I came, I saw, I conquered. Board game battles

Does this picture mean anything to anyone? No? Then you lost a lot of gold in childhood. This is a 10x10 board game for an old board game. Battle!
"Mine" managed to sow this toy, but on the net I found its rules (I added something from memory myself, we personally cut into it like this) and her http://romeo.by.ru/download.htm in the form of a toy for the Spectrum, there is also an emulator. I didn’t understand which buttons to press to play, but I rewrote from there

Rules.
They play together. Everyone chooses an army of one color. The goal of the player is to capture the banner of the enemy.
The game is played with 40 pieces on each side. The numbers on the chips correspond to military ranks.

Number Rank Quantity
1 Marshal 1
2 General 1
3 Colonel 2
4 Major 3
5 captain 4
6 Lieutenant 4
7 Sergeant 4
8 Minesweeper 5
9 Soldier 8
10 Scout 1
- Banner 1
- Mina 6

Chips 1-10 are movable, mines and the banner cannot be moved.
The outcome of the battle will depend on how each player places his army pieces in their original position. Try to do it in the most rational way.
Arrange the chips on your side of the field in 4 rows.
Mines can be placed around the banner. They can also be placed on other cells to mislead the enemy. You can put several officers in the front line, but you should try to keep them at least at the beginning of the game. During the game, try to save the sappers as well, as the sappers are the only ones who can defuse the mines.
In the game, the pieces can be moved in any direction (one space at a time), except diagonally. It is impossible to pass through the lakes.
when the chip is next to the opponent's chip, they can attack each other. If a player wants to attack, he turns the chip with the number to the opponent and says "Attack". If the player believes that the attack is not necessary, he may choose not to do so. You can start your move with an attack.
When attacking, the title of both chips is displayed, and the chip with the lowest rank (large number) loses and is removed from the field, and the winning chip takes its place, the move goes to the winner in the attack. If chips with the same numbers attack each other, then both die.
Mina herself can neither walk nor attack.
The scout can be removed from the field by everyone, but he has one advantage: he can remove the marshal if he attacks him first.
If a mine is attacked, it destroys everyone except the sapper, and it remains to stand where it stood. The sapper defuses the mine and occupies its square.
The player who manages to capture the opponent's banner will win. You can also win if you manage to block all the moves of the enemy.

Chips are made like this: a long cardboard strip is bent in the form of a triangle. On one side - a blue or green color visible to the enemy, under the other - the number of the chip. In short, there would be a printer, cardboard and self-adhesive.

All current parents were once children. They played in the street, asked for toys from their mothers and fathers, rejoiced at simple little things, took their first steps towards a future life. They also played board games that they are trying to share with their kids. Parents want to introduce children to the culture they received in their childhood.

Every year, a lot of entertainment for children is invented and developed. Games look very colorful, bright, beautiful. It seems that the old entertainment does not have the opportunity to fight for the audience, but the essence of board games is not appearance, but in semantic content.

In many ways, this is why the “Battle”, which has all the attributes necessary for a strategic tabletop, does not become obsolete. A well-known analogue of this game is.

Package

Game Description

The Soviet board game "Battle" occupied the boys from the USSR for hours, days, weeks. Girls joined them. Serious battles unfolded. Fights are related to real battles. For example, the Northern War of 1700-1721 between Russia and Sweden or the Battle of Borodino in the Patriotic War of 1812. The goal of the competition is to capture the enemy flag. The winner is the one who can do it first.

The main advantage of this game in our time is the ability to print it yourself, without running around in search of shops, without spending a lot of money. Because the "Battle" is interesting for its "stuffing", the ability to awaken in the players the desire to fight like a man, to beat their rivals. Modern teenagers can give their parents a gift, arrange a tournament for them in this lesson.

Difficulty level

The game was released a very long time ago, at a time when every cartoon, book, movie or box of tabletop entertainment did not yet indicate the age of the users to whom these things were available. "Battle" cannot be called a difficult task, but in order to win you always need to be attentive, accurate, a little cunning, thoughtful. In the USSR, whole yards played tabletop attack. Toddlers and teenagers who were older participated.

The Soviet board game occupied the boys from the USSR for hours, days, weeks

Number of players

Despite the fact that there are a lot of characters in the "Battle", only two people can fight in one game. In the USSR, the guys arranged entire tournaments that could last all day. Everyone waited for their turn, and the strongest remained until the evening to determine the best participant. Even adults came to see such battles.

What does the game develop?

In the Soviet Union, most children's activities and entertainment were primarily aimed at their development, so "Battle" refers to them. She has a lot to teach young guys. Therefore, current parents are looking for this board to instill useful skills in their children, good qualities.

What does the lesson teach:

• Strategic thinking. The second name "Stratego" entertainment was not without reason. It teaches you to properly distribute your forces, to think a few steps ahead.
• Patriotic mood. Protecting the Motherland is an important male duty. The game gives rise to a patriotic mood in a child, a desire to save and protect his native land in any situation.
• Fight to win. No one likes to lose, but it is Stratego that makes the participants feel defeated when they lose. Therefore, the participants fight persistently, confidently.
• Mindfulness. To win, you need to constantly monitor what the opponent is doing, his every move.
• Ability to work with hands. Early versions of the game assumed that the player himself must collect his army, equipment, locations. To do this, I had to spend hours gluing, expressing, sometimes even coloring.

Mothers and grandmothers bought Stratego for their children so that the children could learn all these things without the intervention of adults. They learned from personal experience.

What's in the set?

Old desktops did not look like the current ones, but they brought no less joy. Many had to glue their own army, background, weapons, and so on. However, "Stratego" was a wonderful gift for a birthday or any other holiday. Now it is difficult to find it in stores or on websites, but you can print it yourself and do the same job.

What is inside:

• Playing board.
• Two sets of figures (red and blue). Each set contains 40 figures of 12 different values.

Advantages:

• Banner (1).
• Marshal (1).
• General (1).
• Colonel (2).
• Major (3).
• Captain (4).
• Lieutenant (4).
• Sergeant (4).
• Miner (5).
• Scout (8).
• Spy (1).
• Bomb (6).

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of features in the kit.

Game set

Rules and course of the game

At the beginning of the competition, it is determined who will get which color. Players can decide this in any way: by drawing lots, by rolling the die, or by any other decision. After that, the participants place their pieces on the field, developing their tactics, but observing general rules arrangements.

An important step in this matter is to hide the merits of each figure from your opponent. The next action will be the red move, after which the players take turns making their move. An attack can be made by any of the figures, except for the bombs and the banner, which remain in place.

The main goal of the "Stratego" is to capture the banner of his opponent. You can quickly search for a banner, unravel the system that it defends, hack it and capture the trophy before your opponent. Usually the banner is defended by bombs, which makes opponents think about the location of the target. Some players, wanting to confuse the enemies, scatter bombs all over the field, while leaving a few to protect the banner.

If a player loses their scout, they risk heavy losses.
If the participant is not afraid to take risks, he puts several figures of high military ranks on the front lines. This method destroys a significant part of the enemy troops. However, the loss of these significant figures can greatly weaken the army.

It is better to save miners for defusing bombs and not put them in regular battles.
A spy who can be easily endangered is best kept until the moment you determine where your opponent's marshal is. After that, try to destroy the marshal using cunning tactics and maneuvers.

Use your memory and attentiveness. When mutual fights take place, opponents can see the location of some of each other's pieces. If you memorize them, it will make your later battles easier.

Entire battles unfold during the game

Who will like it?

At present, "Battle" is hard to find on store shelves or even websites. However, people still continue to play it. Adults tell their children, grandparents find old boxes on the mezzanine, show them to their grandchildren and arrange serious battles.

Who likes:

• Children of the USSR. All the youth who were born at the time Soviet Union, still fondly remembers this board game and is looking for a lost game at home. If today's teenagers do not know what to give mom and dad, then "Stratego" will help them out a lot.
• Adults and children who want to try their hand at the military field.
• Boys who dream of being in the military.
• People of the old school.
• Girls who are not afraid to fight.
• Companies of teenagers who do not like to waste time.
• Families who like to arrange fun home evenings.

The "battle" will always be relevant.

Game impressions

Board game"Battle" was released back in the years of the USSR and was received very warmly and cordially. The guys arranged tournaments and competitions, they were engaged in real business. Parents have always supported this activity, because "Stratego" instills in children good qualities, teaches useful things. Some mothers and fathers still use the Stratego as the first military textbook and personal educator.

Recently I found a photo on the Internet with a fragment of my favorite childhood game - "Battle". There is no other information about this game on the Internet, so I decided to write short review to this unique, tabletop strategy, in which real battles unfolded between two paper armies ...

Board game "Battle"

It was a box containing a large playing field consisting of two or three (I don't remember) thick cardboard sheets. Many sheets with patterns of headquarters, redoubts, fences, bridges, cannons, gunners, infantry, cavalry for two armies. Two gaming dice red and green and of course instructions. Judging by the uniform, it was about the battles of the Northern War of 1700-1721, between Russia and Sweden.

Before you make the first move in the game, you had to work hard. Cut out all patterns, glue soldiers, cannons, redoubts, bridges and other buildings. This work lasted about 2 weeks, but upon completion, two real armies were obtained.

Before the start of the battle, each player deployed his troops on his territory, which was limited to the river. The river could be crossed over two bridges (the player installed them himself) or through a ford that was on the map. The player had at his disposal: two bridges, several redoubts of various sizes, several fences, a headquarters, two cannons (one of them was a mortar), six gunners (three per cannon), infantry and cavalry. The goal of this battle is to capture the enemy headquarters! The headquarters was considered captured if there were at least three soldiers of any kind of troops on the adjacent cells. It was from this strategic goal that the whole arrangement followed.

After the troops took their positions, the battle itself began, which lasted for hours. The player who made the move rolled one or two dice of a certain color:

• Only a red die meant that the player was firing artillery, the number on the die was multiplied by five, a countdown was made from the cannons and a radius of five cells, all manpower was destroyed. You can shoot with a cannon or mortar, and if you shoot with a cannon, then there should be no obstacles in the way of the core. The mortar shoots with a canopy, its core flies over all obstacles.
• Only a green die - it means the player walks as a cavalry. Multiply the number on the die by two. The cavalry moves with three cavalry, if they attack, then the move should only be in a straight line, without maneuvering. All enemy manpower, in the path of the attacking cavalry, is destroyed. The cavalry does not fire.
• Both dice are infantry. Six people walk and shoot. The move is made on the green die, and shoots on the red one, multiplying its number by three. Infantrymen can go to the bayonet, according to the same rules as the cavalry (only in a straight line), in this case the shot is lost. During normal shooting movement, each infantryman can change direction no more than once. You can't move less than the number on the die. After the move, a shot is fired. The first person to get in the way of the bullet is considered dead. You can shoot without a move, the move in this case disappears.

A redoubt is bullet proof, unlike a fence. An infantryman who is on an adjacent space with a redoubt (or another soldier) can shoot through it. In this way, the second rank or soldiers who have taken cover behind the redoubt can shoot. When an infantry overcomes a fence or a redoubt, the entire turn is spent (the number on the die does not matter), the infantryman is placed on the other side of the obstacle without firing. Cavalry freely overcomes obstacles. If the number of moves falls directly on the redoubt or worries, then it stops in front of it. similar

Most board games, as well as computer games, are made with an eye on boys. And what do they like (in the traditional sense)? Tanks, war, defeat each other and tell everyone how they did it. Of course, there are enough family and simply conflict-free games, and they have a larger market segment, but all the most complex and interesting mechanics often find an exclusively “aggressive” embodiment. So designers have to reinvent the wheel over and over again, figuring out how to play out the battle of two armies for King's Landing, Mecatol Rex, or an unnamed hex on the map.

And it turns out, in essence, the same thing! Not much has changed since H.G. Wells wrote Little Wars and popularized war games with dice. Combat mechanics were introduced by Avalon Hill and GMT long before our "golden age". The boom in deck building, the triumphant march of the Legacy format, cross-platform games using a tablet - despite all the evolution, the mechanics of conflict resolution have not changed much. By the way, by conflict I mean not only a battle, but also any local situation in which players spend resources to determine a clear winner.

This column is not intended to scold the developers for retrograde. If the same idea wanders from game to game, almost unchanged, maybe it's because everything is in order with it? Let's take a better look at the most popular approaches to playing game conflicts and recall exotic alternatives, and then decide whether to open America or everything works fine anyway.

If you think it all started with dice, remember chess. Most classic games each, even the strongest figure, has only one life. A pawn eats a queen, an ordinary checker eats a king. Well, further, along the chain, other pieces can clear half the board. In its purest form, this mechanic rarely appears outside of abstract games, but if you change it a little, it is quite competitive. IN " small world» A lone hobbit on a dragon can drive away entire stacks of orcs and giants. You still have to take into account the strength of the units, but the result is the same - the defending army loses a soldier and retreats. In Neuroshima Hex, most creatures also have one life. A nuance that turns a thousand-year-old technique into ingenious mechanics is that battles in the game take place on major holidays. Units are placed on the field, and they aim at each other ... until someone draws a combat token. Then, in order of initiative, shots are heard over the field, and it becomes much more spacious.

wall to wall

In the games of the European school, battles are not so common and are played out quickly. War in them is a continuation of economic policy, a costly but sometimes profitable way to gain an advantage. In Eurogames, troops often kill each other, depriving both players of a significant share of resources. The games of Mack Gerdts are indicative. Take, for example, Imperial 2030. You must manage the states, trying to earn as much as possible more money for their territories, and if some states cease to be profitable, invest in others. Combat in the game is a simple exchange of pieces. Attacking an opponent with a lone soldier, you first break your economy, and only then his.

"Game of Thrones" is ideologically closer to the "Imperial" than to modern "daisome guns". The strength of the troops is still determined by the number of figures (although house cards can change the situation a little), swords and skulls on the cards destroy units forever. But the balance in it is clearly shifted towards the attack. Siege towers useless in defense, ships capable of moving an army across half a map versus +1 bonus for a defense order - easy to capture, hard to hold.

Where without cubes?

Rolling a die, counting damage is probably the most popular way to determine the winner in a battle. This mechanic is used everywhere from Warhammer to Eclipse. Six is ​​almost always a hit, one is a miss. IN Games Workshop dice are thrown in whole buckets: first for a hit, then for a wound, and then for a saving throw. This number of throws allows you to get closer to the normal distribution of the dropped values ​​(which would be handy if the British were more careful about the balance in their games). The value required for success depends on many factors: weapons, protection, the presence of cover, and so on. In non-wargames, one throw is usually enough to hit the target.

The second popular battle pattern is the "5–6" mechanic. These two values ​​are considered successes. Dice are usually rolled a little, on average 5 pieces at a time. Such mechanics are found in a variety of games, from War of the Ring to Arkham Horror. In the first, successes inflict wounds on monsters, in the second, enemy figures are removed from the field.

The third model is a complex multi-stage firefight with initiative. Not much has changed since Axis & Allies, Eclipse happily uses the same approach. There are even more nuances in the old wargame (rules for submarines, cruisers, artillery support), space strategy just some rockets
stand out from the usual roll modifiers. Interestingly, Shadowrun also uses similar mechanics, which is no longer a wargame. Why is this "battle" on the cubes so popular? You can attach anything to it! Ship upgrades from Eclipse, skills in Lovecraftian games, the 4 dice = success rule from role play. Cubes allow you to resolve the same situation with many various ways and make battles unpredictable. They are also cheap to manufacture and easy to test the game.

Cards are everything

Speaking of card battles, let's just leave aside MTG and other CCGs. With rare exceptions in this genre, each card has health and attack, and these numbers are simply compared in combat. In Doomtown with her poker cards they tried to make conflicts more interesting, but let's still turn to strategic games. Often the cards in them simulate cubes. A deck of cards allows you to distribute probabilities as you like and wind up as many mechanics as you need. Runewars takes advantage of the cards to the fullest. Enemy hits for the four unit types are unevenly distributed; in addition to wound icons, there are magic ball symbols that activate special abilities. In Gloomhaven, attack damage is fixed and a 20-card modifier deck is used instead of dice. Heroes, by leveling up, can get rid of bad cards, add good cards or cards with special effects (stun, immobilize, and so on).

tug of war

The most curious mechanic on our list. Appears in the most different games. Unlike the examples mentioned earlier, in tug-of-war games, you don't inflict wounds on your opponent, but you claim some kind of win by taking turns bidding. IN historical game Few Acres of Snow is how the siege of forts is implemented - the players for the British and French take turns playing "military" cards and moving the token from a neutral position until they get bored or the cards run out. In the Red Dragon Tavern, heroes can risk coins in between drinking gambling. In an effort to win, players throw cards on the table with suitable actions and "twists" in the game (trump cards, tricks, raising stakes). Only one will win, and he will take all the gold if the rest pass. Interestingly, it is possible to leave everyone with a nose by playing the "Wairess thought it was a tip" card.

In wargames, such a technique also appears - take at least the recently republished “Hannibal. Rome vs Carthage. Before the battle, the Romans and Carthaginians take a long time to determine the number of available tactics cards (it is affected by the size of the army, the presence of nearby allies, the place of the battle and the talents of the generals). Then the duel begins. The card "Attack on the left flank" must be answered with "Attack on the right flank." On "Attack in the center" - the same card. There are also "Pincers" and "Reconnaissance in force". There is no required card - the battle is lost, even if you have twice as many soldiers. The Battle of Cannes followed a similar pattern.

* * *

Let's be subjective for a second. The most suitable mechanic for complex and interesting battles is still card. On a cardboard box the size of a calendar, you can easily fit five different mechanics and not overload the perception. In addition, by varying their number and content, you can achieve a good balance and replay value. Dice are quite applicable, but they can seriously upset (for some reason, ones are more angry than "empty" cards in Runewars), and the role of chance in playing with them can only be compensated by the number of rolls. And tug-of-war and figurine trading works well in games where strategy is more important than tactics, but in tactical board games they are simply not needed.