Wednesday nights have quickly become ‘War Game Wednesday’, Grant brings his youngest two children over to play with mine and we go head to head with a heavier war game for the evening. This weeks’ endeavor was Wilderness War, designed by Volko Ruhnke and published by GMT games. Don’t be fooled by the small 2″ box, this game packs a punch.
The box is chock full of counter and chits that denote units, leaders and fortifications. The British side, invariably played by myself, have a large number of Drilled Troops, and have to be heavily concerned about attrition during the winter. The French side has a much larger number of Indians available to them and will probably rely on raiding and hit an run tactics, using their limited Drilled Troops to tie up the British in key strategic locations.
Only after we set everything up painstakingly from the rule book did we realize that the board has the starting set up for the 1755 scenario printed on the board and the spaces. The board seemed sparse and daunting, from a tactical perspective, but it filled up pretty quickly with other stacks and leaders and we quickly felt on top of each other.
After the first year, and much slogging through the rule book I felt like I had learned the rules to a decent enough extent to plough through the rest of the game. But a word of warning, the rule book does leave a lot to be desired, especially considering this is a third printing of the game. We found ourselves scratching our heads at the wording for some of the rules, which at times seem needlessly fiddly or irritatingly vague. Having said that GMT normally does an excellent job with rules books and this is one is definitely the exception to that.
I’m excited to pick up where we left off.
-Alexander
The Players' Aid 
I’ve been playing Wilderness War on Vassal by email and love the game. Alexander is right that the majority of conflicts are over rules explanation, but overall amicable. This being my first game, I’m playing the French. With less troops, less offensive punch, and at times less cards to deal with, the wilderness has become my friend. Mobility, raiding, attack and avoiding battles are the mainstay of my French strategy. I find the game follows the history of the warfare and outcome rather good. Great game.
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