Michael Eckenfels, 23 December 2024
There you are, minding your own business, tending fields or conducting trade, and the Crown way, way over in England – a three-month scurvy-laden sailing journey away – decides to keep upping your taxes. Whether it was the Sugar, Stamp, or Townshend Acts, or maybe even the Coercive Acts (or, Intolerable Acts) because of that little tea-spilling episode in Boston Harbor, enough eventually was enough, and many in America rose up to take freedom.
This is very much a fact-light analysis of the build-up to the American Revolution, but you get the idea. The game itself, a classic first published by GMT back in 2010 as a redesign of the original We The People, itself released in 1993 by Avalon Hill. Considering it is still here, making sales and hitting many tables out there over 30 years later, that’s quite a statement in and of itself.
Review over, enough said.
Just kidding.
Like my very light review of events leading up to the Revolutionary War, this game is equally light in covering the happenings of the actual conflict itself, but that is not at all meant as an insult to the game. Rather, it is a compliment, as the game’s lightness and ease of play means about 1.5 hours for a full game, a relatively small footprint, and a very easy set-up/break-down experience.
The game, as you’ve no doubt figured out by now but perhaps you’ve never heard of it before, is a 2-player rendition of the American Revolution, covering the time period from 1775 to 1783. Each of those years represents one full turn, which gives the game nine turns in total. It is fast-paced and can change quickly, with a ton of replayability.
My own perspective has been colored by the CDG Solo System, which I used to play this game. I did this same thing with my last review of a Mark Herman design, For The People, covering the American Civil War. That game was much more complex than this one, as it covers more territory and affords many more options, so the learning curve on For The People is higher, in my opinion. Not bad – it would just take a bit more effort, especially for a solo player, to learn. Washington’s War (which I’m glad it’s called that and not another ‘We The People’ title, which would no doubt confuse it greatly with For The People) and the CDG Solo System make for a very good learning experience, immersing you in both roles fully and doing away with quite a bit of the bias you might have for one side or the other to win. But, we’ll get more into the why’s of that here, shortly.
Components
Let’s talk about what’s under the tricorn hat – or under the hood, or in the box, or whatever. The mounted board portrays the eastern portion of the British Colonies at the time, from the East Coast to roughly Fort Detroit to the west, and from the north in Canada south to Georgia. The map is governed by movement spaces made up of circles, squares, and star shapes. The circles are normal spaces, the squares are wintering spaces, and the star-like spaces are fortified ports. Spaces are connected by solid lines, or dashed lines; the latter represent wilderness-type tracks and trails, which make movement more difficult. Spaces are also bordered with colors to signify their colony – so, all Virginia spaces have a green border, Massachusetts spaces have a purple border, and so on. Some of these spaces are Ports, which aids in sea movement and can potentially serve as entry points for British troops. And, there is a ‘winter attrition line’ that runs from the East Coast along the southern border of Virginia, all the way to the western edge of the map; this shows that all spaces north can impact your troops by potentially freezing them into soldiersicles.
click images to enlarge
At sea, there are spaces for blockading certain Port locations, but that only comes into play if the American side is able to bring the French into the war, thereby gaining their Fleet and this ability to impact British movement through ports. There’s also a handy display in the area of the Atlantic that is used to total up Colony control for when that time comes.
There are various markers and counters, including troop counters represented as a number from 1 to 5, so they’re fairly generic. There are Generals as well, which are needed to actually move your troops (called CUs, or Combat Units) around the board. CUs can exist in a space themselves, but they just can’t leg it to other locales, instead acting as a garrison until ‘picked up’ by a General.
There are also the ubiquitous cards, without which you cannot play the game, given that it’s a CDG and all. There’s 110 of them, a pretty decent stack and difficult to hand shuffle. I found that an electric shuffling machine helps with big stacks like this, but only if you do not use card sleeves. Regardless, it just depends on your shuffling style, of course.
The graphics on everything are nice – except the cards, honestly. Overall the cards are fantastic, but some have Events on them that are keyed to one side or the other, and are represented by a small flag icon on the card – American or British. However, I found it difficult to tell at times the difference between the two, as they’re so small they’re rather similar. That could be just my older eyes at work (or not at work, rather), but I think it would have been much better to design those Event cards with a color tone in the background, or a larger icon for those that may be color blind may have worked better. I found a few times I’d glance at a card and think it’s a British Event, but then find it is actually an American one. Again, though, your mileage may vary.
The only other thing I wish is that the location labels on the map were a bit larger. The text is black, which makes it difficult to read clearly when they’re set against the multi-colored (beautiful, yet busy) land background. White text, or white text with a black border, in a larger font size – not huge, I ain’t that old yet – would have been helpful.
These are both rather minor complaints about an otherwise very nice and fun design.
Documentation
The rule book is easy enough to read, though I tripped up a few times with a few added quotations or missing parenthesis, and a lack of comma usage at times. But, my background is technical writing and instructional design, so I’m a bit more obsessed with such things. It’s not a problem to overlook this, but the thing I kept noticing is, the rule book had “(C) 2009” and “(C) 2014” printed at the bottom. That made me wonder if anyone had taken a pass through it for editing purposes in the last 10-15 years – probably not. Again, though, unless you’re a grammarphobe or writer that notices peculiarities like this, I doubt you’ll take issue with it, because it does not at all interfere with absorbing or understanding the material; rather, it’s just window dressing.
The rule book is 24 pages long, with 22 pages of rules, a Table of Contents on the front page, and an Index on the back page. Like I said, it’s an easy enough read and doesn’t feel like a 24-page read, but rather something like half that. It is done in a two-column format per page, with some illustrations throughout, as well as several very helpful examples to illustrate points. I definitely appreciate the examples to clarify rules points and wish more developers and designers did that kind of thing.
There is also a 16-page Play Book, which is another common thing to find in a GMT Games box, and that’s a great thing. These books are loaded with extended examples of play, as well as designer and game notes for you to absorb to help you frame strategies and ideas. The Design Notes section is especially fascinating as it details the path this game has taken since its original days in the 90s all the way through this current version.
Player Count
As mentioned initially, this is a 2-player game, but it can be played solo by just multi-handing the game. However, I would recommend the CDG Solo System, based on Stuka Joe’s design, which narrows your card choices down and makes it feel much less burdensome. I’ll get into particulars with this here in a bit; this is the first CDG Solo System (there are two out there, this original one and a Pack #2 – check to see which games you can play using it to be sure, before purchasing).
I believe you can still download, for free, a print-and-play version should you choose to do it yourself. The GMT-provided CDG Solo System packs are decent, with two player boards that have spaces to track hand size, cards remaining, and spaces for cards to play, as well as a general rule book that gives an overview on how it works, plus individual sheets for the games that pack covers to provide more focused insight and guidelines.
Learning to Play
Most games have a read the manual, then play approach, and this is one of them. Some GMT games, such as Mr. President, encourage you to just set the game up and dive in, but that type of game is much more complex with many more moving parts. Once you read through the Rule Book once, it’s a good idea to read the Play Book as well to help cement everything. Their examples of play in the Rule Book are great, but the Play Book is like reading a full After Action Report on the game, and covers a lot of possibilities. If you’re like me, seeing a game played is an easier way to learn as opposed to just reading a rule book and then trying to dive in while flipping through the rules. You’ll no doubt forget a thing or two here and there, as I did, but the more you play it of course, the better you’ll do.
The game is incredibly approachable. The easy and fast set-up makes it more inviting than most games, and I found myself drawn into it with excitement, which is something rare for me these days. Sometimes, I’ll read the manual for a game, get it set up, then wonder what the heck I’m doing and get distracted. Not with this one, thankfully. That quick set-up and easy-to-absorb Rule and Play Books really helps with the learning curve. I found myself wanting to play it more than sit there and think about playing it. If you know, you know.
Gameplay
Since I know not everyone is going to be keen to play this solo, and this is indeed how I played it with the aforementioned CDG Solo System, that part of it is certainly going to creep in here to my review.
It may come as a complete shock that this game is played in a series of turns. Yes, I know; stay with me, here. Each turn is divided into a series of seven phases.
The first is Reinforcements, which is kind of nice. Nice, as in being able to add more CUs and Generals to the board. This is a bit different for each side and really only the British player gets to do stuff here. That may seem vehemently unfair, but you’ll see what’s fair and not fair here pretty fast.
Next up is the Strategy Cards Phase. This is where those 110 cards come into play as each player is dealt a hand of seven of them for the coming turn.
The Strategy Phase follows, where said cards are actually played. The first player is determined, then card play alternates between each side. Some things can happen to cause interruptions or extra card play for both sides. This is where, too, you move your Generals and their CUs (both of these together are called Armies), take control of spaces, gain reinforcements, or play Events that are based on the history of the time. I wish I had a more thorough understanding of this time period to tell if every Event is historical or just what-if, but they do add a lot of color and interest to the game.
Once both sides have exhausted their cards, you go to the Winter Attrition Phase. This is where you’re checking to see what CUs decide to stick around to see what will happen next year, or decide to freeze somewhere or just give up and go home. Maybe both?
If the French join the fray, next is the French Naval Phase, where the American player can relocate the French Navy piece to Blockade certain parts of the coast for the coming turn.
Then comes the Political Control Phase, where Political Control (PC) markers are placed in spaces where one side’s Army sits, and spaces that are Isolated have their PC marker removed, if present.
Lastly comes the End Phase which is your usual housekeeping and record-keeping.
Hey, it’s your game, and there’s nobody there to call you out should you choose however you want this to work solo. Roll a die, flip a coin, whatever you feel like.
The main thing you’re no doubt curious about is how the Strategy Phase works, which is where the real meat of the game happens. The first player to go depends on the circumstances; the British side can play a Major or Minor Campaign Card, which lets them move Generals and their CUs on the map. If the British side opts to do this, they get to go first. If they choose not to, and if the Continental Congress (represented on the board by a marker) was dispersed the previous turn, then the British player can choose who goes first. Otherwise, the American player decides who goes first. When playing solo with the CDG system, if the British player board has a face-up Campaign Card, then they can go first. But hey, it’s your game, and there’s nobody there to call you out should you choose however you want this to work solo. Roll a die, flip a coin, whatever you feel like.
Normally, each player reveals a card and performs the actions from that card. It can be an Ops card, worth 1, 2, or 3 Ops points, an Event card, or a Battle card. The number of Ops points on an Ops card determines what you can do – move a General, play a Political Control marker, or do other things. You can also discard an Event card to place a Political Control marker, thereby not triggering the Event. Since there’s a mix of Event cards in the game, and it’s possible one side may have an Event that is favorable to the other side, this is a viable option for getting them out of your hand.
Moving Generals is really the only way to defeat the enemy; Event card play can of course go a ways towards this, but ultimately, your Generals move around the map and engage the enemy in battles, and occupy spaces to turn their Political Control over to that side. The most interesting thing about this, and the battles, is the number of Combat Units in the game. The British have a very finite supply of them. They start the game with an army of 5 CUs in Boston, commanded by Howe, with several Generals in their Reinforcements box. Each turn, the British side is granted a number of CUs based on the turn number; this number of CUs is printed right on the track on the board for easy reference.
By comparison, the American side has, while not an unlimited number of CUs, quite a few they can draw from. The British can only gain new CUs through their turn-based reinforcements, while the American side can play Ops cards to get a number of CUs equal to that card’s number (so, a 3 Ops card played for this purpose nets the American 3 CUs to place in one space). Ops cards are not endless, but there are quite a few of them, which means the American player can usually make good on losses fairly quickly, or place a CU as a speed bump of sorts if needed.
Let’s talk a bit about Generals. Each side has a number of them; for the Americans, it’s Washington plus six others; for the British, they have four total. The British General Howe starts on the map in Boston at the start of the game, while Washington starts next to him. The other three British Generals can be brought into play by Reinforcements at the start of the turn.
How do they impact the game? In a variety of ways. For one, of course, they are the ‘engine’ that moves CUs on the map; CUs cannot move otherwise. They also have a few ratings that impact the game in various ways. These ratings include Strategy Rating (rated at 1 through 3), a Potential Battle Rating (from 1 through 6), an Agility Rating (from 1 to 3), and a few have a modifier that can affect retreating before battle. The Strategy Rating is the ‘cost’ of activating that General, which is paid via an Ops card. The Potential Battle Rating is added to their side in a battle – possibly fully, possibly at half the number, rounded down. And, the Agility Rating determines if the General and his Army can retreat before a battle, as well as a thing or two otherwise. They’re all straightforward and easy to remember.
Battles are very much DRM-driven affairs. There’s no ratio nor CRT to use; rather, each side calculates their strength based on the number of CUs in the embattled space, then add a number of DRMs if applicable. Battle cards come into play here and can be used for DRMs, as can a discarded Event card. If one side has a majority of PC markers in the colony (i.e., if a battle is in New York and one side has more PC markers in New York’s spaces than the other), then they get a +1 DRM for having militia on their side. The British get a +1 DRM if their Regulars are present, which they are, until they lose 3 CUs in one battle – at which point they lose that advantage for the rest of the game. And so it goes. There’s a list of them that are handily presented in the rule book and on each side’s Player Aid Card. It’s important to go through this carefully when learning the game to ensure nothing is missed – and even once you learn it, it’s important to continue to do so to be sure you don’t miss anything. When playing solo, this can of course be a concern as you don’t have an opponent calling out that you missed a DRM that favors them.
The Battle Rating of a General, though, is a bit of a random effect. As part of the battle, you have to roll a d6 to see if your General gets to add their full Battle Rating to their side’s DRM, or if it is only half that. That is not determined by rolling a die versus their Battle Rating, which one would expect. Rather, it is a 50/50 roll on a d6 – a 1-3 means the General only adds half their Battle Rating, while a 4-6 means they get to add all of it. This goes a bit against my wargamer grain as one would assume this ability to apply would depend on the General’s competence rather than a random 50/50 roll, so some might not like this rule. This number is not insignificant for some Generals – for Washington, for example, it’s a 5, and for Howe, a 6. You can see how halving this number can really impact a battle’s outcome.
The side that has a higher total is the winner, with the losing side rolling a die to determine how many CUs they lose. Then, the loser must retreat, and if they cannot – because they are perhaps surrounded by enemy PC markers – then they must Surrender, which means the CUs go away and the General is captured. Generals can also be captured if they’re by themselves. This isn’t too big a deal though as captured Generals were historically exchanged quite often and the game reflects that by allowing captured ones to be placed in the next turn’s Reinforcement box for use later.
While a larger army may have an advantage, if the other side chooses carefully where to engage that larger army, it can mean the weaker side has an advantage instead.
The battle process is pretty smooth and the DRM modifiers can easily break preconceptions of outcomes. While a larger army may have an advantage, if the other side chooses carefully where to engage that larger army, it can mean the weaker side has an advantage instead. The Americans were quite good at this and this is reflected further by their ability to intercept moving British troops. This is not an American attack but rather, the Americans in an adjacent space moving to a space the British just moved to, in order to surprise them. This happened a few times historically (e.g., Cowpens), which makes the game continually true to historical form yet remaining eminently playable.
And as losses are usually inevitable in battles, the British are going to need to carefully think about where and when they wish to attack the Americans, since it is potentially easy to lose a number of CUs in a turn and make themselves weak to counter-attack.
If the French come into the war on the American side, this kicks off a larger war in Europe, but also provides the Americans with the aforementioned French Fleet marker, as well as one French general and 5 French CUs. These CUs are just as precious, though, as there are no replacements for them, but they are more or less treated as American CUs. This is a nice option for Americans later in the war, as British CU ‘income’ increases in later years.
The Rest of the Turn
Most of the game indeed happens in the Strategy Phase, but let’s look at the rest of the turn. The Winter Attrition Phase happens after both players are done with their cards in the Strategy Phase, and this can be a brutal moment in the game by reducing your CU strength across the map. The nationality (American, French, or British) of the CUs, their location and space type they occupy, and the presence of a General can all impact this result. Interestingly, the British are a bit more immune to this, as being in a Winter Quarters space north of the Winter Attrition Line (which, again, runs along the southern border of Virginia), or south of said Attrition Line, gives them immunity. Ones that are not, though, lose half their strength, rounded down. This will be an important thing to keep in mind while moving your Armies across the map in the previous Phase.
The Americans get a bit hosed here, though, as this Phase impacts their CUs no matter where they are located. It makes sense to an extent, given the relative lack of professional military and that most of them were civilians (if I remember correctly, of course). The French are impacted differently in that, if they are in a space with American CUs, they suffer the same fate as the Americans. If they are not in a space with American CUs, they are treated like British CUs rule-wise. Best to not stack them together with American units, then.
The rest of the turn is pretty straightforward; there’s a French Naval Phase, which only happens if the French have joined the war, and only involves moving the French Navy from one Blockade Zone to another, if the American player wishes. The Political Control Phase follows, where spaces occupied by an Army get to either place or flip a PC marker to show control. Finally, the End Phase is where you take care of the European war if France joins in – the Brits have to lose 2 CUs in America if so. Victory level is determined too, and if its conditions have not been met, another turn is played, unless it’s the final turn at which point you’re going to do this determination anyway.
Playing With Yourself (CDG Solo System)1
In the CDG system, you pretty much mirror the game itself, but within the confines of the CDG system. This means you draw, initially, five cards for each side, though there is a max hand size of seven cards. This max hand size is marked on the two player boards as a reminder, and then as each card is played, you reduce the hand size by one (using a marker for exactly that purpose). When all cards are exhausted for a side, that side is done; when both sides have exhausted their cards, the turn ends / continues.
The Fate Die, a d6 with various letters and symbols, is rolled to determine which card comes into play for a side, when it is their turn. This determines which spaces are utilized, or flipped over, which limits your choices overall but helps you focus better on which card to play. Rather than having your choice of seven cards, this system allows you to focus on fewer. While perhaps not the best way to play – of course, there’s nothing at all wrong with you playing multi-handed without the CDG Solo System – it still is a lot of fun for me to take more decisions out of my immediate loop as a solo player. I love the ability to focus on just a few things rather than a whole slew of them.
Victory
A major Automatic Victory condition occurs during the game if one side loses all of its CUs on the map. For the British, they win if there are no American nor French CUs anywhere; for an American victory, this means no British CUs anywhere in the 13 Colonies (they can have some in Canada, but this does not count for the Automatic Victory condition).
Another way the game can end is if the ‘North’s Government Falls – War Ends’ card comes into play. There are a few of these in the deck, each with a year printed on the card to show when this would come into effect. In the Winter Attrition Phase of that year’s turn, each side counts the number of colonies they control via having a majority of PC markers present in a colony. If there’s a tie of PC markers, neither side controls that colony. The British win then if they have six or more colonies in their grasp, while the Americans win if they have seven or more. You may notice that six plus seven equals 13, so what happens if they both have their victory conditions met? In that case, the British side wins by default. Cheeky and close, yet decisive. There is a display on the map where you can place markers to track this control when the time comes to count them up.
Conclusions
I’m already a fan of the CDG system, going way back; I love the historical and ahistorical events included in these games – I’m pretty sure though that in this one, all the events did happen – but it still adds a lot of color, especially to someone like me fairly ignorant of the actual happenings more deeply than a shallow understanding. That kind of thing always drove my curiosity to go and read more on a subject, and now I’m very tempted to go find a tome that covers this subject in detail.
With that sparking of curiosity, I can’t think of a better way to recommend this game. Besides that, it is approachable, easy to learn, quick to play, but there’s so many possible outcomes and strategies one can use, that it makes no two games quite alike. Doing one thing in a game and losing horrifically means learning and then wanting to play the next one to try something different. Die rolls, of course, inject a brutal amount of randomness into things, but I’m perfectly happy and fine with that; some wargamers may not be, though anyone that was raised by a CRT probably is immune to the ‘die rolling is too random’ argument in gaming.
You’d be hard pressed, I think, to find a game so quick-playing that offers such insight into this conflict. I highly recommend it if you love CDGs, and of course, I recommend the CDG Solo System to go along with it if you’re wanting to play it solo.
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