20/12/2024
A few pictures of our latest game of A Line in the Sand. 5 players playing USA, Israel, Iraq/Yemen, Moderate Arabs, and Volatile Arabs/Iran. A bit of learning pains at first, new game new rules... and some frustration at vague/annoying rules. Definitely needs an unofficial updated addendum that clarifies and simplifies.
Each faction had random war aims as follows.
🇮🇶Iraq - conquer Kuwait and hold for 3 turns
🇺🇸USA - Conquer Iraq
🇮🇱Israel - maintain Israeli territory and prevent Volatile Arabs and Iraq from leaving their boarders.
🇮🇷Iran- Conquer Iraq
🇸🇾🇱🇧🇯🇴🇱🇾Volatile Arabs - destroy at least 10 US/Israeli units.
🇸🇦🇰🇼🇦🇪🇪🇬🇴🇲Moderate Arabs - don't lose any nation to revolution or invasion, keep the volatile Arabs contained to their own boarders.
Turn one saw a lot of diplomacy and messages sent to each nation, alliances started to form. Iraq-Volitile Arab-Iran Axis and the Israel-moderate arab-USA coalition.
Turn 2, limited boarder war between Jordan and Israel breaks out. Iraq falls to revolution and joins the moderate Arabs.
Turn 3 US forces cleared for offensive action begin all out air war in Yemen. Now moderate Iraqi expeditionary forces in yemen and Syria begin attacking their host nations.
Iranian expeditionary forces in Iraq are surrounded by hold their ground.
Turkey invades Syria.
Lebanon and Libya fall to revolution and become moderate Arabs.
Turn 4 volatile Arabs launch all out offensive into Israel. Cutting it in two.
Syria falls to revolution and joins the moderate arabs, leaving Jordan as the last volatile Arab.
Saddam returns and Iraq is back in control of its original rules, hostilities break out between Iraqi and moderate Arab forces.
Turn 5 US forces conquer Yemen but the Yemeni army escapes to the Arabian desert.
Iraq begins an all out offensive into Kuwait.
Bahgdad is nuked but escapes destruction.
Lebanon and Libya rejoin the volatile Arabs.
The Egypt crash develops a nuclear bomb.
Turn 6. Kuwait falls completely and is occupied by nearly the whole Iraqi army. Iraqi chemical SCUD-B missile attacks hit Israel.
Kuwait joins the volatile Arabs.
Jordan and Libya rejoin the moderate Arabs, the last volatile Arab state is tiny Lebanon.
The USA launches an all out air offensive in Kuwait, pushing back a large quarter of the Iraqi army but destroying little.
The US nukes Basra and the entire city is destroyed.
The moderate Arabs nuke Iraqi occupied Kuwait city and completely destroy it.
Iraq falls and joins the moderate Arabs
END OF GAME. Victory outcome
🇮🇶Iraq - has conquered Kuwait but fell to revolution.
IRAQI LOSS
🇮🇱Israel - had maintained Israeli territory but Yemeni troops occupy the Arabian desert.
ISRAELI LOSS
🇮🇷Iran- Iraq is conquered but not by Iran
IRANIAN LOSS
🇸🇾🇱🇧🇯🇴🇱🇾Volatile Arabs - 13 Israeli units have been destroyed but more than 50% of the faction has fallen to revolution.
VOLATILE ARAB LOSS
🇸🇦🇰🇼🇦🇪🇪🇬🇴🇲Moderate Arabs - has lost Kuwait to revolution and Yemeni forces occupy Saudi territory.
MODERATE ARAB LOSS
🇺🇸USA - Iraq has fallen to revolution by a friendly power (US and moderates not at war).
US VICTORY!
overall we had excellent fun with some hiccups. Some of the biggest annoyances came from having to keep track of the "jihad" gauge which tracks how close arab nations are to revolution (more jihad, moderates revolt. Less jihad, volatiles revolt). This is effected by nearly any nation attacking another, so it's constantly shifting. While many say the game is hard to play as the moderate Arabs because jihad gets higher with each non Arab attack. We had a US and Israel that hardly ever attacked, and when Arabs attack each other jihad goes down, so basically the volatiles and Iraq where constantly rolling for revolts.
I think that possibly a nation should not be able to roll twice for revolution, so if the jihad goes down 3 times in a round, Iraq would only roll the first time for instance.
Even though it's hardest for Iraq to fall to revolution, they did turn two. While funny, it did relegate the poor Iraqi player to controlling only Yemen, not much fun.
The other big annoyance came from air power. I understand the balancing of the rules but in game, air units can never destroy land units, only damage and force them to retreat. The only way a destruction by air can come is if a unit cannot retreat. The idea is that air is good at softening up land forces so that your ground units can come in and finish the job. But this can really turn mighty air forces into a wet noodle as seen when the entire US air force of around 40 craft attacked Iraqi forces in Kuwait, only iraqi died because they couldn't retreat, otherwise, all other Iraqi units kept getting hit, retreating to another space, getting hit, retreating back into Kuwait, and so on. Of course, if the US/moderate Arabs had some land units to mopp up the heavily damaged iraqis it would've been a slaughter, so I guess it goes to show that air bombardment doesn't win you territory, so you must plan to come in with land units right after.
A few pictures and some of my favorite diplomacy messages sent in game.
