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Originally Posted by MerricB  Have you played any WW1 games? |
It's been many years since I had a gaming group that enjoys traditional wargames, but here are three I played in younger years.
Guns of August An Avalon Hill game, very standard design, not terribly innovative. We played it a few times, but the gameplay was rather boring, and it doesn't seem to model WW1 very well. I'd give 2 stars out of 5.
Kaiser's Battle This was originally published in Strategy and Tactics, though I believe it was released later as a stand-alone game. Very good game simulating Operation Michael, in which the Germans made their final attempt to win the war in France before the Americans arrived in sufficient numbers to tip the scales. Played it twice, both times the game went down to the wire, both times the Germans came up just short. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.
World War 1 [aka Moments in Conflict #4] One of the SPI folio games (came packaged in a bag only a bit larger than the original Metagame folios). A simple, short game that can be played quickly. It has an interesting combat mechanic - each country has a manpower pool. Combat losses are taken from this pool, or the player can choose to retreat a certain number of hexes in place of losses. Early in the war, players take losses to maintain their positions, but later they have no choice but to retreat. In addition, later units, such as stosstruppen, can force retreats. This elegantly reflects the movement that occurred in the later battles, and on the Eastern Front. I only played this once, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another 4.5 stars.
I also have Paths of Glory, but I picked it up a few years ago, and haven't found anyone willing to tackle it. Oh well...
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