First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now. Also, I know that traditionally the 12 Days of Christmas happen after Christmas Day (starting on December 25th and ending on January 5th also known as Twelfth Night) but I want to do this in a lead up to the holiday.
On the 12th and final day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…
12 Rifleman Capturing
The Company of Heroes Board Game is a miniatures tactical game based on the video game from Relic/Sega and attempts to capture the choices, tactics and mission strategies of the video game. In teams, or as individuals, players will maneuver units and battle for control points to collect manpower, munitions and fuel building their war economies to then spend these resources to purchase units and upgrade abilities, eventually unlocking the powerful end-game units of their nation.
The 2nd Edition of Company of Heroes introduces extensive improvements to gameplay, tactical choices, unit balance, faction differentiation, mission parameters and more. It adjusts unit and building costs, resource generation and other mechanics to allow for more units to be purchased, fielded and used over the course of the battle. We recently played our new 2nd Edition copy and had a blast with the system and the toy factor.
One of the most interesting parts of the design is the concept of the economy. Spread out on the board are Resource Hexes that produce 1 or more of 4 currencies in the game including Manpower, Munitions, Fuel and Victory Points. These Resource Hexes can be Captured, and resources gained at the end of each turn to build up a players’ stockpiles. Resources are then spent on units, Tier Building Boards, upgrades, and Commander Tiers, which add new and interesting abilities to the troops and their movement, combat and defense. Infantry units can also be Reinforced and Vehicles and Emplacements can be Repaired using these resources.
All Infantry units, unless Pinned, Retreating or inside a Transport, Emplacements and Vehicles can Capture these locations but they must have the Capture Ability. When these Resource Hexes and Control Points are Captured, these will be marked with flag tokens.
As you can see in the above picture, the game uses little miniatures to represent your troops and these are placed inside a small plastic tray with various pockets for dice and units. Shown here are 3 of my starting Rifle companies in the game that all have the Capture Ability. Typically, each scenario is laid out similarly giving each player an opportunity to maneuver their forces into a position to capture needed Resource Hexes and Control Points. Here I have 2 normal Rifle companies and a Mortar Team as my starting forces. This game was very fun and interesting and I very much enjoyed what the system was trying to do. A bit overdone in the production area but that is sometimes what we want as gamers and this sure is a very well made game.
Once again, it has been a blast thinking about what games and situations to include in this series and I hope you all enjoyed reading them as much as I did writing them. In addition, I sincerely hope that each of you and your families have a joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year!
You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:
2 Armored Trains Supporting – 1920: Nest of Eagles from PHALANX
3 Federal Agents in Hot Pursuit – The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth from Blue Panther
4 Ships Bombarding – General Orders: Sengoku Jidai from Osprey Games
7 Red Dust Rebels Campaigning – Red Dust Rebellion from GMT Games
8 Reloads of Machine Gun Ammunition – Fields of Fire Deluxe Edition from GMT Games
10 Union Troops of Wilder’s Brigade Activating – The Rock of Chickamauga from Flying Pig Games
11 Grognards of the Grande Armée Assaulting – Congress of Vienna from GMT Games
-Grant
The Players' Aid 