Eurofront by Tom Oleson
In response to your question about my visit to Craig Besinque, designer
of Rommel in the Desert, East Front, and Eurofront. For those unfamiliar with
it, Eurofront is a monster wooden block game comparable in scope to 3R or
T.Kreig. Taking the 550 mile long route via Spokane I arrived in New Denver BC
the morning of Tuesday 7/17. It's interesting that every little hamlet of remote
North Washington State has a place with a sign in Spanish advising that money
can be sent to Mexico! This is a beautiful area, very friendly people. Craig and
I began by playing the Spanish Civil War scenario, about a dozen times. I first
went to Spain in 1952, opened an office in Barcelona in 1965. While living there
from 1979-83 and returning almost yearly since then, I have discussed the SCW
with veterans and students of it, and examined the several games on the subject,
none of which are good. Craig's scenario is by far the best known to me. The
block system lends itself to the peculiarities of the SCW, although he has not
completely resolved the problem of lack of initiative on the part of the
Republic. That is, they ARE hampered in a realistic fashion, but not virtually
paralysed offensively as was the historical case. CB is reluctant to handicap
the player this much. Others then arrived so we switched to Eurofront. Due to
space constraints the Eurofront that you can now buy treats Norway, Sweden, and
Finland in an abstract fashion, as most of that territory is off the map. CB has
developed an addition for this, which we incorporated in our play. As Russians,
after taking over Estonia, I conquered Finland by invasion from there. This was
good in that it protected Leningrad from isolation; bad in that it brought
Sweden into the war on the side of Germany. Later I schemed to invade Stockholm
but the Germans got wind of it, and although they dismissed it as yet another of
my crazy ideas, just to be on the safe side they reinforced Stockholm! EF has
many alliance reactions and diplomatic events reflecting the many what-ifs,
which can happen. As Russians I have been obsessed with an early attack on
Ploesti to deprive Germany of the oil, but again it did not QUITE work, though
again I came within a roll or two of taking Bucharest and Ploesti. This led to a
Russian disaster which I was able to repair, stopping the Germans in front of
Moscow and Riga, but eventually losing Stalingrad. A surprise invasion of Odessa
from Sevastopol caused a problem for the Germans, which they were able to cope
with. Torch came out badly for the Allies, as the Germans managed to switch
quickly from Libya to Tunisia. We got into the start of 1943. After the others
left CB and I played many games of a new one-map scenario that I suggested to
him, covering a possible invasion of Spain or Portugal as alternative or prelude
to Torch. LOTS of fun, with enormous variety. Really enjoyed that. Like the SCW
scenario, it was one of those fast and relatively simple games that you just do
not want to stop playing, because each time you see things you can't wait to try
again. I drove back to Seattle Tuesday the 24th taking the short route over the
northern Cascades, via a road closed in winter, 499 miles. Was often able to
reach 90mph, sometimes 100, on the empty roads. CB lives in a beautiful area,
beautiful home, with a breath-taking view over the lake to the snow-capped peak
in a National Park. You would enjoy a visit there. I like the block system for
what it subtracts and adds: It subtracts what has become for me dreary factor
counting to achieve precise odds all over the map. When the Germans attacked
Stalingrad they did not know exactly what they needed to get a 3-1, and I no
longer care to know it, either. It adds simple but elegant step reduction,
logistics, just the right amount of fog of war, and much else. I also very much
like how CB has worked out the what-if effects. At one point when CB was away
from the board, I remarked to his friend Ron -another super guy - that CB is
obsessed with refining EF, and of course it was intended as a complement. Ron
replied that perhaps "dedicated" would be a kinder description, but CB was not
upset when he learned of our little debate about him!