Review -- WHERE THERE IS DISCORD: War In The South Atlantic

WHERE THERE IS DISCORD: War In The South Atlantic

If one were to connect the word epic to a game it might well fit Where There Is Discord: War in the South Atlantic (WTID).
Designer Daniel Hodges has certainly created a detailed wargame with WTID, focusing in on a rather recent conflict which at the time drew lots of press coverage, and then has tended to be forgotten.
It was in May 1982, when a missile fired from the Sea Harrier of Royal Naval Air Squadron struck a Mirage III, an Argentinian aircraft, starting the The Falkland/Malvinas War.
The war would last for only 45 days pitting the armed forces of the United Kingdom and Argentina against one another in a battle to determine who had the right to govern the Falkland Islands.
The game is published by Fifth Column Games, and is a brand new offering to wargamers, having been released only last year. Their website explains the game. “In this solitaire military simulation boardgame, you have the opportunity to recreate those fateful summer days, commanding the British Task Force as it attempts to defend itself from concerted attacks by Argentine air and naval forces, and mount a successful amphibious landing on the disputed islands.”
That the game is a solitaire one will appeal to many since it can be difficult to find players into detailed war simulation boardgames, especially one as detailed as WTID.
The game comes in a huge box filled with detailed goodies for the serious wargamer.
This is a game where you need to clear off the kitchen table, a rather large kitchen table actually, to lay out the game board, which by the way is thick and should last for decades.
There are a handful of dice, and lots of cardboard markers to mimic troops, plus charts to cross reference to see what the dice rolls mean as the game is played.
The game also comes with two true gaming gems; a detailed rulebook that while daunting if not into detail wargames, is extremely well laid out.
An Intelligence Briefing Booklet with great illustrations provides even more detail for a full game experience.
The game is suggested to play out in four hours, I did mention it was detailed, but there is no way you’ll do it that quick the first time out of the box unless you are a fanatic wargamer, and even then it will be a challenge.
This is a game with a blizzard weekend fill-in feel to it. You start on Saturday and wind-up sometime Sunday after a long, detailed wargame experience. That detail is both the game’s strength, it really gives you a feeling of controlling the nuances of war, yet those details will mean casual gamers shy away from the experience.
Check out this great game at http://fifthcolumngames.co.uk
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb 24, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada