Joe Oppenheimer - Apr 15, 2009 8:16 pm (#27916 Total: 27962) "These games are being degraded by the increasing use of professional tricks to stay alive." - Livia, I Claudius On the table: In The Trenches – Initial Engagements. This is Jeux Grenier Games first in a planned series of World War One tactical games. The units are platoon level but frequently function as companies of three or four units stacked together or moving abreast. I was initially skeptical about this game because it requires the player to glue together strips of counters to make double sided pieces. Designer John Gorkowski saw my comments and asked if I’d consider giving the game a try if he sent me an evaluation copy with the pieces already assembled (so please consider that a disclaimer as to what motivations I may have in posting about this game). I’m really glad he did because I’m impressed with the games physical presentation and playability, and I intend to buy the follow up games as they are released. The game uses two unique activation mechanisms. First both players roll two dice and calculate the differential; the player with the higher score gets to take that many activations and then his opponent does the same (if the rolls are the same then the turn ends unless this is the first activation). This mean the players will get equal numbers of activations but one of them will get to take a number of actions first. Units are activated as individuals or as formations and essentially get to do two things per turn --- a unit that hasn’t activated is called “free” and can move, dig in, fire, or initiate close combat; once it does one of these things it is marked as “engaged” and can still activate to fire or close combat before being marked “spent”. The exception is units which use indirect fire which move from free to spent when then range, fire indirectly or move. Engaged machine guns also have the special ability to continue firing at moving units without becoming spent unless doubles are rolled (this nicely models the deadly effects of advancing towards machine guns). One of the most common combat results is to increase a unit’s activation status so there is an interesting sub-game of when to activate units, how far to push them and when to risk using opportunity fire or return fire (which allows a sort of duel between two firing formations. I played the short “Cavalry Eclipsed” scenario which pits Austrian and Russian horseman against each other in an August 21, 1914 that looks a little like something out of the Napoleonic Wars. The scenario is only six turns and plays quickly. The two sides enter a mostly open map with forces building up over the first few turns. There are ridge lines on each side which make a great spot for artillery and machine guns (since units on a hill can’t be subject to a cavalry charge unless the charging unit starts on the same hill) and one side of the map is dominated by grain fields which provide limited concealment from spotting but no real cover when fired upon. This is the rare World War One battle that actually featured cavalry charges. In the game they can be a powerful tool, but can also fail miserably under enemy fire. The cavalry units have a very limited fire so the initial turns saw charge and counter-charge as company sized formations of three cavalry units activated and tore into each other. Much depended on die rolls with some attacks being halted or mauled by opportunity fire while others stamped in and smashed up the defending cavalry units. The activation mechanism means that after those cavalry charges some units will find themselves able to carry out close combat (an odds based attack) against a seriously weakened foe and others will use direct fire to attack enemy units in their hex or to attack adjacent units that tried to charge but were stopped by opportunity fire. Other units will find themselves already spent and unable to respond to further attacks and will make excellent targets for charges. I really liked the interaction between the system of multiple activation levels and the combat results that include changes to activation status. In my playing the Russians tried to overwhelm the Austrian defenders while the Austrians sought some concealment in the grain fields. While the first two turns saw much swirling cavalry action, by turn three there were machine guns and 75mm artillery setup on the opposing hills. The Austrians initially ignored the 75mm and were nearly obliterated by direct fire from the artillery (the guns more commonly use indirect fire but that is a two step process and one that doesn’t work well against moving cavalry so I setup the guns on the hill with a direct line of sight. The Austrians realized they were too exposed and moved into the grain fields where they could avoid the heavy guns. The Russians went after them but their early enthusiasm waned as they took more and more step losses. The more open part of the map was now dominated by machine guns and 75mm and neither side wanted to expose their cavalry to the devastating direct fire these can deliver (there is a direct fire modifier against cavalry and an additional one against moving units so riding those horses in front of the guns is not recommended). As the Austrians slowly moved into the lead on steps killed they took up a mutually supportive defensive posture in the grain fields that the Russians didn’t dare to charge. The final two turns saw the first use of indirect fire in this scenario. The system has (as you’d expect in a WW1 game) an interesting indirect fire system. In the first turn an artillery unit places three markers indicating the potential target. Two of these markers are dummies while one is the real strike. In all cases the firing unit or an observing unit must be able to spot the target. The next turn (assuming the targets are still spotted) the artillery unit can fire by choosing drum (which hits one hex at full strength), barrage (which hits a cluster of seven hexes at a modified strength), or hurricane (which puts down a line of seven impact markers at modified strength). Next there is an accuracy roll which will likely move the target one or two hexes. Finally the actual impact is put down and stays in effect for the entire turn. In my play the Russians had a cavalry unit that could spot the hill the Austrians had placed their machine guns, 75mm and a supporting cavalry unit. They targeted the three units with the real marker against the machine guns (since I was playing solo I placed the markers without knowing which one was real but that isn’t a standard rule in the game). One nice trick about the three artillery markers is that while you opponent knows that two of them are dummies they still have to worry about what damage they will do and this may cause the defender to move units that are not the real target but are threatened. The Austrians reacted to the attack by moving units away from the target hexes, but the artillery and machine guns move slowly (even when transported by wagon) and neither wanted to move forward since that would expose them to opportunity fire from the Russian machine guns. The Russians chose the hurricane barrage and while the blast didn’t hit its intended hex, the line of impact was still enough to reduce a 75mm, a wagon unit and two cavalry units. All in all I found the artillery process fun and not too complicated. In the end the Austrians pulled out a victory. They destroyed 48 steps to the 39 step losses they took. I really enjoyed this game. The map and counters are very attractive. It’s pretty easy to play but has enough depth to keep it interesting. The system is similar enough to other games you’ve played to make it easy to dive into but there are some interesting twists. I’m looking forward to trying the other two scenarios: “Elan” which features French and German infantry clashing at Neufchateau during the opening week of the war, and “Rising Sun” which has a combined Japanese and British force executing a night assault against fortified Germans in the city of Tsingtao.