The Fields of Despair: France 1914-1918, a wargame designed by Kurt Keckley and published via GMT Games, was on my and Marcin’s radar for a long time. We were really intrigued how the The Great War on Western Front will play using the blocks, hidden information and multitude of auxiliary systems like Economy, Attrition, US Entry, Eastern Front, etc. Finally, we managed to organize a copy of the game and play – first the introductory scenario and then – the great campaign!

In below article I will try to familiarize Dear Readers with that intriguing title, will present two session reports from our plays – with scenarios explanation – and in the end will jump to sharing my impressions on the game. Feel free to read through the whole material or only sections you are interested in. Enjoy!

The Game

Fields of Despair: France 1914-1918 is a 2-player hex-based strategic level block war game set on the Western Front of the First World War. Players take control of the Allies or Central Powers fighting the war on land, at sea, and in the air all the while making tough economic and technological decisions at home.

Fields of Despair has a unique block system designed to maintain the fog of war throughout the entire game. In most games, block combat values range from one to four. In Fields of Despair the range is zero to twenty. That allows for various bluffing tactics and surprise attacks! Thus reconnaissance with planes plays a decisive role in obtaining a proper situational awareness on the front.

Movement is simple and free flowing. Players are allowed to “make change” during the movement phase. Thus a block with a combat value of 16 could be broken in two blocks of 8 before moving, or conversely two blocks could be combined into one. Zero-value blocks known as “Deception” blocks could also be part of the exchange. Thus after every movement phase you never really know the strength of your enemy.

The fog of war is not lost after first contact with the enemy. Blocks remain hidden even when enemies occupy the same hex and stay hidden until one player decides to allocate an air squadron for reconnaissance or sends his men across no man’s land. The Game features five scenarios, with first four depicting particular parts of the war, while the last one combines all of them in one, grand 1914-1918 campaign.

The Sessions

The plan was to first familiarize me and Marcin with this title, using the Introductory Scenario. That would teach us some basic mechanics while significantly simplifying the more complex ones. After that, we decided not to digest the game bit by bit, but immediately jump to the Grand Campaign scenario, and play all the events from 1914 to 1918. That proved to be great approach, allowing for a short learning time and then the full experience. Let us see how it went in below two session reports.

Scenario I – 1914: Introductory Scenario

It is August 1914. The mighty German 1st and 2nd Armies have swept into Belgium and overrun the key Belgian Fortresses cities of Liege and Namur. The Schlieffen Plan is set in motion.

Unsure if the German move into Belgium is a diversion, the French Army stands ready to execute Plan XVII. Entirely offensive in nature, Plan XVII’s primary objective is the recapture of lost territory in the Alsace-Lorraine region. “Offense to the Excess,” all of France is alive with the spirit of the offensive.

This Introductory Scenario is three turns and is designed and recommended as a starting place for the new players. The scenario begins on Turn 1, Action Phase 1. The setup already accounts for the “Opening Move” and Turn 1 Phases 1-3 of the Sequence of Play – simplifying significantly the initial phases of the game. Also, the US Entry in War, Eastern Front and some of the more advanced technology developments will be abstracted as they will have minimal impact on 1914 actions.

The Central Powers have Initiative and go first. It is important to note that 1914 scenario does not begin in a state of Trench Warfare. In 1914, combatants were highly mobile which is reflected in game play. A global state of Trench Warfare begins on Turn 4 – as we shall see in next, Campaign scenario.

As for victory conditions, they are stipulated in the table to the right, above. Sides can achieve Decisive Victory which ends game almost immediately, Domination Victory – if one side will gain large advantage in Victory Points or a simple Total Victory Points comparison at the end of Turn 3 if none of the sides managed to prevail earlier.

PS. As always, remember you can enlarge the pictures in the new window!

This is the game set-up, after the “Opening Move” (kind of Turn 0 before game, when Germany attacked Belgium). Note that one more Fort in Belgium (Antwerp) is still fighting. I am playing as Allies while Marcin will lead Central Powers.
Close-up on the set-up in the Northern part. Please not that Liege and Namur are already overrun. Luxembourg is conquered and huge German forces are concentrated on the border with France. The blocks are intentionally laid flat so you can see what strength is there at the beginning of the game.
Turn 1: Germans are making huge progress in rest of the Belgium and Northern France. Dunkirk and Calais are at the verge of collapse! I am building defensive line on Marne (how historical), awaiting the reinforcements which I hope will change the tides of war!
Turns 2-3: it is time for an Allied counter-attack. The whole front erupts during last activations, and big swaths of terrain in Belgium are being reconquered (including Antwerp). Still, Germans win on points 8-3. Congrats to Marcin!

That was a great learning experience! We noticed some small mistakes we committed, but other than that the game was flawless. After that introductory play our appetites really grew – in the end, here we had no space to truly experience The Eastern Front or US Entry mechanics as well as there was no time for technologies to properly develop. So next week we organized a Full campaign session!

Scenario V – Full Campaign

In August of 1914, the giants of Europe plunge into war head first. Each is certain of its victory, its cause greater than the next. In Germany, trains run with precision timing, bringing men to the West in numbers not seen before in human history. Certainly this will be over soon. Certainly we will all be home by Christmas.

The Grand Campaign links all three base scenarios together from the Central Powers “Opening Move” in August of 1914 to the final Allied push of 1918. As the situation changes during this period (a global state of Trench Warfare begins on Turn 4), the victory conditions has to adapt appropriately.

The Turns 1-3 are scored just like in Scenario I; however, during the Turns 4-9, the control of territory in Belgium and France is taken into consideration (and the actual changes from Turn to Turn).

We shall have also some special rules used in this Campaign game. There will be 1914 Opening Move phase (kind of Turn 0) so German attack on Belgium before the actual game starts. Then The Central Powers Reinforce the East – so the need to reallocate some of German forces to Eastern Front temporarily – due to historical setbacks there. And of course The Hindenburg Line – which should help Germans to keep their gains at the end of the game.

Let me now guide you through the four years of war which we played in two sittings (nine Turns in the end takes time to play!)

Set-up of the Grand Campaign! As you can see, it starts a bit earlier then Scenario I; Belgium still has to be conquered in so called “Opening Move” phase.
Which Marcin promptly does! Big Bertha, 39 German combat factors vs 2 Belgian – no chances to stop the juggernaut!
Marcin – wisely – is pressing his advantage while he has superior forces. He orders immediate attack on Maubeuge fort. Despite stiffening the defense with French troops, he prevails and this very important area falls under German occupation.
With time we learned of the Aerial Reconnaissance importance. In this game of deception and hidden information, knowing who you are attacking, where are the weak spots and where to press the advantage was crucial. Of course, it resulted oftentimes in the dogfights and losses of the brave pilots on both sides!
End of Turn 3 – situation just before start of the Trench Warfare. Most of North-Western France is overrun. The only small resistance point is in Calais. My forces also defend on Marne and in Rheims.
In hindsight, I must admit that Battle for Dunkirk and Calais was a turning point of the game. It was at the apex of the Central Powers Advance when I managed to defend that area. It allowed me later on to pump the British armies from this direction, plan offensive operations and in the end – as you shall see – break the German lines!
End of Turn 6 – my massive reinforcements starts to tell. I managed to push back German hordes from the Marne; The British established themselves nicely in vicinity of Dunkirk and Calais and started to contest many of the German-held territories.
End of Turn 7 – but Marcin had another ace in his sleeves! He built the Hindenburg Line, which double the defensive bonus of Trenches! But my super heavy killer-stack attacked from the Rheims direction and despite significant losses, broke the line!
End of The Game – once Hindenburg Lien was penetrated, a downward spiral started for Central Powers. They did not manage to evacuate their forces from Flanders – they were cut from supply. The Americans started to arrive in droves directly on front line. The economy collapsed, Blockade was pretty effective. At this moment Marcin decided – again wisely – to surrender. When I calculated later on the total strengths on the frontline, it was 260 (Allies) vs 160 (CPs). The war of attrition was really terrible.
A nice comparison how we developed our technologies (Air, Tanks/Stormtroops, Gas, Masks) as well as Artillery and Planes.

Impressions

What I appreciate:

  • I am really glad that the game comes with so many scenarios (four) as well as the full campaign. That allows you to familiarize with the game before jumping into the longer play. The smaller setups of course are also easier to play from the time perspective, while still giving a great experience.
  • When playing the game, the main focus is of course on the warfare and battles on the front. However, the game really nicely abstracts Naval Warfare, Blockade, Eastern Front, US Entry as well as Technological Advancement. Those areas got their own mini-systems, nicely influencing the main effort.
  • I am used to a very high production quality of the GMT’s games. But here we have simply astonishingly beautiful & elegant product. Look at the map and all those colors, shades and details. Blocks are great, counters beautiful and vivid. The only thing which might be a bitt better were the bleak player mats.
  • When playing the full game, there is this nice situation when both sides have a moment when they attack and when they defend. The German juggernaut tries to get as big area as possible in the first game turns, while Allies simply focus on survival. But then, with huge reinforcements (Kitchener army, US troops, etc.) the tide changes. Indeed the Trenches will be difficult to overcome but if you can find a weak spot, then there is a chance for success!

What I appreciate less:

  • There is a bit of micro-management – be it in multiple blocks moves, all the tracks on player mats or with so many auxiliary systems. While I like the effect it has on game, it comes with a small price of the need to meticulously execute all those things.
  • We noticed there is tendency to create killer stacks, which will sweep away everything in their path. True, you can try to cut them from supply but not before suffering huge losses. This is especially vivid at the end of scenarios, when last player really lets his imagination run wild, and attacks without regard what will happen next turn – as there is no next turn!

Summary

In the end, I am very glad I spent those several evenings with Fields of Despair. It was a great experience, giving a lot of insights also into the historical events. The system is well designed and usually gives a lot of fun. Would be interesting to see this replicated for Eastern Front – especially as it was much more mobile theater!

See you in another game review!