The second edition of Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front (“IoG”) is currently on the P-500 list.

Links to prototype unit counters, player aid cards, mapboard, rules, and playbook can be found on the IoG webpage. 

Gamers who examined these game components have commented, and I have answered their comments on forum sites.

One particular comment involves the number of Small Unit Counters (“SCUs”) available to replace Large Unit Counters (“LCUs”) that have been destroyed by losing all of their steps (Rule 12.6.3).  In IoG, LCUs represent major country corps or minor country armies.  SCUs represent divisions.

The comment is that there are too many available SCUs, so destroyed LCUs aren’t threatened with permanent elimination if SCUs aren’t available to replace them (Rule 12.6.4).  Permanent elimination of LCUs due to a shortage of SCUs is a prominent risk in Paths of Glory and in Pursuit of Glory.  So, those games allow using SCUs of a different unit type—such as cavalry—to replace destroyed infantry LCUs if infantry SCUs aren’t available.

There are more SCUs in IoG because of a rule that these other games don’t have.  IoG allows for disassembly of LCU armies/corps into their component SCU divisions (Rule      22.4).  Historically, this did happen.

The second edition of IoG addresses this concern in new provisions of Rule 12.6.4, as follows:

(Emphasis added.)  This will reduce the number of SCUs available to replace destroyed LCUs.

Another comment is that German infantry units are too strong for the Combat Results Table.  So, those units end up absorbing hits without taking step reductions.  A unit’s step reduction is caused by applying the unit’s Loss Factor (LF) to the Loss Number (LN) generated by the Combat Results Table for damage inflicted by the enemy (Rule 12.6.2).  If the LN is equal to or greater than a unit’s LF, the unit loses a step; if the LN is less than the unit’s LF, then the unit absorbs the LN without taking damage (Rule 12.6.3). 

Too often, the comment says, the LN applied to a German infantry unit is less than the unit’s LF.  This is because the LF for German regular and reserve infantry units was “3”.  It reduced the likelihood of a step reduction.  Reviewing history, measuring the relative strengths of German regular and reserve infantry, and making combat more competitive, the LF for German reserve infantry units is reduced to “2”.  This will increase the likelihood of a step reduction from the Combat Results Table.

These revisions should increase the tension that gamers will experience when playing the second edition of IoG.  Enjoy!

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