Sicily '43 Impressions | Assault Games | World War 2 Tactical Wargame Review

We offer some impressions and a light review based on gameplay of Sicily '43, Assault Games' wargame (historical conflict simulation) on World War 2 Tactical (squad level) Combat on the West Front in 1943, between US and German forces. Game is a two-player wargame, but works well solitaire.
Ways to Support:
Join the Patreon community: / zillablitz
Buy me a coffee via Kofi: ko-fi.com/zillablitz
Noble Knight Games purchase: www.nobleknight.com/?awid=1430
Assault Games Sicily '43 Gamefound:
gamefound.com/projects/assaul...
Assault Games Red Horizon '41 Webpage:
www.assault-games.com/produkt...
This first look produced by Zilla Blitz.
The game in this video is a review prototype copy provided by Assault Games.
Chapters
00:00 Overview
01:30 Components
02:14 Units & Unit Cards
03:00 Stacking & Visual Clarity
04:00 Game Depth & Formations
05:30 General Gameplay
06:30 Combat Overview
07:00 Dice System
10:56 Prototype Influence
11:56 Combat Complexity
15:15 Combat & Learning Time
18:30 Final Thoughts
World War 2 Games
Italian Army
German Army
US Army
World War 2 Tactical
Assault Games
Red Horizon '41
Sicily '43
Sicily '43 Review
#wargaming #assaultgames #sicily43
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3...
-----
My Current Wargaming Tools-
• Oregon 2.0mm Counter Clipper: amzn.to/3SUyDX7
• Oregon 2.5mm Counter Clipper: amzn.to/3SzYJPs
• Bent Tip Lighted Tweezers: amzn.to/3CqYmAU
• Dice Tower #1: amzn.to/3EcoQHU
• Dice Tower #2: amzn.to/3RweSDS
• Black Dice: amzn.to/3dXLd92
• White Dice: amzn.to/3rmQcn1
• Laser Line Sight: (out of stock)
Amazon links are affiliate links. If you’d like to help the channel, you can use those to purchase.
-----
Sicily '43 Impressions | Assault Games | World War 2 Tactical Wargame Review

[@assaultgames167]

Thank you for your summary. And thanks for the ideas for improving our game aids. Sometimes we designers are too deep in the system and therefore a bit blind to usability issues. We have put the new aids online on our website. Interested players are welcome to take a look.

[@ZillaBlitz]

I think you've done a marvelous job refining the "user interface" over the past few months to make the game more user friendly and deserve such high praise for your hard work in this area. The vision and creativity in the system is remarkable, and I'm so excited for the final version. :)

[@IronHamR]

Looks like a great game. I backed it so I’m looking forward to getting it in 2024.

[@ZillaBlitz]

2024 is shaping up to be a marvelous year. :)

[@raymow9683]

That was an excellent explanation of the characteristics of this game. I finally have a good idea what to expect. Bravo/nicely done. I passed on their first game as I have invested in many tactical games and really wanted to focus on those as opposed to learning yet another system. However, the passion of the designers, the topic itself, the many improvements from Horizon '41and especially all you get in the game made it easy to support the kickstarter. Your vid just re-enforced my decision. TY Keep up the great work.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks Ray, I'm glad you found it helpful!

[@thecustardprophet8434]

I really enjoyed the playthrough you did of this game. It took me a good while to get my head around what was going on with the attack mechanics, but, by the sound of it, it seems worth taking that time to learn it.

[@ZillaBlitz]

I'm glad you liked it, Custard. There are a number of creative combinations of mechanics and design ideas here that I think make for some very original gameplay. I found it really enjoyable and am looking forward to the final version. :)

[@NefariousKoel]

I've always loved dice pool mechanics in games when they minimize all the modifier-chasing. Absolutely understand you on the point about them getting your head space into thinking in terms of direct narrative, strategies in this case, rather than juggling all the numbers only to end up thinking "I need a 5+" instead of "this looks like it could be an effective move". Great to get away from the wall of tables and modifiers for something that takes a shortcut to the decision making. Thanks for the review!

[@ZillaBlitz]

It was really the first time for me to see a system like this in action, and once I got fluid with the execution, I really liked it. :)

[@coyi51]

Red Horizon is on my wish list so thanks for the update on the rules makes life a little easier when shall I shant I time arrives. I like the fact its one unit per hex and you can still partially see terrain.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yes, that visual footprint of the game is really something that I find enjoyable with this series.

[@campsawyer]

Thanks for the video and the commentary on the combat system. Still on the fence about it as I am more of a chart and numbers player. But this was good feedback on the system.

[@ZillaBlitz]

My pleasure, glad it was helpful. :)

[@mikem668]

I'd be interested in how you use the charts and numbers. For example, taking advantage of terrain needs numbers to work out the results, but not to know the basic benefit or cost of certain terrain. As far as attacking, the general problem is systems that encourage finding one extra sp to change the odds. So I guess I'm asking why you prefer charts. To me it's cleaner. Which means faster. But it also allows you to play by instinct or experience.

[@campsawyer]

@@mikem668 Having specialized dice and symbols initially throws me off as I need to remember the new symbols. For instance I still struggle a bit with Command and Colors with the symbols dice even though I have play the series quite a bit of times. For me learning new symbols is a challenge, will a traditional dice and charts game is easier for me to pick up. From your series of video's I was able to start getting the symbols by the time I watched the last one, but still required me to think about them. I know that the symbol dice is a staple of Euro and non-war game as well as making in roads, but I am a old wargamer and traditional dice and charts have been burned into my brain.

[@mikem668]

​@@campsawyer Makes sense. My eyes kinda glazed over. Symbol overload. I've played a lot of C&C and never really learned the symbols. I let the more experienced read the results. Didn't stop me from beating them!!! Don't know if you ever played C&C Overlord. We used to play with 8 players. One overall commander and one guy for left, center, and right. I always played an Overlord. I knew the tricks, but I found it more interesting to make decisions and leave the tactics to others. It was great if one of your team members shared your style. I viewed the game as a race, so agressive play was mandatory.

[@campsawyer]

@@mikem668 Was the C&C Overland with Memoir '44? I did one large campaign about 10 years ago with that and the same command structure. I mainly play C&C Napoleonic in a league.

[@kenc9236]

Awesome video ZB and thanks for the in-depth explanation. Cheers.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks Ken, glad it was helpful.

[@CliftonFranklund]

Gaah! You made me go and buy yet another tactical system!! This one looks really fun. I am trying out some of the introductory scenarios on Vassal right now.

[@assaultgames167]

Wish you fun. If there are questions just put them into our bgg forum 😊

[@ZillaBlitz]

Whoops! Sorry. ;) I do think it's a cool system that can provide gobs of fun. Enjoy!

[@Stumptonian1]

Looking forward to getting this in 2024. Apparently they will be shipping Assault '41 soon to get ready for moving (for those of us who backed both games on the Kickstarter) Now I just need to find more time to actually play all the games I have received in the last 3 or 4 years 🙄

[@ZillaBlitz]

Very nice! I suspect the new rules work pretty much seamlessly with Red Horizon, so I'd be inclined to guide you to using those for Red Horizon. And yeah, one of my gaming goals for next year is "play more". :)

[@bjbrak-3924]

Hi Zilla, funny that you mentioned miniatures, because when I saw your gameplay video the first time, for me, being also a 6mm (napoleonic) tabletop gamer, it got kind of exciting. Seeing the sizes of the hexes and with the Infos on cards around the field, I thought "perhaps this could be a boardgame for 6mm minis".... And I wanted to ask you about that after your previous videos and forgot about it... And now you mention it 😂👍 Now I am looking forward to play this even more, great! So, thx a lot for your videos, your effort, it helped to understand (and love) the game in its depth and complexity. As always, wish you the best, Björn from Germany

[@assaultgames167]

You should know the designers are experienced tabletop gamers, too ;-)

[@bjbrak-3924]

@@assaultgames167 Hi there, thx for your comment. How great is that, I didn't know that, how should I, but of course, in a way it's kind of obvious, isn't it 😉. My question now, dear 167, is, what do you think, could 6mm work on your board? And please send my thanks and best wishes to the whole team. From what I have seen, you did a great great job, and I am looking forward to play your game!!!

[@assaultgames167]

We think 6mm could work fine. Even if you do not want to use the map boards, the rules could be easy adapted to an own Mini System.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Great stuff, I have become study! :)

[@bjbrak-3924]

@@ZillaBlitz 😊👍Think so too... Wish you a lot of fun exploring the world of tabletop...

[@ludwigvan2932]

Great review thanks!

[@ZillaBlitz]

My pleasure, glad you liked it.

[@robertmoffitt1336]

This looks like a super game. Old School Tactical uses unit data cards. The old Axis & Allies miniatures game introduced formation cards for force building. I like the use of unit data cards, the dice combat system looks interesting, and everything about the game looks very interesting. The problem I have with buying into this system is that, among other game titles, I currently am heavily invested in: Nations at War, Old School Tactical, Combat Commander, Band of Brothers, Lock n' Load Tactical, Fighting Formations, Conflict of Heroes, Combat!, Fields of Fire, 65', Point Blank and The Last Hundred Yards series. Those are on top of my lighter games like Memoir 44, Tide of Iron, Heroes of Normandie/Heroes of Stalingrad, the Undaunted series, Flames of War, Bolt Action, Panzer Blitz/Panzer Leader, Tank on Tank, Airfix Battles, Tank Duel, Warfighter WWII and Axis & Allies Miniatures. I have discovered that all of these games bring something to the table, and they all are good in their own way. But when it comes to tactical games now for me, to steal a quote from Lili Von Shtupp from Blazing Saddles: "I'm tired...I'm really tired" 😄 kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5LMaIBqh9Wigrcsi=ZytL87Zhc7gdzJdd

[@ZillaBlitz]

Oh my goodness! Is there a tactical system you don't have? :) That's a lot of tactical combat to explore. You are my hero. :)

[@robertmoffitt1336]

@@ZillaBlitz I used to also have Sergeants Miniatures game (it didn't sing to me so I traded it away), and a Russian game called Art of Tactic, that I had tons and tons of models for. When Squad Leader first came out I had it, Cross of Iron, Crescendo of Doom and the US expansion GI Anvil of Victory. When it evolved into ASL, I lost track of that system. I didn't make the jump to ASL. I also had a system by Avalanche Press called Panzer Grenadier. At the time of my life when I had Panzer Grenadier, I had very young children and little game time. So I don't have that one anymore either (I had the first four games in that series). At some point, I'm sure I'm going to break down and get this Assault System! Lol, I just find tactical games absolutely fascinating. Every one of them brings something different to the table and they're all really good. Oh, and of course I had the entire Ambush! Series when I was young. It started with Ambush!, then Move Out, Purple Heart, and Silver Star. Then it jumped to the Pacific with Battle Hymn and It's expansion Leatherneck. Played every one of those missions cooperatively with a friend of mine. Many missions twice and some of them three times.

[@dumpty008]

Nicely done!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thank you, sir!

[@kornelije.h]

I'm relatively new to war games and I must say that I find this review somehow strange. I don't have any problems with the range combat system in Assault games. Everything is very easy and clean. A few modifiers here and there and that's it. Nothing special to wrap my head around. The only problem was in close combat. Big problem. But as far as I understand that part is completely rebuilt. I need to check that. A great reason for going back to the game. Anyhow, nice video, and you are right: the guy behind the system is absolutely fantastic. :)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks for stopping in, and that's awesome that you found the game easier. Good to hear! I have heard that close combat has been reworked in this version, and that it was challenging in the first iteration with Red Horizon.

[@mikem668]

Thanks. Seems like a fair review. Philosophically, I agree that removing the math is the goal. Ideally, tactical combat seems like rock, paper, scissors. My memory is vague, but I think Firefight, which SPI designed for the Army, played with that kind of idea. Though at the loss of variation. I don't remember a lot of different weapons systems. I want to quibble a little with your description of your thought process during decision-making. First, in these tactical games, I think you do a very good job mimicking the role of a commander. But second, as gamers we aren't trained in tactics. To that extent real world training bakes in the math, but the game has to model it someway, and then gamers need to figure it out ot extract it into tactical doctrine. So we're doing it backwards. If that makes sense. I'm one of the viewers who liked the idea of dice, but not the actual use. This goes to your descriptive illustration. What kind of information does the decision maker have? In think it's very limited, imprecise, and often fear-based. That is fight or flight. If you see an enemy Tiger tank, you've got a problem. If you see infantry and you've got HE you use it. You use your MGs to create fields of fire. In your example, smoke clearly should degrade the fire. Should range? No idea, because I couldn't detect the scale. Obviously at some level range matters. But I wonder how much? Is it binary? Worth a shot, hold fire. I realize I'm asking for a lot. Following your lead I want to reduce the math, and simplify the decision-making to the essentials. The closest I've come to this was Fields of Fire, albeit played as a group with a guy who knew the rules. We actually played it with an ex-military guy who wasn't a wargamer. He was fascinated by the experience. But of course the gamers had to guide him. This dice system screams for an app. At least for fire combat. If you combined it with tactical doctrine in a playbook, the math would literally be a black box. Thanks, very thoughtful and helpful.

[@ZillaBlitz]

I love your comments because they always get me thinking. :) One general thought I have is that there is a fine line, perhaps, in providing too much information on combat and providing too little? And while in this video I might sound like I'm harping on why the "mathless" combat is very cool, I don't really mean it to sound like traditional combat systems are something that I don't enjoy. I can definitely appreciate the utility of math in wargames. :) And I'm hopeful that Fields of Fire makes it out in 2024. :) Glad you liked the video! :)

[@mikem668]

​​@@ZillaBlitzI didn't feel you were dismissing other systems. And I agree about a fine line. I just don't know where it is. You're doing great work exploring these issues. I can't remember if I mentioned it, but Mark Herman made a comment that tactical games are the least realistic. Abstraction works at the higher level, probably because abstraction can be a fog of war. In hierarchical control systems, you literally can't pass enough info up and down the chain to be within the action loop. So each level needs a certain degree of independent judgment. I've been watching the Bulge series with interest. Very interesting that Mark Herman found the 73 SPI game the best he'd ever played. I was around then, but can't remember playing it. Which was a shame, because my gf's father was in charge of a tank recovery vehicle in Patton's army that December. I regret not seeing if he would talk about it. He had Belgian friends he exchanged Christmas cards with into the 70s. I don't vote, because so far I have only played one or none of the games in each pairing. But I'm thinking of seeing if I own Herman's favorite.

[@karlfromthewargame_bootcam7733]

To be honest I own and played Assault ‘41 and didn’t get this impression. Your comments worry me as to does the original game need more work and I didn’t realize? Will the improved rules fit with the original?

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks for stopping in, Karl! I'm curious where our impressions differed. Was it the complexity, the gameplay, something else? :) (And I do believe the new rules on the whole will be backwards compatible with Red Horizon.)

[@assaultgames167]

Yes, the rules are backwards compatible. With Sicily 43, however, we are introducing additional components such as bunkers and obstacles into the game. There will also be something for the Eastern Front in the future ;-)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks for clarifying, much appreciated. :)

[@rogerpaul8918]

What I HATE about Squad Leader is stacking, portage, & the old & horrid 2 6sided dice system! All in all I see this system as superior to Squad Leader. I also really like the 3 Conflict of Heroes games & especially the solitaire system.

[@ZillaBlitz]

One of the things that has surprised me as I've started to explore WW2 tactical combat systems is how different the gameplay experiences are. I've really enjoyed Squad Leader in the bits I've played so far, and really enjoyed this system as well. Even though they cover the same tactical combat environments, they play so differently. But yes, one of the goals of the channel is to help people make good gaming choices for them, and I can see people preferring one system over the other. :)

[@dogtags2010]

Theres an error in the video, you discuss the issues with the learning the rulebook twice. I assume you did it once and werent happy and then recorded another version. Both versions are on the video. Unless im mistaken and you meant to have two cuts discussing the same thing. Just a heads up mate.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks for the heads up, I can't find it yet but I'll look tomorrow and will fix. :)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks! So that's actually intentional. I think I could have done a better job there. I can see your point, and the idea with the second pass was to add the element of time with the learning experience by focusing more on the hours it took to work through that learning and prototype experience. It's funny that it seemed the same though, and in retrospect, I think I could have tightened that up into one segment, notes for the future. :)

[@dogtags2010]

@ZillaBlitz ahh I wasn't sure cause it did seem similar. Sorry for the hassle. Loved the video mate and looking forward to the kickstarter coming. Ty for covering this game and system.

[@ZillaBlitz]

No worries, I appreciate the feedback. :) I generally play through the video one last time before uploading because it's so easy to literally paste in a 3-minute clip in the wrong place at the last minute. In a perfect world I would have folded the learning timeline bit into the combat explanation bit. I can totally understand that they were more repetitive than I had wanted them to be. :)

[@rogerpaul8918]

I'm thinking of buying this but I can't find a phone #. Is there one ? (I can speak to Academy Games any time, I've spoken to the owner many times).

[@ZillaBlitz]

Sorry, I've no idea. They are small team of developers in Germany. I know the owner has responded to comments here, but can also be reached on the crowdfunding page for the game (linked in the description) or via Twitter (@AssaultGames1). Good luck!

[@assaultgames167]

May ask about your interest to speak about? We can set up a Line of coms