I know it is now June….I am usually done with this post by mid-March but this year we had a bunch of great games that came out in November and December and we just had to get several of them to the table before we shut 2025 down. Our opportunity to do so with full tables as there were several multi-player games in that bunch, was during Buckeye Game Fest in mid-March where we played lots of great games including Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 from Legion Wargames, Cross Bronx Expressway from GMT Games and Imperial Elegy: The Road to the Great War 1850-1920 from VUCA Simulations to name just a few. And now, with those final games getting played, comes the impossible task of distilling an entire year’s worth of gaming down to a list of the 10 games that we most enjoyed. I hate doing this. I love writing about, thinking about and sharing my experiences about the games we have played but hate having to make somewhat objective choices about which is better and which games should even be considered for the list. The first comment I would have is that not all games are the same. Not the same scale, the same play time, the same mechanically or even historically. Each game is unique and in my opinion, all games have something objectively good about them. Secondly, we didn’t get around to playing some of the new releases in 2025. I say some but we actually didn’t play a lot of the new releases and did the best that we could to play as many as possible. So we might leave off a game that you thought was very good and deserving and it probably is but we either didn’t get around to playing it or it just didn’t hit with us. But, in the end, I have to make this list and this is my best effort at doing just that!

In 2025, we played 33 unique titles from 22 different publishers. Some were operational, strategic or tactical scale and in the list this year I didn’t include any solitaire games. Some used counters. Some used cards. Some used wooden bits and some used miniatures. Some were only card games with no other components and some were cooperative. At the end of the day, in 2025 we played a lot of games! And here I present to you my list of the Top 10 Wargames of 2025!

10. China’s War: 1937-1941 from GMT Games

This is a game that I have been awaiting for a long, long time. Really since it was announced nearly 7 years ago in 2019. Yes you read that right…2019! And I am happy to report that the wait was definitely worth it as the game feels fresh and is a very worthy addition to the COIN Series. China’s War: 1937-1941 from GMT Games, which is volume 13 in the well respected and venerable COIN Series, examines the first five years of the 2nd Sino-Japanese conflict, when China stood alone against the whole of the Japanese Empire. Each player takes on the role of 1 of 4 Factions seeking to attack or defend the Republic of China including the aggressive and powerful Japanese, the harried Government represented by the Guomindang party, the rebellious Chinese Communist Party, or the unruly and fractious Warlords who are obedient when convenient but have their eye on gaining state power. Using military, political, and economic actions and exploiting various events, players will build and maneuver forces to influence or control the population, extract resources, or otherwise achieve their Faction’s goals and victory conditions. As with all COIN Series games that are Card Assisted rather than Card Driven Games, the deck of cards will regulate turn order, inject historical events into the game with major benefits or consequences, cause victory checks and other in game processes.

China’s War feels like a classic COIN Series game but in my opinion has 3 insurgent style factions against the powerful Japanese who don’t really act like the large Government factions in previous entries in the series. The focus really centers on the control of the Lines of Communication or LoC’s on the game board, which was a very refreshing approach that created some really interesting interplay and caused me to think differently about how I would go about achieving my Victory Conditions. 

We find that Brian Train’s designs are just fantastic. I think that sometimes they can be a bit opaque, meaning that their true genius cannot be seen with just a few plays but will be unlocked over 4 or 5 plays as we have found with A Distant Plain, which has continually moved up on my list of favorite COIN Series games with each play that now numbers around 5. But China’s War was just special. It is totally unique as to its take on insurgency within the COIN Series, is really frenetic and active and gives the feeling of classic COIN while really turning things a bit upside down with the way the powerful faction works in the Japanese as they really only care about maintaining and cleaning off their Lines of Communication. In fact, they are so unique that they are the faction that will place Terror on the board, which is typically reserved for the insurgent factions to sway Support and Opposition.

We very much enjoyed the game and had a good time with it. We had a newer COIN Series player and they seemed to take to the game quickly and understood what it was that they were supposed to be doing. With that being said, with only the 1 play, I am sure that there are lots of things that we didn’t experience and will be able to discover those in future gaming opportunities. Suffice it to say that we can’t wait to play the game again and I am planning to bring this one along with me to the World Boardgaming Championships at the end of July.

We recently shot a First Impression/review video and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in China’s War: 1937-1941, you can purchase a copy for $88.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-830-chinas-war-1937-1941.aspx

9. Imperial Elegy: The Road to the Great War 1850-1920 from VUCA Simulations

This spring, while attending Buckeye Game Fest in Columbus, Ohio, we were able to coordinate a 6-player game of Imperial Elegy: The Road to the Great War 1850-1920 from VUCA Simulations. Imperial Elegy is a card driven game that blends diplomacy, warfare, and statecraft and feels a bit akin to games like Here I Stand and Virgin Queen from GMT Games. Grand scale sweeping epics that play multiplayers and take a day to play. Players play as 1 of 6 unique major powers in the game including Germany/Prussia, the United Kingdom, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

Imperial Elegy is a fantastically themed game that takes place over 7 turns, with each of the turns representing approximately a decade. If the Great War breaks out due to the World Tension Track reaching a certain level, the game can be extended by an additional 6 shorter turns. A turn in the game consists of player impulses that is driven by the play of action cards for their Command Points or for the printed events. Players will use CP and events to take actions like colonize, conduct diplomacy with minor nations, fight wars, as well as hinder their opponents by playing events that take away their actions or resources. A turn will end once all players have consecutively passed or when all players run out of cards.

The game is somewhat of a sandbox style game as you have so many options and choices about what to do during the course of the game. Obviously, your faction has some direction about what you should be doing but really it is up the player to spend their resources how they will to accomplish their ultimate goals and score Victory Points. I truly love that aspect about this game and as we played we saw that sandbox and the asymmetry between the various factions. Particularly at the start, each country has some specific goals that they have drawn from the National Goals Deck that are a source of Victory Points, in fact a major source of Victory Points, and players will need to prioritize these cards and decide which ones to attempt to go after from the start. With only 7 turns, they will have to make progress on these National Goals if they have any hope of actually achieving them.

Each of the represented nations in the game have their own special player board that contains various tracks that keep various information readily available to the players. Here is a look at the German player board. I very much enjoyed that they have gone to a great deal of effort to make these player boards and also that they gave each of the nation’s Stability, which decides whether various actions like war can be taken or if there are various positive or negative modifiers, the available Manpower that will determine how many armies can be built, Industry that tells how many action pointed you will have to spend during war to maneuver units, attack and replace losses. The focus of the game is about the control of territories both in Europe as well as colonies abroad and there is an automatic victory if a certain target number is met, in the case of Germany 15.

As we played, I started to realize that the key focus of the overall world stability and things like the Domestic Stability Tracks, which are focused of both the internal and external pressures faced by the powers. I really very much liked this thematic inclusion as no one wants to start a major global conflagration and there are steps that players have to take to skirt the inevitable troubles that result in their own actions and how they are seen by the other players in the game. But in our limited play, I never really felt threatened by this concept. Either our group was super skilled at avoiding the inevitable increase in tension or due to our short play we didn’t really experience some of the events that would have tipped this over the edge. I think that we say small increases in our full turn play but nothing that seemed unmanageable and we actually had an event that lowered it so it never became an issue. The game is about spending your resources wisely, in the form of your cards and your aspects like Stability, and to use your cards to do the events that could increase tension didn’t seem to be in our best interest, at least not in the 1st decade of the game. But maybe that will come later.

I wrote a First Impressions style post on the blog that you can read at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2026/05/06/first-impressions-imperial-elegy-the-road-to-the-great-war-1850-1920-from-vuca-simulations/

We do have a full 6-player game scheduled for later this month and will have more to report after that all day affair.

If you are interested in Imperial Elegy: The Road to the Great War 1850-1920, you can purchase a copy for $129.99 from the VUCA Simulations website at the following link: https://vucasimulations.com/products/imperial-elegy-the-imperial-world-at-war-1850-1920

8. An Impossible War: The First Carlist War in the North, 1834-1838 from Bellica Third Generation

Earlier this year, I was able to host Francisco Ronco at my home to play a few games together. One of the games we played was published by his company Bellica Third Generation and was called An Impossible War. An Impossible War: The First Carlist War in the North, 1834-1838 is a block wargame that recreates the First Carlist War in the North of Spain which was a civil war between the Carlists who supported the succession of the late king’s brother Carlos de Borbón and the progressive and centralist supporters of the regent Maria Christina acting for Isabella II of Spain who were referred to as the Liberals. The game uses blocks representing units but also includes counters and uses cards.

An Impossible War is a fantastic design that attempts to capture the historical aspects of this titanic struggle for the throne of Spain in the mid 19th century. Historically, the Carlist forces who were defenders of traditional monarchy, regional privileges, and the Catholic Church, were a minority faction fighting an overwhelmingly larger, richer liberal government. The uprising phase reflects how the Carlists compensated for this disparity by forcing the Liberal government to fight on multiple fronts and suffer from logistical nightmares across hostile terrain. The Carlist Uprising Phase, and the use of its auxiliary Rest of Spain regional map, forces some really tough dilemmas on the Liberal player. They must attempt to divide their forces between the main Game Map and the Rest of Spain Map to prevent the opposition Carlist forces from overwhelming the home territory in the north. It serves as a vital strategic balancing act for the Liberal player that cannot be ignored and must be dealt with systematically and somewhat evenly. Too much focus on the Rest of Spain Map and the situation on the Game Map will quickly snowball and they will lose control. Focus on the situation on the Game Map and the protection of Cities and Towns and the Carlist Expeditions will gain momentum and turn the countryside red. While the primary war centers on the rugged terrain of northern Spain (Navarre and the Basque Provinces), the uprising mechanic abstractly models scattered insurgencies across the rest of the country. And as you know, insurgencies can be very unpredictable and difficult to contain. You stamp out one area only to see a fire start in another. The Liberal player must divert troops and supply resources to the secondary map to quell these localized rebellions and hunt down Carlist expeditions originating from the north. And, the important thing for the Carlist player and the expansion of the uprisings and the success of their expeditions is the possible generation of generation of Prestige and Victory Points, which is really crucial to their path to victory.

I very much enjoyed the asymmetry between the Carlist and Liberal forces in the game. It made for a very interesting tactical challenge for both sides as they have to play to their strengths and not get too overly concerned with the numbers. The Carlists will be much more mobile in their defense and look to exploit every gap in a supply line to move around and stay away from the numerically superior Liberal forces, whereas the Liberal player will have to move more methodically to take outlying towns and settlements to be able to shore up their lines and create less opportunities for end arounds by the Carlists. The disparity in the forces was a very interesting choice by the designer David Gómez Relloso and I am sure is reflective of the historical reality of the First Carlist War.

I very much enjoyed An Impossible War, even though I played just a few turns of a smaller scenario with Francisco Ronco. He was a master at the game, as obviously as the publisher and a playtester he is intimately familiar with the rules and strategies, and I learned a lot from him about how the game should be played. I am looking forward to future plays as the game is just very good and has some interesting aspects that create a very tense and interesting game of maneuver and strategy. The Game Map is very well done, from an aesthetic perspective as well as functionally, and the board makes playing the game easier.

If you are interested, we posted an interview on the blog with the designer and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/07/14/interview-with-david-gomez-relloso-designer-of-an-impossible-war-the-first-carlist-war-in-the-north-1834-1838-from-bellica-3rd-generation/

I also was able to shoot a fairly short video summary of my game play with Francisco Ronco who is the owner of Bellica Third Generation and you can watch that at the following link:

Also I have embarked on a series of written Action Point post highlighting the various aspects of the game. Those published to date are as follows:

Action Point 1 – Game Map as well as the use of the Rest of Spain smaller map.

Action Point 2 – Units available to both sides and the importance of Supply.

Action Point 3 – Carlist Uprising Phase and what it means for the game.

If you are interested in An Impossible War: The First Carlist War in the North, 1834-1838, you can purchase a copy for 120,00 € ($139.08 in US Dollars) from the Bellica Third Generation website at the following link: https://bellica3g.com/en/product/una-guerra-imposible/

7. Blue & Gray Deluxe Edition from Decision Games

If you like classic wargames, and by that I mean simple I Go You Go Hex and Counter games from the 70’s and 80’s, then you are going to love Blue & Gray Deluxe Edition, which is a new updated version of 2 classic quadrigames from SPI covering several key battles from the American Civil War. Blue & Gray Deluxe Edition consists of the original eight games from the SPI Blue & Gray I & II Quadrigames but with massively upgraded components and counters and some better written rules. The key battles depicted are among the most important of the American Civil War and include Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and The Battle of the Wilderness.

The Deluxe Edition part of the title is really just a few changes including a mounted board that is really gorgeous and pretty sturdy. The counters have been slightly enlarged and there are a few additional optional rules including things like night turns, fatigue, leader casualties. There also were some optional unit counters that could be used but overall this was an artist and layout reissue of the game with some other nice additions such as period fonts and a very solid choice of colors for the maps and the counters as they really compliment each other well. But the game is really extremely playable meaning that is doesn’t take long to pick up the rules and the system is very standard fair. The game mechanics used are based on the Borodino/Napoleon at Waterloo system and frankly are very easy to grock and to get into. I did very much like the back and forth of the scenarios as the players will tend to clash over control of certain key areas that have defensible terrain and that are only approachable from a few areas. But the game does have a few concerns for me such as generally no fog of war and no difficulty in activating any and all of your stacks. But that is what the system is and it will truly appeal to those that are looking for that nostalgic feeling from their childhoods.

But it plays well, fast and is solid and any good solid wargame is good with me.

Here is a link to our review video:

If you are interested in Blue & Gray Deluxe Edition, you can order a copy for $140.00 from the Decision Games website at the following link: https://shop.decisiongames.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=P%2D3038

6. Fighting Formations: US 29th Infantry Division from GMT Games

One of my favorite tactical systems of all time is Combat Commander designed by the late Chad Jensen. I had yet to play his other tactical combined-arms series called Fighting Formations until the newest release came out in 2025 called Fighting Formations: US 29th Infantry Division. Fighting Formations is intended to be an ongoing series of wargames covering WWII tactical combined-arms combat at the platoon and squad levels. Each game in the series will feature a distinct combat unit, highlighting battles in which that unit participated as well as its particular order of battle and fighting characteristics. In this second volume of Fighting Formations, GMT features the US 29th Infantry Division—“Blue and Gray”—as it fought from just after D-Day in June of 1944 to the end of the year.

The core mechanics from the original Fighting Formations remain unchanged in this volume. The difference from the original game is in the way the units will fight. The different costs on the matrix place an emphasis on certain actions and assets for the 29th ID that were different than the others games way of approaching a battle. This game is far from Combat Commander though as it uses cards but they are not the engine of the game. The game also has a very interesting and unique activation system where each of the orders cost a different amount of Initiative and tuns into and impulse-type back and forth where the various Orders carry with them a certain cost in Initiative. The game has a pool of 40 Initiative that is spent to give these orders and then to activate units for those orders. At the end of every order, the player with the most Initiative is able to give the next order. In response, the opponent can also spend Initiative to conduct both Opportunity Fire or Reactive Fire which keeps the game very dynamic and fluid. Just a really great way to approach this and if you have played Downfall from GMT Games you will notice similarities with the system.

The game also tells a great narrative of the differences between the US and German troops as the 29th had access to more battlefield support than their German counterparts and the card deck is tailored to that experience as well. The US player in the new game has access to more cards and at lower initiative costs, bringing artillery and air support to the forefront in a way that we have not seen before.

We did a RAW video after our 1st play and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Fighting Formations: US 29th Infantry Division, you can order a copy for $121.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1005-fighting-formations-us-29th-infantry-division.aspx

5. The Rock of Chickamauga from Flying Pig Games

The Rock of Chickamauga is the 2nd entry in the Black Swan Series from Flying Pig Games designed by Hermann Luttmann and follows closely on the heels of A Most Fearful Sacrifice. Using the same game system, which is based on the well received Blind Sword Series, The Rock of Chickamauga covers the entire Battle of Chickamauga, fought from September 18th through the 20th, 1863 in northern Georgia. The Union Army of the Cumberland, under William Rosecrans, is driving south from Chattanooga, hoping to envelop and trap Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee. But Bragg anticipates the maneuver, pulls back and then counterattacks the overextended Union forces. They meet along Chickamauga Creek, nicknamed the “River of Death”, in an epic struggle. 

The Black Swan Series uses a card-draw activation system that functions similarly to a traditional chit-pull system. This system is a core mechanic for introducing uncertainty, friction, and the fog of war into the gameplay. The cards themselves contain specific game information and orders, which streamlines play and reduces the need to look up rules or charts, saving time compared to traditional chit-pull systems.

I also very much liked how the confusion and true fog of war that existed at the battlefield was included in the game play. Not only do to the commanders’ lack precise information about their opponent but also the physical nature of the battlefield. Both sides basically went into battle stumbling and bumbling through the woods, searching out what they thought was the enemy’s flank and actually being way off in their assumptions. The woods themselves were so uniquely characteristic in that they were mostly thickly grouped with little undergrowth (being cleared by the local farmers and millers), but still displaying significant canopies. This canopy functioned like a tropical jungle “roof” and trapped smoke and dust within it. To add to that, there had been little rain in the area and the trails, lanes, and roads were exceedingly dry and produced clouds of dust. My main concern therefore was replicating all that confusion and ignorance of the location of opposing forces and thankfully, that’s what the entire Blind Swords/Black Swan System is modeled to reflect. Therefore, I just doubled-down on the inherent “chaos” elements of the core system and made those factors even more prevalent.

I also love how the system models the units and their fighting prowess referred to as Cohesion. The Cohesion Rating of a unit is essentially a catch-all for its morale, training and experience and includes what the unit’s intangible fighting qualities are, other than just sheer number of men. It is probably the most important aspect of the game engine as it is the key element that will determine how well a unit will fight – and survive – during the battle. It is used throughout the game to measure a unit’s ability to fight and endure on the battlefield. The CR will fluctuate during the entire game, and it will do so often. Units that are Shaken or Battleworn will have their CR suffer. Units can also raise their CR temporarily through the use of various events or by providing them with Unit Support. A low CR makes units more vulnerable and increases their risk during a Break Test, which will cause them to leave the game if they fail. You have to focus on this aspect or you will be unable to consistently move your attacks forward.

Just such a great system and I love Hermann’s attention to the historical details and the way he tells these ACW stories. I love this Black Swan Series and look forward to future volumes.

We posted an interview with the designer Hermann Luttmann and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/10/23/interview-with-hermann-luttmann-designer-of-the-rock-of-chickamauga-from-flying-pig-games-coming-to-kickstarter-october-24th/

We also did a review video and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in The Rock of Chickamauga, you can order a copy for $140.00 from the Flying Pig Games website at the following link: https://flyingpiggames.com/shop/ols/products/the-rock-of-chickamauga

4. BCS Inflection Point: The Battle for Kalach and the Battle of Chir from Multi-Man Publishing

Over the past couple years, we have played a few venerated and respected series games from Multi-Man Publishing for the first time that frankly I had initially turned my nose up at for various reasons. These reasons were not really anything important or truly about the design or mechanics but included things like price, graphic design, style and somewhat because of the complexity and reputation of complexity of those systems. These series included first the Standard Combat Series (SCS) with our first game being Rostov ’41 and now the Battalion Combat Series (BCS) with our first game being Arracourt and since we have played several other volumes including Brazen Chariots and Baptism by Fire. I must admit here that I am actually embarrassed that I hadn’t played those series and readily admit that I just discounted and dismissed them out of hand. I am so very glad that we repented of our stubbornness and found this system because it really is very, very good at what it is trying to teach and demonstrate about warfare at this scale.

One of the best parts about this new volume in the series is that it is actually 2 games in the same box. One game which is smaller, with fewer counters and formations and that uses a smaller version of the board included in the game and one that is the full campaign with more counters and formations, a larger board and is much more involved. Overall, I would say that the BCS is a fairly straightforward series even for someone who is a beginner and has less experience with the BCS system like me. I think that I thought they were designing Arracourt as the entry to the series, and I still think that is the case, but this volume has some of the same flexibility and approachability that some of the larger titles don’t necessarily have. I feel that players can cut their teeth on this one using the smaller scenario while getting comfortable with the rules and system before you attempt the larger scenarior or even other larger games in the series. I also feel that the game requires somewhat of a paradigm shift before playing. What I mean by that is really two fold.

First, I really feel that usually these big hex and counter wargames are set in their combat methods, namely focused on odds based Combat Results Tables and counting up combat factors to get the perfect odds, and require a bit of calculation. But BCS doesn’t use a traditional CRT but breaks the combat down into more of a collection of DRM’s based on many factors.

Second, the game also has very low counter density, with the scenario we played having about 40 counters per side on the map at any given time, and stacking limits are just 2 combat units with other counters also allowed such as support units or HQ’s. There are not enough counters here to create the long contiguous line or wall of units that are typical in some of the larger systems, which lends this one to a bit more maneuvering of units to get into good position while using terrain to attempt to isolate and cut off units from supply or to prevent the enemy from doing the same to your units. This created somewhat of a back and forth dance for us that kept my focus and attention and was really quite entertaining. Supply is important to the system but not as focused on it as say the Operational Combat Series (OCS). The players must manage their HQ’s and their combat trains to keep their units in full supply and this becomes somewhat of a different type of dance that sees players cautiously keeping their units in a loose perimeter to prevent a freak breakthrough or run around to get to the back of the formations to take out supply sources and cut off units. I really liked the scale and feeling of this BCS system and had a very good time in trying to learn and understand it and also trying to figure out the best strategies to engage.

The counters included in BCS Inflection Point are dual sided but the back side is not to show a reduced unit as is normal with these wargames. The front side is the unit’s move side while the back side is its deployed side. Each of these stances is very important and must be used by each player to get the most out of their units and to take it to their opponent.

I wrote a First Impressions style post on the blog that you can read at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2026/03/04/first-impressions-bcs-inflection-point-the-battle-for-kalach-and-the-battle-of-chir-from-multi-man-publishing/

We also did a review video and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in BCS Inflection Point: The Battle for Kalach and the Battle of Chir, you can order a copy for $112.00 from the Multi-Man Publishing website at the following link: https://mmpgamers.com/inflection-point-p-418

3. Close Quarter Battles: Waterloo from Lock ‘n Load Publishing

Close Quarter Battles: Waterloo was such a surprise of the year for us. It is a tactical level wargame that is truly intense and chaotic that attempts to, and does a fantastic job of accomplishing, the brutal, up-close engagements of Napoleonic warfare. The game puts players in command of elite British, French, or Prussian forces as they fight for control of key battlefield positions. The designer has chosen to center on the two strongpoints of the battle of Waterloo including the La Haye Sainte farm and the Hougoumont Farm. First off, the game is just gorgeous and the maps are stunning. In fact, they are so good that I am going to highlight them in an upcoming entry on the blog in the Beautiful Boards of Wargaming Series. But, the Waterloo battles here are skirmishes around and for the taking of these two farms. The game uses a grand tactical system that works to attempt to to simulate the interactions between infantry skirmishers of small groups, artillery sections and cavalry in a fortified area. This leads to the game being uber violent and bloody as assaults are common but difficult particularly for the attackers who will have to scale formidable walls and then take on the awaiting crack troops inside. Officers and generals are very important to the battle as they will influence the battlefield with their command range and other attributes to add DRM’s to the troops by issuing orders, rallying troops, and trying their best to maintain discipline.

I really like this one as it is really a game. Meaning that the rules are simple yet impactful and the game provides each of the players with a deck of cards that act as events to provide bonuses, allow for greater movement distance or to perform heroic acts. They also provide the chance to attack and eliminate leaders with sniper fire to cause even further chaos and blood.

We did a review video and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Close Quarter Battles: Waterloo, you can order a copy for $129.99 from the Lock ‘n Load Publishing website at the following link: https://lnlpublishing.com/products/close-quarter-battles-waterloo-llp314531

2. All Are Brothers: Solferino, 1859 from Legion Wargames

We very much enjoy the Blind Swords Series originally designed by Hermann Luttmann. We love it for its chaos, unpredictability and for is crunchy combat system. This past year, a new designer Bryan Armor took up the call and took this Blind Swords System and put it into action in the Second Italian War of Independence. All Are Brothers: Solferino, 1859 simulates the decisive battle of the Second Italian War of Independence at the Brigade-level, with some additional Regimental-size and smaller detachments included.

And the other part that is so good about this system and the game itself is the activation chit pull system. The chit pull mechanic also very much aids in solitaire play, as does variable activation rules and reinforcement tables but it really makes for a lot of uncertainty about how and what units will activate. No battle is in your full control and this system really reinforces that truth about the battlefield.

One of the best parts is the morale system. Each corps has an associated Corps Morale marker on the Morale Track. Each Corps Morale marker will be reduced by one when they activate including movement and fire attacks but also when Leaders take casualties or break tests are failed. This can all lead to the corps becoming demoralized which means they will be unable to offensively move and attack and will be relegated to a defensive posture. So you really have to make good choices about what units and when they will activate. You cannot just wholesale activate each formation every turn but must look at their status to decide how best to manage this aspect that was a very interesting and nice addition to an all ready proven and very good system. This means that units are also prone to attrition and need to be covered or supported by artillery fire. They can be used most effectively if massed at certain points. The chits also effected the corps’ stance switching between aggressive or defensive and this is a choice that must be made with a full understanding of a plan of attack.

Just a very solid and playable game that felt like a big wargame that played fairly quickly and easily and didn’t get bogged down too much.

We did a review video and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in All Are Brothers: Solferino, 1859, you can order a copy for $58.00 from the Legion Wargames website at the following link: https://www.legionwargames.com/legion_AAB.html

1. Congress of Vienna from GMT Games

I am a big fan of the Great Statesman Series from GMT Games and several of its volumes including Churchill and Pericles are among my favorite wargames. But Congress of Vienna is a really great game, probably the best of the bunch, and has matured the system laid out by its found Mark Herman. Congress of Vienna has two different but related phases including the conference table where players first debate over the control of issues germane to the factions and the period of the war and second these issues are then used on the battlefield to recruit units, attack and take overall command of battles. The players will be playing cards from their hands to “debate” over the various issues that were placed on the table, which include all types of things such as Military Operations, Recruitment, who will lead the combined Coalition forces (Generalissimo), Future of French Government, British Financial Aid, Liberalism vs. Absolutism, Austrian Neutrality and several other issues, and then later the players will use their accumulated Resources gained from the issues to enact action on the Military Map and do things like mobilize troops, place Military Support Markers and the ultimately to conduct warfare.

The interesting thing about this mechanic is that sometimes the other players will win your issues by having them rest on their side of the conference table at the conclusion of the phase. In this case, the winning player will gain control of that issue and then will get the opportunity to choose where the issues will be placed on the Military Map, but the owner of the issue will still pay for it and must do where the placement is telling them to do, such as attack on a certain front. There also is a small area on the board where the Russian player must turn their effort to fight in Asia. This action has no real in game effect or benefit other than causing Russia to lose the choice of what they wanted to do in favor of doing something else. This can be a great tactic for the French player, or even for other Coalition players to spoil the plans of the Russian player and possibly box them out of gaining VP for military victories on various tracks.

The game relies on cards and cards can be used to negotiate, i.e. move an issue to your National Track. Cards can provide a particular issue with positive and negative DRM’s depending on which nation plays them and can also be traded with another player during the Diplomacy Phase. Certain cards are better than others for debating an issue moved by another player; and finally, if they are saved for the War Phase, staff cards can be used to modify dice rolling in battles. These are very versatile cards and the players will have to learn them and their benefits in order to be effective at the game.

But even though the game relies on cards and has an important Diplomacy Phase, without a doubt CoV is a wargame with DRM’s for units and military leaders, terrain, military support, a Casualties Table, retreat and advancing after battle, etc. However, both Phases are inversely related and if players use their Character Cards in the form of generals and military leaders for the Diplomacy Phase you will not have them available for the Military Phase. If you do not win enough issues during the Diplomacy Phase, you will not have recruiting or military operations where they are most important to your power.

I would say that the game is very involved and will take a few plays to really get comfortable with. I don’t want anyone to take this to mean that the game is overly complex and difficult to play. That is not the case. It is a very approachable system and game once you get the basics down through the play of a few turns. I would also say that there is a ton of differences and asymmetry with the nations and learning all of them well and understanding their tactics will take some time. But that is a good thing in my opinion and means that there is depth to the game and replayabilty is huge. And in my opinion, this was the best game that I played from 2025. Just fantastic!

I wrote a First Impressions style post on the blog that you can read at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/08/06/first-impressions-congress-of-vienna-from-gmt-games/

We also did a full video review and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Congress of Vienna, you are unfortunately out of luck as it is out of print but you can pre-order a copy for $65.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1167-congress-of-vienna-2nd-printing.aspx

Honorable Mentions:

Each year I feel compelled to tack on some games to this list just because they were so very interesting or dealt with unique settings that I feel they are worthy of mentioning. While they didn’t make the Top 10 list, they are each good games in their own right.

Alliance: Multi-Player Napoleonic Wargame from Columbia Games

All in all, we had a great time with Alliance. I think that we felt that the game was solid, with some great mechanics such as the card play and the block combat system, but was just missing some things. I would like to see what the community comes up with as far as variants and other changes over the next year. But the game delivers on its promise of a sandbox strategic level Napoleonic wargame with a focus on alliance building and maintenance. There is a lot to like and we plan to play this one again.

I wrote a First Impressions style post on the blog that you can read at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/03/06/first-impressions-alliance-multiplayer-napoleonic-wargame-from-columbia-games/

We also did a full video review and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Alliance: Multi-Player Napoleonic Wargame, you can order a copy for $99.98 from the Columbia Games website at the following link: https://secure.columbiagames.com/products/3221

Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 from Legion Wargames

Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 is a COIN Series adjacent game designed by Clint Warren-Davey and Benjamin Feine and is an alternate history game, but the story that is presented is entirely plausible. Werwolf was a real underground guerrilla group, comprised of SS and Hitler Youth members. It was intended to lead an insurgency against the invading Allies and Soviets when it became clear that Germany was losing the war in a conventional sense in the mid-1940’s. They did in fact have a few successes and American intelligence officer Frank Manuel said that the Werwolves were prepared “to strike down the isolated soldier in his jeep, the MP on patrol, the fool who goes a-courting after dark, the Yankee braggart who takes a back road.” The game allows players to take on the role of the occupying Soviets and Western Allies along with this Werwolf insurgency and the Edelweiss insurgency.

This game was very good and frankly was a breath of fresh air in the COIN Series or COIN Series adjacent arena. This game was very kinetic and each faction had a ton of combat and had to engage each other to accomplish their goals. The cards were fantastic and the additions to the system such as Research Tokens, Heavy Weapons in the form of leftover tanks, Wunder-waffen and the Cold War Tension Track, were really fresh and well integrated into the game play. I loved the game and would play it again in a heart beat!

If you are interested in Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948, you can order a copy for $106.00 from the Legion Wargames website at the following link: https://www.legionwargames.com/legion_WER.html

Verdun from Dragon Dawn Productions

Verdun is a card game that is focused on the famous siege of Verdun during World War I. As player’s hands dwindle down as they play 2 cards per round but only draw 1, players will also have to play cards that help the other side, timing it strategically to minimize their own casualties. The teams alternate being the Attacker, and each card played leads to more and more deaths. You are fighting over positive victory points from trying to win several positions through over the top attacks that are worth a set amount of VP but that are hidden from view until they are taken so you never know if you are going for the high VP area or the low ones until you blow the whistle to initiate the attack.

A game of Verdun lasts about 16 rounds as players start with 12 cards, which they then play in a series of 12 tricks. When you win the trick, you gain the VP for the position but the winner will lose their lowest valued cards while the loser will lose their highest value cards to the dead pile representing mounting casualties. Low cards have fewer skulls on them representing deaths while higher cards have more. So even in victory you will be accumulating negative VP’s and this is one of the key aspects of the game…managing those deaths! Just like the high command.

In the end, the player with the highest score will win and this number will be very low or can even be negative. In our play of the game, my French defeated Alexander’s Germans by a final score of 3 VP to -14 VP. What a great little trick taking game! The really interesting part about the late game is that your hand has dwindled to being full of your worst cards as you have most likely used the good cards earlier to win tricks or cause losses to your opponent. The last few card plays just seem brutal and you are just hoping to not have to take a lot of skulls. This felt very fruitless and mimics the despair of commanders as they had to issue orders that they knew were not going to result in any positive gains but only the loss of life.

We did a full video review and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Verdun, you can order a copy for €33,00 ($38.00 US Dollars) from the Dragon Dawn Productions website at the following link: https://dragondawnstore.myshopify.com/products/verdun

Drop Zone: Southern France from Worthington Publishing

Drop Zone: Southern France is a company-level wargame covering the Allied airborne assault that spearheaded Operation Dragoon, which was the invasion of Southern France or the Second D-Day on August 15, 1944. The history behind this operation is really very interesting as early on the morning of D-Day, the allied First Airborne Task Force (1st ABTF) parachuted a dozen miles behind the Riviera landing beaches to seize key towns and road junctions, to prevent the German occupation forces from counter-attacking the amphibious landing, and to facilitate the advance of Allied forces. The 4:00 AM parachute drop was badly scattered due to an unexpected dense fog bank that blanketed the battlefield. Drop Zone: Southern France covers the first two days of this airborne operation in six game turns, when the American and British paratroopers and glider-men fought surrounded and alone, supported only by French resistance bands. This game is very good and is just a solid wargame.

This game is surprisingly good and we had a great time playing it! There are just so many interesting elements to consider including the various operations, objectives and paths to take for the Allies to attempt to capture their objectives as planned. We found the game to be imminently playable and were very pleased with the strategy and planning required to do well. This one is a winner and I would recommend it highly as an introductory wargame that plays in 90-120 minutes but gives some real meat to chew on.

We did a full video review and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Drop Zone: Southern France, you can order a copy for $60.00 from the Miniature Market website at the following link: https://www.miniaturemarket.com/drop-zone-southern-france-wpub0101.html

Chicago ‘68 from The Dietz Foundation

Chicago ’68 pits revolutionary spectacle against civil order at the Democratic National Convention riots of 1968. Players take the role of either the Establishment, consisting of the Chicago PD and Mayor Daley, or the Demonstrators, including the Yippies and MOBE, and is a fast-paced game of street battles and political maneuvers.

Each side plays from two asymmetric decks of action cards. The Establishment positions tactical forces and police platoons to co-ordinate mass arrests while working the convention floor. The Demonstrators, on the other hand, can pivot from direct clashes to radical street theater; their tactics can be reactive and unpredictable, allowing for wild cat-and-mouse chases and mischief-making across the tear-gassed avenues of downtown Chicago.

This game is an area control/area influence game that uses cards to take a predetermined set of actions that can be upgraded and replayed with better actions as the game progresses. Each player will fight for control of the delegates to the convention as well as exposure to the nation through the media. Just a very well designed game that was a ton of fun to play.

We posted an interview with the designer Yoni Goldstein on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/07/22/interview-with-yoni-goldstein-designer-of-chicago-68-from-the-dietz-foundation-coming-to-kickstarter-august-6th/

We also did a full video review and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Chicago ’68, you can order a copy for $68.00 from The Dietz Foundation website at the following link: https://dietzfoundation.org/product/chicago68/

There I am finally done. My list of the Top 10 Wargames published in 2025. I had fun playing them and putting this list together as I got to revisit each of the games and think about why they were included on this list.

Please let me know what your top games of the year were and what you think of my choices and what games you would have placed on such a list.

-Grant

Hermann Luttmann is a great designer and I just love his solitaire takes on historical battles. His newest design is a solitaire game called A Hell So Terrible: Verdun 1916 from GMT Games that focuses on the German assault on the city of Verdun in 1916 during World War I. Keep in mind that Hermann is a very creative designer and uses lots of very interesting and chaotic design elements to create a very interesting and satisfying gaming experience. Also, most of his games are just that, with very engaging gameplay and a lot of the unknown that will hit you in the face from time to time! I just love his games. We reached out to Hermann and as always he was more than willing to share more about the design.

*Keep in mind that the design is still undergoing playtesting and development and that any details or component pictures shared in this interview are for prototype purposes and will definitely change prior to final publication as they enter the art department.

Grant: Hermann welcome back to the blog. What is your upcoming game A Hell So Terrible about?

Hermann: Thanks so much for having me back again! This is getting to be a bad habit. A Hell So Terrible is currently on the GMT P500 list and covers the German assault on Verdun during World War I. The offensive was launched on Feb. 21, 1916, and its ultimate goal was, as Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn infamously stated, to “bleed France white”. This design sets up the solitaire player commanding the German army at Verdun. The player must push the various German Corps forward along nine different tracks across three main sectors, all of which converge on the city of Verdun and its last ring of fortresses. But the player only has a limited amount of time to close the noose around Verdun, as at the start of July, the Allies will be launching their huge offensive along the Somme River and vital German resources will need to be diverted to defend that front. So, this game design combines a little bit of push-your-luck with a little bit of tower-offense (reverse States of Siege, if you will), and a dab of historically-weighted chaos, to give you a nice flavorful stew of military simulation and game play fun.

Grant: What is the meaning of the title? What did you hope to convey about the game to the players?

Hermann: We actually went through a number of different titles, and I had this one neat quote I found:

“Humanity is mad! It must be mad to do what it is doing. What a massacre! What scenes of horror and carnage! I cannot find words to translate my impressions. Hell cannot be so terrible. Men are mad!”— Second Lieutenant Alfred Joubaire in his diary during the Battle of Verdun (May 23, 1916).

The BBC also used a version of this quote for the Verdun chapter of their special Great War TV series – “Hell Cannot Be So Terrible”. Gene Billingsley came up with the final, truncated version for the game’s title. I take great pride in my game’s titles, and this is no exception. I want the titles to be poetic, artistic, and memorable and thus are usually portions of famous quotes, book chapter titles, etc. By doing so, the title has a meaning and conveys to the player a hint of what the game is about. In this case, as you may surmise, it is supposed to be a bit depressing and gloomy, preparing the player for a difficult Great War grind. The player will experience, in abstract and harmless form of course, the tough slog and frustrating pace of a WWI offensive against an entrenched enemy.

Grant: I see that you described it as a “tower offense” game. What does this mean?

Hermann: This clever twist on the “tower defense” label was created by the game’s developer, Marco Poutre, and I just love it. A tower defense game traditionally means that a player is located in the relative center of the game board, and they are required to defend that center from a foe advancing from multiple directions. Lose the center and lose the game. A Hell So Terrible flips that dynamic around 180 degrees. You are the approaching German attacker moving along multiple axes of advance and the French enemy “bot” is the central defender, trying desperately to keep you away from Verdun.

Grant: Furthermore, the player takes on the role of the attacker. How did this change your design focus? 

Hermann: Primarily, the game design must provide the player with strategies of offense and exploitation, rather than that of defense and blocking. The game’s mechanics are structured to offer ways and means for the Germans to conduct actions against the enemy, rather than offer just reactions to enemy moves. You are the instigator and thus drive the action with your play. But that’s not to say that the French “bot” sits idly by…it will counterattack and it will generally do that in the spot which least suits you and your plans.

Grant: Why was this a subject that drew your interest?

Hermann: Well, as you may or may not know, World War I has always been a primary interest of mine. It is just so rich with gaming opportunities because there are so many interesting fighting fronts featuring many different armies. The war is loaded with fairly obscure yet fascinating battles and campaigns and making them each “gameable” is a real challenge. Designing a playable game out of trench warfare was one of my earliest self-inflicted gaming challenges and that all lead directly to the In Magnificent Style push-your-luck style system, which has now come full circle to A Forlorn Hope from Wharf Rat Games (which actually does cover trench warfare). In the A Hell So Terrible game design, that aspect of pushing your troops ”against the wind” of enemy fire (but at an operational scale now) seemed to fit really well with what a game about Verdun should simulate. 

Grant: What is your ultimate design goal with the game?

Hermann: Simply, to provide the player with as much angst and anxiety as possible! This operation is perfect for the push-your-luck and tower offense approach. The player is placed under a severe time constraint, so the requirement to not only keep moving forward (even when it seems unwise to do so) but also the need to harbor the few resources you have available in the game (more on that later) is a perfect combination of game play juggling. The player must pick the best spots to attack, when to attack, and with what expenditure of assets. And to keep all these moving parts in a playable, accessible format that doesn’t overstay its welcome is the design goal.

Grant: What from trench warfare during WWI and the numerous attacks on Verdun was most important to model?

Hermann: Well, there are quite a few factors that I really wanted to get into the design to make it feel right. Obviously, the French defensive positions are deep, layered, and unpredictable. There are multiple chains of trenches, forts, and terrain features that must be overcome. How do you, as the attacking Germans, go about penetrating these defenses and inflicting as many casualties as you can on the defending French? Well….planning, logistics, bombardment, flanking, reconnaissance, and determination are the tools to overcome those traditional WWI obstacles. Using a design-for-effect principle, there are simple mechanics built into the game that allow the player access to each of those tools, but at the same time, they are not always available and certainly aren’t limitless.

The player must assess each phase of the game and play it to their best ability, utilizing these historic tools to pry loose the French defenses. So, all these factors are important to model to get the best full experience of attacking in WWI.

One other critical thing I wanted to model is the unknown. What I mean is, the French defenses were mostly hidden and they were deep. Though the player can see the French units on the game board, their strengths are unknown until engaged and even the effect of your artillery bombardments is unknown until you actually have units enter those spaces. This is a huge aspect to WWI trench warfare – you are just never sure what the enemy is doing nor what kind of shape they are in. This fog of war really creates a high level of tension and requires the player to try their luck sometimes, even when it might not seem advisable. And the game will constantly be changing the state and makeup of the French defenses, including allowing them to hit back at unexpected times with counterattacks. All these aspects of WWI warfare are critical to include to give the proper experience, and they are all found in this game. 

Grant: What sources did you consult about the details of the history? What one must read source would you recommend?

Hermann: The Price of Glory by Alistair Horne is my “must read” source.

Verdun 1916: They Shall Not Pass from Osprey Publishing.

Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War from Oxford University Press by Paul Jankowski.

And in addition to published books, I reviewed various online articles and video documentaries.

Grant: What other games did you draw inspiration from?

Hermann: Honestly, none. I know you guys have covered a number of the other Verdun games and I know that there are some really good ones. But A Hell So Terrible is, I feel, a unique wargame approach to this campaign and as such, I don’t like to be influenced by other games when I begin a design. That goes for most of my other designs as well, by the way. Again, that’s not to say that other game designs aren’t great games – most are. But I don’t want to allow myself to be subconsciously swayed one way or the other by another designer’s approach, unless I’m actually using an operating system as my core engine (like States of Siege, for example). That’s not to say that I won’t read the background and historical information that is contained in other games or read the associated historical articles in a game magazine. But for the most part, I do not consult other games to get design ideas.

Grant: What are the Activation dice and how do they work?

Hermann: One of the driving inspirations for this game’s design approach was the idea of using an activation dice mechanic in a wargame. This is a relatively new game mechanic, at least in my experience, and I first encountered it in the Claustrophobia game series. I’ve come to appreciate the fact that it is an almost perfect blend of randomization and player decision making, all in one simple mechanic. You roll a bunch of dice – the random part – and you must then assign those dice to particular tasks – the decision part. My twist on that concept is that I marry that idea with the ability to change the kind of dice you roll and then apply the entire push-your-luck concept on top of that. There are two types of dice – Movement and Casualty – and after all dice are rolled, one of each is assigned to an activated unit. This will tell you how far a unit can move and how many casualties it will suffer just from moving (i.e., representing the constant enemy “wall of fire”). 

Grant: How has the dice activation streamlined the game? Why does this work so well?

Hermann: The dice activation system not only tells you how you can move your units but also resolves the persistent enemy fire without needing the player to resolve a dozen separate combats. There are two categories of activation dice – Movement and Casualty. The Movement dice come in two types – Advance (green dice) and Infiltration (black dice) while the Casualty dice also come in two types – Friction (orange dice) and Suppression (red dice).

The Advance die allows normal movement results and is the default movement die unless the player opts to spend Command Points to upgrade one or more of these dice to Infiltration dice. The Infiltration dice represent the deployment of Stosstruppen, highly skilled and specially equipped assault troops, and as such these dice allow more movement. Because Command Points are a limited resource, the player must make that critical decision whether to spend those points to get the more efficient Infiltration dice.

The Friction die is assigned to a unit to represent the amount of enemy fire it is receiving and it is the default die unless the assigned unit has its Support marker (representing the supply trains and supporting local artillery) nearby. If the marker is with or adjacent to the activated unit, the player may automatically substitute the Suppression die for the Friction die. The Suppression die represents the tactical artillery (present with the Support marker) bombarding the enemy and thus suppressing the enemy troops and their defensive fire. The problem is that Support markers are hard to move and rarely are able to keep pace with their associated German unit.

Thus, the player is left with some interesting command decisions, even though a unit’s movement and vulnerability is randomly determined by a simple die roll.

Grant: What time pressure is felt by the player?

Hermann: Like all game designs that have any kind of push-your-luck aspect to them, time has to be of the essence. If there is no time pressure, there is no reason to push and take chances. In this game, each turn is half-a-month and the player must accomplish the German goals by the end of the 10^th Game Turn, which is the end of June, 1916. The Somme offensive starts at the beginning of July and this marks the point where the Germans must have achieved a victory at Verdun in order to compromise that offensive. The player will find that it is a long slog to capture the ring of French fortresses and get to the outskirts of Verdun in time. So, they will be compelled to push hard and take risks to get to the inner sanctum before the end of the game.

Grant: What type of experience does this create? What are the toughest decisions forced on the players?

Hermann: The experience will hopefully be, as I said before, one of anxiety and fun all mixed into one package! And despite the random events and numerous dice rolls, there is a parade of tactical and strategic decision-making the player must navigate each and every turn. Just to list the toughest and most critical…

• Which Activation dice do you assign to which unit?
• In what order do you activate the units? This matters because you can maneuver your units to create flank attack benefits.
• How do you spend your limited Command Points?
• Where do you place your Bombardment and Big Bertha markers?
• How far do you push your combat units forward before you have to slow them down to allow the Support markers to catch up?
• Do I spend precious time to do a Reconnaissance before attacking?

Grant: How does the solitaire bot for the French function? How does the AI prioritize its decisions?

Hermann: The French bot works mostly through the Event Cards, though as stated before the French firepower is also inherent in the Casualty dice effect. The events are almost all based on things that actually happened or could have happened during the Battle of Verdun and though they won’t occur in exactly the same order chronologically, many are weighted to have different effects depending on the month in which the card is drawn. The French are always tenaciously defending, but the cards dictate when reinforcements arrive, the deployment of fighter aces, the bombarding of German units, the appearance of random patrols, and the launching of counterattacks. And the location of many of those counterattacks is often influenced by how much progress German units are making on their tracks… r in other words, how close they are to Verdun itself.

Grant: What is the flow of the game?

Hermann: Each Game Turn begins with the draw of an Event Card and this card can affect any position or area across the game board. The player determines if they receive any additional Command Points and then resolve a dogfight procedure to determine which side has Air Superiority this turn. Then the player conducts any desired Artillery Bombardment, placing such markers face down on French units. The player selects which of three sectors to activate – left, center, or right. Before activating units in each sector, another Event Card is drawn and often, its effects apply just to the chosen sector (but not always). Units of the chosen sector move and fight until all are Spent for the turn. Then another eligible sector is chosen, another Event Card is drawn, and its units move and fight until Spent. Once all units on the map are Spent, the player calculates any Victory Points earned, and resets for the next turn.

Grant: What are the Events that start a turn? What are some examples of these events?

Hermann: The Event Card that is drawn to start the turn (during the Initial Event Phase) is the same as the others – they all come from the same deck. But this first card may affect the game differently. If it does, it will say so right at the top of the card. So, for example, the “Shell Shock & Attrition” card is especially devastating if drawn as the Initial Event. If drawn at the start of a Sector activation, it requires the German units of that Sector (only) to each take an immediate Morale Test (which could result in their becoming Spent before they even get to activate). If this card is drawn during the Initial Event Phase, it affects all the German units on the game map and every unit must take an immediate Morale Test!

Grant: How are Command Points used? How are they earned?

Hermann: Command Points (CP) are the currency with which the player can do some really cool bonus actions or get gameplay benefits. Using CP to the best of your ability is a key to winning the game. The player gets 15 CP to start the game and then earns some more each turn, but fewer and fewer as the game progresses. This is an abstract way to simulate the breakdown of communications between German headquarters and the troops, as well as reflecting the degrading of confidence in the operation, especially by Crown Prince Wilhelm himself. Certain Event Cards also grant additional CP. Command Points are used throughout the game to do a number of special actions, including purchasing Infiltration dice, re-rolling combat dice, replacing losses, using Attack Momentum (see below), redeploying units, etc. All powerful tools when used at the right moment in the game.

Grant: What is the need for the dogfighting step? How does this play out?

Hermann: The Dogfight Step is a part of the Air Campaign Phase, which just generally reflects what is happening in the skies above the Verdun battlefield.

The Dogfight is a simple competitive dice roll, with the side who has Dogfight Advantage at the time (as listed on the Turn Record Track) getting to roll two dice and use the higher roll. The winner gets to bump the Air Superiority marker one box in their direction. Who has Air Superiority at any point in the game can affect some events, but most importantly for the player, if the Germans have Air Superiority, they have more Bombardment and Big Bertha markers available to use in the turn (simulating that the German Drachen – balloons – are free to fly to observe and guide artillery fire). Again, a simple thematic mechanic that reflects a complex issue.

Grant: How does heavy bombardment work?

Hermann: During the Heavy Artillery Bombardment Phase, the player deploys a certain number of Bombardment and/or Big Bertha markers onto the game map. At the very start of the game, there is a special step called the Trommelfeuer Step which allows the player to place 20 Bombardment and 5 Big Bertha markers around the map. This is to simulate the massive preliminary barrage the Germans conducted before the assault. During all the other game turns, the player gains a certain number of Bombardment Points, based on where the Air Superiority marker is located. Bombardment Points are spent to purchase Bombardment and Big Bertha markers to place face down on French units or into the special Voie Sacree (Sacred Way) area, which was the logistical lifeline for the French forces. The markers each have variable effects on their back sides, ranging from no effect to utter destruction. But these markers are randomized and the player does not know what effect applies to the targeted French units until a German unit enters their space for combat or the player takes the time to conduct a Reconnaissance action to reveal and apply the marker immediately. A Big Bertha marker placed in the Voie Sacree area can interdict that area and delay French supplies and reinforcements, which is enacted by nerfing certain Event Cards.

Grant: What is the layout of the board?

Hermann: The boards shows the entire area around the Verdun fortress complex. There are nine movement tracks and each track has a dedicated German unit and Support marker. Each of these tracks are made up of a series of eight spaces. Most spaces have a terrain feature associated with them – clear, forest, hills, fortress, or trench. There are also a number of landmark spaces that have special game effects (ex: Fort Douaumont). The tracks are also divided into three Sectors, each representing a major segment of the German army attack zone. The left Sector has only two tracks, the center Sector is the main attack zone with four tracks, and the right Sector has three tracks and is the left bank of the Meuse River, which was manned by the Bavarian Corps. Every German unit starts in its own trench area and must move up the track toward Verdun, encountering and hoping to defeat French units along the way.

Grant: What dangers are present for the advancing Germans?

Hermann: My goodness…there’s a myriad of dangers for the German player. The French can not only offer a stubborn defense of their trenches and forts, causing you casualties and loss of time, but they can also bombard your units and whittle them down from afar. Logistical considerations are numerous, as the player needs to carefully use the Command Points in the right spots and must have the Support markers keep a steady pace to support their associated German fighting units. The air war has to be won consistently to maximize artillery bombardment. The player is going to be severely curtailed by Event Cards and coping with those while also taking advantage of the few good Event Cards is essential. Finally, the most dangerous factor of all is the passing of time. The player only has ten turns to accomplish a lot and every minute lost during those ten turns can make all the difference between victory and defeat.

Grant: How does Fog of War work? Why was this important to include?

Hermann: Well, as with most of my games, I love dabbling with the three F’s of War…the Fog of War, the Friction of War, and the Fortunes of War. And this design has all those elements in it. The player of course has to deal with the uncertainty of the Activation dice rolls and the unknown of the combat dice rolls (see below). Along with that, the Event Cards are always throwing a new, unexpected wrench into the works. In fact, the player does not even know definitively how effective their artillery bombardment has been! On top of all that, French units are deployed face down and their exact strengths are not revealed until contact is made or until the player spends time to scout out the units with the Reconnaissance action. These are all important elements to include in the game because these are exactly the same challenges the German army and its commanders had to face at Verdun. And as with all games that lean on the historically-weighted chaos theory of design, having this level of Fog of War in a game design not only makes it more realistic, but it makes it a more fun game as well.

Grant: How does combat and losses work?

Hermann: Combat in this game is pretty straightforward. Each side in a combat totals up their SP and rolls a D10 which is added to their SP to get a Combat Score. The French get an extra die to roll (using the higher result) and/or additions to their Combat Score if located in certain terrain. The German units can get re-rolls and/or an extra die if they are using an Infiltration die for their activation, or spend a Command Point, or have a flanking unit. Some Event Cards can affect combat as well. Each side gets a total Combat Score and inflicts Hits on the opponent based on that score…the higher the score, the more casualties are inflicted. This yields interesting combat results as both units scoring high means huge casualties for both sides, regardless of who wins. Then the side with the higher score wins the combat, and the opponent must retreat. The actual difference in scores can affect units differently. For example, if a German unit wins a combat by only one point, it will hold the position as the winner but it will become Spent, meaning it is done for the turn! Too many of these kinds of wins can spell doom for the German player. A large margin win will allow the German unit to choose pursuing the enemy and continuing forward or consolidating and bringing its Support marker up one space. Tough choices!

Grant: What is the concept of Attack Momentum?

Hermann: Ah, that’s my sly little “gamey” mechanic for this design. I wanted to add another twist to the Activation dice assignment mechanic that also acts as a mitigation against bad luck – or in this case, technically a mitigation for good luck. So, the idea is that if the player assigns two good Activation dice to a unit, instead of having to re-roll those dice the next Game Turn, the player can instead spend a Command Point and keep those dice with that unit but must count down each die by one number. So, for example, if you assign a “6” Movement die and a “5” Casualty die for a unit, you could spend a CP and activate that unit again with a “5” Movement die and a “4” Casualty die (assuming the unit was not Spent during its first activation). So, good dice stay with the unit, but lose their potency over time. Historically, this simulates a commander seeing a unit performing well and then directing assets and leadership to that unit to exploit their superior performance.

Grant: How do you model German Command Efficiency?

Hermann: Well, in games where there is significant dice rolling, I do like to use the “doubles = something special” mechanic, because you know that the odds will produce a certain number of doubles rolls during the course of the game. As such, I like to make something special happen when they are rolled that the player can exploit, and in this game the use of a doubles Activation dice roll is actually more in the control of the player because the doubles can be “created”. What do I mean? For example, if you are rolling Activation dice for the right Sector (three tracks, so three German units), you’ll roll a total of six dice – three Movement dice (Advance and/or Infiltration) and three Casualty dice (Friction and/or Suppression). This creates a pool of dice results from which you will assign two dice per German unit – one Movement and one Casualty die for each. Thus, if you have two matching dice, you can grab those two and create a doubles result for that unit. An assigned doubles result triggers German Command Efficiency and it allows you some options for activating that unit. You have one of three options you can apply – increase the Movement result by one type (ex: change the result from Move 1 to Move 2); reduce the strength point loss from the Casualty die by one; or move the unit’s Support marker up one space. The chosen benefit is applied, along with the normal dice roll results, when the unit is activated. Again, a simple bonus to reflect the superior abilities of the German officer corps.

Grant: What type of an experience does the game create?

Hermann: I’m hoping that the game creates an intense gaming experience. One in which the player can exercise tactical and strategic options in an effort to carry out a particular plan, but coupled with the excitement of the unexpected challenges by – and sometimes, assistance from – the Gods of War. This should be a gaming experience of tough decisions and of taking calculated risks. And ultimately, I think this will inevitably come down to a nail biting ending.

Grant: What are you most pleased about with the design?

Hermann: I’m really proud of the fact that I think I got almost every crucial element of simulating the early stages of the Battle of Verdun down to workable and accessible mechanics. The game’s core mechanics and use of historically-based Event Cards drives a narrative that draws the player directly into this era and into the drama of this particular battle. To be able to do that and still keep the game accessible and easily playable is, for me, the ultimate goal and I think A Hell So Terrible  achieves that goal.

Grant: What other designs are you working on?

Hermann: My, my… t’s a busy year for sure! Here we go:

1. They March Against Us: Leipzig 1813: This is the first game in the Bonaparte’s Sword Series, which will essentially be Napoleonic Blind Swords. Roger and Richard at Revolution Games are playtesting it right now and so far, so good. It should be available this year.
2. A Forlorn Hope: This game is Wharf Rat Games’ first published design and just finished a very successful crowdfunding campaign. We’re now working on getting it all finished up and designing the stretch goals that were achieved. This one is going to be a real beauty and I can’t wait until people actually get to play it.
3. Dawn of the Zeds: Designer Edition: Yes, Dawn of the Zeds is back and this is the newly redesigned version of the classic. I’ve updated the mechanics, especially the combat system. It will have the traditional map layout and characters of the previous three editions, but I’ve also added a ton of new stuff as well. This is published by Blue Panther and I think (hope) will be a huge hit.
4. A Primitive Madness: Antietam 1862: The third Black Swan Series game by Flying Pig Games will indeed cover the Battle of Antietam. This one will be a bit different, as the scale has changed to accommodate the smaller battlefield. This will have the same huge maps and elite production of the other games.
5. At Any Cost: Metz 1870: This game will be republished by Hexasim sometime this year. I am reviewing the original game and probably updating a chunk of mechanics to allow the game to play more smoothly and quickly. And it will have all new artwork.
6. Kill All Fermitians!: A republication of an older game (Volters Lead the Way!), this is going to be published by Flying Pig Games as a deluxe push-your-luck science fiction game. The new artwork with this one is amazing!
7. Nemto: A big, multiplayer, cooperative science fiction wargame that will be published by Nuts Publishing. This is going through all original artwork right now and even some professional background story telling to add to the game. It tells the story of human mercenary companies sent to an alien planet to lay claim to its powerful natural element – pinnaclium.
8. More Brains!:  Have you ever wanted to play as a zombie? Of course you have! Well, here’s your chance. Another new company, Jackl Games (run by Randy Lein from Legion Wargames) is going to publish this multiplayer game that I co-designed with Ryan Heilman. Each player controls a team of Alpha Zeds, zombies who are accumulating brain power and with each new brain, a new skill. Very different and very fun.

Thanks so much to Grant and Alex for allowing me to write about A Hell So Terrible! I hope gamers enjoy it. All the best! Hermann

As always it was a pleasure speaking with you Hermann. I am very excited about this one as it sounds very interesting and is a gaming subject that I have a great interest in as you mentioned. I am looking forward to our next opportunity to meet up and play some games!

If you are interested in A Hell So Terrible: Verdun 1916, you can pre-order a copy for $75.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1192-a-hell-so-terrible-verdun-1916.aspx

-Grant

Day 3 started off a bit slow as we dragged in the morning getting ready and didn’t get out the door till around 8:15am and after breakfast didn’t make it to the War Room until almost 9:00am. But, upon arrival we got right to gaming by setting up Cross Bronx Expressway from GMT Games with Russ Wetli from Cardboard Conflicts as our third.

Cross Bronx Expressway is the 3rd game in the Irregular Conflicts Series and attempts to simulate the socio-economic processes of urban development, and the human costs that result, as a competitive city-builder with collective loss conditions in the South Bronx between 1940 and 2000, with their unique faction pursuing their own goals while cooperating to keep the borough viable. Through a card driven sequence of play, they will work to solve the economic challenges facing the area by building infrastructure and organizations, forming coalitions, mitigating the multitude of issues facing the vulnerable population, and managing resources to stay out of debt. 

Cross Bronx Expressway is a very interesting and engaging way to learn about the history of American cities as an economic simulation of sorts. Players will have to deal with the conflicting incentives and complex factors shaping urban life and together determine the fate of the Bronx.

We very much enjoyed this one and felt like it was very insightful and thematically connected with the subject and the times to create a very brain melting but interesting experience. I felt like I really had no idea what I was doing…but very much liked it.

We ended up losing the game as it is semi-cooperative and players can lose together due to bankruptcy or the overcrowding of prisons that will lead to higher social difficulties. But we learned a lot and I very much look forward to playing this one again.

We then played our 1st game of the interesting COIN Series like game Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 from Legion Wargames with Dave (a new friend from Michigan) and Gary of Ardwulf’s Lair. The game is designed by Clint Warren-Davey and Benjamin Feine and is an alternate history game, but the story that is presented is entirely plausible. Werwolf was a real underground guerrilla group, comprised of SS and Hitler Youth members. It was intended to lead an insurgency against the invading Allies and Soviets when it became clear that Germany was losing the war in a conventional sense in the mid-1940’s. They did in fact have a few successes and American intelligence officer Frank Manuel said that the Werwolves were prepared “to strike down the isolated soldier in his jeep, the MP on patrol, the fool who goes a-courting after dark, the Yankee braggart who takes a back road.”

The game allows players to take on the role of the occupying Soviets and Western Allies along with this Werwolf insurgency and the Edwlweiss insurgency.

After about 3 hours we finished 3 decks and the Werwolf Insurgency was declared the winner. All had a good time and I am looking forward to taking this to WBC in July and playing again.

I then sat down with Tim Densham with Catastrophe Games and he gave me a look at several of their planned upcoming games. These will all go on Kickstarter in order to fund the publication.

First was a look at War Cabinet, which is an economic and logistics focused take on WWII in the European Theater of Operation.

Next was Afghanistan: Decades of Strife, which is an area control game in the Conflict of Wills Series.

Then we got a look at Brothers of the Sword: Baltic Crusades which is set in 1100 AD.

All of these games will be coming to Kickstarter in the next 6-8 months and I am very much interested in them all. I was able to shoot a 30 minute video interview with Tim with more details and that’ll be on the channel soon.

We then sat down with Steve Jones from Blue Panther and Hermann Luttmann to play the new Dawn of the Zeds Designer Edition which will be available for pre-order in May and will be published at the end of July.

You know well the original Dawn of the Zeds from Victory Point Games and this has now had the rights reacquired by Hermann who is working with Steve to bring it back to life with new art, a new combat system with custom dice and some new characters. We played for about an hour and had the same fun we have always had with the game and I am very much looking forward to this new edition.

We shot a 20 minute video with Hermann and that’ll be up on the channel soon.

We then played our final game of the night, a 4-player game of War of the Ring: The Card Game from Ares with Cullen and Bad Russ. This is a game that I have had on my shelf for a few years, even purchasing all of the various expansions to date, but just have not had a chance to get it played…until now.

This was our 1st play and while it took us a good amount of time to get comfortable with the mechanics, and about 3 hours to play the entire game, we all had a great time and very much enjoyed what it was doing. The art in the game is just amazing and the game play is smart, with lots of bluffing and gamesmanship on how to play and manage your limited cards. Just a very solid multi-player card game.

It is now well after midnight and I am tired. Sorry for the brevity of my comments about the games but it’s just too late.

Tomorrow we have a full 6-player game of Here I Stand from GMT Games at 9:00am and then an evening role playing game with a WWII historical RPG called War Stories from Firelock Games. Should be a blast!

-Grant