{Writer's Note: These posts are delayed reposts of my Board Stiff posts over at GamesAreEvil.com. If you'd like to read what I write a week earlier (and keep my page views high so my editor still pays me to write them), head over!}
Sacre bleu! We ‘ave as much right to zis land as you do. You British will regret ze day you forced us from our ‘omes into ze cold winter snow!
There’s no snow on the board, dude.
Que? Ze game is called “A Few Acres of Snow.” Zere’s got to be snow.
Nope, no snow. Look at the board. Also, your French accent sucks and I’m still taking Tadoussac.
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[I’d like for you to imagine that I hiked through 3 feet of snow for miles and miles to get this picture of the game in untouched powder. The imaginary things I do for you, Internet.]
A Few Acres of Snow is a two-player wargame that features deck building and allows its players to reenact the American theater of the Seven Years’ War — a war that lasted nine years. *Blink.* Okay, um, anyway… It was a battle between the French and the British over the territory that eventually became eastern Canada, and was called the French and Indian War.
Wait, really?
This is why our youth are failing history classes, people. Just saying.
Anyway, we’re not here to learn history, that’s what CrashCourse is for. We’re here to learn about an awesome introductory war game.
There are a variety of wargames out there today, featuring an assortment of mechanics. One thing that these games usually all have in common is they feature armies of everything from soldiers to tanks to spaceships duking it out over some supposedly strategic coordinates, be it for resources or physical space. In A Few Acres of Snow, you and a friend are fighting over the rich and fertile land between the rivers Allegheny and Monongahela, otherwise known as the Fork of Ohio. One player takes on the role of the French, who made their living allying with the Native Americans and trading furs, and the other player takes on the guise of the British, who made their living by farming goods and having a big army.
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[There’s obviously features and rules of this game I can’t cover in a thousand words, such as how shiny the money is, how colorful the pieces, or how the French soldier looks like House.]
What makes this game such a fantastic introduction to war games is that it’s not just about who can beat who to a pulp first. There are two separate win conditions, and only one of them has to do with outright combat and the conquering of an opponent’s capital city. The other possible win condition has to do with earning victory points, through settlement. Nothing in this game forces players to battle each other, both sides have more than enough space to spread and run out of settlement cubes to trigger the end of the game. It wouldn’t be a very exciting bout of war, but it is possible. It’s also very out of character for the British, which is why it’s unlikely that a player would choose this strategy. In the same context, though, this is why the French player should choose this strategy – because the British wouldn’t.
Players sit on either side of the board and draw cards from separate decks, populated with the settlements, ships, and military units they’ve collected throughout the game. Both the British and French start with settlements in their possession and can use those cards to travel to connected locations, earn money, trade furs, or settle properties. Each player can use one of their two actions per turn to purchase more cards for their deck from a unique store of cards for each nation. It is in this store of cards that the role of nationality in A Few Acres of Snow goes beyond the color of a player’s pieces and their starting locations. Who you play as not only determines how you should, but how you can play.
The French player starts the game with the notorious pirate colony Louisburg, enabling them to steal from the British player whenever they play that card with the required ship resource. The French player also has the Fur Trader at the beginning of play, allowing them to immediately trade in pelts for even more gold. This comes in handy, as initially the French player only has five gold pieces at their disposal whereas the British has twelve. The French’s power comes in the form of being able to amass gold quickly through fur trading and theft, and then using that gold to pay Native Americans to ambush and raid enemy colonies. Even if the French accumulated all of the military strength available to them, they would still not have enough power to defeat the British out right. This is similar to the actual historical capabilities of the French in this conflict, and is reflected not only in their starting deck, but also by what cards they’re able to purchase.
The military advantage of the British is pretty obvious from the get-go. Not only are they rich to start off, they also have more port cities, military units, and settlers in their starting deck. If the British can get their military strength up quickly and capture key territories immediately, it’s rather easy for them to overpower the French and capture Quebec. This assumes of course that their deck is giving them the cards they need, when they need them.
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[Fort St. John is useful for getting to cities you already own, and beaver pelts. And canoes, I guess. It’s also useful for taking up space in your hand when you really need a cannon to defend Quebec with.]
If you’ve ever played a deck building game like Dominion, you know how painful it can be to have a deck that’s not playing with you, but against you. Flooding your deck with useless settlements like Fort Halifax and Kennebec won’t help get you any closer to, or further from, Quebec. Of course the same can apply to the resources you purchase. Cards like militia and fur traders might be helpful at one point in your strategy, but can be detrimental if you change tactics later. There’s only one way to flush unnecessary cards from your deck, and that’s with the Governor card that can in turn become a pointless filler in your hand if you clean your deck too much. It’s this constant battle of balance you play with your own deck that makes this game more interesting than just an armed conflict. There’s a bit of luck with how you shuffle and what you draw that can make or break your offensive strikes, but there’s no arbitrary dice roll to determine the winner of a combat like in a lot of other war games.
Instead, sieges on enemy towns span multiple turns and last until one player is found victorious on the beginning of their turn. This is determined by the siege track which moves according to the military resources played by each player, either offensively or defensively. A siege begins with the aggressor playing the required cards to travel to an enemy settlement and then playing at least one military resource against that location. The siege marker for that player is adjusted to account for any natural defenses the settlement may have and for any additional military cards they may have played. On their turn, defenders can ignore a siege entirely and instead of playing military cards from their hand or reserve to sway the siege in their favor, do whatever else they want. Of course, this might be starting their own offensive against another town while their opponent is occupied elsewhere. This strategy can pay off rather well, especially if the enemy is focusing most of their troops in the initial arena.
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[I’m not sure how to pronounce Tadoussac, or half of the other French colonies on the board. This is why I can never be a Canadian.]
The landscape of the Fork of Ohio is such that the British have no place to go aside from down the coast with their ships if they want to avoid conflict. Otherwise, they need to go inland with canoes they have to acquire and take land that hopefully the French haven’t grabbed. The French, on the other hand, start with those canoes and can race up or down the rivers as they please, snatching up land every turn. The real conflict between the French and the British in 1754 had a lot of the same spatial and resource limitations that A Few Acres of Snow imposes on its players, making which side you play on crucial to your overall experience. If you’re a player who tends to be on the offensive, the British role will be the most natural for you to take on. If you’re a player that tends to try and avoid direct confrontation, the French are probably your best bet.
This built in definition of play styles for either side of the map is a great way to get started with war games. Each player has a strategy they can implement that is laid out in front of them before the game even starts. They’re not locked into that path for victory, there is wiggle room, but it is a solid starting point for someone who has no idea what to do in this kind of game. A Few Acres of Snow also includes win conditions that have little to nothing to do with actual military conquest, an extremely appealing concept to those of us that rather avoid direct conflict in games.
This game is one of the best, if not the number one introductory wargame on the market today. The French and British players are balanced even though they have drastically different resources and playing styles. Winning isn’t dependent on who possesses the largest army or has the most money, but who plays the best and shifts their strategy with the game as it develops.
Bottom line? If you’re looking for a solid two-player game that branches out into the genre of wargames, look no further than A Few Acres of Snow.
More Board?
If you want to try your hand at wargames and the theme of 18th century America doesn’t strike you as interesting, try out Twilight Struggle. This 2005 hit focuses on the Soviet and American struggle after World War II. It’s another two-player, relatively quick wargame that is good to get up and running with.
Sacre bleu! We ‘ave as much right to zis land as you do. You British will regret ze day you forced us from our ‘omes into ze cold winter snow!
There’s no snow on the board, dude.
Que? Ze game is called “A Few Acres of Snow.” Zere’s got to be snow.
Nope, no snow. Look at the board. Also, your French accent sucks and I’m still taking Tadoussac.
[I’d like for you to imagine that I hiked through 3 feet of snow for miles and miles to get this picture of the game in untouched powder. The imaginary things I do for you, Internet.]
A Few Acres of Snow is a two-player wargame that features deck building and allows its players to reenact the American theater of the Seven Years’ War — a war that lasted nine years. *Blink.* Okay, um, anyway… It was a battle between the French and the British over the territory that eventually became eastern Canada, and was called the French and Indian War.
Wait, really?
This is why our youth are failing history classes, people. Just saying.
Anyway, we’re not here to learn history, that’s what CrashCourse is for. We’re here to learn about an awesome introductory war game.
There are a variety of wargames out there today, featuring an assortment of mechanics. One thing that these games usually all have in common is they feature armies of everything from soldiers to tanks to spaceships duking it out over some supposedly strategic coordinates, be it for resources or physical space. In A Few Acres of Snow, you and a friend are fighting over the rich and fertile land between the rivers Allegheny and Monongahela, otherwise known as the Fork of Ohio. One player takes on the role of the French, who made their living allying with the Native Americans and trading furs, and the other player takes on the guise of the British, who made their living by farming goods and having a big army.
[There’s obviously features and rules of this game I can’t cover in a thousand words, such as how shiny the money is, how colorful the pieces, or how the French soldier looks like House.]
What makes this game such a fantastic introduction to war games is that it’s not just about who can beat who to a pulp first. There are two separate win conditions, and only one of them has to do with outright combat and the conquering of an opponent’s capital city. The other possible win condition has to do with earning victory points, through settlement. Nothing in this game forces players to battle each other, both sides have more than enough space to spread and run out of settlement cubes to trigger the end of the game. It wouldn’t be a very exciting bout of war, but it is possible. It’s also very out of character for the British, which is why it’s unlikely that a player would choose this strategy. In the same context, though, this is why the French player should choose this strategy – because the British wouldn’t.
Players sit on either side of the board and draw cards from separate decks, populated with the settlements, ships, and military units they’ve collected throughout the game. Both the British and French start with settlements in their possession and can use those cards to travel to connected locations, earn money, trade furs, or settle properties. Each player can use one of their two actions per turn to purchase more cards for their deck from a unique store of cards for each nation. It is in this store of cards that the role of nationality in A Few Acres of Snow goes beyond the color of a player’s pieces and their starting locations. Who you play as not only determines how you should, but how you can play.
The French player starts the game with the notorious pirate colony Louisburg, enabling them to steal from the British player whenever they play that card with the required ship resource. The French player also has the Fur Trader at the beginning of play, allowing them to immediately trade in pelts for even more gold. This comes in handy, as initially the French player only has five gold pieces at their disposal whereas the British has twelve. The French’s power comes in the form of being able to amass gold quickly through fur trading and theft, and then using that gold to pay Native Americans to ambush and raid enemy colonies. Even if the French accumulated all of the military strength available to them, they would still not have enough power to defeat the British out right. This is similar to the actual historical capabilities of the French in this conflict, and is reflected not only in their starting deck, but also by what cards they’re able to purchase.
The military advantage of the British is pretty obvious from the get-go. Not only are they rich to start off, they also have more port cities, military units, and settlers in their starting deck. If the British can get their military strength up quickly and capture key territories immediately, it’s rather easy for them to overpower the French and capture Quebec. This assumes of course that their deck is giving them the cards they need, when they need them.
[Fort St. John is useful for getting to cities you already own, and beaver pelts. And canoes, I guess. It’s also useful for taking up space in your hand when you really need a cannon to defend Quebec with.]
If you’ve ever played a deck building game like Dominion, you know how painful it can be to have a deck that’s not playing with you, but against you. Flooding your deck with useless settlements like Fort Halifax and Kennebec won’t help get you any closer to, or further from, Quebec. Of course the same can apply to the resources you purchase. Cards like militia and fur traders might be helpful at one point in your strategy, but can be detrimental if you change tactics later. There’s only one way to flush unnecessary cards from your deck, and that’s with the Governor card that can in turn become a pointless filler in your hand if you clean your deck too much. It’s this constant battle of balance you play with your own deck that makes this game more interesting than just an armed conflict. There’s a bit of luck with how you shuffle and what you draw that can make or break your offensive strikes, but there’s no arbitrary dice roll to determine the winner of a combat like in a lot of other war games.
Instead, sieges on enemy towns span multiple turns and last until one player is found victorious on the beginning of their turn. This is determined by the siege track which moves according to the military resources played by each player, either offensively or defensively. A siege begins with the aggressor playing the required cards to travel to an enemy settlement and then playing at least one military resource against that location. The siege marker for that player is adjusted to account for any natural defenses the settlement may have and for any additional military cards they may have played. On their turn, defenders can ignore a siege entirely and instead of playing military cards from their hand or reserve to sway the siege in their favor, do whatever else they want. Of course, this might be starting their own offensive against another town while their opponent is occupied elsewhere. This strategy can pay off rather well, especially if the enemy is focusing most of their troops in the initial arena.
[I’m not sure how to pronounce Tadoussac, or half of the other French colonies on the board. This is why I can never be a Canadian.]
The landscape of the Fork of Ohio is such that the British have no place to go aside from down the coast with their ships if they want to avoid conflict. Otherwise, they need to go inland with canoes they have to acquire and take land that hopefully the French haven’t grabbed. The French, on the other hand, start with those canoes and can race up or down the rivers as they please, snatching up land every turn. The real conflict between the French and the British in 1754 had a lot of the same spatial and resource limitations that A Few Acres of Snow imposes on its players, making which side you play on crucial to your overall experience. If you’re a player who tends to be on the offensive, the British role will be the most natural for you to take on. If you’re a player that tends to try and avoid direct confrontation, the French are probably your best bet.
This built in definition of play styles for either side of the map is a great way to get started with war games. Each player has a strategy they can implement that is laid out in front of them before the game even starts. They’re not locked into that path for victory, there is wiggle room, but it is a solid starting point for someone who has no idea what to do in this kind of game. A Few Acres of Snow also includes win conditions that have little to nothing to do with actual military conquest, an extremely appealing concept to those of us that rather avoid direct conflict in games.
This game is one of the best, if not the number one introductory wargame on the market today. The French and British players are balanced even though they have drastically different resources and playing styles. Winning isn’t dependent on who possesses the largest army or has the most money, but who plays the best and shifts their strategy with the game as it develops.
Bottom line? If you’re looking for a solid two-player game that branches out into the genre of wargames, look no further than A Few Acres of Snow.
More Board?
If you want to try your hand at wargames and the theme of 18th century America doesn’t strike you as interesting, try out Twilight Struggle. This 2005 hit focuses on the Soviet and American struggle after World War II. It’s another two-player, relatively quick wargame that is good to get up and running with.