Assault Sicily 43 Review

DISCLAIMER:  I've now had the chance to play the training scenarios and a few of the individual scenarios. I have yet to start the campaign, but unless there are major flaws with that system, I don't think it will affect my rating.

As a newcomer to the wargaming hobby (do we call it wargaming, or does Warhammer have that genre locked up?), I quickly found my way to Vuca Simulations' site. To me, it feels like we're in a renaissance of war-games of this type. They were at their peak popularity in the mid to late 1970s and perhaps went through a drought starting in the '90s (I don't know, I was a child and certainly wasn't aware these games existed1). But now, I'm seeing a handful of new publishers, quite a few new games, and I can compare some of the older GMT, MMP, and DI games I own to these new products; there's no comparison! 

I've had the pleasure of owning and playing many of Vuca Simulations' games now and they are the absolute hallmark of quality. Their graphics are top notch, their rulebooks are very readable, and their components are of the utmost quality. My Oregon Lamination clipper is collecting dust since none of Vuca's counters need clipping - a huge bonus point in my book,

I have also owned one Sound of Drums board game prior to this - Battles of Napoleon: Eylau 1807. I haven't had a chance to play it much, but I found the counters fairly decent - well above the ones I've gotten from GMT or DI Games - and the map to be of a very high quality, the rulebook is going to need another two iterations to be up to par with Vuca Sims' games.

Suffice to say, Vuca Simulations is the high bar that no one is coming close to right now in terms of gameplay, counter, map, rulebook, and accessories quality.

Enter Assault Sicily 43. Let me get it out of the way: the components are on par, if not greater than any other Vuca Simulations game I own. And I own most. The counters are hexagons, and large. The art on them is identifiable at a glance. The vehicles have clear orientation (that matters for armor and turret facing). The map art is very stylized yet easy to read. Also beautiful. The colors and art are evocative of the countryside of Italy.  Additionally, there is a wide variety of units. The Americans have Rifleman, Rangers, Paratroopers, Bazooka teams, sniper teams, 60mm and 81mm mortar teams. There are trucks, half tracks, AA trucks, loads of different types of tanks. Obviously there is the ubiquitous Sherman, but also the M10 Wolverine which was arguable more important, so I love to see it included. There are Italian and German factions, each with their own incredibly varied unit selections available, too.

The gameplay itself is tactical, with no more than a dozen or so units on the board at a time. Each counter represents either a squad (such as an infantry rifle squad, a mortar squad, or sniper team) or a single vehicle, such as a Panzer IIIJ or L6/40. The counters have an image of the unit and their name on the front side. Vehicles additionally have a "facing" indicator. On the reverse side it shows one or two heart symbols to show the unit is damaged to half strength. Each unit has a single Unit Card which displays its stats and abilities, such as movement points, damage, and armor.

The damage is calculated based on range, Line of Sight modifiers (the more stuff in between the attacker and defender, the harder it is to hit), and terrain defense modifiers (a unit in the clear has no terrain defense modifiers, while a unit in a copse of trees has some). The attacker and defender roll unique dice to the game. There are red, yellow, green, and blue dice, in order of most powerful to least. Each dice has a blank, suppression, hit, or critical hit indicator - sometimes a side will have multiple, called a "double success". The dice are compared, with identical markers canceling each other out - the remaining indicators on the attacker's dice are applied. This makes the combat fast and easy to determine. No more comparing ratios!

But enough about the mechanics.How does the game feel to play?

Playing through the first few scenarios, even the training ones, have been a blast - no pun intended. The designers did a great job making each scenario a fun, engaging situation that is difficult for both sides. When you're given the opportunity to choose your own units, the game really opens up. You could play the same scenario, without changing the rules a single bit, multiple times with varying results. 

When a German MG42 rips into your American Rifleman squad that's trying to Fast Move across a field, you really feel the dread as you assemble your dice pool and see how many red dice the MG42 team gets versus your Infantry squad's single yellow dice. You're hoping for a miracle, and when you occasionally get one, you can almost feel the bullets whipping over the heads of your troops as they sprint into cover, safe from the onslaught.

Now in position, that same Rifleman squad is able to engage the German Panzer IIIJ in close combat on the next turn, piling on top of the tank and throwing grenades inside in an attempt to disable the crew. Success! The crew bails out and Falls Back in panic, disabling the tank from the game! 

While I haven't had the chance to play the campaign yet (and I wish the game came with custom campaign tracking booklets to write on), I'm most excited to do this. The game promises a dynamic campaign, where the scenarios you play through will be different on multiple play throughs depending on the outcome of specific missions. Additionally, you track the status of your formations and units throughout the campaign, with some units being promoted and gaining veteran bonuses, or being reduced in manpower. You may have to choose not to bring your elite bazooka team, even though you're sure there will be enemy armor ahead, simply because they're too reduced in manpower to be effective.

I feel like I could write another thousand words about this game, but I'll leave it at this: Assault Sicily 43 is my favorite game of the last 12 months and I have played some of my all-time favorite games during that period. While I love a big, sprawling strategic game like Red Strike, I'm really enjoying the personal nature that Assault Sicily 43 brings to its tactical gameplay. It still retains a meta element with the campaign mechanics, which make me feel like my decisions and actions matter from scenario to scenario. 

And perhaps its due to my newness in the genre, but I feel like Sicily is a much ignored area of operations, so it brings me happiness to see the theatre given the attention it deserves in a game as fun as this. If you're looking for a new tactical game, or perhaps you've never tried one yet, I can't recommend this one enough.