Slingshot 289

Slingshot 289 arrived this morning, which was a nice surprise. Now I have something juicy to read over the Christmas holidays

Game on the table - Crusader by Decision Games (Folio)

Normally, once I start playing a game, I will pick out the next game I want to play and read the rules (normally on the way to work), as this gives me plenty of time to read and understand them, and hunt down any errata whilst playing another game.
However, I failed to do this when playing Cheren, so the game I wanted to play next is still in the "rule reading" stage, meaning I had nothing on the table to play. Which is why I dug out this game, as the rules are pretty standard issue and were quick to read and learn, so it made for an ideal time filler.

Here is a description from the DG website:

The port-town of Tobruk was the key to Libya. The Axis had been besieging it since April 1941, threatening to push the Allies back into Egypt. The Afrikakorps, commanded by Irwin Rommel, had already defeated the Allies’ previous attempt to relieve Tobruk, Operation Battleaxe, but a new, surprise Allied offensive in November 1941, Operation Crusader, would evolve into one of the most chaotic and near-run battles of the entire North African campaign. 

Crusader utilizes the new Fire & Movement combat system that’s designed so players can augment their units with “support fire” during the course of the battle. From mortars to tanks, units can receive support assets to engage enemy positions and formations, allowing combat to develop at all levels. A single recon battalion, for example — perhaps supported by air cover — could be tasked to assault a lone enemy infantry regiment defending a key hilltop. As that attack gets underway, the recon battalion may find itself under the guns of enemy artillery. So more support fire will be necessary to take the hill, but assets are limited.

In Crusader, the attritional design of the new Combat Results Table simulates the true nature of battles in North Africa. Units are typically two-sided formations that can incur casualties, accurately replicating the realities of combat and the high losses sustained by both sides during the actual fighting around Tobruk. Winning the battle is thus a matter of maneuver, firepower and asset management.

Game Contents:

• 17 x 22” (43 x 56 cm) terrain map
• 100 die-cut counters
• One Standard Rules booklet for this series
• One Exclusive Rules booklet for this title

It sounds and interesting game to play, and judging by the rules set, a quick paced game, with quite a few interesting aspects to it!

I have cut the counters out, set it up, and I will get playing tomorrow. I will post a game report as soon as I can.
Note: green post-its are for keeping the map fixed to my board. They work quite well and do no damage to the map. They are also handy for writing quick notes down - oddly enough ha ha ha

The Road to Cheren (Revolution Games) - Game Report

The Road to Cheren by Kim Kanger

I bought this game direct from Revolution Games for $15 (this was a special offer price, normal price is $21 - still a good price!), and was shipped to me in the UK for $6, which was really good value. The game comes in a ziplock bag and contains the following:

11 x 17" map
113 doublesided die-cut counters
4 page rule book
1 Information sheet which is on the reverse of the front cover of the game.


The components for this game are good quality. 

The map is printed on sturdy card (probably around 200gsm thick) and has a glossy finish. The detail on the map is really nicely done. The terrain is well defined and has no obvious ambiguous areas, and the charts and turn track are well positioned, especially for solo play, even though it is a game for 1-2 players.

The counters are of good quality, back printed, clearly printed and functional (just how I like counters to be - elaborate and over the top designed counters I feel are messy and ruin the ability of being able to identify units quickly). 
They have been covered in a glossy film, which may give them a bit more protection, though I did find it a little irritating with light reflection, but that is a minor issue.

The rule book is well laid out and indexed and cross-referenced well. I did download the Living Rules and use them, but from what I can gather, there has been very little errata for this game, so playing the game without the Living Rules would not be a problem.

All in all, a neat little package.  

Game Report.

From Revolutions website:
The road to Cheren is our new game covering the Eritrea campaign in East Africa in 1941. The campaign featured British and French forces versus the Italians in a wild and mountainous country. The game was designed by Kim Kanger who also designed Ici, c’est la France, Tonkin, and the soon to be released Dien Bien Phu, all by Legion Wargames.

Cheren is a game where the movement of each piece is critical. After movement your opponent may react but with only a few units, making player decisions difficult; do I go to the aid of a unit likely to be attacked or use my reaction to push troops forward in an area where I am on the offensive. After combat there is exploitation movement. Only motorized infantry, tanks and cavalry may exploit and are scarce in this campaign. In addition there is a very nice chit pull system to give both sides some special abilities and keep the enemy guessing as to what comes next. Finally some Italian native units may decide to join the Allies, or they may stay loyal, which creates extra tension in the game.

The game lasts for 12 turns, with the Allies having the first turn. The Allies need at least 22 Victory Points to win, and this is achieved by capturing various towns and villages.

At the start of the game, the Allies all start in Kassala, and the Italians are spread over various towns and villages. Here is a view of the setup from the Vassal mod. Various reinforcements come on for both sides on certain turns, and the Allies also get some Air Support from turn 3

The Allies started off with a two prong attack: one to the South to capture Om Ager, and the other to the East  to capture the center towns. Both attacks went really well, as the Allies start off with some quite powerful units, and can easily force back the Italians.

By the end of Turn 2, all was going well for the Allies and are achieving their goals. 

The Italians have two Garrison areas, where the Native units (Black & Green units) and the small Italian units are inactive, and become activated once an Allied unit enters the Garrison area or adjacent to a Garrison unit. The neat bit about this is that the Italian player has to roll to see which side the Natives will join (they start on the Italian side) once they become active. By this turn, the Wolkait Garrison has been activated and the natives have stayed with the Italians.

By the end of Turn 6, the Allies are really putting pressure on the Italians. However, the Italians did give them a hard time over the towns of Barentu and Agordat, and even though the Allies eventually took these towns, it did delay the Allied advance. By Turn 6, the Allies are also starting to have reinforcements arrive from the North, which adds concern to the Italians.

As the Allies keep pushing the Italians back to gain the VP's they need to win, the Italians are putting up a good job of holding them off.

The last turns are a worry for the Italians, as the Allies have captured the town of Cheren and have the superior strength to capture the all important and highly prized town of Asmara, as capturing this town would give the Allies victory.

To the South, the Italians have halted the Allied advance, as they have a stronger force their and control the higher ground.

Unfortunately, it was all to much for the Allies, as the Italians were able to hold them off long enough to deny the Allies victory.

My Opinion

The game turns are reasonably quick, and as the turns progress, it does get rather tense. In the game I played, it was clear by turn 10 that the Allies would not reach their goal, but it could so easily have gone to the final turn, and I think that could be quite typical of this game as there are so many different towns and villages which can give the Allies valuable Victory Points.

The Allies also do have quite a few options available to them, in respect to what objectives to go for. This gives the Italian player a dilemma as to where to move his reinforcements, as he has to make sure he has enough to contain the Allies.

Natives which become activated are also a problem for the Italians, as it is on the dice as to whether or not they stay loyal or join the Allies

Both sides have chits which allow them to perform certain actions, but these can be limited and have to be used carefully, which adds a nice variable to the game.

Units can have supply problems if they stray too far from their supply routes - or get cut off from them, a tactic the Italians can use to great effect to slow down the Allies! If they remain out of supply, this could be disastrous for the unit concerned, as it will end up having to suffer step losses.

There is a nice concept of soft and hard ZOC in this game (never seen this before), as this is determined by the stacking points

I did enjoy enjoy playing this game a lot. There are a lot of neat little touches to this game which makes it stand out from the normal run-of-the-mill wargame and it has enough about it to be highly replayable, even from a solo point of view.

This game will definitely be hitting the table again soon!

10/10