Book Review: The Revolutionary War by Bart McDowell

A few months back, I acquired a new book through Amazon concerning the American War for Independence (AWI for us wargamers): The Revolutionary War, by Bart McDowell (The National Geographic Society, (c) 1967).

My desire to obtain this volume began with being exposed through social media to a three of the four panoramic battlefield illustrations in the book. These are reminiscent of the David Greenspan battle maps found in the American Heritage history of the American Civil War, but drawn by a different artist (Richard Schlecht). I bought my copy of the McDowell book through a used book dealer, and as it was not a rare volume, it was very reasonably priced at $12.29, $5.09 S&H.

The Battle of Trenton, December 26th 1776

When it arrived, there was a note from the seller, apologizing for the book's condition, with an offer to take it back, or return half the asking price as a refund. I thought the book's condition quite acceptable, so I decided to keep it. Thanks to the refund, it was an incredible bargain. Shop around though, lest you get scalped like Jane McCrea (some sellers are asking prices in the $100s).

Detail from the Battle of Trenton

After a brief look through the volume, especially the maps, I put the book on the shelf, consigning it to being read "one of these days". But then my wife and I began binge-watching Turn: Washington's Spies on Netflix. I wouldn't claim that it is historically accurate, as it is based on a novelized history, and most of the main characters appear to be fictional. However, the show features enough historical figures, and weaves actual events into the story lines, thereby using both fact and fiction to create a gripping narrative that makes for an addicting program. I would also contend that the production team has done a masterful job of dressing both sets and performers with historically convincing uniforms, civilian dress, furnishings, and props. Even my wife was impressed with how accurate the jewelry is for the period (check out her professional blog here).

So, inspired by the show, I picked up the book again, and began to read...

The book is 200 pages in length, the last 5 pages containing the index, references, and information about the NG Society. After a very brief foreword and a table of contents, the narrative begins in earnest on page 8. From the very first page, the book is lavishly illustrated with paintings, maps, and photographs of the places where the battles and campaigns took place. Even the frontispiece is graced with a gorgeous full color image of John Trumbull's Battle of Princeton.  

The format of the book is in eight chapters organizing the narrative by year, beginning with the prelude to war (1774). This seems a very reasonable structure, as it provides for an understanding of why the war broke out, and touches on all the major campaigns and battles, leaving plenty of room for the personal stories that bring the events to life.

A sample two-page spread containing a print, reenactment photo, and map covering the battle of Long Island.

The book is an easy to read popular history, rather than a scholarly treatment as is David McCullough's 1776. Unusual for a book of this type is that the author explains from the very first page that he, his wife, and their four children, lived in Fairfax County, VA; and had made regular road trips to the locations covering the main events of the war. There are occasional travelogue bits in which he and his family describe what they saw, heard from their tour guides and park rangers, or read from primary sources related to their visits. 

Detail from the Battle of Saratoga

I was concerned that these personal bits would be distracting, but they are not overdone. If anything, they inspire me to plan road trips of our own. Now that my wife and I live on the east coast of the U.S., it is a more realistic prospect to visit all the important locations. We have already taken advantage of this to visit Camden during a full-scale reenactment, Cowpens, and King's Mountain, all here in South Carolina. And we have also had the great pleasure to visit Colonial Williamsburg and the Yorktown battlefield in Virginia. 

Any domestic or foreign visitor to this country with even the slightest interest in the 18th century simply must plan a visit to Colonial Williamsburg. The admission price is a significant sum, but definitely worth every penny. If you have been watching Turn, you will recognize many of the town locations. We recognized Benedict Arnold's "Penn Mansion" as the House of Burgesses, where Patrick Henry gave his "Give me Liberty..." speech. Any wargamer who visits the park will be unable to resist painting little tricorn-wearing Patriots and Redcoats as fast as he can buy them.

Speaking of painting figures...

Continuing my Napoleonic project (and resisting for now the siren song of AWI), I have on my painting table four battalions (48 figures) of French line infantry and one artillery battery (2 guns with crew), plus the brigade commanders and my divisional commanders for Drums and Shakos Large Battles. The infantry and artillery are all Battle Honours figures that were a birthday present, and the generals are Old Glory and Battle Honours figures from the lead mountain. One of the standard bearers has lost his eagle due to a weakly cast pole, and is undergoing repairs.

With so many figures on the table at one time, I have mounted the figures to simple tongue depressors rather than the hashtag (#) arrangement I described a few posts ago. The officers are mounted individually to wine corks for ease of handling. Eagle-eyed readers will identify the officers as being French marshals Soult, Ney, and Massena. It might seem unfair to demote them to command of brigades and divisions, but they are among the most beautiful general figures in the lead mountain, and it would be a travesty to leave them unpainted and unused.

More pics to come as the project continues!

A Slight Diversion - A New Board Game

A New Discovery

As the title of my blog suggests, the main activity of mine which I discuss in this blog is miniature wargaming. However, my wife and I recently picked up a new board game while visiting The Mighty Meeple in Concord, NC. We had just driven up there to get out and do some window shopping, and because my wife wanted to add some new, pretty d6s to her collection.

While we were browsing the shelves, we came across the store's demo tables. One of the games on display was Deep Sea Adventure, by Jun Sasaki and Goro Sasaki. As we stood there looking over the game components, I took a moment to read the rules, and took a few rolls of the dice to make sure I understood what the game was trying to achieve. For some strange reason, it also reminded me of The Life Aquatic, With Steve Zissou, starring Bill Murray. This added to the game's charm for me.

So, after such a brief introduction by the store staff member on duty, we decided to buy it and take it home. At $23 retail, the price seemed just a tad high for what you get, but I had used their game room in the past for our miniatures day, so I felt it was just as well to support the store.

What you get

The game comes in a very compact 2.5"x4.25"x1". This would seem to make it ideal for taking on travel. Inside this diminutive package, we found:

• Game instructions in English, Spanish, and German (we kept the English booklet and threw away the other two).
• A submarine board with a number track and a small, round marker to keep track of available oxygen.
• Six "diver" meeples in different colors.
• 32 chips representing undersea "ruins" containing "treasure" which each diver competes to bring back to the submarine. 
• 16 blank chips which take the place of ruins picked up in each round.
• 2 very nice wooden d3 dice; that is, the dice only have numbers 1-3 on them. Two sides with a 1, two sides with a 2, and two sides with a 3. These are rolled together for movement, yielding totals between 2 and 6.

Gameplay

The 32 ruins chips are separated into four groups, representing four levels of depth, with the deepest level worth the most points (12-15). The shallow level is safer, but worth only 0-3 points. Each set of chips is shuffled apart from the others, and then arranged in a single line in any desired arrangement, with level 1 chips closest to the sub, then level 2, and so on.

The diver meeples begin at the submarine, with the oxygen marker at a maximum level of 26. After everyone rolling to see who goes first, the first player takes his or her turn by rolling the two dice, and then moving the diver along the track towards the deeper treasures. What is unique about the diver meeples is that each piece has a facing, showing which direction the diver is swimming.

As you swim to or from the submarine, if you are not carrying any treasure, you will not use up any of the sub's oxygen, and will move the full distance on the sum of the two dice. What is unusual for a game of this type is that if any other player's piece is in your way, you skip over that piece without counting that piece against the dice roll. In this way, you can move even further than six spaces.

At the end of your move, you may elect to pick up the ruins chip on which your diver has landed, replacing it with a blank one. The blank chip is a place holder, so that all divers will still need to count the space for movement (unless someone is still sitting on the chip). You may not look at the ruins chip to see how many points it's worth until you return to the sub. 

There is no practical limit to the number of such chips you may pick up along your swim. However, every subsequent turn you must reduce the submarine's oxygen by one point for every ruins chip you hold on this round, and the total rolled for movement is reduced by one for each ruins chip you hold. And here is the challenge: all divers share the same oxygen tank! 

At some point in the game, divers will decide to turn back to the sub, to return before the oxygen runs out. This decision must be made before the player rolls the dice. Once the decision to turn back is made, the diver must continue on the path back to the sub for the rest of that round, and cannot return to the depths that round after returning to the sub. Along the way, you may pick up additional ruins, but beware: the sub's oxygen will run out faster, and you will move slower (which in turn drains the oxygen tank even faster, as it will likely take more turns to get back). As an example, if you are holding three chips, you must roll at least a 4 or more to move at all (a 66.7% chance on the two dice).

For each player that makes it back to the submarine, the ruins chips are turned over and become "treasure", and the player gets to keep those points. For any players who fail to make it back to the sub before the oxygen runs out, they lose all of the chips they are carrying, which fall to the bottom of the ocean in stacks of 3 chips, and the diver is returned immediately to the sub (no one dies of asphyxiation in this game). 

All blank chips are removed for the next round, and the deeper ruins chips are moved closer to the submarine by closing up the gaps. All players flip over their ruins chips to reveal their points value, and also to show that these chips will not affect the diver's movement or oxygen usage in the next two rounds which comprise a full game. 

What I think of the game

My first impression, even before we bought it, is how charming the minimalist artwork and components are. For example, the ruins chips are progressively darker shades of blue as you dive deeper, and each ruins chip has a number of white dots (one for each level it belongs to), which look to me like air bubbles a diver would leave behind. I also don't know of too many other games with a one-dimensional "board", and I was at first skeptical at how a game so simple would hold my interest. For a game with such simple and straightforward rules, there are some critical decisions to make. My wife and I did not appreciate how fast the oxygen would run out, once we began to pick up treasures. 

Also fascinating is how each player's choice of how much treasure to carry affects the chances of any player getting back in time, as an exceptionally greedy player can use up all the oxygen. As we played our first game, we failed to bring back any treasure until the third round. Each round lasted 10 minutes or so, making a standard game of three rounds about half an hour in duration. We had so much fun that we played another 2 or 3 games (6-9 rounds), and plan to play again soon.

The only criticism I could make is that the diagram in the rules showing how chips are shifted at the end of each round was not very clear. But watching a playthrough posted on boardgamegeek sorted that out. My final verdict is that the game might become stale if we play it too frequently, but at 30 minutes per game, it would make a nice addition to a night playing Catan. 

We can't wait to play it with our neighbors!