We The People

For COVID-related reasons too involved to go into I was looking for two-player games on Friday, and realised that it's possibly 20 years since I'd had 'We The People' out of the box, let alone on the table. So this afternoon I rectified this, and Catherine obliged me with a game. "We The People' has to be played with another; it has too hands of hidden cards to work solo.

Obviously I spent Friday evening and some of Saturday familiarising myself with the rules. None of it is particularly complicated, but there are lots of bits to remember and some subtle differences in how some mechanisms apply to one side as opposed to the other.

Obviously the game covers the American Revolution, potentially from 1775 to 1783, although a random game end mechanism ensures you can never be quite sure about how long you have. The Americans win by eliminating all British combat units from the Thirteen Colonies, or, at the end of the game, controlling nine of the fourteen colonies (they can score for Canada). The British win by controlling six of the colonies (but can't count Canada in that total), or by eliminating all American combat units. Or by capturing George Washington.

Here's the basic setup. There's not a lot happening on the map at this stage - a British presence in Canada and Boston, and American troops under Washington and Greene sitting outside Boston. The hexagonal counters are political control markers, and they are the key to the game - control more markers in a colony that the other side, and you control the colony. The markers can be place, removed or flipped during game-play, and it's possible to isolate areas of control as well, forcing the markers to be removed. Armies and generals help maintain control of markers, and that's what you end up fighting over.

Armies are round counters, but are mostly ineffective unless they have a general with them, and both sides have a limited number of generals. Each is rated for two things - Strategy and Battle. Strategy dictates how easy it is to activate the general, whilst their Battle rating dictates how good they are in a fight. The British tend to have plodding generals who are good in a fight, and the Americans the reverse.

Here you can see Howe in Boston, with Washington and Green observing him. I played the Americans in this game, and Catherine the British.

The game itself is run by strategy cards. Each player gets a hand of seven of these, and they alternate in playing one until both players have none left. cards can be events, or (the majority) strategic operations cards, which allow the activation of generals, placement of political control markers or deployment of reinforcements.

If a general moves into a space with opposing troops, a battle is fought. These use another deck of cards, with various tactics on them (Flank Left, Frontal attack and so forth). each player gets a hand of cards, the number being based on their general's rating, how many units they have and various bonuses - The British get a bonus card for their regulars, and also two for naval support if the battle is fought in a port, for example. One side plays a card and the other side must match it or lose the battle. So a small army can, if they are lucky, defeat a larger force that got a bad draw. The losing side retreats and may lose units.

Here we see Washington attacking Howe at the end of the 1775 turn. Catherine evacuated Boston and sent Howe into the New York wilderness. Washington was able to use a special Winter Offensive bonus to drive him north at Saratoga. Over the next year or two he drove Howe all the way to Quebec, before being defeated, and ending up having to retreat back to where he started. He came close to being captured as his army suffered serious losses on the way.

Meanwhile Catherine had landed a couple of bodies of troops in the Carolinas. I'd been fortunate with the placement of political control markers and closed off most of the ports north of this area to her. Cornwallis and Burgoyne exerted some control over area, whilst Lee and Lincoln watched warily. But initially  a lot of the activity was the placement and removal of markers rather than any actual fighting.

Eventually Lee attacked, driving Cornwallis out of Charleston, and then chasing him to New Bern. Lincoln came up in support, and eventually restricted the British to a couple of coastal enclaves.

In the north Washington had retreated to New York, but Howe followed and attacked, losing the ensuing battle despite having the odds seriously on his side. Had Washington lost he would have been left isolated without troops and vulnerable to capture. Washington was then able to escape along the coast back to Boston.

Lord North's government fell in 1781, which ended the war. The Americans controlled ten of the Thirteen Colonies, for a convincing with - the British controlled Canada, Massachusetts and New York, whilst Connecticut was still divided.

Given that neither of us had touched this game for twenty years we picked it up pretty quickly, although it is one of those games where you have to work out how you achieve your goal as well as simply how to play. I used my weaker general aggressively, picking up a few key wins in battles, but a lot of the win was down to grabbing most of the ports early on and preventing the British from landing armies except where I wanted them to. With no British troops around I was able to consolidate political control of the middle of the board, and focus my actions on where Catherine's troops actually could operate.

And this also qualifies as an entry for 52 Games.

52 Games - Game 12