And because the rules are so simple, Poland Defiant is a great game for teaching someone new to wargaming. Therefore, no matter which side you play, the game is competitive. Given the random chit pull mechanism, that isn’t always possible. The Germans need to either capture Warsaw or 10 other victory cities by the end of the game to win. That is because the game only covers the first 10 critical days of the campaign. Yet the Polish player can still win the game. Instead, the Russians invaded the Eastern half of Poland per the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
Poland had no chance of defeating the Wehrmacht the best they could hope was to delay the Germans long enough to allow the French and British to intervene. Drawing the 10th Army activation chit allows all units in the formation to move and attackĪnd that brings me to the victory conditions. But there’s a chance you may not and that could seriously set back your timetable. As the German player, you really want to draw the 10th Army chit every turn since it is the largest formation with the most armor. This introduces an unknown random element – the fog of war – into the game. While one side might have 10 chits in the cup, they may only be able to draw 5 of them during the turn. Each game turn specifies how many total chits each player can draw. This is done until all the chits have been drawn, thus ending a game turn. Then another chit is drawn for another formation. Each chit in the container represents a formation and only units of that formation can move and attack. Rather than one player moving and attacking with all their units, followed by the other player doing the same (known as IGO UGO), one of the players draws a chit out of an opaque container. The other is the remarkably balanced victory conditions. First, it uses one of my favorite mechanisms, random chit pulls. But what makes this game stand out to me are two things. First off, the rulebook is only 10 pages in length and uses mechanisms most wargamers are familiar with, making it quite easy to learn. Since it is card-driven (some would argue, card-assisted), I decided to see what Poland Defiantoffered. The only other game I then owned covering the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 was No Retreat! The French and Polish Fronts. Published by Revolution Games, I found this little gem a few years ago. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “hex and counter” and want an overview of what this means, then check out our Board Gamer’s Guide to Wargaming. You may not agree with how I came up with my list, but hopefully you’ll agree the games on it are quite good, even if they aren’t on your top six list. So just by sheer volume, there were many more titles in my collection covering WWII and thus my list of top six reflects that. Likewise, I own more games about World War II than I do any other era. I find tactical games too crunchy and detailed, while strategic games are too abstract. For example, while I have wargames at the tactical and strategic level, operational games hit my sweet spot for some reason. I also selected games that, while designed for two players, could be played solo.įinally, I admit personal biases did influence my list. In this way, if someone liked one of the games in my top six, they could find other titles in the same series. Another constraint I used was to try and select games that are part of a series. There are many great games from Avalon Hill, Victory Games, and other publishers that have long since gone out of business, but I wanted to limit my list to games those new to the hobby might have a reasonable chance of finding either from the publishers or the secondary market. First, I only considered games that were published relatively recently. Let me begin by explaining how I came up with my list. What I think makes a great game, whether it be mechanics, scope, artwork, etc., others might find downright hideous. Second, as with beauty, it is very much in the eye of the beholder. There is no way any one person can have played them all – even once. Why? Well for one, there are just so many hex and counter wargames out there. This article is bound to open a can of worms. Do you agree or has he got it all wrong? Introduction Dave lists his top six games of this type. Hex and counter games are a mainstay of the wargame genre.
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