Cost: $40 From: Avalon Hill Players: 2 Playing Time: 120 minutes Type of game: Board Complexity: 6 Skill level: 8 Reviewed by: Kris Gould, Issue 3.2, Spring 1995
Simple military strategy games for two people are usually either too simple to be interesting, or else devolve into chess-like stagnation after the first few moves. Screaming Eagles is really just a dogfight, not a military strategy game, and two-player Castle Risk is playable, but lacks the excitement of the multi-player version. The only one I can think of that I have found satisfactory is Avalon Hill's Napoleon (the one with the square wooden pieces that march along on their edges). All the others have either been military themes grafted onto an abstract strategy game, or the kind I don't like with tons of little counters, each having its own combat value, morale, etc. (Actually these are considered tactical-level wargames, rather than strategic-level.) But now, with Avalon Hill's release of We the People, I have two games that can satisfy my strategic-level wargame cravings on a two-person gaming night.
We the People isn't purely a wargame. In fact, combat isn't the major portion of the game, since the winning conditions generally depend more on political control than military strength. So it is important to see which side has the most influence over each colony. This is pretty easy to do with the nice-looking blue or orange political control markers that are spread out over the states on the map as the game goes on. The map itself is a little confusing. It depicts the thirteen colonies and eastern Canada, with hills, mountains, and rivers drawn in, although they don't affect the game. The only occupiable spaces are cities, which are represented by circles color coded to differentiate between colonies, and are connected by white lines. The circles contain the name of the city, an anchor symbol if it is a port, and the circles are speckled with white snowflakes for winter quarters. Winter quarters and port spaces are very important to the game, but you can't see these markings at all if there is a political control marker or military counter on the space. You can't even see what state (excuse me, colony) the city is in, especially around the cramped areas of Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. And since most, if not all of the spaces get filled with political control markers as the game goes on, this makes an annoying problem. Another problem with the board; I am not too familiar with east coast geography, but from the way the map is drawn, I find it confusing that some cities which appear to be inland, such as Philadelphia, are port spaces, while others that are obviously on the coast, such as Boston, are not ports.
There are plenty of die-cut counters (after all, this is an Avalon Hill game) representing the British or colonial troops (round markers), the generals (tall, rectangular markers that stand up in little plastic stands), and the aforementioned political control markers (hexagonal, containing pictures of a British or U.S. flag). There are also a few markers to keep track of turns and such, one die, a chart with sequence of play and battle summary, and two good-quality decks of cards. The artwork is very nice and evocative of the period, with engraving-style pictures on the strategy cards, and schematic plans on the battle cards.
The game is played in phases, with each turn being one year, starting in 1775. First comes the reinforcements phase, which actually only means that the generals that were captured last turn are once again available to be brought in. (It's a gentleman's war, and the generals are never killed, just exchanged back to the other side.)
Then comes the real meat of the game, with each player dealt and then playing seven strategy cards. There are essentially two different kinds of strategy cards: Operations Strategy Cards, and specific Event Strategy cards. Operations strategy cards are all the same, except for the number in the upper left corner, and make up the bulk of the deck. The number is either a one, two, or three, with the higher numbers being more valuable. These cards are multi-purpose. With, for example, an Operations Strategy Card with a value of two, a player could bring in reinforcements (one general and up to two units of troops for the Colonials, one general and as many troop units as specified on the game turn marker for the British), or place two political control markers on the board (for Colonials they may be placed in any empty space or space containing an American General, for British they may be placed in any empty space next to an existing British P.C. marker or space containing British troops), or move a general up to four spaces (the general must have a strategy rating of two or smaller). Troops can only move (and therefore attack) if they are picked up and moved by a general, and generals can only move if they play an Operations Strategy Card with a value greater than or equal to the general's strategy rating, so you see that Operations Strategy Cards, especially those with a high value, are very important to have. The British may only use Operations Strategy Cards to bring in reinforcements once each year, while the colonials may do it twice a year. In addition, none of the British generals has a strategy rating less than two, so Operations Strategy Cards with a value of one are almost useless to the British player.
The Event Strategy cards have specific events on them, such as "Admiral Suffren Wins a Naval Victory", or "William Pitt Peace Talks". Most of these cards may only be played by one side, so a "may be played by the British player..." card is useless to the American player and must be discarded. Some cards are so important that you have to play them, even though they benefit your enemy, such as "Declaration of Independence", or "Benjamin Franklin Signs a French Alliance". The French Alliance card is very nice for the Americans, because from then on, he has the French Navy, which may be placed in any port space, making it impossible for British generals there to do their special sea move. (A British general may normally move from any port space to any other port space, as long as it isn't politically controlled by the Americans.)
Battle is by an unusual but interesting system. First both players draw a number of Battle Cards: One for each troop unit, two more if they own the militia (more Political Control markers than your opponent has in that colony), one, two, or three more depending on the general's battle rating, two more cards if it is general Washington attacking on the last turn of the year (called a "Winter Offensive"), one for the British if they still have the "British Regulars" advantage (the British troops were better trained at first than the colonials), and the British get two more cards if they are in a port space not occupied by the French Navy. There are only six different types of battle cards: Frontal Attack, Double Envelopment, Flank Right, Flank Left, Bombardment, and Probe. The attacker plays a card. Then the defender plays the same card if he has it. If not, he loses the battle and must retreat, taking casualties as he goes. If he played an identical card, then he can try to become the attacker by rolling his general's Battle Rating or less (generally the number is about a two). If he does so, then he becomes the attacker and there is another round. If not, the attacker goes again. If the attacker ever runs out of cards, he loses. Generally, the losses are one, two or three troops as you retreat, unless you can't retreat, in which case you lose all your troops and your general. But unless the general was alone or couldn't retreat, he will not be lost. Losses could be less or more depending on what battle card the attacker won with.
After all the Strategy cards have been played or discarded, any armies north of North Carolina and not in a Winter Quarters city lose one troop, due to "Winter Attrition". Then the French Navy may move (if it is on the board). Each player then gains political control of every city occupied by one of his armies, and any isolated Political Control markers (surrounded tightly by enemy markers and no path to an empty space or a friendly troop) are removed. At the end of each year, the American player wins if all British troops have been eliminated, the British player wins if George Washington has been captured or all colonial troops are gone, or the game ends if the year has reached 1783 (or an earlier year if a "North's Government Falls" card has been played). In this case, the winner is determined by counting political control of the colonies. States where P.C. markers are tied are considered to be American, but the British need fewer total colonies to win.
The game so far appears to be quite lopsided. So far, the British player has never won in my gaming circle. There are lots of reasons for this: Firstly, even though the British generals usually have a better battle rating than the colonial generals, there are more colonial generals, and they are a lot more mobile. Having more generals means you can get more Political Control markers, and eventually your militia advantage will more than make up for the lower battle score. Secondly, the American player can theoretically place six troops and two generals on the board every turn as reinforcements, which is a lot more than the British player. And the British reinforcements have to go on a friendly or neutral port space. So by systematically gaining control of all the port spaces and using the French Navy, the American player could completely cut off British reinforcements. And since the American generals all have strategy ratings of one or two, the American player can save his Strategy Operations cards of value three for either reinforcements or Political control markers, whereas the best British generals need to use these cards for movement. All these things make it very difficult for the British player to gain any ground, while the American player just spreads out like wildflowers.
The fact that one side has a definite advantage doesn't reduce my enjoyment of the game. I like Scotland Yard, Fury of Dracula, Jack the Ripper, and Fortress America, in spite of the fact that all these games are one-sided to a greater or lesser extent. In fact, some of the fun of these games comes from their imbalance. The Americans' position isn't so easy that you can win by being half-asleep. It's fun and challenging to try to cut off all the port spaces, or to figure out how to get a significant presence into the one or two states left that are Tory strongholds. And I find it even more fun to try out bold and different strategies as the British, just to see if this will be the first game where the British win. I believe a British win is possible, but it will take some luck, some very careful strategies, and a few very bold moves.
We the People ends up being, not a wargame, but a political game with the military playing an important part. The mechanics are easily learned, and the play of cards makes the strategy more interesting than most similar games. Battle is mostly luck, but there is skill involved in choosing your battles so that you draw more cards, setting things up so that you will have the militia, and maneuvering yourself so that you have a means of retreat and your opponent doesn't (one of my favorite tricks is to drop off one troop in each enemy-controlled city on my way into the battle— since an army can not retreat into a space containing enemy troops, this effectively cuts off his possibility of retreat).
Despite being (comparatively) easy to learn, this is not a lightweight game. There are always lots of different choices and strategies to evaluate. If you don't like strategic war games (Risk, Axis & Allies, Supremacy, Power, etc.) then this will probably not be your cup of tea. But if that type of thing interests you, then you should definitely give We the People a try. In my opinion it is one of only two games of its kind (two-player strategic-level war games), the other being Avalon Hill's Napoleon, that will remain interesting and fun to play after many many games. And that's saying a lot!