Stout Hearts (2022]

[Whiterook]

Stout Hearts is on pre-order at Tiny Battle Publishing and will ship in November, and I ordered a copy at this discounted and reasonable price of $32 (36 retail). It’s a solitaire game, which is right uo my alley, and I would say we are in the Golden Age of Solitaire Wargaming, with all the wonderful games coming out the past few years, with no end in sight; the pandemic proved to game companies that a voracious market opened up for this style of gaming.

Based on Jay Ward's popular The Battle for Ramadi (also available at TBP, which I own and love) and Hue system, your job as Brigadier is to push through the enemy defenses in exceptionally difficult terrain, utilizing not only your infantry platoons, but also tank, mortar, artillery, and machine gun assets. Intelligence on the enemy is limited. Are they SS? Are there Tigers? How many 88s do they have? Will they fight or will they run? I can’t wait to find out!

“The leading platoons were moving through the gentle, wooded slopes on which waited the first German outposts, little groups of men dug cunningly in among the trees and bushes, crouching unseen in narrow pits under the hedges behind the thin barrels of their machine guns. The British infantrymen came trudging in among the trees, miserable and sodden; bewildered at first as the mines with which the ground was sown exploded beneath their comrades feet and the bullets came whining among them; then spreading out rapidly and moving from tree-trunk to splintered tree-trunk, crouching, alert, angry; angry with the rain; angry with the mud, with boredom and fatigue, and closing in to vent their anger on the enemy.”

Alexander Baron: “From the City, From the Plough”, 1948

The Divisional Commander has ordered your Brigade to push on into the bocage. “Keep up with the flanking units, don’t let your chaps get sticky. There are only a few more miles until we are out into open ground!”.

You have three battalions of infantry. Well trained for the invasion but after two months of fighting they are getting tired. Replacements have come from disbanded units as there are few men left in the UK who can be drafted. You have a battalion of infantry tanks to support your Brigade with dedicated Royal Artillery Batteries for each infantry battalion. The infantry have their own mortars and anti-tank weapons for immediate support. Will they make it through the next few days or will they crack? The attack starts tomorrow at 05.00….

Stout Hearts is a solitaire game, based on Jay Ward's popular The Battle for Ramadi and Hue system. As Brigadier, your job is to push through the enemy defenses in exceptionally difficult terrain, utilizing not only your infantry platoons, but also tank, mortar, artillery, and machine gun assets. Intelligence on the enemy is limited. Are they SS? Are there Tigers? How many 88s do they have? Will they fight or will they run? Now is the time to find out!

Components:

- Full color rules booklet
- Good looking 17” by 22” Map
- 1 x 8.5" x 11" Player Aid Chart
- 1 x 11" x 17" Player Aid Chart
- 140 beautiful 1" (that's big) double sided counters.


— from the publisher

As is typical, the counters are the eye Candy of these games, with just GORGEOUS artwork; but their not just pretty faces… the design is very sleek and efficient, and I love the beefy 1” size. The map artwork is very nice also, and gives you a lot of great real estate to battle on, but not so humongous that it’s a time hog,.





I’m assuming it’s a zippie game, with no box, but that’s cool… I’m amassing quite a stick of them!

[Whiterook]

Just arrived today! I’m very excited to get this one… I’m currently playing Pacific Tide, but am thinking this may be up next. I’ve so many games I want to get too, hahaha… a good problem to have! I just love the graphics on this game; though I’m not sure about the map artwork yet, but maybe I’m just getting spoiled with so many games’ realistic terrain art.

[mikeh]

My, my, my, now that looks interesting.

[Whiterook]

Well, back in December I’d mentioned this may be up next, but a couple games came I between, but I am finally getting to this one! I started the rules just before my cruise a couple weeks ago and wished I’d brought the game with me! However, upon return home, I reengaged with the rules reading and just finished this morning. Hexes and Countered did a great unboxing and play tutorial on YouTube which helped solidify the overall system to me.







The system itself isn’t a big reach to learn…it’s got a good degree of difficulty to it, but the rules themselves are just under 10 pages of reasonable sized font, so I was able to get through them in a few short reading sessions. Unlike my norm, the good news is I don’t feel I need to re-read the whole rulebook again (I get anal that way with more complex systems).

So far prior to actual game play, an interesting looking game! it is indeed, a zippy game so that earlier question has been answered! …I’ve amassed a rather impressive lineup of ziplock games over the years! Also. The question as to what kind of German units you face has been answered, as well… good trained, but not elite troops, so they won’t be a pushover!

So on with a basic description and initial thoughts:

Yin will have four fictional companies (with a possible fifth in a variant) make their way through the hedgerows of Normandy in the aftermath of D-Day, as the British advance in late July and early August in the direction of Mount Pincon; this, against good (again, not not elite, so no SS baddies) German troops in solid positions. The Brits will basically have a hard time getting through tough terrain and assaulting the ever stiffening German defensive lines, capturing objectives areas (named Bacon and Eggs), and potentially exiting the top of the map. Those aforementioned, German ‘defensive lines’ consist of three versions, an Outpost defensive line (denoted by blue rimmed hexes), a Main line (Yellow), and a Reserve line (red). These aren’t heavily fortified positions, but rather represent favorable defensive positions, woods, farms, hamlets.

The British enter the bottom of the map (North) and make their way, sloping down inland (South) at start and making their way through tough terrain. They must keep an open Line of Communications (LoC) from their current positions, back to the start points of the map (North) or suffer less than effective issues. The Germans are all hidden units (blank top counters), that are revealed when you assault them (some may be dummies)… hidden units exert a 3-hex Zone of Control (ZOC), and active units at 1.

You, as the overall Battalion Commander, must plan what where units enter, when to use three barrages (within 15 turned), and when to support your Company HQs. Your overall tactic is to snuggle up adjacent to the German unit hex(s) so that you can Assault them the following turns; while planning whether to use other friendlies to help add their firepower to any one assault. Suppression is a big part of the tactics, where you can then benefit in combat resolution thusly, or suffer negative modifiers for attacking an unsuppressed position. Use of assets (artillery and armor) is important in suppression and support (adding firepower to a friendlies’ Assault) fire.

A really intriguing aspect of this game design is Flanking… you have two tracks of hex columns on either side of the map, where Flank Markers are potentially moved (by die roll mechanic) each turn, representing other battalion elements to your commands’ flanks… if your command falls behind their advance, you deduct points from your Victory Points tally every hex behind your lead unit deducts -1)! I’ve never had a game that does that!

Weather can play a part as well, in the form of moving through mist delaying your advance potential. Good use of calling in Mortar fire, smoke, and suppression fire is key. It overall, it’s a game of speed, not falling behind, not loosing lines of communication to the rear, and coordinated combat. If you fall behind in advance or loose too much strength points, you can find yourself in a world of hurt,