Victory! The Battle for Europe

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Victory! The Battle for Europe
Victory play-by-mail game title image.jpg
Title image
PublishersRolling Thunder Games, Inc.
Publication1991;33 years ago (1991)
Genres Military strategy, play-by-mail
LanguagesEnglish
Players40
Playing time3 years (regular game)
Materials requiredInstructions, order sheets, turn results, paper, pencil
Media type Play-by-mail or email
Website http://www.rollingthunder.com/OurGames.htm#victory

Victory! The Battle for Europe is a closed-end, military strategy, play-by-mail (PBM) wargame. The game was first published by Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. in 1991 after a period of initial growth in the PBM industry. The game centers on Europe while including parts of North Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and Canada. Forty players start each game with equal resources among countries, although geography causes differences between starting positions. Games last for about three years each. The game received positive reviews and rankings in the PBM magazine Paper Mayhem in the 1990s, including tying for second place in its Best PBM Game of 1995 list.

Contents

Play-by-mail genre

Example turn 1 order sheet for the Border Kingdom Example command sheet for a turn in the game Hyborian War with the Border Kingdom, Version 2.gif
Example turn 1 order sheet for the Border Kingdom

Play-by-mail (PBM) games feature a number of differences from tabletop games. The typical PBM game involves many more players than an average tabletop game can support. [1] [lower-alpha 1] PBM game lengths are usually longer, depending on a number of factors. Turnaround time is how long a player has to prepare and submit "orders" (moves and changes to make in the game) and the company has to process them and send back turn results. [3] The average turnaround time in the 1980s was two weeks, but some modern PBM games are play-by-email (PBEM) with shorter turnaround times of twice per week or faster. [4] [lower-alpha 2] Open ended games allow players to strengthen their positions without end, with players continually entering and leaving the game. Examples include Heroic Fantasy and Monster Island. [5] Conversely, closed end games typically have all players starting on equal terms, with rapid, intense, player vs. player gameplay that ends when a player or group achieves some victory condition or is unopposed. [6] Examples include Hyborian War and It's a Crime . [7] The complexity of PBM games can range from the relatively simple to the PBM game Empyrean Challenge , once described as "the most complex game system on Earth". [8] [lower-alpha 3]

Once a player has chosen a game and receives an initial game setup, gameplay begins. This generally involves players filling out order sheets for a game (see example image) and sending them to the gaming company. [3] The company processes the turns and returns the results to the player, who completes a subsequent order sheet. [3] Diplomacy is also frequently an important—sometimes indispensable—part of gameplay. [10] The initial choice of a PBM game requires consideration as there is a wide array of possible roles to play, from pirates to space characters to "previously unknown creatures". [11] Close identification with a role typically increases a player's game satisfaction. [6] [lower-alpha 4]

History

Some games have long been played by mail between two players, such as chess and Go. [12] PBM play of Diplomacy —a multiplayer game—began in 1963. [13] The emergence of the professional PBM industry occurred less than a decade later. Rick Loomis, "generally recognized as the founder of the PBM industry", [14] accomplished this by launching Flying Buffalo Inc. and his first PBM game, Nuclear Destruction , in 1970. [12] Professional game moderation started in 1971 at Flying Buffalo. [15] [lower-alpha 5] Chris Harvey started commercial PBM play afterward in the United Kingdom with a company called ICBM through an agreement with Loomis and Flying Buffalo. [16] ICBM, followed by KJC games and Mitregames, led the UK PBM industry. [17] For approximately five years, Flying Buffalo was the single dominant company in the US PBM industry until Schubel & Son entered the field in about 1976 with the human-moderated The Tribes of Crane . [15] Superior Simulations was the next significant PBM company to enter the US market. They did so in 1978 with the game Empyrean Challenge . [15]

The early 1980s saw additional growth for PBM. The player base grew and game moderators were plentiful. [18] The PBM industry in 1980 comprised two large companies and some small ones. [19] The most popular games in 1980 were Starweb and Tribes of Crane. [19] In 1981, some PBM players launched another company, Adventures by Mail, with the "immensely popular" Beyond the Stellar Empire . [15] [lower-alpha 6]

The proliferation of PBM companies in the 1980s supported the publication of a number of newsletters from individual play-by-mail companies as well as independent publications which focused solely on the play-by-mail gaming industry such as the relatively short-lived The Nuts & Bolts of PBM and Gaming Universal . The PBM genre's two preeminent magazines of the period were Flagship and Paper Mayhem . [20]

The 1990s brought additional changes to the PBM world. For example, in the early 1990s, email became an option to transmit turn orders and results. [21] It was in this environment that Victory! The Battle for Europe launched.

Description and gameplay

Final map from Game 87 of Victory! Image of a wargame map of Europe.jpg
Final map from Game 87 of Victory!

Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. announced the game's launch in the September–October 1991 issue of Paper Mayhem magazine. [22] [lower-alpha 7] It is a closed-end play-by-mail wargame. [23] Game turns are on a 15 or 21-day turnaround schedule. [24]

Forty players begin each game of Victory! with a starting year of 1939. [25] The game centers on Europe while including North Africa, the Middle East, the United States, and Canada. [26] Each player begins with equal resources, money and factories. [27] However, geography creates differences in starting positions to include country size and number of bordering countries, and terrain considerations. [27] Players can choose a technology suite for their air, ground, and naval forces that are preselected (for the American, British, German, and Russian technology) or manually select technology for their forces for other countries. [28]

Players also have Fixed Defense Units available to array including Local Defense Battalions, Light and Heavy Anti-Aircraft Batteries, Security units, and Special Operations Units: (Rangers). [29] Fortifications for provinces and cities are also available for defense. [23] Special Commanders and Training Programs are additional factors players can employ, the former to influence the success of operations, for example, and the latter to increase the effectiveness of units. [23] Players must also manage their economies carefully during gameplay. [23] Diplomacy plays a significant role during gameplay, although there is a privacy option to prevent contact with a player. [30] Aggressive play is rewarded. [23]

"A game of Victory takes a long time to play. You can start in Northern Russia and end the game battling for the city of Gibraltar."

— Ray Andrews. Paper Mayhem, March–April 1998. [31]

Players work toward victory conditions during the game. [32] The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner. [32] According to the publisher, "success in the game is achieved as a result of survival through manifest destiny." [33] Games can last up to 73 turns. [23] Games last for 1,095 days, or three years each. [32] [lower-alpha 8]

Reception

Donald J. Lund, the organizer of the PBM Player's Guild of the period, reviewed Victory! in the July–August 1991 issue of Paper Mayhem while playing in Game No. 1. Although he suggested "more glitter" for the maps and more photos in the rulebook, he stated that "this game and company are quality". [35] In the September–October 1991 issue of Paper Mayhem, Victory! placed No. 1 out of 82 games in its PBM Game ratings list. [36] The game tied for No. 2 in Paper Mayhem's Best PBM Games of 1995. [37] [lower-alpha 9] Allen Viduka reviewed the game in the May–June 1996 issue of Paper Mayhem magazine, stating that "this game is one of the finest on the market today". [38] In the same issue, Victory! scored No. 2 out of 42 PBM games as rated by its readers with a rating of 8.267 out of 9. [39]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ For example, the PBM game It's a Crime can accommodate 110 players per game. [2]
  2. ↑ For example, the PBM game Covert Operations allows twice-per-week moves, daily moves, and private games where players can specify turn around times. [4]
  3. ↑ Vern Holford, owner of Superior Simulations, developed Empyrean Challenge , a PBM game that reviewer Jim Townsend described in 1988 as "the most complex game system on Earth" with some turn results for large positions at 1,000 pages in length. [9] According to Townsend, in those cases there was a significant investment in time to understand what happened on a turn as well as to fill out future turn orders. [9] He said a player without a spreadsheet was "nearly doomed from the outset". [9]
  4. ↑ This section is taken from the Play-by-mail genre section of the Hyborian War Wikipedia article.
  5. ↑ Flying Buffalo later added games such as Battleplan and Heroic Fantasy along with Starweb and others. By the late 1980s these games were all computer moderated. [15]
  6. ↑ This section draws from portions of the History section of the Wikipedia Play-by-mail game article.
  7. ↑ Rolling Thunder Games stated that it had its first three regular speed games underway in the same issue.
  8. ↑ Although the rules state three years exactly, Rolling Thunder Games notes that a regular-paced game can last for "about three years". [34]
  9. ↑ Victory! tied with Legends for the No. 2 spot. with Adventurers Guild placing 1st.

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References

  1. ↑ Greenberg 1993 pp. 8–9.
  2. ↑ KJC Games 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Paper Mayhem Jan/Feb 1993 p. 1.
  4. 1 2 Flying Buffalo 2020.
  5. ↑ Townsend 1987 p. 24; DuBois 1997 p. 4.
  6. 1 2 John Kevin Loth III 1986 p. 42; Paper Mayhem Jan/Feb 1993 p. 1.
  7. ↑ Lindahl 2020.
  8. ↑ John Kevin Loth III 1986 p. 42; Townsend 1988 p. 20.
  9. 1 2 3 Townsend 1988 p. 20.
  10. ↑ Townsend 1987 p. 29; Mouchet 2017 p. 11.
  11. ↑ John Kevin Loth III 1986 pp. 42–43.
  12. 1 2 McLain 1993.
  13. ↑ Babcock 2013. p. 16.
  14. ↑ The Editors 1985. p. 35.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Townsend 1988. p. 20.
  16. ↑ Harvey 2003. p. 26; Palmer 2003. p. 4.
  17. ↑ Palmer 2003. p. 4.
  18. ↑ Harvey 1984. p. 21; The Space Gamer 1980. p. 13.
  19. 1 2 Popolizio, Leblanc, and Popolizio 1990. p. 8.
  20. ↑ Paduch 1993. p. RC21.
  21. ↑ Paduch 1993 p. 2
  22. ↑ Paper Mayhem 1991. p. 31.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Andrews 1998. p. 20.
  24. ↑ Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. 2022.
  25. ↑ Andrews 1998. pp. 16–17.
  26. ↑ Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. 2022.
  27. 1 2 Andrews 1998. p. 16.
  28. ↑ Andrews 1998. p. 17.
  29. ↑ Andrews 1998. pp. 18–19.
  30. ↑ Viduka 1997. p. 10.
  31. ↑ Andrews 1998. p. 18.
  32. 1 2 3 Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. 2022.
  33. ↑ Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. 1992. p. 28.
  34. ↑ Rolling Thunder Games, Inc. 2022.
  35. ↑ Lund 1991. p. 28.
  36. ↑ Paper Mayhem 1991. pp. 54–55.
  37. ↑ Paper Mayhem 1996. p. 2.
  38. ↑ Viduka 1996. p. 4.
  39. ↑ Paper Mayhem 1996. p. 29.

Bibliography

Further reading

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