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On Board #12

	Author: Pete Gade Article Type: Editorial Publication Date: 3/19/2008 Related Categories: World War II, Turn-based, North Africa

Go Ahead, Make My Tag

PG: That's absolutely key, and it gives the Axis side some interesting options. It's like, sure … I'll let you take those airfields, but I'm going to absolutely pepper you so hard along the way that XXX Corps will summon you for an audience in the Tower of London (arrive with your collar unbuttoned, please). Likewise, the Axis player can take that Jominian approach of superior power at the decisive point and try to deny a key airfield or two. Can you give us a sample of how such approaches played out?

PB: An excellent summary of the options available to the Axis! I would say playing the Axis is about managing—and reclaiming—the initiative from the Commonwealth. Left alone, the Commonwealth can defeat the Axis in detail and build potent defensive positions out of his reinforcing infantry and artillery. Even the fearsome panzer battalions can break if they run into several stacks of infantry and field artillery with the armor held back to stage counterattacks with.

PG: The description on the game page over at the LnL Publishing site hints at a tension-inducing initiative system. It seems like there won’t be many walls of cardboard pushing forward together at a set pace here. In addition, the order of activations aren't the only thing in question here, but so is the very rate at which those activated units can move. Is that correct?

PB: The initiative system does a lot with a little bit of rules. The activation numbers tell you (a) which player goes first, (b) what units may activate and (c) how far those units may move. There are no fixed movement allowances here—only the interplay of the initiative ratings and activation numbers.

PG: What kind of movement ranges does the system provide for various unit types, and what kind of scales are we looking at in terms of time and distance?

PB: Hexes are 3km across and there are 4 impulses to each turn. From the start of the design, I wanted to avoid one player moving his units ten or twenty hexes while the other guy sat and watched. Here, motorized and mechanized units tend to make short bounds of 3-5 hexes at a time, which prevents an enemy force from simply teleporting across the board. On a "long" road march, you can never be sure if your troops will reach their destination before the enemy reacts to their presence. Other times, they'll start moving, bog down and then need to turn around as the situation evolves elsewhere on the board. I think these possibilities are pretty important to both understanding and modeling what happened during Operation Crusader.

Gentlemen, take your mark. The starting set-up unfolds … just watch out for that mobile and hard-hitting Axis armor on the Commonwealth right flank. It packs a punch.

And There’s A Lot More Where This Came From

PG: As hinted at earlier in the article, what other directions are you looking to take the system? Sounds like you already have a few other battles in mind….

PB: From the very start, I've intended to make a Corps Command series. I designed the system with an eye on how the Commonwealth army evolved from the early battles during Battle Axe all the way to the big finish at El Alamein. I wanted to be sure I could capture those factors inside the structure of the game mechanics. Then, during the development process, I considered how to distinguish other armies, such as the Americans and Russians, from other forces in the game.

I would like to get on my soapbox for a moment, though, and say that I hope gamers will take the time to play and enjoy Totensonntag. Too often, it feels to me like a game comes out and is immediately forgotten for the thrill of the next offering, leaving it to join dozens of other titles on the shelf. Consequently, I'm keeping what's coming on the heels of Totensonntag to myself for the moment. Lest anyone be disappointed, I will be getting to Prokhorovka, Kasserine and Goodwood as well as some other battles that haven't been mentioned yet.

PG: Given that you've probably pored over many playtest sessions and after action reviews, tell us about some of the biggest gaffes and most memorable moments you've seen players make. From my experience, woe betides the person who underestimates the Ariete division!

PB: At Origins, Mark Walker and I sat down for a test game and I gave him the Commonwealth. He decided to hit the Ariete and the Italians went on an absolute tear. I mean, they just couldn't miss, hitting maybe ten of their first eleven shots and ripping the guts out of two armor brigades. Just as I'm thinking the whole design's coming apart over some extreme luck, the situation swings as the South Africans and 4th Armour Brigade manage to bloody the two panzer divisions. Suddenly, it's anyone's game again. Gave me a lot of confidence in the robustness of the situation.

My other memorable moment would have to be the solo AAR I wrote for Consimworld to showcase the mechanics. Imagine my surprise when, going into the final impulse of the game, either side could win. The whole shebang came down to the very last die roll without a single bit of prompting on my part, which seemed a pretty darn good outcome in my book!

PG: Thanks to Peter for a really solid look at Corps Command: Totensonntag. It’s out now, available direct both from s and through retailers. And do check out his AAR. It’s excellent and covers a great deal of what we discussed here in fine detail.

Endgame

And you thought you had a killer wargame collection … check out this geeklist over at BoardgameGeek.

I mean, come on, this guy has what looks like nothing short of a German version of Memoir ’44—except that it was published back in 1943. Throw in a British wargame released during the Great War that posits an amphibious invasion of England and another ditty called GHQ that conjures up ready aesthetic comparisons to modern area movement games like Paths of Glory. Check it out. That’s not the only game that will look a little familiar, nor the only design that could still stand up today.

About the Author

Peter Gade is a Society of Professional Journalists award-winning writer with a dirty little secret—he’s a wargamer. His roots in the hobby reach back to the 1970’s, a flare-trousered age that saw him spread Avalon Hill and Metagaming maps across the shag carpet of his bedroom. Thankfully the shag carpet is gone, but his love of wargaming remains.

When not plying his trade in print, broadcast, or new media, this father of two is known to secure his Advanced Squad Leader counters in Plano boxes and sneak in a late-night turn of Combat Mission or TalonSoft’s Campaign Series. When he’s not simulating warfare, he reads about it … and has a strong belief that every wargamer and military historian should explore the literary works of Heinrich Böll and Ambrose Bierce.