Give Me Liberty

Al came over last night to celebrate my birthday with a little wargaming. He brought along Liberty by Columbia Games, and we were able to play the first three turns/years.

Liberty was published in 2003, and simulates the American War of Independence. It's in Columbia's block series -- a collection of wargames that use wooden blocks rather than counters. The blocks are set on-end, so that players can't see the strength of opposing units until the battle begins. Similar games from Columbia include Hammer of the Scots (Wars of Scottish Independence), Richard III (The Wars of the Roses), Crusader Rex (The 3rd Crusade), Pacific Victory (WWII Pacific Theater) and others. The games are known for being quick-moving, and Columbia makes an effort to keep the rulebooks at eight pages (which is remarkably short for a wargame). (The latest episode of the wargame podcast The Noise Before Defeat summarizes the history of block games.)

Al and I had played Richard III last fall, so we were able to jump into the rules fairly quickly. As is our tradition when playing Revolutionary War games, I took the British and Al took the Americans. (I'll save the details for a future posting, but, over the years, our group has fallen into a routine for most historical board games -- with each of us taking the same country for a given time period regardless of the game.) I managed to take Charleston (South Carolina) in 1775 without much of a fight as both sides spent most of the year supplying. In 1776 I was able to take Fort Ticonderoga and repulse a large assault on Boston by Washington. In 1777, Washington was able to take Boston and then retake Fort Ticonderoga. The British army retreating from Boston was able to link up with reinforcements to take Philadelphia and then move on to New York. Meanwhile smaller British forces in the South were able to take Wilmington and Savannah. At this point we decided to call it a night. The British were in good shape in the South and Mid-Atlantic, but most of Canada was wide-open for an American assault. Furthermore, the French were getting ready to arrive (supply your own joke), so things were likely to start becomming more difficult.

Since I enjoyed Richard III and Crusader Rex, I wasn't surprised that Liberty was good. My current plan is to put together a posting on Independence Day summarizing the various Revolutionary War games that I've played. For now, I'd say that Liberty is one of the two that I'd recommend. As far as the game's mechanics, I'd say that it's not all that different than the other block games. Any wargamer who hasn't yet tried out a block game should definitely pick one up. I think that they're all fairly similar, so I'd recommend choosing the one with your prefered time period. I normally wouldn't recommend Liberty (or any of the block games) to non-wargamers. However, the March 1, 2010 episode of the gaming podcast The Spiel recommends three wargames that non-wargamers should try -- including Hammer of the Scots. Any non-wargamer considering this advice could probably substitute Liberty -- especially if they find the time period more familiar or interesting.

Al and I hope to play it again soon. Unfortunately, there are about 25 games in that category. I don't think this one would work very well with Cyberboard, so PBeM isn't really an option. There is an online version of Hammer of the Scots, so maybe we can give that a try.