There have always been ’simple’ wargames around, but many of those were considered ‘introductory’ level or were just downright rudimentary. What I’m getting at here are designs that feature fairly deep game play, yet still manage to bring their rules in at somewhere between 8 to 16 pages.

Tactical games, in particular, for years trended toward fairly hefty rules presentations. I suppose the original PanzerBlitz rules folder wasn’t all that heavy-duty - but Avalon Hill soon made up for that with games like Tobruk and Squad Leader. Platoon-level games probably hit their greatest rules weight with titles like SPI’s Mech War 2 and GDW’s Assault series.

Ah, the good ol’ days of ‘process’ design. I’m not saying that it makes for bad games, but as my available gaming time has declined over the years I have to say that I’ve developed an affinity for shorter rulebooks.

In the Trenches: The Lost Generation hits a sweet spot for the moderate complexity that I enjoy. The rulebook clocks in at 28 pages, but it’s a very ‘breezy’ layout. I’m not a word-counter, but I’d say in length it compares favorably to the 16-page rulebook of a game like PanzerGrenadier — and may even be lighter than that.

Everything is pretty straightforward without a lot of clutter. There’s a bit of rules weight associated with the game’s treatment of artillery, but that’s not unusual for a game set during the Great War.

In the course of a game turn, players basically do their thing through alternating series of activations. To establish who acts first - and the number of ‘orders’ available - the players dice-off with 2d6. High-roller acts first, with the difference between the rolls becoming the number of orders available. The “initiative” player uses that many orders first, followed by his opponent - who receives the same number of orders. Orders can be used either to activate platoons individually (not very effcient) or to activate company-sized formations of 2-4 platoons.

Most of the combat units in the game can ‘act’ twice in a game turn. After the first action, they’re marked with an “Engaged” marker. After the second action they’re marked “Spent”. Machinegun sections are only marked “Spent” if they roll doubles when they fire - so they usually get to fire multiple times in a turn.

One thing I’ll note here is that the whole Engaged-Spent cycle does turn the game into a bit of a Marker Farm. Pretty much every unit on the map is destined to receive at least one marker in the course of a typical game turn. It’s difficult to avoid the use of markers, especially in a tactical game — although when a ’status’ of some sort is going to touch everything on the map at some point in a turn, the more creative the solution, the better.

Just a quick note in a ‘house rules’ direction: When I began assembly of my counters for the game, the Engaged/Spent markers went first as my experimental models. In any game that requires an ubiquitous markers of some sort - Moved/Fired or Engaged/Spent - I typically use a couple of my bags full of cleverly color-coded tile spacers. I can plop one of them on top of a counter to indicate status and still see ‘through’ the marker to view the game piece beneath it.

Alternatively, since there are no facing rules in this game players can just keep track of the basic Engaged/Spent state of each unit by rotating it. Of course, this only works with players who are not “counter slobs” — you know, the guys who can barely keep counters near the correct hexagon and have pieces skewed in helter-skelter directions, sometimes within the same stack. Dammit! I hate that. Buy some tweezers or something.

But I digress.

The game system certainly focuses on ‘play’, rather than on rules lookups, math fiddling and chart-hopping. I truly appreciate that it flows quickly from action to action. In addition to allowing scenarios to be played to completion in a single sitting, the pace of play also helps players (even noobs) keep a running game narrative going without massive pauses or lengthy debates.

A few of the scenarios have some special rules fiddliness - typically something to do with initial prep fires or massive bombardments - but none of it’s too bothersome. I’ve only got a couple of games under my belt, but so far I’ve found it fairly entertaining.

Since I first came across SPI’s old “Soldiers” way back in the 1970s I’ve had a sort of back-burner interest in the subject. A lot of gamers likely don’t see much fertile subject matter for tactical combat in the First World War. But the topic touches on a couple areas of close personal interest for me, so I’m always open to the possibilities.

Tactical wargaming is one of my deeper gaming interests. And the Great War is a slice of family history: my Grandad Edwards fought in the war as a US infantryman until the late summer of 1918 when a German gas attack gave him the pleasure of a long convalescence at a military hospital in Kansas.

So. Not so much crazy as optimistic.

Stuff in the box

One of the more recent arrivals here in the swamp is, as you may now suspect, a tactical wargame set during the Great War –  “In the Trenches: The Lost Generation”.  It’s published by Grenier Games, a Canadian company (OK, really not so much “company” as “dude”) that features games I would score toward the higher end of the DTP spectrum.

The Lost Generation is the second volume of the “In The Trenches” tactical series. I passed on the first volume (”Opening Engagements”) because I wasn’t terribly interested in the battles it covered. This second volume, though, struck me as somewhat more meaty so when a break in my budget presented itself I decided to take a look.

Some time back I purchased one of Grenier Game’s earlier offerings, “Distant Foreign Fields” - a fairly large game that covers the Great War at a strategic level. So I had a pretty good idea of what to expect when I opened up The Lost Generation. From a purely “production” perspective, it’s a very good quality desk-top published game.

There are two double-sided countersheets - which arrive in the box as four single-sided sheets, pre-mounted to hefty cardboard. Once assembled, the individual counters are quite substantial indeed. The counter artwork is crisp and clear, which my aging (but not old…) eyes certainly appreciate.

Four 12 x 18 maps come in the box, covering (at 100m per hex) portions of four battlefields: Bois de Caures, a portion of the Regina Trench at the Somme, La Boiselle and Kostiuchnowka (during the Brusilov Offensive). The maps are printed on very heavy stock and I think they’re very well done in a straightforward graphics style.

Nine scenarios (”operations”) are included and there’s a play aid card that includes a color terrain key. The rulebook is 28 pages, comb-bound, clearly printed and fairly well organized. A few rules are tucked away behind “Unit Details” - which some readers might mistake for the beginning of a section of design notes. Otherwise my only quibble (aside from the misspelling “French Trences” on the Bois des Caures map) is that the rules pages themselves would suffer less wear and tear if the booklet was bound with a comb one size larger.

Otherwise, it’s a very clean and accessible presentation. Coming soon: A look at the rules and how the game plays.

Pitchers and catchers report.

A baseball, in case you need a reminder.

In the entire, vast universe of sports there are few moments so heavy with anticipation as the beginning of Spring Training. Maybe the opening of an Olympic games comes close (even when one of the Giant Flaming Doobies fails its hydraulics check). But that’s about the only thing I can think of. Nothing else, really, is in the same class with baseball’s hallowed First Workout.

From the depths of winter, Spring Training salvages a renewal of hope. Every team is a contender. Every ballcap-topped face is a potential phenom, a Career Year waiting to happen, a World Series MVP in waiting. Every cleated foot that claws the infield dirt or shreds the outfield grass portends the demise of that hated season of cold despair and gives life to the promise of summer’s sun-drenched embrace.

Spring Training is the sporting world’s physical manifestation of one of humanity’s most enduring and admirable qualities: Hope. At least until the 25-man roster is finalized, every baseball fan can - at least in some fashion - find a way to maintain hope for the season to come. This year, the expensive free agent won’t totally fizzle, last year’s biggest flop will redeem himself, the pennant race will stay interesting at least through August and the team’s Radio Color Guy won’t get busted at the airport with a ziploc full of snop.

Soon enough, Spring Training games will begin. It’s time for me to plan the pilgrimmage. There’s a ballpark out there with a real, live, green outfield. It’s just waiting for me to sit as close to the field as physically possible and breathe in the moist, heady aroma of freshly-cut ballfield grass: Grass that isn’t frost-bitten grey or brown, sun-soaked grass perfumed with the memories of a thousand ballgames, a hundred golf courses and 20 years traipsing the now-distant athletic fields of my youth.

Time for cold and rain and aching joints to pass. Summer beckons.

Veteran gamers will likely discover that part of their challenge is working through TCC’s disarming familiarity. Both the game system and the situation will tempt them to think “I’ve seen this before. I know what to do.”

Anyone who thinks that is probably in for a rough ride.

The Soviet player has the wider margin of error - but only just. In general, the Soviets’ rag-tag starting forces have to run like hell and try to husband as much strength as possible to defend the vital (and rugged) southern reaches of the map. Trying to stage any kind of substantial early-game fight in open terrain will only lead to disaster.

Because they lack the mobility of the Axis, a frightening number of Soviet units are going to bite the dust no matter what. A major key to Soviet play is to admit this up front and then try to turn those sacrifices into as much of a delay as possible. If they leave too much in front of the Axis grinder, they may not have enough strength left to defend the vital mountain passes. If they try to save too much - or choose to delay in the wrong locations - they may find their efforts simply knocked aside and a large portion of their strength threatened with encirclement.

It’s less of a pell-mell retreat than some Soviet players may realize.  They also have to be sensitive to the Axis player’s style of play and take advantage of any opportunity presented for additional trouble-making. Delaying the fall of a critical location along the lines of communication to the south by even one turn (or maybe even by one movement impulse) can seriously unhinge the Axis timetable.

In my experience, the Axis assault is truly balanced on a razor’s edge. They have to cover a lot of territory quickly and inflict maximum pain on the Soviets in the process. Understanding how to take advantage of the positive CRT shifts their forces can generate is absolutely crucial to Axis success. When winter arrives later in the game, trying to do anything in the neighborhood of the mountain passes - move, fight, even supply - is going to become a very difficult process.

But the Axis faces an additional challenge in that they can’t simply ignore the Soviet eastern coastal enclaves. Some of their strength has to be diverted from the ‘main’ thrust to tackle some tough fighting along the Black Sea. Taman must be dealt with early in the game. Novorossiysk also needs to be ‘corked’ in order to threaten the flank of the Soviet defense.

Axis players no doubt will understand that time is not on their side. What they may not grasp is that this is an understatement. Fighting around the mountain passes is going to be brutal, bloody and (most importantly) time-consuming. If the Axis is not generating a significant threat in the south on or near the historical timeline, they’re going to face an improbable road to victory.

Note, however, that staying ‘on schedule’ is going to be an uncomfortable experience at best. Those high-quality, mobile German divisions are going to take a beating, and the Axis player is going to be hard-pressed to keep them going with replacements - especially before “Hitler Takes Command” kicks in on Turn 7.

Ah, yes. “Hitler Takes Command”.  When this event kicks in and doubles the Axis replacement rate, the Soviet player will take little comfort in the knowledge that he has achieved one of the strategic goals of his campaign: The diversion of Axis resources from the fighting around Stalingrad. It’s an event that’s ‘hard wired’ into the game’s structure - so it can’t even be counted as a moral victory for the battered Red Army - but it does help to put the campaign into a broader, historical perspective. The real trick for the Soviets is to not surrender the OTHER strategic objective of the campaign, the rich oilfields south of the Caucasus.

So, in the final analysis is the game balanced? In a nutshell,  I think so. Axis players certainly face a steeper learning curve in that they must both play the aggressor and see beyond the game’s deceptively familiar opening situation. Methodical players seeking large encirclements or players who don’t grasp the need to trade some casualties for speed of advance are in for some rough handling in the second half of the game.

The Soviet player’s position is not at all as simple as it may first seem, either. The initial deployment of the Red Army is universally weak, but not all of those understrength divisions can be considered cannon fodder. Some of them have to be saved in order to jump-start the buildup the Soviets will need to defend the most important victory locations later in the game.

The Soviet player also needs to avoid the temptation to treat his tank brigades lightly. In fact, the Soviets should take great care to protect these rare assets. While they aren’t exactly powerful combat units, they are one of the rare items the Soviets have that they can use to cancel Axis armor shifts on the CRT. They should only be exposed to the risks of combat when their armor shift is needed in a critical battle.

All things considered, the Caucasus Campaign is a very clean, clever and enjoyable game. I think perhaps that Ukraine ‘43 still ranks as my personal favorite Mark Simonitch design, but TCC has quickly climbed into a very close second place.

It did not escape my notice last month when the DriveThruStuff.com family of websites made their pitch for donations to their Haitian Relief Fund. As you may imagine, I was particularly attracted to the “Haitian Relief Bundle”,  which offered a large number of downloadable products - all digitally donated by their publishers - as an incentive for the rather small donation amount of $20.

OK. So I took the deal. But more on that in a minute. Right now, I’d like to give props to the krewe. Here’s the REAL deal: The gamer-powered donation drive for Haitian relief collected $178,900.

That’s extraordinary. That’s not chump change, boys and girls. Here’s a little perspective. In late January the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) pledged $750,000 for Haitian relief. $250,000 was immediate relief from existing funds and the remainder was pledged from anticipated future donations to a relief fund.

Now, the ELCA isn’t some televangelist who can rake in millions in a few days with warnings about lightning bolts from God - but neither is it a small organization (about 4.6 million members as of 2008).  Even if you figure that’s a little over 1 million households, that’s still anticipating far less than $1 from each potential ‘donating budget’.

I’m not privvy to the customer records at the DriveThruStuff web sites, but I’d be really surprised if they had over 1 million customers. The donation total was more likely generated from the giving of 10,000 - 12,000 people - which is a pretty generous response, if you ask me.

Of course, some folks are probably wondering about the goodies that were included in the downloadable bundle. A lot of publishers participated. The ‘order’ appears in my account the same way as a ’standard’ bundled product would - links to individual downloads for each product. That means I don’t have to waste bandwidth downloading product that I don’t want.

To be sure, the bundle includes some products that aren’t exactly world-beaters. If you’re not familiar with the state of the downloadable gaming press, then I’ll clue you in that it includes its fair share of less than impressive products. However, the relief bundle also includes a fair number of top-quality downloads - some of which ‘retail’ for more than $20 on their own. I was even nicely surprised to find several products in the bundle that were on my ‘wish list’ for the site.

Kudos to all involved - the web sites involved in the donations, the publishers who offered their wares and the gamers who ponied up. Great job, folks.