The Wargamer

Introduction

Richard Berg is a name known to virtually anyone with a passing interest in board wargames. The prolific designer has been a force in the hobby since his days at SPI back in the 1970's. The 1987 Charles Roberts Award winner, Berg has specialized in pre-20th century warfare, and his classic designs touch every niche from ancients to the American Civil War and beyond.

His latest game, Medieval, is set in 13th century Europe. A colorful chapter in history, this period is known for great political and religious strife. The Catholic Church was a super-national power that guided the nations still rising from the dust of the Dark Ages. Not only was the Pope a power-broker meddling with the internal affairs of countries such as France and England, but he also directed numerous crusades against competing ideologies, most notably, Islam. In addition to bleeding Catholic nations dry in terms of money and manpower, the church also supported its own military might in the form of various organizations of Knights Templar; many of which developed their own, sometimes nefarious agenda over time (such as the Teutonic Knights in Northern Europe).

And then came the Mongols.

Components

Medieval is essentially a card game for 3-5 players using the Enigma system developed by Q.E.D. Games and also seen in GMT's Blue vs. Gray. There is no game board as such, the map being constructed from 19 playing cards drawn through the course of play. The game box contains a deck of 110 cards, a small sheet of 140 counters, a pair of small dice, a double-sided player aid card, and cardboard coins in 1, 5 and 10 florin denominations.

Using cards to create the playing map does not make for a very stable playing surface. While players in my group did like the concept, we all felt something could be done to make for a better playing surface. Perhaps map cards should have been printed on heavier counter stock that could be plugged into a solid frame, not unlike a child's large-piece jigsaw puzzle. Map cards are segregated from other cards for game play, so there is no particular reason they need to be made in the same manner as the rest of the deck.

Map issues are a relatively minor complaint compared with the counter mix. There is an overabundance of markers for rare events such as royal marriages and excommunications, but nowhere near enough markers to designate player control of territories. This necessitated the cumbersome method of marking territories where either the power card was not in play or territories of a nation were owned by multiple players. Players want to take a look at the map and grasp the situation instantly; not concatenate the true picture by inspecting other player holdings and compare to what is actually in play.

Other counters are plentiful, as is the cardboard currency. Craig Grando's artwork on the cards (both sides) and the currency is superb. The 16-page rule book includes examples of play and is largely comprehensive; we encountered no show-stopping errors or omissions.