The Wargamer

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. ― Sir Winston Churchill

There are eras and episodes in history that are so vital, so intricate and so dramatic, that no fiction writer could have ever imagined them. Most centuries last longer than the 100 years they are commonly associated with. The 19th century, for example, did not begin in 1801, nor did it end in 1900. Where it did begin has been debated by academics for decades: did it begin in 1776 with the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States? Did it start in 1789 with the French Revolution and the building of the French Republic? Was the ascendance of Napoleon Bonaparte and the clash of empires during the Napoleonic Wars the true dawning of the 19th Century? Or was it a smaller engagement that ended the 19th century, like The Battle of Trafalgar in 1805?

The true beginning of the 19th century for the western world may never be agreed upon. However, the end of the 19th century is much easier to pinpoint, down to the day, even the moment and location: 11 o’clock in the morning of June 28th, 1914, on the Appel Quay in Sarajevo, Bosnia. With the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, the monstrous machinery of war, borne of imperialism, industrialization, and intrigue, groaned to life across Europe and began to strangle the waning 19th century. With the beginning of mobilization in Austria-Hungary in July, the 19th century took its last breath. And once the armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire crossed the frontier into Serbia and the Battle of Cer began, the 19th century was dead and gone. The pounding of Austrian siege guns, barraging defiant Serbian towns and cities, heralded the dawn of the 20th century. The roar of these guns of August would not abate within the lifetime of any person alive at the time. A new age had begun.

Installation and Documentation

I downloaded and installed Guns of August from the Matrix Games site quickly. There are three choices available when purchasing: a physical shipment of the packaged game with printed manual included for $44.99 US; a digital download of the 107 MB software only, including PDF versions of the documentation for $34.99 US; and a third option that includes both a physical shipment and a download for $44.99 US. I chose download only and printed out the PDF manual on my own, which weighed in at about 40 pages. It covers most of the basics of gameplay but is a bit sparse in areas. Expect to do some poking around in both the manual and the interface, especially if games of this strategic scale are new to you.

Some technical problems that I encountered while downloading and starting the game up were occasional security problems with the provided key code, and a handful of crashes to desktop. These problems only occurred the first two or three times and dissipated the more I booted the game up, so I got the impression that they were growing pains. The game ran smoothly after these initial problems.

Presentation

Guns of August is well polished and does a good job of immersing the player in the World War I era. Even the manual has a sepia-toned look to it. The music played in-game is appropriate for producing a grim, serious mood, which felt fitting for a strategy game covering The War to End All Wars. I don’t know enough about music to identify the pieces used, but they were neither jarring nor inappropriate.

However, the sound effects were a bit over the top and did catch me by surprise the first few times I heard them. Depending on the in-game action, such as maneuvering, shelling, or calling in air cover, different sound effects are utilized, including machine gun fire, artillery fire, and aircraft propellers. The machine gun in particular startled me more than once.

The majority of gameplay takes place on a large, geographically detailed map of all of Europe, parts of Russia, and parts of the Middle East, so it is quite sprawling. Major cities, fortresses, and small towns are represented, as well as bodies of water. A hex grid is imposed over this large map, and military units made up of infantry, artillery, aircraft and naval assets are represented. The hex grid also displays zones of control, i.e., which nation owns which hex, as well as deployed forces and resources. All of these items are set on toggles and can be turned on and off whenever the player wants.

As far as units, players will most likely deal with infantry units most often. Infantry units represent about 2,000 men per strength point, or between 2-3 divisions per unit or corps. Other units included are HQ units and artillery units. Unit counters are decked-out with national flags to identify what nation they hail from, as well as movement, defense, and strength points. Depending on the terrain that a unit is deployed in like marsh, forest, or mountains, movement points can vary.

Gameplay

The first thing that players of Guns of August will be tasked with upon booting the game up is choosing a scenario. There are several starting points for these scenarios, and they take the player from that specific starting point to the end of the war in 1918. Other than that, each scenario is very different.

Opening Guns: The Opening Guns scenario begins (surprise!) at the opening of the war. It can play out in a particularly un-Great War way, with movement, maneuvers, and flanking. Trench systems do not exist, but heavily defended fortresses do.

This scenario presents the holy grail that many World War I grogs have been looking for: to win the Great War by Christmas, 1914. It also shows one of the game’s potentially attributes: the what-if factor. That, coupled with the AI, will have most hardcore wargamers coming back for more. I attempted to knock France out of the war entirely as the Central Powers, but each time I tried I was either bogged down by strong Belgian fortifications or fought to a standstill by French resistance. The manual reveals that playing as the Central Powers is inherently more difficult than playing as the Entente, but that didn’t make my ego feel any better. Just being given the chance to end the Great War quickly is a great gaming opportunity, however.