Stripped Down for Parts: Fighting Formations: US 29th Infantry Division

 

  

As I’ve mentioned before, I had a lengthy break in my wargame hobby in my twenties and early thirties, and then I only returned to it slowly, starting mostly with games I already had some familiarity with. One result of this absence was that there were a lot of games that simply passed me by. One of those I missed was Fighting Formations: Grossdeutschland Motorized Infantry Division (GMT Games, 2011). I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with tactical-level games – obviously more love than hate given the number I own – but everything I read about Fighting Formations made it sound like the kind of challenge I’d enjoy. The only thing was nobody had a copy to sell. I searched far and wide; the game must have had a smaller initial release, and while it was supported with an expansion box, Fighting Formations: Grossdeutschland Division's Battle for Kharkov (GMT Games, 2018), I don’t believe it ever got a second printing.*

So, you can imagine my glee when Fighting Formations: US 29th Infantry Division (GMT Games, 2025) was announced in the September 2022 Update email from GMT. As I understand it, a lot of the work had been done by designer Chad Jensen before his – untimely seems too trite a term for such a loss to the hobby, let alone to those who were close to him – passing, and his wife and developer, Kai Jensen and a small, dedicated team have brought the second Fighting Formations to fruition.

Fighting Formations: US 29th Infantry Division was released in January this year, in the same batch of games that saw GMT’s first experiment in cheaper P500 shipping for Australia and New Zealand. This took longer than anyone anticipated, and I received my copy in the first week of July; I mention this not to lay blame, merely to explain why I’ve taken this long to get to the game. Then it sat in a pile with others I wanted to write about for longer than I had any right to leave it, but I’m rectifying that situation now, so there’s that.**

Fighting Formations: 29ID comes in a sturdy 2 ½” box, and has a similar dress to its earlier sibling (there’s a definite family resemblance). The picture on the front includes a Sherman tank, not a normal part of an infantry division, but throughout the war, elements of armored divisions were attached to other formations in a support role, either for specific missions or whole campaigns. There’s a complete Order of Battle for the 29^th in the game’s Playbook, with a sample list of attached units, aal of which makes for fascinating reading if you’re that way inclined. But I‘m getting ahead of myself.

Box-back. Full of promise.

The box back offers sample images of a map, cards and counters, along with a brief explanation of the intention of, and thinking behind, the series, noting the game flow, how the orders, initiative and assets work. We also learn the scale is squad and individual vehicle, and 75 yards to a hex, with the turns spanning about five minutes.

The play infographic tells us the recommended starting age is the usual fourteen years and up (I think that's probably true in this case), that this is definitely a two-player game, and that a scenario should run to around two-to-three hours. The difficulty is set at 6 out of 9, and solitaire suitability is rated at 5 out of 9. I’m guessing the slightly higher than median difficulty comes from the innovative, new-to-the-uninitiated concepts like order-seeding each turn, which I haven’t seen anywhere else. As for the solitaire suitability, I’ll get to test that to as I’m sure my first three or for games will be played solo.

The Rulebook.

The Series Rulebook is printed on familiar matt paper-stock (as are the other three booklets in the set) and runs to 28 pages. Of that, six pages are taken up by the cover/Table of Contents, a two-page glossary, a copy of the Player Aid Card and Terrain Effects Chart, and a helpful Summary of Orders on the back cover; the actual rules run to a quite manageable, helpfully illustrated 22 pages.

Sample page from the Rulebook. Clear, uncluttered writing with lots of illustrations.

The rules are clearly presented, with useful pictorial examples. At first blush, I think I’d drop the difficulty quotient to a 5, but I haven’t got the game to the table yet, so there’s probably something I haven’t picked up on my cursory read-through.

The Scenario book.

It’s always heartening when a new game’s scenario book is longer than its rulebook. This volume of Fighting Formations comes with thirteen scenarios and a “Scenario 0” introductory situation (don’t be put off by this; it may be a learning scenario, but it still packs in some vehicles and heavy fire-support weapons, so you’ll get to know a lot of the moving parts quickly).

This is how to lay out a scenario.

The scenarios nearly all covered on two-page open spreads (nice to see common sense prevailing in layout). The biggest scenario, #13 – Hedgerow Hill, runs to a third page, while the introductory scenario managed to squeeze into a single page. The back cover has a duplicate of the Summary of Orders from the back cover of the Rulebook; two copies – no waiting.

 The Playbook. Lots of interesting reading, and a bibliography.

As alluded to earlier, Fighting Formations 29ID comes with two more booklets; a Playbook and an Examples of Play book. The Playbook contains everything you might look for in a playbook other than the actual example(s) of play. Coming in at 32 pages, this is the longest of the booklets, and it packs a lot in. Here you’ll find the 29ID Exclusive Rules and an optional Events rule (eleven pages in total), a four-page Order of Battle, six pages of Historical Notes, two and something pages of Scenario design notes by John Foley, a concise bibliography, and a two-page index for the Playbook and Series Rulebook combined. The back cover also presents the same Orders Summary featured on the Rulebook and Playbook, so there’s really no excuse for not finding a free copy during play.

The super-useful Examples of Play book.

The twenty-page Examples of Play is exactly what it says on the can. Rather than a run-through of the first two or three turns of a game (as enjoyable as these are), this book offers a series of game examples focussing on the basic functions of the game; Orders, Command & Activation, Movement, Op. Fire, Fire Arcs and Pivoting, Direct Fire, Rally, Advance, Melee, Barrage, and Assault. Except for Orders, Command & Activation, and Assault (one page each), each example gets a two-page spread, with illustrative, easy-to-read examples. This is an exemplar of how examples of play should be presented, and I can see myself going back to this book often.

Seven map sheets in total, all double sided. The numbering is not consecutive; Map 3
is the verso of Map 1, while map 2 (the first large-format map in the sequence) is
on the reverse of the PAC-inclusive map for Scenario 0 (top-right).

Fighting Formations comes with maps. Lots of maps – fourteen in all. However, there is one mistake on the box-back parts manifest (this is corrected in the manifest featured on the second page of the Playbook); it states that there are six 22” x 34” back printed map sheets included. This isn’t quite right. There are six maps on three 22” x 34” map sheets, and another eight maps on four 17’ by 22” map sheets. So, each scenario has its own map.

The Scenario 0 map, complete with all your tracking and reference needs. 

Except this is also a little misleading, in terms of map size. The introductory Scenario 0 is played on a map on a 22” x 34” sheet, except the play area is 17” by 22”, straddling the map sheet and bracketed by copies of the Players Aid Card (PAC) and the Terrain Effects Chart (TEC) on one side and the Track Display on the other. Lay that one out that under a sheet of plexiglass, punch out the necessary counters, and you’re ready to go.

Map 9, a good example of the 17" by 22" sized maps. Still plenty of room for
manoeuvre, and a challenge for both attacker and defender..

The hexes on all the maps are large, roughly 1 ⅓” across. This roominess lets you place the counters side by side in the hex, so you’re not rifling through stacks, much like in Mr Jensen’s other, more popular tactical game series, Combat Commander (GMT Games).

Scenario 2 - Purple Heart Hill's 22" by 34" map. Hedgerows anyone?

Fighting Formations possesses a family resemblance with Combat Commander in several aspects, including the art style of the counters and the approachable layout of the rules and charts, but it’s most evident in the maps. I may be in the minority here, but for my money, Combat Commander has the best design approach for WWII tactical maps, conveying varying terrains without creating clutter. The same is true for Fighting Formations; the scale has grown from 100’ to 225’ per hex, but the maps still retain that clean, unequivocal presentation of the situation on the ground. These will be a joy to play on.

Counter sheets 1 & 2 US units with a few Limies thrown in. 

Counter sheets 3 & 4. American and German units. The circular red markers are
draw-chits for the optional Event rule.  

The game comes with six counter sheets, each sheet being a mix of unit counters and administrative markers. The leg units are ⅝”, while the vehicles are double width (the larger hexed mean these just take up more real estate within the hex, rather than straddling two hexes like the bigger ship counters in Flying Colors (GMT Games, 2003).

Counter sheets 5 & 6.

Like the maps, the counters in Fighting Formations owe something to the Combat Commander counters  in terms of artwork and general style. the Leg units are a forgiving 5/8” and quite readable, with the aforementioned double-width counters for vehicles and towed guns. The counter mix also includes a variety of terrain markers, covering entrenchments and hardpoints (5/8” hexagonal), Mission/Tactical Command markers (5/8” circular), and a plethora of administrative and current-state counters (all ½” square). The counters are printed on brown-core cardstock of an ever-so-slightly lighter weight than some sheets I’ve seen from GMT lately; not drastically thin, but they should be eminently clip-able. I can’t fault any of the design choices for the counters; the troops and vehicles are presented in sensible shades of green and grey (eight attached British vehicles come in a traditional khaki), while the admin markers are shaded to stand out without being too jarring.

The Direct Fire PAC (above, with the Barrage tables and procedure on the reverse
 side), and The Terrain Effects table (with the Melee tables on the verso).

Now we get to the cardboard components. Fighting Formations comes with two Player Aid cards, one boldly marked Player Aid, and the other more discretely titled Terrain Chart.  The Player Aid offer a short explainer/reminder of the use and effects of Sighting Markers and the various types of Fortifications available, the procedure and die-roll modifiers (DRMs) for Direct Fire Attacks, and a list of Special Actions (available to Fresh units only). The verso offers the Barrage Procedure and Table, as well as the Accuracy Grid (a diagram for establishing which points on the map receive incoming artillery or Close Air Support fire).

The Terrain Chart does what it says on the can; it lists the various types of terrain units may encounter on the map, and articulates the effects those features will have on Leg, Tracked and Wheeled units in terms of movement cost or prohibition, what level of Cover they will offer, and their effects on Line of Sight, as well as any other pertinent information (in the Notes sections for each terrain type. This appears to be clearly presented and should head off a lot of potential confusion at the table. The obverse of the TEC presents the Melee combat Procedure and Tables (yes, plural – separate tables for German and US units engaging). In all cases – Direct Fire, Melee and Barrage – the Procedures set out on the cards are clear distillations the rules; they appear straight-forward and easy to comprehend and apply, though, to paraphrase a familiar quip, no instruction, however carefully prepared, survives contact with a green player. That said, I’m feeling more confident going into Fighting Formations than I might facing some games for the first time.

The very long Track Display: an elegant solution to the problem of multiple
tracking requirements.

The Track Display is one more thing echoing Combat Commander; an 8 ½” by 22” panel designed as a ready reference for all your game’s tracking needs, that will fit nicely next to the long edge of a half-sized map, or along the short edge of a full-sized map. This is the engine-room of the game. The Track Display records the progression of game turns on the Time Track, Command Radius for each side on the Command & Control Track, available orders on the Order Matrix, and which side holds the initiative at any given time via the pendulum Initiative Track.

The Order Matrix - keeping things interesting.

Each scenario sets out the initial placement of the Initiative Pawn (starting player), the Turn (limit) and Sudden Death markers, allocation of Order Cubes on the Order Matrix (though these will often be placed randomly), Command Radius Markers, and whether the Victory Point marker is required. Personally, I like a game that manages to pack as much in the way of charts and tables onto the map as possible, to avoid having to constantly switch focus between the tabletop and the PACs or off-board tracking. But since this is a series game with interchangeable maps, Mr Jensen has provided the next best thing, a single tracking locus designed to practically be a part of the play area (as he did with Combat Commander).

The German (left, with the Fate Card showing) and US Asset decks still in their
plastic wraps. I promise to show off some of the cards with the first AAR.

Fighting Formations is a Card Assisted game; each side has a deck of Asset Cards. These cards represent support a given side can call upon through the course of a game, such as artillery or mortar support, smoke screening, or anti-tank apparatus. The cards are numbered, and some cards are usually allocated by this designation to each side in the scenario instructions (these make up the players’ starting hands). These are activated during play by executing an Asset order. Further Asset Cards may be drawn from the deck through the course of the game by executing Support orders.

A Fate card is also included in the set. This is a shared resource; the scenario will dictate who starts the game with it. That player can pass it over their opponent to cancel a failed order and re-roll, and that player can use it at any time while in their possession. If the game ends in a tie, the Fate card serves as a tie-breaker, the holder winning the game.

Wooden Order Tokens and an Initiative pawn (bottom of the bag), five kinds of dice,
and enough baggies to keep everything tidy.

 
This was something I wasn’t expecting; Fighting Formations uses a veritable Noah’s ark of dice; the game includes d6s, d8s, d10s, d12s and d20s, all in pairs. The only one I’m sure of off the bat is the d20 for artillery dispersal, having noted the guide illustration on the Barrage Procedure PAC (that is a lovely random placement model that doesn't require multiple rolls). There always seems to be pressure on designers to keep things in their games like dice functions simple; just one or at most two types. I for one appreciate when the right tool is used for the right job, rather than shoehorning different probability-schemes into a 2d6 bell-curve. I’m looking forward to discovering the uses for all of these as I dive into the game.

The wooden components for use on the Track Display include ten cubes for marking out the orders available on the Order display (plus one spare cube), and a pawn for tracking the ever-shifting Initiative between the players (Turn marker and other tracking markers are included in the counter mix).

Fighting Formations also comes with a good number of baggies, for which I’m always grateful, although I’m not sure if they will be the best solution for storing the units and markers for this game. Looking at the six counter sheets, I think it might be a hopeful to think they’d fit into two GMT counter trays, and three may just make the lid sit up a shade. This might be the game that prompts me to try Cube4Me’s trays. They already have a storage solution marked out for Fighting Formations on their website, and they’re quite reasonably priced. If I go down this path, I’ll be sure to offer my thoughts in an After Action Report or the eventual game review.

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This has been a fairly superficial look at Fighting Formations: US 29^th Infantry Division.  There is still a lot to read and digest, counters to punch and clip (and house), and a couple of solo runs before I’m confident enough with the game to share it with others. I expect I’ll find more to talk about in an AAR or two. As I’ve already mentioned here, I’ve been looking forward to this game since it was first announced. Time has not been on my side of late, but this will be going to the top of the to-be-played stack.

 

* Responding to a Facebook post about reviewing the counters for this Fighting Formations release, I asked Kai Jensen about the likelihood of a FF: GMID reprint; she indicated that it wasn’t locked-in, but a possibility (maybe a probability – at this distance I can’t quite remember). So, fingers crossed.

** I’m playing catch-up with unboxings and AARs for a number of reasons. Lack of material is definitely not one of those reasons.

 

 

Stripped Down for Parts: Shakos two-fer, Part I – Rex Britannorum

  

 

French publisher Shakos came onto the wargaming scene eight years ago with Napoléon 1806 (Shakos 2017 – for what it’s worth, I’ve written several AARs and a review here on A Fast Game). The company has a reputation for publishing interesting games with novel mechanics, or with familiar mechanics with a different spin. Every title they produce is at least worth a look I haven’t hunted down every last title the company has produced; I’m still on the fence regarding Border States (Shakos, 2022), but I own all three of the Conquerors series released thus far (word on the street is Napoléon 1870 (FB link) should be going to crowdfunding later this year). Shakos sets a high benchmark for production quality and playability.

I stumbled over Shakos’ Gamefound campaign for Rex Britainnorum (Shakos, 2025) while looking for Carl Paradis’ Battle Commander, Vol. I (Sound of Drums, ~2025), which I anticipate seeing before the year is out. I wasn’t initially sold, but the more I read about it, the more intrigued I was. I’ll confess that a significant selling point for participating in the campaign was the chance to nab a copy of Breizh 1341 (Shakos, 2022), which has been out of print until now.

Rex Britannorum is a one- to three-player game of intrigue and one-upmanship between tribes under Roman rule in Britannia, designed by Stephane Brachet, who was also responsible for Border States, so I may have to have another look at that. I’m not going to get into the “Is it a wargame?” debate here; I’m merely going to present the rather lush components for your edification. Breizh 1341 will get its own unboxing post in a week or so.

The box cover illustration sets he scene; a Roman officer seems to be adjudicating over a land dispute between the tribal leaders of the Iceni, the Reganies, and the Brigantes, the three playable tribes represented in the game. This encapsulates the themes of Rex Britannorum quite well; the key to victory is area control, a theme we’ll come back to when we look at the map.

Personally, I don’t dislike the box art; I just feel like more could have been done with it. But the target audience for Rex Britannorum isn’t just cranky old grognards. It’s bright and striking, and should pop on game-store shelves, and I think it deserves a broad audience (and corresponding sales).

The box back offers a paragraph on the historical context of the game, and two more briefly describing the game play. One of the things that sold me on trying Rex Britannorum was that it can be played with two or three players, or solo. I didn’t want to add another game to my small collection of three player-only games. Another factor was the game running-time of 60-90 minutes, which makes it playable on a school night. 

The rulebook is printed on a nice weight, low-gloss paper and runs to 28 pages. Of those 28 pages, the first five are taken up by the cover, introduction and component roster, and the two-page set-up guide. The three-player rules run to fourteen pages, with the remaining pages covering the two-player and solo variations, historical notes, and a handy rules summary on the back cover. The rulebook is well illustrated throughout, and very easy to read and comprehend.

The game board, showing Britannia (England, South Wales, and Cornwall),
the extent of Roman rule. As always, apologies for the lighting. These photos
don't do the components justice.

Rex Britannorum comes with a with a 50cm x 50cm (roughly 20” square) mounted map-board representing Britannia (modern England, Wales and Cornwall), the overall region subdued by the Romans by around 40 AD. This area is divided into three playable areas; the North (red), Centre (blue), and South (Green), the colours corresponding to the three faction colours of the players. Each area is subsequently divided into regions with their own cities, and one is designated the fief (that player’s seat of rule). The cities (defined by castle shapes) are connected by roads (strings of circles linked by connecting lines) within their areas and across borders. Scoring in the game is measured by control of Regions, Cities, and Roads, control meaning numerical supremacy within an area (cities).

The board is really quite nice. Normally I’d balk at the big blocks of rich colours splashed across the map of England, stark wash-blue and winter-white background, but here it works.

The Scoring boards. The Location Control cubes do double duty keeping track of the
Stakes scoring. The Stakes progress for each player are determined at the end of each
turn, then marked up on the score track on the board. On the reverse side of the
score boards are the Bot instructions for each Non-Player Kingdom (NPK) for the
solo and two-player games. They operate in a similar manner, but
each one's priorities are a little different.

The rich, saturated colours carry over into the other components. There are three scoring boards, one for each player. These are colour-coded to the areas on the map. These are the same for all three players and facilitate the scoring process. On the reverse side of the boards are AI directives for playing solo or two-player against bot faction(s).

The Card Holders. The pockets open to the left to allow Troop cards with special powers
to show their graphic reminders unhindered. Both the Scoring Boards and the Card
Holders are produced from the same heavy board-stock as the Unit Tracking boards
in the Conquerors series games.

The Cards Holders are used for concealment and simultaneous revealing of the forces each player has committed for battle in a particular round. They each have three little pouches on the reverse side, each designed to hold a Force card and an Allocation card.

Faction marker: Oppidum markers (top row) for indicating City control; cubes for Road
location control and tracking success on your score card, and circular tokens for
tracking Players' progress on the three-pronged Score ladder on the board.

The playing pieces are all wooden stock. These are small marker cubes, city markers (shaped like turreted keeps) in red, green and blue – these are used to indicate faction control over individual locations – and plain wooden discs printed with the area colour and location details and the Roman occupiers (a gold Aquila on a black background) on the back.

Sample Location tokens. These are drawn at the beginning of each turn and placed
on their corresponding map locations. These locations will be winnable during that
turn. Any that are not won by any player will be flipped to their other side
(The Roman Eagle, top-left) and remain in possession of the Romans.
The yellow piece (top-right) is the Turn marker - the game plays out
over seven turns. Crown or palisade? I'm not sure.

In a given turn, seven of these are drawn out of the velvet bag (also included in the game), and placed on the board in the positions corresponding to the cities and road positions on the map. These are the locations that can be contested over and won over the course of the turn. If a location isn’t secured by any player, the marker is turned over and it that location falls under the control of the Romans.

The game comes with two decks of cards; one of them is very small (in dimensions and number), and I’ll come back to those. First, we’ll talk about the regular-sized cards.

Sample Troop cards, with the Roman Mercenary cards (bottom row). There are
fourteen cards in each faction deck and six Mercenary cards The latter
are are shuffled and placed face-up in a holding space on
the board at the beginning of the game.

Each faction has a deck of fourteen Troop cards, each deck bordered in the faction’s colour. These are the players’ currency for battling for control of the locations on the board. They run from 1 to 7 in value, but the four lowest-value cards each have their own special abilities, some of which are neutralised by an opponent playing the same card. There is also a six-card deck of black-bordered Mercenary (Roman) cards. I’ll get more into how these all work when I write up an AAR for the game. The cards are beautifully illustrated, and will help to immerse players in the game’s historical theme.

These mini-cards are tucked into the holding pouch along with a Troop card to
indicate the Area in which the Troop card has been allocated (the top half will
be visible and is both initial and colour-coded).

When the targets for the rounds are allocated, each player selects which area they want to fight in and which units they want to use from their hand to battle in that theatre. Each player will select two cards to place in their battle board from their hand of three cards or from their three-card Reserve on display in front of them and allocate each card for a theatre (North Central or South). That’s where the smaller deck comes in.

Sample Objective cards.

There are also three sets of Objective cards, one for each faction. The are comprised of two cards each for Areas, Cities, and Roads. At the beginning of the game, each player selects one of each of type as their supplementary goals for their game, discarding the other without revealing them to their opponents. These are a significant part of the game, contributing more nuance and some unknown factors, but the rules recommend leaving them out for the first game or two, until you’ve got the hang of the basics, or if you’re playing with younger players.

A very thoughtful storage model.

Now you need to understand that, because this is a Shakos game, all the non-flat components and the sets of cards all fit nicely into a moulded plastic insert which is itself a picture of efficiency. The Conquerors series boxes are the same, and this isn’t some thin transport-weight blister plastic to stop the contents from bruising each other during shipping, but a nice  frame that also appears to be recyclable (at least I think this is suggested by to the EU-mandated infographic in the bottom corner, but my high school French is a little rusty).

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So, that’s Rex Britannorum in a nutshell. Sometimes it’s impossible to show the contents without delving a little into how it all fits together. There are instructions for two-player and solitaire play, but I think this is one of those games that will shine brightest with two other participants. And unlike some three-player games, this one feels like there won’t be a lot of incentive for two payers to gang up on the third; it’s not a knock-out game, which is a big plus in our household.

State of Play: The Battle of Ascalon - 14 August 1099 (Commands and Colors: Medieval – Crusades Exp.)

  

 

All in all, not a good day for the Fatimid defenders.

Just a quick report this time. I was to get In the Shadows (GMT Games, 2025) to the table this week, but T has a conference in San Fransisco and asked if I could come to his for a quick game before he left. I gave him carte blanche to set up whatever he liked (I owed him that, since he’s bringing some stuff back from the States), so T chose Commands andColors: Medieval – Crusades expansion (GMT Games, 2024), a set that has seen a lot of milage this year.

T had nearly set up the Ascalon - 14 August, 1099 scenario, just putting out the last pieces for his Crusaders. Given the choice, T will always play the Crusaders in C&C Crusades, the French in Commands & Colors: Napoleonics (GMT Games, 2010), and the British in C&C Tricorne: the American Revolution (Compass Games, 2017).

At first glance, the Fatamids seem to have an advantage of numbers (twenty units on the board to the Crusaders fourteen), but as past experience has shown, the Crusaders can never be underestimated. Historically the Christians had the element of surprise and managed to roll up the Fatimids from their flank, pushing the infantry back into the still forming-up cavalry.

About five rounds in, and the ranks are thinning. Normally I'd have a photo of the
 initial set-up; I thought I did this time, but I didn't check at the time, and nothing
had been saved. A bit like my Fatimids.

Art imitated life for the first three or so rounds, as Godfrey (on T’s Left) came forward to engage my weak right flank, supported by Crossbows and conventional archers. I countered with some Light Cavalry under an unrecorded leader. It took some chipping away and lucky rolls, but over four or five rounds I was able to dispatch Godfrey and his Mounted Knights with those Light Cavalry, though it cost me two units. That was to be the Fatimids' high watermark.

Crusader casualties, mostly piecemeal, but Godfrey may be ransomed back,
so not a total loss.

T meanwhile had been dressing his ranks for a major push in the centre. When readied, his Heavy and Medium Infantry, supported by ever more Mounted Knights and brandishing consecutive Leadership cards, fell like an avalanche on my unsupported front line, quickly breaking its cohesion and forcing some to flee, others to fight and die.

Ascalon is another scenario that some may point to and cry “unbalanced”, but I could see ways to defang the Crusader onslaught. I was hampered by a bad opening hand; well, but really bad, but nothing that gave me an advantage out of the gate. If I’d had a Darken the Sky card, or anything that allowed me to Order Units Center, I may have been able to thin the Crusader ranks with my Auxilia Bow; I’ve had great success – and suffered playing the other side of the board – from Light and Auxilia Bow managing to whittle units down before they get a chance to engage in melee. But that's the beauty of the C&C system - it insists you make the best of what you have available (troops, orders), and sometimes you'll surprise yourself. Just not every time. 

End state. Camps defended, but at what cost? (Final score: 7-3 for a Crusader victory.)

As it was, my opening hand offered three Flank unit orders and a Counterattack, which may have been useful if T had done more than tinkering at the flanks himself in those first couple of rounds. I’m proud to say I didn’t lose any points to real estate grabs. The Crusaders would gain a Victory Banner for each Camp hex they managed to hold until the beginning of their next turn, but they didn’t need to. In a small act of defiance, the anonymous Fatimid Leader and the remnant of his Light Cavalry responsible for Godfrey’s ahistorical capture, survived to the end, albeit with a mere vestige (a single block) of his original unit. And the gates of Ascalon held firm.

 

 

Stripped Down for Parts: In the Shadows

 

 

When I first heard about In the Shadows: Resistance in France, 1943-1944 (GMT Games, 2025), I was intrigued. The Resistance operations throughout occupied Europe in the Second World War had a pivotal role in the planning and execution of the liberation efforts of the Allies, providing information on German troop movements and strengths, engaging in sabotage of crucial transport infrastructure leading up to Operation Overlord. It was dangerous work; for anyone who was arrested or captured by the occupying force or the Vichy security forces in the south, the best for which they could hope was a quick death by firing squad. More likely, they would be interrogated and  likely tortured for days or weeks before facing the same fate. It's a compelling chapter in the history of World War II, but how do you capture all of that in a game?

In the Shadows was born out of a challenge. The first ConSim Game Jam in 2020 challenged participants to come up with a new game using the components from an existing COIN game in a weekend. Dan Bullock, Chris Bennett, and Joe Schmidt took a copy of Falling Sky: the Gallic Revolt Against Caesar (GMT Games, 2016) and repurposed the map of Gaul to represent 1940s France, creating the bare bones of that we are looking at today.

The box art sets the tone for the game. The cover picture is a drawing, presumably rendered by the estimable Terry Leeds who is credited with the art and layout of the game. The picture is of two Resistance fighters hiding (literally) in the shadows, observing an oblivious German Gestapo officer smoking a cigarette (careful, those things will kill you). The box is two inches deep and sturdy in construction. 

Box back.

Turning over to the back of the box, we get a precis of the situation and a brief description of how the game plays out. There are pictures of the map-board, sample cards, markers and tokens, and a list of components. The game is recommended for ages fourteen and up (of course), is suitable for one or two players (with a parenthetical note that it includes a dedicated solitaire system, confirmed by the presence elsewhere of the GMT One logo), and that a session will play out in around 45 minutes. The Difficulty is rated at Three of a possible nine, with top marks going to the game’s Solitaire Suitability on the basis of the aforementioned solitaire system.

The two-player rules; clear and concise.

In the Shadows can be played as a two-player game or as a solitaire experience. In fact, it really should be thought of as two games in one, each with its own rulebook. The two-player rulebook runs to sixteen pages, but the actual rules eight of those, with the cover, Introduction and component spread taking up the first three, another four pages devoted to historical and designers’ notes, and the back cover presenting a table explaining the Resolution Card Icons (we’ll come bask to the cards later).

2P rules sample page. Both rulebooks have lots of helpful illustrations.

The eight pages of rules themselves include lots of helpful illustrations. Both rulebooks are printed on a familiar weight of matt-finish paper, but a pleasant buff colour (close to a manilla folder in shade) has been used here, in keeping with the overall forties visual ascetic of the project.

The Solitaire rulebook (like it says on the cover).

The solitaire rulebook also runs to sixteen pages, of which thirteen are rules, though if you take out the theme-building photographic illustrations, it’s probably closer to ten pages of rules and pictorial examples. In the solitaire game, you play the Resistance, and your opponent is the Occupation Bot. You’ll be undertaking the actions for the Occupation Bot; it’s a fairly transparent algorithm, but it’s portraying a fairly rigid, bureaucratic system of regimented control, so that seems to be a good fit. The event cards will dictate what the Bot does on its turn, and there’s a robust table to decide its preferences (helpfully printed on the back page of the rules). At time of writing, I haven’t played either the solo or two player versions of the game, but they look to be similar experiences but not quite the same; separate paths to the same destination.

The map-board. It incorporates all the tracks and such. Both practical
and visually engaging.

The mounted board offers a playing area – a map of France – as well as various tracks for tracking rounds, Occupation Authority and Resources, and Resistance Operations.  The Map of France is divided into three areas, called “Districts”; Northern and Western occupied Fance, and Vichy France (the region of nominal self-government). Each region is itself subdivided into four “Zones”, each designated with an identifying reference number. The board, like everything else in the box, evokes the period. The map uses the muted colour-palette and fading effects popular in Western Continental propaganda poster art of the era. In the Shadows is by no means a space hog; the board is only 11” by 17”, and maybe another six inches on all sides will provide plenty of space for setting up the game for either a solo or two-player game.  

Two PACs: no waiting.

The game comes with two duplicate Player Aid Cards, printed on a good weight card in a low sheen. One side assists the Resistance player, the other the Occupation player. The cards are well laid out and quite readable, offering everything the players will need to reference for the two-player game, or as the Resistance in the solitaire game.

In the Shadows comes with two wrapped decks of cards, 82 cars in all. Forty-eight cards make up the two sets for the two-player game, while the remaining 34 make up the three sets for the solitaire game. I don’t normally d this in an unboxing, but I think it’s worth looking at the types of cards used in the games as these go a long way to demonstrating how the two games work.

Event cards. Red title banners denote Resistance events,
grey banners, Occupation events.

The Event cards are the heart of the two-player game. These introduce both some randomness and provide the economy for player actions. It’s a functionally elegant system.

At the start of the game, the players draw two Event cards. Each player will play one card face down, and both reveal simultaneously. These are played consecutively for their events (if the event favours the opposing player, they play out the event) and their Action points. The player holding the higher Action point-value card has the initiative; with ties, the Resistance player decides who goes first.

Resolution cards - providing somewhat random results for your committed actions.
Combat was a newsletter distributed by the French Resistance during the
Occupation; Le Petite Parisien was a Paris newspaper co--opted by
the Germans and used as a propaganda vehicle.

When push comes to shove, the action is resolved by drawing from the Resolution deck. There are five actions – three Resistance and two Occupation – that, when committed, will be resolved by a Resolution card draw. No dice, which won’t sit well with some gamers, but there you have it.

Persona cards.

As I mentioned earlier, the solitaire game is practically a separate game, played on the same board, tokens and markers, but it comes with its own cards and works differently enough, I think, to warrant consideration as a separate game.

First, the player chooses a Persona card. There are four from which to choose, each representing a major faction among the French resistance movement during the occupation, and each offers a different kind of benefit in gameplay, but also a unique secondary victory condition. This adds to the replayability of the solo game right out of the box.

Solitaire Event cards. 

As mentioned earlier solitaire game is played against the Occupation Bot. A separate Solitaire Event Deck is included in the game to accommodate the Occupation Bot. As in the two-player game, the Resistance player draws up to a two-card and plays one, while the Occupation Bot plays the next card off the deck. The same initiative rules apply, and the Occupation Bot’s decision hierarchy is helpfully reproduced on the back cover of the solitaire rules.

Location cards. More going on here than I have yet ascertained. 

A deck of Location cards matches the twelve zones into which the France map is divided. This deck is used to decide the location of some actions undertaken by the Occupation bot.

Markers and wooden pieces. Quite a few wooden pieces.

A roughly 7” by 5” punchboard brings the 24 markers used in the game. These are pre-rounded easy-punch counters (some more pre-rounded than others). These are used to track the progress or otherwise on the gameboard’s status tracks and rondel and mark the alertness of the Occupation forces in particular regions.

Inside the box. The game comes with more baggies than this;
these are just the ones I hadn't got to using yet.

Finally, In the Shadows comes with a box insert of uncommonly practical design. These are specifically designed for shipping purposes, to stop the flat bits (map sheets, counter sheets, rules, player aids – you get the idea) from getting bent or the corners banged up in transit. Often these get ditched to accommodate counter trays and such. In the case of In the Shadows, the insert is the perfect size to keep the board, rulebooks and PACs flat in the box, while perfectly accommodating the cards, markers and wooden tokens without hiding some under one or both of the box-ends. I know opinions are divided on this topic, but for what it’s worth, I’ll be keeping mine intact.

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In the Shadows promises to be a brief but compelling experience. I’m not going to engage with the inevitable “But is it a wargame?” discussions. Not here, at any rate. I will reiterate that it should provide both an interesting diversion that doesn’t outstay its welcome, which is our raison d'être here at Un jeu rapide. I should have an AAR of one or the other mode of play inside of a fortnight. Be sure to check in again.