It'll all be over by xmas...

 No...not the pandemic, but our game of Paths of Glory.  

My friend Andrew very kindly gave me a copy of the WW1 grand strategy boardgame by GMT Games last year and it has sat on the shelf  staring, rather  threateningly, at me ever since.  I've always liked the idea of games like this where you command armies and Corps and fling them across maps of Europe like General Melchett but find them quite intimidating.  The sheer amount of time to play them is an issue in itself (6 hours for the full campaign...which I reckon you could easily double!) and games like this can be bewilderingly confusing.  My son was keen to give it a go though and as we're now living under tighter Covid restrictions in London once again and my regular face to face games are on hold this seemed the perfect time to try it.

The game map takes in western and eastern Europe with a  side box for the Middle-East.  

The West...

...and the East...

...and the Middle East

The rules themselves aren't as scary as I'd expected.  They share a lot of mechanics with Twilight Struggle (which I've played a lot) and other card-driven games.  

Typical beastly Hun trick (it's ok...the French get to use Phosgene gas instead!)

Each player has a hand of cards which can either be used to play an event or for operation points.  These can be used to move units, attack, bring in replacements or redeploy units across the map.  So far, so simple... 

While the basic rules are fine there are loads of exceptions to every rule... things like units (see sub-list 3.1.12) may move through Amiens only in Autum 1914 , if they are French but not if it's a Tuesday unless it has been raining and then only if they have remembered to bring sandwiches...

Despite this we set up and played through the detailed example of a couple of turns provided in the rule book.  I have to say this really helped and has saved a lot of head-scratching later on.  We then re-set and kicked off in August 14.

We're playing sporadically with a turn every day or so (no one wanted to eat at the dining table did they??) and have  reached Winter 14.  The Western Front is proving as static and stagnant as used expect although the Germans have destroyed Verdun already and punched a hole in the allied lines.  I'm having to contend with managing multiple nationalities... having more than 1 nations troops in a  zone is crucial as it allows multi-national moves but also means it costs more; presumably the extra time arranging for translators (or for the British to just shout loudly and point at things). Crucially I have managed to get some newly raised British armies across the Channel to fill some gaps.

In the East the Russians are having a great time carving job the Austro-Hungarians but Callum has already begun the process (by playing the right cards) of having Russia grind to a halt due to local unrest which could eventually lead to them withdrawing as the Revolution breaks out.  I need to make sure I do as much damage as I can before that happens.

As the game progresses new decks are added in (a bit like Twilight Struggle) and we both now have moved from the Mobilisation phase to Limited War which has a lot more interesting options.  As in all these card driven games you may not get to play the exciting event card if you need to use it for Ops Points instead which can be frustrating but forces some interesting choices.  Crucially Limited War means that Turkey has now entered the war so the Middle East which so far has been peaceful may be about to liven up

In turn 4 (winter 14) I spotted what appeared to be a very gamey way to win.  All armies and Corps have to be able to trace a line back to their supply centres or they become Out of Supply and are eliminated.  The central Powers trace their lines back to Essen in the West and Breslau in the east.  I noticed it was technically possibly to rapidly move a Russian army past the Austrians to besiege Breslau, and a weedy half-strength French Corps round the flank of the German front and into Essen in the last move of the turn.  This would cut off all their supplies and end the war at a stroke! We decided this was far too gamey and not to do it... in reality a weakened Corps wouldn't bring the entire western front to a grinding halt all on its own.  I'm still claiming a moral victory though!!

oops..the French armies are doomed!

Sadly Callum had a much more legitimate masterstroke up his sleeve: I'd failed to spot the German armies marching through the smouldering ruins of Verdun and encircling my armies in Nancy... they were cut off and eliminated!

Now we're knee deep in the winter mud, everyone's started digging trenches and it's only a matter of time before a bloody poet turns up!  More on this as the game progresses...