Frontier Wars, the recent Kickstarter board game from designed by Manuel Burrueco, is a strategy game where players clash in a military conflict for control during World War II. As one of the Allied or Axis countries, players will deploy troops, engage enemy units, and pursue objectives in a race to victory. Through military conquest or scientific research, one player will conquer all other opponents and reshape history.

The game employs a range of strategical operations, and players must decide whether to advance into new territory, build or defend structures, and manage their forces as the enemies fortify their own positions and prepare for war with infantry and mechanized units.

Unbalanced aggression will leave an army without the supply lines and infrastructure to support a sustained military engagement but slow, cautious growth will cede the battlefield to the enemy, so players will have to navigate the middle ground between these tactical extremes.

In Frontier Wars, it’s about the armies, the orders, and the strategy. Does the tabletop war demonstrate strength or does it falter?

STORY

World War II was a global conflict that spanned six years and resulted in the greatest powers of the historical period forming two opposing alliances and fighting in a bitter campaign across multiple continents. The Allies and the Axis mustered their full strength—national economies, industrial might, technological breakthroughs, and manpower—to wage total war against each other. It was a violent clash with few victors. Millions of fatalities and the only instance of nuclear warfare in history.

The missions and scenarios in Frontier Wars are set in that turbulent era of global conflict. Players select an army to deploy and to command, but allies and enemies in the strategy game are not representative of the historical war.

Narratives from the Second World War are not recreated on the map tiles in Frontier Wars. New stories are written by the winners and losers, and the victor establishes an alternate timeline after strategy and tactical superiority overwhelm any opponents.

GAMEPLAY

Every game begins with players choosing which army to command. The core game includes the United Kingdom, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The expansion adds France and Japan to the pool of available nations.

Armies possess unique skills that can affect gameplay, so each player will have a distinct advantage in certain scenarios based on the country selected.

Once players choose an army and prepare the rest of the table with the game’s components and relevant cards, the next major decision involves the layout of the map. There are two options in Frontier Wars between which players can decide. In the back of the rulebook, thirty pre-built scenarios provide options for two, three, and four players.

Custom scenarios can also be created by the players, following the requirements that are outlined in the rulebook.

The map design will be important because cities, airports, and other strategic points provide bonuses for players, specifically victory points. Victory points are accumulated throughout the game, but they are not only markers of progress toward victory. The points also determine turn order between players. Since area control will probably shift every round, so too will the player turn order.

This means that the map needs to be fair for all players, which matters more when constructing a custom scenario. The thirty scenarios in the rulebook were designed with balance in mind.

So what happens in a game of Frontier Wars? Well, the game sequence follows a strict order every round.

Victory points are tallied and turn order is determined for the round. Resource cards and reinforcements are drafted by each player. Then, one player at a time, actions are performed. Attack orders are played, troops move, structures are built, battles commence. And a player completes all of these actions before passing to the next player.

When everyone has finished their actions for the round, tactical orders are played, the arms race is researched, and all excess troops or cards are removed.

And that sequence continues until one player has either destroyed all enemy headquarters, reached a victory point threshold, or researched ‘the ultimate weapon.’

Frontier Wars requires players to be patient. Buildings can only be activated with infantry units on the tile, so players cannot build infrastructure and then leave it behind. The arms race can only be pursued to the extent that a player has accrued medals from battles or expansions.

It requires players to be aggressive or reckless. Sometimes, losing troops is necessary to prevent a player from advancing into a strategic location or benefiting from a city tile. Ending a battle in a stalemate might be just as valuable as winning if the contested tile doesn’t contribute to the opponent’s supply chain.

The game might even require players to be ruthless. If an opponent has weakened one of the other players, the right tactical move might be finishing off the player to consolidate a stronger position on the battlefield, no matter how cruel.

A lot of elements must be considered when making tactical decisions. As a commander, the risk versus reward of each troop movement or battle must be weighed. Each turn, creating a slight advantage over the other nations will pay dividends later.

Optional rules provide even more flexibility in the gameplay. Fog of War and Decoy tokens inject uncertainty into enemy encounters and strategic positioning. Rivers and trenches create spatial obstacles that must be analyzed with care. Other special tiles introduce new complexities that might hamper team communication, limit maneuvering, or even augment military strength.

Adjustable difficulty levels add another layer of design that will develop more possibilities for players.

That’s the game’s strength. There are so many ways to modify the gameplay to accommodate player preference. The thirty scenarios, special tiles, optional rules, unique army skills, orders cards, and customizable maps. All of that allows gamers to find the exact version of Frontier Wars that fits their tabletop needs.

If you want a quick smash-and-grab battle on a small field of play, that can happen. Or are you in the mood for a more protracted campaign across a swatch of varying terrain? That can happen, too.

Gamers who love simulated warfare and tactical challenges will find a lot to love in Frontier Wars.

VISUALS

The dull browns, and greys, and blues of army camouflage and mid-century maps are recreated in the visual design. There are no flashy colors. No glaring neon or creamy pastels. It’s the matter-of-fact coloring of a world at war.

The game components and the sparse coloring reflect the historical setting of the game. If you like wargames, then you will be pleased with the aesthetic of Frontier Wars. For those that have colorful games with bright packaging or monstrous adventures replete with detailed miniatures, then the simplicity of the game might be a bit disappointing.

But the quality is suitable for the purpose and theme of the game.

REPLAYABILITY

The thirty scenarios are broken into two-, three-, and four-player games, so there are ten for each player count. If you play Frontier Wars with different group compositions, then there will be plenty of gameplay before you need to revisit earlier scenarios or build your own custom maps.

For those that have a consistent number of players, it won’t be long before the group needs to either replay a scenario again or start to create new ones.

Some gamers will find that opportunity exciting. Others will find it frustrating. Viewed from the different perspectives, Frontier Wars could either have a high replay value or a low value. I’ll leave that up to the reader to decide which way they lean.

WHAT IT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

Let’s talk about the rulebook. It’s got some issues. Besides visible editing mistakes in the English version, there are other glaring weaknesses. The best rulebooks organize information with clarity and intention.

The rules in Frontier Wars are organized as players would encounter them in the game setup and sequence. But that’s how the entire rulebook is organized. It would have been better to begin with a small section that covered how to play, followed by a larger section that divided all of the rules into easily-readable and elucidating passages. That way, if players had a particular question about something, they could easily navigate to the relevant passage.

Instead, if a player has a question about army headquarters or other structures, they must skim the entire rulebook to find the four or five relevant paragraphs scattered across the pages.

And that doesn’t count the lack of clarifying rules or references for the order cards. I encountered multiple times when order cards contradicted or confused the rules of the game, and there was no way to reconcile that disparity.

Good rules in board games excel at dispelling confusion and providing a clear path for players.

Frontier Wars does not accomplish this.

VERDICT

If you’re willing to forgive a flawed rulebook, then Frontier Wars offers a lot of fun for players who love a strategy game that combines tactical complexity with simplistic design. It’s a game of war, and it’s a game of perception. Commanding an army takes cunning.