# World War I wargames



## MerricB (Feb 13, 2009)

Somewhat of an unusual topic, as most "modern" wargames I've played concentrate on WW2. Anyway, last night I was happily playing _They Shall Not Pass: The Battle of Verdun 1916_, a small wargame from Avalanche Press which isn't without its merits.

The box says 90-120 minutes, but our first game took a little longer than that... 4 hours with still two of nine turns left to play!







The rules are quite simple if you've played hex-and-counter wargames before; first-timers might be more advised to start on something a little simpler, though it really isn't that hard. Harder were the tactics. My poor French!

An AAR of the game can be found here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3119719

Other World War I games we have around the place include Paths of Glory and Pursuit of Glory, neither of which we've managed to play yet (though Randy's played a bit of the former solo, and me the latter solo)...

Have you played any WW1 games?

Cheers!


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## Andre (Feb 13, 2009)

MerricB said:


> Have you played any WW1 games?




It's been many years since I had a gaming group that enjoys traditional wargames, but here are three I played in younger years.

*Guns of August*  An Avalon Hill game, very standard design, not terribly innovative. We played it a few times, but the gameplay was rather boring, and it doesn't seem to model WW1 very well. I'd give 2 stars out of 5.

*Kaiser's Battle*  This was originally published in Strategy and Tactics, though I believe it was released later as a stand-alone game. Very good game simulating Operation Michael, in which the Germans made their final attempt to win the war in France before the Americans arrived in sufficient numbers to tip the scales. Played it twice, both times the game went down to the wire, both times the Germans came up just short. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.

*World War 1*  [aka Moments in Conflict #4] One of the SPI folio games (came packaged in a bag only a bit larger than the original Metagame folios). A simple, short game that can be played quickly. It has an interesting combat mechanic - each country has a manpower pool. Combat losses are taken from this pool, or the player can choose to retreat a certain number of hexes in place of losses. Early in the war, players take losses to maintain their positions, but later they have no choice but to retreat. In addition, later units, such as stosstruppen, can force retreats. This elegantly reflects the movement that occurred in the later battles, and on the Eastern Front. I only played this once, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another 4.5 stars.

I also have Paths of Glory, but I picked it up a few years ago, and haven't found anyone willing to tackle it. Oh well...


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## FriarRosing (Feb 13, 2009)

I'm interested in They Shall Not Pass, but I don't know how into wargames any of my friends are. I've also considered Paths of Glory in the past, but it may take too long for out simple tastes. 

Mainly I just find World War I fascinating.


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## Crothian (Feb 13, 2009)

There's a sort of WW1 expansion for the orginal A&A.  We found it to be a little lacking though.


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## MerricB (Mar 17, 2009)

Played a solo game of *Pursuit of Glory* on the weekend.

Here's the AAR






Cheers!


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