I have already played with my Friends from other countries several games on Rally the Troops (RTT) – not being able to often see each other live, this is our main way to spend time together with the boardgames. We had great time with Time of Crisis, wrapped our heads around Vijayanagara, relived American rebellion in Washington’s War, tested fast 300, tried to survive with Friedrich or win one of the most epic civil wars in Julius Caesar.

However, none of the previously available titles on RTT sparked so much interest, comments or simply hype among players as Paths of Glory (PoG) did. It landed on the platform in autumn last year and immediately gained status of one of the most popular titles. To that extent that Tor (who created RTT) had to put some restriction who and how can access his creation. But this is topic for another story.

During last nine months I played already 17 online games – shorter and longer, usually with pretty significant time investment. That means that I almost reached the total number of my live sessions! (which is at current moment 18). I must say – my joy from again playing this game is great! And with fantastic colleagues – Clio, Alex, Grant, Dave, Mark McG – this is even more fun.

I am not going to share all the possible plays from this time but two definitely stayed in my memory for much longer. Those I will report in detail.

But first things first!

The Platform

Rally the Troops is an online site where you can play board games in your browser, with fully automated rules enforcement. Play live or asynchronously with friends or strangers, or explore the games on your own. It is free to play, and you do not have to look at any ads – which is impressive.

The platform develops and grows all the time. At the moment when I am writing this article, Rally the Troops consist of 31 wargames from various publishers (with iconic Paths of Glory of course!); we have a pretty wide array of the most iconic and prominent designs in our hobby, but you can also find some of the less known. It is rapidly expanding, and we are getting a new position every couple of months – based on the bandwidth of its main developer, Tor Andersson. There is a forum and Discord server where you can discuss the next titles in pipeline, ask the rules questions or simply express your gratitude to the team!

The Game

Paths of Glory wargame session board overview reference March 2021

Who have not heard about Paths of Glory? That fantastic classic from Ted Raicer allows players to step into the shoes of the monarchs and marshals who triumphed and bungled from 1914 to 1918. We have Central Powers who must use the advantage of interior lines and the fighting skill of the Imperial German Army to win rightful ‘place in the sun.’ At the same time, the Entente Powers (Allies) must bring their greater numbers to bear to put an end to German militarism and ensure this is the war ‘to end all wars.’

Sounds familiar? Of course it does. The game is with us since 2010 and hundreds, if not thousands, of sessions were played. In the meantime the Historical Scenario was refined, as well as rules update. Many Optional cards, counters and mechanics were created. What is more, a dedicated solo mode was created and as stated below, the game landed on Rally the Troops several months ago.

Session Reports

So let us jump now to the actual session reports – in a pretty abbreviated format, with key developments only. As said, I wanted to share with Dear Reader two iconic examples how great this game could be

“A rollercoaster!” – one of the sessions with Alexander

That was probably one of the most epic and iconic plays of Paths of Glory so far for me. I played as Allies and Alexander (from the Player’s Aid Blog) as Central Powers. It started nicely, I was gathering forces to deal with Austro-Hungary forces; but then 1 overlooked Corp got my 8 RU armies!…
Give up? Game over? No way! Let us try to create threat somewhere else. Despite Alex best efforts, my offensive in Middle East was extremely successful! Both Constantinople and Sofia have fallen. We were at that moment at stalemate…
The breakthrough came in Galicia, of course with another encirclement! Pity I could no longer play Romania and my forces were meager – but that was sufficient; a pincer move of Serbs (from south) and Russian armies (from East) did the job. Then, it was only matter of time…
And so the game ended with the automatic Allied victory in Turn 15. I almost got Yankees to France and Alex almost played Bolshevik Revolution! What a game – epic experience and a true roller-coaster!

“To the last breath!” – one of the sessions with Clio

This was another epic, wild, unforgettable experience with Path of Glory. I played as Allies and Clio as Central Powers. We started with crazy Eastern Front dance of death – Russian armies were next to Berlin at some moment in time. The situation somehow stabilized after 10 turns.
The Western Front was constant struggle but the pressure in the East allowed me to contain the initial German breakthrough. Similar with Italian front which is always a headache for Allies; two French Armies plugged the gap but it was a close and bloody call before front stabilized.
The game-changing events – as usually – happened in the East. First I pushed to Damascus only to be driven-back to the gates of Alexandria by Turks! Once the oriental armies arrived steadily the Ottoman Empire started to collapse. But I had to sacrifice the Greeks to achieve Constantinople!
But guess what? The game ended only after 20 Turns, reaching the Endo-Of-Game scoring phase! I experienced this for the first time in over than thirty plays so far. That was a decisive Allied victory but not Automatic. Great, epic experience with Clio!

Conclusion

Playing Paths of Glory online with boardgames friends was a great comeback to this wonderful title; the implementation is fantastic, early days errors are solved and it is just pure joy to play this great, exciting title. That game is pretty complex, multidimensional and rich – the digital implementation allows for much easier entry into its world. I am so happy that what Tor started several years ago – and I had a privy to be one of the first players to try it – is developing so nicely.

More reports to come!