Tactics II, Replay (4, The End)

Let's continue with Turn 6.

Turn 6 (October)

The weather is again perfect, which is an ideal opportunity for the paratroopers to come back into action.

Red can continue its advance, also taking advantage of Blue's withdrawal along the Central Front.

Red Move 6

 Many of Red's attacks succeed, leaving Blue in a desperate position.

Red Turn 6, after combat resolution

The only option remaining for Blue is a series of desperate 2:1 attacks, in the hope of rolling 1's (D Elim), and avoiding 6's (A Elim).

Blue Move 6

Alas, the plan has failed. Blue is now left to a few scattered divisions, and must concede the game. Red is victorious!

Situation at the end of turn 6.

Debriefing

• In this solo-game, I played both sides, so the game probably wasn't as cut-throat as it would have been with 2 players. I also opted to try out some tactics that a more conservative player probably wouldn't have tried, such as trying a series of 2:1 attacks.
• The breakthrough for Red, which led to victory, was the assault on the Norther Front from which Blue never could fully recover. That's a large open area, without rivers to defend or any other natural boundaries, and that should benefit the attacker. If I remember correctly, that Northern plain was also often a decisive battlefield in our game over 30 years ago.
• The central river is an ideal frontline for a defender to hold, as long as you have enough units. In the end, Blue had to retreat to keep the illusion of a coherent defensive frontline, which was the nail in the coffin.
• The classic paratrooper/amphibuous landing tactic (which we also used a lot in our earlier days) proves to be very useful.
• Every 3 months, you get replacement units (1 point per friendly controlled city). Since Red has 7 cities and Blue 5, this should be an incentive for Blue to attack. As any Risk player (and real-world politician :-)) should know, in the long run a stronger production economy wins the war, so if you're outnumbered, try to take the production sites from the enemy.

Overall, I liked this replay, although the game feels a bit crude to modern standards. After all, there's not that much tactics you can use. It basically comes down to throwing as many units in the combats as possible. Roads make movement very generous (armoured units can move up to 21 squares), so any "mistakes" in deployment can easily be corrected.

I also briefly toyed with the idea of making an enlarged version of Tactics II as a convention game (3or 4 times the size), with 20 or 25mm miniatures for each unit, but since gameplay is a bit disappointing, perhaps that;s not such a good idea. But such a demo game will attract a lot of curious oldtimers!