Wilderness War.

[Belisarius]

I bought this board game recently on E bay.  I,m not sure if this is the right place to post this.  It comes with a wonderful map which runs from N. Virginia up to Louisbourg in Canada. The Fr. and Indian War has been a long time interest of mine and I,m looking forward to playing this.

[since1968]

Watch out for Demogorgons in pics 2 and 3.

[Marine0846]

The F & I War is a very interesting period of early America history.
I have been playing this period in miniatures for years.
Have seen this game, look forward to seeing your take on playing it.

[FramFramson]

Watch out for Demogorgons in pics 2 and 3.

[Codsticker]

That looks interesting... I have been thinking of trying to buy a copy of A few Acres of Snow but since it is out of print it ain't easy to find at a decent price.

[Antonio J Carrasco]

That looks interesting... I have been thinking of trying to buy a copy of A few Acres of Snow but since it is out of print it ain't easy to find at a decent price.

Don't do it! The game is broken. Once you got the Halifax strategy, the British player wins no matter what the French player does! That's the problem when an eurogamer designer tries his hand at a strategic wargame. Wilderness War is much better game and better balanced, although no without problems.

[vtsaogames]

I have been thinking of trying to buy a copy of A few Acres of Snow but since it is out of print it ain't easy to find at a decent price.

Thought you were talking about Leckie's book, not one of his best and was going to warn you off.

Another suggestion, out of print and hard to find: Mohawk. It's fairly fast and furious. Regulars shine in what little open ground there is and sieges, but count the same as militia in woods. Indians and ranger types are good in the extensive woods. Indians are eliminated by one hit, other units by two. If Indians win a battle, one tribe goes home with trophies for each enemy unit eliminated. You can get them back in the field again, but it requires effort. The Iroquois Confederation functions as a major morale track. If you win a battle (of whatever size) you can flip one of the tribes to lean your way. If a turn starts with all the tribes leaning the same way, the Iroquois enter the war on that side. There are 6 tribes and they take two hits each to eliminate, so this is a major change in the situation. There is a small naval sub-game at the start of each year (2 turns per year) that determines reinforcements. If you do badly at this for many turns, you will wither on the vine.

[zippyfusenet]

Thanx for the post Belisarius, and please let us know how WW plays when you've tried it out. Also thanx Antonio for the warn-off on Acres of Snow, I've had an eye on that title but now I'll skip it.

Vincent, I played the heck out of Mohawk back when you could get a copy. Great game. One question, and I hope it's not a sore subject: Did the Canadian Wargamers Group get your permission when they more-or-less bodily swiped Mohawk to be the 'Wolfe and Montcalm Campaign Game' in their Habitants & Highlanders book?

[Codsticker]

Antonio and vstaogames, thank you both for the heads-up. Maybe I will pick up Wilderness War instead.

[Mad Doc Morris]

Once you got the Halifax strategy, the British player wins no matter what the French player does!

Which, to be honest, most gamers wouldn't have figured out by themselves. Admittedly, it's a major flaw, and the designer's reaction was unhelpful, to say the least. But without pushing for this particular strategy me and some friends have played the game a good couple of times and enjoyed it a lot. It doesn't pretend to simulate the conflict but provides an easy and fast to play board game with a nice blend of strategic an deck-building elements. Anyway, it's OOP and, due to the uproar it caused, unlikely to get a reprint. One may try its off-springs like A Study in Emerald, Mythotopia, or Hands in the Sea (my favourite iteration).

Apart from its theme, A Few Acres of Snow plays in a different league than Wilderness War. GMT have a track record of high-quality, thematic, in-depth, yet still introductory-level wargames. One may even use them to develop battles to be played with miniatures (tried that with Washington's War, needed a fair bit of stream-lining, though). But in my experience these games take a lot longer than AFAOS and are generally designed for a vastly different, less casual target audience. Or dumbwits like me. 

[Sir_Theo]

I've never played Wilderness War but it's got such a great reputation. I've got Wilderness Empires by Worthington games which is also a very fun take on the same subject.

Another FIW board game I'd recommend (a bit lighter) is 1754:Conquest. Although my favourite of that series is the most recent one about the Viking invasions of England.

I do love a good military board game. A few months ago I had a memorable 4 player game of 'Liberty or Death' (one of GMTs COIN games) where myself as the French and a friend as the Americans managed to follow history and chuck the British from America.

Very different beasts to minis war games but well worth trying out for anyone who hasn't really looked at military board games.

[Belisarius]

Guys, I,m going to run thro the first few moves on the Annus Mirabilis ( 1757-59 ) scenario to give you a flavour of the game . If I do anything wrong maybe someone can flag it up . Each player has 9 x cards , he can play the card either ,  for the event printed on it , or for the value in the upper left corner . Here is the French players hand .

[Romark]

Always a pleasure to read your posts Colin,the pictures make me smile

[Belisarius]

He plays “ Raise Provincial Regiments “ for the value  2 .  He moves Dumas ( activates on a 1 )  and all his units from Ohio Forks to Laurel Ridge South , where he is forced to stop ( mountain). With his remaining 1pt her activates the Shawnee and Mingos at Logstown and Mingo Town to follow him.  He is threatening the empty Brit fort at Wills Creek , ( VP of 3 ). British turn.

[Belisarius]

Hi Keith, hope you,re keeping well . I,ve long been interested in this war and am hoping this game will give me a better appreciation of the geography and problems faced by the combatants.