news for most gamers. While there are perhaps some gamers who never tire of replaying the adventures of Erich von Manstein, I believe that new historical subjects will lead to new game mechanics, and other innovations.
Here are some historical subjects and the wargames that go with them that have been recently published or that gamers can look forward to in the coming months:
Ancient World
Caesar XL. (Designed by Joseph Miranda and published by Victory Point Games) This is the only game on the list that is already published. Caesar XL is a low-complexity game about the Roman Civil War between Caesar and Pompey. I haven’t played this one yet, but if you read the Comsimworld thread on this game, it appears to have quite a few devoted fans. I believe a “gold rules” expansion is in the works.
Hellenes (Designed by Craig Besinque and to be published by GMT Games). This block game about the Peloponnesian War features both land and naval combat, and has multiple scenarios.
Successors (designed by Richard Berg, Mark Simonitch, and John Firer, and soon to be published by GMT Games). This card-driven game about the conflicts in Alexander the Great’s empire after his death is the 3rd edition of the game to be published. It should become available this fall.
Spartacus (Designed by John Firer and soon to be published by Compass Games) This card-driven game on the wars of the post-Sulla Roman Republic features the Roman leaders who rose to prominence just before Julius Caesar as they battle a loose alliance of Roman enemies that include the rebel slave Spartacus, and Quintus Sertorius, a rebellious Roman general. Compass games is taking pre-orders now.
Ides of March (Designed by John Firer) This card-driven game of the Roman Civil Wars following the assassination of Caesar is still a ways from publication.
Medieval Japan
A Most Dangerous Time (Designed by Tetsuya Nakamura and to be published by Multiman Press). This game about the military campaigns of the warlord Oda Nobunaga will probably be published before the end of the year.
Sekigahara (Designed by Matt Calkins and to be published by GMT games). This block game on the most important military campaign in the history of medieval Japan will probably not be published this year.
Medieval Europe and the Mid-East
War of the Roses (Designed by Jerry Taylor and will be published by Columbia Games). This block game of the War of the Roses from the designer of Hammer of the Scots may be published before the end of the year.
Crown of Roses (Designed by Stephen Cuyler and to be published by GMT Games). This card-driven block game on the War of the Roses will be suitable for 2, 3 or 4 players.
Kingdom of Heaven (Designed by Scott De Bestian and to be published by Mulitman Press) This card-driven game of the conflicts of the Crusader States will feature multiple scenarios.
Early Modern Europe
No Peace Without Spain (Designed by Don Herndon and to be published by Multiman Press). This game of the War of the Spanish Succession features a point-to-point map and a deck of cards, although it is not quite a card-driven design.
Unhappy King Charles (Designed by Charles Vasey and to be published by GMT Games). This card-driven game of the English Civil War will feature different card decks appropriate to the different stages of the war.
Clash of Monarchs (Designed by Bob Kalinowski and to be published by GMT Games). This high-complexity card-driven game is Mr. Kalinowski’s attempt to give us the definitive game on the Seven Year’s War in Europe. It probably will be published this fall.
Age of Bismarck (Designed by John Firer and to be published by Comsim Press). This card-driven game about the wars of German and Italian unification will be suitable for four players.
American History
Washington’s War (Designed by Mark Hermann and to be published by GMT games). Although this game has not yet appeared on GMT’s pre-order list, I believe Mr. Hermann is working on a new and re-titled edition of We the People for them.
Texas Glory (Designed by Tom Dagliesh, Dan Mings, and Carl Willner, and to be published by Columbia Games). This block game on the war between Texas and Mexico is either being published now or will be shortly.
Halls of Montezuma (Designed by David Fox and Michael Welker, and to be published by GMT games). This card-driven game of the American-Mexican War can be played in three hours or less.
Most of these games can be pre-ordered now. There are even more such games that have not yet achieved pre-order status, including a rumored sequel to Ed Beach’s Here I Stand. Gamers who want to roam through the ages should have plenty of choices in the coming months.
© 2008 Kris Hall
Posted by Kris Hall on Aug 1, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Kris Hall / 1393
Comments:
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I saw those charts by Charles Feaux de la Croix on CONSIM World. They were very interesting, but equally important is that the CDG genre has eschewed traditional gaming topics since its inception. It started with We The People. That was Avalon Hill’s first crack at a strategic level Revolutionary War game (maybe their first crack at any rev war game) in twenty years! The follow up was Hannibal. Now Ancients have been a more frequent gaming topic of late, but at the time that was very unusual. The third CDG, Successors, was also on a strange topic—the battle for control of Alexander’s empire by his heirs. It was not until For the People, that the genre was applied to a convention topic. Now of course, we have Barbarossa to Berlin and Napoleonic Wars. And there have been a couple of games covering Theater level warfare for the Napoleonic and World War II. But still, who ever thought that a game on World War I would be such a seminal success, and really open up the genre. Part of this is the nature of CDGs. They work best with interesting and flavorful political events. That drives designers to look into a bit more unusual conflicts with instability and uncertainty. Revolutions tend to work extremely well in that sense. So, I think Charles was realy highlighting a situation that has always been one of the distinguishing characteristics of CDGs. Jason Posted by Jason Matthews on Aug 1, 2008 at 11:19 AM | #
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As I mentioned in an earlier essay, it is odd that there hasn’t been a real CDG about WWII in Europe from the beginning of the war. I would have thought that designers would have been salivating at the idea of a medium-complexity European theater CDG, but all we have seen is Barbarossa to Berlin which picks up in mid-war. CDG designers seem to graviate to the unconventional. That is all to the good. I’d rather have a dozen games on unconventional topics and miss having a WWII in Europe CDG, than have a half-dozen WWII in Europe games and miss all the less conventional topics. Posted by Kris Hall on Aug 1, 2008 at 04:02 PM | #
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How abou this this one? Would you play that?
SCNR ;-) Posted by Peer Sylvester on Aug 2, 2008 at 09:53 AM | #
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One minor thought lept to mind as I read (and it was good reading, I like to hear what’s coming down the pike....) is that lots of die rolls does not necessarily make a game “balance out” in its randomness. Only if all (or most) die rolls have approximately the same value will the luck even out. The only reason I bring this up, would be your mention of the campaign situation. I assume a campaign might include a number of die rolls? If so the campaign rolls may even out, but the final die roll to place a control marker tends to be what is most important. Thus, only the control marker placement roll should be included in the “it all evens out” measurement. If there are many control marker placement rolls in that game, luck is less of a factor but if it is something that happens only about once per turn or less, having 10 very significant die rolls in a game DOES make a game feel quite “luck” reliant. Posted by Matt J. Carlson on Aug 3, 2008 at 04:44 PM | #
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I believe there are usually more than 10 control marker die rolls in the game, but in some games maybe not a lot more. Luck could be a big and frustrating factor. Posted by Kris Hall on Aug 3, 2008 at 05:12 PM | #
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Glad you found my statistics informative, Kris. I myself don’t consider any subjects outside of the Big Three ‘obscure’ or even ‘neglected’. Indeed, I wouldn’t consider any of the above subject obscure. Japan’s balloon-bombing of the US West coast… Yeah, that’s obscure in my eyes. But I realise you milage may vary. Anyway, there are many conflicts still out there waiting for a modern wargame covering them. Lots of design potential, particularly considering how old-school designs tended to model political affairs inadequately (if at all). Lots to explore. The wargame hobby is certainly becoming a lot more diverse and the CDG revolution plays a big role in that being the case. Posted by Charles Féaux de la Croix on Aug 6, 2008 at 10:39 AM | #
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