GERONIMO

By:  Greg J. Schloesser

The great -- yet tragic -- U.S. - Indian conflicts are a subject which
has not been dealt with to any great extent by the strategy and war
gaming industry.  Perhaps this is because the conflicts were so
one-sided, with the Indian tribes having little real hope of stemming
the great white tide which was sweeping over their lands.  Geronimo is
Avalon Hill's attempt to recreate this tragic period of our history, and
represents the U.S. expansion into the West and the subsequent
encounters with the Indian tribes.

Each turn, players are randomly assigned a side to play -- either Indian
tribes or the U.S.  Only one player represents the U.S. each turn, while
the other players each have a number of Indian tribes under their
control.  Indian players get to select one or two of their active
tribes, but the rest are dealt to them randomly. There are usually more
Indian tribes available than what are active each turn, but players
don't really know which ones are inactive.  This can be unsettling to
the U.S. player as he must decide where to deploy his limited troops and
columns.

The U.S. player is faced with the task of building up sufficient
resources (settlements, towns, railroads, mines, etc.) to maintain his
existing states and convert territories into states.  Most of his
victory points are earned by this conversion process, although he can
earn smaller amounts by forcing Indian tribes onto reservations and even
smaller amounts by defeating Indian villages or war parties in battle.
However, the U.S. does have a limited number of troops, and can only
activate a certain number per round based on the number of Indian
players in the game.  With the Indians constantly harassing him at every
turn and attacking and/or raiding the various resources, it becomes
somewhat of a juggling act as the U.S. struggles to replace 'hit'
resources and catch the pesky Indians.

The Indian players, meanwhile, must play the role of guerillas,
constantly attacking and raiding resources across the board.  He not
only earns victory points in this manner, but also can deny the U.S.
player the required number of resources and each turn's end to convert
territories to states or maintain current states. However, he must be
very careful not to suffer too many casualties, as this could cause his
depleted and exhausted tribe to go on reservation or become extinct,
which costs the player dearly in victory points.  The Indian players
must also keep an eye to insure that territories do not become to
over-populated with U.S. resources as this directly affects the tribes'
abilities to survive in that area.  There are lots of tough decisions to
be made by both players.

One of the key components of the game system is the use of 'Shaman'
cards.  Players are each dealt a number of these cards, which operate as
event cards.  These events can help or hinder the efforts of the
players, or, in rare cases, be neutral.  Players must play the card and
suffer the consequences in order to 'move' that round.  Otherwise, the
card is discarded and they cannot move that round.  It is the events
that add uncertainty and lots of flavor to the game.  I am always
partial to game systems that utilize random events as they can foil the
best laid plans.  Devastating sometimes, but always fun!

The game has two options:  the Basic game and the Campaign game.  The
Basic game lasts only four turns (although this could easily take 3 - 6
hours) and begins after the Civil War has occurred.  Also, many of the
territories have already achieved statehood and others are well on their
way to this status.  The Campaign game encompasses eight turns, with the
threat of the Civil War hanging over the head of the U.S. player,
thereby reducing his commitment of troops.  The Campaign game could
easily last 8 hours plus.

My initial impressions are favorable.  Richard Berg has done a nice job
of capturing the flavor of the era and forcing players to make tough
decisions.  I also seem to enjoy playing the Indian tribes over the U.S.
as the Indians play the role of military aggressor, making hit-and-run
attacks on the resources, thereby forcing the U.S. player to play a game
of constantly responding to the Indians' actions.  Perhaps the only
element of the game I have a problem with is the ability of the U.S.
player to make treaties with Indian tribes, sending the tribe to a
reservation in exchange for a number of victory points awarded at the
whim of the U.S. player.  In the original rules, it was implied that the
victory points so awarded would be deducted from the U.S. player's
total, which seemed intriguing.  The official errata, however, claims
that these victory points are not deducted from his total.  Rather, they
are simply given to the Indian player.  I have a problem with this as it
becomes easy for the U.S. player to arbitrarily send tribes to
reservations by being the 'victory-point' fairy.  I much prefer the
original interpretation.

In spite of this one problem, I still give Geronimo a 'Thumbs-Up'.

GSCHLOESSR@aol.com

Westbank Gamers
http://members.aol.com/GSCHLOESSR/index.html