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!
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