Introduction

Several times a week I scan through my usual web sites - wargamer.com, consimworld.com, and so on - looking for what may be new in the world of board wargaming. Sure, there are the big names, like GMT, Multiman Publishing, and the smaller names like Decision Games, L2 Design Group, and their ilk. These are names I know to be on the lookout for, but what I'm really after are the newbies, the one-offs, or the surprising sources. Mark Walker's Lock 'n' Load was one such game, and gamers who've followed board wargaming in recent years will know that he was a little guy who made it big, at least in terms of the critics. I don't know why, but having growing up in the Cold War and started gaming during the "NATO, Nukes, and Nazis" phase of the late '70s, I've been particularly interested in the first two components - in other words, in games set in modern times. These are the games I'm particularly prowling for.

So it was with some interest that I noticed an effort from a new designer, Brant Guillory, and his self-published Warfighter 101: Movement to Contact. Despite its somewhat "homespun" presentation, the game received generally positive comments. It was obvious that this was only the first title in a system of games Guillory has titled the Warfighter series. He actually breaks the series into two portions: the Warfighter 101 games that the BayonetGames website says are for "those interested in quick-and-dirty games," and the Warfigher Series itself which is "for hard-core gamers who want the rules for replicating multiple aspects of modern combat." Despite the differences, the games all use the same base set of rules (more on those below). Maneuver Warrior, introduced this past summer, is the first game in the more complex series.

Plot & Presentation

The "setting" of Maneuver Warrior is modern and near-modern tactical combat in many locations around the world. Gamers take on the role of junior to mid-level officers commanding a mix for forces right there down in the weeds: armor and infantry platoons, dismounts, support weapons, helicopters and, for this title, engineers, scouts, and special leaders. There are civilians (or are they?!), there are trucks, there are forces from six different sides: U.S., Russian, Australian, Arab irregulars, Israeli, Southeastern European/Central Asian… there are a wealth of systems and combatants represented, and this in a counter mix of just 162 unit counters. If this seems like an almost bewildering variety, it is, but in a good way - welcome to real-world "TO&Es" and "OOBs," where one particular unit is not likely to be "just like another."

Indeed, a realistic flavor pervades the game, from the mix of forces, to the scenarios - which may give each side different goals - to the presentation of scenarios in authentic "OpOrd" (operations order) formats. Sometimes the attempts at flavor can cause some confusion-do I really need to send out scouts to collect that intelligence the OpOrd tells me to? - but in general they add to the experience… or they do for this modern war aficionado, at least.

Realistic flavor, though, doesn't mean a binder full of rules and a lifetime needed to complete one battle - Advanced Squad Leader this game most certainly isn't, shooting instead for a quick-playing representation of modern combat.

Set-up, Graphics, and Documentation

I opened the sturdy box the game comes in (hmm - looks like a shipping box with a nicely designed cover sticker slapped onto it), and I was almost attacked by a paper storm. There are four double-sided "geomorphic" 8.5"x17" map sections, three sheets of 7/8" mounted counters, a page of unmounted corrections to said counters, a sheet of unmounted markers, the four page core rules (!), sheets for each of the three new rules sets introduced with Maneuver Warrior - "Sappers!" for some initial engineering rules (two pages), "Leaders" (one page, similar idea to single man counters in Lock 'n' Load), and "Scouts Out!" for special scouting rules - nine sheets describing the different forces represented by the counter mix, ten sheets of OpOrds for the five scenarios, and a player aid card.

Note that I said sheets - most of this is loose leaves of paper, and it took me a bit of time to figure out how they all fit together, in part because the game doesn't come with a component list. In fact, I'm still not sure I've got all the parts; I do know I'm missing the blank OpOrds that I was supposed to get as part of my "tools to design my own" scenarios as advertised on the box. Guillory is also working on a document to give scenario designers suggestions on how to build scenarios - I guess this will be the other "tool" - and it will be made available on the BayonetGames web site.