During the summer of 2019, we were introduced to Maurice Suckling and his very interesting design Freeman’s Farm 1777 from Worthington Publishing and really enjoyed the mechanics and how they all came together to create an interactive and interesting look at the Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution. I was very impressed with Maurice and his appraoch to design and we have followed him every since and played many of his great designs. including Hidden Strike: American Revolution, Chancellorsville 1863 and 1565 Siege of Malta and Crisis: 1914. In this entry in the Best 3 Games with…Series I wanted to highlight the games of Maurice Suckling and share those that I have had the best experience with.

3. Freeman’s Farm 1777 from Worthington Publishing

Freeman’s Farm 1777 is the first in the Battle Formations Series from Worthington Publishing that are designed for both solitaire and two players. The focus of the system is on the individual formations that appeared on the battlefield and places the players in the role of overall commander to make decisions about which formations to activate and how to use those formations to position themselves to attack the enemy. The key to these decisions is the morale of those formations as each command utilizes one of their levels of morale and if pushed too far, through attacking or being attacked, the formation will be forced to take a morale test to see if it will break.

There are a couple of things that I really liked about this one as I felt it told the story of the style of fighting of the time and incorporated some elements that were very important. This series has centered the focus on formations and how they can interact with each other on the battlefield. It simply looks at how the relative positioning of the formations opens up opportunities for attack or provides advantages or disadvantages to one side or the other. If you are above an enemy formation on high ground or have a superior firing angle on a formation in battle, shouldn’t you gain an advantage? And furthermore, if you are relatively inexperienced green forces and are facing the smoking gun barrels of your enemy’s cannons, don’t you think that your attempts to return fire will be less effective than if firing with hardened troops from cover? This spatial element is a major inclusion in the design and really feels right and makes your choices as commander that much more difficult as you decide how to activate your troops to take advantage of the situation. I really have enjoyed this spatial relationship during my plays of the game and think that the approach is very novel.

The other element that I really enjoyed was the concept of morale. The design has the player controlling several different Formation Cards that represent their troops on the battlefield and each has their own set of actions they are able to take. The key for these Formation Cards is that each time they are activated through the play of the corresponding Activation Card they have to pay for this activation. The payment comes in the form of paying 1 point of Morale from the Morale Track by moving the cube marker down one space. The formation may also lose Morale as they attack and are attacked throughout the game. The moment that a formation’s morale reaches 5 on the Morale Track they have to conduct a Morale Test to see if they will break and leave the field. This Morale Test is conducted by rolling a single d6 with any modifiers from Tactics Cards that the player controls and then comparing that result to the current Morale of the formation (i.e. where the Morale marker is currently on the Morale Track). If the die roll is higher than the marker location, the formation has failed the test and becomes broken. If the roll is equal to or less than the marker location, the formation passes the test and remains on the battlefield. Each successive reduction in the Morale of that formation will trigger another test which will be harder and harder to pass as the number decreases. Soldiers spend their strength and will to fight in each skirmish and as they are pushed more and more, and in the face of losses and exhaustion, reach a point where their will to fight is gone and they break. I like how the design dealt with this issue and it feels right.

The game uses wooden cubes, disks and sticks to mark formations on the board and it looks like those pictures in text books showing the location of troops during these historical battles. This was a nice thematic touch for me and helped me to get into the mind set of a Revolutionary War battle.

I wrote a series of Action Point posts covering the various aspects of the game. You can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Game board that represents the locations and roles of both sides’ formations as well as their relative positions on the battlefield.

Action Point 2 – Formation Cards and how the Activation Cards are used to command and how Morale Tests work.

Action Point 3 – Momentum Cubes and how they are used to purchase the all important Tactics Cards.

Action Point 4 – Examples of combat and discuss the way the dice are used.

Here is a look at our video review of the game:

2. Chancellorsville 1863 from Worthington Publishing

While the next game on this list uses the same system, this entry in the series is definitely improved and matured and I very much liked the blind movement aspect which was added. Chancellorsville 1863 covers the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War using a similar system to Freeman’s Farm 1777.

At the start of the game some units on each side are visible, which is mostly because they are adjacent (units adjacent to enemy units are always visible on the main map.) Other units are hidden, placed on spaces on their respective mini map hidden behind a screen, in one of a variety of spaces. The mini map is a smaller representation of the main map, with the same movement arrows and nexus points but with the same scale for ‘spaces’ so the same blocks fit on both maps. Each side has their own mini map. If units move into a space on the mini map that is adjacent to a space occupied by a unit on the main map, that unit becomes visible and is transferred to the main map.

There are also some spaces found deep inside the enemy’s lines of communication and moving onto those spaces on the mini map compels an immediate transfer to the main map. In addition, there are some spaces where the lead Union units are visible. This represents Jeb Stuart’s cavalry tracking the Union advance on the Confederate left. This added aspect really makes the game and creates a sense of tension for the players as they simply don’t know where all of the enemy units are located and have to play for those units coming up on their rear even as they are engaged in major battles along the front lines.

Activations are also slightly different from the Freeman’s Farm game as each side only has 15 activations per game but each activation card identifies at least 2 commanders to activate and move. This is very necessary because the Union side has more units to move, and farther to move them to put pressure on objective locations. This has been balanced with the addition of fortifications that allow the defender to set one die per combat at the number desired. This makes for some very interesting decisions about whether to attack or not and how. I have really enjoyed this one as the system is obviously evolving and introducing new elements. I am glad that the designer has decided to take the system to the next level as there are lots of opportunities and applications to various battles for the system.

We published an interview on the blog with Maurice and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2020/02/04/interview-with-maurice-suckling-designer-of-chancellorsville-1863-from-worthington-publishing-on-kickstarter-now/

Here is a look at our video review of the game:

1. Crisis: 1914 from Worthington Publishing

Crisis: 1914 is a game of international brinkmanship meaning if you back down too soon, you lose. If you back down too late you lose. But you have hawks and doves in your cabinet and in your government, and out of these conflicting views you must somehow formulate a coherent response to the crisis to win the day and prevent war. The game is played with players building a tableau of event cards that will score them a certain number of points, some building off of each of the type of cards played, with some of the cards increasing the Tension level of Europe at the time. If the Tension gets too high The Great War will break out and the player causing it by the play of a card will lose with the others winning based on their total Prestige Points. It sounds really simple, and the game is not overly complex, but there is a lot of strategy to how you play your cards, when you play them and how are you are willing to push your luck each round.

There are 3 concepts at the heart of Crisis: 1914 including Prestige, Tension and Diplomatic Pressure. Diplomatic Pressure is how you score Prestige and reflects the skill at which you play your cards to keep your faction moving ahead of the others while simultaneously balancing the level of Tension. Tension is how you lose. Every card has a DP value and you apply DP by playing cards. The player with the most Diplomatic Pressure at the end of a turn earns Prestige points. There are other ways of scoring Prestige points too, but this is the most important one. Prestige is how you win. The player with the most Prestige at the end of the game is the winner.

I have played this one 3 times now and and I cannot wait for the next opportunity to play. It is best with 5-players so make sure you get the right group and give yourselves a chance to really learn the game as each faction’s deck is completely asymmetrical and repeated plays will help you understand each faction’s strengths and strategies. While this game is not necessarily a wargame, but more of a war themed Euro game with a bit of negotiation and tension as you build your tableau of cards, we had a great time with it and really feel that the game is a bit under the radar of folks and should be one of those games that is played at conventions as it seats up to 5 players and is really quite good.

We published an interview on the blog with Maurice and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/07/12/interview-with-maurice-suckling-designer-of-crisis-1914-from-worthington-publishing-currently-on-kickstarter/

Also, in a lead up to the game’s release, I worked with the Maurice to do the following Event Card Spoiler posts:

Crisis: 1914 Event Card Spoilers with Designer Maurice Suckling – Series Introduction and General Mobilization Cards

Austria-Hungary, Part One

Austria-Hungary, Part Two

Russia, Part One

Russia, Part Two

Germany, Part One

Germany, Part Two

France, Part One

France, Part Two

Britain, Part One

Britain, Part Two

Britain, Part Three

Here is a link to a RAW video we did after our 2nd play while attending Buckeye Game Fest in 2024:

There you have it. My Best 3 Games with…Designer Maurice Suckling! He has done so many good games and the narrative and historical immersion of all of them are top notch. He is definitely a designer to keep an eye on and I know that he has multiple games currently in design including Rebellion: Britannia from GMT Games, Peace 1905 from Fort Circle Games (we played a prototype of this one at SDHistCon a few years ago and it is top notch) and The Emperor’s Choice from Worthington Publishing (I played a short game of this at WBC and it is very good).

What are your favorite games from Maurice Suckling?

-Grant

One of the more interesting topics to play a wargame on is that of a sustained siege. I am not talking about a game that has a siege mechanic that is used over the course of the game but a game that is based wholly around a specific historical siege. A siege requires a lot of different takes to be included in a wargame to make it work including things such as supplies, manpower, defenses such as walls, trenches and other fortifications, siege engines, morale and the ability and will to continue the fight. I really have very much enjoyed the siege based wargames that I have played over the years and I wanted to share 3 of my favorites in this post. So, without further adieu, here are my Best 3 Games with…Sieges!

I want to make one thing clear. I love the States of Siege Series of games and have played dozens of them. But I don’t consider those games in the same vein as these siege focused games that I am sharing.

*The image used as the featured image for this post is called Lifting of the Siege of Malta painted by Charles-Philippe Lariviere.

3. Freedom! from PHALANX

Freedom! is a card driven siege game that pits the Greek freedom fighters and the besieging imperial forces of the Ottomans against each other. The siege is of the Greek Holy City of Messolonghi during the Greek War of Independence in 1825-1826. Freedom! features asymmetrical play with the goal of the invading forces being to manage to get inside the city before the end of the game or to force the citizens to abandon the cause by dropping their morale to zero while the defenders, on the other hand, try to withstand the siege and protect the city long enough for the invaders to abandon their attempt either by deciding to leave on their own or by having their morale dropped to zero. The actions of the players are driven by the cards in their hands, which highlight actual events and personalities of that time, while the combat is dice-driven to allow for quick and exciting game-play.

The rebel player is largely focused on grinding out a victory by surviving over the course of 6 rounds and are simply trying to hang on, unless of course they can somehow reduce the morale of the besieging units enough to where they give up and go home. However, nothing about this is a grind for the defending player and that is a problem that can be endemic with siege games. You as the defender, are as much a part of the action and must try to follow your own plan whenever possible to get a win. In other asymmetric siege games, the defender is often just reacting to the aggressor’s moves. As the insurgents, it never feels like you are simply reactionary and just along for the ride.

The really interesting thing about this one is that that there are actually two maps that are used to play the game. One of the maps shows the actual city and the forces involved in the siege while the other shows the surrounding areas, highlighting the support that each of them provides to both players. The art is gorgeous and this one is a game that we had a really good experience with. There also is a solitaire module that you have to buy separately but it works very well and provides an opportunity to play this game when you can’t find an opponent.

Players will find that they are competing for a number of nearby Greek regions on the board and there will be a tug-of-war played out by using various support actions that are focused on cutting off your opponent’s supplies. This is what I liked most about Freedom! It’s not just a continual back and forth trying to knock out your enemy’s units but there are multiple paths to victory, and all of them seem to be viable. By lowering your opponent’s morale and cutting them off from the supplies they need, you completely change their plans. Of course, there is nothing to stop you from pushing aggressively against the enemy’s walls.

Each side of the conflict really gives a different feel to the game and creates a new experience once you switch sides. As the Ottomans, you are generally going to undertake aggressive maneuver and attacks in an attempt to push forward and put pressure on the defenders and their walls of security. But when you play the Greeks there is a real feeling unpleasant feeling of desperation, which only gets worse with the arrival of Turkish reinforcements.

Here is a look at our unboxing video so you can get a good look at the components: 

Here is our video review used for the Kickstarter campaign so you can understand our thoughts on the game:

If you are interested in Freedom!, you can purchase a copy for €69,00 ($80.00 in US Dollars) from the PHALANX website at the following link: https://phalanx.co.uk/games/freedom-board-game/

2. Storm Over Jerusalem: The Roman Siege from Multi-Man Publishing

The Storm Over Area Impulse Series has been around for a while and includes games such as Storm Over Arnhem (1981) from The Avalon Hill Game Company, Storm Over Stalingrad (2006) from Multi-Man Publishing and Storm Over Dien Bien Phu (2014) from Multi-Man Publishing amongst several others. The hallmark of the series is relatively low complexity for a wargame and a very simple combat system that calculates total attack versus total defense and adds a roll of 2d6. The losses from combat can be absorbed by either retreating from the attacked areas or destroying units. The game system has mostly been used to model more modern wars including the Franco-Prussian War, World War II and the French conflict at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam.

Storm Over Jerusalem: The Roman Siege is a 2-player wargame that simulates the Roman siege of Jerusalem during 70 AD. One player controls the mighty Roman forces, who are truly master of siege warfare with their siege towers, ballista, battering rams and onagers, and the other player controls the Judean forces, which are divided into 2 separate factions with different leaders. The game is 8 turns long, but can be shortened by the play of a few event cards, at the end of which time the winner is determined by calculating victory points that come from overall losses, holding of certain VP areas and keeping the Romans out of the city.

We were very impressed by the game and its overall clarity of rules, quality components and interesting tactical choices and really had a good time learning and playing it. The Judeans are obviously outclassed by the powerful and skilled Roman Legions but they have several of their own tricks to use to hold out long enough to win the day. There is a lot to like here and I am really glad that we decided to give the system a try. There were some changes specially made to introduce the style of Ancient sieges to the Storm Over Series and this is where the game really shines. The Siege Towers were an evolution of the trenches found in Storm Over Dien Bien Phu game and are very important to the Roman efforts. The walls historically were such a physical presence in the city, and were a major impediment to the Roman efforts, that they had to come up with rules to cover them. The walls provide a defensive modifier against Roman Attacks and Assaults. This Defense Value starts at +4 and can be reduced over time by successful Roman Assaults. Since Judean units have a defense of 7 or 8 the bonus provided by the walls of +4 really helps hold onto areas. Once a wall is damaged from a successful attack though, the defensive modifier can be rebuilt by the Judean player but can never be increased to its full value of +4.

The Roman player also has specific cards (Catapult, Onager, and Battering Rams) that can be used to damage or breach the walls. Once breached, the walls don’t provide any defensive bonus and allow Roman troops to flood into the city. We found that the Romans tried to focus on a specific area of the walls and made their attacks there first in order to bring the maximum attacks possible each round to force the Judean player to have to spend their time and actions on fixing the walls and bringing up reinforcement to replace those lost in retreats. To repair a wall section, the Judean player can discard a card and use the Repair Value of that card to repair walls in an area. This action though requires a fresh unit in that area to be flipped to spent to complete the repair. Walls can only be repaired back up to +3, not the original +4. You can’t rebuild them completely.

I really enjoyed our play of Storm Over Jerusalem. The game was beautifully put together, with fantastic components, but also had some really amazing details and depth to the gameplay. This one is a winner and really has me interested in the other games in the series. I know that this game had a siege focus, which is not necessarily in each of the other games, but I really liked the simple combat system, great card play and very interesting tactical choices that were there for players to have to make.

Here is a link to our full unboxing showing off the beautiful components:

Here also is a link to our full video review:

If you are interested in Storm Over Jerusalem: The Roman Siege, you can order a copy for $86.00 from the Multi-Man Publishing website at the following link: https://mmpgamers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=355

1. Dien Bien Phu: The Final Gamble from Legion Wargames

Dien Bien Phu: The Final Gamble from Legion Wargames is a 2-player wargame about the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 that not only ended the French Indochina War but also had political repercussions far outside the region itself. One player represents France and her colonial troops. The other player represents the armed force of Viet Minh, the communist/nationalist independence movement of Vietnam. This game is not a traditional wargame and has different victory conditions than normal and also some unique and interesting supply rules. The Viet Minh win by forcing the French troops to surrender and France wins by not surrendering.

The board covers the former village of Dien Bien Phu and surrounding areas. There is a small submap of the French strongpoint Isabelle further south in the valley. There are several groups of French strongpoints scattered around the map, each one with a female name, which are all named after the commander de Castries’ mistresses, according to lore. The map is divided into three divisional sectors. Each sector has several zones that represent Viet Minh trenches winding from the map edge towards the center of the map. Each hex represents 150 meters and each game turn covers three days. There are 21 turns in the game, but historically, it ended after 19 game turns with a Viet Minh victory. The scale allows stacking of three French units in a hex, but there are no stacking limits for Viet Minh battalions, which creates a chess like feel.

French supply is a bit of a mini-game within the game. As this battle took place far out in the wilderness of Vietnam and both sides had to adjust to the limited flow of supplies that could be brought forward, through the air to the French, and through vast forests to the Viet Minh. Supplies tend to be a lot less than wished for. There are several supply tracks on the map showing how much ammo, food & bullets, fuel & spares, medicine as well as the amount of truck transport available for the French. The process for doing this supply phase is really pretty interesting and fun. Each game turn air transports will bring in a mix of supplies together with replacements and reinforcements. This is done on a chart with a grid where a mix of supply markers are placed together with eventual reinforcements and replacements. Weather will then decide what will arrive and what will abort back to Hanoi. The French player will never know for sure what type of supplies and how much will arrive and has to take that into account as they plan out their turns. And this is one of the best parts of the game and kept me thinking about the struggle with keeping my efforts going with the French. This one is not an easy game for either side and I think that it keeps the game very balanced and interesting to play.

Here is a link to our full video review:

If you are interested in Dien Bien Phu: The Final Gamble, you can order a copy for $54.00 from the Legion Wargames website at the following link: https://www.legionwargames.com/legion_DBP.html

A few other games that I have played on the subject of sieges, and that I very much liked, were games such as Halls of Hegra from Tompet Games, 1565 Siege of Malta from Worthington Publishing, 414 BC Siege of Syracuse from Worthington Publishing, Keep Up the Fire! Deluxe Edition from Worthington Publishing, Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of WWII from Dan Verssen Games, Siege Works: A Napoleonic Siege Roll & Write from Solo Wargame, Crusaders: The Siege of Acre 1291 from Blue Panther/Art of Wargames, Castelnuovo 1539 from Draco Ideas and The Alamo Remembered from Victory Point Games.

What are your favorite siege based wargames?

-Grant