In this modern era the North American continent is a peaceful place; the countries of the United States and Canada share a long and quiet border. But this was not the case three centuries ago, when two great colonial powers vied for control of that land mass. The French and the British fought a long and difficult war, often in the wilderness with the object of controlling America. The British would emerge victorious eventually, but a greater war would come only a few decades later as British colonists demanded independence from the mother country. This conflict, which we call the American Revolution, would be the true birth of America, and it is these wars that are the subject of the new strategy game of the same name.

Birth of America (BoA from this point on) is a turn based strategy game in which players can relive the rich and vibrant history that made up the wars for the American continent in the 18th century. Through a series of scenarios players can re-fight the entire French and Indian War, or smaller portions of this conflict. They can also select to re-fight the entire American Revolution from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, as well as having the choice of playing many smaller and shorter historical campaigns and battles.

The first thing you notice when playing BoA is the wealth of historical information in this game. The game board is deviated into areas and each area is rated for terrain effects as well as showing if they have important towns, forts and cities. Victory in the game is assigned by controlling important objectives selected from this terrain based on how this was applied to the true campaigns. For example, in the deep South in 1776 players must control the major city there, Charleston in this case, but could still lose if other important points such as ninety-six are ignored.

Saying this game is complex would be an understatement. Players must maneuver combat units, historical leaders, Rangers, Indians and ships about the map board, and all the forces can only move as far in a month as their historical counterparts could. The game has a tutorial to help get you started on the basic concepts but it will take some time before you get a real feel for what you are supposed to be doing. The designer have made an excellent attempt to give players what was available to the historical commanders and it is up to game players to relive or change the historical outcome.

In many ways BoA seems similar to Philippe Thibaut’s previous designs, but there are in fact a number of differences. The most important is the switch to turn based vs. real time. Turn based works far better in this venue as quite often in the 18th century commanders and units would ignore orders, not even receive them, forces would pass within miles of one another and go undiscovered and so on. In this time period maneuvering was often far more important then the actual battle. Weather is also a critical factor as armies in the 18th century would enter into winter quarters and not fight at all for months on end. The famous valley Forge was only 20 miles from the main British positions in the area, but this didn’t matter as fighting in bad weather simply was unthinkable to commanders of this period. Of course, Washington had a notable exception to this rule with his great victories and Trenton and Princeton.

The heart of the game is the control of strategic objectives. These are the keys to victory and often to keeping your armed forces combat capable and in the field. Forts can provide protection for armies and can be very costly to assault. The game gives you the historical and often smarter option of besieging keys points rather than trying to storm the fortress. There are several types of forts, including complex designs of which the French were famous for in this time period.

The look of this game is very much in the tradition of board wargaming. Combat units are large rectangles that display an artistic rendition of the troops they represent. The different units number several dozen; in this game you can command raw militia, powerful Regulars as well as stealthy Indians and Rangers. Leaders are historical portraits of the actual leaders of the time period. The units themselves include a wealth of information and running the mouse pointer over them will give tool tips with even more information.

The units are rated for far more then just combat strength. Many have special abilities indicated by a symbol on the unit counters. The unit types use a small standard NATO unit designation to show at a glance the function of a formation. Experience is shown by stars and is earned through engaging in battle. The name of a particular formation is also displayed. This is quite interesting as players will see on the game map famous formations and units often mentioned in histories of these campaigns. For example, you will meet John Glover’s famous Marblehead men, who helped save Washington after the disastrous battle of New York in 1776.

The most important concept to understand is described as the posture of your forces. There are four of these in the game and they greatly modify the combat and terrain effects of formations. The most aggressive is the assault posture, in which you will receive no terrain benefits and your forces will assault anything in the same area as they are. Your forces will often suffer grievous losses if this is used too often. Aggressive posture is the next choice, where the main differences are you will control the countryside and besiege forts rather than assault them. I found this to be the most effective tactic when on the attack. Defensive is just that, as you are only fighting if attacked, and will make no attempt to intercept forces passing through your controlled area. This posture will give you defensive advantages in terrain. Passive has the advantages of defense, but with more advantages towards terrain modifiers as well as higher retreat possibilities.

Retreating is a viable and valuable tactic in this game. This was the essence of Washington’s strategy, to always retreat and not allow the superior British army to wipe out his Continental army. This can be very effective as the British units will win battles but take heavy losses and be unable to control the countryside. The French must also master this tactic in the French and Indian War campaign, as the British will simply overwhelm you if you do not conserve forces.

Also of great importance is supply; if your forces are not fed and have ammo available their effectiveness to fight is greatly reduced. The building and control of depots can often decide the fate of different areas of the map no matter the relative strength of the forces involved. A large, poorly supplied force will be in serious trouble vs. a smaller, properly supplied force. Attrition, looting and the loyalty of each area of the map is also taken into account in the game, and players would be well advised to keep track of each of these factors.

As a strategy game BoA is a fine entry into this genre. Historically accurate and complex, it is quite challenging to play. This is not a glitz game as there is very limited bling in the look and feel of the game. Its appeal is to the serious student of history as well as those seeking a difficult strategic challenge.

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Tags: strategy, Zynga Slingo