From: Michael Nagel Subject: Re: Saratoga Roger, GMT's Saratoga is an outstanding, low-complexity, quick-playing, high-replayablity title on the battle for Freeman's Farm (aka, the first battle of Saratoga) on 19 Sept, 1777. Incidentally, it also won the Charlie award for best graphics last year. The scale is regimental at 200 yards per hex. Units include troops and artillery (with values for combat, movement, and morale) and leaders (with values for combat, leadership, and movement), plus a batch of status markers and a set of maneuver option chits for each player. The turn sequence is Igo-Hugo, the first player each turn based on an Initiative roll (so a player might get two back-to-back turns) ... * Movement * Rally * Defensive Artillery Fire * Simultaneous Rifle Fire * Combat Combat is a value-to-value ratio, with drm's for terrain, leadership, unit type (regular, militia, or rifle), and the comparison of selected battlefield maneuvers (the options for which are limited based on the availability of leaders). Combat results are retreats, disruptions, and step-losses, with the occasional dead leader thrown into the mix (usually at the worst possible time). Victory is determined in one of three ways: A Minor victory is based on whacked and damaged units at the end of the game. A Decisive (sudden death) victory is based on control of geography. A Substantial victory (between Minor and Decisive) is caused by routing your opponent's army. This is determined by army status, which is modifed for better or worse via unit loses and rallies. The more losses you take, the worse the condition of your army becomes. As it gets worse, your Initiative and Morale values decrease, creating a downhill slide towards a rout. There are also a few neat chrome rules thrown in, including historical fog which can effect British movement during the first two turns of the game; Momentum chits which are acquired via excellent combat results and which can be exchanged later for die rerolls; and some special abilities for specific units. Once you get the hang of the system, the game takes about three hours to play to completion. The amount of die rolling (i.e. wristage) is moderate to high, but ... in addition to the use of the combat maneuver chits ... keeps the tension level and replayability value very high. I think the game is somewhat skewed towards the British, but the Americans still have a decent chance of winning, especially if the Brits are a little too aggressive. Given that it's such a quick playing game, you could easily play two games, switching sides, to see who the best overall player is. Saratoga is one of the best games I've played in a long time, and is going far to increase interest in American Revolution battles. I had the opportunity to fiddle with the follow-up game on Brandywine which is currently under playtest and looks like it will be even better. :-) -- Mike "Santagato, L. Roger" wrote: > On October 6, Patrick R. Collins wrote: > > >Last Played: ....Saratoga > > comments, please? > > Roger Santagato > santa@anl.gov > last 3: colonial miniatures, Atlantic Storm, and Europa From: "Patrick R. Collins" Subject: Re: Saratoga > >Last Played: ....Saratoga > > comments, please? Well, Mr. Nagel beat me to the punch, and did a good job of describing the system. About the only hole in the game is this: a large chunk of the US forces are under Gates, and essentially are froze in place until late in the game, or attacked. Of course, a clever Brit will try to gang up on the Yanks under Arnold. Now, the terrain tends to discourage that. But, if you play it "straight up" let some go after Arnold, others punch on down the main river road - that's a fight. The system does work well, and is easy to pick up. The chits give it a MINI type of feel, which I like. Others think it's a lot of work or a small DRM. Brandywine is really close to the 500 level. I hope this series takes off, it's quite solid, and could be used for smaller battles, (say, Cowpens) as well. I'm quite happy with it. Regards, Pat pcollins@prairienet.org Last Played: Hussars & Tripods, GWAS Russian -Japanese War, Saratoga http://www.prairienet.org/~pcollins