Warriors of God: The Wars of England and France 1135-1453. Board Game. MultiMan Publishing. $45.00

Passed Inspection: Simple, elegant design; easy to pick up and play. Captures the chaos of the period quite well. Balanced, with high replay value. Challenging, with dynamic shifts in play.

Failed Inspection: Rapid demise of leaders might be too realistic for some. Some players may take exception to the game’s title. No short scenarios. Control freaks need not apply.

Only a few simple war games have stood the test of time. Warriors is likely to attain that elite status.

Warriors of God: The Wars of England and France 1135-1453 from Multi-Man Publishing (MMP), licensed from Game Journal magazine in Japan, is an attempt to bring Makoto Nakajima’s elegant design to a larger audience. (Editor’s Note – Warriors of God won the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Pre-WWII Era Board Game design in 2009.)

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Warriors is reminiscent of a play by Shakespeare–say, Henry V–in that it chooses not to obsess on details. It sticks to the big picture while providing plenty of period flavor, right down to quotes from Shakespeare on the back of the counters. Things move in brisk and entertaining fashion.

There are two scenarios, comprising complete and discrete campaigns: The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 A.D) and The Lion in Winter (1135-1258). Both use the same map of provinces in England and France-the rightful ownership of which is the reason for the long series of wars-and a handful of neutral territories such as Ireland, Switzerland, and Navarre. Each turn represents 10 years.

Each province has a value from 1 to 3 that reflects its importance and determines how many troops the controlling player can raise each turn. If the English player controls Wales (worth 1), England (3), Brittany (2), and Normandy (2), he would have 8 new strength points at his disposal. Players also have a chance of raising mercenary troops in neutral areas.

Troops may be deployed within a network of adjoining, friendly controlled provinces. Only the English, however, can deploy troops over a sea connection. Historically, the French had some sea presence and even successfully raided the Isle of Wight, but the English moved far more troops by sea, since they were invading with full-fledged armies. This rule is a good example of how Warriors goes for overall historical feel and avoids bogging down with rules exceptions.

At the start of a turn, each player rolls a die. The higher roll gets initiative for that turn. In an interesting twist, however, the lower of the two initiative rolls determines how many impulses will take place that turn: The winner of the initiative adds 2 to the lower roll, and the loser adds 1. For example, Gerald and Terry roll a 4 and 3, respectively. Gerald wins initiative and will have 5 impulses this turn (3 + 2), while Terry will have only 4 impulses (3 + 1).

Impulses alternate in I-go-you-go fashion. During an impulse, players have three options: move leaders and the troops they command; remove an enemy control marker (under certain circumstances); or pass, waiting to see what the opponent will do.

Moving is straightforward. All troops must be assigned to a leader. Leaders are ranked with 1-3 stars; each star allows that leader to command 3 troop strength points, each representing approximately 1,000 men. Therefore, a 3-star leader can lead about 9,000 men. A larger army with multiple leaders has an overall commander–the guy with the most stars, even though he may not be the best for leading a battle once he gets the troops there.

Leaders move from province to adjoining province or by clearly delineated sea routes. Normal movement allows players to move two leaders. A river allows three leaders to move at once, and rough terrain allows only one.

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