Sergeants
Card-Driven Miniatures Rules
I recently had the opportunity to play
in several beginner-friendly games of the Sergeants Miniatures Game from Lost Battalion Games and – despite a steep learning
curve for what looks like a huge board game with cards and minis –
really enjoyed the World War II squad-level action driven by some
innovative card mechanics.
Sergeants incorporates elements
of a board game, particularly a modular board of squares that
recombine to form various map boards depicting typical Normandy
terrain. It uses pre-painted 20mm miniatures of German and Allied
soldiers much like a historical miniatures game, although each has a
base with an individually named and numbered dog-tag. Each soldier
comes with a single stat card depicting its abilities (movement,
ability to rally pinned comrades, range for spotting and shooting
enemy soldiers, victory points) plus seven cards keyed to that
soldier for resolving randomized elements within the game. These
cards form the core of the Sergeants game.
Card-driven mechanics aren’t new to
board or wargames – take a look at Richard Borg’s incredible
Memoir ’44 or Collins Epic Wargames’ Spearpoint 1943
– but using cards with different sectors of game information for
several mechanics within the game remains the central concept behind
Sergeants.
In preparing for a game each player
builds a squad based on soldiers’ victory points and extra points
for special equipment and ordnance. The average point build used in
our demo game gave each player a squad of six to eight soldiers. Once
players select soldiers they set aside the stat cards for future
reference and shuffle all the soldiers’ other cards together into a
huge “action” deck.
Cards from the action deck serve
numerous functions in resolving operations during the game:
* Stats on players’ NCO cards
determine how many action cards they draw each turn, which offer a
variety of “orders” – look, hide, move, shoot – given to a
variable number of soldiers as listed on the card. Each turn players
also draw three “story” cards from a common deck with pairs of
matching actions (“move then look” or “shoot then hide,” for
instance) that determine permissible actions during each of a turn’s
three phases. The more action cards in a player’s hand, the greater
the range of options they have. (And if a player loses an NCO in
combat, he also loses the cards he allows them to draw each turn....)
* A dog-tag graphic on each card not
only denotes from which soldier’s card-set it comes, but allows
that soldier to take the associated action again or in addition to
the number of soldiers listed who receive that order.
* Some cards include a blue or white
“narrator box” with additional instructions, such as ordering the
named soldier to move a certain way (toward or away from an enemy,
toward a structure), make an attack, or even become visible to enemy
units! White boxes remain optional (and are usually beneficial) while
blue boxes are mandatory. These not only add some personal
idiosyncrasies for the individual soldiers but force players to
choose between the actions and numbers of soldiers activated on these
cards or other, non-narrator cards.
* A red box lists and determines “hit
checks” for various attacks at long, short, close, and blast range,
such as “Long: Miss” or “Close: Hit.” Each time a soldier
attacks he draws the top card from his action deck and checks the
appropriate ranged attack: a “hit” result causes the target to
draw from his own action deck....
* The lower right corner contains one
of four damage results a target may receive if an attacker scores a
hit: zip (near miss, no penalties), pin (pinned down, all soldier
stats are halved), wound (soldier stat cards flipped to show reduced
wounded stats), or killed. Wounded soldiers taking another wound are
killed. These results are used differently in grenade attacks and are
also used in a slightly different way in close combat.
(I will freely admit I’m no fan of
the actual artwork on the cards; I found it distracting at best.
While I understand the urge to tie cards into individual soldiers
within the game, the overall functionality of the cards might have
been better served with a more neutral image and larger game-relevant
information. I also admit that artwork remains an extremely
subjective issue and that the designers have no obligation to satisfy
my particular artistic tastes.)
This is an extremely simplified
overview of the multiple uses of cards in the Sergeants game;
the interaction of cards, soldier figures, and the board makes for
some engaging, squad-level gameplay, although I’ll admit the
learning curve remains steep.
Squad-Level Play
Some folks might like the grand
strategic action of the Axis & Allies boardgame or the
battlefield simulation of Memoir ’44; others might prefer
more tactical action like that offered by Spearpoint 1943
(I’ve featured a number of these games before). Sergeants
offers a very focused play experience of squad-level infantry
operations in World War II, with each player commanding a handful of
individually named soldiers with variable abilities, including
foibles exhibited through mandatory blue narrator boxes.
This requires a solid investment in
leaning the rules (aside from a financial investment in the game
itself), but rewards players with a very focused experience. Aside
from managing only a handful of soldiers in a squad, choosing orders
and action cards to maximize their impact on the battlefield, players
identify more with individual, named soldiers than simple, anonymous
“game pieces.” It helps that each soldier has specific stats
different from others of the same rank; giving named soldiers an
extra action when playing one of their cards makes players pay
attention where they deploy different soldiers.
At first my own inability to view
soldiers as individuals put me at a disadvantage, a clear
demonstration of the steep learning curve I experienced with the
rules. In my effort to move a core group forward and a flanking group
off to one side, I gradually realized my senior NCO was a terrible
shot (very limited range) and I’d inadvertently left my most
powerful piece of firepower – the guy carrying the MG-42 machine
gun – way in the rear of the group and conveniently at a worse
range to attack enemy soldiers. In the second game I played I made
sure the guy with the MG-42 was well placed in cover next to a
soldier with a high enough range he might as well have been a sniper;
the guys with good throwing ranges went off down the flank to close
with enemy troops and later delivered crippling grenade attacks; my
senior NCO stayed in the back in good cover so he didn’t have to
expose himself to enemy fire when shooting at poor ranges.
I particularly enjoyed my view of enemy
soldiers. Each painted miniature on the opposing side was also an
individual – some NCOs, others armed with certain weapons – and I
had no visual idea which ones were the better targets. It wasn’t
even easy to recall which ones had particularly effective weapons or
ranges unless I paid attention to the other players measuring ranges
and consulting their own soldier cards. This provided a very
realistic sense of a skirmish beyond what other miniature wargames
and board games offer.
Other Banes & Boons
The Sergeants game demonstrated
several key gameplay elements that stood out beyond the card
mechanics; it also presented a few drawbacks one might overlook.
Besides the option to point-build
individual squads (and that’s before considering any of the add-ons
for soldiers, squads, and terrain noted below...), the ability to
rearrange the “puzzle-piece” board for different scenarios gives
Sergeants fantastic replay value. Each five-inch by five-inch
square terrain piece (double that for “landmark” pieces) has
puzzle-like tabs and indentations to fit with all the other pieces.
Since the pieces are double-sided, this enables the game to present a
host of terrain options and arrangements.
Each tile displays action modifier
information right on the tile, making calculating ranges for moving,
looking, hiding, and shooting easier. Although movement relies on
measuring inches, other actions measure range by terrain tiles (with
larger landmark tiles counting as two). When line of sight between
soldiers for spotting and shooting cuts across several square tiles
diagonally, those tiles and their modifiers count as well. This
sometimes led to some debate at the game table about whether or not a
line nicked a tile corner, a small issue considering the utility of
having terrain modifiers listed on the terrain itself.
At least to my particularly frugal
finances, the Sergeants game has a high price to buy into a
base set – $89.95 for either Day of Days featuring American
paratroopers or Red Devils with British paratroopers – not
to mention pricey yet great-looking add-ons, from punch-out,
three-dimensional terrain and new terrain tile sets to extra
soldiers, complete with pre-painted minis and card sets. That’s not
to say the basic game set isn’t packed with amazing components –
one can’t argue with re arrangeable map tiles, a host of cards,
markers for spotted and pinned soldiers, and pre-painted miniatures –
but it represents a high buy-in for a hybrid board/miniatures game
with cards. It’s certainly what some might call a “boutique”
game that delivers a rather unique play experience particularly
satisfying for gamers interested in World War II.
Perhaps
the best way to try Sergeants
and see if the investment’s worthwhile is to find a regional
convention, game store, or gaming group where a Sergeants
fan offers a demonstration. I lucked out in finding several games at
a regional wargaming convention. I had the pleasure of participating in two games run by
Jason Williams, who ran the Sergeants demo and the more
involved game I played at Williamsburg Muster 2014. Despite what for
me was a steep learning curve with the rules, he did a fantastic job
of explaining the essentials and patiently shepherding us through
various gameplay issues as they evolved on the board.
Overall I’d have to admit I was
really pleased with the game experience Sergeants offered. If
it weren’t for the high price tag for even just the base set (which
could occupy me with different terrain and objective scenarios for a
while) I’d dive right into it to satisfy my interest in World War
II game action.
Comments....
Want to offer feedback? Start a
civilized discussion? Share a link to this blog entry on Google+ and
tag me (+Peter Schweighofer) to comment.
