Review: Breizh 1341

 

 

2022 Charles S. Roberts Best Medieval Wargame Nominee

 

Laurent Gary's Breizh 1341 (Shakos, 2022) is a small, fast-playing game about the War of Breton Succession, itself a relatively short and geographically constrained campaign woven into the broader tapestry of the Hundred Years’ War. The game is deceptively simple mechanically, but it rewards good planning and execution. Breizh 1341 is as tactically challenging as it is visually engrossing. But I’m getting ahead of myself; let’s just dive straight in.

 

Appearance

Shakos understands the importance of presentation. This shines though in the elegant consistency of the Conquerors series games, and that same consideration is here in spades. Breizh 1341 is a small box game – 9” by 7”, 2” deep – with a landscape aspect and an illustration of a siege in progress on the cover (I posted an unboxing of the game already, so check that out if you’re interested). It’s not what I’d call travel-size (at the size of a trade paperback, Nuts! Publishing’s Combat Rations games better fits that bill), but it wouldn’t take up a lot of room in an overnight bag. The box is solid, the lid fits snuggly, and the moulded plastic storage tray accommodates the components and (un-sleaved) cards very well.

Set up at start of game. The French begin in control of Trégor (Castle Guingamp and
a Partisan present), and with a head-start (another Partisan) on gaining control of
Saint-Brieuc. The English control Nantes (Castle Guérande and a Partisan) and
two troops in place to besiege another Castle. The game also comes with a
deck of eight Area cards for a variant rule allowing random
starting areas for each side. 

The board is small (about 17” by 12”, and mounted), and represents the Breton peninsula, divided into eight areas, each with a varying number of castles. Each castle has a rating of 1, 2 or 3. This represents the defence value of the castle during a besieging action. Control of castles in a given area is part of the equation for establishing who controls that area.

The board also includes a turn track (with handy mnemonics reminding the players of the cards played in each turn), and card places marked along the long edges (also proving reminders of varying cards played during turns. The map is thematically reminiscent of maps from the time without slavishly trying to replicate their appearance – function in this case triumphs over form. All in all, it’s attractive and usable, and works as a focus for the outcomes of the game.

The game uses a combination of counters and wooden pieces. The counters are mostly administrative – the majority are control markers for castles or areas – while the wooden piece represent the “human resources” at play. Cubes represent soldiers, while cylinders represent Partisans, the administrative infrastructure that ceases and maintains control of an area for one or the other player. To claim control of an area, a player must both hold a castle and have a Partisan present. If both players meet the requirements, then whoever has the highest number of castles and Partisans combined claims control.

Sample cards: an English Event card (right) and a Special Event Card. Event cards may
be played for the Event (if matching the playing faction), or for an Order at the bottom
of the card (while most cards offer all four options, some only display three orders).
The Special Event cards must be played in the round they are drawn; the Special
Event is executed first, and will affect both sides, then the phasing player can
play one of the listed Orders.

There are enough control counters for the areas and for each level of castle, and no more. These are each printed on both sides, with a blue border on the front and a red border on the verso, to indicate French or English control. There are other tokens as well; a Turn marker, three Highwaymen markers representing roving bands of unemployed mercenaries making their way in an area (and n turn making it ungovernable by either side), and a single chit marked with a +2 on both sides – this is a reminder token related to a single card event which may or may not come up in the game, but it’s nice to see such attention to detail.

Where the game really shines, though, is in its cards. There are several types of cards. The Event Deck is made up three parts, each consecutive part being added to the remainder of the deck at separate stages of play. The cards can be played for in exchange for an Action or, depending on the card, for its Event’ each card is bordered in royal blue or vermillion, indicating which player can use a given card for its Event. The event will have a game effect, accompanied by a brief description of the historical event portrayed (and a unique illustration drawn from historical sources) These events are mostly of acute significance to the War of Breton Succession, and they make up the bulk of the players’ hands in each round. There is a deck of ten Special Event cards. From the second turn on, each player draws a Special Event card that must be played as one of their cards in that turn. This guarantees each of the events will occur through the course of the game. These events are more pan-European in nature; events from the Hundred Years’ War influencing the local conflict, or natural incursions on the affairs of Man, like the Black Death. These events will affect both players, usually adversely, but the player playing the card gets a consolation prize of performing an action from those listed at the bottom of the card after the Event has been executed.

French (left) and English Personality cards. These are retained until used, and offer 

assistance in the execution of some orders.

Finally, there are two decks of eight Personality cards. Each turn, along with their due event cards and, after the first turn, a Special Event card, the players draw a Personality card from their side’s deck. The Personality cards fill a different role in the game; these are played for an advantage in a given situation, like offering a +1 to a battle die-roll, or placing a free Partisan unit somewhere on the board. There are two more Personality cards in each side’s deck than will be drawn in a game, so you can never count on a particular card appearing in a game.

All in all, the game is a joy to look at; in fact, I’d take a little time when you first get it to go through the cards and just soak up some of the history sewn into them, so it’s not so distracting when you play your first game. Nicolas Triel was the artistic director for Breizh 1341 (wrangling contributions from a few dozen fourteenth century painters, sculptors, and stonemasons). The finished product presents all the hard work he put into its creation – Breizh is both exceptionally beautiful and eminently playable.

The white cards represent non-playable events, events
that occurred during the War of Breton Succession but
had little or no influence on the outcome of the war.
These may still be played for their available Orders.

Play

Breizh 1341 plays out over six turns. At the end of the sixth turn, whichever player controls the majority of areas is the winner; if the players each hold an equal number of areas, the game ends in a draw (unsatisfying for some, but there you have it).*

For the first turn the entirety of the First Epoch deck (fourteen cards) is dealt out, and the players each draw a Personality card. The English player starts, and the players take turns playing cards from their rather large hands. At the play of the last card, the remaining cards in the players’ hands are gathered, barring any unused Personality cards. These, and the Second epoch deck (twenty-two cards) are shuffled together to make up the deck for turns two through five. Each turn, unused event cards are returned to the deck, which is then reshuffled. From turn two, each player receives one Event card, plus another Event card for each area they control – as mentioned previously, control is established by both controlling at least one castle and having at least one Partisan in the area – plus one Special Event card (which MUST be played for its event in the turn it is drawn), and another Personality card from their side’s deck. In the sixth and final turn, the six Third epoch cards are added to the deck, which is shuffled and dealt out in its entirety between the players.

Near the end of Turn 2, England has secured Castles in Vannes, Saint-Malo & Dol and
Rennes, but have only gained control of Rennes (by rallying a Partisan there). The
French player is about to play a white "non-event" card for a Besiege order. Unlike
the other orders, that only allow their action to take place once in one area, any
number of sieges may be attempted with a besiege order, so long as the
required numbers of troops are available for each siege attempt. Once a
siege has been attempted, the troops involved are removed
regardless of success, then the next is attempted.

With the play of a card, the phasing player may enact the event on the card, if factionally appropriate, or choose one of the actions on the base of the card. The choice of actions is usually to Recruit (place up to three troops in an area or areas on the board, though some multiple card events will allow recruiting four or more plus a die-roll value in troops in a single action), Rally (place a Partisan in an area), Besiege (use your troops in an area to besiege a castle in that area), or Fight (roll the three-sided dice and take a number of your opponent’s troops off the board equal to the result rolled), though some events will limit the available actions.

Having troops on the board allows you to perform a Besiege action. A single besiege action will allow you to attempt to take as many castles as you have troops to use in a siege. The castle rating – 1, 2, or 3 – represents that location’s ability to resist a siege.  At least one troop block is required to perform a siege. The target number for a successful siege is the Castle’s strength plus 2 (representing overwhelming force, and resolution of the siege involves the phasing player to roll the die and add the total number of besieging forces to the result. If a player besieges a 1 strength Castle with a single troop cube, they will need to roll a 2 or a 3 on the die to be successful. If successful, a marker of the player’s colour is places over the castle, and the phasing player moves on to the next siege until all are resolved, Troop pieces are removed form the board as sieges are resolved whether or not the siege was successful. A turn represents roughly a campaigning year; at the end of each turn, any troops remaining on the board are removed.

If there are ever more than five troop blocks in a single area with representation of both sides, a battle ensues. This happens immediately and will occur independently of any other unresolved actions. Each side counts the number of their troops in the area and adds the result of a dice roll (a Personality card may be used to raise their total as well, if available), and the player with the higher overall result is the winner. The difference in the two resulting numbers is established; if the differential is two or lower, each side loses one troop; if the difference is three or higher, the defeated side loses half their force (rounding up), while the victorious faction loses half the defeated side’s losses, rounding up. At the resolution of the Battle, if the total number of troops from both sides remains above five, the players battle again, and again until the total is sufficiently low. Battles are a costly but sometimes useful tactic to frustrate the opponent’s plans in an area.

This game ended in a draw. At the end of the game, France held control of Léon, Trégor,
and Saint-Brieuc; England held Nantes, Rennes, and Cornouaille. After changing hands
several times through the course of the game, Vannes was brought to a stalemate, and
the presence of Highwaymen in Saint-Malo & Dol would have made that area a draw
had it not already been a stalemate, with France and England each having three
assets there (Castles and Partisans). 

The events described on the Event cards are, in the main, playable by one side only (there are about four Event cards that have a shared red/blue border, allowing use by either player). The English player may play a French Event card, or vice versa, but only for an action listed at the bottom of the card. While not an optimal play, using an opposition card for an action can remove a particularly good card from play, if no better alternatives present themselves.

Personality cards may remain in a player’s possession until played. There is no benefit to retaining them until the end of the game, so it is best to use them as an opportunity arises, or to retain them for an edge in an upcoming play. With consecutive games you begin to get a feel for when their use will be appropriate.

Play is constrained, particularly in the middle in the game, by the number of cards each player can play. In the first and last (sixth) turns each player plays five cards, but only three cards in each of the four middle turns. Hand size is constrained to one card plus one for each area controlled, plus a Special Event card, but unless you’ve already lost the game, you’ll always have enough cards to fill the slots. In the middle turns, each player’s options are further constrained by those Special Events, some of which can play havoc with the intentions of both sides in one fell swoop. These constraints force the players to think of each turn as a campaign. Everything you want to achieve has to be done in the three acts of a turns card-play; you can’t set things up for the next year, because over the non-campaign season, everyone goes home and holes up for winter; the next turn is a completely new campaign.

The way unplayed cards are recycled is interesting and adds intrigue to the card-play. With each turn, the unplayed cards from the previous turn go back into the mix. This makes for a whole extra set of tough decision-points, gambling on a potentially helpful card returning to your hand in the future or letting that opposition “Recruit Six + Die Roll” event fall into your opponent’s hand instead of removing it from the game as a Rally action. Also, in your first game (maybe your second) it’s easy develop a tunnel vision and get caught up securing real estate – Castles – to shore up the areas you hold at the expense of expending to taking new territories. Its better to get a foothold in multiple areas early on than to turtle on what you have – your opponent will run roughshod.

Breizh 1341 offers an intense gaming experience in a relatively short time. It’s a little like Twilight Struggle (GMT Games, 2005) in that, having gained some familiarity with the deck, you know that certain events are likely to come up, and if they’re not in your hand they’re likely in your opponents. And like Twilight Struggle, it’s definitely a game for two players. One could conceivably play both sides, but it would lose much of its magic with foreknowledge of the cards both sides could or must play; better to find an opponent and introduce them to the game’s particular pleasures.

 

Appraisal

More than many games cast during the turmoil of the Hundred Years’ War, Breizh 1341 is a game of operational combat in the service of personal ambition and broader international politics. It’s a microcosm of many of the themes that mark the broader European conflict of the period. There is a genius in Breizh’s simplicity. This also makes it a perfect introductory game for non-wargamers. With blocks and pard-play it feels like an aggressive Eurogame, but for my money this ticks enough wargame boxes to qualify.

Looking back over the previous section, my description of Breizh’s game-play reads rather dryly, but you have to keep in mind how quickly – analysis paralysis notwithstanding – the game plays out. The mechanics are relatively simple and, some may argue, repetitive – each turn you are essentially trying to gain territory aand hold on to previous gains – but the card-helps create an unfolding narrative of the see-sawing fortunes of the stalwart French and their interloping English cousins. It really is a rich play experience, far richer than my fairly stilted description suggests.

A big plus for Breizh is the speed of play. Our first game took about an hour and a half, but as I explained in the playthrough write-up, we were learning it on the fly. Subsequent games have clocked in at an hour pretty much on the mark. After about a half-dozen games, it still offers a challenge and doesn’t feel repetitive. This may change after twenty or more games, but I think games like Breizh are designed to fill the same gap as Paulo Mori’s Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes (PSC Games, 2019) or GMT’s Lunchtime Game series. As a filler-game after a long afternoon session, or an evening’s respite from worldly cares, Breizh 1341 meets my requirements; brief, drenched in history, and offering a gripping, satisfyingly rich experience.

 

* After beating my brother-in-law quite convincingly in our first two games, our third came to a draw (three areas each), which T found hard to reconcile as he held half again as many castles as me. I don’t think he truly accepted the result.