Reprinted by Permission

Battle Grid by ZenoGames       

Overall:                                                     

August 2, 2002

Review by Scott Bolderson

Battle Grid is the second release from Ohio based game makers ZenoGames. Their first release Virus Alert! was a fast paced non-collectible card game that was a lot of fun to play, and play, and play. Battle Grid goes in a much different direction. It is called a close quarters combat board game. Now don't run off yet! Unlike most "realistic" war games where you have to micro manage each unit, and even little skirmishes seem to take a weekend to finish, Battle Grid makes combat probably even more realistic by making things fast paced, chaotic, and very bloody. The big question though, of course, is “But, is it any fun?” Believe it or not, ZenoGames has actually made war fun!!

 

Design: 1/2

The board itself is very simple, a simple 8x8 grid (hence the name Battle Grid) with compass points corresponding to each side of an 8-sided die. There are a few special squares where your troops can take extra move rolls, free pot shots on an enemy, heal wounds, and even a nice safe zone right in the middle of the board. You also get two armies to start out with. Right out of the box, you can actually recreate the American Revolutionary War! Well, not actually recreate the whole war, but you do get British and American armies from 1776. The armies are 54mm scale, they are huge compared to what you see in most miniatures games. The miniatures are nicely detailed, although, being monochromatic as they are, they feel just one step above little green plastic army men. But in the heat of combat, you won't care what they look like, and it is just a game after all. There are thirteen additional army packs (sold separately) which will give you the options of playing other famous military groups such as the Chinese Boxers from 1900 (my favorite), W.W.I German Infantry, the Egyptian Army from 1882, the French Knights, and many more!

 

Rules: 
ZenoGames prides itself on making the rulebooks into nice coasters, because you only have to read them once. And they do that again here very nicely. The rules are only four pages long, and they have a lot of detailed diagrams to help even your youngest bloodthirsty combatant understand game play in just minutes. Probably the most complicated rule is the MOVE command, because you roll an 8-sided die and a 6-sided die, move in the direction shown by the 8-sider the amount of spaces shown on the 6-sider. But at first, most people seem to make the mistake of moving towards the actual number on the board, instead of the compass direction it represents. But sure enough, after enough slaps to the face with the rulebook (so it does serve a purpose after reading it), even your group's most thick-headed player will be running around like a maniac, blowing away enemies in just a few turns. Another great touch is that all the roll charts (all five of them) fit on the back of the last page of the rules. Even those charts will become second nature in just 2 or 3 games! There is one more nice addition, a separate sheet showing all of the armies’ special abilities.

Gameplay: 
Special abilities?? Yes indeed, each army has one thing that they do extra special. As an example, the Chinese Boxers have the ability to re-roll the direction die on a MOVE command. Very helpful if you notice you may be heading into enemy territory (of course, the odds are any direction you move in this game will put you into enemy territory). Basically, you get two actions every turn, your commander gets to do 2-part commands as long as the first part is a MOVE command (so they can move and shoot in the same order). If you move, you roll the two dice as stated earlier, if you want to shoot at somebody, roll the appropriate die (for open fire, or close combat) and check to see if you hit them, missed them, killed them, or (and I love this part) fired so badly you hit one of your allied soldiers in the space next to you (called a frag). The last person with a soldier standing (and believe me, it will be ONE SOLDIER) wins. A game usually takes about 15-20 minutes, unless you have some jokers who keep all but one of their soldiers in the "Safe Zone" until their out in the open guy bites the big one. These are the same kind of people who put 150 armies on Iceland and still insist that they are playing a game called RISK!!!!, not that I'm speaking from experience with any of my gaming groups, but I'm wandering a bit from the point. Although quite frankly, that strategy of using only one army at a time is the best way to stay alive more than two turns in this game. Especially in a heated 4 player melee. One other facet I love is the ability to create a dream team of sorts, mix and match members of different armies to try and find the most potent killing machine possible!

 

Overall: 
This is the first war game I have ever wanted to play again after just finishing a game, if my memory serves me correctly. It helps a lot that the game only takes a few minutes to play. I will admit, at first I wasn't entirely sold on one thing about this game. I didn't like the idea of a random movement by rolling dice. But then I actually played the game a few times, and I realized just how well it actually works! I definitely recommend this game, and I also recommend getting a few extra army sets as the special abilities, and the ability to mix and match soldiers gives this game a lot of replay value! It may not appeal to the hardcore war gamer, but then again, that's not the point of this game. This is the kind of game you pull out at a party, and have even your non-gaming friends joining in the carnage! I've never seen a game where one of your soldiers steps right into the middle of three opposing soldiers, and lives to laugh about it! Until they die horribly the next round at the hands of an angry French Knight (and I thought the French were just supposed to give up). This game actually has a bit of a video game feel to it. Think Quake in convenient board game form, move and shoot, occasionally try and heal your guys, shoot some more, be the last man standing.  A fast-paced and fun war game, I honestly never thought I would say those two things in the same sentence, ever.  

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info@zenogames.com

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