A Most Dangerous Time

For 2025, I made a conscious decision to pare down my (some would say "massive") hex-and-counter wargame collection.  I managed to make an almost noticeable dent in the collection by moving off more than 40 games.  Since many of these games have been long out of print, I actually showed a profit on some!  Of course, some of these 40 games shifted were offset by additional game purchases but I am still in the black for the year; and by a large margin.  That success is even counting that the November and December bargain season showed its head.

Many wargame companies offer a seemingly steady stream of sales from early November through the end of the year.  This year is no exception with plenty of bargains to be had.  Not only are the manufacturers offering up great deals but ebay bargains are popping up with regular and increasing frequency.  Now, is this plethora of bargains seasonal or a gauge of the state of the economy?  I will not dive into that topic... 

What I do know is that this approach to year-end is a most dangerous time for the shopper and especially me.  

What caught my eye so far in this run up to year-end bargain hunting?

Starting with MMP Games' Veteran's Day Sale, I picked up

From ebay, I snatched up

The selection of ebay-sourced games is an interesting lot.  In each case, the offering either had a very low minimum bid requirement or a Make Offer option.  I won all four by either a having a low opening bid or a ridiculously low offer.  All games are in new condition.

I suppose that I really only effectively managed to swap some inventory in the game closet.  Fortunately, many more games departed than arrived in 2025.

Also, an inexpensive snag on ebay were three more of Brad Butkovich's useful ACW scenario books. Great to be able to add three more titles to my collection.

Cannot overlook this week's Helion Flash Sale of

Of course, this does not account for the year-end sales that many of the figure manufacturers hold.  19th Century Miniatures and Lancashire Games have their year-end sales underway, and Eureka's annual December sale is only about one week away.  Luckily, I only "need" to pick up a few things this year.  Well, let's see how long I can resist.

Some like It Hoth!

Made the journey to Coeur d'Alene two Friday's ago to join Scott in breaking in his recently arrived Star Wars: Battle of Hoth Commands & Colors game.  After going over the rules and becoming familiar with the units and terrain pieces, we dug into the game on a mission to work through the first few scenarios.

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, rather than by GMT Games, is published by Days of Wonder and offers up a fast-paced, light wargame that recreates the iconic Empire Strikes Back battles using a streamlined Command and Colors system.  Having never played Memoir '44, Scott affirms that Hoth draws heavily from Memoir '44 but with a Star Wars thematic flair.  The miniatures included in the game are actually quite nice although very light being molded in plastic.  I expect Scott will push these figures into his long painting queue at some point.

My initial impression is that play offers a quick, small-sized tabletop miniatures battles with a Stars Wars cinematic theme and a Commands & Colors feel.  Rules are not the same as in CC Ancients, but Hoth's Commands & Colors heritage is certainly present.  With only a handful of units per side in the opening scenarios, setup is quick.  Games are finished almost as quickly.  Our battles were often fought to conclusion in under 30 minutes.  Several were over in about 20 minutes.

While this was only a first introduction to the game, initial impression suggests the system may favor the Imperial Forces.  Imperial infantry can take four hits to the Rebels' three hits and, in our games, the most powerful cards tended to show up in the Imperial player's hand.  Unlike CC Ancients, there is no Battle Back process.  Players attack with impunity so no counterattack possible.  These initial games did not seem to reproduce the same tactical challenges and decision making present in CC Ancients but, perhaps tactics will evolve with more games under our belts?  

In the end, it was a very fun day out and I learned a new game system.  Looking forward to more trials with Hoth.  Did I mention Scott sprung for lunch out too?  Excellent!

This Friday just passed, I hosted a four-player replay of the Zallaqah battle.  Four different players participated in this contest with three "old hands" and a new player.  The game was a real nailbiter right down to the last die roll.  Who came out victorious?  That is a tale for another time. 

I get a chance to try my hand in this scenario in a one-to-one game on Monday.

Hanau, Hanau...

There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost...Hanau, Hanau, don't dream it's over.

OK, OK.  Perhaps I carry the homophone a bit too far in paraphrasing Crowded House but we know they won't win.

Scott sent a text late Saturday morning saying a buddy was making the drive north from Moscow for a boardgame session at 2pm and asked if I wanted to join in. The plan was to tear the plastic from Legion Games' La Bataille de Hanau and give it a run out on the table.  Well, without much hesitation, I replied that I would be there to watch the action as they worked through both rules and scenario.  I hopped into the car and off I went to Coeur d'Alene for the day.

Scott recently bought Hanau and Dale has the game on order.  Me, I had never seen it before although I have another in the series, Le Retour de l'Empereur from the Vive l'Empereur series.

Now, I have never played my game or even read the rules, so this is all new to me.  The Hanau game is a single mapper with only a few handfuls of units in play.  Perfect situation to use as an introduction to the system in a group learning setting.

The Hanau map.

Scott commanded the French while Dale commanded the Allied Army of Austrians and Bavarians.  I looked on.  In this scenario, the Allied task is to block the road to Frankfurt as the French Imperial Guard comes pounding in their direction.

Scott carefully studies Dale's moves.

After several hours of play, Scott managed to break the Allied Army and claim a Sudden Death victory.  Interesting situation and interesting rules.  Can the Allies pull out a victory on this field?  I hope to find out one day.

Anyway, that is how I spent the second half of Saturday.  Good fun!

More Sumerians and a Bit of Shopping

Close upon the heels of last week's Sumerian reinforcements (see Sumerian Reinforcements), a similarly sized batch of Sumerian javelinmen departs from the painting desk.  This dozen light infantry is split between a four-figure stand of skirmishers and an eight-figure stand of light infantry.  Figures are, again, from Newline Designs.

While attention at the painting desk has turned toward projects not Sumerian, I did dig out a pack of two dozen Akkadian spearmen to prep for pushing into the painting queue.  First, though, more FPW Prussians are on deck as is a return to the SYW/WAS project.  Time at the workbench has actually increased over the last two weeks and progress is being made on the painting front.  I may reach 900 figures painted by year-end.  We will see.

While figure purchases have remained very much at a minimum this year, recent sales on books and games have dented the wallet slighty.

Helion recently offered a Black Friday sale with 25% discounts and free shipping to the USA.  An offer I could not refuse!  The two books shown above are part of the order.

In similar sales and preorder releases, the following games dropped into my mailbox of late:

I know, these annual holiday sales can be so difficult to resist.  While 19th Century Miniatures always holds a Christmas sale on 15mm Old Glory figures, I am resisting in order to keep my 2024 Figures Purchased tally in check.  Since the sale runs through 04 January, I can place an order in the New Year after the counter resets.

On the gaming front, one more First Battle of Azukizaka is on deck for a Tuesday game.

Thoughts on Re-Fighting History: War in the East

Had I read Dr. Jeremy Best’s bio more closely (see Re-Fighting History), I may have been better prepared for his presentation.  Maybe not.  Actually, re-reading the presentation description and the author’s bio after the webinar, the topic and direction of the presentation become very clear.  Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20.

copyright Dr. Jeremy Best
GUWS 17OCT2023

Dr. Best’s (hereafter “Jeremy”) thesis is concise.  That is, wargames, for all their efforts at accurate simulation, often fail as history.  The focal point for this conclusion is a study of operational wargames on the Eastern Front in 1941.  Now, I picked up a number of parallel themes throughout the presentation including thoughts on game narrative and uncertainty but will try to contain this post to “games as history”.  Well, specifically, Eastern Front wargames as history.

While the topic may be as complex as some of the wargames under study, I make an attempt at summarizing, condensing, and encapsulating some of the key takeaways (of course, in my opinion) of this presentation.  As is often the case, my thoughts raise more questions than answers.

copyright Dr. Jeremy Best
GUWS 17OCT2023

With a focus on WWII operational combat, a selection of wargames with Kiev as the subject are presented.  The games cover nearly forty years of wargames’ development.  Jeremy notes that game innovation relies more upon mechanism evolution over content.  Has content really seen no innovation in forty years?  I reckon much more information and a better understanding of the combatants have surfaced over these intervening years.  Perceptions change with time.  “Facts” as we knew them may have changed as well.

copyright Dr. Jeremy Best
GUWS 17OCT2023

Keeping focus on Eastern Front wargames, two critiques of these games as flawed history are discussed.  One is that warfare is sanitized in wargames. The other is that Eastern Front wargames emphasize the Clean Wehrmacht Myth.  Jeremy argues that these games are flawed because all historical actions are not included.  He cites the Holocaust as an omission in player decision-making cycle. Similarly, the use of Security units in some games diverts these units from their historical, anti-partisan role to the front for use as second line troops.  Does the absence of these actions in a game help to reduce German complicity?  Do wargames fail as history intentionally?

Beginning with the origins of modern wargaming in the 1950s following the conclusion of WWII, is there a connection between the start of the Cold War and wargaming in general (and wargaming WWII on the Eastern Front, specifically)?  Jeremy hints that the two are not unrelated.  Given the move of German scientists to the US via Operation Paperclip and the desire to rearm West Germany, perhaps a connection exists.

On a larger scale, games are often guided by historical benchmarks and objectives.  Having hindsight from a historical perspective, a player knows what worked and what did not work.  This knowledge can affect the games' outcome.  Knowledge can also promote history-altering consequences.  Special game rules further reinforce historical dictates to drive the narrative.  Game play and history, simultaneously, intersect and diverge in wargames.

copyright Dr. Jeremy Best
GUWS 17OCT2023

Does a German-centric bias exist in Eastern Front wargames?  It is only the “Eastern Front” to the German Army.  Same applies to naming wargames, “War in the East” or the German operation codename.  Note my meme in the header asks this question.  Jeremy provided a number of game examples whereby a player may get that impression.  Eastern Front maps are labeled in German and much of the accompanying game artwork and imagery focuses on the German Army.

What does it mean to play these games?  If game designs make claims and arguments on only a subset of the war, do these games, then, become an ideological tool?  What do I learn about the world from playing these games?  What does it mean to “want” the Germans to win?

Returning to Jeremy’s thesis, game designs can produce blind spots in their models.  Jeremy highlights some of the possible consequences of such inaccuracies.  Does this automatically lead to a breakdown of wargames, specifically, and understanding warfare, generally?

Are wargames ideological tools?

Re-Fighting History: WWII, Boardgames, and War in the East

Georgetown University Wargaming Society (Washington DC) offers a regular series of webinars on different facets of wargaming, military history, wargame design, and assorted other topics.  The quality of the presentations and topics run the gamut of my interest level and attention span.  Tuesday's offering looks especially inviting to me with a focus on the War in the East in WWII.  With the cover of the boardgame Drang Nach Osten! (DNO later reimplemented by Fire in the East) in the event announcement, will GDW/GRD's Europa series of boardgames be included for discussion?  Perhaps Dr. Best will identify the WWII boardgame(s) that meet the military simulation threshold on value-added as effective simulation tools.  Perhaps none reach this threshold.  Can this discussion and evaluation of WWII boardgames as a simulation value be generalized to other periods and other games?  What about extending to miniature Wargaming?  I look forward to seeing what topics are in store and discovering if any boardgames meet this threshold. 

Webinar Event:

Re-fighting History: The War in the East, Boardgames, and Histories of WWII

Date/Time: 17 OCT 2023 3pm PDT 

Description

Jeremy Best will challenge the efficacy of military boardgames as accurate representations of historical conflict.  In his webinar, Dr. Jeremy Best will present early conclusions from his research into the history of military boardgames, the memory of World War II, and the limitations of military simulations for understanding war. The first modern military boardgames emerged in the late 1950s and from the very beginning the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union took center stage. Hundreds of games, thousands of scenarios have been produced – all of them claiming and aspiring to authentically recreate historical conditions. Part of the appeal of these games was that in re-fighting the battles, campaigns, even entire war players could rewrite that history. For all their efforts at accurate simulation, these games often fail as history. In the webinar, Dr. Best will discuss the ways in which games represent the Eastern Front, the blindspots of these representations, and the possible consequences of such inaccuracies. More generally, these insights lead to certain questions about the efficacy of wargames in general for understanding warfare.

 

Bio  

Jeremy Best is an associate professor of modern Europe at Iowa State University with a specific interest in the cultural history of Germany during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His current research project is a manuscript in development tentatively titled “Toy Soldiering: West German Rearmament, the Holocaust, and the United States” on the history of tabletop wargaming, Holocaust memory, and the perpetuation of the Clean Wehrmacht Myth in America and West Germany. Heavenly Fatherland: German Missionary Culture in the Age of Empire, his first book, was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2021. That book won the Phi Alpha Theta Best First Book Prize in 2021, was named one of “Ten Outstanding Books in Mission Studies, Intercultural Theology, and World Christianity for 2021” by the International Bulletin of Mission Research, and named to the shortlist for the 2022 Waterloo Center for German Studies Book Prize. In addition to his academic work, Professor Best has worked as a public-facing historian publishing in The Washington Post, The History News Network, and Perspectives on History.

If interested but cannot make this event, GU Wargaming Society content is usually published to YouTube following the event.

Northumberland's Battle in 28mm

Off the painting desk today is the second Battle in my fledgling WotR project.  This time, it is Henry Percy's Battle.  Like William Stanley's Battle before it, this force musters in at 52 figures in three lines.  Fifty-two figures is a lot for me to tackle in one tranche.  The 24 archers seem to take forever.  Figures are Perry Miniatures' 28mm plastics. 

With a second Battle fielded, I can actually conduct some one Battle vs one Battle trials of my own with Richard's Battle Commander rules.  A third Battle is in work.  Next up will be Edward IV but other units for other projects will muster out before Edward's troops can be finished up.

Remote gaming continues with great regularity but not all battles have generated their own battle report here.  Some of the recent games without my full accounting are:

Knights of the Sky

OHW WWI

Ancient Sumeria

Fortunately, Graham, has a Battle Report for each of these engagements at Wargaming4grownups.

Speaking of fortune, I scored a number of wargames over the last ten days at a local auction house.  Evidently, a local gamer recently retired and decided to unload his wargame collection.  What?  Who would consider such an action?  My eagle-eyed wife, Nancy, spotted the cache and rushed back home to fetch me.  Well, over several visits as the prices were steadily reduced, I picked up a nice cache of hex-and-counter games to add to my own wargame collection.  Hopefully, mine does not end up in an auction house.  I will report on my loot in another post.     

To round out this update, I am working on a scenario for the continuing AWI battles using Rebels and Patriots as Matt and I fight our way through the war.  Likely up next will be a recreation of a portion of the Battle for Long Island where Grant attacks Alexander (Lord Stirling) along the Gowanus Road.  The Americans will once again be on the defense but, for the first time, the Gowanus Road action will see the Americans outnumbered in open battle.  I envision Long Island battle being divided into three actions.   

Spanish Infantry 1898

During these uncertain times, off the painting desk advances an element for a project that faces uncertainty, itself.  My Spanish-American War project is one of those undertakings launched in anticipation of great gaming but has rarely seen the table.  Begun in 1999 (just over 20 years ago!), the SAW collection last saw any paint work back in 2018.  Still, I hold out hope that the project will see action on the gaming table in the not too distant future.      

Originally planned to be gamed with Fields of Honor (FoH), I am undecided if those will be the rules I return to when the collection next sees action on the table.  Twenty years ago, FoH seemed to capture much of what I wanted in a Cuban adventure.  Having not read the rules of late, I wonder if my perception still holds.  Good question.

Within the last year, I picked up a copy of S&T's The Santiago Campaign.  My goal was to investigate whether this magazine game might make a useful battle generator for tabletop scenarios.   

Having played through the campaign. solo, over the Christmas Break, I think it would make a very useful battle generator for the 25mm troops.  I played the boardgame as the USA player and utilized AI to govern the Spanish forces.  A low complexity game, the mechanisms would not get in the way of generating a number of battles.

The boardgame heavily favors the attacker.  However, bringing the might of the US Army to bear in the jungles of Cuba poses several challenges.  The initial landing sites are fraught with peril too.  Still, the campaign I waged across the map did not seem to give the Spanish much hope.  The Spanish can be spoilers, for sure, and forcing the Americans to take too many casualties can cost the Americans the war.  Fighting through the entire campaign would offer a number of interesting battles within the overall context of the war.

Section of map

Today's fifteen Spanish figures are Old Glory 25s.

Merrill's Marauders

Merrill’s Marauders: Commandos in Burma 1943-1944 - Decision Games. 
Merrill’s Marauders is a solitaire game covering missions behind Japanese lines in the Burmese jungle. The player has to carry out one of four missions, or string all four together in a campaign game.

The game uses the Commando series rules. Each mission card grants the player a specified number of operations points to reach certain objectives. Operations points are expended to recruit the special ops team, then to move and attack on the map. A deck of event cards controls the opposition forces (OPFOR). Combat is resolved using a quasi-tactical system with opposing units taking turns firing at one another. Victory can increase the number of operations points available, but heavy losses can reduce them. The game ends when the player runs out of points.

Game Contents:
• 11 x 17” map
• 40 die-cut counters• 18 mini cards
• Scenario Instructions
• Four page rule booklet
MSRP $12.95

Merrill's Marauders (MM) came to me as a recent ebay purchase bonus.  With no interest in this campaign, this small mini-folio game was set aside.  When I finally returned for a closer examination, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

The rules are short having only four pages of series rules and two pages of scenario rules.  The game is a solitaire game with the active player coordinating and carrying out commando raids deep into Japanese held territory.  Opposition forces (OPFOR) are run by a nifty artificial intelligence (AI) engine that actually works.

At the start of a game, the player selects one of four Mission Cards.  On this card are listed the situation, mission, number of Operation Points (OPs) available, number of Recruit Points (RPs) available, and C2 (stacking limits and any leaders present).  Each mission is different but primarily consist of recovery or base building and KIA count differential.

Operation Points govern the length of each mission.  When OPs fall to zero, the game is over.  OPs can be gained or lost throughout the game by performing operations, winning or losing battles, or as a result of an Event card.  With a need to typically complete more than one objective within a mission, OPs are dear.  

To accomplish a mission, a player builds his task forces through the use of expending Recruit Points.  With a limited number of RPs available, the player must construct his task forces carefully.  Part of the fun of MM is that each task force can be composed from a variety of assets.  With limits on both stacking and RPs, a player can be faced with tough decisions on how to construct a force.  With a need to typically field more than one force per mission, tough and interesting choices abound.  Assets that may be included in a task force are infantry, airborne, scouts, heavy weapons, engineers, supply columns, airstrikes, and air supply.  Each asset category has its advantages and disadvantages.

sample playing pieces

Given the Mission card chosen, the player places a number of unknown objective chits on randomly determined areas of the map.  Some of the objectives are real while others represent ambushes.  The game is point-to-point, area movement with most of the tables needed for play printed onto the map in a very organized manner.  

game map

Once recruitment is completed and selected objectives are placed (face-down so that their true value is unknown), play begins.

Each operation (turn) consists of selecting one task force, expending one OP, moving the stack, and drawing an Event card.  A force may only move as fast as its slowest component.  Once moved, one Event card is drawn from the deck of fourteen OPFOR Event cards.  While many of the event cards trigger the appearance of OPFOR units, some cards are beneficial.  If an Event card is drawn bringing forth OPFOR units, a battle is fought.

Moving task forces toward objectives

The number of required OPFOR units are selected randomly with their values unknown.  Combat values for OPFOR units range from a force strength of two up to eight.  Drawing the OPFOR=8 unit is a tough blow since the value of the chit equals the number of dice thrown in combat.  The battle begins by determining tactical advantage.  If the player's force stack contains a leader then he receives a +1 to this die roll.  Highest total attacks first which is a big advantage.  In a very simple series of back and forth exchanges, one side is destroyed.  Luck can play a role in combat.  The player has the option of calling in an air strike to bolster his combat capability if the odds are unfavorable.  Of course, an air strike would have been allocated in the early recruitment phase.  Based upon the number of units killed or panicked, the KIA marker is moved on the KIA Track to reflect the current tally.  In addition to either recovering real objectives or building bases, the value of the KIA Track at the end of the mission is important.

These continuous interactions between player and the games' AI provide suspense and produce many tense moments as the player attempts to complete each mission.  With variability in each facet of the game from selecting a mission, to building a force, to objective location, to Event card play, game replayability is high.  No two games play out the same.  With the Event deck containing only fourteen cards, one could go through the deck in one game.  Given that possibility of knowing which cards may be forthcoming, I only use ten of the fourteen cards with each pass through the Event deck.  That way, I never know with certainty which cards remain. 

The game is challenging but not too challenging although having completed three games, I have yet to win.

In the first game, the mission selected was Operation Longcloth.  I succeeded in the recovery mission and made it back to base intact but the KIA goal was not met.  I needed a higher body count of enemy.

In the second game, I repeated Operation Longcloth.  On the return from a successful recovery mission, my last task force was cut down in an ambush.  KIA totals favored the Japanese OPFOR.

In the third game, I chose the Operation Mars mission.  In that mission, I needed to find the two real objectives out of the four on map and build bases on these objectives.  I found the two real objectives, built bases upon them, and then went off on search and destroy missions to raise the KIA count to a winning margin.  Unfortunately, one of the Event cards drawn was a Japanese raid on one of my forward bases.  With an insufficient garrison, my forward base fell into enemy hands.  Without enough OPs remaining to mount a counterattack, the game was lost.  Still great fun but lost.  

While I ended up losing all three of these games, victory was within my grasp in each.  This is a great little game that offers a solid solitaire experience in a small package.  Components are first rate including the small card decks and playing pieces.  As I mentioned early on, the AI in MM is superb and offers an endless challenge for the gamer with an hour or two on hand.  Perhaps, MM could be used as a solitaire engine for a miniatures game?  MM might be a perfect little game to tuck away for travel.