State of Play: Dawn’s Early Light: The War of 1812 (The War Room Ten Game Challenge #4)

 

 

The situation at the end of turn 1 (I forgot to get a shot of the initial set up).

 

At last, the drought has broken, both of us are healthy and rested, and work travel is done for my game buddy. This week, T and I sat down to tackle a proper Card-Driven Game (CDG), David McDonough’s Dawn’s Early Light: The War of 1812 (Compass Games, 2020). This has been a long time in the making; back in early May, T and I sat down for a three-turn run at it the Monday before T headed overseas for a couple of weeks (little did we know two weeks would turn into the better part of three months, but I digress).

I’ve been keen to play Dawn’s Early Light against an actual opponent for some time; that’s the reason I put it on my Ten Wargame Challenge list. I played it a couple of times double-handed when I first got the game to get to know it, but it’s not the same experience with CDGs.

T and I haven’t played a lot of conventional CDGs together (outside of Commands & Colors, of course).  During the lock-down of 2020, I introduced him to the Steam version of Twilight Struggle: the Cold War, 1945-1989 (GMT Games, 2005), which helped to keep us sane, but I can’t think of a single Ops/Event CDG we’ve played face to face before now.

Dawn’s Early Light plays over eight turns with a shorter Prelude turn kicking off the action. The Prelude turn involves completely dealing out the twelve-card Prelude deck, then, starting with the Americans, each player taking turns playing four cards. The eight played Prelude cards are then shuffled into the 1812 deck (this deck makes up the majority of the cards in the game; at turn five, a shorter 1814 deck is shuffled into the remaining Each player plays through their seven-card hand through the course of a turn, drawing another seven cards at turn’s end.

There’s a lot to like in this game; nicely illustrated pre-rounded counters, simple
systems for… well… everything, lots of historical flavour, and Nadir Elfarra’s
rather photogenic gameboard. Two focussed players should be able to get
through the game inside of two hours.

A difference between Dawn’s Early Light and many other CDGs I’ve played it that when you play a card with the opposing side’s event for the Ops points, the event isn’t automatically triggered to the opponent’s benefit. Some cards are discarded after the play of particular events, but most go back into the

There are 86 cards in the game, with twelve of these being dealt out in the Prelude round.  The first four turns are played with the larger part of the deck the, 1812 deck (46 cards) then at turn five, the 1814 deck (28 cards) are shuffled in with the discards and the remaining deck to create a new, augmented deck. I haven’t spent enough time with the game to say for certain whether things get easier or tougher in the second half of the game, as we’ll soon see.

The game is scored at the end of each turn on a pendulum score-track, based on territorial holdings and a couple of other factors. Scoring begins from turn 1, and for the first three turns the needle (well, the cardboard score marker) didn’t quiver too much from the centre.

So, to the game. I mentioned this was our second swing at Dawn’ Early light. I took the British both times (the side’s slightly more complex to play, with naval blockades, the chance of amphibious actions, and a good relationship with the native peoples. In our initial practice game, T was strong out of the gate, building up his privateering operations and having some deft luck with his card draws. We got to turn three before deciding to call it, but T was gaining around seven points on me each turn – I was pretty sure the game would be over in America’s favour in the next turn or two if we’d played it out.

We started the game late again but when we got rolling, we managed a good rhythm to the game, punctuated by incoming and outgoing texts on the other side of the table. One of the strengths of Dawn’s Early Light is it’s an easy game to play, which isn’t to say it’s a simple game by any means. Being a CDG, your options are limited to what your hand will accommodate. There is a suite of options for your spending your Ops points, some excusive to one or the other side, and if you’re lucky, you may have some useful Events to play. So long as your opponent isn’t given to fits of analysis paralysis, the game should tick along at a good clip.

For this game, the Prelude turn was more administrative than combative, with both of us trying to bolster our ground forces and prepare for martial action. No fighting, except for some abstracted tussles over navigation control over the Great Lakes waterways. Dawn’s Early Light reflects the history of the War of 1812 very well, both through the card events and the use of simple mechanical functions to cover what might threaten to become complex mini-games within another game. Waterway control is important; it can decide who gets to cross from one area to another and offer a bonus dice for the controlling player in combat for battles adjacent to the waterway. To take control of a waterway is a matter of simple resource allocation. Spend a point to remove the opponent’s marker, and another to place your own. Lakes Erie and Ontario each have two marker-spaces, so you need a majority of markers to control the lake.

At the beginning pf the first Turn, and every odd-turn thereafter, each player may move one of their tokens along the Public Policy tracks. This is another elegantly simple way to reflect the political situation of this very politically-charged conflict. Shunting a marker along one of the tracks will bring some benefit to your side, but at the expense of not choosing another benefit. Your choice may even telegraph to your opponent your strategic intentions. Some card events may also allow one or another marker to go up a notch, but keeping the granted movements to odd turns only prevents serious escalation on multiple political fronts.

The Public Policy matrix at game's end. Each odd-numbered turn, the players can
move one of their markers one space right, gaining the indicated benefit. Some
card events will allow the further progress on the tracks,
or a negative shift on an opposing marker.

Play in the first proper turn reflected the Prelude round; neither of us wanted to engage with the other until we had an edge in numbers on a front. T secured his territories (those marked in green) with troops and forts, and I reinforced the British (Canadian) provinces (in red). The mapboard, prepared by Nadir Elfara, is one of my favourite game maps. It’s not only a gorgeous representation of the theatre, but so many elements crucial to the play of the game are already on the board, while not making it at all feel cluttered. Area-control games can sometimes feel cramped, but the open areas give enough space to the usually smaller forces, so there’s no need for stacking.

The play of a card for Ops points allows the payer to conduct one action. Ops points run from 1 to 4 points to a card, and the rules are quite generous with what you can do with them. As I mentioned, you can add or remove a Waterway control marker for a point. To Recruit troops, you must spend a point (Militia) or two (Regulars), plus a Recruit marker, at a recruitment point (mostly coastal cities), or to upgrade a Militia to a Regular unit at the cost of a point. The recruitment markers are replenished in the housekeeping phase of each turn, but the forces are limited to what comes in the box, which is never enough for either side to cover all the territory required. Similarly, you can conduct an Operations action using a single point to mobilise any or all of the troop in a single area, moving them into an adjacent area or areas. Want to mobilise troops from two areas? That will cost an extra Ops point.  If any troops have been moved into an area already holding enemy units, a battle ensues; no extra point expenditure, but also no avoiding the fight.

A player can use their points to Build a fort in wilderness areas under their control; in Combat, a fort will essentially take the first hit for the controlling side. The British player can also use the build action to raise more ships at one point per squadron. He may even mix-and -match, using his points to build forts and bring in ships in the same action.

In turn 1, I was lucky to be able to play the Spanish Florida card. As I’d already secured the Southern Coast naval blockade, I was able to place two British Regulars in Florida (securing two VPs, so long as I could hold onto it).  In the early turns, T showed his usual aggressive tendencies, attempting to dislodge me from the Florida peninsula (which I managed to fend off), seizing control of Lake Erie and wresting Lake Ontario from British control, and securing hereto neutral Niagara, then turning his attention to the Indians occupying the Creek and Shawnee regions. I expected a follow-up into Upper Canada, but

The British can also send Indian forces on raids of American-held settlements. Raiding is a separate action, and costs a point per region activated, rather than per unit. The Indians cannot hold a settlement and have to withdraw to the area from which they came at the end of a successful raid, but it is worth a VP to the British for each unit they take out. Through the course of the game, I raided Detroit, Nashville (twice), and New Orleans, with mixed results, but it worked to keep T on his toes and distract him a little from my main game.

The Southern Blockade, freshly closed, and the Naval Theater tracks (not yet adjusted
 for the British). Both sides can engage in naval actions; the British can blockade ports
and conduct amphibious actions on coastal cities (provided the player has troops
available in the British Navy Box - another card event function), while the Americans
can engage in Privateering actions. Blockades and successful privateering
operations each earn VPs for the respective sides.

The stars aligned for the British in Turn 5. I’d managed to gain about a four-point lead and to hold it at the end of turn four, after the Americans had held a slight edge for the first three rounds. A good hand came my way in the fifth and saw an opportunity. In Dawn’s Early Light, the Americans always begin card play each turn. This also played to my advantage. Throughout the game I had managed to maintain a complete blockade of the Eastern coast, from Boston to New Orleans. Early in the turn Loyalist militia marched into Detroit after an Indian raid had left it defenceless in the previous turn, while the two regular units in Florida finally made their move on Savannah on the same Operations play, meeeting little resistance. Detroit was quickly lost again to American forces marching from T feared the worst and began building up his defences in New York and Boston, fearing a push on his hub ports.

After T had played his last card, I closed the trap. With an Ops 3, British units swept down from the Maritimes to occupy Penobscot, others left Kingston to challenge the Hudson, while the occupying force in the hard-won Carolinas marched north to secure the Shenandoah. There were heavy losses on both sides, but the British prevailed in each assault. After the victory points were tallied, I had just enough of a margin to carry me to the 20 points needed for a win. It was by no means guaranteed, and that made victory all the sweeter. I’m not normally one to crow about a win, but this one was kind of special. I refrained from doing a victory lap around the table. T was a good sport about the loss, and probably grateful we didn’t have to play through to the final round, as it was getting late.

Game state at the end of turn 5. The British have explained a few things
to their trans-Atlantic cousins.

From my limited experience with Dawn’s Early Light, I suspect the British need to aggressively prosecute the war right out of the gate if they want a chance of winning. There are things they can do relatively passively in the first few turns, such as controlling the Great Lakes waterways and building up their naval blockades – a wall solid blockade wall will earn a lazy five points if you can maintain it through the end of the turn – but that won’t be enough to make any headway of the Americans secure their towns and farmlands. Without an insistent push into American territories, a slow victory creep will set in for the American side. That’s not to say it’s a cakewalk for the Americans. They have to use every tool in their box to keep the British (and the local tribes) at bay,

T's impression of the game was very positive, even though he wasn’t victorious this time. He is keen for a rematch, and  I can see it becoming a staple of play when I’m not foisting on him some new game on my Ten Game Challenge list. I’d like to tackle Walter Vejdovsky’s Waterloo, 1815: Fallen Eagles II (Hexasim, 2022) next, though, as we’ve seen, plans don’t always play out as we’d like.

 

 

State of Play: Dawn’s Early Light: the War of 1812

 

 

So, my 6x6 project has taken another hit of late. My wife’s mother was in hospital for a time, and has now changed her living arrangements. This has entailed a lot of people (immediate family, including yours truly) putting a lot of time and effort into ensuring as smooth a transition into this situational change as possible. This is the primary reason for the dearth of blog-posts from this end in the last week and some. She's doing a lot better now, I'm happy to report.

Added to this was T having to skip not one, but two Monday night games due to having just got back from a work trip to Europe, only to leave in a day or so for the States for another work-related conference. Good for the travel industry, but bad for my diminishing chances of actually completing even four of the six games I’d hoped to play six times each. I haven’t given up on this – I’m still going to try to finish the Napoleon 1806 and Fire and Stone cycles, and I’ll try to get at least another one to the table – but completing the challenge is going to prove too, er, challenging.

Anyway, for the first time in some weeks I have a relatively clear couple of days, and I have rather decided to make the most of them; I have a lot of gams I’ve been wanting to try out and my plan is to get at least one to the table every day this week. The key word here is “try”. No promises, but the times I do manage to get a game played, I’ll write something about it here. Don’t come looking for in-depth analysis; after one game or a couple of tutorial scenarios, you’ll just be getting my first impressions, but I’ll try to keep it interesting.

First cab off the rank was Dawn’s Early Light: the War of 1812 (Compass Games, 2020). I’ve been fascinated by the War of 1812 since I read two books on the subject, back-to-back. I’ve been eyeing off the game for about a year. I hadn’t heard much in detail – most short reviews compare it favourably with For the People (GMT Games, 1998) and Washington’s War (GMT Games, 2010). What tipped me toward buying it was the ratings on BoardGameGeek; I’m inclined to take anything on BGG with a grain of salt, but of the folks who took the time to rate Dawn’s Early Light, nearly three-quarters rated it an eight or higher out of ten. So, I took the punt.

Dawn’s Early Light is a card-driven game (CDG), that plays out in a similar fashion to other CGDs, such as the aforementioned Washington’s War. The game is played out over eight full turns, with a truncated Prelude turn. In the Prelude turn, the twelve cards of the Prelude deck are dealt out to the play, who take turns, Americans first, to play a card for the Ops points (from one to four per card) or the Action. If the Action is solely usable by the other side, they will play the action out, but the active player gets to decide if their antagonist does their action before or after they’ve played their Ops-fed actions. So far, so familiar. But the interesting stuff happens out of the gate. IN a regular turn, each player will play through the eight cards in their hand. In the Prelude turn, only four of the six held cards are played. The other two cards are retained as the foundation of the players’ initial eight card hands, while the discarded cards are shuffled right back into the 1812 deck. At the end of the fourth round, the smaller 1814 deck is shuffled into the remaining draw deck, and play continues until the last card of both player’s hands have been played.

There is also a three-tier Social Discourse track, covering the Diplomatic and economic spheres of the conflict and the public opinion among the belligerents' civilian populations. working up the tracks offer some advantages through the course of the game. Various events allow you to increase your influence on one or more of the tracks, or to reduce the influence of your opponent.      

Dawn’s Early Light is a straight-up CDG. It walks, flies and quacks like a CDG. I that sense, there aren’t any surprises here. What makes the game interesting is the historical event it’s modelling. The War of 1812 – referred to at the time as Mr Madison’s War – was a protracted period of hostilities that, for the most part, was a fairly low-ley event compared to the continental conflicts of thirty years prior and fifty years after, but when it ran hot, it did spectacularly so.

Land combat is conducted simply and organically in Dawn’s Early Light, and is inevitably the result of other actions. If you conduct a move action and your guys happen to stop where the other player’s forces are already, they fight. The British player can also prevail upon the Indians to conduct raids against American towns, or simply to fight alongside their Regulars and militia.

Naval combat on the high seas is abstracted to Blockade and Privateering actions, and control of the St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes are reduced to a series of control markers land combat resolution is a much simpler affair than in Washington’s War. But the biggest shift from other comparable CDGs is the use of area movement (similar to, of all things, COIN games, with regions and significant cities). State boundaries are marked on the map (as are longitudinal and latitudinal references on the map-edges, which I thought was a nice touch), but the areas are defined by and large by the boundaries of the peoples native to the region. This works well from a game-design point of view, while acknowledging the prominent part the local Indians took in the ongoing hostilities between the Americans and the British.

I like to play a new game once of twice on my own before I try to introduce it to somebody else, but I always struggle a little with CDGs. Part-way through this game I realised I was playing quite cautiously. I wasn’t taking the kinds of bold chances I might against another player. This didn’t prevent me from getting a good feel for the game, but it did leave me wanting to have a go at it with a human opponent.

So, there’s a snapshot of Dawn’s Early Light. I’ve only scratched the surface here. I’ll come back to this after I’ve played it a few times and write a full review. There’s a lot to unpack with this one.