QMG: South Front

Quartermaster General: South Front is the latest game designed by Ian Brody using his card-driven QMG system. Like Quartermaster General: East Front (Ares Games), South Front is a two-player game - in this case the Allies (UK and USA) vs the Germany and the Axis powers. Tho' it too has a WWII setting, the theatre of war in this game is the Mediterranean, taking in Italy, Greece and North Africa.

Players can only take actions for which they have cards, and the distribution of both powers' cards gives the game an ebb and flow that corresponds to historical events. Early in the game, the UK is fighting pretty much alone, with few ground troops, and to win the Axis powers need to press their advantage. Things shift dramatically when the USA enters the war, so any prospect of an Axis victory is likely to depend on building on their early strength and trying to prevent the Allies from achieving naval superiority.

As with all the games in the Quartermaster General series, South Front is all about ensuring lines of supply; increasingly tough for the Axis powers once the USA's forces join the fight...

Our plays of Quartermaster General: South Front at Board's Eye View have proven to be tense and exciting, but there are quite a few special conditional rules and case exceptions. These add to the historicity of the game but they also add a layer of further complexity which mean you need to keep the rulebook to hand to avoid accidental slips and omissions. Seasoned wargamers will take all this readily in their stride but players coming to South Front from a board gaming background will probably consider the ruleset for this version of QMG to be a tad less elegant than its predecessors.

The map and cards are very well designed. Our one gripe was over the colours used for some of the wooden pieces. You'll need good vision and decent lighting to distinguish the US and German pieces when they join the fray. We were puzzled why Ares Games hadn't chosen a more distinct colour for the US forces.

Like Quartermaster General: East Front, South Front is played over a maximum of 16 turns, coming in at a little under two hours. As in other games in the series, a player can claim a victory before the end if they attain a 10-point lead over their opponent. If you're playing as the Axis, we reckon that's what you need to push to do if you're going to turn history on its head - but others may find the cards and their strategies turn out differently...

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