Battle for Moscow - A Wargame Review

This is a review from a series of articles I am writing about my foray into wargaming. The introduction to these articles, with a bit of background, can be found: here.

My previous review in this series looked at Strike Force One, a very basic introduction to some of the main ideas found in hex and counter wargames. I enjoyed playing it, and it piqued my interest, but after playing it several times I was interested in tackling something with a bit more depth. Luckily I found just that in Victory Point Games’ printing of Battle for Moscow.

Battle for Moscow is a small, beginning level hex and counter wargame that simulates the Battle of Moscow during the start of World War II.  Battle for Moscow takes the ideas introduced in Strike Force One (zone of control, retreat paths, combat tables, etc..) and builds upon them to deliver a deeper play experience. Due to this added complexity, and the actual historical setting of the game, it feels much less abstract than Strike Force One, and stands on its own as a game that can be replayed multiple times, while remaining enjoyable.

Components:

Battle for Moscow comes packaged in a plastic bag, with 40 full color double sided counters, a foldout cardstock map, and cardstock turn tracker/player aid. The 4 page rule booklet is concise, but informative, and the full color illustrations do a good job in describing the different movement and attack scenarios that the player will encounter. A welcome bonus for the new wargamer is the BATTLESSON sheet that goes into some detail about the wargaming hobby.

All of the components have a matte finish, and have been handcrafted using high end desktop publishing equipment, so the artwork on the map, counters, and in the manual is vivid and readable. The only complaint I have with the components is the fact that the handmade nature of the counters can cause the front and back of the counters to be slightly misaligned. This is purely a cosmetic concern, however, and doesn’t affect actual gameplay at all. Victory Point Games is looking into upgrading the equipment they use to create die-cut components, which should alleviate this issue in new games manufactured after spring of 2012.

Setup:

Setup in Battle for Moscow is fairly easy: players place their pieces on the indicated hexes of the game board. Each unit in Battle for Moscow is double sided. This is one of the new concepts introduced in the game. Both sides of the unit counter have numbers printed on them, representing the unit’s movement allocation and strength of the unit. One side shows the unit’s full strength capability, while the other displays the unit’s half-strength capability.  During gameplay, a unit can be damaged, but not completely destroyed; and likewise, reinforcements can be brought in to bring a half-strength unit back to full strength.

Setup for the Russian player is a breeze. He just places all of his units in the indicated hexes, with the half-strength side facing up. All of the Russian units have the same statistics, so it doesn’t matter where they are placed. The German player however, has to give some more thought to his setup process. The German player’s units are all brought in at full strength, but he has two different types of units – armored units, and infantry. Even within these two different types, units have different strength and movement stats, so initial placement for the German player can have huge implications during the game.

When a player is first introduced to the game as the Russians, looking at the initial setup can be intimidating. The German player has many more units on the board, and they are all at full strength, while the entirety of the Russian army is at half strength. This is a bit deceiving, because due to reinforcement rules, and geographic factors, the Russian player actually has a bit of an advantage. I must meekly admit that I have yet to win a game as the Germans, although I have come very close a couple of times.

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Potion Making: Practice - An Alchemical Review

While Russia might not be well known for producing games, it can’t be denied that the country has had a huge impact on gaming in general, through the creation of a single game. During the time of the former Soviet Union, a computer game was created in Moscow that would forever change the face of gaming, making ripples in the world of video games, and board games alike. The computer game, originally programmed on the Soviet made Elekronika 60 minicomputer by computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov, was called Tetris.

Even though Tetris was released on computers and consoles in the mid 1980’s, its influence can be found even to this day in modern board games: from Knizia’s geometric manipulation game Fits, to David Sirlin’s Puzzle Bobble inspired deck builder, Puzzle Strike. It was due to this influential history, that I was very interested to see how the gaming landscape was developing in Russia, and if there were more hidden gems being cultivated there.

Russian publisher RightGames, has been making games for the Russian market for several years now, but has recently chosen to print a handful of its more successful games in English, and selling them directly to the English speaking market through their website www.russianboardgames.com. As of now, RightGames has translated four titles into English - Potion Making: Practice, Evolution, The Kingdoms of Crusaders, and The Enigma of Leonardo. Of this collection, the title that jumped out at me first, and that I am going to review here, is the alchemy themed card game Potion-Making: Practice, designed by Sergey Machin.

In Potion Making: Practice, players are compete to retrieve cards from a common stock, which they use to complete alchemical recipes. Players not only make the potions alluded to in the game’s title, but also talismans, powders, and a handful of mythological creatures. These different items are created by combining simple elements, or sometimes, more complex potions and powders that have been created during the game. After all of the cards have been played, the player with the most points is declared the winner.

Components:

Potion Making: Practice is beautifully illustrated. The choice of colors, layout, and illustrations on the cards make for a wonderfully thematic experience. The whole package offers a medieval alchemy theme, and the subject matter might evoke thoughts of current fantasy literature like Harry Potter. But, with the choice of vivid colors and combinations in the potions and illustrations, players could just as easily place themselves in the position of a wandering Romany (Gypsy), mixing love potions, and crafting secret magick trinkets during his travels.

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Strike Force One - A Wargame Review.

This is a review from a series of articles I am writing about my foray into wargaming. The introduction to these articles, with a bit of background can be found: here.

The first game that I played was Strike Force One, Designed by Jim Dunnigan and Redmond A. Simonsen. “Strike Force One” was originally published in 1975, and designed as a very basic introduction to wargames. It was rebublished, and given a graphical facelift, in 2007 by Victory Point Games, as the first of their BATTLESSON line of games. Victory Point Games' BATTLESSON line is their beginner, teaching line of games that work to teach the basic mechanics found in wargames, and give the player some initial strategy to get them started.

Components:

Like all of Victory Point Games' offerings, Strike Force One comes packaged in a plastic baggie, with components printed on a high end desktop publishing setup. This process delivers colorful, clean components that serve their function nicely. The printed components sport a matte finish, so they don't have the glossy look of other games that use an offset printing process; although, in some ways this can be a boon, as overhead lights won't cast a glare across the pieces during play.

Strike Force One comes with a small, thick cardstock map; a set of 12 die-cut cardboard counters; some charts to determine combat results; and various printed booklets describing the basic and advanced rules, as well as a very insightful, illustrated playthorugh of a typical game. This playthrough is accompanied with commentary to explain the rationale behind each move, and better familiarize the player with the strategies and tactics required to play. All of the components are full color, but have a simple and direct art style.

The Game:

It is important to remember that Strike Force One, first and foremost, serves as a game to introduce the basic mechanics of wargames to new players. The basic game plays with 10 units, on a 9x8 hex based map. The game takes place during a fictional encounter between the United states and the Soviet Union in West Germany during the mid 1970's. One player assumes the role of the United States, defending the cities pictured on the map, while the other player controls the Soviets, attempting to sieze control of at least two of the cities. The game consists of only 4 rounds, so each game only takes 15 minutes or so, but the simplicity of the game allows players to focus on the core mechanics that the game teaches. There are two distinct games in the Strike Force One package, the basic game, and the advanced game, and each one of these games focuses on teaching a distinct toolset.

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Dominant Species - The Evolution of Worker Placement.

GMT games, a prolific publisher well known for its quality wargames, has been making grognards smile for over two decades. In 2010, GMT surprised a lot of people with the release of Dominant Species, a game about survival of the fittest during an encroaching ice age that appeared to have more in common with the worker placement mechanics found in Euro style games than GMT’s previous conflict oriented offerings. Designed by Chad Jensen, Dominant Species trades the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific for the glacial arena of the frozen tundra, where the deadly implements of modern war are replaced with the ruthless hand of mother nature and the wily twists of evolution.

In Dominant Species, players control a class of animals in a biological taxonomy, and attempt to evolve their class of creatures to dominate a world being rapidly changed by the encroaching glaciers of the ice age. Players must evolve their creatures to better adapt to the environment and change the environment to benefit their species, all while engaging the other players through direct tactical conflict and cunning strategic migration. While the core mechanic in Dominant Species is worker placement, it’s about as far from archetypal genre titles like Caylus or Agricola as you can get. Players will compete for various actions through the worker placement mechanic, but how they choose to utilize those actions, and where on the board they place their genetic army of species has an awful lot in common with conflict based combat games. As one poofy-haired singer from the 80’s once expressed: “Love is a Battlefield”, and the cutthroat natural selection of Dominant Species certainly supports that notion.

Components:

I was a bit late to the party in picking up Dominant Species, and although I may have thought mean, jealous things about those lucky gamers who acquired a copy during 2010 before it sold out, I was happy to pick up the second printing in 2011; a printing which received upgraded components, as well as the removal of the comic-sans font (the bane of typophiles everywhere) from the rulebook. That being said, the components in the second edition are stellar. From the super-sturdy box, to the thick tiles and board, everything in the box screams quality. And that’s not even mentioning enough wooden bits to shock a lumberjack – and that’s okay!

It’s important to note that the components that make up dominant species are all very minimal in design: wooden cubes; cylinders; cones; and very simple, minimalist illustrations that serve more as iconography than artwork. I have to admit that in general I am drawn to detailed miniatures and colorful artwork in games. The way a game looks and feels, and the mood that it conveys can really enhance my gaming experience. GMT could have easily gone this route with dominant species, but I can honestly say that it would have been a mistake to add such embellishments. The minimal presentation of the game fits the function much better than complicated artwork would have. There is so much going on in Dominant Species, and so many pieces on the board at any given time, that miniatures or fancy art would have detracted from the playability of the game. The minimal art allows the state of the game to be delivered in a clear, concise way and benefits the game as a whole.

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Eaten by Zombies - A Review.

Kickstarter.com has been making waves in board game development lately. Its no-risk preorder model allows indie designers and larger publishers alike to take more risks when releasing games. When a designer has a project that he wants to fund, but doesn’t have the money up front to print the game, or fears that the game may not have a large enough audience, he can pitch his project on kickstarter.com.  Potential buyers can “invest” in this idea by pledging money to the project, and in return will receive a copy of the game when it is printed. Most kickstarter projects offer some nifty goodies that are exclusive to the kickstarter campaign.  If the project does not earn enough money to fund it, the investors are not obligated to pay anything. This is great for both the game publishers, and the consumers; the publishers don’t end up with a bunch of unsold stock in their warehouses, and the consumer doesn’t lose money if a game isn’t printed.

One of the many publishers to begin embracing kickstarter as a means of offering game preorders is Mayday Games. Until now, Mayday Games has mostly been known for manufacturing card sleeves for hobby and euro games, but Mayday is entering the game publishing business with a bang this quarter with no fewer than three kickstarter projects, all of which are either already funded, or well on target to be funded. One of these titles is an interesting Zombie themed deck building game designed by Max Holliday, called Eaten By Zombies, of which I was fortunate enough to play an advanced copy.

In Eaten by Zombies, players work to defeat a zombie horde, by fighting, fleeing, and scavenging for items. Notice I didn’t say the players are working together to defeat the zombie horde; the game may seem to be somewhat cooperative at first glance, and there are ways to achieve a cooperative victory, but the easiest, and most prevalent way of winning involves being the last player alive. In order to stay alive, sometimes friendships have to be sacrificed. Eaten by Zombies turns the act of throwing other players under the bus into an art form. It’s more like throwing the other players under the bus, tying them to the bumper, backing over them a few times, and then dragging them for a few miles. You may think that this is one of those fabled "direct conflict" deck building games. No, it's not. Eaten by Zombies could only be categorized as a “Passive Aggressive deck-building game”. Players never really directly attack each other, but instead modify the environment to benefit themselves, and if someone gets eaten in the process, that’s just life.. or death.. or undeath. Imagine a zombie apocalypse let loose during a family reunion, and you get the drift.

Although there have been a slew of both zombie themed games and deck building games, Eaten by Zombies manages to tackle both with a great deal of originality. The art style in the game is wonderfully distinctive, with its fusion of 1950’s propaganda and zombie horror that manages to be both sinister and humorous at the same time. And, while Eaten by Zombies utilizes deck building mechanics, it only shares some passing similarity with others in the genre, focusing on hand management and deck un-building just as much as deck building; delivering mechanics and gameplay that are just as unique as it’s art style.

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