CHANNEL FRUITCAKE

BRITAIN STANDS ALONE by JAMES WERBANETH

from GMT

One 22” x 33” battle map, one 11” x 17” area map; 480 counters; Rules Book; Player Aid cards. Boxed. GMT, POB 1308, Hanford CA 93232. $32.

Reviewed by RICHARD H. BERG

I have been espousing the “Design for Cause” ticket now for some time, mostly because I (usually) play historical games not to see What happened, but Why. However, I have now encountered a game which stretches the Cause envelope so far that it almost makes me want to go out and play Afrika Korps for a month. Jim Werbaneth’s Britain Stands Alone, which will - and has- most assuredly please(d) many people, contains a great deal that is both admirable and fun. It is also one of the most overwrought, procedurally dependent designs in many a moon.

Actually, that statement is somewhat unfair to Jim W., because his original design was a somewhat simple one, initially meant for Command magazine. That didn’t work out, so the game drove up the coast and dropped in on GMT, who promptly handed it over to a developer raised in the Don Greenwood School: The Tinkerer… Kevin Boylan. Now, Kevin has not been bashful about his participation in this project, going so far (on GEnie) as to say that he put so much into BSA that it was more “his” game than Jim’s. Incontinent Hubris aside, the problem with what Kevin states is not that his participation therein was not effective or interesting, but that much of what is his is Pure Overload, a dierolling nightmare of procedures and endless rounds of combat that all go to prove one thing: while working at the knee of Don G., the Yoda of Development, he missed attending the class on “elegance”.

To digress for a brief moment - and to refit my spleen - BSA is yet another marvelously looking game from GMT. Here we have a rather attractive, computer-generated map - crisp, clear, eye-pleasingly multi-colored, and only a bit overcrowded - from the nimble fingers (and pro software) of John Kranz and Gene Billingsley. Given some of the more dismal, electronically produced efforts we’ve been seeing lately, this augurs well for this style of map production. The counters are the usual, highly attractive GMTers, running as they do, the full gamut of WWII hardware: planes, boats, and fighting guys galore, with the latter using NATO symbology and the first two, icons. Two rules books are provided, one which contains the actual rules, and the other which explains what is in the first book. You have to be just a mite bit leery when you see the latter in any game.

Ultimately, BSA is not an overly complex game to actually play. The problem - and many gamers will not perceive this as a problem - is that there is so much of it, and much of what there is is more Byzantine than an evening with Theodora. (And certainly not as much fun.) What we have is Werbaneth’s land system over which has been layered, like 14 coats of cheap varnish, Boylan’s Air/Naval system, a system which appears to have descended from a 1985 manuscript on setting the clock on your VCR. Aside from its tortuous nature, the air/naval portion of the game is neither bad, nor even unnecessary. It’s just that, because it is so overdone and so overlong - it takes several hours of playing just to get through the air/naval portion of the initial invasion turn - one starts to wonder why it is there at all?

The Sequence of Play seems fairly direct, with a mutual Naval Segment preceding German and British Operations segments (both of which are mostly land-oriented), around which are sandwiched Reinforcement and Repair segments. It is within the Naval Segment that the game’s endless maze of Detection-Interception-Movement followed by additional layers of Detection and Interception, occur. Individually, each of these “actions’ is fairly simple. The game system, however, lays them out in such Gordian’s Knot fashion that, at one point, the BROG Crack Playtesters engaged in a rather overheated “discussion” as to who exactly was intercepting whom, and under what circumstances, and how did it apply … and to what. (That’s the last time we give Jack the good beer.)

The hex-grid map is divided into land and sea zones (which are also represented by a rather handy, accompanying “area” map), with each of these zones rated for the ability of each player to detect the presence of enemy naval or air units therein. The British capability to do so can be reduced - and rather effectively reduced - by German air strikes. What happens, in the naval Segment, is something like this:

•• The German player launches his Naval stacks

•• The Brit detects them, upon which he

•• Intercepts with HIS fleet (which he does rather easily); upon which

•• the German (hopefully) detects their movement and intercepts with his Stukas and ME 109’s … at which point things begin to get cloudy, as

•• the Brit now attempts to detect the intercepting German air with his air, unless the latter has

•• intercepted the German naval movement.

And that’s only in one of several zones … and you have yet to attempt to resolve all of those interceptions, which resolution can get a bit weird.

What does ameliorate the Gordian Knot level of resolution is that most of it is quite tense, and much of it depends on your skill as an operational-level game player. Thus, although I feel that the mechanics used for this area could have been rendered in a much more accessible, manner, I greatly applaud what their end result is, levels of play tension, insight, and skill one rarely finds in games.

BSA, as you can tell by now, is a very meaty game. It’s an operational level game - 10 miles per hex, daily turns, land units from battalions to divisions, individual capital ships to flotillas of smaller boats, and what appear to be air squadrons - with a rather quasi-tactical feel. This arises from the detailed air and naval areas of the game, almost 20 different terrain types, and a step loss land CRT. The air area is particularly rococo, with about five pages of rules covering a (cheap) baker’s half-dozen different missions. You know where you are headed when your bombers have up to seven, separate ratings, three of which cover different types of bombing missions (troop, installation or naval). This is the kind of detail which either causes a distinct rise in your adrenaline … or your stomach lining.

The naval game is a bit simpler, but, interestingly, appears to require a higher level of gaming skill. You can guess, be wrong, and still recover in somewhat good order in the air. In the Channel, the wrong move, the wrong plan, and it’s all over. This was quickly brought home to use the first time we played, wherein we attempted to spread our initial invasion wave over two areas. Not a good idea. Even with the game’s stringent release rules, the British navy is at its best when it can isolate less-than-fully supported attack waves. And, even with a stunningly reduced radar ability, the British air licks its chops when Herman’s Boys split their missions. We had to start over after this abortive first turn because there was so much German iron at the bottom of the channel that it looked like Benghazi harbor. It was annoying and frustrating - especially as it took about two hours of procedure checking and extended wristage to get to that dismal conclusion - but it was a lesson learned. The game was showing you why, and in a rather decisive (if roundabout) manner.

Ultimately, although BSA is, ostensibly, a land battle game - the land portions are easily understood with solid, if somewhat pedestrian, mechanics - this is a game for players who not only enjoy a totally combined arms approach to modern warfare, but actually relish the intricate problems of coordinating such. Since the Germans are (at least initially) restricted to one beachhead, the land battle is quickly reduced to a Reaction-Breakthru form of play … not unexciting - especially if the Germans can establish a second beachhead - but certainly not as involving as all that flow-chart stuff that gets you there.

I think that BSA is surely one of the more interesting games of the year, but I’m still not sure whether I liked it or not. It’s sort of like one of those holiday fruitcakes, you know, the one your aunt brings that you need hernia insurance to carry. It’s full of interesting stuff, much of it quite tasty. Still, it’s awfully heavy … and it’s an act of faith to finish one piece. And it sure ain’t for everybody. But there are those who can’t wait for auntie to arrive, and, for them, Britain Stands Alone will be one delicious treat.

CAPSULE COMMENTS

Graphic Presentation: Top notch, one of the year’s best.

Playability: A chore, heavily procedural, and the learning curve is gradual. Solitaire low.

Replayability: A plus, as gamers first master the system and then try to figure out the best plan.

Creativity: High, but needs some reining in.

Wristage: Carpal Tunnel Land.

Historicity: Excellent, considering it’s a what-iffer.

Comparisons: In detail, scope and vision, far above the old clinkers on this subject. SPI’s Seelöwe was fun, but shallow, and GRD’s Finest Hour drags the Europa system around like an anvil.

Overall: Procedurally difficult and overladen with detail, but, for those willing to take the dip, this can be a very interesting channel swim.