So, a new game has reached my table: The Halls of Montezuma, the latest card-driven game from GMT. It's sort of a perfect storm for me; it's a great subject, in one of my favorite systems, from a favorite company. Sold!
(I actually gave up game-buying for Lent; lucky for me, I paid for it eons ago, so it counts.)
The game has one thing I don't like: The rulebook is problematic. It's like a mystery, where the secrets are not revealed until you get all the way through--at which point, if you've been keeping careful track, all becomes clear. All didn't become clear on a first pass; we're off for a second pass.
It does, however, provide something I like very much: Uncertainty.
First, the key mechanic to the game is manipulating Mexico's political will ("PW") to continue the fight. A great many things affect PW, like winning battles and whatnot. One of the ways is through the various PW cities. Most major cities have a PW marker showing what they're worth. The catch: At the start of the game, neither player knows what they are. Neither the US or Mexico really has a clue about what's going on in the hinterlands.
This also works with reinforcements. When you get reinforcements, you get A Leader and Some Troops. Who exactly that leader is, and what troops he is leading, is unknown to you. For the kind of warfare I study--and I imagine that of most wars--this is about right. You can scream bloody murder to GHQ about needing troops, but it's up to their infallible wisdom to choose which ones you get. (Or don't get.) This is far, far superior to the usual calendar of reinforcements--"Oh good, this turn I get Grant."
Finally, reinforcements. You can order forts and breastworks to be built, but how good they are is not up to you. However, you are allowed to know the final result, which is unknown to your opponent until he chooses to attack them. My question: Why should the builder know the defensive value? But 'tis a small point.
I have yet to see how it works in practice, but I'm intrigued thus far. Any game where I have eight randomizer cups working is a good one in my book.
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