Andrew Maly - 08:04pm May 23, 2002 PST (#36 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! Review and Extended Example of Play Soldier Kings: The Seven Years War Worldwide (Avalanche Press, LTD) I’ll start off saying that warfare in the 18th Century holds my interest and it’s probably the time period I’m most interested in. That presents a certain bias toward wanting to like games on the period. I also pre-ordered this game. Again, that lends itself to a bias of wanting to like the game. I’ve not spent too much time with the game, so this is more of my initial impressions rather than a detailed analysis. Take those facts into consideration when reading this review. I covered some of this in Out of the Wrapper, but to provide a complete review, I’ll reiterate and hopefully expand on my comments from there. Soldier Kings (I’ll refer to it this way form now on) is a Robert Markham design. The game is a macroscopic look at the Seven Years War. The main theater of the game is Europe, but additional theaters are the Western Hemisphere (The Americas), Southeast Asia, Africa, and India. The maps are point to point. Units are generic, rather than representing specific units. There are four turns per year. The game is just as much about resource management and diplomacy (in the campaign game, only) as it is about the military side of the conflict. A brief look at the game reveals this isn’t a definitive treatment of the subject, but a game that will play fast, will try to provide an entertaining time to the participants, and hopefully provide some insight as to why events occurred as they did. Components. The Box. Comments on the box? Well, yes. The cover of Soldier Kings is a microcosm of the game itself. The colors are dark (deep blue and brown tones), yet bold. There are examples of the counters for the eight major nationalities on the cover. This presentation is opposed by a large, and for lack of a better word right now, rough brown and black rendering of Frederick on his mount. This contrast is an odd selection, but it is indicative of a similar contrast between the counters and maps. The box is a 1” box, and with all the components, it is not quite large enough to contain a counter tray. I used some small ziplock baggies instead, but that’s not my preferred way of doing things. The Counters. These are sharp, and are the best part of the physical production. There are 165 - 2/3” counters that represent the armies and fleets of the major combatants and 16 minor nations. Combat units are rated for attack and defense. The top color bar and flag, along with the two-letter abbreviation in the bottom left corner of each counter distinguish nationality. A nice touch with the armies is that a stronger unit has more soldiers on its counter. This effect isn’t extended to the fleets. The 140 marker counters are ½”. There are status markers, numeric markers for sieges, leaders, event makers and control markers. There appear to be too many numeric markers at first glance, which might have been better served as control markers. The control markers are double sided, and there is the dreaded, “Where is the (insert nationality here) marker?” which only appear on the backsides of some counters. Additional excess numeric counters could have been converted used for showing which player controls a particular minor country. Andrew Maly - 08:04pm May 23, 2002 PST (#37 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! The Maps. There are two maps. The 22” x 23” map covers Europe. The 18” x 23” map covers the rest of the world. The presentation of the maps is like the box cover, using dark colors, but making a bold statement. The graphic example provided later is a bit washed out compared to the actual map. With the counters, the combination isn’t bad, but I personally don’t think its an award winning combination. The map is point to point, and each point is a large box. Each box is sufficiently large to hold a stack of counters and still display the other pertinent information: background color and two letter symbol to indicate the original owner, name of the space, and its values in Resources, Manpower, and Siege/Defense. As I said, this is a macroscopic look, and, for example, the Wein (Vienna) Box is connected to the Silesia Box, which is connected to the Berlin Box. Similarly, Berlin to Moscow is three boxes. Additionally, there is a sea movement track that controls movement throughout the world. A few comments are in order on the map (and rules). The primary concern is that coastal areas are loosely defined, which might cause some heartburn amongst the nit-pickers. The other point is one of curiosity, and relates to Rule 10.8. It’s a rule that’s not really needed. Specifically, the rule states, “There is no Panama Canal.” Obviously, since it is the mid-18th Century. However, since there isn’t naval movement through the Pacific, it just appears to be a rule that serves no purpose. Charts. There are two 8-1/2” x 11” cardstock charts. One contains the Initiative Track and the Resource and Manpower Track. The second chart is two sided and contains information on automatic victory, the manpower and resource costs table, and the tables for controlling minor countries. The charts are on manila colored stock, are functional, easy to read and use, and are designed to blend with the overall color scheme. Cards. There are 64 cards that provide players with the opportunity to introduce random events into the game. These are perforated cards that need to be separated, and are approximately 2” x 2-5/8” each. There is nothing fancy about them, but they are functional. Still, there is a bit of sloppiness evident. Some of the wording is a bit vague. The cards inconsistently use the phrase “the player who plays the card determines,” which seems better suited as a rule in the rulebook, and avoids the anal discussions of, “well, it doesn’t say who picks.” One card is a “Global” event card, but not identified as such (the East India Company Troops). But my favorite card is Royal Betrothal, the typo on this one is worth the price of admission. Scenarios booklet. This four-page booklet provides the information for playing the seven yearly scenarios, which are exclusively two player, and the campaign scenario which is for 2-8 players. I haven’t found any glaring errors in this one. Rulebook. The rules are 16 pages long. The cover contains the table of contents. Pages 2-11 take the reader through introductory material, resources and manpower, land movement and combat, naval movement and combat, siege, and leaders. Pages 12-16 deal with diplomacy, the interaction of player controlled nations and the interaction of minor countries. The mechanics of the game aren’t complex. The rules seem to be fairly complete and straightforward, but then I didn’t go over them with a fine-tooth comb. I generally leave that job -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Maly - 08:06pm May 23, 2002 PST (#38 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! to the playtesters and other types of people. Still, there are a few issues that crop up in the rules. My first impression is that these aren’t show stoppers, but rather an indication that maybe a final independent proofing of the rules could be used. (I don’t throw that comment just at Soldier Kings, I think any game can benefit from a final independent proofing.) The issues I arrived at: 1. Rule 10.8. I covered this earlier, and its presence is odd. 2. Rule 10.41 indicates that the interception of moving fleets take place after all naval movement is complete. 10.45 states that moving units that were intercepted and did not retreat may continue moving. 10.43 is probably the worst rule in the book. It is contradictory within itself, and, unfortunately, deals with the limits on interception attempts. I read it to mean that the first sentence is correct, a fleet or group may make only one interception attempt per action phase. 3. The rules on leader casualties (13.5) is supported by the land combat example, but contradicted by the naval combat example. I took it that the naval combat example was wrong. In any case, I’ve written APL about these questions. Enough about the components, lets go to the sequence of play. There are two types of turns in Soldier Kings. Spring, Summer, and Fall are Campaign Turns. Winter Turns have a separate sequence of play. Campaign Turns – 1. Purchase Phase. Players take units in the current turn box and place them on the board. Players purchase new units, but armies are received two turns after purchase and fleets are received four turns after purchase. Players can also pay to recover reduced-strength units immediately. 2. Initiative Phase. Players dice for initiative. The Prussian player adds or subtracts 2 from his dice roll, but must state his intention prior to anyone rolling dice for initiative. The highest roll has 1st initiative, second highest roll has 2nd initiative, etc. A side comment is why this phase doesn’t occur prior to the Purchase Phase, to avoid the question of who goes first. 3. Action Phases. Each player in initiative order performs the following in order: · Naval Movement · Naval Combat · Land Movement · Land Combat · Siege 4. Peace Phase. A major power can surrender to another major power. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Maly - 08:07pm May 23, 2002 PST (#39 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! Winter Turns – 1. Winter Attrition. Areas are limited in the number of troops they can support. Unsupported units take casualties. 2. Maintenance Phase. Players must expend Resources and Manpower to maintain units on the map. 3. Victory Phase. Players determine victory in a one-year scenario, or determine if any power has won an automatic victory in the Campaign Game. 4. Resource and Manpower Phase. Players collect Resources and Manpower from land areas controlled. Separate rules cover land areas in Europe and those in the rest of the world. 5. Event Card Phase. All unplayed Event Cards are discarded, the deck is shuffled, and each player receives a new hand of event cards. 6. Diplomacy Phase. Players have 10 minutes to negotiate deals and make formal alliances. Before moving onto my example of play, I’ll talk about two aspects of the sequence of play that don’t get covered in my replay. Resource and Manpower Phase. This is a once-per-year phase, so players have to carefully balance their resources over the coming year. Players not only spend to build units and maintain units, but also to conduct attacks and sieges. The only way to gain additional Resources and Manpower is through conquering enemy territory. Minor countries are useful in that they generally operate “exempt” from the Resource and Manpower rules, recovering and rebuilding automatically. However, minor countries don’t provide their major ally with any Resource or Manpower benefit. There is a tradeoff, then, on how to treat Minor countries. Diplomacy. This will definitely add another level to the game. The rules are pretty straight-forward on what you can and cannot do. Certain specific alliances are not allowed, e.g. Prussia and Austria, from the start. However, if players break alliances during the game that alliance cannot be reformed the rest of the game. These repercussions extend to other alliances affected. For example, France, Austria, and Russia have a three-way alliance. France breaks off the alliance with Austria, and those two nations cannot ally again for the remainder of the game. However, Russian is now allied with two enemies, so she must choose one of her alliances and break it, in this case, France. Russia and France are also now prohibited from allying again for the remainder of the game. The eight major nationalities to be played are Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Spain, Holland, and Turkey. The last three countries seem a bit odd to include but overall, it should work, because each nationality is pursuing its own automatic victory. An automatic victory occurs when a major nation has a net growth in Resources equal to its automatic victory level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Maly - 08:09pm May 23, 2002 PST (#40 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! Holland, Russia, and Turkey need a net growth of 10; Austria, Prussia, and Spain need a net growth of 15; and Britain and France need a net growth of 20. Thus, the reasons for making and breaking alliances are clarified. You certainly want someone on your side who can help you, but leave them in the dust when victory comes knocking. One important aspect of the game that was readily evident to me is that the game is fairly loosely structured. There aren’t a whole lot of rules directing players to act or perform in a historical manner. Rather, this is a function of the board positions and Resources/Manpower, and putting the burden on the players themselves to recognize their limitations. I like this. Play within historical parameters, and you should do fine. You can play fast and loose, but don’t complain about the outcome. I’m sure there will be players who will lament the game is broken and needs to be fixed after they lose Prussia while Frederick and company were trying to conquer Moscow. Enough soapbox, on to the example of play. I’ve included this to give a feel for the mechanics of the game and not necessarily any profound revelation of strategy. To keep things simple, I’m going to use Scenario #1: 1756. Prussia is one side, and Austria is the other side. Saxony starts as Austria’s minor ally. The globe cards are removed from the event cards deck. The remaining cards are shuffled, and both players receive five event cards: Prussia 1. Papal Bull 2. Caught at Anchor* 3. Force March 4. Burned Bridges 5. Provincials Go Home* Austria 1. Jesuit Plot* 2. Early/Late Snows 3. Miscommunication 4. Minor Country Alliance 5. New Leader Events with a * are useless to the players, but this information isn’t revealed. Markers are placed to indicate the starting levels: Austria – 17 resources, 17 manpower. Prussia – 14 recourses, 12 manpower. Austria and its allies set up first. Saxony has two armies (its entire OOB) as its starting forces. One 3-2 (attack-defense) army and one 2-1 army are placed in the Saxony space. Andrew Maly - 08:12pm May 23, 2002 PST (#41 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! Austria has the leader Browne, a 2 rated leader, one 4-3 army, and four other armies. The other armies in the Austrian OOB are placed into a cup and the Austrian player draws a 3-2 army, a 2-1 army, a 2-1 army and a 1-1 army. (1 x 3-2 army, 3 x 2-1 armies, and 2 x 1-1 armies are left in the available force pool). The Austrian Player places his 4-3 army and a 2-1 army in Wien, trying to protect the capital. Browne, the 3-2 army, the other 2-1 army, and the 1-1 army are placed in Bohemia. The Prussian Player gets Frederick II, a 3 rated leader, Schwerin, a 3 rated leader, one 4-3 army and five other armies. Drawing randomly he gets armies of ratings 4-3, 3-2, 3-2, 2-1, and 1-1. Armies of ratings 3-2, 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, and 1-1 are left in the available force pool. Frederick II, a 4-3, a 4-3 and a 3-2 are placed in Magdeburg. Schwerin, a 3-2, a 2-1 and a 1-1 are placed in Silesia. The situation looks like this (356KB). Players now proceed to turn 1. Purchase Phase. Austria decides to construct a new army. She pays 2 Resources (down to 15) and 5 Manpower (to 12). Prussia decides not to construct any new armies. Neither player has armies to recover, as all units start the game face up. However, Prussia decides to play his Papal Bull event. His holiness calls for support for the defenders of the Faith. Because Austria is allied with Saxony, she will lose 1-6 Resources. The die is cast, and a 1 is rolled. Austria’s resources are adjusted down by 1 (to 14). Initiative Phase. Prussia declares he will add 2 to his dice roll for initiative. Prussia rolls 7 + 2 = 9, and Austria rolls 3. Prussia has 1st Initiative and Austria has 2nd Initiative for the turn. Saxony, as Austria’s ally, will take its actions simultaneously with Austria. Action Phase – Prussia. There are no Naval units in this scenario, and mention of these phases will be skipped hereafter. However, the Naval movement and battle mechanics are fairly similar to those on land. It is now the Prussian Movement Phase. Armies have a movement allowance of 1. Moving between two friendly controlled spaces costs ½ MP, while entering a neutral or enemy controlled area. Armies must stop when entering an enemy occupied space. The concern for the Austrian player, however, is that leaders have a movement allowance of 2, except Frederick, who has a movement allowance of 3. Leaders can extend this movement to a number of armies equal to their command rating plus one. A bold, but dangerous option for Frederick would be to swing around through Silesia into Bohemia. Success would separate the Saxons from Austria. The Austrian player, not wanting this as even a possibility plays Early/Late Snows, and places the marker on the mountain pass between Silesia and Bohemia. The orange connection indicates mountains, while white indicates normal terrain. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Maly - 08:13pm May 23, 2002 PST (#42 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! The Prussian player has other options, but decides to go for the direct assault on Saxony. He moves Frederick, both 4-3’s and the 3-2 from Magdeburg to Saxony. This cost 1 MP for entering an enemy controlled space, and the Prussians must stop because they entered an enemy occupied space. The forces in Silesia hold their ground. There is no cost in Resources or Manpower for just moving a unit. It is now the Prussian Combat Phase. Combat occurs between enemy units in the same space. Combat is completely optional, but if the attacker does decide to commit to combat, all defending units are involved in the combat. Before rolling combat dice, the attacker must declare which of his units are attacking and must also commit resources to conduct a particular type of attack. He can spend 1 Resource to conduct a Probe, 1 round of combat. He can spend 2 Resources to conduct an Assault, 2 rounds of combat. The third option is to spend 4 Resources to conduct an Invasion, with unlimited rounds of combat. The Prussian player decides to conduct an Assault and adjusts his Resources by 2 (to 12). The Saxons now have the option to retreat before combat. By the rules, they could not retreat to Magdeburg (where the Attacker entered from). The Saxons could retreat to Hesse, but this would bring the Hessians in on the side of Prussia. The final option would be to retreat to Bohemia, and unite with the Austrian forces. None, either, or both units could exercise the option to retreat before combat. If the defender abandons the battlefield, the attacker does not get back the Resources they just paid to conduct the attack. The drawback to retreating would be that it would allow the Prussian player to Siege Saxony, and likely take control, yielding a victory point advantage to the Prussian player. Besides, avoiding combat isn’t real useful for showing the mechanics of the game, so the Saxon player decides to fight. Combat is conducted in rounds, and there will be two maximum for this combat, as paid for by the Prussian player. Both players are considered to fire simultaneously in land combat. Each side totals its combat strength. The Prussian player has a combat strength of 14. Each army contributes is attack value, 4 + 4 + 3 = 11, and Frederick adds his leadership rating 11 + 3 = 14. The Saxons have an attack value of 8. The armies contribute an attack value of 3 + 2 = 5, and the Fortification value of the space is added, 5 + 3 = 8, because the Saxons are defending in a space they control. Each player will roll a number of dice equal to their attack value, and each player counts the number of 6’s rolled. The Prussian player rolls three 6’s (hits) in 14 attempts. The Saxon player rolls two hits in 8 attempts. Casualties are handled somewhat similar to Paths of Glory. A player is obligated to take as many hits as possible, but every unit must take one hit before any unit can take two hits. The Saxon 3-2 is flipped to its 2-2 side at a taking 2 hits (its defensive value), and the Saxon 2-1 is flipped to its 1-1 side at a taking 1 casualty hit, fulfilling the three hits inflicted by the Prussian player. The Prussian player flips his 3-2 over to its 2-2 side to take the two hits inflicted by the Saxon player. The Prussian player could have taken an extra hit and flipped one of his 4-3’s instead of his 3-2. If the Saxon player only achieved one hit, the Prussian player would not have been obligated to flip any of his units. Andrew Maly - 08:14pm May 23, 2002 PST (#43 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! At the end of each battle round, all players with leaders present in the battle must check for leader casualties. The Prussian player checks to see if Frederick II becomes a casualty. A two-die roll of 6 is modified by + 1 to 7, for the one step loss the Prussian player took that combat round. This total is less than 12, so Frederick survives. At this point, flipped units must retreat from the space before the next round of battle. The two Saxon units retreat to Bohemia, and the flipped Prussian unit retreats back to Magdeburg. There are no more Saxon units in Saxony, so the combat is finished, and the second round is not conducted. The Prussian player isn’t refunded a Resource because he did not have to roll the second round of combat. Siege. Because there are no enemy units in Saxony, the Prussian player can now attempt to Siege the space to take control. Similar to combat, the attacker must pay resources for a particular number of siege rounds, before rolling dice. The Prussian player decides to pay 1 Resource (to 11) to allow himself to conduct 2 rounds of Siege combat. The Prussian player gets to roll 11 dice (8 for the two armies, plus 3 for Frederick II). The Saxony space will roll 3 dice, its current fortification value. The Prussian player achieves 2 hits (6’s) and the Saxony space gets 0 hits. A 1 marker is placed on the Saxony space to indicate its current Fortification level (3 – 2 hits = 1). In the second siege round the Prussian player achieves 2 hits, and the Saxony space doesn’t get a hit on its lone die roll. The 1 marker is removed, and a Prussian Control marker is placed in the Saxony space. This puts the Prussian player up 3 Victory Points (equal to the number of Resources where he has control markers). This ends the Prussian player’s Action Phase. Action Phase - Austria The Austrian player doesn’t like his position, but plans on working to improve it. Before beginning his Movement phase, the Austrian player plays two event cards. First he plays New Leader. Randomly drawing from the four unused Austrian leaders, he selects Daun, and places him in Wien. The second event card played is Minor Country Alliance. The Austrian player decides to woo Bavaria to her side. This will require a dice roll of ten or more. However, both players can spend resources to “bribe” the targeted minor into allying or not allying. Additionally, Austria, with its armies adjacent to Bavaria by a movement path, provides an intimidation factor in the process. Finally, the Minor Country Alliance Modifiers table shows there is a +1 to the die roll for Austria trying to obtain Bavaria as a minor ally. Austria spends two Resources (to 12) to influence the dice roll by +2. The Saxon and Austrian armies adjacent to Bavaria provide a +7 modifier to the dice roll, +1 for each army. Finally, the +1 modifier form the table yields a net +10 modifier to the dice roll. The Prussian player has no armies adjacent to Bavaria, and thus cannot reduce the dice roll through that manner. The maximum amount of resources that Prussia could spend is 9, and this would reduce the modifier by 6, down to a +4. Sensing that it is a lost cause, the Prussian player declines to counter-bribe Bavaria, and Bavaria becomes an Austrian minor ally. The Minor Country Forces table indicates that Bavaria sets up with 2 armies, and a 2-1 and a 1-1 are randomly drawn and placed in Bavaria. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Maly - 08:17pm May 23, 2002 PST (#44 of 81) I am the choir. Quit yer' preachin! The Austrian player moves the Bavarian 1-1 to Wien, and the Bavarian 2-1 to Bohemia. She decides not to conduct any other movement, and since her forces do not occupy spaces with Prussian forces, there is no combat. Similarly, Austria does not occupy any enemy controlled spaces, so there is no Siege step. The Early/Late Snows marker is removed from the connection between Silesia and Bohemia. The turn marker is moved to Turn 2. Purchase Phase. The Prussian player spends 1 Resource (to 10) and 1 Manpower (to 11) to flip the 2-2 in Magdeburg to its full strength side. The Austrian player cannot spend her resources to repair the Saxon armies. Rather, the Minor Country Forces table indicates that Saxony automatically recovers 1 unit per turn. However, because all spaces in Saxony are conquered, this does not occur. That’s enough to show the mechanics of the game. It should be obvious that the mechanics are not that complex, leaving the players free to concentrate on the grand strategy decisions. A few things become obvious the remainder of my play. First, on the tactical side, Prussia should probably have invested in one new unit during the Spring turn. The extra unit was affordable, but this knowledge will be gained through experience with the game. Second, the single year scenarios will come down to initiative during the last Campaign turn. In this game, turn two became a standoff, and the player with 2nd initiative for the Fall turn had free reign. The “end of the world” syndrome where players aren’t concerned about the map edges or long-term survival of their forces exists in the single year scenarios. The campaign game looks to be the more satisfying portion of the product where players have to be concerned with their economic situation and long-term survival of forces. Closing In the overall analysis of the game, I like it. It’s mechanically simple, and fast playing. The game does feel representative of the era in the “grand scheme.” The blind drawing of forces and the random event cards ensure variability in the game, which I feel is another positive aspect of the design. There is a high level of die rolling involved, but the conditions and applications of the dice are straightforward (as opposed to roll on this chart applying the modifiers, then apply that result on the next chart applying modifiers, etc.), so I don’t find this a problem. Graphically, there is room for improvement. I don’t think the game is hideous or in any way ruined by the graphics, but the overall combination in the presentation is just a bit much. The rulebook is fairly complete. As I stated before, there are a few problems with the rules. There are no rules problems that break the game or make it unplayable. The overall development issues are annoying since the problems seem rather obvious. Overall, I’d recommend the game to the following – the handful of us who are fans of the Age of Reason, individuals who like mechanically simple yet decision rich games, or individuals who like the opportunities for diplomacy and multi-player war games. Individuals who are looking for a definitive treatment of the Seven Years War or prefer complex rules should look elsewhere. Where, I don’t know, because I don’t think such a product exists on this subject. In the final analysis I give the game a B, a purchase I’m happy I’ve made. It’s likely to give me a lot of enjoyment, but the development issues are enough to keep me from labeling it as “great.”