Review: The Battle for Hill 218:: Is that a game in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Review: The Battle for Hill 218:: Is that a game in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?: "

by JBellor

I first heard of The Battle For Hill 218 on Tom Vasel's The Dice Tower podcast, and the ad sounded somewhat cheesy (as do most ads on there, I thought). The only reason it lodged in my mind is because I was going through a Dice Tower marathon while working: being a third shift janitor who works alone can have *some* perks. It took me a year or so to read up on it on BGG, and the first thing I noticed was that it is designed by Darwin Kastle, whom I knew of as a member of the Magic: The Gathering hall of fame and the handsome fellow pictured on the card Avalanche Riders. Looking through the forums, the publisher of the game, Chad Ellis, was a frequent poster and all-around pleasant fellow; these two factors moved the game up on my 'to-buy' list.



Several months later and I need to fill out an order from an online retailer - gotta make that $100 free shipping mark! - and Battle For Hill 218 fit the bill. Two copies were left in stock and I knew I wouldn't be ordering again soon, so into the shopping cart it went. When my shipment arrived a week later, BFH218 moved to the bottom of the 'to-play' pile, mostly because the shipment also contained Ingenious and Stone Age. A few days later, I start to examine it.



Right off the bat, the game got a few marks against it (I'm picky :P) because of the box. On the front, a typo ('Now in it's second printing' should be 'Now in its second printing'), and the back has a quote from InQuest Gamer Magazine, a defunct (though possibly not at the time the game was printed) CCG magazine not known for its board or card game coverage, though I suppose I should point out that at least one of the playtesters for the game named in the Game Credits page (Thorin McGee) was an editor/writer for that magazine (and quite a funny guy, from what I remember!). Setting the typo complaint aside, I was surprised at the quality of the components inside. The cards are quite striking, with bold colors, a nice glossy surface, a firm weight and construction, and pictures of excellent clarity and impact, though both sides (colors) are identical: the pictures are the same for both the green army and the blue army. There are only a few words on each card, and everything you need to know about the card and what it does are explained with a few icons. The rulebook is quite excellent, 23 pages of solid description and a few illustrations of some gameplay situations. If anything, it reminds me of the first few Magic: The Gathering rulebooks, and I felt a ping of nostalgia. Not to mention, no typos (I'm anal). ;)



My brother and I read the rules and played several games in a row, and after the first few, I was somewhat less than impressed. The games were ending far too quickly, sometimes on turn two, and I wondered when the fun would start. After the third straight game where the second player played Artillery in his base and Paratroopers into the now empty enemy base for an instant win, we decided to look in the rulebook to see if we had missed something, and page 13 made it quite clear where we went wrong, with a helpful underline to enforce the point: 'Paratroopers draw supply like Infantry but can be deployed without supply to any space on the grid other than the enemy base.' There we go. Our subsequent games were much more tactical and lasted longer than two turns, and a surprising amount of fun was waiting right there.



BFH218 does its thing, and does it well. It is exactly as described: a fast and deep tactical game for two players. At first glance it may look like what we describe as 'playing for the turn': what is the most damage I can do this turn? After a few games, though, the surprising depth begins to peek out. Yes, destroying that unit next to the hill and advancing up one space with Heavy Weapons is a fine move for this turn, but planning for the turn following is even better. Using an Air Strike this turn, or both, will not only take out a few units but will give me card advantage, since if you use an Air Strike, you don't get to play any cards. But before you rush out and just nuke whatever looks good, what are you going to play next turn to advance forward? Is your opponent going to just play two units to replace the two open positions, or will he change tactics and advance a different way? He's played two Artillery units already, is the third in his hand? The funny part about this method of thinking is that you don't suddenly have an 'Oh! I do better when I plan' sort of moment; it gradually begins to happen as you play.



Comparisons to chess are often made in reviews, and I think that's an apt analogy, though the Inquest comparison to Go seems a bit closer to me. Placements made on turn two can still have an impact many turns later, and once you place a card, it's there to stay unless it's destroyed, and it only gets one attack, so you'd better make it count.



The World War II theme is apparent from the photographs, though nowhere in the rulebook or on the box is that term used. As such, the game could be easily adapted to any era of combat, though you would be somewhat hard-pressed to find a different term for Air Strike for any pre-WWI era of combat. Strangely, the theme does not seem 'pasted-on' in the sense that the designers simply picked the era of combat most popular with gamers, and I find it difficult to explain exactly why. That said, the game could easily be re-organised for the Euro market by making it about...I don't know, weeds (kudzu, maybe) from your garden (your 'Base') attempting to take over your neighbor's garden (the opponent's 'Base'). Weeds not being very powerful, they can only 'overgrow' ('Attack') your neighbor's garden or weeds with support. Air Strikes represent Hoe Attacks for when your lazy gardener finally gets off his rump and tries to tidy things up.



Now, that doesn't sound like much fun, I'm sure, but the core gameplay wouldn't change much (and yes, that was just off the top of my head. It's not a variant or something). And that shows you the real strength of the game, and the variety of categories it fits in. It's a wargame, in the sense that there is a simulation (however loose) of conflict; an abstract, in the sense that the cards are really nothing more than Chess pieces, or Checkers pieces, or Go pieces; a card game, in the tradition of Rummy and War and Uno and Crazy Eights, in the sense that the game only takes ten minutes, and you're not happy playing it just once.



After playing all of the games I ordered several weeks ago (BFH218, Snow Tails, Stone Age, Dominion, Yinsh and Ingenious), it is BFH218 that has given me the most enjoyment out of one session of play (in the case of BFH218, around ten plays, not counting the first few that we played incorrectly). As well, it's self-contained in a box not much bigger than my cell phone. I see no reason why this game won't be carried around in my bookbag wherever I go now, and I hope I can spread the love for this excellent little gem."