There was very little material available on Banish All Their Fears before its publication, and so it largely flew under my radar. However, when some images came out right before the game was printed and shipped it triggered something in whatever the wargamer equivalent of my lizard brain is and I got weirdly excited about it. I reached out to GMT Games about a review copy, and they kindly provided me with one. Then it sat on my shelf (as these things do) while other games took up my time. In those intervening weeks I started to develop some concerns about the game. For one thing, I finally tried Ben Hull’s Musket and Pike series and struggled to really get invested in it (despite how beautiful the latest version is). Worse still was the buzz around rules and printing issues on BoardGameGeek (BGG). I hadn’t found Musket and Pike’s rules that easy to follow, and if these were worse, I despaired that I would never actually play it. Nevertheless, when I managed to clear some other games off my schedule, I determinedly set about reading the rulebook and setting up the game. Over the past few days, I have been slowly playing through the Blenheim scenario (chosen because it seemed to have fewer errata issues) solitaire, and I have been pleasantly surprised by what I found. I think this could be a real gem of a game, and certainly one I prefer to Musket and Pike, but I do also have some reservations. I think it makes the most sense to start with some of my reservations first, as they inform much of my experience playing Banish All Their Fears.
GMT Games kindly provided me with a review copy of Banish All Their Fears
Vibes, baby, vibes
The Banish All Their Fears rulebook is a curious beast. I found it relatively easy to read, certainly less frustrating than many other wargaming rulebooks I have tackled, and it is not overly long. However, the wording is, to put it nicely, inexact in several key places. The rulebook does a good job of explaining the game’s intent (or at least, I think it does) but in terms of using it to execute the mechanisms of the game it runs into trouble. Stacking seems relatively simple, but there are many implications to the stacking rules that it does not cover. Same with the Charge order and target priority – it looks straightforward, but there are some nuances that the language does not help to cover. When you combine these two, things get even more complicated. There are also some cases where the rules just don’t seem to cover what to do at all – for example, when infantry who have expended their initial volley attack cavalry. In this latter case there is a fairly straightforward clarification on BGG (the cavalry automatically retreat and the infantry don’t advance, which is simple but raises some tactical challenges in play), but it is still very frustrating to have that not be properly addressed in the rulebook.
I think it is very likely that this rulebook was not run through sufficient blind playtesting. To someone who is already intimately familiar with the game and how it is supposed to play, I doubt many of its problems leap out. However, had it been given to blind playtesters and had they in turn learned the game entirely from the rulebook then proper feedback could have been incorporated into the writing of the rules. This is not an all-too-common pitfall within the hobby – games that are tested and played most thoroughly by a small group without bringing in enough new sets of eyes to check over everything before sending it out into the wider world. While Banish All Their Fears isn’t a bloated mess, like some games with this problem, the rulebook has certainly suffered for it.
Initial set up for Blenheim, in which I hopefully didn’t make any mistakes.
For some people, the rule’s oversights will be enough for them to shelve the game until the promised living rules are made available from GMT Games. Me, however, I’m prepared to play on Vibes. I’ve often embraced a certain level of Vibes based play – sure I could exactingly check every instance of line of sight in a game that has over a page of line-of-sight (LOS) rules (for example), but usually I would just go with the Vibes of whether LOS is plausible or not. Applying this methodology to Banish All Their Fears produced an eminently playable game. As I said, the rulebook does a good job of conveying the intent of the game even if it too frequently falls down in the exact wording of the execution. By taking the intent and playing with that I had a great time.
There are, of course, two major caveats here. The first is that I am playing with my own best interpretation of the intent of the game, which may not be the designers’ intent. This is honestly my greatest fear for the game: that when the living rules are published, they will yield a game that is so radically different from the one I played that I will no longer like it. Some of the rules clarifications on BGG have felt a little too fiddly or complex – injecting what I thought were needless layers into what should be a mid-weight hex and counter game. It is possible that this is just the result of trying to jot off a quick clarification on the fly, which is understandable, but it leaves a slight fear in me that when the fully revised rules come out, they will be far fiddlier than I want them to be.
The second caveat is that I played Banish All Their Fears solo. I think this is a great way to play the game, but I must also acknowledge that it makes my more Vibes based approach far easier to execute. When playing opposed, you and your opponent need to be on the same page. Usually this is easy, because you are both playing from literally the same rules. However, when Vibes start to come into the game, then you need to be on the same nebulous wavelength, and that is more challenging. I probably would be prepared to teach and play Banish All Their Fears with another person, but I would be very selective about who I chose – a Vibes based game is better played for the experience and narrative than for pure competition, if that makes sense.
Fears Banished
The big “thing” in Banish All Their Fears is the wing command display. This is a side card that is split into six rows, three for each player, and a number of columns as dictated by the scenario. Each column represents a wing, and each row the line within the wing (i.e. Front, Support, or Reserve). Each brigade, which is represented by between two and six counters on the main map, is assigned a spot on this display. The brigade’s position in each wing and line is important, of course, but so is its position relative to other brigades in the same wing and line. This is line tactics, so movement is very restricted – brigades must not overlap, and lines must stay in their place, not moving ahead of the forward line or falling behind the rear line. During the first phase of each turn players can activate leaders to attempt to move units between wings or between lines in a given wing – pushing units forward, switching them with other units, or reinforcing a wing that is weakening. This requires a die roll with various DRMs, so in some contexts it’s easy while in others it is nearly impossible. The section of the rulebook explaining all of this could be much more clearly worded, but thankfully it includes examples and I found that in play it was much easier to parse than it was when I was reading about it.
My initial wing command display, positioned on a side table before I managed to clear enough space to put it on the same table as the map.
There was always the risk that this system could be a load of faff with very little payoff, but thankfully Banish All Their Fears avoided this. To make this interesting what the game needs is chaos, something to make you engage with the system unexpectedly and to frustrate your plans. This is something the combat system injects into the game in spades. And it is the combat that I think is Banish All Their Fears greatest strength. Combat is very simple, units have a combat strength (basically they’re only statistic), and you subtract defender’s strength from the attacker’s, factor in a very manageable number of modifiers which will give you a column on the relevant Combat Results Table (CRT): infantry vs. infantry, cavalry vs. cavalry, or cavalry vs. infantry. Then you roll a d10, check that row, and apply the result. I’m a little obsessed with the distribution of results, how retreats vs. damage hits are distributed across the chart, but I don’t know that I’m fully prepared to articulate that after just one game.
In many games the key to a good outcome is in stacking DRMs and always making attacks at the best possible advantage, but in Banish All Their Fears there are actually pretty good outcomes for either side on almost any table, so making lower value attacks can be beneficial. This is especially true if you have multiple attacks to make in a turn. Attacks cannot be combined, instead they are executed independently, so you can use multiple sub-par attacks to slowly wear down a stronger enemy via mutual attrition, for example. Infantry units also all can once per game inflict an automatic hit, but in doing so they flip to their wounded side. At first this seems rather poor, because you’re basically just flipping both attacker and defender together for no effect, but it makes attacking already weakened units with fresh infantry incredibly powerful. One free hit, without needing to roll, which is followed up by resolving a normal combat can inflict devastating results.
It didn’t take very long for things to get very chaotic. I have to confess that early on I was pretty bad at remembering to put down all the Rout counters I was supposed to, but I got better at remembering as I went on.
The results of combat are all the more devastating because of the morale system. Each brigade that has a unit rout in a given combat must, at the end of the combat, check morale. You roll a d10 and add the total number of routed units in that brigade. You then compare this number to the brigade’s morale stat. If it is higher then the brigade breaks, and every unit from that brigade is removed from the map and replaced by a rout marker. This can cause enormous holes to appear in a line if just a single unit routs and the controlling player has an unlucky morale roll. This is such an exciting result that I basically rooted for it to always happen. It injects enormous uncertainty into the game every time a combat happens. A combat could result in a Firefight, effectively a standoff locking both units in place, or it could result in an entire brigade disappearing from the battle. That variability makes it hard to predict what the outcome will be and makes each combat feel like an exciting gamble.
In addition to the risk of routing, the CRT is filled with retreat results and, in the case of cavalry, mandatory advances. These all combine to ensure that more often than not combat is going to muck up your formations. If you do well the mandatory advances are going to force your units forward out of their lines, requiring you to reform them next turn rather than pressing the attack on all fronts. On the other end, if your units are forced to retreat too far, they might wind up even with the line behind them, who will – in order to maintain line formation – have to push back so that integrity is maintained, possibly forcing your lines further and further backwards. You will also need to leave gaps in your lines, because routed units are tracked as counters on the map and if they flee over your units, they will inflict casualties. The combat marries perfectly to the game’s emphasis on formation – combat will ruin your formations and then you will need to use the very restrictive formation rules to find a way to put it all back together again so the two opposing lines can smash together next turn.
A few turns later, some wings are going very well for the Allies while others are looking much better for the French. In a way it plays out like several smaller interrelated battles than one big one.
One thing I liked but struggled to really wrap my head around in Musket and Pike was how it used orders and how orders determined initiative. Banish All Their Fears keeps this, although the orders are reduced to just three: March, Charge, and Dress Ranks. March is the default, all units without an order marker are in March. Charge is for engaging the enemy and Dress Ranks sacrifices mobility for the ability to restore injured units (to a point). Changing between orders requires a die roll with a target number based on the order the unit is currently in as well as their current position within the wing (it’s easier to get units in the Front to Charge, for example), with a few DRMs to mix things up. In each turn, all units in Charge order are activated before any in March who activate before any in Dress Ranks.
What makes this more interesting and easier to grasp for me versus what there was in Musket and Pike is that this is all managed at the brigade level, not the wing level. So, you can end up with a wild assortment of different orders even within a single wing. It also gives you many more chances to try and change orders – if you have four brigades in the Front of a given wing that is four chances to successfully get some form of Charge off this turn. It keeps the game dynamic, and the varied orders also interact well with the wing formation requirements – even if your whole Front isn’t under Charge orders they are all going to have to move forward so that your rear lines can keep advancing as well.
Overall, Banish All Their Fears delivers an excellent emergent narrative. The many die rolls, the chaotic combat results, and the irritation at maintaining formation combine to tell an excellent story. The way the lines shift in each wing is like its own little sub-story within a grand narrative of the battle. This is especially true because the path to victory is by achieving a breakthrough – which means eliminating all the enemy brigades in one wing. The battle as a whole may be going terribly, but it remains tense because this one wing is going great for you and if you can break through there first maybe you can win! It also embraces the game’s emphasis on formation, as you will need to shift brigades between wings to try and reinforce a position that’s in dire straights, weakening yourself somewhere else in the process.
Despite its many new systems, Banish All Their Fears plays relatively smoothly and clicks together well. I had to look up rules, of course, but I never felt like it bogged down play and I wasn’t playing mostly with my nose in the rulebook. I played most of the game at the table, with the play aids, and only checked the rulebook occasionally even on my first game. I’m someone who really wants a good narrative in my wargames and Banish All Their Fears has delivered one of the best all year, and for that alone it is something special.
Fears, Enduring
I already discussed many of my core concerns with Banish All Their Fears, but I have a few that didn’t quite fit in there, so I’ve added them here. These aren’t exactly deal breakers, but they are rough patches that I wish were a bit smoother.
The set-up instructions leave something to be desired. To some degree I can see what they’re going for. I generally prefer to have a defined set up for my historical games, rather than a free set up, but I can see the potential for how a semi-free set up allows Banish All Their Fears to be more replayable. However, one of the things I don’t like about free set up is that it asks you to make an important strategic decision before you even know how to play the game. Add to that the fact that Banish All Their Fears has quite new and unusual restrictions on how units can be positioned on the map, and you have a recipe for players making strategic decisions they don’t fully understand and the risk of them making significant set up mistakes as units end up being illegally positioned from the very start. Also, setting the game up takes a long time. The playbook would have benefited enormously from a set historical set up with a picture showing you what exactly that looks like. This may seem like a minor nitpick but set up is the first thing you’re going to do when playing a game like this and so putting up barriers at this stage will stop people before they ever get to the game part. I wouldn’t blame people who looked at the set up requirements for Banish All Their Fears and just gave up on the game there, and I think that’s a failing on the part of the design and development.
While most of the play is smooth, I do worry that in some places it could drag and become a bit tedious. Since I’m playing solo, I’m happy to interrupt the strict order of play for the sake of moving things along. For example, moving reserve units is something that is usually only done with reference to your own units, not your opponents, because they are at the far back of your formation. For that reason, I just tend to do all the reserves for one side of one wing all at once, then the other, and often out of order, because it’s easier. So, if all of the Front units have activated in a given Wing, and there’s no risk of the further back units engaging in a fight, I’ll often just do all those moves in one go. My slight fear is that in a two-player game there could be a lot of excitement in the front line, and then the game could drag some if you carefully alternate activations for all these reserve troops. This is a minor issue, because I haven’t tested it, but it is the kind of element I see in a game that makes me think I might enjoy it more solitaire than versus an opponent.
The turn track kind of sucks. Well, technically it’s kind of two tracks. Each turn represents about twenty minutes (there’s a printing error that makes this inexact, but it’s not important) and there is a track for each twenty-minute turn and then after three of those you advance the hour marker on a second track. All of this is on a separate card that just has a generic minutes track and a generic hours track. This is a bit tedious, but more frustrating to me is that the game only has two battles so why not just print two bespoke turn tracks on the separate turn card? Fitting the wing formation sheet and the map on my little table in my small European house is already a challenge, finding room for this big awkward turn track that also requires me to check what time Blenheim started and ended so that I can know when the scenario starts and ends is a bridge too far for me. In the end, I just didn’t use it. This felt like it was something of an afterthought and didn’t show the same care as is clear in most of the rest of the game’s graphic design.
Look at this and tell me you couldn’t fit two different turn tracks, one for each battle, on this. I also am not wild about the fact that because the track is hours, turn 12 is followed by turn 1..
I’m also not sure on the time scale to some degree – not necessarily disagreeing with the historical analysis, but rather that by my count Blenheim could run for something like twenty turns, but in my little experience I struggle to see how it could go past a dozen unless players are being extremely conservative with their tactics. With how impactful combat is, I think you’d have to be very unlucky for there to be no breakthrough before the twentieth turn. It just seems like a place where the game’s model and the gameplay don’t align properly – but again it’s not a big deal because I ultimately just didn’t keep track of turns and had a fine time.
I should also note that there are several printing errors in the game beyond just the rulebook. Several counters have the wrong counter on the reverse, which is frustrating, and there are some issues with the extended example of play I believe (I must confess, I didn’t read it). These are frustrating for sure. The counter errors have not been enough to ruin my enjoyment of the game, but they certainly show a lack of quality control on the part of the design team, and you just never want to see that in a game. Hopefully new counters come with a GMT errata sheet in the near future. These haven’t ruined my experience with Banish All Their Fears but they certainly are an issue and will be more objectionable to some people than they are to me, which is totally fair.
I also should point readers back to the first section, about playing vibes and the flaws with the rulebook. Those are significant drawbacks, but I already talked about them, so I won’t repeat them here.
To Conclude
I’ve only played Banish All Their Fears once and I’ve done so before the living rules have been published, so take this with a grain of salt. This is hardly a final conclusive judgment on the game, but it is a positive first impression. I like what I have seen in Banish All Their Fears, and I am very much looking forward to tackling Neerwinden. I’m going to wait until the Living Rules are published and take some time to fully digest them before playing the game again, that way I can properly compare my experiences. For the moment, though, Banish All Their Fears is one of my great surprises of 2024 – this game provides a dramatic and satisfying narrative which is something I look for in my wargames. It’s a radically different game in terms of how it is played, but it reminds me to some degree of Men of Iron in that both systems create interesting emergent situations, often via your units moving out of formation in ways you wish they wouldn’t, and both keep me excited throughout the game. While certainly not for everyone, Banish All Their Fears is a very promising start to a new series. If they can clean up the rulebook and fix the printing errors this can be a real gem.