Game review:
Bomber Command
Between 1942 and 1945, the Royal Air Force conducted strategic bombings of Germany
in the hopes of crippling its industry, choking its war machine, and terrorizing the
population into surrender. Civilian casualties were dizzyingly high, with a death rate to
match within Bomber Command itself: 44.4% of crew members would not make it home
alive—if at all.
But the raids did work. Although they did not shatter the Reich’s war economy the way
the Allies had hoped (what with a decrease in production of barely more than 15% in
1944), it forced Germany to reassign massive amounts of men and material to its own
defense. The Teutonic conquest eventually collapsed on itself.
Bomber Command covers the most intense period in the organization’s history (from
1943 to 1945) in a two-player package that is both fresh and inspired.
Most of the game’s action takes place on a black map that represents the darkened
skies over Germany. Hexes in the grid are quite large, as they need to be, since many of
them will be required to hold a handful of unit markers and various other chits.
But before the game proper begins, the British player must first draw a main target at
random and plan his raids. This is done on a paper duplicate of the large game map,
preferably using different colored pens and adhering to a series of strict guidelines.
This operation is accomplished in secret, of course.
Then the action takes off—literally.
Active German fighters fly around and use up some of their fuel reserves, while new
ones scramble to the heavens in an attempt to create as tight a net as possible. Then
the British raids move, but only on the planning map, and according to the preplanned
trajectories. Unless bombers pass over flak—or actually drop their payload!—nothing
shows up on the game map.
The German player then attempts to detect the raids. If successful, the raids pop up on
the game map for one turn. (Think of it as Scotland Yard’s Mister X, but at an altitude of
20,000 feet and with a ball gunner.) A successful detection will in turn open the door to
possible raid infiltrations, and subsequent attacks from within.
After that, it’s time for out-of-fuel aircraft to head home for a readiness cycle that may
take a few turns, while the bombers that have reached their targets relieve themselves of
their deadly cargo.
When a bomber rains destruction on the main target, the game moves on to one of
several smaller boards that each represent a different city configuration. Bomb markers
are placed on individual hexes within the city limits, and both British and German players
have an opportunity to adjust the exact placement of some of those counters, based on
their respective efforts to maintain or disrupt the original plan of action. Finally, certain
combinations of bomb markers, when found together on the same hex, are converted
into fire tokens that earn the British player points at the end of the game.
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Throughout the flight of the bombers, the system affords the German player a variety of
possible attacks, resolved using different result tables influenced by a list of appropriate
modifiers. Also, cards come into play at various points in the proceedings, throwing a
handful of sand into the opponent’s recipe.
When all is said and done—and burned—points are tallied and the British player wins.
All right: the game seems fairly balanced, but until the system is properly digested, the
German player will have a pretty tough first couple of games…
WAR PRODUCTION
The game comes with a total of eight maps, in various shapes and forms. Two main
game maps (one for each of the scenarios included in the box), four small city
configuration maps, and two planning maps (which you can photocopy or download if
you don’t want to burn through the pad of expendable maps supplied by GMT).
Those maps look great and are very functional. I especially enjoy the look of the smaller
city maps. One gripe, though, and it’s about those same city maps: many spaces
represent urban areas of different natures, such as city center, industrial, residential, and
so on. Those are important because the combinations of bomb counters that result in
point-earning infernos differ from one type of area to another. So you want to know what
to place where. Unfortunately, the identifying icons all but disappear under the bomb
counters, so it would have been nice to have some sort of color-coded contour highlight
to differentiate those areas even when they’re buried under bomb counters.
The various unit counters and play markers look very good, but the card decks—one for
each belligerent—are the real showstopper. Simple, efficient, stunningly beautiful, and
sporting many historical photographs I hadn’t seen before.
The two different two-sided player aids hold all the charts and modifiers a hungry
nightfighter needs, but they are only one apieace. I really would have liked two copies of
each.
One quick comment about the cover: I think it’s the most action-oriented box cover I’ve
ever seen from GMT. It makes for a nice departure from their usual art direction.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Bomber Command clocks in at 24 pages of standard rules, plus three pages of
advances rules, for an about average rulebook length. The rules themselves are well
organized—efficiently enough for the unfortunate lack of an index to go by almost
unnoticed.
I’m not sure I could figure out a better teaching sequence, but I found the rulebook a little
confusing to read, essentially because of all the rules buffering required—you need to
assimilate many concepts before you know exactly how they fit together, or, in some
cases, even what they represent. This is in stark contrast to Brimmicombe-Wood’s
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previous design, Nightfighter, where every new rule flowed directly from the previous
one.
More specifically, the rules concerning the actual city bombing look like a gimmicky
mess if you read them without the material at hand to follow along. Fear not, however,
as this is a true case of a procedure being much more difficult to explain than to actually
perform.
The game also ships with a short playbook that features designer’s notes and examples
of play.
(Oh, and the photograph that adorns the rulebook is positively gorgeous.)
FUN FACTOR
Bomber Command is a fun game indeed, and not in small part because it’s so different
from your usual hex-and-counter wargame.
The city bombing stage of the game is a thrilling interlude after the frustrating (in a good
way) game of cat and mouse up there in the dark. Upon first reading the rules, this feels
like a disconnected module; but in action, the bombing flows logically from the flying, and
the overall experience creates a rather organic buzz.
I love the simple card-cancelling mechanism, where playing two cards with, say, the
equipment icon, cancels an opponent’s equipment-bearing card. This eliminates the
need for special counter cards, and provides an alternate use for unusable cards in
hand. (Although it doesn’t happen often, circumstantial duds will show up on occasion.)
The one thing I wasn’t that excited about is the downtime. Now don’t get me wrong:
there’s no more downtime in Bomber Command than there is in the average wargame—
maybe even a little less so, because the options one needs to choose from aren’t that
complicated to begin with. But that downtime is all clumped together rather than evenly
distributed over the course of the game—and the downtime clumps happen at different
moments for the two players.
For instance, the British player needs to plot his raids in secret, during which the
German player does, well, pretty much nothing at all. This feels like waiting for your
opponent to set up a colored riddle in Mastermind, for 15 minutes. Not all that long,
really, but that burst of activity on the part of the British player is followed by a lull during
the flying, where the German player is the most active, triggering the occasional card
play and the “flak attack” declaration from his opponent. When things move over to the
city bombing per se, the British player takes the reins again, with his opponent playing
second fiddle.
All in all, each player gets about the same amount of play time, but the “activity
clumping” the game creates might put off some players.
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PARTING SHOTS
I can’t help but smile when I’m playing Bomber Command. You can smell the tension on
the air. And when you realize that both you and your opponent are holding your breath,
you know the designer did something right.
The Geek here lists the playing time at two hours, and that feels about right. The short
playing time makes a back-and-forth possible, if only to switch those activity clumps
around.
I haven’t tried the advanced rules yet, but I can’t wait. Especially since they’re really
simple to incorporate to the basic mix.
And for the fans of both Bomber Command AND Nightfighter out there (like me), rumor
has it (okay, the designer says so on his website) that an upcoming issue of C3i—GMT’s
in-house magazine—will feature rules to connect the two games. Plan your raid and fly
to your target using Bomber Command, then switch over to Nightfigher to zoom in and
resolve the actual bombing.
Wow.
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