Introduction
Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front (“IoG”) is a card-driven game simulating the First World War in eastern Europe. Its first edition was published by GMT Games in 2017 after the award-winning Paths of Glory, which simulated the entire war in Europe and the Near East in army/corps scale. IoG also came after the popular Pursuit of Glory, which focused on the war in the Near East and the Eastern Balkans in corps/division scale. IoG’s corps/division focus displays the relative strengths and weaknesses of the opposing armies in greater detail than an army/corps treatment does.
For those of you planning to attend this year’s ConsimWorld Expo in Tempe this July, you can attend a “Learn the Rules/Play the Game” Session and experience the upcoming Second Edition of IoG.
In IoG, the Allied Powers (“AP”) player brings massive forces to bear against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and their allies in the east while trying to avoid a game changing revolution in Russia. The Central Powers (“CP”) player must defeat Russia, hold off Italy, and win the upper hand in the Balkans or face demoralization and rebellion at home.
Battlefield losses detrimentally affect the Troop Quality of major AP and CP combatants. Excessive troop losses and reinforcement call-ups will degrade their manpower pools and impair military capabilities. Territory losses may drain their National Will and cause domestic uprisings— which includes revolution in Russia’s case.
Strategy Cards give a player the choice of several actions—move units, make attacks, strategically redeploy, or rebuild damaged units. Each card also gives the player a choice between these actions and an historical event that provides a powerful and specific action (or combat advantage).
Cards give the player Operations (OPS) Points to use in activating spaces containing his units for movement or attack. OPS Points can also be used to strategically redeploy units. OPS Points appear in the upper left-hand corner of the card. If they appear in a yellow square, the Event is played also. If they appear in a red square, the card is a Combat Card whose capability can be used in attack or defense.
Separate sets of cards are provided to the AP and CP players. Each player increases his deck by elevating his War Status from Mobilization to Limited War, and then from Limited War to Total War. Since quite a few cards are discarded once their events are played, the momentum towards Total War builds as the game proceeds.
There are Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring Turns representing 3 months apiece. However, this is where the similarity to Paths of Glory and Pursuit of Glory ends.
IoG can be played by more than two players. With team play, the dynamics of player decision-making and interaction add an enjoyable social element to the game. While this might lengthen the game, the fun of negotiations between players is worth it!
The Impact of Cumulative Losses—“Troop Quality”:
IoG simulates the drain casualties have on available manpower and a nation’s officer corps. As Russian (“RU”), German (“GE”), Austro-Hungarian (“AH”), and Italian (“IT”) casualties mount, the drain on their national manpower reserves and officer corps is reflected by a Troop Quality Index.
Each of these Nations have a Troop Quality Marker that starts at a maximum value. When a GE, AH, RU, or IT corps is destroyed, the Troop Quality marker of that Nation moves –1 on the General Records Track (but the destroyed LCU can be rebuilt). When a GE, AH, RU, or IT corps is permanently eliminated, the Troop Quality marker of that Nation moves –1 on the General Records Track (and the eliminated LCU cannot be rebuilt). If a Strategy Card is played to bring GE, AH, RU, or IT reinforcements onto the mapboard, the Troop Quality marker of that Nation moves –2 on the General Records Track. These reductions will soon vex the affected player.
When the RU, IT, GE, or AH Troop Quality marker reaches “Poor Troop Quality”, reinforcements of that Nation are placed on the mapboard with a step reduction for each unit. Things do not get better—they can only get worse!
Political Considerations—“National Will”:
IoG simulates political upheaval in Germany and Austria-Hungary, in addition to Russia. The loss of home Victory Point spaces and Events may cause Rebellion to break out in Russia, Germany, or Austria-Hungary. These are represented by a National Will Index.
Each of these Nations has a National Will Marker that starts at a set value, moves -1 on the General Records Track for each home Victory Point space that it loses, and moves +1 for every home Victory Point space recaptured from enemy control. The National Will Level for each of those Nations is also affected by Events.
If downward movement of a National Will Marker reaches the “National Demoralization Level”, rebellion may break out in the that Nation. Rebellion is represented by placing two Uprising Units in that Nation during the Rebellion/Revolution Phase. Uprising Units can cut off supply to combat units, cause CP governments to collapse, and trigger the Russian Revolution.
If all VP spaces in Austria-Hungary are occupied by Uprising Units in the War Status Phase, Austria-Hungary collapses and is out of the war. (Germany does not collapse.) If there is an Uprising Unit in Russia after the RUSSIAN FOOD RIOTS card is played, then comes the Russian Revolution . . . or does it? The RUSSIAN REVOLUTION card must still be played.
The Russian Revolution—Maybe or Maybe Not:
IoG does not make success of the Russian Revolution inevitable. The game represents the revolution with a Russian Revolution Track having four Stages. During each of the following Rebellion/Revolution Phases, the Revolution Marker moves ahead one Stage on the Russian Revolution Track.
However, the Russian Revolution cannot advance Stages if all Uprising Units on the mapboard have been destroyed. This places Russia in a dilemma—either divert decreasingly effective combat units from facing the Central Powers or leave revolution back home unchecked.
As the Russian Revolution enters each Stage, the following occurs:
- Revolution Stage 1: Russian reinforcement cards can no longer be played.
- Revolution Stage 2: Russian units can no longer receive Replacement Points.
- Revolution Stage 3: All full-strength Russian units are reduced one step.
- Revolution Stage 4: All corps-sized Russian units are replaced by division-sized units.
The AP player can suppress the Russian Revolution entirely by playing a LONG LIVE THE TSAR! card when all Uprising Units are destroyed. After it is played, Russian reinforcement cards can again be played, and Russian combat units can again receive Replacement Points.
The revolution remains suppressed until the CP plays a FALL OF THE TSAR card when Uprising Units are again placed in Russia. The Russian Revolution restarts, but still cannot advance Stages if the AP player destroys all the RU Uprising Units on the mapboard before the next Rebellion/Revolution Phase.
A Russian Collapse Does Not Assure CP Victory:
The Central Powers must still fight Italian, British, French, and Serbian units capable of capturing Victory Point spaces. If the CP player presses his advantage against Russia too far by triggering a revolution, the AP can play the TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK card to end the Russian Campaign, send German units to the Western Front, and weaken the Central Powers’ ability to fight other AP armies in the East. The decision to play TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK as an Event is momentous because the AP player loses the use a card worth 5 OPS Points or, alternatively, 10 Replacement Points!
Although TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK takes Russia out of the war, it has another role to play against a CP victory. When the CP plays RUSSIAN WAR WEARINESS, the game comes closer to Armistice—and perhaps a CP victory-point win—at the end of each Turn. This effect is canceled by playing TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK.
In IoG’s Second Edition:
(1) The mapboard has been revised to show terrain effects on combat and place names more accurately. There are also more Victory Point spaces.
(2) Casualty and reinforcement card effects on Troop Quality have been moderated so that reinforcement step reductions do not occur until 1916, as is historically accurate.
(3) The player taking fire must apply as much of it as possible to his units using adaptable guidelines instead of clunky scripted procedures.
(4) A unit that is Out-Of-Supply can still move or attack, but its movement and attack strength are minimized.
(5) A unit that can only trace a supply line to Supply Sources of other friendly nations can still activate for movement or attack, but at a cost of one additional OPS Point.
(6) Only German, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, and Serbian units may attempt to build a Trench in a Mountain space, only one trench building attempt may be made per space in an Action Round, and entrenching is attempted by rolling a die. A unit can move or entrench in the same Action Round, but not both.
(7) A defending unit forced to end its retreat in an overstacked friendly space is not destroyed, but is reduced by one step and continues retreating to the nearest friendly-controlled space or region where it will not overstack.
(8) Defending units in Forest, Mountain, or Swamp spaces can reduce a two-space retreat by one space by taking a step loss from any of those units, but a one-space retreat from those spaces cannot be stopped except by Combat Card.
(9) Defending units in Trenches do not have to retreat, and a retreating unit taking a two-space retreat can stop if its first retreat space is a Trench.
(10) Reduced-strength units that take another step loss are destroyed and go into the Replaceable Units Box. Units destroyed by combat when Out-Of-Supply are permanently eliminated. Reduced-strength units that are Out-Of-Supply during the Attrition Phase are permanently eliminated. Reduced-strength units that are forced to retreat into or through a space that contains enemy units, an unbesieged enemy Fort, or an Uprising Unit are permanently eliminated.
(11) A unit can move or assemble/disassemble in the same Action Round, but not both.
(12) Division-sized units in the Replaceable Units Box that are rebuilt go immediately into the Reserve Box. They can use Strategic Redeployment to go from the Reserve Box onto the mapboard or they can use Strategic Redeployment to go from the mapboard into the Reserve Box.
(13) Units that move or retreat into neutral nations are immediately interned to the Replaceable Units Box, but Serbian and Montenegran units entering neutral Albania are not interned until the end of the Action Phase and may use Strategic Redeployment to leave neutral Albanian ports.
(14) If a nation’s National Will reaches the National Demoralization Level before the Rebellion/Revolution Phase, the opposing player can immediately place two Uprising Units in separate spaces and/or regions of that Nation.
(15) If a Strategy Card cannot be played for its Event, it can still be played for its War Status Points.
Conclusion:
These features create a play-balanced game that is relevant, fun, exciting, challenging, and tense. You will enjoy playing the Second Edition of Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front.
Author: Perry Silverman
