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The Wargamer is pleased to present Columbia
Games, Tom Dalgliesh and Jerry Taylor this Award for Excellence for
their Hammer of the Scots board game. Hammer
of the Scots is an elegant example on how games need not be complex to be historically accurate and still fun to play. |
Introduction
The world of board gaming enjoys a wide range of complexity, from the insanely detailed minutiae of
Campaigns for North Africa, to the elegant simplicity of the classic game of treachery,
Diplomacy. As a mature gamer who played some of the behemoths "back in the day" (1975-1983), old age has brought a certain inclination toward easier rule systems. When one has limited opportunity to indulge in board gaming, spending two or three sessions just getting the rules down seems wasteful, particularly when a year might pass with five or six sessions total.
Hammer of the Scots, named for the epitaph "Mallorus Scottorum" carved onto King Edward I's tombstone during the reign of Elizabeth I, is one of a series of "block" titles from publisher Columbia Games. Eschewing the traditional die-cut counters of old, units instead are depicted using colored wooden blocks, set up
Stratego style on a colorful, non-hexagonal mapboard. The old task of carefully separating cardboard counters and trimming the nibs has been replaced with separating stickers from a die-cut sticker sheet and placing them carefully on the painted blocks. The combination is an odd juxtaposition of classic timelessness (the wood evoking hand crafted toys of old) and 21st century (colorful stickers) modernism.
Components
Hammer of the Scots comes with an eight page rule book which is even lighter than it sounds: one third of the space is devoted to historical background information, glossary definitions, and a column enumerating the many historical liberties taken by Mel Gibson and crew in their blockbuster movie,
Braveheart. The current version of the rule book can even be downloaded in PDF format at the
Columbia Games website, along with a helpful walkthrough and F.A.Q. It is worth mentioning that all of the changed text in the PDF version is highlighted in red, a very basic but welcome courtesy that I'd love to see become standard operating procedure for updated documentation.
The game includes three scenarios that cover the critical period of the Scottish Wars of Independence. The first, "Braveheart," covers the period of William Wallace and King Edward I (aka "Longshanks"), 1297-1306; the period of William Wallace's ascendance as a patriot leader following the failure of King John Balliol in 1296 to his capture and execution nearly a decade later. The second scenario, "The Bruce," involves the rise of Robert Bruce in his quest to become recognized as King Robert I of Scotland from 1307-1314; or the period from Bruce's assassination of rival John Comyn and his coup against the throne, to his great victory over Edward II at Bannockburn. Finally, a campaign game unifies the two smaller scenarios into a single struggle spanning 1297-1314.
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The Scots try to hold on in the north.
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