Stripped Down for Parts: Warsaw 1920

 

 

Regular readers will probably know by now that I live in an apartment with a wife and a cat, and very limited space for collection growth. So, it’s understandable that in the last couple of years I’ve become much more open to the idea of games without boxes. I feel like an idiot for not leaning into these kinds of games before; they often have a smaller table presence (though, as we’ll see, not in every case), lower counter densities, and play out in a shorter time than something that comes in a box on the same subject might.

It's in the bag. Um. I'll see myself out....

To wit, let’s look at Warsaw 1920 (Revolution Games, 2022). Originally published in 2020 by BonSai Games, and subsequently re-published for the Chinese market by Banner of war and Kilovolt Designs, Warsaw 1920 was designed by BonSai’s publisher, Yasushi Nakaguro, who also produced the map and counter art. The Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921 isn’t a particularly well-known conflict. There are a handful of games on the subject (the best known in the English-speaking world is probably Red Star/White Eagle (GDW, 1979), which was reprinted more recently in a Designer Signature Edition (Compass Games, 2019). The war is a crucial piece of European history for one significant reason, as indicated in Warsaw 1920’s sub-title, “Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe.” Poland was only ever meant to be the first stage of a greater expansion of Soviet influence. That the Soviet Army was thwarted in this ambition by the Polish Army, then the protectors of a country that had only become an independent nation once more after a declaration by the Central Powers, on whose side the Polish Legions had fought against their hereto oppressors, the Tsarist Russians, in November 1916. The fact that the Communist Red Army was kept at bay by the Poles may have informed Hitler’s reasoning in choosing to invade Russia in ’41.

Cover sheet. Spoiler alert: there's a sneaky PAC on the hiding out back.

Warsaw 1920 consists of a cover sheet that doubles as a Player’s Aid Card, a rulebook, one full-sized sheet of counters, and a full-sized map. It’s not exactly a tiny game, but the counter density is still fairly low, and so is the rules overhead.

The game’s cover sheet offers a portrait of Józef Piłsudski, who lead the Polish Legions in the Great War, and subsequently became the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the newly-established Regency Kingdom of Poland – which would soon become the Second Republic of Poland – leading the country’s military forces through no less than six wars between 1919 and 1922.

The game focuses on the Battle of Warsaw, covering the time leading up to the battle to its historical conclusion (in game terms, from July through August). The Polish forces were on the ropes until Piłsudski planned and executed a tactical retreat to defensible positions west of the Vistula River, and organised a flanking strike that took the Soviet forces off guard. Each turn represents a week, and the hexes are roughly 30km across.

Rulebook. Not as shiny as the cover sheet.

The full-colour rulebook is printed on a nice weight (around 90gsm) matte-finish paper and runs to twelve pages. Of those, the actual rules only take up about eight and a half pages, along with the cover page (a match for the image on the cover sheet – it doesn’t even mention “rulebook” on the front), an image of each side of the counter sheet, and a quick-setup  Order of Battle on the back cover, grouping the unit counters into their respective armies (for the Poles) or Fronts (for the Soviets).

Sample rules-spread. Well illustrated and easy to read.

The rules themselves are very well laid out in a crisp sans-serif font with which aficionados of Revolution games will be familiar. The section headings are highlighted, and the while rules-set is well illustrated. The print is a tad on the small side, but for just nine pages of reading, that can be forgiven. The rules are helpfully illustrated and, if you have any hex-and-counter wargame experience, quite clear and understandable. That’s a good start for any game.

The CRT.  Just one, but most of it is on the map anyway.

There is a Player’s Aid Card printed on the verso of the Cover sheet. It’s printed on a light card but still sturdy enough for the job. The PAC offers a magnified Combat Results Table and Terrain Effects Chart, and a list explaining the abbreviations used in the CRT.

Warsaw 1920 is built on a pleasantly uncomplicated system. That won’t translate to a simple game. I can see myself having to take the Soviets in any teaching games, although it won’t be a simple task for the understrength Poles either.

The map. Nicer than I could capture with my inadequate lighting.

The game’s 22” by 34“ map covers an area reaching from Kraków in the west to Smolensk in the east and represents a goodly portion of 1920s Poland, a slice of Soviet Russia and an intrusion of southern East Prussia and Lithuania in the north-west. The art is simple and elegant – not at all cluttered – and will be nice to play on. It’s designed for two players to play facing the two short ends (the natural east/west positions of the antagonists). To this end, nearly all the charts and tracks for the game, already helpfully printed on the map-sheet, are oriented to the appropriate end. Only the Terrain Effects Chart and the Turn Track are oriented to the southern map-edge, to facilitate easier – or at least equally difficult – reading for both players. Each end has its own Combat Results Table, and the Polish end hosts the Victory Point Track, while the Russian end presents two Supply tracks, a longer one for the larger West Front units and a shorter one for the smaller South-West Front formation.

The counter-sheet. Also much nicer than it appears here.

The counters are nicely presented in a 5/8” die-cut, 176 in all, though not all are printed. The unit counters are clear and readable, and there are only about 90 of the across the two forces. Other counters serve various administrative roles, including Control markers, Supply source and Supply Status markers, and tokens for indicating isolated units.

The combat unit counters are simple and attractive, and easy enough to read. NATO unit type symbology is central to the counter, with the unit size above. The two sides are easily identifiable; red on white for the Poles, white on red for the Soviets. The units only have two factors to deal with Combat Strength and Movement. These are the large numbers below the centre symbol. The values on the left and right indicate the formation and unit number respectively.

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Warsaw 1920 has the makings of a neat little game playable in an evening. It fits the ethos of A Fast Game perfectly, and I think it will be a great and returned-to addition to the collection. As mentioned, this isn’t a mechanically complex game, but it reflects combat from a simpler time, and the simpler approach allows the player to concentrate on what should play out to be a tactically and logistically complex situation.

 

Stripped Down for Parts: Pacific day, Part 2 – Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945

 

Welcome to part 2 of the Pacific Day unboxings. For those just tuning in, about a fortnight ago I received three Pacific theatre games split over two deliveries in a single day (I knew the second parcel was on its way, but it wasn’t due ‘til the following week). In Part 1, I looked at Last Battle: Ie Shima, 1945 (Take Aim Designs/Revolution Games, 2015), a game by Mike Rinella. Here we’ll have a look at Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945 (Take Aim Designs/Revolution Games, 2020), another game in what some refer to as Mr Rinella’s Area Impulse series.

As I’ve said, these are new to me. I’ve played area movement games before, such as Brief Border Wars (Compass Games, 2020) and Par le feu, le fer et la foi (Hexasim, 2014). Some don’t like this style of regimentation of movement, but I think it makes perfect sense for a situation like the ones presented in the aforementioned games. If you can articulate a good reason why I’m wrong in thinking this, please leave it in the comments. And before you ask, I’m quite fond of some point-to-point movement games as well. But that’s a discussion for another time.

The cover illustration of Return to the Rock shows paratroopers from
the 503rd PRCT (Parachute Regiment Combat Team) descending
onto Corregidor.

Return to the Rock is a two-player game covering the Battle for the Recapture of Corregidor, the largest of several islands in the mouth of Manilla Bay that were fortified by the US military after the Philippines became a possession of the United States in the aftermath of the Spanish American War.

Corregidor is the largest of a string of islands dotting the mouth of Manilla Bay in the Philippines, which were all fortified by the American government in the early twentieth century when the United States took possession of the Philippines after the Spanish American War (1898). The base at Corregidor was used as General Dougles MacArthur’s advance headquarters during the early months of 1942, after the US was drawn into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, until the location became untenable. Japan swept through the Philippines quickly, and Corregidor was eventually the last part of the After a prolonged siege, the remaining US forces surrendered to Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) on May 6, 1942.

In mid-February, 1945, after three weeks of continuous naval shelling and dozens of bombing and strafing missions from the air, soldiers of the US Army landed amphibiously and by para-drop on the island, then fought a protracted battle with an intrenched cadre of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers. The island was finally declared secured on February 26, after eleven days of intense fighting.

Like other games in the series, the cover sheet (maybe it should be called a cover card) acts as a Player Aid Card, and offers a key to the unit types, how to read the unit counters, and a brief explanation of the functions of the other counters included in the game. Lastly, it identifies the markers used only when the optional rules are in play. While I usually play a new game for the first time using just the basic rules to get the feel of the system, I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to include all the options in a game like this.

Like Last Battle, Return to the Rock uses a US Army ordinance map from the period as a the basis of the play area, then superimposing the area boundaries, terrain details and modifiers. And again, like the earlier game, the charts and holding boxes you’ll need for play are all on the map sheet as well. I really appreciate it when s play area can accommodate the other parts you need to make the game work, and Pacific island-battle games seem to excel in this (Tarawa, 1943 (Worthington Publishing, 2021) and Mike Nagel’s War in the Wind: the Battle of Attu Island, 1943 (Compass Games. 2016) spring to mind).

An unusual configuration, but whatever works, right? I'm sure
the publishers have their reasons

The game comes with two frames of 5/8” counters 102 in all (with two blanks). These are printed on the now familiar brown-core cardstock. The units are identified with NATO symbology and the same large, readable numbers as its compatriot for the movement and combat factors. From my experience with Last Battle, I can tell you the counters com away from the sprue more easily than I’d anticipated and clip up very nicely.

The rule book. The cover looks like a photocopy, but inside it looks fine
and reads well, printed on nice  (maybe 90gsm) matt-finish paper.

The rule book runs to sixteen pages, but two of those are taken up with the front cover an advertisement on the back page promoting other games in the series (including Last Battle). The rules proper run to nine-and -a-half pages, with the remaining space given over to the Optional Rules (about one page), an example of play (a nice addition), and a combination index and glossary, which is something every wargame should do.

Sample page. The whole thing is in black and white, but
the illustrations still come up very well.

I’m sorry to keep harking back to Last Battle, but if you’ve played that (or one of Mr Rinella’s other Area-Impulse games, you shouldn’t have any trouble picking this up. These aren’t duplicate games by any means, but they share enough DNA to give them a sibling resemblance. You’ll still have to read the rules through because there are particulars about this game that capture the historical idiosyncrasies of the battle at hand.

I’ve kept this brief because I already felt like I was repeating myself after a more thorough consideration of Last Battle. I’ve pushed some counters around on Last Battle, but haven’t played out a full game yet, but I can already tell Return to the Rock is going to offer a very different set of challenges. I’m looking froward to trying out both of these games against a human opponent.

One more Pacific Day unboxing to go, and that one is going to be a doozy; the revised edition of Mark Herman’s Victory Games classic, Pacific War: The Struggle Against Japan, 1941-1945 (GMT Games, 2022). I’m sure I’ll have more to say about that one. Stay tuned.

I couldn't fit this in earlier, but I wanted to include some detail of the map
(a Charlie Kibler design). It's just a joy; a balance of aesthetic and function.

Stripped Down for Parts: Pacific Day, Part 1 - Last Battle: Ie Shima, 1945

 

Last Friday was Pacific Day in the Fast Game household. I had three Pacific Campaign-related games all arrived in two separate deliveries. The morning delivery was comprised of two Mike Rinella games, Last Battle: Ie Shima, 1945 (Take Aim Designs/Revolution Games, 2015) and Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945 (Take Aim Designs/Revolution Games, 2020), and that afternoon, a second edition copy of Mark Herman’s magnum opus, Pacific War: the Struggle Against Japan, 1941-1945 (GMT Games, 2022) arrived, weighty and imposing. Since these, while second-hand, are all kinds of new to me, I’m going to unpack them here one by one. First up, we’ll look at Last Battle.

The two Mike Rinella games mark a couple of firsts for me; I’m embarrassed to say these are my first Revolution titles. Revolution make some sensational-looking and highly regarded games that just don’t seem to get distributed in Australia. They’re also my first Mike Rinella games. Mr Rinella has a reputation for producing a series of smaller footprint, relatively fast-playing areas movement games that offer a good narrative flow, which definitely fall in the wheelhouse of this blog.

Last Battle presents Operation Indispensable, the battle between the American 77^th Infantry Division and forces of the imperial Japanese Army defending Ie Shima. This operation was itself intended to secure the island ahead of US troops landing on nearby Okinawa.

In case I hadn’t spelt it out, this and Return to the Rock bagged games, as opposed to boxed games. The game comes in a bag (I bought these two second-hand and came in a clear plastic press-clip envelope). The cover sheet is equivalent to a box cover, conveying a sense of the scope and seriousness of the game to the prospective buyer and noting the designer and publisher details, but in these cases, but not much else. They don’t include a back cover, where all the play details, like number of players and play length would usually be found.

I’ve come around to the non-boxed games relatively recently. I have a couple of games that came to me box-less, mostly magazine games, but I’ve only recently started to delve into what bagged games have to offer (besides cheaper shipping). Now I’ve repurposed all those empty Commands and Colors boxes to hold my boxless games.

The reverse side of the cover sheet, full of gaming goodness.

Not to waste in opportunity, the reverse of the cover panel has a breakdown of the game components, including a guide to reading the unit counters, and some details on particular counters peculiar to the game; Last Battle can be played in a “basic” or “advanced” mode, with the advanced rules introducing new elements like sea and air-born bombardment for the Americans and kamikaze attacks for the Japanese side. This is clever, I think. It removes the need to print the rules booklet in colour to incorporate these details (thus keeping the production costs down). Some games might use the space to create a Player’s Aid Card, but as we’ll see, Last Battle doesn’t need that.

The map is 17" by 22", on a nice matte finish paper-stock. 

The map is really evocative, using ordinance maps from the period as a background with an overlay of the area boundaries and details relevant to play. The play area around 60% of the total map area, the rest of the space given over to holding boxes for to-be-deployed units, tracks for recording Impulses expended and Victory Points gained and two helpful Sequence of Play tables, each facing a player's side of the map. I really love this design; with a quick-playing game, I’m always grateful when you don’t have to go off-board to a PAC or (gasp) the rules booklet for a reminder of the next step in a round.

It should come as no surprise that the map art is the work of Charlie Kibler.

The game comes with a sheet of 5/8” counters, 88 in all, on a good weight of brown-core cardstock. The units are easily identifiable, using NATO symbology and nice, big numbers for the movement and combat factors. The counter rows feel like they might benefit from a little attention with a craft knife taking them off the frame, but I wouldn’t otherwise anticipate any issues with these.

Last Battle counter sheet, Ernie Pyle in the bottom row, middle.

The rules come to just 12 pages, with a detailed table of contents on the front cover and a glossary/index on the last page.* Of the remaining ten pages, just over eight cover the rules necessary to enjoy the game, with the remainder given over to the Advanced Game (about a page), a couple of optional rules, the game credits and some suggested reading, which is always welcome.

I’m only a little way into the rules so far, but I feel comfortable saying they appear clear and straight forward. I won’t go into the details here (as I’ll probably screw something up and have to print a retraction), but it seems to me any difficulty in the game will come from the tough choices both players will have to make during play and not from any rules-vagaries or misunderstandings. Two thumbs up.

Finishing off the package is a brochure from the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum. Ernest Pyle was a naval reservist and Managing Editor of the Washington Daily News, who became a correspondent when the war broke out, reporting on the Battle of Britain from London, then after Pearl Harbor, reporting from North Africa, Italy and the Normandy landings. Pyle was also a driving force in getting a bill through Congress to award extra wages for soldiers at the front (combat pay). In 1945, Pyle began reporting from the Pacific theatre, never far from the heat of battle. On the 18^th of April, 1945 Pyle reporting from the front on Ie Shima when he was shot by a Japanese soldier and died from his injuries. A small museum dedicated to America’s experience of the Second World War in his home town in Indiana now bears Ernie Pyle’s name. Pyle is also commemorated in Last Battle, with a special counter (optional rule) bearing his name.

Once I'm across the rules, I'm going to try Last Battle out, most likely as double-handing it. A few people on BGG have stated it plays well solo. The next instalment of the Pacific Day unboxings will be Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945, then Pacific War. Stay tuned.

* Actually, Section 24.0 Index and Glossary starts in the last couple of column inches of page 11, just to be clear.