Dogfight!

 

A different game last night... Dogfight.  This is a WW1 air game  originally published by Milton Bradley back in the 60's.  The Boardgamegeek details are HERE.

The game is designed for age 10+ which puts it just about at my level!  Each player has 3 planes which move on a gridded board with some really nice artwork.  Movement is by dice and you have to move the full amount so a bit of thought is required to get into position to attack your opponent.  

Combat is also very simple... each player has a hand of cards with a Burst rating (from 1-5)... highest one wins and shoots down the opposing plane.  If you manage to attack from the side or rear the only way the opposition can survive is by playing a barrel roll or loop card which negate the attack, and in the case of a loop allow the attacked plane to become the attacker.  In order to replenish your hand of cards you need to return back to your airfield

Planes on the ground can be attacked but you have to cross the line of defending AA guns and risk the 'Archie'.  Each player has 6 planes but you can only have 2 in the air at any one time

This game was played using a specially made extra-large printed mat from Deepcut Studios with the boardgame printed onto it and my friend Anthony's lovely collection of Corgi biplanes and triplanes.  It's fair to say I was soundly beaten (maybe age 10+ was a bit ambitious!).  I only managed to shoot down one British plane at the cost of all 6 of my aircraft!.  Great fun though and it shows that a game doesn't have to be complex to be really entertaining 

The Great War 1914-1916

 

As promised here is the update no one is waiting for on the progress of our Paths of Glory WW1 grand strategy game.  We've been progressing slowly... a turn seems to take us over an hour and I usually have a headache from juggling all the possibilities and limited resources (It's a bit like being at work!) so we've been playing a round or so on occasional days and leaving the game set up.  

We've now reached the beginning of 1916.  1915 was a busy year...

Early in 1915 Callum's combined German and Austro-Hungarian armies managed to encircle several Russian armies, placing them out of supply.  One of these was down to me overextending my lines and the other due to not paying attention (too much vodka and caviar!).  I desperately tried to break through to relieve them but couldn't do it and they were all permanently destroyed...disaster!  Luckily although the Russians are a bit rubbish, they get lots of reinforcements...just as well really!

The Bulgarians and the Serbs decide to ignore the war and each other

Next Bulgaria and Italy entered the the war.  I'm not sure this really helped either of us as it just meant more rather weedy troops to try and mobilise with the same number of Ops Points.  So far little has happened on the Italian front

Northern Italy

I managed to deploy the Russian Caucuses army into the Middle East although neither  of us could see the point of trying to fight in that theatre... there seems little to be gained for a lot of effort and it could become a distracting sideshow (but this may have been a mistake).

The Germans redeployed some of their armies from the East to the West and to guard the Italian border.  Mata Hari had used her fiendish Dutch wiles on someone from Allied High Command to reveal my hand of cards and so Callum knew Italy was due to enter the war soon.

By the end of 1915 Italy was proving a minor sideshow with little happening.  Still nothing happening at all in the Middle East.  

On the Western Front it certainly wasn't all quiet as a series of pointless attacks caused heavy casualties on both sides, made no progress and then had reinforcements being fed into the mincer so we could do it all again... just like the real thing! 

I had the option to bring Romania into the war but didn't really see the point... they only have a few Corps to deploy and keeping them neutral protects Russia's southern flank.

At this point we both ran out of steam.  Neither of us were really enthused to carry on and after leaving it for a couple of days we've decided to declare a cessation of hostilities.  The game was interesting and works well in recreating the frustrations of the static western front and the fluid, mobile east.  The problem was that it was all becoming a bit repetitive:  build-up, attack, losers retreat and attackers decline to follow up (we learned early on that salients are bad places to find yourself in), reinforce , and repeat....

With hindsight we might have done a few things differently.  We both found ourselves getting drawn into turns where we just reacted to each other's moves rather than pursuing any kind of grand strategy (ha!... as if I actually had a strategy!!).  We'd also ignored the 'sideshow theatres of the Middle East and Italy and, although these may not contribute much strategically, they do increase the general war effort which allows new cards to be brought into play.  For the Allies this could mean the  USA entering the war and could enable the Central Powers to force Russia to withdraw due to revolution, both potentially game changers.  

I think we'll play it again at some point but for now it's packed up and we'll try something less demanding in time and brainpower instead.

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...