Saturday, March 28, 2015

Alesia - The Epic Battle of the Ancient World

Or so said Avalon Hill Games in 1976. Finally got to play this, my very first board game-proper. My fellow Hawaiian-expat, Kimo, who had some experience with Avalon Hill games, came over to help out. As he hadn't played Alesia before, and not any board games for many years, we referred to the 7 pages of rules quite often during the game. Honestly, the rules are pretty straight-forward and fairly simple. It's the tactics and initial deployment, particularly the Romans',  are what makes it interesting and challenging. Below is the set up prior to the start of the first turn. Kimo played the Romans and I played the Gauls - which included the relieving forces on a hidden Off Board Movement Chart.
The game can be played up to 24-turns, but we ended up going for only four with a pretty clear indication of Vercingetorix being able to make it off the table - which is the victory condition for the Gauls. Although the evenly spaced placement of Roman forces by Kimo around the perimeter of the outer barricades seemed to make sense, it ended up being their downfall. It soon became evident, that the use of more centrally-staged Quick Reaction Forces would have been better.
Early on the Gauls inside fortress Alesia had half their forces, along with Vercingetorix, swiftly move southwards for a breakout. As the Romans were spread thinly throughout the outer perimeter, they only had a small force in the southern area. This area is also the first area which off-board relieving Gauls can enter (Turn 1), which they did.
Maybe if Vercingetorix had the same view as I did, he would've made it out too.
By Turn 2 the Gauls, who although had lower overall Combat ratings overwhelmed the Romans in their area. Kimo and I, both alumni of the Hawaii Public Schools system were initially challenged by the mathematics required to calculate Combat Resolution - namely, ratios of Combat factors, but we ended up getting into the swing - at last we think we did.
Image from the old National Geographic Greece and Rome book - depicting Caesar's cavalry leading a desperate, and successful, counter attack.
I felt bad for Kimo and reminded him that he had swift moving cavalry up in his northern sectors and that he should at least attempt to get then into the fray down south. Unfortunately for the Romans, by Turn 4, it was evident that Vercingetorix had a great chance of making it off the table, and we called it a day in favor of the Gauls.
I'm quite sure we missed some of the details of the rules, but for the most part it played very smoothly and was quite an enjoyable first time for me with a board game. As the game is borrowed from a buddy, I'll likely look for a set on ebay in the future. I have to say the counters make sense, but they are a bit fiddly to move around - particularly when the units get pressed together in close combat.

18 comments:

  1. Great to see such a classic on your game table.
    Funny (or sad) commentary regarding your Hawaiian maths education. Glad the two of you persevered with the combat ratios.

    Are you planning more boardgame play? You know, I am in Renton for work one week per month. Perhaps, we could get together for a game one evening after work sometime? I could pack along my Commands & Colors: Ancients in 6mm.

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    1. Thanks, Jonathan. Wow, I knew your work brought you over this way, but didn't know it's for a week at a time, and in Renton. I'll contact you via email. Dean

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  2. Glad to see an AH game, so many souvenirs for me...

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    1. Happy to hear that, Phil. It is indeed a vintage game - looks like it was printed/published in 1976 or so. Regards, Dean

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  3. Not one i've tried myself it does look cool if a little cramped.

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    1. Thanks for the visit and comment, Simon. I think a multi-player game with two other players might make it pretty cool too - attacking from multiple side - I tend to focus on a particular area when gaming myself. Best, Dean

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  4. One of the classic AH games - I remember playing many games of Alesia in high school during the late '70's and most always went down to the wire

    Don't forget the automatic win for the Romans for a 2:1 surround attack!

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    1. Thanks for that, Miles. I think in our game, the Romans never were able to surround attack the Gauls - although the Gauls managed it a few times. I can see the usefulness of the Optional Rules once you become familiar with the basics. Regards, Dean

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  5. Never mind the maths, how did you find the layout of the rulebook? Avalon Hill produced some great games but the rulebooks were always a challenge to get through. If you want a more up to date take on ancients gaming try the Command & Colours series, really very enjoyable.
    Best HGA.

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    1. I found the 7 pages of rules to my tastes. The only thing I found a bit much, and that's just me, is the Combat Table for HTH resolution. As you know from my simplification of Hail Caesar - I like something you can pretty much remember without a chart. More like a the results in DBA? Anyway, your suggestion for C&C echoes Jonathan's. Warm regards, Dean

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  6. Having painted for almost 20 years, but only gamed with the minis for the last 3 years, I'm also slowly starting to look into the joys of military board games. I find them quite inspirational for painting projects, and perhaps useful as campaign generators for a string of miniature-based games. History is fun to replay either way!

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    1. Soren: Appreciate your visit and thoughts. I too have gamed a fraction of the time compared to painting. I think this board game provides some great ideas which can be translated to a miniatures game. Unless 1:1 skirmish type games, most miniatures are representational like the counters for this game. Best, Dean

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  7. Oh! Great to see this Classic alive in the XXI century. I still own a much battered copy from the 80s

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    1. I was pleasantly surprised to find this borrowed copy in almost pristine condition - one of the three map boards was a slightly warped, but could probably be straightened out - just didn't want to take the chance of damaging it. Otherwise a very well-playing game. Regards, Dean

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  8. I never got a chance to play this one, but I did play AH's Alexander the Great quite a bit. GMT games has an updated game about Alesia in the Great Battles of History series (which I still need to get to the table). Great to see this one all set up!

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    1. Thanks, Greg. I saw the GMT version too. Maybe someday. Thus one was quite enjoyable. Regards, Dean

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  9. Avalon Hill produced some great games way back. I came close to getting this once myself, I did get Caesers Legions which covered a number of Germanic battles at the Julio-Claudians.

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    1. Ken: Thanks for stopping by the blog and posting the cool comments. I think I can now find similar stuff on ebay (or the like) without being totally clueless as to board games. Regards, Dean

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