WILDERNESS WAR - THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

Designer: Volko Ruhnke 
Artist: Rodger B. MacGowan, Mark Simonitch 
# of Players: 2
Playing Time: 180 minutes 
Ages: 12 and up

Wilderness War is GMT's latest entry into the card-driven wargame series, following For the People and Paths of Glory. Dramatically simpler and more streamlined than either of their previous entries, the complexity still exceeds the classic Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage, but only just.

Players maneuver and fight over a map stretching from Northern Virginia to Canada. As the leader of French or British forces in North America, you will need to defend your frontier, raid your enemy's frontier, build fortification networks through the harsh wilderness, recruit Indian allies, besiege forts and fortresses, and deal with events occurring in Europe that are above and beyond your control.

In Wilderness War, the players get to re-fight the 7 Years War in North America. Although only a single deck of strategy cards is used, a la We the People, the two sides are dramatically different in character: the French are irregular-heavy (especially Indians) and rely on raiding to tie down the superior numbers of British Regular & Provincial drilled troops, who will themselves be intent on sieges and trying to force a pitched battle. Like Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage, the fortunes of war turn as the game goes on: the French are masters early, with the crushing British manpower advantage accruing late.

A lot of the interesting aspects of this war are covered through rules or special cards, from the early recalcitrance of the colonial assemblies and infighting amongst the colonials to the very different natures of the battles of outposts and sieges and the raiding in the backwoods.