PAPER WARS REVIEW Reviewed by Britt Strickland "It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself' The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320 What good thing does not benefit from combination? Wine with cheese, sea with sun, it is hard to argue against the beauty of. the righteous blend. It is no different when good game mechanics meet intriguing historical subject matter. So it is not surprising that I was all-ears when I heard news of Columbia Games' take on the Scottish Wars of Independence. Being a long-time block game fan, as well as having lived and studied in Scotland (not to mention having stolen away their finest export, my Scottish bride), I more than fall into the demographic of Columbia Games' latest release, Hammer of the Scots.Having reached their thirtieth anniversary, Columbia Games has had some time to experiment with the different approaches to their staple, the block unit. This game, designed by the skilled Tom Dalgliesh and Jerry Taylor, shows something of the history of this experimentation and brings in an interesting blend of the old and the new. Those familiar with the company's games will recognize Bobby Lee-style initiative bidding mechanics, Rommel in the Desert cards, combat ratings from Wizard Kings, and the area movement-style of Quebec 1759. Another company transition makes itself obvious, a clear design decision towards simplicity and playability. While I feel this game is occasionally a bit overly-streamlined, it is hard to argue against the key result of Hammer of the Scots' design philosophy. The bottom line is this: it works. This game plays fast, reflects well the broad strokes of the Scottish Wars of Independence from 1297 to 1314, and causes you to spend most of your time in decision making, not in rules interpretation. One afternoon, having read the eight pages of well-written rules (with no small amount of historical sidebars and various debunking of Hollywood inaccuracies--nice touch), I set out to playa few games of Hammer of the Scots with a friend. On our first game session (while admittedly he was experienced with the game), we easily completed my first run in several hours, and then switched sides and played again. Not too shabby. While I quickly learned the rules, I am a good ways away from mastering the strategy of this game (this will not be a surprising admonition for most of my opponents). With this easy-to-learn/tough-to- master approach, Columbia Games has not forgotten the perennial benefit and undeniable staying power of older, simpler war games. They are, perhaps, for better or worse (that's for you to decide), aware of a popular new style of games from another continent. But make no mistake, this is a war game, and like classics such as Columbia Games' version of Napoleon and their masterful EastFront, it is made to be played often. Before we get into the rules of the thing, let's look at what comes in the box. The Goods Hammer of the Scots comes with a 22" x 25.5" map of 13th century Scotland, with bits of Northern England as well as hints of Ireland-- though Irish areas are not playable except through some Celtic mercenary units that were known to have played a part in the wars. The map is nice-looking, with large, fetching heraldry for the various clans. While I liked the crisp, clear font and well-defined border system of the map in this game of area movement, I was not pleased with the aesthetic decision to leave the actual topography of Scotland in a semi-unfocused, modern style. Though I suspect it was done for the opposite reason, it seemed sometimes distracting, and I would have much preferred a more period feel. With this" exception excluded, I found it to be a very good-looking game with welcomed large-style one-inch blocks like those seen in Wizard Kings (red blocks for English forces and its allies and blue for Scottish). The game offers such units as nobles, kings, infantry, knights, cavalry, and archers, all with simply and nicely done artwork. There are various touches such as English knights and infantry bearing the Cross of St. George, Norse with a dramatic painting of a dragon ship, a head-shot of Sir William Wallace for Braveheart himself (not the most striking piece of the bunch), crowns for Edward I and Edward II, and also a crown for the Scottish King unit. This piece can be used to represent one of a number of possible Scottish monarchs such as good King Balliol, the Bruce himself, or even Laird Comyn. The game also comes with four dice and twenty-five modestly but nicely done number and event cards, which will be explained shortly. The Basics The center of Hammer of the Scots revolves around the block unit (those familiar with these games may skip ahead). They are small wooden blocks with unit information on one side only. The obvious fog-of-war benefits are huge and do more than disguise the unit type; they also hide the variable strength level of the piece. These can be decreased or increased in Hammer of the Scots through such things as combat damage or pillaging, and are improved through such things as supplies (with the use of the Victuals card), or more often, replacements. Each unit has as many as four steps of unit strength with a number corresponding to each side of the block--the number facing upwards is the active one. The controlling player rotates the block clockwise or counterclockwise to designate the changing strength, which represents both the health of the unit as well as its cohesive ability to do offensive damage. The result is very easy record keeping and the important historical aspect of over- or under-estimating an unrevealed unit. McClellan would hate this game. In Hammer of the Scots, each unit lists its name, strength, movement rate (a range of two or three areas), and combat rating. The use of combat ratings, to my knowledge only available in Hammer of the Scots and Wizard Kings, is a very nice touch that essentially controls the order of battle (A2 attacks first, then B3, then C2). This letter initiative factor reflects a wide variety of qualities such as leadership, troop cohesion, and morale. The number following the letter is the number that each six-sided die would have to roll equal to or less than to score a hit of damage. The strength level of the unit, again the number pointing upwards, is the number of dice the player could roll for the unit. For instance, a B3 of strength two would roll two dice, hitting on any rolls of one, two, or three. In combat the defender always rolls first, with superior letter classes giving an attacker the chance to strike first (for instance attacker A3 would hit before defender B3, whereas defender A3 would hit before attacker A3). The highest strength unit in a players force takes the hit first, but the player taking the damage can choose which unit will be reduced when multiple units have strength numbers that are equal. The result is simple, swift combat com- posed of three rounds in which either player can retreat when their respective units are active. This retreat sometimes happens gradually as the combat rating order is still active (A can retreat during its activation, then B, then C). The idea of the rear guard, or the quickly fleeing cavalry (unfortunately for the infantry), has a very real meaning in this game. When the third round is over, the attacker must retreat in exhaustion--hey, you try a highland charge sometime. Afterwards, the winner can regroup by staying or moving forward to friendly or neutral areas. This aspect of the turn is highly useful, or painful, depending on what side of the claymore you ended up on. The Turn Sequence, Wintering, and Broadsword Diplomacy Turns in Hammer of the Scots are made up of a number of simple phases that cover a wide variety of circumstances in Scottish/English history. These are the three primary phases: The card phase (in which players bid for initiative the first round, and consecutively take turns playing one card from their hand until all five cards are played, or players simultaneously play an event card, which causes the turn to end immediately and winter to begin). The movement phase (both players move during this phase). The battle phase (in which all combat is resolved in areas where both sides are present, with the attacker choosing the order). After cycling these three phases until their hands are empty, there is the Winter turn. That is when the Scottish nobles return to their home areas to bunk down for the hard Scottish winter. Wintering is one of the keys to the game. When this phase comes, the English are sent back to England. For them, it means starting over, regrouping one's forces for the next turn to strike north again. The exception to this, for the English, are the turns where Edward I is campaigning in Scot- land, which allows the English to winter there. Castle limits, rated as one, two, or three, determine how many units the area can sustain. The Scots get bonus capacity for cathedral spaces, those areas with highly loyal local clergy. Excess units are eliminated, or worse. Unfortunately for the Scots, winter can mean going home to an occupied and overrun local populous. If so, and Here's the kicker, your precious Alban clan(s) immediately switches to the English side through self-interest, and at current strength. Ouch! I like to call this procedure "going anglo." It can be very unpleasant, once even causing me to say things that are, as yet, unprintable in this magazine. But the fight to keep your nobles faithful is one of the most challenging, maddening, and indeed fun aspects of the game. Another way that your units switch their loyalties (this is true for Scottish or English units) is when a noble unit is eliminated. Essentially a broken force, the instinct for survival kicks in and you lose this unit to the other side at strength one. This is a key strategy for both sides. Keep expanding, growing your army, until your force cannot be resisted. Though the inclusion of the Heraldry card does address some of this, the area of diplomacy is one game aspect that I would have liked to have seen fleshed out a little more--allowing you to game more of the intrigue of bidding for the favor of disparate clans would have been nice. Not much more detail would be needed. We are not talking about personal hit location tables for Robert the Bruce's murderous exchange with John Comyn at Dumfries church. Just an ability to better decide the level of effort that a player might dedicate to currying favor from either England or errant Scottish factions would have been a nice addition. Who knows, maybe it will happen. Columbia Games is already attentive to its wide range of garners in online support, including some downloadable optional rule material such as besieging, use of reserves, as well as online replays and conference maps. This kind of player support goes a long way. So you are quickly running out of fighting men. Not to worry (well, worry some), there is a way to recover these lost troops. Hammer of the Scots simulates the raising of new forces through the use of the Scottish and English Feudal Levy. The Scottish player, in areas with surplus Castle Limit capacity (that is, areas with more local resources than are needed to sustain troops quartered there), may raise new units by randomly drawing new units from a face down collection of unused Scottish units. The player also has the choice to replenish reduced units. The English player utilizes the English Feudal Levy, a feudal custom in which the king required major nobles to provide soldiers for the current conflict. In this game, the English player shuffles his group of blocks, which are face down, and draws one half of them, rounding up. These units are placed in the Northern England space and begin entering Scotland the following turn at increased movement cost (it's a long journey folks). If luck is with you, Edward I will be among those randomly drawn, meaning the King himself has returned from his concerns abroad, and has decided to personally attend to the con quest. Cards Cards in Hammer of the Scots are, I would say, pretty close to vital in making the game what it is and add a great deal to the interest. It must be said that Columbia Games is not simply a Johnny-come- lately to the boom in card-driven games. The unfortunately out of print Columbia Games title Rommel in the Desert utilized cards in unison with blocks, and to very good effect, according to its many loyal fans. Each card, of which players randomly receive five each turn, has a number that allows the activation of one to three areas for movement of all present friendly units (this game does not require leaders for activation). Once activated, they can move their full movement, subject to border limits (the equivalent of hexside limits based on terrain). The numbers represent a host of things such as time, administrative energy, funds, and human resources. Having that precious 3- rating card ready for the big push is a beautiful thing and has nice feel of the campaign. There are three 3-rating cards, ten 2-rating cards, and seven I-rating cards. There are also five event cards: Herald, allowing you to steal one enemy noble to your side on a roll of one to four; Sea Move, a naval move of two unit to any friendly coastal area; Victuals, the adding of three steps to any of your units; Pillage, the reducing of two steps of adjacent enemy units while increasing yours; and lastly Truce, a nice little eye-of-the-hurricane where there is no attacking, but plenty '0 movement. Do the cards add a random element? Yes and no. They can make just enough of difference for a smaller force to allow them to survive under the right circumstances. But I see them as a welcome breakup to what the game might have become a predictable exercise in might always makes right. The history of the Scottish Wars of Independence proves that numbers don't always make the difference (for instance,through the war, the English cavalry had six to one advantage over their northern counterparts and were still treated pretty badly at the Battle of Bannockburn). Cards can bring in some nice, crafty options for alternative strategies in Hammer of the Scots. In fact, I would have liked to have seen more event cards, allowing an even wider range of choices and historical nuances to be reflected. However, considering the fact that event cards do not double as activation cards, it would be possible for a player to end up with merely an event-filled hand with little or no activation. I'm sure this was considered in the making of this game. Also, as far as randomness goes, the number cards actually lessen the element of chaos present in some Columbia Games titles through the use of bidding for turn initiative, as was used some games like Bobby Lee (and were, for me, sorely missed in titles such as Wizard Kings and Victory, which require players to roll for initiative and can be at times too influential). Each player picks a card at the beginning of the turn from his five-card hand and lays it face down on the table. Do you really, really want to go first? Maybe you just have to get your boys into Fife before Longshanks. Spend that valuable 3-rating card and hurry in there for a defensive position. The trick is, it might be the vital card for you later. Planning plays a very large part in this game. Scenarios, Campaigns, and How to Win the Darn Thing Hammer of the Scots comes with two scenarios. The first is Braveheart (1294-1305). The second one is The Bruce (1306-1314). The campaign is simply the connecting of the two scenarios. I have an undeniable preference for the first scenario. Okay, yes, it's cool to be Braveheart, but also I feel that the first scenario is the most balanced one. The Bruce scenario does not allow English wintering in Scotland which can be, on occasion, an insurmountable obstacle. But with the right combination of players, The Bruce can serve as an excellent handicap game. How do you win? The purpose of the game, of course, is to decide the sovereignty of Scotland. The English player receives an automatic victory if he slays the Scottish King block in battle. The Scottish king must be chosen by the Scottish player by crowning him in Fife. But pick the right man, some factionalized forces may leave because of your choice (a nice bit of clan politics in the game). The other way for the English player to win is to control all nobles (the unswayable Moray prefers death over dishonor and must be eliminated for the English player to win through Noble control). For the Scots, they also must control all nobles. Or, they must slay Edward II (killing Edward I won't do it). Edward appears in the second scenario, or before if Edward I falls. As for Edward I, the English player will miss this hardened veteran badly if he dies--he has an imposing combat rating of B4 and a movement rate of three. Just to give you the scale, an atom bomb would probably only have been rated as a B6. Yeah, he is no pushover. But don't worry, it's your turn, and you have the very hearty Braveheart himself hidden in that small stack in Mar. I think it's time for a little ambush. So What's the Word? Hammer of the Scots is a well-researched, visually strong, highly playable game on this fascinating period in history. If you like block games, or thinking of trying one, or are interested in the subject matter, this one is a very safe buy. For some war gamers it may come across a little light--at times I personally desired a little more elaboration and chrome. But I must admit, my fellow gamers expressed no desire for more detail and loved the swift flow of play just how it is, and I believe this is no accident. Hammer of the Scots was clearly designed as a player's game, with the emotional sweep of this war of independence well reflected. Both players feel the huge burden of their task, and are required to use all their resources and wits to make it happen, but without the obstacle of poorly conceived rules and mechanics. Kilt, claymore, and clan, this one is a keeper.