Abandoning Sally, my ATS Mustang Fastback, even for a few hours this weekend, required considerable willpower, but somehow I managed it. Trading the Great Plains for New Jersey and sunny contemporary highways for snowy Eighteenth Century battlefields, I gave Early Access The Glorious Cause a swift whirl. What I discovered was an approachable hex wargame with scant scenarios and some rough edges, but no shortage of atmosphere and momentum.
ThinkByte has big plans for TGC, but right now Β£14 buys just two versions of the first Battle of Trenton, and one of the second, plus a recreation of the Battle of Princeton. Playable from either side, and featuring fifteen-minute unphased turns, 25-yard hexagons, and regiment and brigade-sized units, none of these scraps intimidate with vast maps or huge armies and turn totals, yet all are large and lengthy enough to encourage reconnaissance and thoughtful, patient manoeuvring.
Currently, commanders are incredibly important in TGC both for a historically sound reason and for a somewhat gamey one. Their ability to boost the stats of adjacent troops via targeted infallible βrallyβ clicks, I’ve got no real problem with. It’s their usefulness as peripatetic opportunity fire bait that wrinkles my nose. Either ThinkByte must make leaders like Washington and Greene more vulnerable to damage and capture, or they need to discourage AI forces from wasting their sole reaction fusillades on galloping brass-hats.
Most of my other gripes relate to the visuals and UI. Incongruously dark building sprites… river BMPs that misleadingly suggest waterways are hexside rather hex-wide features… no toggleable morale, cohesion, and AP bars… addressing graphical flaws like these should be relatively easy.
Apart from the odd counter-intuitive retreat move, the AI seems to know its onions. After failing to take the single Trenton VL at the first time of asking, I tried distracting and bypassing the Brits and their Hessian hirelings on my second attempt. This approach worked better and prompted some pleasing repositioning and counter-attacking from defensive forces. The fact that I frequently observed enemy commanders dashing about, bolstering wavering units, also warmed my ticker.
With The Glorious Cause’s version of the Battle of Trenton so fresh in my memory, it strikes me I really ought to play American Revolutionary War’s treatment of this pivotal battle and draw some comparisons. A quick glance at the relevant map (β) and prior knowledge of Wargame Design Studio’s oeuvre tells me ARW’s Trenton will separate me from Sally for longer than TGC’s. Can I face the heartwrench?
Ride, Sally, ride π π π π