First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now. On the 7th day of Christmas War Gaming,...
First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now.
On the 7th day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…
7 Narrows Gun Emplacements Protecting
Ottoman Sunset: The Great War in the East, 1914-1918 3rd Edition is a States of Siege Series game that deals with The Great War in the Ottoman Empire. The player plays as the Turks and must deal with advancing British, ANZAC and other Arab coalition armies as they advance on Constantinople determined to end the war quickly. The game has 5 different tracks that all converge on Constantinople and the armies on these tracks are activated by cards that are drawn at the start of each turn. The game comes down to how well the player can prioritize their limited actions each, generally receiving 1-3 such actions, to push these armies back but also do other important things such as building gun emplacements and mining the waters of the Narrows.
In the above picture, you can see the Narrows Display which shows the waters where the British will attempt to sail up in order to reach Constantinople at which time if they successfully arrive the game will be lost. The player can use an action to build one of the defenses for the Narrows which include Minefields and Gun Emplacements. As you look at the board, you will see that there are a total of 3 buildable Gun Emplacements and 2 Minefields. There are several Gun Emplacements printed on the board found at the entrance to the Narrows in both Seddülbahir and Kum Kale and then further in is Canakkale and finally Constantinople. These are printed guns that the player will always have access to but there are 3 additional guns that can be optionally built at Yildiz, Dardanos and Nagara using actions as previously mentioned. This gives the player a total of 7 Gun Emplacements that all get to roll a d6 when the British invade the Narrows via the Forcing the Narrows Event Card. Once this event is pulled, the player will place the marker on the British Fortitude Track in box 4. The British Fleet will then pass each of the defenses built in the Narrows, including both the Gun Emplacements and the Minefields and if the defense is there, meaning it has been built by the player or it is printed on the board, the player will roll 1d6 at a time for each active
Turkish Defense starting in the southwest corner (skipping the Seddülbahir Gun Emplacement if it has been previously destroyed by an Event Card) and proceeding up toward Constantinople itself, which is resolved last.
The player will then compare the die roll to the indicated Turkish Defense’s Battle Value. If the result is greater than (>) that defense’s Battle Value, there is no loss to British Fortitude. If the result is less than or equal to (?) that defense’s Battle Value, then the player will reduce the British Fortitude marker by one box. If they British Fortitude is dropped to the 0 Box, they will withdraw from this attempt and the player will gain an end of game Victory Point and will stave off an immediate defeat. Building the Minefields is very important to accomplish first followed by at least 1 or 2 Gun Emplacements being built. If the player doesn’t focus on this, they will find the game come to a sudden and immediate end before it really even gets going as the Forcing the Narrows Event Card is found in the first group of cards.
If you are interested in Ottoman Sunset: The Great War in the East, 1914-1918 3rd Edition, you can order a copy for $40.00 from the Tabletop Tycoon website at the following link: https://www.tabletoptycoon.com/products/ottoman-sunset
You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:
A Patriot Militia Caught in the Open – Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection from GMT Games
2 Barrages Exploding – SCS Ardennes II from Multi-Man Publishing
3 Columns Shifting – The Russian Campaign Deluxe 5th Edition from GMT Games
4 Relief Convoys Incoming – The Mog: Mogadishu 1993 from White Dog Games
5 Dug-In German Soldiers – Imperial Tide: The Great War, 1914-1918 from Compass Games
6 Zeroes Patrolling – Fighters of the Pacific from Capsicum Games
-Grant
