Wellington

When you play a wargame, you want to win--but you don't want to win too quickly. When you wipe out the enemy in less time than it takes to set the game up, it makes for a good story, but it's a bit disconcerting.

In this case, we're talking about Wellington, a card-driven game dealing with the Peninsular War. The 1812 scenario starts with Wellington himself--along with 5 British units, an allied Spanish general and one Spanish unit--besieging the French-held fortress at Ciudad Rodrigo. In the first turn, first segment, the British announce an assault on the fortress. The French play the Cavalry Raid card; the British count their units in the space, roll that many d6s, and lose a unit for every roll of 6. There are two leaders and six troops, so the Brits roll eight dice, and turn up four 6s--half the army is wiped out before the first siege gun fires! The Brits remove the one Spanish unit and three Redcoats, leaving the Iron Duke and two British units to conduct the siege. They roll eight dice against the French fortress and score zero hits. The French roll three dice in return....three hits! That destroys the rest of the British force, including Wellington; only the Spanish general is left. There are British and Spanish forces elsewhere on the map, but the shock of losing the main field force, in what should have been an easy win, demoralizes the Allied player.

The game does look like a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to a more complete playing of it.