Pyramid Pick
Victory
Published by Columbia Games
Designed by Grant & Tom Dalgleish
$39.00
Victory is a very interesting development in Columbia Games' excellent "wooden block" series of wargames. Unlike their previous games, it's not a representation of any given battle or war. Instead, it's an abstracted version of World War II, somewhat like the old Avalon Hill Blitzkrieg. However, Victory uses the wooden-block system that Columbia has perfected over the years.Basically, the wooden blocks are about 3/4" square, and about 3/8" thick. They stand up on edge, like half of a stable domino. The owning player can see the unit type and strength; his opponent can only see that there is a unit there, but not what kind or how powerful. Each unit has four strengths, usually 1-4, printed one per side around the edge. As the unit takes a hit in combat, its strength is reduced one level per hit. On the offense, you roll the number of dice equal to the strength of the unit. Depending on target type, you hit on each 1 rolled - or perhaps 1-2 or 1-3.
This elegant system provides not only a handsome game, but also a painless way to handle fog of war, hit reduction, and combat results in one easy mechanic.
Victory is not the first Wooden Block game, nor perhaps is it as good as the queen of the line, EastFront, for which they won the Origins award in 1991. But it's an introductory level game, with room for as many optional rules -- and parts! -- as an experienced wargamer wants to add.
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This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 4, 1998
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