Covering the inevitable expansion of US military might at the expensive of the native tribes.

The U.S. – Indian conflicts, a tragic period of history.

Each turn, players are randomly assigned a side to play — either Indian
tribes or the U.S. Only one player represents the U.S. each turn, while
the other players each have a number of Indian tribes under their
control. Indian players get to select one or two of their active
tribes, but the rest are dealt to them randomly. There are usually more
Indian tribes available than what are active each turn, but players
don’t really know which ones are inactive. This can be unsettling to
the U.S. player as he must decide where to deploy his limited troops and
columns.

All players compete to earn victory points. The U.S. player is faced with
the task of building up sufficient resources (settlements, towns, railroads,
mines, etc.) to maintain existing states and convert territories into states.
The Indian players play the role of guerrillas to earn victory points, but also
can deny resources to the U.S. player. However, he must be very careful
not to suffer too many casualties, as this could cause his tribe to go on
reservation or become extinct, which costs the player dearly in victory points.

~ Avalon Hill

Intro

This is an innovative game by Richard Berg that never was popular.

Review

DAR

I use the term ‘review’ a bit differently from most game reviewers.

The reason lies in the history of how these came about (along with a demand for semantic precision). My videos started out as pure DARs (During Action Reports – based on the wargaming concept of AARs). People wanted me to try and distill some of the commentary and impressions which surfaced during those, and requested a formal ‘review’ of the session – and the game itself. Given that my reviews didn’t provide a good overview of the rules that many were familiar with, further requests expanded to include that – but I cheat on these, using them to improve my own understanding of the game.

How should you use these? Damned if I know. Some people want to see the rules overview in the intro.Some desire the thoughts in the review. Some want the whole replay, so they can see how I got from point A to B. Do keep in mind however, in my mind; the DAR is indeed the heart of this. I’m inviting you into my game. If you don’t want the whole thing, hey, I understand (I wouldn’t want it all), but by the time of the review, I’ll be referring back to events in the playthroughs.

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calandale

Recovering hobo, one-time actor and street corner philosopher, now trying to enjoy the less fine things in life (like everyone else does). One thing has been nearly constant in my life - gaming. Even before discovering wargames (at the tender age of 10 or so - purely fortuitous), I would play out family games (including the 3M series) solitaire. But, life situations interfered not too long ago, and I was largely without board gaming for the better part of a decade. The last couple of years have seen me devoting myself to the hobby again - and learning a lot of the newer designs - so, I'm looking from the eyes of an old grognard (ah, how I fought against THAT term when first used on me) but an open mind and willingness to see if newer games appeal.

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