Against the Odds broke new ground with the 2010 Annual. Four Roads to Moscow included four different, complete games from four top designers, each one taking their own approach to cover Barbarossa. There have been “quad games” before, but never like this.

In A.D. 1415, at the Council of Constance, Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, two church reformers from Bohemia, were burnt at the stake for heresy. In the years that followed, outrage over the execution convulsed civil society in Bohemia, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. Now, with Bohemia in rebellion as well as consumed by heresy, the Emperor Sigismund must wage war to both extirpate the heresy and secure his throne.

But the devastation there was something unprecedented. Award-winning designer Ted Raicer explains:

"The story of the Falaise battle is that of two German armies trying to escape a trap set for them by their own high command, and of the Allied armies trying to close the trap, despite the hesitations and divisions of their own higher commanders."

An Loc, 1972 captures the action of the gripping, but little known, action which extended the life South Vietnam as an independent nation. North Vietnam launched the massive “Easter Offensive,” expecting to roll all the way to Saigon. But first, the provincial capital of An Loc had to be captured. With large quantities of armored vehicles and artillery, and 3-1 odds in infantry, it should not have been a lengthy battle. But heavy air support stretched the action into a 66 day siege, which might be considered the ARVN’s last victory.

Against the Odds broke new ground with the 2010 Annual. Four Roads to Moscow included four different, complete games from four top designers, each one taking their own approach to cover Barbarossa. There have been “quad games” before, but never like this.

At the very beginning of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Syrian commandoes captured the Israeli strongpoint atop Mount Hermon in a daring surprise attack. Despite clear intelligence that a Syrian attack along the Golan Heights was imminent, the Israelis were caught completely by surprise by the Syrian attack at Mt. Hermon.

Deciding which battle in the Pacific War is the bloodiest all depends on what numbers are being counted. Convincing arguments can be made for Tarawa, Iwo, Okinawa, and Peleliu, and possibly others.

Well to start, Before Waterloo by John Prados (perhaps his last new published work) is a two-player strategic simulation encompassing military, economic, and diplomatic developments of the Napoleonic Campaign of 1814 - the year before the more well-known events of 1815. It is NOT a complete game in itself. Players must own the second edition of Beyond Waterloo (see below) to fully use this expansion kit.

The Depths of Courage examines the first successful submarine attack in history! In February, 1864, Lt. Dixon, in command of the 8 man (and human powered) submarine, the H. L. Hunley, planned, maneuvered, and executed an attack on the Union ships blockading Charleston, South Carolina.

This interesting little solitaire game depicts a real Against the Odds situation from the middle days of World War 2... a lone B-17, trying to make it back to base against clusters of Me 109’s and Focke Wulf’s. Success means escape to safety, and maybe a trip to that local pub. Failure means—at best—finding out what the food is like at a Stalag. The results are up to you, in this air battle game from Jeremy White and Mark Aasted.

Desert Duel, by designer Mike Rinella, looks at the first battle of Alamein in 1942, where modern armies fought each other and the desert in a desperate effort to breakthrough to or defend the path to the Nile. This is not the Monty vs. Rommel El Alamein battle most people think of but an earlier action, July 1 to July 27, 1942. Each turn represents three days of combat, and each hex is about four miles across.

With the fall of Jerusalem, Europe learned a new synonym for boogeyman—"Turk." Organizing the Moslem forces of the Middle East with discipline and training, the Turks recaptured the Holy Land and gradually took over the rest of Asia Minor and spread into Europe like a slow tide, including capturing Constantinople and swallowing the remnants of the Byzantine Empire and the Balkans. Presuming extreme cruelty, various European leaders called for new crusades, to free fellow Christians from "the Lash of the Turk."

When T.S. Eliot penned, "April is the cruelest month", he was talking about seasonal and life stages, not about a dreadful offensive on the Western Front that would be called the "Battle of Arras" but remembered far better for what the Royal Flying Corps called it-- "Bloody April." 

While most “Waterloo games” either lock players into the circumstances of that famous battle, or give some small leeway into the overall circumstances of the “100 Days” battles in Belgium, they all suffer from a similar narrow focus. You will have the Armée du Nord face some combination of Blücher and Wellington and everyone just does the best they can.

The Battle of Midway was fought between seven carriers. Compare this to the Battle of the Philippine Sea which featured a total of 24 carriers on both sides! It was simply the largest carrier battle of all time which will never be surpassed.

After being cut off and isolated in mid-February 1945, the German garrison at Breslau, some 50,000 men, defied all odds holding onto the city for almost a week AFTER Berlin fell! Hitler had ordered the city be held at all costs, believing Soviet forces tied up there were thus not taking part in any assault on Berlin. The defending garrison finally surrendered just days before the war officially ended (with the Gauleiter in charge fleeing the city by air to escape capture).

Against the Odds nº55

The Chancellorsville campaign, which took place in and around Virginia’s Wilderness in May 1863, is considered by many to be Robert E. Lee’s masterpiece, a true triumph “against the odds.” Opposing Lee was Union commander Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker, who had devised a plan that seemed assured of success. His cavalry would raid deep behind Confederate lines, cutting Lee’s supplies, while Hooker and four of his seven infantry corps would march west, then south, and appear behind the Confederate defenses opposite the city of Fredericksburg.

This area movement game depicts the first Royalist rising in 1793, centering on the “White” player’s attempt to capture and hold Republican fortresses. If all goes well the English may enter the fray. Meanwhile “Blue” Republican armies attempt to overwhelm their weaker foe and implement a scorched-earth policy while partisans harry their every move. Event cards present both sides with opportunities and challenges.