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Preview: War Room by Larry Harris

April 22, 2021 5 Minutes

In the world of board gaming there are some games that almost transcend the hobby and reach out to popular culture to a point where a game can become a house hold name, something even your parents will likely recognize, something you can find on the bookshelf of your average joe. Games like RISK, Monopoly, Battleship and Stratego are some examples that spring to mind.

For people in the hobby of board gaming however there are other titles that have similar sentimentalities and are almost synonymous with board gaming history. These games might not transcend the hobby but they inspire the word “classic” and find common ground into conversations of your typical hobbyist. You would be hard pressed to find a board gamer out there who would not refer to the world war II grand strategy game of Axis and Allies as such a classic. The most popular of the Milton Bradly masters series games, Axis and Allies is for a great many old school board gamers one of their first experiences that broke them out of what is generally the accepted mass market board game lists. Most people have likely played RISK at some point in their life, but Axis and Allies was the cross over game for many that almost defined a persons transition from someone who sometimes plays board games to someone who is a board gamer.

You would be hard pressed to meet anyone in the world who hasn’t at least heard of RISK the board game, it’s almost on the same level as Chess or Poker, its embedded in global culture.

The guy we have to thank for Axis and Allies is Larry Harris Jr., a board game designer who unlike so many designers out there spent nearly a lifetime trying to perfect one game. Sure he designed a few others (not trying to sound dismissive here), but over the last 30+ years Larry Harris has tinkered with Axis and Allies almost exclusively, creating variations on the game and trying to perfect the original version. It is very clearly a labor of love and In interviews when he talks about Axis and Allies he doesn’t speak as a person who made a game for others to buy, but a guy who made what he viewed as the perfect world war II game that he wants to play himself. He designed Axis and Allies for him and his friends and as a gesture of good will let everyone else get a copy as well.

Axis and Allies has had many versions, variations (both official and fan made). In the war game hobby, it’s largely considered both a beloved classic and a design triumph.

It’s important to understand this aspect of Larry Harris because it is very rare for him to design and release something other then Axis and Allies. In fact designers of his caliber and attitude towards perfection are quite rare. When Larry Harris announced that he was making a new version of Axis and Allies, aka his dream project of an even larger and more epic version of the game, well, lets just say for us old school gronards and Axis and Allies fans this was the news of the century.

That game was finally kickstarted back in 2019 and found its way to table tops in 2020. That game is called War Room and today I’m going to talk a bit about why this game is so special and why anyone who loves the old classics like Axis and Allies should be paying attention.

War Room is a massive game in size and scale, but is in large part much easier to learn to play then Axis and Allies thanks largely to some very clever handling of certain elements like stress and production. It’s also a highly engaged game where most phases of the game are executed by all players simultaneously with teams cooperating.

Why Axis and Allies was so popular

Before we can talk about why we should be excited about War Room we need to talk about Larry’s first love, Axis and Allies and why it was such a popular game.

The thing you have to understand about the early days of the hobby is that their was a very clean divide in board gaming both as a hobby as as a design between games that were for the masses like Battleship, RISK or Monopoly and then there were games for gamers, things you probobly have never heard of like Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, or Ambush. Essentially the world of board gaming was divided between people who were making games they thought they could sell and people who made games for “gronards”, those beard scratching old fogies’ who believe games needed to be simulations of something and historically accurate. Games with 100 page rulebooks that complicated the shit to a point no reasonable human being could ever be expected to understand how to play and required a masters degree in English comprehension.

Axis and Allies among a few other games that should but won’t be mentioned changed all that. It was one of the first games that was released that had a manageable amount of rules that you could reasonably expect anyone to understand, while at the same time having that deep strategy and historical relevance of a game that old gronards would appreciate it. Larry broke the barrier between popular culture gamers and simulationist/historical war gamers. He gave us a crossover game that went beyond the simplicity of a dice chucker like risk and included the high level play of games like Third Reich which were the exclusive stomping grounds of veteran historical war gamers to that point.

“Chit” games are a style of game where many of the units and properties of the game are tracked via cardboard chits. These games tend to have a reputation for both being complex and fiddly, while not being particularly visually appealing.

Is the “Chit” game reputation well deserved? Perhaps. Games like Empire of the Sun laid out on the table certainly does not have the same visual sexapeal as modern games populated by miniatures and the complexity of the game is quite extreme.

For many, myself included, Axis and Allies invited you into a whole new branch of board gaming without making you feel stupid and that was both an achievement of design but also of production. Larry Harris understood the secret of games like RISK. It wasn’t that they were simple, it was that they looked amazing on the table top. Truth is that generally speaking, people are smart enough to figure out complex games but most gamers really don’t want to stair at ugly game boards and chits for 10 hours when playing one. Being a good game was simply not good enough, it needed some sex appeal.

Presentation was important, he understood that games were also toys and that people played games for the experience, not just for the deep strategy. He understood that war games in particular were about inspiring the imagination, giving players a sense that they commanded armies, that they were in charge of a grand strategy. He understood that games needed to inspire a feeling and a lot of that came from visuals.

More importantly however Larry Harris understood how far you could go with the rules before it was too far, too complicated, while at the same time, what within those rules would inspire conversation about strategy. Ask any Axis and Allies player how one wins the game with the Axis powers and you will discover that no two players will ever fully agree despite 40+ years of gaming analysis. The game wasn’t perfectly balanced by any stretch of the imagination, but what it was, was a game that said “hey, you can’t win as the Axis powers, I dare you to try”. It posed a challenge to players and this with its visual appeal has driven the success of the game for so many years.

The Problems With Axis and Allies

Suffice to say Axis and Allies despite being a stone cold classic to board gamers around the world for 40+ years, it had one key issue that most would generally agree on. A problem that actually most war games have, the hidden information problem.

The problem most war games have is that in an actual war, commanders and generals had no idea what the enemy was going to do. They would build strategies trying to predict their enemy and execute those strategies hoping they guessed right. This is a core premise that is very difficult to translate to board games and always had, commonly known as the fog of war.

Typically what happens in a board game is that one player makes a move, the other player see’s the move and then responds with a strategy accordingly. A strategy not based on the state of the game at the start of the turn, but at the end of his opponents turn. This is how it worked in most board games about war (and still does for the most part), especially Axis and Allies where a player would complete their entire turn before an opponent would act, resulting in full information disclosure about the activities on the board.. This however is never how actual wars take place, the kind of information you get from watching an opponent “make a move” would never actually be available to you in a real combat situation. You would have to give orders to your troops and put a plan in motion long before you ever got to see what your enemy was planning and you would be committed to that plan (too late to change your mind). This is what often made wars so messy, fog of war is a real thing.

War Room addresses this and I have to believe Larry Harris understood that this “information problem” was one of the key design issues with Axis and Allies that would result in the game being kind of predictable at times. Players could try different strategies, but those strategies would be revealed before opponents had to commit to any decisions in response. Hence like chess, you make your move based on the information of the opponents last move.

At the core of the War Room design, the game addresses this issue by using a method that strangely enough has been around for decades in another popular stone cold classic game called Diplomacy. The concept of hidden orders that are written down and submitted simultaneously by all participants, then executed in a turn order defined by a bidding process. This brilliant albeit very well known little design is one of the key elements to War Rooms core mechanic, notably addressing one of the key issues with Axis and Allies and in my humble opinion, one of the best evolutions of Axis and Allies.

Hidden movement/orders appears in quite a few modern games as well, many of which have broken my top 10 lists so I’m clearly a fan. Games like Game of Thrones the board game for example make excellent use of hidden simultaneous orders as just one example.

The Things That Make War Room Awesome

Ok so now that we have laid the foundation of the conversation we can talk about the game itself and there is a lot to cover here so enjoy the wall of text.

War Room as a game hangs on five core concepts.

Team Game

One of the big issues with games that have a 6+ hour timeline, in particular grand strategy games is that it’s very possible, in fact likely that some players will be eliminated from contention for the win half way through the game or perhaps even very early in the game. Those players are then forced to sit through hours of play with really nothing to drive them to care. They are going to lose and they will know that for 6 to 8+ hours.

This is one of the biggest issues with big board game classics like Twilight Imperium or Advanced Civilization for example. Long games you can effectively be eliminated from hours before the game will end.

War Room tackles this issue in a very simple and meaningful way. Its a team game. Axis vs. Allies. Your nation might be doing poorly and your contribution in the war may be limited, but you are part of a team trying to win the game together and hence, participating in creating the strategy that will hopefully help your team win.

This keeps everyone involved regardless of the situation of any given player. Its a very simple but very clever approach to solving this issue.

Hidden Action Sequence

In its most simplest form, each player for each nation they control, writes down the orders he wishes to execute for his units. Each player has a limited amount of orders they can give, hence they must choose wisely. Its important to understand that going into this sequence not being 100% certain of the turn order can be very troublesome to any planning. Part of creating the orders is bidding on the turn order with the very precious oil resources, one of the most important resources in the game.

In War Room you will execute more than just your movement/attack orders, your production choices are also hidden, another great addition to the fog of war effect.

This key design is what drives gameplay and I think is one of the more ingenious ways of handling what can often be a part of the game that creates a lot of downtime. Here all players simultaneously create their orders, teams working together on their strategy also creates a level of collaboration. In a sense it creates a great atmosphere at the table and I believe it to be one of the things that makes this game truly distinct from many other world war II games.

The Stress System

Another rather ingenious approach to design here, one of the key issues with area control war games is that often it really just boils down to who wins in key moments, or who has the most units on the board. It can be difficult in games like this to make an impact on an enemy who is clearly already winning the war. The stress system is how War Room attacks this problem.

It’s a very simple system. Anytime you lose a territory with a strategic value (which is most of them) or take a loss in units, you gain stress and as your stress reaches certain threshold you begin taking penalties to your resources and your ability to wage war.

The stress mechanic has a number of effects on the game, but the main one is that it drives the end game. Nations become worn down and eventually lose their will to fight leading to a natural conclusion of the game.

What this means in the scope of the game is that your can’t simply make a B-line for the victory conditions of the game focusing your entire army in one place, you must consider the world map as a whole and defend your positions or suffer under the weight of mini snipe attacks and watch your nation become worn down by stress even out of a winning position. The game doesn’t become about that one key battle or key strategic area, but the many battles around the world, each a potential stress point that can lead to the slow degraded performance of the whole nation.

Tactics Matter

One aspect of grand strategy games is that they zoom out very far to handle the scope of the game, which often results in the battle resolution systems being rather watered down abstractions, leaving you with a feeling that battle resolution is just pure luck of the die. Its a strange contradiction, where you play a 8+ hour game about a grand strategy but the actual individual battles boil down to a single roll of a D10 for example (I’m looking at you Empire of the Sun).

In War Room tactics actually matter. What units you bring to bare in a fight and how you decide to position them on the battlefield can turn a battle you might have lost into one you may win.

The battle board does slow the pacing of the game down as each battle on the board must be resolved individually but this creates an atmosphere that makes the game feel like a genuine war. Each battle becomes a mini event and though the game can still hinge on wild die results, you can do quite a bit with your tactical positioning to control the results of a battle.

The tactics board adds an element of focus to the game where battles become a feature rather then after thought of the grand strategy game. This is arguably the most controversial addition to the game as it does slow down the overall experience and is likely what leads the game into that 8+ rather then 5+ playtime.

If your more aggressive you may take bigger loses but you will also cause more casualties. You may know that a battle is lost, but may then focus on shooting down planes of your enemies to hurt their ability to project power in the future. Just a couple of ways where tactics and grand strategy come together in War Room.

Vulnerable Industry/Resources

War is about resources and one of the keys to any grand strategy game is the ability to attack your enemies supply lines, blow up their industrial centers to hurt their production and shutdown their transportation systems to hurt their mobility.

All of this is considered in War Room and all players must deal with the fact that they have vulnerabilities all over the map where they produce units and the method by which they transport them. Your factories can be bombed, your convoys transporting precious resources can be attacked, your rail lines can be bombed destroying your ability to move troops in your own territory.

This key addition helps the game become about something more then just taking territory, edging the generally simple gameplay into more complex strategies. To win, you want to crush your enemies ability to produce units and so attacking their resources is not only a viable strategy, it’s often the key to victory from a weaker position.

General Insight

To me War Room appears to be a game that tries to be both a war game for the deep strategist, while a fun event game for the enthusiasts without underwhelming one, while overwhelming the other. I think mileage may vary here, but as a fan of games like Empire of the Sun and Paths of Glory, I don’t find the rules and strategies of this game to be underwhelming and given my local groups play games like Game of Thrones and even Twilight Imperium on occasion, I don’t see why they would struggle with the rules of War Room.

It remains to be seen however if an 8 hour war game about World War II is captivating enough for my gaming group to keep their attention. I know that with my gaming group, if they love a game 8+ hours is not a problem. We play RPG’s like Vampire: The Masquerade and miniature games like Songs of Ice and Fire that extend well past that play time on a regular basis and I don’t hear anyone complaining.

For me personally I see War Room as less a game in the strictest terms and more of a fun event that can be run a couple of times a year. To me, event games like Advanced Civilization, Twilight Imperium and Game of Thrones the Board Game are always the most memorable games in my gaming history. I don’t play them often, in fact, some I don’t play for years at a time, but when we do, its amazing and I hope War Room will be yet another addition to that glorious history of gaming events.

From a presentation angle War Room is absolutely gorgeous on the table. It screams play me, being huge, bright and exciting to be around. I love games that inspire the imagination and give you a sense of time and place, a game that gives you a role to play and makes you feel like the whole thing is part of a larger experience that extends beyond the game. I believe War Room to be such a game.

Finally I would argue that the game manages to be huge in size, epic in scale and visually appealing while not being fiddly. To me this is a big deal when it comes to selling the concept to my fellow gamers. Realistically speaking in our group we have a lot of games competing for our table time and shelf space, so we get quite picky about what we are willing to invest in. This is particularly true when we are talking about the big event games as we already have quite a few very established favorites. War Rooms sexy size and visual component combined with its epic scale and simultaneous action phases I think will all contribute to my groups adoption as a new member of this rather exclusive club, but that initial play experience is going to be critical to its long term success. Games like this typically only get one shot to impress, but I do believe War Room has the nuts and bolts to pull it off.

Board Game Reviews, Gaming Articles

Paths of Glory by GMT Games

March 17, 2021 5 Minutes

When I made my top 10 war games list last year I had just acquired Paths of Glory, played it once and though I was instantly in love with the concept, it was a game that I was yet to truly explore. Since then I have put quite a few games under my belt thanks to an amazing online community supporting the game and I’m at a point now where I think its time to give this one a proper review.

Paths of Glory falls into the CDG (Card Driven Games) category of war games which is a very specific albeit popular style of design in the spirit of giants like Twilight Struggle, Washington’s War and Empire of The Sun. All amazing games in their own right, but Paths of Glory even among this list of exceptional games has its own take on the concept and more importantly it covers a subject (World War I) with such class and elegance that it will take you from a person who neither knows or cares about World War I history to an absolute WWI history buff.

I think on a high level, Paths of Glory is broken down into three very distinct core game elements. The card driven mechanic which is the coveted link to the historical events of World War I and a key driver to the game. The tactical war on the main map which is a point to point system in which players jockey for position and fight for domination in the WWI theatre. Finally you have management of war resources abstracted in a wide variety of ways that give the game that tight, attrition feel WWI is so famous for.

Put them together and what you have is a game that is all about tension, attrition, and players trying to squeeze out every inch of blood, sweat and tears to get that breakthrough moment where one side collapses. Yet its also a game of massive comebacks where a single event can trigger huge swings in the war and this really leads the game to being a game about a story of the game. It gives it that re-writing history feeling and this is something you really notice when you have played several games and can make a comparison between different experiences with it.

The question that remains is do I like it and probobly from that very high level overview you may rightfully conclude that I do, however I think it has its own character and the real question is whether or not this is a game for you.

Overview

Final Score: (3.7) Great Game!

Paths of Glory is a two player game that will quite easily take about 6 to 8 hours to play. This is a long, heavy and fairly complex game with considerable amount of rules in its 34 page rulebook that comes with a fair amount of special cases and exception rules that will take quite a while for you to get your head around. You will spend several games learning how to play before you get it right and its going to take ten times as many games to learn to play the game well.

Players pick one of two sides of the war (Central Powers or Allied Powers) and starting in August of 1914 with the historical event known as “The Guns of August” the war kicks off with something of a slow burn.

The system tries to be historically accurate about the war and in that regard World War I wasn’t some big bang event, its something that continued to escalate over time slowly as more and more resources are dedicated towards the imperialistic efforts of key nations triggering more more countries to join the fight.

There are also mechanics that deal with the politics of the war, shining through in the card play but also key mechanics like mandated offensives which helps to illustrate that the war was not just run by generals making strategic decisions on the battlefield, but by global powers who even when being on the same side had political frictions and infighting. It’s a game about maneuvering events as much as it is about actual tactical warfare.

War itself is also quite difficult to predict, battles that seem like easy wins, stall, battles you thought would be attritions go surprisingly well. Their is a cadence here that feels like luck, but is more about being consistent with your planning. You can’t count on winning any one battle, but its about wearing down your opponent, tapping their resources and constantly pushing on them until something breaks.

Running the war in Paths of Glory, much as it must have been historically was about maneuvering around the many events that pushed the war in a direction that favors your plans, but because the game is a back and forth (You take a turn I take a turn), your plans are often spoiled by the action of your opponent to which you must urgently respond. While the war isn’t going to be won by the results of a single battle, every battle that does take place creates opportunities or emergencies that need to be dealt with quickly.

The whole game although its a slow, attrition, has a constant sense of urgency. You have a feeling that on your turn, with that one action and limited resources you have, you need to do a dozen things but end up only being able to do one. The feeling of having an endless stream of vulnerabilities all over the map creates a kind of stress and pressure, creating tension that climaxes slowly over time. At the same time you can create these emergencies for your opponent which forces them to be distracted by your activities elsewhere in the world.

There are these moments of recovery where the players have an unspoken agreement that the fighting has been too intense, neither side feeling comfortable enough to push forward resulting in a sort of recovery period and then there are moments when the fighting is so intense its almost like to wild barbarians swinging at each other with no regard to the possible consequences.

The map is big and busy, there is a lot of stuff going on here and the truth is that you can’t ignore any of it. Quite literarily every inch of this map see’s use in every game, there is no wasted space here.

It’s a fantastic representation of the historical period and works to create a great table atmosphere that only a rich and deep war game like this can provide.

The fun can and does come to sudden stop however and this is one of my complaints about the game in that their are so many exceptions and sub-rules to rules that it seems almost impossible to play the game correctly. Its easy to forget rules like if the central powers reach Limited War on the war status track, Turkey enters the war or that on turns 1 and 2 of the game you get a -2 to attacking forts. These sort of exceptions and special rules require both players to be very well versed on the rules and be vigilant about their execution because ignoring such a rule can really unbalance the game. These rules exist for both historical accuracy and perhaps more importantly to maintain a good balance between the two asymmetrical sides.

Paths of Glory is a deep strategic experience, its a game that tells a story, but that experience and that story comes as a result of the well thought out and complex rules system that drives this game. It’s a strange setup because without these rules, these special cases and exceptions, it would probobly not be as good of a game. You might be tempted to think that if they just made this game simpler, it would be better but this is not the case. It’s specifically the attention to detail that brings this game to life and it would be a lesser game without those details.

Components

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: High quality components that are almost standard from GMT these days.

Cons: Chit tokens are tiny and handling them is a pain in the ass.

Paths of Glory has several different versions that have been printed over the years, the version I’m reviewing here today is the Deluxe 6th edition, the latest one available as of this writing.

This Deluxe edition comes with a two sided mounted gameboard that has on one side the classic original version of the map and on the other an updated more modernized version. Both are actually quite functional, but the updated version color codes the countries making it easier to quickly identify which locations on the map belong to which countries.

The quality of this mounted board is effectively the best possible, I don’t see any way to improve it. It’s sturdy, beautifully illustrated, easy to read with clear iconography. Though the map is extremely busy because so much information is on it, including all the various tracking and status boxes it can be a bit overwhelming, but everything has a purpose and it becomes second nature after a couple of plays to find everything you need.

GMT is quite famous for its card stock and quality, Paths of Glory gets the same treatment with quality so high that I’m certain it will last a lifetime of plays without wear and tear. Glossy, stiff cards that are easy to shuffle and really require no sleeves, they are that well made. The illustrations on the card depict the event of the card to such a degree that after playing the game a few times you know what the card does by looking at the picture. You really can’t ask much more of a game card then that.

The cardboard chits that make up the units of the game on the map are of great quality with legible font, they are very functional in that regard. They are chits however and are a pain in the ass to handle due to their size and the fact that you stack them on the board. Its a constant thing to have to peek under stacks and because the map is quite tight and the chits quite small, its a nuisance to handle them. This is almost universally true about all chit based war games but its particularly troublesome in Paths of Glory as its not a hex but point to point map so the chits must be placed in specific boxes that are exactly the size of the chits. One good bump can misalign all of the units and can easily ruin a game.

The chits are tiny, hard to handle and must be stacked during gameplay. I know this is a war game tradition, but yeah, I feel like a giant trying to pick up a piece of rice when playing this game. Tweezers come highly recommended.

I personally would like see these chit games use bigger maps and bigger chits because even though that may take more space and increase the cost, these games are lifetime hobby games, I don’t think players are going to mind shelling out a few extra bucks for a bigger, easier to manipulate game.

One complaint I also have about all chit games is that the chits are all very specific. For example their is a 1st army for Russia, that chit represents a specific unit in the game, linked to a specific card in the game. Lose that chit and you have a real problem and there are absolutely no spare parts in the game. You have to be really careful not to lose even a single piece in a game that has hundreds of tiny pieces the size of a finger nail. It seems almost inevitable that you will eventually loses pieces and replacing them is going to be a real pain in the ass.

I don’t know what the solution here is, but I think the best your going to do is make them bigger so your less likely to misplace them.

As a whole this is a game that looks beautiful on the table but that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I sometimes send screenshots of games in progress to my friends who roll their eyes at the tiny chits on a massive map, I don’t think they see the appeal but of course these are people who play games like Blood Rage filled with beautiful miniatures so I can understand a game with card board chits might not be as visually appealing to them.

For me personally there is nothing more gorgeous than a huge map of Europe filled with chits representing armies of thousands. Its a personal taste thing I suppose, but I think its beautiful and inspiring.

Theme

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Captures the World War I theme well… I think.

Cons: World War I is not an easy theme to sell, its a quirky piece of history.

World War I is, well lets just say that in contemporary culture it’s something of a mystery. It’s rather strange because you can find a lot of World War II historical buffs, Napoleon Era Buffs, really almost any other historical period of conflicts will have sort of fanatics that know and are deeply engrossed by its history.

World War I for some reason is the one period in history very few people know about and when you look around the historical war game scene, their is not much out there that covers the subject.

World War I however just like any historical conflict has tremendous amount of subtle and interesting facts and events which can spark the imagination and the history nerd in all of us and Paths of Glory really tries hard to help players make that breakthrough.

It is a tough sell though and this is because a lot of the history is hard to contextualize in our modern understanding of world politics. People thought very differently during this period and the historical events really reflect that as you wonder, WHY? Like why the hell did they do this, what was the political or historical reason for it and Paths of Glory is not really trying to give you an answer, it assumes to a degree that if your interested you can look it up. Though its worth pointing out that in the rules book each card in the game has a historical factoid that explains the event in a more historical context, but you don’t really get this during gameplay.

There is a movie with a relatively young Kirk Douglass called Paths of Glory about World War I you can check out. Might help with the history a bit, but, no I have not seen it.

The end result is that it might be difficult for players to relate to the history and hence the game. Still, from what I can tell and I’m no World War I historian, this game does a fantastic job of bringing that history to life.

I found that after playing it several times I would say stuff like “man I need to get Romania into this fight” where prior to playing this game I’m not sure I could tell you much about Romania or find it on the map (I’m embarrassed to say).

You sort of get into it and its thanks to the games focus on trying to represent the WWI conflict in a less esoteric way. In a way the game tries to simplify the history a bit, not necessarly making it less about real history but more about being a game about creating your own history using real history. This is in big part because every card in the game represents a historical event, but you are not going to execute those cards in a historically accurate timing so you are creating your own version of WWI history. In this way the games subject matter becomes a bit more personalized, its not World War I, its your version of it.

None of this really distracts from the game but I do believe knowing a bit about world war I history would probobly help you to play this game better. Like knowing that Romania while being a small country with limited troops played a pivotal role in history and you get a sense of that after you played a few times. Their position on the map, is quite critical and take could very well swing the war if they enter at the right moment. Just an example but its not something that is intuitively understood just by reading of the rules.

I think I could see this game being ported to other themes and being just as interesting, perhaps even more so, however as it stands as a world war I game I think the theme works quite well even if I don’t really have a real grasp on the historical period.

Gameplay

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: A deep, rich experience with heavy tension and massive scope that gives you everything you want from a historical war game.

Cons: The heavy rules weight and typical 8 hour play time makes this an experience not everyone will appreciate.

Paths of Glory is a complex game, to explain the gameplay in a review article would probobly take as many pages as the actual rulebook and I doubt I could do as good of a job as the actual rulebook does.

I think I will stick to my standard policy of assuming that since this is a very deep, strategic game that part of your research into this game will include familiarizing yourself with the rules and I will instead focus on my opinion about the gameplay to hopefully illustrate what I like and don’t like about the game helping you to make a decision about whether or not to invest.

Its worth noting however that playing Paths of Glory is more than just an financial investment in the game, its a considerable time investment and I think I would put this game into the lifestyle category of games for that reason. Its not something you can just pull off the shelf, explain the rules to a friend and go. This is a game to which two people must dedicate considerable amount of time before they play to understand and learn the game, then ten times that much time to learn to play it well, not to mention the typical 6 to 8 hours it takes to actually play. There is no quick fix for that when it comes to Paths of Glory, that is what it takes and you must embrace that or you probobly should skip it.

Fortunately there is a great online community that supports this game and there are a number of youtube tutorials that can give you a pretty solid start, Harsh Rules is a really good one. In the end however their is no substitute for reading the 34 page rulebook and both you and your opponent should read it cover to cover before playing. Not the most exciting thing you’ll ever do, but it is the path, I don’t think is avoidable if you want to play this game.

Paths of Glory is a multi tier game, meaning their are several core concepts working independently, but the entire thing comes down to a relatively simple back and forth action system. Each round players will take 6 actions, going back and forth and on your turn you will play a card.

That card can be used in several ways to take several different types of actions each with its own purpose and this is where the nuts and bolts of the game center on.

Each card represents an event and these events run the gambit from being political events, reinforcement events, special combat events and more. Each is representative of a piece of history and in this lays much of the games nuanced storytelling. You execute cards representing things that actually happened in history but because your doing it in your own order of play things aren’t going to play out like they did in real history. Paths of Glory is about writing your own history of World War I and this is really the fun of the game, seeing how your version of World War I actually differs from what actually happened.

The cards are the key to the game, but they can get a bit wordy. It takes an understanding of the game to understand what the cards represent, just one more thing that adds to what is a fairly steep learning curve for the game.

Maybe in your game the Allies go on the offensive and become the aggressor, perhaps Italy joins the war much later in your version of history, or perhaps the Americans never join the war. What is the impact, how does that change history, that is where the joy of that story your creating with your opponent comes from. There is all sorts of stuff that can happen, some of it you can control, some of it you can’t.

The main thing about the event cards is trying to figure out when is the best time to execute them and in this we could have endless debates about almost every single card. This is deepened even further by the fact that each of the two asymmetrical decks (central powers and allied powers) is split into three separate periods of play, divided into Mobilization, Limited War and Total War. When these periods execute and when you gain access to those cards depend on your sides war status which is something that is driven by how you play your cards so you have some control over when these cards come into play.

Werther its a good strategy to push war status or not is a subject for debate, but it suffices to say there is a great deal of decision depth here that will have your historical war game senses tingling. I love this aspect of the game and really it stems from my general love of card driven war games, after all, Washington’s War, Twilight Struggle and Empire of the Sun are among my favorite war games and they all use a very similar mechanic.

Instead of the events on the card you can use cards for their operational value, a number typically between 1 to 5 which is a reference to the card events general impact and value. The higher the operations value the more mobility and attacks you can get on the board so sacrificing an important event with a high operations value allows you to have a big impact in the tactical war on the board. This trade off is among the toughest decisions you have to make, but it goes even further then that.

Each card also has a reinforcement point value for each nation and can be used to resurrect and heal wounded armies. This is yet another use for the cards and another point of decison.

This balancing act of choosing what cards to use, when and for what purpose is really where the core of the games strategic gameplay and player decisions comes from. Its at the heart of the game and while there are plenty of other mechanics and gameplay elements I could talk about, this is the bread butter, this is the mechanic that makes Paths of Glory the award winning game it is.

These are tough decisions you make throughout the game and for the historical war game buff, the fun of the game. You these make this decision six times per round and there are potentially 20 rounds in the game if it does not end early which means that you are making a ton of decisions all the time in this game.

What is wonderful about this game is that it’s so painful, every time, round after round, action after action, you are forced to make a call about which card to play and what to use that card for. Its a pain of joy, it gives you the feeling of command over the war and when the game is over you can trace your victory or your defeat to how you played these cards and when you played them. That “I should have played X for Y” discussion after the game will have your head spinning and looking forward to the next time you play so you can do things differently.

There is a simple battle system here that I’m not going to get too much into because it is indeed quite simple. There is of course tremendous strategy in understanding positions, your odds, controlling supply lines and various maneuvers that you can make on the map that are quite important, but these fall into what I would call standard fare for a war game. The system is point to point rather then a hex grid, so there is a sense of tightness on the map where you have to pay close attention to how different areas are connected and this can be quite tricky as it really is a maze. This however adds to rather then takes away from the strategic depth, though it does add to the complexity of the games learning curve.

To me the game is the CDG mechanic and its executed brilliantly here making for a game of tough decisions, inside of a historical layer that comes through at every turn. The game captures the attrition warfare of World War I perfectly, while making sure that the game feels tight and tense so that players are always interested in what is happening. When its done, after 8 hours of play you look back on your experience and speak of it in terms of a story about your version of World War I. Its something that’s difficult to describe, but surely is a wonderful thing.

I certainly have my beefs with the game, there are a few cards I think could be better balanced, a few rules I think dive a little deeper then the game needed it to be, there is the quirkiness of the Near East Map and a few other things. To me none of these spoil the game, in fact I would be hard pressed to point out specific things and as you play the game more and more, coming to a higher understanding of its more subtle elements you also learn to appreciate some of the things that might otherwise come off as complaints.

For example while the Near East may seem like a pointless place where nothing happens in your first few games, as you become better at the game you start to see its potential and suddenly it can be as much of a hot spot as the Eastern or Western fronts. So the learning curve doesn’t really stop with learning to play, there is a tremendous amount of depth to explore in this game and as such, the more you play the more you learn to appreciate its various quirks.

The first couple of games you might wonder what the hell the Near East Map is for, it seems irrelevant to the game, but with some experience you eventually come to realize just how critical the efforts here can be to strategies on both sides.

I think the gameplay here is executed extremely well, this is a game that clearly had a design goal that it achieved. Its educational about its historical elements, it has a deep, thinky strategy, it puts players to constant and difficult decisions and the game has an almost exhaustive tension. Its just fantastic.

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: No two games will ever be alike, rich dynamics give this game infinite replay-ability.

Cons: You need a dedicate opponent ready to play repeated games to get the most out of this game which can be tough in any gaming circle.

I will make this short and sweet because I don’t think there is much to say here. This game has infinite replayability, there are so many dynamic elements here that even though the game setup is static, the resolution of the game is anything but. Its a card driven game, what cards you draw are going to define your actions and in my experience once you get past the first round, there is no way history is going to ever repeat itself.

As far longevity, I think a lot of that comes down to your personal preferences and whether or not you can find an opponent with a matching dedication. For me, this game is on my hobby table fairly often as I play it against online opponents, but finding another player with the same interest and dedication in real life has not been easy. Its a very niche thing and I think for most people this will be something of a dust collector just because of the nature of its complexity and general difficulty to get to the table.

You need to find a like minded war gamer with the same interest and I think that goes for all games in this category.

Conclusion

Paths of Glory is a deeply rich and rewarding experience, but its also a very demanding one. This is a difficult game to learn to play and its even more difficult to learn to play well. It’s certainly not a pick up and play type of game, it requires two dedicated players ready to invest the time to learn to play and that road is long and can be a bit frustrating as the game has a tremendous amount of rules weight and is filled with special case exceptions.

If you can get past that with a buddy however this is an absolute and unquestionable king of historical war gaming. For me its right up there with some of the stone cold classics like Empire of the Sun. It’s not just a game, its an experience.

You have to understand and embrace what your getting yourself into but for those of you out there who are looking for that next historical war game addiction I can’t recommend Paths of Glory enough. It’s amazing!

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GM Theory: OSR Games You Should Be Playing

March 17, 2021 5 Minutes

I love role-playing games, if there was such a thing as “my thing”, it would definitely be that. It should not however be a secret that I’m a card carrying member of the OSR (Old School Revival). For those in the know, the OSR is essentially a sort of loosely defined idea that in some shape or another, old school RPG’s were better then I suppose you could say new school RPG’s. Not entirely sure that is a reasonable explanation of the OSR, but I’m not here to explain what it is, I’m here to talk about some of the games that are released in the spirit of the OSR or games that proclaim themselves to be OSR games.

I do want to say that the presumption that I don’t like contemporary games or I’m some sort of Gronard because I like OSR games is far from the truth, though a common sentiment among contemporary RPG fans about the OSR. It’s a kind of strange stereotyping that takes place that if you like old school games, it means you hate new school games. This is nonsense of course, I love all sorts of role-playing games, I just happen to have my beefs with one of them which happens to be the most popular one in the world, modern, contemporary 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. One of these days I will get to writing an article about why that is, but if you follow my blog I don’t think I hide my general distaste for the 5e ruleset. That does not however mean that I don’t like modern RPG’s, I do, my bookshelf is full of them.

In any case today we are not here to talk about what I don’t like but rather what I do like. In today’s article we are going to look at several OSR games, what makes them great and why you should be playing them! Hope you enjoy the article, release the cracken!

Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy

Old School Essentials is effectively the 1st edition B/X rules cleaned up with a few extras. Its sort of like taking a famous painting and restoring it, its as simple as that.

I put this here first and I will be brief, mainly because all that Old School Essentials is, is 1st edition B/X rules largely unchanged. This is B/X 1st edition, but organized as a rules reference to perfection. If you run B/X D&D, the Rules Tome for OSE is all you will ever need and its definitely far superior to the original printings. Everything is indexed, categorized and laid out with a single extremely well defined purpose, playability.

Now Necrotic Games also put out The Advanced Genre Rules book and this supplement is amazing, it compiles a lot of classic early edition races and classes, adds some rules for integrating race and class, instead of the traditional just class structure. They work together so you no longer have to make a decision one way or the other, you can pretty much let your players choose, they are balanced to work in the same game. Great addition.

Now as far as how good of a game is B/X 1st edition, well that is an article in its own right but the short and sweet of it is that as far as I’m concerned this is THE BEST version of the D&D and I say that without reservation. To me, B/X and BECMI rules are D&D, accept no substitute!

Dungeon Crawl Classics

Dungeon Crawl Classics is a kind of combination of old school lethality, mixed in with the simplicity of the basic 3rd edition rules strip down to its birthday suit and with a layer of Gonzo style magic systems that give Rollmaster tables a run for its money. The game also uses some wacky dice to give it some unique flavor though this is largely just a gimmicky thing for funzzies.

Dungeon Crawl Classics falls into the beer and pretzel RPG category for me. The game starts out with players making 4 0 level characters each (yes a typical game starts with 15-20 characters). These nobodies get basic NPC like classes from the peasant side of the fantasy universe like candle makers, cooks, farmers etc… and these would be heroes are thrust into an adventure called a funnel where they must effectively try to get to the bottom of the adventures evil plot while being armed with pitchforks and candle sticks.

With little chance of surviving at all, players must use narrative cleverness to get through it and though most characters are likely to die horrifically tragic deaths, those that do survive the funnel become full blown first level heroes getting a choice from all of the classic D&D fantasy classes.

The funnel to me is just an absolutely fantastic concept, it effectively allows players to write their origin stories and though its clearly meant as a kind of silly one shot adventure, the system is actually quite robust once you get into hero level characters and you can turn this into a full blow fantasy adventure game.

Certainly the Gonzo style writing of the official modules, which are absolutely brilliant, does suggest that the game is meant to be taken with a great deal of humor and because the deadliness of the game remains relatively steady throughout, there is a level of old school anxiety and fear built into the game that makes this an undeniable OSR game.

Really unique concept with a great, easy to learn mechanic but one with a bit of robustness and flavor that keeps itself interesting. Great fun addition to the OSR line up of amazing games.

Forbidden Lands

A game designed from the ground up for a sandbox campaign in what can only be described as the first truly unique campaign setting I have seen in a while that breaks the typical D&D fantasy world mold.

This OSR game keeps with the spirit of the classic D&D game, but has a couple of unique twists that really separate it from the field.

It leans more towards the survivor story, where characters exist in a desolate almost post apocalyptic fantasy world where the frontier is a complete unknown. They must explore it in hopes of finding their fortune in the classic D&D tradition, but the game puts a lot of weight on the concept of survival. Food and water are scarce, supplies and weapons are not easy to come by, their are almost not towns to shop at and the result is a game where you not only need to survive the adventure, but you need to survive the elements, starvation, dehydration and the general absence of the necessities of life.

This is also a sandbox hex crawl and as players explore the frontier the DM rolls to determine what they find in the various areas which leads the players to player driven goals which I think is the key feature of the game. There aren’t large narrative stories here, the players are meant to go out into the world and make something of themselves and what that ends up being is largely driven by the opportunities the frontier presents to them.

On a high level this is a sandbox game and it can very much be run as a western marshes style campaign where you can have a large group of friends who call upon your GM services whenever they like to contribute to an ongoing story about this frontier. Much of the game is randomly generated, what happens, what the story of the game is, is going to be as much a surprise to the GM as it is to the players. Yet there is a lot of content here that will inspire GM’s that love to write and you can definitely find yourself unintentionally world building. It’s almost as if its a game designed to not only produce an adventure for your players, but a new campaign setting for you as the GM.

While there are some hiccups in the system that will require a bit of GM intervention, they are minor and easily fixed. In my book this is another great entry into the OSR must play list.

Five Torches Deep

This is old school done with new school rules which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the OSR isn’t just about old Gronards playing their coveted 1st edition D&D.

Five Torches Deep is a very clever attempt to bring 5th edition D&D fans into the OSR fold and it does it with style, proving that not only is classic D&D not about classic rules, but somewhere buried beneath the nonsense of 5th edition D&D rules is actually a salvageable system.

Five Torches Deep is a game that is clearly inspired by the Dungeon Crawls of old and systems like B/X with those old school sentimentality. The goal of the game, much as it was it the golden age of D&D is to go into dungeons, fight monsters and steal their stuff!

This game however is dangerous as hell and leans heavily on player centricity with a pretty heavy handed dose of narrative flexibility. There is not much to the mechanic, its very much driven by the player-gm conversation style of role-playing, what I like to call… normal role-playing.

It uses a clever durability system and time tracking system to give the game an earthy, realistic tone reminiscent of B/X rules, while simultaneously it is very much a fantasy adventure where players are going to be kicking ass and taking names.

I don’t want to necessarily quantify this one as a beer and pretzel game, but I think its a bit too deadly and a bit to linear in its approach to stretch into the more serious campaign, though the rules are so flexible and modular here that you can easily pull from other sources to make it a bit more robust. In fact I think you can very easily inject B/X classes into this game with minimal effort or expand by creating your own. The classes available act almost as design templates to show you how its done. I think most players however will find the game a bit too limited as written and much like B/X rules that is fun for the first few levels, it needs more after a while much the same way B/X does. Eventually you will want more classes, more options and a bit wider range.

Still its just so well made, straight to the point, easy to get to the table. This is one of those games where you can bring friends over like its board game night, pull it out, make characters and be playing D&D in no time flat and that in my book is a game worth having on the shelf.

Blades In The Dark

I fell in love with Blades In The Dark after just three pages of reading and though I’m yet to run it, from the stand point of a GM who needs inspiration, this game, this setting and really just the entire concept is a fucking revelation. This book gives you the feeling you might remember when you got your first D&D book, that first read through, that first day of deciding you are going to play, the excitement of not knowing what’s going to happen. This book has that kind of magic.

This is a game that is narratively focused on a very specific concept. You and your friends take on the roles of effectively criminals in a early-industrial fantasy world, with only one goal. Pull off “Jobs”, aka, commit crimes in the city and try to get away with it. From heists, to burglaries and everything in-between this is the oceans eleven of fantasy RPG’s.

The system itself is superbly designed with every conceivable issue running a game in this style might present perfectly laid out for you with simple and applicable rules that make sense the first time you read them. This book is so well written, the concept so well thought out that I can see how this game practically runs itself.

More than that though the concept is just so amazing, who hasn’t thought of running a D&D game where everyone plays a thief and you indulge in your criminal fantasies. Clearly John Harper has.

There are plenty of variations on the thief class for everyone to find something to play, the setting itself is just the perfectly executed dark fantasy and their are turns and twists ready made for you to throw into your game that there is absolutely no way your players are going to expect.

Without a doubt one of the best RPG’s I have read in the last decade, this is the new gold standard to beat for OSR games.

Stars Without Numbers

Not since TSR’s take on sci-fi, Alternity have I found an RPG that does science-fiction with the respect and a sense of completeness. Stars Without Number is to me the modern take on running science-fiction, while clearly being a throwback to running the game in the classic OSR style.

Stars without numbers proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the OSR is alive and well and its not just about fantasy. Inspired by classic B/X rules and the classic RPG Trinity, Stars Without Numbers is a science-fiction sandbox for players to explore, yet the universe/setting is not some pre-generated science-fiction writing. This is a dynamically created world where even the GM doesn’t know what is going to be in his game until it starts. In a sense, much like Forbidden Stars, the result of playing this game is going to be dynamic world building.

This is a game that will put your improv skills to the test as a GM and though the system itself is simple, running this game I think is really the ultimate challenge for a DM. This game has every conceivable science-fiction trope that has ever existed in what I can only describe as a setting with infinite possibilities. Though its clearly inspired by Trinity, I can help but get an Alternity vibe from it, which notably is one of my all time favorite science-fiction RPG’s.

Really well written, easy to get into, its just the most perfect system for a science-fiction GM looking to create that perfect sci-fi game for his players.

Love this one, a must buy for any serious sci-fi fan.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that the OSR produces a lot of games, to create an article that covers all the good ones would take pages upon pages. I honestly could do this for days, but an article needs to end sometime.

The games I’ve chosen here are games I have either ran, played in or read, but there are many more I’m certain deserve to be on this list.

The important part here however is to present the OSR for what it is, a diverse sea of interesting games that make great alternatives to the tried and true, but sometimes rather stale accepted alternatives like Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Starfinder and the like.

These are some great games and I think as an RPG fan it’s everyone’s duty to explore games, to dig deeper and approach the entire hobby with an open mind. I find contemporary gamers who often claim inclusivity and tolerance in an attempt to appear politically modern are secretly some of the most judgmental and ruthlessly closed minded gamers out there refusing to touch anything without a Wizards of the Coast logo and casting a wide net of judgement against anything with the OSR label. Get out there and explore these amazing games, its nothing short of a tragedy to miss out on these experiences.

Gaming Articles, PC Game Reviews

MTG: Arena Reviewed

January 28, 2021 5 Minutes

Magic The Gathering is the granddaddy of the collectable card game hobby, not only was it and continues to be one of the worlds largest competitive CCG’s with a player base of 35 million, but it was also the pioneer for the digital CCG scene launching Magic The Gathering Online back in 2002 notably even before games like World of Warcraft were launched that would decades later produce modern digital adaptations of CCG’s like Heartstone.

In short, it is the original, it is the one and what we are here to answer is whether or not this old dog is still worth your time, specifically in the digital age via the current adaptations of digital Magic the gathering known as MTG: Arena.

I think I have to be honest here before I begin that I played Magic: The Gathering religiously and competitively (The table top version) from 1993 with the release of the Arabian Nights until about 2006 just after the release of Coldsnap. After that I quit the game largely because I moved away from California to Sweden where I really didn’t find a MTG scene. Suffices to say I’m an old dog, I know this game like I know my own face.

Arabian Nights was the first set I collected and played way back in the early 90’s. Magic: The Gathering has come a long way since then when it comes to art and game balance, but the actual rules of the game have not changed in nearly 30 years.

This also means that my return to magic is done so very casually and to a degree cautiously. I have no intention of collecting physical cards and I’m not interested in spending large quantities of cash or even really competing online or otherwise. MTG: Arena is free to play and so my commitment level to this project was about as non-existent as it could be, MTG: Arena would have to sell itself to me because the game itself, Magic: The Gathering, I already know everything there is to know about it. I was expecting no surprises and really, to a larger degree for this to be a very short lived foray into the nostalgic memories of the game, nothing more.

I also questioned here whether or not MTG: Arena was a cash grab, or if they found a fun way to play and enjoy Magic: The Gathering in digital form. Given that Wizards of the Coast are the kings of cash grabs, I had very little confidence that it was going to surprise me in this regard. The short answer, really to my amazement, was that they broke expectation in a pretty significant way. Yes… not only is it super fun, it’s actually wildly better then the real thing. Structured and organized in an exceptional way that makes Magic: The Gathering fun again.

Before MTG: Arena, there was Magic: The Gathering Online. While MTG: Online is still available today, I can’t think of a single reason why you would play it over MTG: Arena, Arena is just better in every sense of the word and notably it’s free while MTG: Online will require you to shell out some cash to play.

I think it’s important to say that I believe what makes Magic: The Gathering a great game, as opposed to a terrible game is the format you play. Magic as a casual game to collect and play at home with friends with constructed decks in a non-format standard way is actually a really shit game, mechanically speaking. Essentially its a pay to win game and only in a very tempered group that sticks to formats and limiting budget does the game become reasonably fun. I believe this remains true of Magic: The Gathering today, whether you play the table top version or the online version.

To me the best Magic: The Gathering experience you will ever have is in draft play. Draft play is a format in which players open fresh booster packs, draft cards in a group and compete with the decks they construct from that draft. Their are various versions of draft play, including sealed draft for example but In these drafting formats, Magic: The Gathering’s playing field equalizes. The game goes from being about trying to collect all the strongest power cards (rares) and building highly optimized super decks and becomes a game of skill in drafting, constructing and using the cards.

The Quick Draft format is great because it simultaneously provides you a chance to collect cards want and levels the playing field when facing opponents that have access to a massive collection. Make no mistake, in a standard 60 card pre-constructed deck format players with lesser collections are at a massive disadvantage. Draft tournaments fix this problem.

It’s also at its best in a competitive environment because unique opponents bring unique experiences. When you play the same people, with the same collections, using the same style and decks, the game wares out its welcome very quickly.

In short, to keep Magic: The Gathering fresh you have to play it competitively, in draft formats and playing within a single set or at least within the current standard (the last 3 sets + the core set for the year)

In comes MTG: Arena. MTG: Arena does a really great job of not only making itself accessible by having a really great tutorial sequence and giving you a great starting collection for free, but it has an amazing setup for earning rewards and giving you reason to explore every inch of the games different formats and styles of play including most notably competitive play.

Now you have your standard mode, build a 60 card deck from your collection and play a casual game against an opponent. In so doing, you earn various rewards ranging from new cards, decks and cosmetic trinkets. In addition you earn the in game currency (gold) which can be used in various methods to get more booster packs to expand your collection. You could effectively play this way indefinitely, earning rewards, expanding your collection and playing “standard Magic: The Gathering”. Like your home games however there are going to be a lot of flaws in this format and I do believe it would get boring very quickly.

Fortunately this is not however what MTG: Arena wants you to do and likely for that very reason and so it puts carrots out there for you to get involved in the higher echelons of the games competitive scene and it does this in a number of really clever ways.

First their is ranked play, which is essentially exactly as the standard non-ranked play except that it tracks your progress in a ranking system made up of various tiers ranging from Bronze all the way to Mythic, with many levels in-between. A casual gamer might see this as intimidating but here is the thing. It’s worth it! You get more rewards from playing in ranked play then you do in non-ranked play and there is no drawback to it.

Essentially the only difference is that as you advance in the ranks, you, in addition to the standard rewards also unlock ranking rewards. Even just playing 1 ranked game win or lose will earn you a booster pack and you can earn both gold, booster packs and cosmetic stuff by participating through success. There is quite literarily no logical reason whatsoever not to always be playing ranked and strictly speaking you are far more likely to meet opponents of your skill level in ranked play, then playing in non-ranked play where you are just matched up with whoever is available as opposed to someone in your current rank.

As you rise in the ranks of ranked play you earn rewards. While reaching high ranks like Diamond and Mythic is going to be a real challenge, reaching gold rank is a reasonable goal for every MTG: Arena.

More importantly is that it’s a ladder and gets you into the competitive spirit where you try to improve your decks, find ones that work well and compete for your status in the MTG community. This becomes a vary natural addictive element and really helps to solidify your first steps into a larger world.

Over time you will earn gold in addition to other rewards and this is where MTG: Arena helps you to take the next baby step to induct even the most casual of players into competitive play. They do this by making the rewards for playing in events better then simply using the gold to buy stuff in the shop and it is not based on winning anything in these events.

Essentially if you take 5,000 gold you will be able to buy 5 booster packs in the shop. However if you instead take that 5,000 gold and join a Quick Draft Tournament, you will earn 4 packs and 50 gems even if you lose every single one of your three games. But by simply playing in the tournament you automatically gain the Bronze tier in limited play, which earns you another pack. Its just economically a better way to spend your gold even if you just do it once.

Here is the kicker though, you get to do a draft tournament and if you actually win a couple of games, a very likely scenario even for the most novice of players, you will earn even more rewards. Winning just 3 matches will earn you 300 gems. Gems are the other currency in the game, for which people pay actual money. 300 gems is roughly worth 2 bucks. You can use the gems to buy more packs or other rewards from the shop, or you can just go right back around and put it towards your next tournament entry.

Furthermore you get to draft pick the cards from the boosters and after the tournament add them to your collection. So even if you suck at the game and lose every match, rather then opening a random booster and getting what you get, you can hand pick the cards you want. This may not seem immediately apparent but is actually a far more efficient way to collect cards.

Its really a win win situation and the end result I can only assume is that everyone is using their gold to enter into tournaments, in a way this economic system turns everyone on MTG: Arena into a competitive player.

Just these two key carrots, ranked play and tournament play, because they made them attractive through rewards makes MTG: Arena an amazing implementation of Magic The Gathering as a system. It’s really a kind of economic eco system that will have you exploring everything the digital version of Magic: The Gathering has to offer, eventually you will find formats and a routine that works for you and as your game improves you will find yourself not only competing regularly but doing far better then you thought was possible.

A typical Quick Draft even has you earning an extra pack and some gems even with an 0-3 record, which means that using your gold which you will earn through play is guaranteed. There is absolutely no good reason not to play in these tournaments since you are very likely to put at least a couple of wins on the board. The rewards grow quickly, if you can hit that 3-5 wins in a draft you make out like a bandit.

As I spent more and more time chasing victories, building decks and massaging my collection I came to the stark realization. The game is actually a lot of fun too.

The digital implementation of Magic The Gathering in MTG: Arena is smooth, responsive, the interface clear, easy to manage and the general balance at least of the current standard is extraordinarily well done. Wizards of the Coast has clearly learned a great deal over the years of running the game, it has developed into a far better game then I remember it being.

MTG: Arena is not without its faults however but I honestly can’t complain too much. Like many modern digital ladder games, their is an XP/Leveling system with rewards, from which you get a lot more if you shell out the money for a premium account. You get rewards for leveling up on a free account as well, but obviously the premium account showers you with them enticing you to buy into the 20 dollar cover charge for the privilege. The thing is that you actually spend 3400 gems to do this, which means that if your successful in tournaments using your in game earned gold, you could very easily pay for a premium accounts from your winnings. In fact this is not that hard to do, every couple of days you will earn enough gold to participate in a tournament. You will likely play at least a dozen tournaments if you invest your gold. If you consistently get 2-5 victories in each of these tournaments you will earn far more gems then you need to pay for a premium account. In fact, a single 7 out of 7 victory will do that.

One thing worth noting as well is that there is no tutorial for drafting, so the first few times you do this its likely going to feel very alien to you and drafting is a skill that takes time to develop. Doing it poorly results in you having a really tough time winning even a single match and drafting is not a skill you will be able to practice often because its only available when you actually participate in a drafting event, which of course costs gold or gems to enter. Drafting is not hard to learn to do moderately well, but it will cost you precious gold or gems to practice.

Secondly there is no way to trade cards The lack of card trading in a collectable trading card game is a really strange decision to an old school MTG player like me. The replacement for this function is a wild card system. Essentially periodically you will get wild cards for different rarities when opening packs. These you can use to craft any card of the same rarity. Its worth noting as well that you can’t have more then 4 copies of any card, so anytime you would get a 5th card you get credits towards your “vault” which earns you wild cards. Its an ok replacement for card trading, but this leads MTG: Arena into a separate issue of online community isolation (more on that later).

This is functional enough, but when your trying to put together a specific deck and you don’t have enough wild cards your kind of left hanging. Since collecting cards, trading them and building decks is a really big part of a CCG experience, its absence in MTG Arena is sorely missed.

Finally and I have to admit that this is a mixed blessing, their is virtually no interaction between you and your opponent above and beyond playing a match. In fact there is no interaction with any part of the community in game. There are no chat channels of any kind in the game, no trading, really no reason or way for people to communicate through the platform (aka community isolation). Now from my personal experience with the previous digital rendition of Magic The Gathering (MTG Online) I can say that the MTG community leaves a lot to be desired, like most online communities. So having them be effectively silenced allowing you to focus on the game rather then watching profanities scroll by may have in fact been the right call by Wizards of the Coast who notably doesn’t have a public forum either for any of their games. Likely hard lessons learned about the generally poor behavior of online communities.

You do have emotes where you can congratulate an opponent on a win and other such one liners, but generally even though the game is called MTG: Arena and it is an online game with real life opponents, as you play you barely even make that connection. They may as well be bot AI’s.

On the positive note when it comes to tournaments in particular you can just focus on the game and because the various event based tournaments are not precisely linked by specific players, you can participate in these events at whatever pace you like. You can join a draft, spend as long as you like building your deck and then play as many or as few matches as you like, whenever you have time. There is no pressure to “hurry up and finish” the tournament or waiting around. The pacing of the arena is very steady and at your leisure. The only obligation you really have to the online universe here is to finish the current match you’re in.

Conclusion

I have to admit I really didn’t think I would enjoy or continue to play, let alone get back into the competitive scene of Magic The Gathering when I started with MTG Arena. I was really surprised how easy and rewarding the experience has been and though I suppose I do miss some of the human interaction, overall I would say the experience has been very positive.

At its core MTG: Arena is the full Magic: The Gathering experience in digital form with all of the competitive and casual formats you would expect to see. There are always new releases coming, new challenges and interesting special events that makes logging in every day and running some games fun and worth doing and has just become the new norm for me.

Another major benefit of playing MTG: Arena is that the game handles all of the rules for you and resolves all the various effects that transpire in a logical, very clear way. This means a game that might typically take 45 minutes will take you 10 minutes instead. It cannot be overstated how much easier digital magic is versus the table top version.

I absolutely love the fact that you are always rewarded in some way for your matches, that your encouraged to compete in events and that you can do all of it at your own pace, in your own time. It’s really quite perfect especially since you can go from launching the game to being in a competitive match and back out to deal with laundry inside of 10-15 minutes. Its so convenient, smooth and easy, for anyone who has a love for the game, this platform is in just about every way I can think of quite perfect for your typical MTG fan.

Now of course it is still Magic: The Gathering and the rules for the game have not changed in 30 years. Many of the mechanical warts of the game are still there and compared to modern CCG’s, MTG certainly shows its age. You can and will get mana fucked with reasonable regularity, there are insane combos that once executed you can’t do shit about, there are trick decks that will annoy you and if you are in a rush to get your collection up, you can as always spend your rent money in short order. The game can sometimes be a bit frustrating.

MTG: Arena is certainly not enough to get me back into the physical game, in fact, it had quite the opposite effect. If I want to play Magic: The Gathering with friends, in particular in these Covid-19 days, playing the game on MTG: Arena is far superior to the real thing. I would much rather play this then spend time fucking about with Magic: The Gathering Cards.

If you have never played Magic: The Gathering and have always wanted to try it, this platform is perfect. If you already love Magic: The Gathering and want to play more, this is the perfect platform. If you already don’t like the physical form of the game, playing it online is not going to change your mind. This is the same old Magic: The Gathering it has always been. It’s a bit leaner, a bit smoother and much more accessible in MTG: Arena, but still Magic: The Gathering the classic collectable game for better or worse.

Gaming Articles

First Impressions: Song Of Ice and Fire Miniature Game by CMON

October 21, 2020 5 Minutes

Let’s be honest here, Game of Thrones as a setting, as a franchise as, a design space for games is just an awesome place. The books and show have made so many fans world wide that there are plenty of people looking for more, but for those in the table top community you know that this franchise has also produced some of the best table top games in the market today.

You have the Game of Thrones board game which is just amazing, recently getting its own digital version. You have the Game of Thrones living card game, another smash hit in my book and now we have Song of Ice and Fire the miniature game, a new rank and file mini game adaptation. While I reserve judgement to an extent with this first impressions article as my experience with the game is limited to a few games, as my first impressions will indicate, I’m very excited about this game. There are some very good reasons for miniature gamers to take notice and today we are going to talk about this lovely game a bit from the perspective of a newbie.

Evolving Modern Miniature Games

There are many notable features in Song of Ice and Fire the miniature game that modern miniature gamers will appreciate and find familiar, in fact the game improves on many modern staples of the genre.

These improvements where born out of what I believe to be something of a golden age in the world of miniature games. There have been a metric ton of amazing mini games in the last few years and the hits just keep on coming. It all kind of started with Fantasy Flight Games who took the approach that miniature games don’t have to be complicated, that they don’t need a 400 page rulebooks and special army books and through that approach FFG produced hits like Star Wars X-Wing, Armada and Legion. This has triggered miniature game makers to re-asses the classic exception based designs and really changed the face of how miniature games are made and released. An evolution to design was started and games have been benefiting from and evolving ever since, after decades of stagnation.

Song of Ice and Fire the miniature game is among the latest of games to take advantage of this evolution and what can be said about this game is that like many modern mini games, its VERY easy to get into.

For starters the rulebook is more of a pamphlet and the rules are crystal clear with a dependable, structured core rule system that you can rely on. This has become the norm in good miniature game designs. This makes the game very approachable, very easy to teach and it really clears out that elitism that has for so long been associate with miniature gaming. SoIF didn’t invent this concept but it takes full advantage of it. It evolves it further by providing living documentation and an officially supported app to ensure players always have the latest rules and unit errata. This allows them to make changes to the game as they see fit without the frustration of our books and game material going “out of date” which is still a problem even in many modern mini games.

The next thing to note is that SoIF miniatures come pre-assembled and I can’t say enough about how that opens the world of miniature gaming up. The game assumes that its meant to be played, that it’s not a hobby that occasionally masquerades as a game, but that its an awesome game first, which you may or may not care to also make a hobby.

I know that this is controversial to say but for me personally if your game comes on a sprue, its an automatic no from me, nothing else about the game matters to me. I want to play these games, if I have to spend 20 hours gluing shit together you already lost me and I believe a lot of that elitism persona of the genre comes from this assumed hobby expectation. SoIF takes this a step further by not requiring any assembly of any kind, compared to many games like Star Wars Legion for example where while you don’t have to deal with sprues, you will still need to super glue stuff to play. Making each army a specific color so they are easy to tell apart on the board further illustrates the fact that SoIF is a game first and a hobby second, as it should be in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy painting mini’s to some degree, but I don’t want to be forced to if I’m busy and have assembly block my playing the game. I have plenty of miniature games on my shelf I have never played because they are still in sprues.

Another modernization I think is worth noting is that starter boxes come with ready to play and moderately competitive armies. I can’t express enough the disappointment of getting a new miniature game with a starter box only to find out that my game is still technically incomplete and what I have is not an army, but a demo of the game or worse, the game comes with the built in assumption that you will buy two starter/core sets. I hated this with X-Wing, I hated it with Armada, its literarily the reason I don’t play Legion (after buying two core sets I STILL don’t have a complete army).

Finally and I think this is fairly significant albeit minor thing, but even in the starter set you have quite a few list building options, in particular considering it is in fact a starter set. Typically starter sets are not only very limited, but there is a pre-built army in it and there is no customization or flexibility in list building. With SoIF there are choices to be made, variations to be had and I think this is a great thing. It gives you a taste of what is to come and that helps to encourage you to expand your army.

At The Table

I think that SoIF is one of those games where you can easily comprehend the rules, but there is tremendous depth in how those rules are applied to the strategic and tactical component of the game. The game is a bit deceptive in this regard, it seems like a simple game, but is almost overwhelmingly deep to the point that it can very quickly become a little intimidating.

This is a game that is extremely sensitive to tactical and strategic mistakes at the same time. Where you position your units during deployment is critical, where you position them at the end of the first round can be game changing. Make one mistake and it can cost you the match. This is a game where you can be wiped off the board in a single round and it does happen and its not because of the dice.

As such I think this game despite having a very minimal learning curve for the rules has an extremely steep learning curve for becoming even marginally competitive. There is just so much subtle things in this game that you have to remember and their are so many ways units, actions and effects can have on the game that it can feel almost impossible to keep it all in your head. Things can swing on a dime because you forgot that your opponent has some commander who has an order that lets him make an extra attack or that archer units when they shoot can shift 2 inches, or that your player has a hand of cards that can let him break various rules in the game, or that the NCU (more on that later) has some special ability that stops you from doing something you had been planning for with one of your units.

It actually reminds me a bit of games like Magic: The Gathering where if you have a high level of expertise, knowledge about the game, about the cards, about the effects, you become almost super humanly good against people who don’t have that knowledge, because you can anticipate and plan around the activities of your opponent. This isn’t a game where you can look at the board, create a strategy and execute it. You need to know in great detail every inch of what your opponents units can do, all the possibilities of his hidden hand of tactic cards, the many ways effects can combine and the subtle timing of effects that can trigger unique and devastating combinations.

These things take time and practice to learn well and I would argue that this is a game that you not only must learn how to play, but you must study if you have any hope of ever winning a match.

What this does for the game is two fold. On the one hand it can be frustrating because part of the learning process is losing, badly and often. It takes time to really pick up many of the subtle elements of the game and that can feel like a bit of a turn off as you learn the game through failure. You come to realize the rules are simple and fun, but that the strategy of the game has so many layers that this ups the stakes on the learning curve front a great deal.

On the bright side of things however, a game that challenges players, takes time to learn to play well, ultimately gives you a reason to keep playing. A game that has a basic strategy that all players work out ends up being a game about list building and who rolls dice the best, where there is no expertise beyond the basics of the game and it all boils down to list vs. list and dice vs. dice. I see a lot of games like this and they tend to lose their energy in our groups as the conversations shift from “how can I improve my strategy” to “My army sucks because my units aren’t as good/cost effective as my opponents”. The conversation essentially shifts to discussions about what is and isn’t balanced, because there are no more avenues from the perspective of strategic play. SoIF does not have that problem, which is not to say that there aren’t some balance issues here and there, but “how you use units” matters a lot more than “how good the units are” and its very easy to prematurely judge a unit in the hands of inexperienced players.

That is not to disregard a conversation about balance, but often a unit may feel unbalanced because your not using it right and that is a very different conversation.

The result of all this is a game that is deeply tactical and strategic, a game you can study, really sink your teeth into. You will drive yourself crazy thinking about the different effective ways to use your units and your cards, but beyond that because the game comes with a lot of different “game modes”, aka scenarios, each more unique then the next, there isn’t this “one list to rule them all” kind of thing in the game. You build your list, but no matter what you build, every scenario is going to create unique challenges for that list and your always going to have advantages and disadvantages going into every match as a result. The same list that gets completely crushed in one scenario may totally dominate in another.

My impression so far about the game play is that, I’m largely confused. I’m in that newbie zone still and I feel like I lose matches, not because I roll dice badly (though I often do) or because my army is shit but because very clearly and very obviously I make a lot of tactical and strategic mistakes. I can see that with every match I improve dramatically and really the conditions haven’t changed, but how I see the game has. This to me is as a whole, purely positive. I see a lot of potential in the game and as I play more matches, I’m eager to learn and play even more. This is a good place to be in a miniature game.

The Details of The Targaryen Army

The army I chose is the Targaryen army, it was a rather unplanned choice, I largely made it based on theme and maybe a bit because I knew at some point I would be getting some dragons which I thought was cool. I did not investigate the army nor chose it as a result of anything specific about how it would play.

The Targaryen army, at least as its represented in the starter set is a very fast moving, hard hitting cavalry army, a sort of glass cannon driven by hit and run tactics. My experience with them so far has been that it seems to lean a lot more on positioning and use of cards to be successful, though an argument could be made that all armies and really the game as a whole is about position and timing of card play.

There are some really interesting units, some I would argue are just amazing while others, even with my minimal knowledge of the game I recognize as absolute shit. So its a bit of a mixed bag, but there is plenty of room for adaptation and some really great army lists can be formed even with just the starter set.

I will talk a bit about the different units in the starter set here just to give you a feel for the army, but it suffices to say some of this conversation might not make sense unless you know the game rules and I will make that assumption here (that you know the rules of the game).

Jorah Mormon The Wandering Knight

Cost of 3 points, you have to wonder if this was a misprint or something.

First up is Jorah Mormont, The Wandering Knight which I start with only because there should be so little to say about this unit, yet I will say a lot anyway because he was one of my favorite Song of Ice and Fire characters. Jorah is, by no stretch of the imagination the worst unit in the Targaryen army and arguably in the whole game. It almost feels like a misprint its so bad.

The main problem is the cost of this unit, not visible in the picture here, but at 3 points, this unit simply doesn’t earn its point value, not even close. Scout Openings is a strangely tone def ability in a game that is so well designed, a short range ability you are not likely to get more than 1 use of if you’re lucky. Jorah is very vulnerable because of having only 2 health in particular to the many instant wound abilities of NCU’s and card effects. An argument could be made to use him for the extra activation, but you may very well never see an activation with Jorah thanks to this unique vulnerability. You essentially are adding a unit to your army list that almost assures your opponent will get a free victory point, it just doesn’t make sense to pay 3 army points for that privilege.

You can get a lot of mileage out of the Targaryen army for 3 points, investing it in Jorah is a terrible use of such a limited resource.

The frustrating part for me is that his ability and setup just does not fit within the game, within the setting or within the Targaryen army. Jorah from a story perspective was a volunteer serving Daenerys, while also being one of the tougher characters in the story surviving all sorts of crazy stuff. For him to be weak and expensive is a tragic misreading of the character.

Ok I have said my peace, moving on.

I would argue one of the best NCU’s in the game, a far better use of 3 points then Jorah.

Dothraki Screamers

At 6 points its a arguably bit pricey in the Targaryen army, but its a cavalry unit and that is a big advantage on the battlefield.

These guys are the staple of the Targaryen starter set, you get two of them and while I would argue that at 6 points they are just 1 point too much for a cavalry unit with no abilities, however, cavalry units in their own right offer exceptional flexibility on the battlefield so I can understand the 6 point cost here.

My argument for reducing its cost by 1 has more to do with the fact that activation advantage is a major concept of the game. The impact of activation advantage is massive in SOIF and the Targaryen army does not have that all important “low cost unit” required to put them in a place where they can compete in a game where 8-9 activations is the norm. Typically a Targaryen army will have 6 to 7 activations at best which means every match you enter you will be out activated, typically by at least 1-2 activations. It might not sound like much, but this really knocks Targaryen’s out of competitive play entirely, its very difficult to overcome an activation disadvantage. This being the Targaryen’s staple unit seems like the most appropriate place where an argument for reduced cost could be made.

At a 5+ defense you want these guys doing hit and runs on people’s flanks, which can be devastating with a 3+ attack and though they can hold their own in a fight with a 6+ morale save, they aren’t likely to be able to remain in a sustained fight for very long with a +5 armor save. Their leverage is their 6+ speed which can be increased in various ways in a Targaryen army with NCU’s like Daenery’s Targaryen, Khaleesi and Targaryen cards like Unstoppable Advance.

I would argue however that this is really a 7 point unit because fielding it without one of the two commanders for an extra point (Either an Outrider KO or a Screamer KO) is really not getting your points worth, they transform this unit from a threat to a major threat with one of the two KO’s. You will feel like you need to have them I think to get the value out of this unit and strictly speaking if you add 2 Screamers and 1 Outrider, each with its own commander you are spending those 3 points you just saved by not adding Jorah into the list, a vastly better investment in army points in my opinion.

Screamers are a great unit, though I can understand some arguments for using Bloody Mummer Zorse Riders for example as a potential alternative. While slightly more expensive at 7 points, Zorse Riders offer some built in abilities.

A 7 point unit that is in competition with the screamers.

A staple NCU in the Targaryen heavy cavalry army that doubles down on the factions main advantage.

Yet another way to get more speed and with the added surprise of ignoring terrain and ensuring your charge re-rolls.

Good on either the screamer or the outrider cavalry unit.

The only place to put them in your starter army is on a screamer.

The Dothraki Outriders

At 6 points the Outriders can have a high impact on matches, but don’t forget the Outrider KO, its arguably the best 1 point you can spend in the Targaryen army.

I think the best unit in the starter set by a fair margin, the Dothraki Outriders at 6 points while tricky to use largely do to an absence of a melee attack and short range of their bow, have incredible mobility thanks to a 6+ move combined with their Nimble ability. In fact, I’m fairly certain this is the most mobile unit in the entire game.

When fitted with their attachment (Outrider KO), they are shooting 7 dice at 3+ into units that can be assumed to be vulnerable (thanks to their Outrider KO) which when combined with shooting into a flank can be absolutely devastating even to the toughest of units. Their nimble ability also keeps them out of range of other short range units and makes it much easier for them to get into peoples flanks. All around its a pretty amazing combo and deadly combination.

This is a unit that when timed and used well will always earn its 7 point cost (never leave home without a outrider KO however). I think its well priced within the scope of the Targaryen faction and though I think I could file a complaint when comparing this unit to the Nights Watch Ranger Trackers who are effectively better and cheaper in every way as they get the Outrider KO ability built in, have better defense and a reasonably decent melee attack. I do believe that Nimble is so significant that it makes up for it.

Its unfortunate that you only get one of these guys in the starter box, I think I would rather have another unit of these guys as an option then the poorly thought out Jorah.

Dothraki Veterans

This very pricey (10 points) yet very dangerous unit requires a lot more plays to make a determination, but you cannot deny its ferocity, people will come to fear the veterans.

Finally we have the Dothraki Veterans which is our high priced, high value unit. It seems every faction gets one, but at 10 army points it is one of the most expensive units in the game, currently one among only 3 units that come in this pricey. It is more expensive then a bloody dragon for crying out loud!

The question is, is it worth it and the answer is, that I just don’t know. There is no denying its ferocity, it is absolutely devastating to get shot at with 7 dice at 3+, then get charged with 8 dice at +3 before any other effects are even applied in a single activation. With an Outrider KO or a Screamer KO you could potentially wipe entire fresh units off the board with a single attack and when you consider some of the Targaryen cards like Overrun or Khal Drogo’s cards (The Commander) like Devastating Impact, the potential for a single game winning move is very high. Your opponents are going to fear this unit and rightfully so, its a game changer.

The problem is however that as it stands, to invest 10 points into a single unit is a hard pill to swallow for any faction but in particular the Targaryen faction where if you really consider the makeup of the army we already have major activation disadvantage problems.

The cheapest unit we have is 6 points (screamer and outrider), which arguably need their KO’s to be effective making them 7 point units realistically speaking. Adding this 10 point unit into any army list means you are going to be limited to 4 units on the board at most, meaning 6 activations at best (with 2 NCU’s). That is too big of a disadvantage in a game where you will be facing 8-9 activations as a standard. In my experience having an activation disadvantage and having a unit disadvantage on the board at the same time is pretty difficult to overcome and this may very well explain why Targaryen’s are at the bottom of tournament play results, yet to win any recorded tournaments in which they were played.

I don’t think the issue with Veterans are the Veterans themselves, in fact, like the screamer I think the unit is appropriately priced in general, yet I would argue because of the composition of options for the Targaryen’s, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to add them. We don’t have cheap options to offset high cost units and running any army but with only 6 activations is a losing proposition, it’s just too big of a disadvantage.

Devastating but situational, it can turn a loss of a unit in to a loss of multiple units.

The Commanders

In the Targaryen starter set you get two commanders, Khal Drogo and the commander version of Jorah Mormont. In my humble opinion these are both excellent commanders that work extremely well within the Targaryen faction and they are both a joy to use. They come with strong abilities in their own right that punish opponents and offer some amazing surprises for your enemy and frankly both of their tactic card sets are filled with some amazing cards.

Jorah Mormont tends to be a lot more flexible than Khal Drogo and I would argue that cards like Bravery in the Face of Death and Superior Flanking are two cards you can count on using in every game. Martial Superiority is also a great defensive card that punishes opponents for attacking you. Really they are all great.

Charging and Morale checks is something you are going to be doing, so this card will always get played.

One might say situational but your a cavalry army so if your not charging into flanks and rears your doing it wrong.

Great defensive card that punishes opponents for attacking you.

Khal Drogo’s tactic cards are a bit trickier to use. The already mentioned Overrun can have insane impact on games in combination with successfully timed charges.

Addrivat! is extremely circumstantial, I find its the card I discard the most often. It requires you to activate the combat action on the NCU board to use, which means you must already be engaged with the opponent and have the initiative. In addition screamers already have sundering so they don’t leverage as much of the card as other units might, its useless to outriders because it’s melee only and you don’t want to use it with veterans because you won’t get your ranged shot – charge combination, arguably the main reason to use veterans.

To be honest I don’t recall ever actually playing this card, the circumstances when you could use the card combined with actually having it in your hand at the same time are extremely rare. Its clearly designed to combo with Khal Drogo’s ability but even there its not great since usually you will have Drogo in your Veterans unit and you don’t want to skip over your ranged shot before charging. I actually think its a terrible card in general.

The trickiest of the cards is Ride-By-Attack, it allows you to make a march through an enemy, performing a charge as you do it. Again its a very situational card because you need to be able to move far enough through a unit to get on the other side of them to do it. Additionally it doesn’t combo well with your most expensive unit as it does not allow you to use that ranged attack before the charge as the card must be used on activation. It requires considerable coordination and positioning to pull off, but can push one of your cavalry into your opponents back line so in addition to the charge you have good positioning for the next series of action. It has a lot of potential and I think becomes more relevant and significant in expert hands.

Clearly a card tailor made for whatever unit Drogo is in, but overall its just a terrible card.

Can be tricky to use, but your opponents will never expect it, it breaks the rules of the game.

This is one of the easier cards to use from the Khal Drogo set.

Conclusion

There is certainly a lot more that can be said about the Targaryen army, there are other components and cards not mentioned here that could be discussed but I think I have shown enough here to come to this conclusion.

The Targaryen army is a very mobile force that can make high impact moves that can completely decimate opponents but in the same token, it has a lot of vulnerabilities and is susceptible to terrible collapse if not positioned well and its core effects timed poorly. I think it should probably come with a warning label that says “For Advanced Players of Song of Ice and Fire” because it really does assume a lot of knowledge to use well.

As an army its biggest drawback which I think is the biggest contributing factor to its poor competitive play results is the fact that it lacks the ability to overcome the activation advantage almost all factions will have over it. The standard amount of activations for a list is 8-9, for the Targaryen’s its 6-7. This is a major problem for the Targaryen’s that keeps them from being truly competitive and there is currently no way to overcome it.

I do believe however with a bit of practice and a few expansion units, in particular the Heroes box to get some variety in the NCU’s can result in this army being at the very least fun to play. With some good player skill developments I certainly think you can get some wins on your record with the Targaryen’s, as they tend to really punish opponent mistakes.

I suspect in time their will be changes made to this army, its clear to me that units like Jorah Mormont The Wandering Knight are just too awful to be ignored and the cost of units like Screamers and Veterans are probably going to be adjusted (or their abilities adjusted) to bring them in line with the rest of the game or at least the army will get some methods to help them overcome their awful activation disadvantage.

The Targaryen Faction represent the newest addition to the Song of Ice and Fire miniature game and as such I think inevitably, as was the case with the rest of the games many factions, there will be some adjustments needed and made. CMON however seems to be very cautious about just sporadically making changes which I think is a good thing.

So far I’m enjoying my experience with SoIF, there is a lot of love put into this game, some really great design work and a really great design space to expand the game. Even as I write this article I as well as many of my gaming friends are waiting for new units to arrive to join the ranks of our armies so that is a good sign that we will continue with this great in my local gaming group.

Gamers Dungeon

Category Archives: Gaming Articles

Preview: War Room by Larry Harris

Why Axis and Allies was so popular

The Problems With Axis and Allies

The Things That Make War Room Awesome

Team Game

Hidden Action Sequence

The Stress System

Tactics Matter

Vulnerable Industry/Resources

General Insight

Paths of Glory by GMT Games

Overview

Components

Theme

Gameplay

Replay-ability and Longevity

Conclusion

GM Theory: OSR Games You Should Be Playing

Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy

Dungeon Crawl Classics

Forbidden Lands

Five Torches Deep

Blades In The Dark

Stars Without Numbers

Conclusion

MTG: Arena Reviewed

First Impressions: Song Of Ice and Fire Miniature Game by CMON

Evolving Modern Miniature Games

At The Table

The Details of The Targaryen Army

Dothraki Screamers

The Dothraki Outriders

Dothraki Veterans

The Commanders

Conclusion

Dedicated To All Things Gaming

Why Axis and Allies was so popular

The Problems With Axis and Allies

The Things That Make War Room Awesome

Team Game

Hidden Action Sequence

The Stress System

Tactics Matter

Vulnerable Industry/Resources

General Insight

Share this:

Overview

Components

Theme

Gameplay

Replay-ability and Longevity

Conclusion

Share this:

Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy

Dungeon Crawl Classics

Forbidden Lands

Five Torches Deep

Blades In The Dark

Stars Without Numbers

Conclusion

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Evolving Modern Miniature Games

At The Table

The Details of The Targaryen Army

Dothraki Screamers

The Dothraki Outriders

Dothraki Veterans

The Commanders

Conclusion

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