Rommel’s War by Derek Croxton from Worthington Publishing (2024) is a lite block wargame. “Lite” in this case refers to both the the physical weight of the game and the complexity of the rules. As a lite block wargame, Rommel’s War is quick to play and delivers a thematic glimpse into the back and forth battles across North Africa in 1941. Yet, while playing Rommel’s War is enjoyable, I wish the rule book had one more good editing pass to improve it. In particular, I wish the rule book was better organized to avoid “hidden” rules and consistently used a distinctive terminology to make the rules easier to understand.
Lightweight
If there is one fact of life that wargamers are forced to come to terms with it is that block wargames are heavy to ship. Most Commands & Colors series games from GMT are in the range of 6-7 pounds when shipped. Rommel’s War, on the other had, comes in at a svelte 2 pounds. Part of the reason for the lightweight entry is that the game only has 38 blocks—not the hundred or so in many Commands & Colors games. By the way, I’m sorry, but there is no way the Italian units have a green background like the rule book says. Light blue maybe; but green no.
Lite complexity
The rule book for Rommel’s War is only eight pages long. Technically, the complete rules for the game only take up about six and a half pages with the rest mostly for Designer’s Notes. While the overall complexity of the rules is fairly lite, I feel the rule book could use a bit more attention as some rules are confusing on first or even second readings. It shouldn’t be that way because the game system is rather straightforward and uncomplicated…once you sort it all out.
Organization and hiding
The rule book for Rommel’s War suffers in places from poor organization leading to “hidden” rules. The game set up is where I found the first example of where the rule book could be better organized. At the end of the first paragraph of Setting Up the Game is the line, “The Axis player moves first and does not receive reinforcements on the first turn.” That rule—the Axis move first every game turn—should be part of the next section Sequence of Play.
The first step in the End Phase in Rommel’s War is to Resolve Supply. This is a very simple and direct rule: if your unit is out of supply it is eliminated. Alas, there is also a “hidden” rule that follows: “Units that start a turn out of supply may not move or attack that turn, unless they are put back in supply with a prior move (by another group) in their turn.” Now we discover that supply needs to be checked at the beginning of the movement/combat phase. This assumes that each player executes all their phases (alternating turns) before the other and a game turn does not consist of alternating phases. I think.
The second major paragraph of the Resolve Supply step is actually another “hidden” rule of Rommel’s War; perhaps the most significant one of them all. Buried under the Resolve Supply step are the special rules for Tobruk. In a very confusingly worded paragraph, we discover rules for an “isolated” Tobruk. Let’s break down this paragraph in detail:
- “British units in or adjacent to Tobruk are always in supply (unless the Axis occupy Tobruk itself). This kind of port supply prevents units in or adjacent to the port from being eliminated; however, there are restrictions on what units supplied from the port can do.” A strict reading of this sentence makes it sound like any British unit in Tobruk or the three surrounding locations are always subject to the following restrictions.
- “Units adjacent to Tobruk may only be activated to move into Tobruk, not to move elsewhere (even if also adjacent to Tobruk) and may never attack.” The first special restriction; units in the three surrounding locations can only move into Tobruk and can never attack.
- “Units actually in the port may be activated to move and attack, but they may only move into locations adjacent to Tobruk, never further away. (Naturally, these restrictions do not apply if the units can trace a supply path to Alexandria. They also do not apply if the first British move opens a supply path to Alexandria; with a second move, he could move and attack with units in or adjacent to Tobruk normally.)” So, the restrictions do NOT apply if there is a supply path to Alexandria. Nice to know; better if that was stated earlier.
- “Only one group of units in Tobruk may be activated to attack in a turn, and only 2 ground units may participate in the attack. However, if there are air units in Tobruk, they may also participate in the attack as a second move.” But only if Tobruk is isolated, i.e. Tobruk has no overland supply path to Alexandria.
Of note, the term “isolated” is never defined in the rules. Going to a latter point of mine, one must infer meaning based on context that is less-than-clear.
Not to beat a dead horse, but in a more egregious example of disorganized rules are those for moving aircraft in Rommel’s War. Under Unit Abilities (p. 2) is a “reconnaissance move” where the aircraft moves to an enemy location and, if no enemy aircraft are present, reveals all the units in that location before it must retreat before combat (but is not disrupted/disorganized..I think). In the How to Move section (p. 4) aircraft can move up to three spaces over enemy locations as long as they end their move in a battle or a location occupied by friendly units. Later in this section there are also rules for aircraft to “use the road bonus if they are (a) accompanying friendly units, or (b) moving to a friendly-occupied location.” I am forced to assume that road movement can only be used if all the locations transited are friendly, right? Further, if you want the rules for aircraft in combat don’t look in the Combat and Retreat section for it does not even have the word “aircraft” mentioned; all the rules for aircraft combat are found in the Unit Abilities section at the front of the rule book.
Words and clear meaning
Rommel’s War lacks a clear, distinctive vocabulary of rules. In but one example, the word “move” has several meanings:
- To move as in a unit physically displacing from one location to another.
- Move is a turn phase (i.e. “Make two moves and resolve combat”). I think of this more like an Action phase.
When I read the rules for Rommel’s War and see the word “move” I always have to pause a moment to ensure I am using the physical move or action move meaning. A distinctive vocabulary could help.
Likewise, the interchangeable use of the word “disrupted” and “disorganized” in Rommel’s War is potentially confusing. Please, pick a term and use it consistently!
One example of where a rule needs to be more clearly written in Rommel’s War is in the Axis set up. The designer’s intent is that the Axis starts with four units; one German Panzer division plus three randomly drawn units. That is not, however, what a strict reading of the rules says:
Put one Panzer division on turn 6 to remind you that it enters that turn; set aside the 2 reduced-strength Panzer divisions in case you need them. Mix the other units face down in their force pool space on the board. The Axis player draws 3 units plus one Panzer division to start and places them at El Agheila. [all emphasis mine]
Setting Up the Game
Do you draw four units hoping to get that Panzer division? If not, do you discard any one of the four or just the last one and keep drawing and discarding until the Panzer Division is picked? Why not just tell the Axis player to place the second Panzer division at El Agheila at the start and, after mixing the other units, to then draw three at random to join the at-start Panzer division?
In another example, I have reread the rule book for Rommel’s War multiple times now and I still cannot point to a rule that specifically says players take separate turns consisting of all four turn phases or, alternatively, if both players resolve each phase before moving onto the next. Based on comments and process resolutions only one way seems to make sense; I think (and have been playing) that each player completes their entire turn sequence before the other player does so. Once both players are complete the turn track marker advances. That seems to make the most sense in play but where is that written?
Another example of an overwrought paragraph is the second step in the End Phase of a turn in Rommel’s War—Recovery. Again we find a somewhat confusingly worded paragraph that is actually quite simple…but only after breaking the sentence down and removing the repetitive parts.
Original: “A player’s disorganized units recover automatically at the end of his turn. The only exception is units that became disorganized in his turn (i.e., those that failed in an attack or that retreated voluntarily before an attack) by retreating from a combat they initiated, either before combat or after losing the combat. Such units must wait until the end of the player’s next turn to recover.”
Suggested revision: “A player’s disorganized units recover automatically at the end of his turn except for units that became disorganized by retreating from a combat they initiated (either before combat or after losing the combat). Such units must wait until the end of the player’s next turn to recover.”
Some rules issues in Rommel’s War are really just annoyances that could be avoided with another good editing pass. For example, “If a player’s initiative card does not show a zero, he may use it for one additional move.” The initiative cards in Rommel’s War show 2, 1 or “No Effect;” there is no “zero” card.
Desert chariots
Once I figured out the rules for Rommel’s War I discovered a very quick-playing game that presents many interesting decisions for players. Do I use my Initiative Card for an extra move or save it for combat? How can I maneuver my units across the roads and tracks of the desert while keeping my supply lines open? Should I attack now or bring in extra units? How can air power help me scout or strike the enemy? In combat, which units should I reveal? To win one must quite literally “cross the board” and take the enemy’s home base but, if that is not possible, holding Tobruk in the middle becomes key. All this in a game with a diceless combat system.
Reading and learning the rules for Rommel’s War was a bit more work than I expected. Yes, I wish the rulebook was clearer but at the same time I literally have played a dozen games now and love the game flow. Yet all that work is paying off with hours and hours of fun. Rommel’s War will very likely become a sort of “filler” war game in my collection; a quick title that can be dropped on the table with little preparation and when just a hour of diversion is needed.
Feature image courtesy RMN
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