Title: Guarding the Land, The Battle for Fort Griswold
Price: $ free when bought with something
Designer: Paul Rhorbaugh
Graphics Designer: Mark Mahaffey
Publisher: LPS, Inc
Published Date: 2023
The actual attack on the fort has several names, but the most infamous is "The Fort Griswold Massacre". The story goes that when the militia force led by Lieutenant Colonel William Ledyard surrender, he was killed by a British Officer's sword and the British continued firing on and bayoneting the defenders. Unfortunately, this story is backed up by several survivors.
There is a pdf of a historical book written on the Battle of Groton Heights that is available for free. If you would like to read it, please click here to download.
Be warned, it is 439 pages of reading, written on March 25, 1882 for the Groton Heights Centennial Committee. I couldn't get away from the computer while reading because it is interesting and goes into a whole lot more history than what I can or will do in this review. If you are stuck with reading it, mea culpa.
Abbreviations Used:
IU=Infantry Unit, AP=American Player, BP=British Player, BASA=British Assault Staging Area, ARL=American Resistance Level, BRL=British Resistance Level, AM=Assault marker (the back side of the British IU), AC=Artillery Crew (treat as IU), CF=Combat Factor, CD=Card Draw, LDR=Leader, TM=Turn Marker (use a coin or make your own), TRT=Turn Record Track. I am going to do my best to use these in the review.
Subject:
The British attack on Fort Griswold, Sept 1781. (dang, we already know this. sorry for the repeat.)
Scale:
Area movement. I am thinking about 250 yards or so for each area.
Player Supplied Components:
1D6 and 1 set of playing cards is needed.
Components and Physical Quality:
Yes, a bigger than life 4" x 6" in size game and the standard high quality that most game companies can't match with their overpriced games, pretty much for free. Amazing.
Counters:
The game has 17 counters that need to be cut out. The breakdown is as follows - 8 British counters (7 BP IUs and 1 BRL marker) and 9 American counters (6 AP IUs (2 of these are Artillery Crew, treated the same as infantry), 1 ARL marker, and 2 LDRS (Col Ledyard and Capt Latham)).
The counters have a front side and a reduced backside, except the BP IUs, who have an AM on their backside. Important to know as the British must be flipped to their AM side to be able to assault - cold steel up da bum. Hear about the peanut walking down the street? It was assaulted. Of course that makes an ass... a... ah, never mind.
Card Deck Setup:
For regular card deck - Divide the deck into black and red. Remove all face cards (Jack, Queen and King) and 9 to 10 cards. Give black cards+1 joker to the American player (AP) and red cards+1 joker
for the British (BP). Each player shuffle their cards.
Complexity:
Introductory, but a nice intro game. Perfect for teaching younger people a fun game AND history to boot (but don't tell them that they are learning!).
Game Map:
A nice overhead view showing the fort, with the area divided in zones. The fort areas have a red circle with a white number, while the white circles with black numbers are general non-fort areas.
There are two red circles that are NOT Fort Griswold proper (for setup), but are part of the American fort defense complex and do count for the BRL and ARL changes. These are areas 1 (River Battery) and 13 (V shape redoubt). You can see these on the game map above.
And last but most important, there is a red zone marked British Assault Staging Area, where all British IUs start the game.
Mark, as always, does a very pleasing job on any graphics that he puts his name too and this is no different. If you look at the game map, one will see the ground is not solid green but has shadows. Nicely done.
Playing Time:
About 20 to 30 mins if that long. This is one short game, once one has it figured out.
Addendum:
None, none at all.
Solitaire Playability (Scale 1 to 10):
I found it works pretty well solo and it is about 65% to 35%, in favor of the British winning whether 2 player or solo.
Here are the rules. Probably not much help to you, but you should be able to print these out.
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| the rules of the game |
Game Play:
The game has 8 Turns, each with many Rounds. In general, play occurs with the side winning the Round declaring which ACT(s) it will undertake, then moving, firing at targets, conducting Assaults, and checking for success, followed by the other side.
To start a Round, players turn over the top card from their decks. The highest Card Drawn (CD) wins the Round. If the winning CD is odd (ace, 3, 5, 7), that side can do 1 Activation (ACT) or pass, then the loser may do 1 ACT, or pass. If the winning CD is even (2, 4, 6, 8) that side can do up to 2 ACTs, then the loser may do just 1 ACT. On ties, neither side can do any ACTs.
First side to draw a joker gets no ACTs that Round, but the other side gets 1 ACT. When the second joker is drawn, the Turn ends immediately (with no ACTs performed).
Remember, the first round of the 1st turn, the BP rolls 1D6 and has that many acts. The American player gets no acts for the first round. On the second round, do a CD as normal.
Activations:
A unit can perform only one activation per CD but can do so multiple times in a turn. For example, either move 1 unit or fire 1 unit (see Movement, Fire Combat) and/or Assault (BP only, see Assault) or and the BP can also recycle IUs during his portion of a Round (bring back the dead) or voluntarily remove them from an area and return them to the BASA (no ACT required).
Each ACT allows a side to perform one of the following: Move 1 IU/Leader (AP and BP) (See Movement), Fire with 1 IU (AP and BP) (see Fire Combat), Assault (BP only). Assaulting requires 2 ACTs and allows BP to flip all his IUs in one Area to their AM side. (See Assault), Re-enter a previously eliminated British IU to the BASA (BP only) or Voluntarily removed a BIU from any area and return the BIU to the BASA for NO ACT COST.
Movement:
Both sides can move an IU/Leader from one Area on the map to another adjacent Area via an ACT. A Leader moves for free with any friendly IU he is stacked with (no ACT needed) or 1 ACT if alone, can move to the nearest friendly IU on the next American ACT.
Up to 3 IUs or AMs can stack in any one Area (Leaders don’t count). Neither side can move/deploy an IU/Leader to an Area occupied by the other side. Only the BP can move units to and from the BASA to and from any adjacent Area.
Exception: AP player (only) can directly move an IU/Leader to/from Area 1 and Areas 8, 9, and 12 using an ACT; units do not have to move through Area 4 (this models “the covered way”).
Fire Combat:
Both sides IUs may conduct Fire against adjacent enemy IUs/Leaders. Indicate a single firing and target IU. Roll 1D6.
For the BP, add +1 for an unwounded Leader in the same Area and +1 if the target is in a red # Area. A roll < (equal to or less than) the current BRL is a hit, flip the American IU to its reduced side, otherwise no effect. If already reduced, either reduce the ARL by 1 level or eliminate the IU (AP’s choice).
On a roll of 1 (regardless of modifiers) flip a Leader (BP’s choice) in the Area to his wounded (0 modifier) side; if already wounded, eliminate the Leader.
When the AP fires, he also roll 1D6. Subtract -1 if a Leader is in the Area with the firing IU. A roll < (equal to or less than) firing IU’s CF eliminates the target IU, otherwise no effect.
Assault:
The BP (only) may attempt the Assault ACT against defenders in red # Areas (only) by expending 2 ACTs for one assault.
Flip all IUs adjacent to the target Area to their AM sides. Use the CF printed on the IU side as the AM’s CF value.
Add them all together and subtract all defending AP’s IU and Leader CFs in the Area to find a net + roll modifier. Subtract 1 from the BP’s total if attacking a Fort Area. BP then rolls 1D6. A roll of 1-2 is 0, a 3-4 is +1 and a 5-6 is +3. Add this # result to the net + roll modifier.
The Assault succeeds if final total is > (greater than) the current ARL. Reduce 1 defending AP IU (flip over) or remove from play if already reduced. A roll > (greater than) than twice the current ARL reduces 2 AP IUs (or remove 1 if it has 2 steps). For even rolls, if a Leader is present, flip him to his wounded side; if already wounded, eliminate him. If the Area is now empty, the BP can advance his assaulting AMs, up to stacking limit (3), into the Area.
The Assault fails if final total is < (equal to or less than) the current ARL. Flip 1 AM to its IU side and remove it from play (and again, it can be re-entered by the BP).
Before the Assault is made, the AP can try to move 1 Leader from anywhere to the Area under Assault (free move) to improve his chances (once per Assault per Round per Turn). Roll 1D6. Add +1 if the Leader is wounded. A roll < to the current ARL is successful, otherwise the Leader cannot move. Flip all AMs back to their IU sides when Assault is resolved.
BRL Changes:
Increase the BRL by 1 level, but never above 4, for every 2 red # Areas that have at least 1 AM on them at turn end (and no AP units present). Reduce the BRL by 1 for every combination of 3 IUs or AMs eliminated by the AP.
ARL Changes:
Increase the ARL by 1, but never above 4, if there are no British IUs/AMs on the map at the end of any turn. Reduce the ARL by 1 the instant when: Leader Ledyard unit is eliminated. For every 2 American IUs, or Leader Latham, eliminated.
At the start of even numbered Turns only, the AP must check his overall morale. Roll 1D6. Add +1 for every 2 (round down) red # Areas with at least 1 BP IU in them. A roll < 4 is no effect, otherwise reduce the ARL by 1 level.
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| you will need this. |
Play-Balance:
I found the game is about 65% British to 35% American. Hopefully you can do better. It is a battle where the defenders were overwhelm. Think "Alamo". But it can be won. I am not going to say how to play, as that is why you are playing and need to figure out, but either side can win or lose.
Summary:
I like this little gem of a game. I was invited to play test this game and stuck it out. It was fun and I learned a lot about the workings of game publishing. LPS, Inc and HFDG are bringing out more of these pbgs, so it can be safely said that pbgs are not a fad anymore due to amount and types of them now.
If you need assistance with this one, let me know. I will try my best to help you out.
Thanks for taking the time to drop by, always a pleasure. And I will probably add more to this review, but right now... no.
oh yeah, one of my favorite jokes - What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet? "SUPPLIES!"
-ab
UPDATE: There is a very good expansion for this game included with the recent ATO Annual 2022. Worth the price of the annual for the main game is "Stalingrad: Verdun on the Volga". A nicely done updated re-print.
This blog is considered to be a living blog. Changes will be made to it as needed to clarify, correct errors or update with new information. Also, this is my opinion, right or wrong.