We forget how cool old simple games can be!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCs9BdBSKUo]

This play thru also presented lots of choices to the players even with limited units.


FushigiTerebi plays well thru the four turns. using hte new advanced rules to her advantage. Lets look briefly at some other choices that were available tho.

In US Turn 2 the US could have gone up to the abandoned town, as the Soviets had not yet captured it and then forces the Soviets to split their forces between both ends of the map. I don’t recall there being a defensive benefit for Woods,  but by spreading the US across the two towns in front of the last town (cant read the names in my grainy images) we prevent an end around.

Later in the game, the Soviets have lots of choices. The US has left the towns open, kind of smart actually given the attack friendly CRT. The Soviets need to capture and hold the towns so quickly spreading out and engaging the now isolated Southern fighters and town is a guaranteed to kill one unit with a DR result or better.

The Soviets could pounce on the cities this way. Forcing attacks by the US. But attacks really favor the Attacker! even 1:1 odds have 2 in 6 chance of success.

In Turn 4 I guess the Soviet has to really ‘shield’ the city hexes form attack. Perhaps this might work? Or even sitting in the woods in the North, forcing the US to use up MP’s to get into position. Then use the last 2 units to guard the city. I think once you own it is yours so come forward and allow the US to make you retreat, versus knocking you out of the town?

Lots of choices in a simple but thought provoking game.

Great stuff. Follow Fushigi Terebi on Youtube!

8 thoughts on “We forget how cool old simple games can be!

  1. The nuances of tactics that I’m sure she will learn as she goes along..at the minute she is at the stage of a person who just understood how to play chess..but doesn’t know HOW to play Chess..if you get my meaning. Hats of to her for giving wargames a try..some can be very dry, esp if you don’t know the battleshistory.

  2. Finally got a chance to study this and I’m blown away. So much good stuff to chew on in this breakdown. Thank you, Kevin. Question: Does being a good chess player go hand in hand with being a good wargamer? Not freaking out, just wondering… 🙂

    1. ugh.. I wrote a long reply.. it was deleted. I’ll pop a post in here as that was a super question. As for the props, well I wanted to just share a few ideas to get your thinking moving in various directions. I’ll explain one day.

  3. Maymi..not a all…each game is different..also really it’s all about immersion and do you get the feel of the time your dealing with over any mental ability that Chess is about.

    I brought up chess just because it’s a game where you learn the strengths and weakness of your pieces and good moves from bad moves..with wargames it’s similar but it goes beyond that. Ask yourself if you got a feel for the battle..did you feel like a commandersquad leader or whatever whilst playing..or did it just feel like pushing some cardboard around following a rule set..

    By the way..I’m useless at wargames..terrible at them..I play for immersion purposes only and if a game doesn’t do it..then I wont bother with it again.

  4. I will also say in most wargames or good ones you really can’t think as far ahead with utter certainty like you can in Chess which has most likely a set play for every circumstance..

    Here is a quote from a scenario designer…He falls into the second camp and so do I..

    “There are two basic types of wargamers. Those that play wargames like chess, very structured, and those that play it that believe no plan lasts past the first shot and that warfare is trying to execute a plan out of utter chaos.”

  5. In the advanced game there is a +1 benefit for defending in woods…a column shift, in effect.

    Another difficult thing for the Soviets is that he needs to occupy the towns to get credit, IIRC. Therefore, once you take over a town you have to expend a lot of force on the last turn to hold it, leaving less available for shielding the towns for a last turn counterattack.

    The game really is designed well for that last turn ‘final roll of the dice’ to see if the US can retake enough towns to get the win.

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