I managed to pick up several old boardgames via eBay recently, all of which either scratch that nostalgia itch (I played a game in 1984... it must be good, right??) or have been on my wish list for many years. So this is the 1st of a series of posts on each game. Beginning with...Ice War.
Set in the far future (2007... sigh...) this is one of the Microgame series that came out in the late 70s- early 80s. I'm a big fan of these games... I loved the format when they 1st came out, not least because they were cheap! But they were a really accessible way to try out different settings and styles of games. By the nature of the format they were quite limited in production values and complexity but. When they worked, they really worked well and featured some fascinating concepts and rules. Admittedly sometimes they sucked but, for the price (even as a poor schoolboy/student at the time) it was worth a punt.
I guess the equivalent today might be the Osprey Blue book rules (Pikeman's Lament, En Garde etc)
Ice War was game #9 in the series and came out in 1978. It imagines a war between the USA and the 'European Socialist Alliance' who have invaded Alaska to seize control of oil fields. I mean... it's a bit far-fetched. Who could imagine the USA and European countries going to war over frozen northern territories.... oh... erm.....
A bit like other Metagaming games like Ogre, GEV etc, the designers have a bit of a thing for hovercraft. The ESA are attacking with troops mounted on these, along with tanks and missile firing artillery. These are lobbing tactical nukes around which have the added fun of changing the terrain as the game progresses, tundra to mud and ice to water. It was this concept that I always found fascinating. Different vehicles can cope with some terrain, but not others.
The ESA have the advantage of hidden movement which has to be noted off-map and strikes me as ripe for confusion, but the USA can use satellites to try and detect the invaders. There seems to be an optional rule to allow hidden movement for both sides which is either genius or madness! I suspect this might be a level of complexity too far which probably isn't helpful with a small map and fiddley counters and is probably best ignored. The changing terrain means getting the right troops in the right place is important, otherwise their advance might grind to a swampy halt as the ground beneath them changes to radioactive mud.
More games to follow...
