1775

1775 is an excellent low complexity wargame that is still full of strategy and history. The object of the game is to have control of more colonies than your opponent. There are a few scenarios for playing a shorter or different historical battle (Battle for Quebec).

The board is well illustrated. Green cubes are First Nations (neutral until friendly units are moved on top of them), American Colonists (Blue regulars and white militia), and British Forces (Red regulars and Yellow Loyalists). Setup is indicated by the cube illustrations in each region. Here is the board after the American setup.

After the British setup.

In combat, you roll one die for each cube of the color you have, to a maximum of three for irregular and two for regular troops. Defender rolls thier dice and applies the result first. Targets are hits, running men are flee results and blank die are command decision (may move the corresponding colored cube to an adjecent friendly region. Dice are rolled until one side has lost off of its cubes.

Turn order is done by randomly drawing a cube from the black bag. You must play one move card and as many event cards as you wish. The game can end sooner if the forces on one or both sides have played all of thier "Treaty of Paris" cards. Move cards indicate the number of armies that can move (some or all the cubes in a region) and how many spaces they can move. There is also ship and boat movement in the game.

Renforcments are placed during the beginning of your turn. Four cubes plus all of your fled units can be placed on any region your side controls that has a city, like Halifax above.

Here is the game after a few turns. There are French and Hessian allies that can join the fight through playing of cards.

I love the simple elegance of this game.