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MAP: The game focuses on the isle of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) although a greater portion of the Antilles, plus parts of the American continent and Europe are included as much for game mechanics as geographic representation. The author has developed the map himself, and explains in the 'read me' some of the deliberate distortions to the map. It is also noted that city placement has been drawn from the charts of French General LeClerc. For game purposes, the map is very suitable for the task at hand, although there are some difficult, well-defended cities that confront Toussaint that are founded on defensive terrain, while there are others that are 'sitting ducks' such as those established on open terrain at the foot of mountains. Distribution of 'objective point' cities has been confined to the one island, reaffirming the theme's concentration on Hispaniola - thankfully the Haitians do not need to set off overseas and confront tribes such as the English in other parts of the West Indies. Some cities play a crucial role in determining the likely extent of success in the scenario for Toussaint. Two cities; Port au Prince and Cap de France, contain important Wonders of the World (between them the equivalent of; Sun Tzu's War Academy, Michalangelo's Chapel, and The Colossus), while the inland township of Point Riviere resides next to a new 'waterfall' terrain that is loaded with shield production (12 per turn). Modifications to the terrain in terms of terrain types and special resources are implemented sagaciously, one of the many amendments being the replacement of the grassland resource shield with sugar cane. In short, the map is varied, and with this variation comes a diversity of combat strategy. GAME OBJECTIVE: The game objective is clear - Toussaint and his Lieutenants must take control of the island in order to secure Haitian independence. They are the scenario protagonists, and while starting with a reasonable swag of the 'objective' points, there is plenty of work still to be done. FINANCES: As noted earlier, the Haitians are confronted with a tight financial predicament that needs immediate rectification. Given the number of 'objective' cities already controlled at the start of the game (and quickly boosted by at least three extras within the first couple of turns), the Haitians are regarded as being the "Superior" power in the game. Consequently, some of the arguably better equipped European tribes are occasionally prepared to hand over fairly hefty sums of cash in order to secure a cease-fire or for that matter, peace agreement. This is perhaps the only distorting factor of note in terms of the financial progress of the game, and unfortunately one that the scenario author can do little to rectify. Given the difficulty of the game, such injections that allowed the rush-production of units prove to be on occasion a significant relief. Once certain key Wonders are secured, and a Monarchy government is installed, the finances become less of a dire proposition. BALANCE: Perhaps this is the area where there are arguably some problems with the scenario's playability - one stand-out being the lack of a decent defensive unit for the Haitians, especially from off-shore bombardment. The scenario's author explains in his 'read me' that holding coastal cities was historically a difficult task. This arduous task certainly has been translated for this scenario - with a somewhat Catch-22 proposition when taking coastal cities: Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It seems it is easier to take the city by force, move the high calibre / expensive troops back inland, and leave the city to suffer its fate with only cheap 'Former Slaves' units to keep a semblance of defence and city happiness in some sort of check. The coastal cities are often easier to seize back than to try and hold - although some care should be taken to avoid destroying the cities outright, as they typically do carry 'objective points'. Certainly the situation does start to take on a more optimistic complexion once the pre-mentioned key cities are controlled - especially Port au Prince with the Sun Tzu Academy equivalent ('Yellow Fever'), as veteran status ('healthy') counts a lot in some of the tighter battles. It is important to get the leadership units to 'healthy' status early in the piece, and attacking the handful of barbarian tribes can achieve this easily enough. Diplomats are included in the scenario, and while some measures have been taken to dissuade enemy diplomats from bribing the leadership units, care must be taken to prevent the enemies' diplomatic activities (for example, not to leave fortified units unattended near a foreign village). A lot of players may become a little frustrated with a lack of effective options in securing cities once they have been taken. Playing the game several times will assist in best-guessing how the A.I. will respond to the capture of certain townships - particularly those along the north coast of the isle. With a little good fortune, Haiti will, toward the latter part of the scenario, be able to build the fairly expensive 3-Deck Warships (available with 'Advanced Ship Building'). With 'healthy' status, these ships can offset this bombardment by effectively patrolling the coast. GOVERNMENT: Government switching is permitted (yay!), however it will take some time (or several offshore 'caravans') to get science to a point where Monarchy is researched and Haiti can get out of Despotism. Having this more advanced government does help in addressing the acute financial and happiness problems encountered early on. Given the duration and nature of the game, it is unlikely the Haitians would want to pursue The Republic in preference to some of the more militaristic advances, at least while other happiness aspects, such as the 'Haitian Constitution' Wonder ('Cure for Cancer'), are not theirs. GAME DURATION: There are a mere 84 turns in this game, although the player should be mindful that there is quite an amount of work to undertake in terms of capturing cities in this time span. The 'clock' acts as an effective tool in retaining the theme of the scenario to a defined era, and provides a time-challenge to compound the already prevalent enemy-tribe-challenge. The scenario is buoyed by the need to move quickly in order to drive the revolution through the island, rather than allowing the player to stockpile troops in a protracted and long-term strategy ultimately adopting a 'wave attack'. |
REFERENCE: The 'pedia.txt' file is included and has received some re-writing for the scenario, with clear descriptions of each Wonder. A 'read me' file is included ('TousRead.txt') that adeptly covers each of the basics. To be hyper-critical, section IX of the contents ("Also by Blackclove") is not included in the document, and arguably credits for borrowed artwork and identification of original artwork may have been more extensively covered than the brief mention this matter does get. All up, these nit-picking points are immaterial compared to the effort in terms of developing more information on the scenario's era, the importance of the battle at hand, strategic and gameplay advice, and a very interesting run-down on the comments provided in the playtesting stage. The one exception, which may be a little more than nit-picking is lack of information on certain civilization advances. While the bulk of the options available are quite clear in terms of the benefit they may bring, some, such as 'Christian Revival' and 'Abolitionism' are devoid of explanation when consulting the Civilopedia, and appear to be fruitless dead-end advances. The value of these should be addressed. SUPPORT FILES: The 'labels.txt' file is the other significant inclusion of note, which allows for the inclusion of quarterly seasons (rather than monthly or annual turns) - credit for this technique is provided to one of the playtesters in the 'read me'. The 'game.txt' file is one file that could have been included to add further weight to the theme, however such is the nature of the scenario that any minor modifications through this mechanism would barely be worth the effort. There are no significant inconsistencies regarding text windows that necessitate this file's inclusion, although there are a few very minor things that might have got a 'look-in' such as changing "Sire! We cannot maintain our war effort against this impenetrable Great Wall! Peace treaty signed!" when dealing with the Americans. All up, hardly a point of concern. THEME: The theme has been carefully handled, and its impact is heeded in all practical modifications that have been made to the game. The events file (addressed below) and the technology tree have been well adopted to the setting. There appear to be no faults such as nation-specific units appearing for the wrong tribe, or technologies that seem out of place. TECHNOLOGY: The technology tree is another strength of the game. Despite earlier comments on some technologies' benefits remaining unclear to the player (without a direct check of rules.txt), the tree is well measured in terms of gradually delivering benefits to the Haitians. It certainly does not appear to suffer from being too short, even with the ability to negotiate advances with the other tribes. Possibly two concerns are the length of time it takes to access the Monarchy government, that helps quell some of the city management problems for the Haitians for the first third or so of the game, while the opportunity to build the 'Ring of Coastal Forts' (Coastal Fortress) is a long way up the technology tree. From an imagination and theme perspective, the tree is admirable, while technically faultless. |
This artwork is unfortunately largely sourced from other scenarios, most notably the units from a couple of the scenarios on the 'Conflicts in Civilizations' add-on CD-ROM, and icons from the 'Fantastic Worlds' library. There have however been some substantial changes and alterations to these graphics in many instances, while there appears to be several new contributions. The overall effect of these modifications, in combination with more striking changes to the look of terrain, is a successful one. Several good scenario 'tricks' have been adopted. UNITS: As already mentioned, the scenario unit graphics have been drawn to a large extent from some of the MicroProse scenarios, many of them receiving a 'make over'. There are however some enhancements that appear to be original such as the Boarding Party sea vessels, that do not appear out of place next to the professionally created designs. Likewise, some of the cavalry units seem to have required considerable work in order to integrate two totally different pictorials to generate a 'new look' unit. Technically, the above-mentioned Boarding Party is one of the clever uses of units in the game. Being an air unit with submarine ability, it acts as a specialist shoreline defence tool, but needs to be handled properly to be of any use. The only question from a graphical perspective regarding units is the decision to retain the default Caravan (camel) unit. A 'Merchant' unit, such as that included in the CiC 'Independence' scenario could have been more fitting to the era and location. ICONS: While a lot of the Icons used are either from the default game or other scenarios, there are several original contributions that should be applauded. One of the most noteworthy is arguably that used for the 'Fini de L'Esclavage' wonder (Michalangelo's Chapel equivalent). Perhaps there was the opportunity to be more adventurous by making alterations to the civilization advance graphics in some manner, although the retention of the default range is technically fine. OTHER GRAPHICS: The terrain visuals have undergone a significant overhaul, with a range of new looks and renaming of special resources. As mentioned earlier, a sugar cane symbol has been used to replace the shield on the grasslands terrain. The overall tropical feel is enhanced by plenty of palm trees and jungle, with featured special resources including pineapples, tobacco, and mountain birds. The changes to the 'cities.gif' file provides tribes with the Industrialisation set of city design pictorials, while flags have been effectively customised by tribe. One of the playtesters commented that some tribes' colours were a little dark and difficult to see on the world map - which is an arguably valid point. The 'title.gif' graphic is the last of the additions, and according to the author, the inspiration for pursuing this theme in the first instance:
It is a most striking pictorial, and puts the player right in the scene for the scenario that follows. EVENTS: It has been said that the events file is the 'backbone' to all great scenarios, and this game is no exception. There is a degree of surprise embraced in this file, an effort to maintain the war through several 'make aggression' events, and the necessary 'no negotiation' and 'no schism' events to ensure the mechanics work smoothly. Where this events file sets itself apart from most others is its ability to retain the theme of the game through a series of triggers that remind the player of the shifting ground of happenings that took place during, and because of this revolution. Much like the 'read me' file, the historical aspects of this game are succinctly and successfully spelt out for the player. One event, which sees the landing of LeClerc and a band of troops on Hispaniola cause havoc to the Haitians plans. One of the downsides of playing this scenario several times is that the player can anticipate this imminent arrival and ambush the French. Perhaps this is one example where alternate events files would be useful? |
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CONCLUDING REMARKS: This game rates in the top bracket of my own favourite historical scenarios. At the outset of this review it was compared to another high quality and personal favourite scenario; Harlan Thompson's "Mongols". Certainly some of the 'tricks' and themes are similar - a limited number of specialist units including a clear tribe leader, if the leader Toussaint / Genghis Khan dies, he is 'brought back' into the game. The terrible effects of starvation and difficulties in retaining control of captured cities, aggressive neighbouring tribes, some oppressive terrain conditions, the Despotic form of government (eventually overthrown in Toussaint), and a sizeable number of 'objective cities' are all elements common to both. Likewise they are both very challenging in terms of victory conditions, and both of the authors have seemed to have painstakingly researched their respective historical positions to deliver a competent game - both accurate and involving. Toussaint is not quite the 'epic' game that Mongols is, with far less cities on a considerably smaller overall landmass, and a duration across fewer turns, but this is not to say it is less of a game by any means. This scenario is fairly 'brutal', and players who are not comfortable at Emperor or Deity may become a little apprehensive at the formidable challenge it presents. Experienced players should get a lot out of this one. Highly recommended. NOTES: Thanks to both Blackclove and Michael Jeszenka who each contributed additional views to assist with this review. |
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