Posts made by Joseph A Churma

Hi All,

My name is Joe and am play testing the War Room Game by Larry Harris and with Larry Harris.

I am going to give you my take on the great Movement and Combat Rules that Larry designed in the War Room Game that set up each of the players on each side in this 3 month per turn game as a Main Strategic HQ of a Theater of WWII with the Stacks of Tokens representing enemy and friendly combat formations as you have all seen in WWII Movie Historical Strategic Maps, but in the War Room game it is a World Strategic Map with the same type of Stacks! The stacks in the game are of 4 types Land Army, Naval Fleet, Naval Transport and Air Force. This game is a absolute blast to play! Each side becomes a HQ during the Strategic Planning Phase 2 with each side secretly from the other filling out the Strategic Movement Sheet which allow each major power 9 movement commands each with each movement command directing the movement of 1 stack to move their Land Army, Naval Fleet, Naval Transport and Airforce stacks. All phases done during a game round of play are done together as a team except when stacks move which is done by each nation separately in a random order each game order of play. Movement rules for moving the stacks are simple and direct. Determining the order of movement is a fun game mechanic which allows players to try and size the initiative to gain a earlier movement than the enemy. Movement even though done in a nation order of play is still completed by all nations friend and enemy during Movement Operations Phase 3 before the next phase Combat Operations Phase 4. During the Movement Operations Phase because of the fog of war movement built in the system and the timing of when which nation moves which sets up situations that a enemy forces or stacks getting one up and pinning your stacks that then cannot move or your forces or stacks causing the same to the enemy. You always can allow your stacks to complete there commanded move when moving through a land territory or sea area with enemy stacks in them as long as you leave a equal number of your combat tokens in the land territory or sea area as the enemy has combat tokens or the enemy doing the same. You also may determine that because of how enemy stacks have moved before yours that one or more of your commands need to be canceled or your stack moves may cause enemy stack moves to be canceled. Absolute blast playing the War Room Games strategic movement system!

Naval Transport Stack movement is done in a great way that eliminates the need of needing Naval Transport Tokens in the game with all the extra rules. Very innovative here with Larry’s design! It does leave one quirk in the rules that in the end does not change the high strategic in the game at all. Land Infantry Stacks that start in territories adjacent to sea areas may just move into the sea area and become Transport Stacks that now can move by sea. It did strick myself a little strange until using it and now I am one of its biggest fans! Normally in high level strategic games you can watch a enemy prepare for an amphibious invasion build up in a land territory as they assemble Naval Transports adjacent or near the land territory build up. In the War Room game this build up always is done in a Sea Area instead with both Land Tokens in Naval Transport Stacks plus Naval Token Stacks build up which for the enemy who is going to be invaded works out the same in the respect that you strategically know which land territories are most likely to be invaded and can prepare the best you can. This revelation to myself of the Naval Transport Stack rules that Larry designed just knocks it out of the park!

After all different nation stack movement is completed for both sides then Battles occur during Combat Operations Phase 4. When a land territory or sea area have combat stacks in them from both sides it becomes what is called embattled which results in a 2 phase battle rounds only in each embattled land territory or sea area which automatically occurs each Combat Operations Phase of each Order of Play. The 2 phases are Air Battle 1st followed by Surface Battle 2nd.  First is the Air Battle round which is Combat Aircraft Tokens battle that causes casualties to Air Combat Tokens only but at the same time also incorporates the surface force Anti Air or AA Gun combat strengths of the Land Combat or Naval Combat Tokens depending if Battle is Land or Naval or Amphibious that then only causes Air Combat Token casualties. Then during the 2nd phase the Surface Combat round be it Land or Sea all of the Combat Aircraft Tokens add there Surface combat strengths to the Land Tokens or Naval Tokens depending if a Land Battle or Sea Battle with casualties now only being applied to Surface Tokens. After this 2 round or phase combat battle and both sides have removed their casualties if both sides then still exist with if Land Territory with Land Combat Tokens or Sea Area with Naval Combat Tokens the Territory or Sea Area remains embattled. This is great in the strategic level making it as during WWII both sides locked in a Major Battle having to feed reinforcements to the embattled Land Territory or Sea Area. This is again a great yet simple rule system here that Larry designed that gives you this! I need to mention the Battle Status Board of the game which is great for all type Combat Tokens be it Land Combat Tokens, Naval Combat Tokens or Air Combat Tokens you place them on the battle status board in one of 2 stances which adjust a units Air / Surface Combat Strengths and in some cases how many hits it takes to knock out a Token. Yes how many hits like in Miniature War Games, most Tokens require multiple hits to be knocked out, but this is done simply by just following the Battle Status Board Rules and moving the Tokens on the board, done without the complication of keeping track of these hits on Tokens as is with Miniature war gaming. Again a great Larry design!

PS: I know at the start of this write up I said would just talk about Movement and Combat, but would just like to give a quick mention about Strategic Bombing in the game. At the Strategic level you can plan and send your Bomber Tokens to Bomb Territories with Industries in them and actually hit and knock out Land, Naval or Air Combat Tokens being built, just as was done strategically during WWII!

Note: I will be doing more write ups on this great game Larry Harris has designed in the future! The game is at late Teenage level and fast closing in on being an Adult which I and others are diligently helping Larry to bring this great game The War Room to the War Gaming World!

Joe

The War Room 2nd Time Played!

Hi All,

Play-Tested the War Room Game a 2nd time and again had a blast plying it! Played the Pacific Scenario and played Japan. I to my distress over strategic reached with a strong Japanese Naval Stack South of New Guinea and was trapped by a strong allied counter moved based on the main striking power of American land based Fighter and Bomber Token Stacks with American Naval Tokens  plus a fair kike in of Air Tokens by the Aussie area of the British Empire. I lost my Naval Stack task force which included a Battleship Token plus a Air Craft Carrier Token. There was also Air Token losses on both sides plus a couple Naval Token losses to the American Naval Stack. But this now put Japan in a bad strategic position and now had to fight a next round of play blocking the American drive in the sea area just northeast of New Guinea which Japan had to commit another Naval Stack of Cruisers and Submarines and all the land based Aircraft Tokens that could reach. At the end of this combat Japan’s Naval Stack was eliminated but also the American Naval stack was eliminated. Japan still had other Naval forces in 3 Naval Stacks left with 1 Battle Ship, 2 Aircraft Carriers and 2 Cruisers plus new Naval stack of 3 Submarines. The US had only 1 Naval stack of 3 Submarines, but had marked superiority of Land Based Aircraft which now left Japan having to back off and needing to build up its land based air power Tokens to now confront America in the Pacific. But in the mean time Southeast Asia and China Fronts had been very active with both sides bled white with Japan taking the worst of it and lost the Industry land territory of China which Japan just barley having enough land forces to make a attempt to take back the Industries territory of China. Japan was in a tough strategic position now having the need to heavily supply the Pacific China and Southeast Asia with Tokens all at the same time, which really could not be done. But ran out of time playing the game and all agreed including myself that Japan would have most likely lost the game scenario. My hat off to my 2 adversaries which are 2 long old friends also Todd and Mike. Game Well Played! Just would like to say using the game system mechanics and rules again very impressed with the easy to use rules that cover so much representing strategic history again without all those charts of other more complicated strategic games. The writing down of the movement commands and then following the rules to move your Army, Naval and Airforce stacks add a great fog of war component to this game which I love, leaving you with now having to react to and develop plans to compensate. Sort off like the old saying all the laid out plans go out the widow when combat is engaged and now the victory goes to the side that reacts the best with add-hoc plans during combat. This is the feeling I have when playing this great game of the “War Room”!

Joe

The War Room WWII Strategic Game

Hi, my name is Joe and just joined the main play test group for the new game “The War Room” designed by Larry Harris. The game is great fun to play and already would with a choice of playing a Axis & Allied Game or The War Room Game I would pick the War Room, but I do not loose any of my love for A & A games. The War Room Game is slightly more complicated than a A & A Game but in the same ball park and if you can play a A & A game you would have no problem playing The War Room Game! Below will be paragraphs on different parts of the game.

The game is a great land territory and sea zone strategic level game that basically dose set you up in the historical strategic positing that all the major WWII powers were in at the start of the spring of 1942. Then lets see how good you can do! The economic system is great using major strategic resources of Oil, Iron and Other Resources in different amounts of different types to build the game combat units called tokens, etc… This is all kept track by a simple peg board system and obtaining the resources from simple card system with cards representing each land territory controlled by a power. No complicated charts here!

The Plastic Combat Tokens are great in the game squares for Army, circles for Air Force and ovals for Naval with pictures each type of combat unit on it and each a different color from the other. The same 3 colors used for each Army and Naval and 2 of the colors for Air Force. The play test games tokens only have the combat units pictures on the top with the game production units will also have them on the sides of the tokens so when you look at the stacks you will see what type combat unit it is along with its own color. With the games system of using stacks of combat tokens to move around and conduct combat with, it would be impossible to use A & A type plastic combat units. Just would not work!

Strategic Planning in the game is like all the players of one side being a GHQ and planning the over all strategic planing for that turn in the game then all the players go off and become basically the field commanders of Armies, Navies and Air Forces using a very simple planning sheet with simple commands to try and reach the set up strategic goals of their side. Then there is a simple way of determining the order of combat movement which is different almost every round of play in the game which leads to a joint combat of all nations attacking the other side in a game. The combat movement system in the game with what is call pinning or other option canceling commands really sets up as though a large WWII battle going on and movement of the enemy caused a combat plan to be dropped or to be only partially successful which then leaves your side then having to work out a strategy to the new strategic situation or your side ended up doing this to the other. This is all done without complicated charts and die roll modifiers with the game mechanics just simply stepping you through it. Just can say one word - Great!

When it comes to combat the d12 die combat system works by using a color system with odds that yellow colored tokens would be hit the most followed by blue then red the least which totally makes sense by which type units are what colored tokens instead of using numbers with calculations. It is great works the same as using numbers with the same odds but is much easer and faster to use. Then you use a combat card called a Battle Status Board that you place Combat Tokens on that just by simply following the combat rules per dice rolled steps you through damage losses with at the end of combat possible repairs or possible losses. All of this achieved without having to use charts and die roll modifiers but coming up with basically the same results. Just can say one word - Great!

Strategic Bombing rules are great when you strategic bomb you actually take out Army, Navy and Airforce Combat Tokens being built or in the case of Infantry Tokens being formed. This now puts you into planning what you would like to strategic bomb to hurt the enemy at what he is hurting you with and working on taking out those Combat Tokens that are causing your side problems so they do not reach the front line. All units being built at Land Territories with Factories start Combat Token Production that remains under production for a game turn always leaving it vulnerable to being strategically bombed. To myself it is the best Strategic Bombing System I have ever used in a Land Territory / Sea Zone type game.

I could go on but have only play tested this Great game that Larry Harris has designed once and need to play more and will update all later with more what I believe will be more great descriptions of a great game.

I am a avid A & A war game player but play many other types of war games other more complicated area plus hex games with counters with the ones being counters with pictures on them that I like best and dabble in miniature war games at times. The War Room Game is a game where A & A War Game Players can meet all of those Grognard War Game Players that do not play A & A type games and duke it out and have fun! To the Grognard War Game Players - the standard game has enough in it historically to add with the great game mechanics that I assure you you will enjoy this game! Plus it will set you up for future expansion modules for the game which will bring in even more history with just more easy rules without all those charts and die roll modifiers with basically the same results faster and easier.

Joe