Crimea: The Dawn of Modern Warfare
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Crimea: The Dawn of Modern Warfare is a board wargame published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1975 that simulates the Crimean War.
In 1853, Russia and the Ottoman Empire went to war, with England and France backing the Ottomans, hoping to maintain the current European balance of power in the Concert of Europe. When Russia scored several victories against the Ottoman Empire, England and France entered the war against Russia, and made Sevastopol their main objective, hoping that its surrender would force Russia to sue for peace.[1]
Description
Crimea is a two-player wargame where one player controls the Alliance, and the other controls the Russians. The game is very complex, having a relatively large 22" x 28" hex grid mapsheet subdivided into a strategic map and four smaller tactical maps, 450 double-sided die-cut counters, a large rulebook and many charts and game aids.
Gameplay
In contrast to most wargames of the mid-1970s that used a simple alternating "I Go, You Go" system of turns, Crimea mixes movement and combat from both players in an open-ended structure that does not end until combat peters out. Each Tactical Turn is divided into three segments:
- Fortifiation construction
- Strategic movement
- Action
The Action segment only happens when opposing units are adjacent to one another, or if the Allied player during the Strategic movement segment declares an intention to fire siege guns. Either of these situations instigates the Action segment, which is a complex series of phases involving both players:
- Simultaneous fire phase;
- Allied: Siege fire commitment phase;
- Russian: Disrupted defender movement phase;
- Allied: Attacker movement phase;
- Allied: Siege fire resolution phase;
- Russian: Fortification repair phase;
- Russian: Hold fire resolution phase (units that did not fire during the Simultaneous Fire phase may now fire at adjacent enemy units);
- Allied: Attacker melee phase;
- Russian:: Defender undisrupted movement phase;
- Allied: Hold fire phase;
- Russian: Defender melee phase.
At this point, if opposing units are still adjacent to each other, then another Action segment happens immediately. This cycle of Action segments continues until no opposing units are adjacent to each other at the end of an Action segment. Play then returns to a new Tactical Turn. If three Tactical Turns take place without any melee combat, then the battle comes to an end.
Scenarios
The game comes with Basic and Advanced rules.
- The Basic game is only centered on the siege of Sevastopol.
- The Advanced game offers six scenarios that simulate the major battles of the war:[2]
- Battle of Alma, 20 September 1854
- Battle of Balaklava, 25 October 1854
- Battle of Inkermann, 5 November 1854)
- Battle of Eupatoria, 17 February 1855
- Battle of the Chernaya, 16 August 1855
- Battle of Malakoff, 8 September 1855
These can be combined into a long campaign game that simulates the entire war. There is also a smaller "micro-game" included that simulates the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaklava.
Publication history
Crimea was designed by Frank Chadwick and published as a ziplock bag game by GDW in 1975.[3][better source needed] The game initially sold well, and in a 1976 poll conducted by Simulations Publications Inc. to determine the most popular wargames in North America, Crimea was ranked very highly, placing 7th out of 202 games.[4] By 1980, initial popularity had faded, and game critic Nick Palmer reported that "This game deserves to be played more frequently than it is. In part, lack of interest in it stems from the very unusual rules."[5]