Peoples War in Voronoi

 For our mid week remote session it was another very clever game design from Ian Robinson (he of Take That Hill, Sweeping Satellites and Quadwrangles). This one covers rebellion and counter insurgency, and may bear the slightest resemblance to various disputed territories around the world.

It is area movement, with variable sized areas (like Storm Over Arnhem) to reflect the difficulty of the going. The regime forces are blue and start in the cities, the insurgent forces are red and start in the countryside. I drew the regime forces for this, we have to stop the insurgency.

The Regime starts with seven units, all in cities. They can move one area per turn and hit on a 5+ at 1 area range or 4+ in the same area. The insurgents start with very few forces (1 unit!), but can start revolutions in occupied sectors, which if successful get them an extra unit in the sector, and one in any town sector. They aren't as combat capable as teh Regime, need 6+ for ranged combat and 5+ for same area combat, although they have an advantage in the mountains (brown, bottom left).

So it is a game of whack-a-mole for the Regime, while the insurgents try to build up. 

I decided to ignore the revolutions and focus on eliminating rebel counters through local force superiority- the revolution counters can be attacked too, but the rebels can just raise new ones and get more reinforcements. If you leave them alone, there are a finite number of rebels.

The downside of this strategy is that it impacts the ability of the Regime to replace losses. It is going OK so far though.

Hmm, things seem to have got away from me. Every area is revolting and we've killed loads of rebels, but my chaps are being overwhelmed piecemeal. I made a strategic error in chasing tactical success and didn't concentrate my guys soon enough. To maximise the combat advantage of my superior units they need to be stacked up.

I did achieve two comncentrations later in the game but it was too little too late, the group in the top right corner accounted for loads of rebels though. The group holed up the city are doomed though.

Not looking too good now.

The East is Red! Oh dear. In the end we achieved a 2:1 kill ratio, which was OK but not enough and the Reds overran us, we needed 4:1. Entirely my fault, I should have concentrated sooner, and once the rebels started to gang up in big concentrations I was doomed.

That was a very interesting game, thought provoking with lots of meaningful decisions, and a real strategic contest. Tim said he found it equally exhausting the play the Reds as every decision mattered. I love the area movement, it works really well indeed. Well done Ian.