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Subject: Fort Worth Gamers: gaming session 08/19/17
From: Michael Ward <mward258@gmail.com>
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Saturday, 08/19/17 2 to 8 PM at Y2Komics, in southwest Fort Worth, TX.

This was another of our irregularly scheduled weekend sessions. We had two gamers at one table this afternoon.

Today's game was Dave C's Washington's War from GMT (2014, 2nd edition). Its a revamp of We the People (1994) from Avalon Hill. I own and love We the People. So I was interested to see what GMT's revision was like. Overall I'd say 85% of
the game is the same. Ah, but that other 15% was quite different in places. More on that later. Here's a photo of the bare board https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/703596/washingtons-war .

The theme/setting is the American Revolution, obstensibly 1775 to 1783. Although the game can end early. Today I played the Americans, and Dave ran the
British side. I will mention the highlights; not every move or attack.


1775 - My seven cards were crappy. While Dave's were great. Three of his seven were the powerful Ops 3's. Hell, I didn't even have an Ops 2.

British General Clinton took Philadelphia from American General Arnold, and dispersed the Continental Congress. Washington's attack on British general Howe
in Boston was repulsed, in spite of Washington using the "winter offensive" +2
DRM. Even that's no good against Dave, known for rolling 6's any time he wants
to!

At turn end Congress re-entered the board in Eutaw Springs, SC. A sub-optimal location. But it had to come in where I had a political influence marker.. (One
of the many changes in this version that hurts the Americans.)

The score (colonies controlled) at turn end was: Americans 7, British 4, Neutral 3. (There are 13 American colonies, plus Canada.) Turn duration: one hour and 15 minutes. At least 20 minutes of that was me making Dave look up rules that were different from We the People. Then me making a face when he assured me, yes, the designer really made yet another anti-American rules change to Washington's War.


1776 - Again my hand of seven cards was horrid. I had two Ops 1 cards, and five
events (three of which were for the Brits). Dave had at least two Ops 3's, some Ops 2s & 1's, and a Major Campaign card (allows him to activate three of his Generals at the same time). First, he had his General Cornwallis defeat my General Lee in Eutaw Springs, thereby once again making Congress disband and flee. Doing this so early in the turn meant I could place no political influence markers this turn. Next, British General Howe defeated my General Greene, taking Rhode Island. I had to use one of my Ops 1 cards to bring in a single infantry reinforcement. I used my other Ops 1 to have Washington claim empty Montreal. at turn end Congress reconvened in Oswego, NY (a terrible place, but I had to put them where I had an influence marker).

The score (colonies controlled) at turn end was: Americans 4, British 6, Neutral 4. Turn duration: 41 minutes.


1777 - Finally, in my seven new cards was the Declaration of Independence (the rest were mostly crap). I played it first (before Dave could disperse Congress again). Even so, I only got 7 new political influence markers out of it, short of its potential 13, as Dave had already gobbled up all locations in several colonies. The fifth and last British General, Burgoyne, came ashore with 5 strength points of infantry at Long Island, NY. Washington captured Quebec (and
General Carleton). Alas, that left Washington no retreat path when British General Howe then retook Quebec. In We the People if Washington was captured the game was over. In this version - not so. We were supposed to then remove 5 American political influence markers to show the loss of American morale. Yet Dave didn't notice we neglected to do so until late in the next turn.

The score (colonies controlled) at turn end was: Americans 5, British 4, Neutral 5. Turn duration: 54 minutes.


1778 - At long last, I drew a dynamite hand of cards: one minor event, two Ops 3s, and four Ops 2s. I used both Ops 3s to bring in 6 reinforcements. And... promptly lost 4 of them attacking the Brits in New England. I did win a battle:
Washington versus Clinton in Albany, NY. As I killed all three of his troops that put the kibosh on the +1 DRM in combat the Brits had enjoyed for "British regulars". With my other Ops cards I easily moved my other generals around to cement control of several northern colonies (Rhode Island, New York, and Delaware), since the south was a lost cause, as Dave had sewn up everything south of mid-Virginia.

The score (colonies controlled) at turn end was: Americans 8, British 3, Neutral 3. Turn duration: 55 minutes.


1779 - I warned Dave the store would be closing in 25 minutes; we didn't have time for another whole turn. So Dave suggested we at least draw our cards and see what we had. As it turned out I'd drawn the "war ends in 1779" card. So this would have indeed been the last turn. We then compared our other cards. Mine weren't as fantastic as last turn, but they were still pretty good. Better
than Dave's. Upon scrutinizing the political influence markers on the board, and the likelihood of any of then changing hands, we determined my Americans should be able to hold on to seven colonies easily, their threshold for victory. The British victory threshold, holding six colonies, seemed quite impossible.

Therefore we judged my Colonists would win if the turn had been played out. So,
victory to Michael W / Americans. Total duration: three hours and 50 minutes.

As to the French, Rochambeau, his five strength points, and the French fleet, never came anywhere close to coming in.


So, what did I think of Washington's War? Its a good game. As to the changes made, to me they fell into three categories. Some were beneficial (they corrected some flaw or streamlined play). Some were neutral (changes to city connections on the board, etc.) And several sure seemed to hurt the Americans. Dave speculated the designer must have thought We the People too easy for the Americans. Maybe so. But I thought We the People quite balanced. I'd played it 12 times, and the victories had been pretty evenly split. So I took off a point
from my rating of We the People (8) for this reason, and gave Washington's War
a "7" on BGG. Count me as one who misses the battle cards. Reducing them to die roll modifiers does streamline play, but at the cost of basically making Washington's War much like every other wargame. I vote for uniqueness!



See BoardgameGeek http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ for more information on the games mentioned above. And if you're in the area on a Tuesday night feel
free to join us for a game.

--
Michael Ward
Fort Worth Gamers
And check out our MeetUp page http://www.meetup.com/FortWorthGamers/ .
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