I had the chance to setup and play InCountry on a 4×4 board this past weekend. The game is intended for 2×2 boards, but does include rules for 3×3 and 4×4 play. And by “rules,” I mean a blurb recommending you double the size of your forces.

It was actually quite fun! In fact, I start to wonder if the game wasn’t tested on a 4×4 in the first place. It feels more at home on the larger board, with the ranges of weapons mattering a lot more and more opportunity to use smoke or heavier weapons like grenade launchers. Much of my complaints about the game’s lack of real choice (you should always take an LMG on a 2×2 board) actually fade away and force interesting decision making when you have greater distances to worry about.

 

The other element I found interesting was that it took longer for the action to start, so we spent more time positioning. I do have to acknowledge I made a custom mission and increased the match length (fight to own three buildings at the end of turn 10). I felt ten turns was just about right—a little tight on time, but not too tight. Enough to apply pressure.

This feeds my suspicions that this ruleset is a good set of base tools upon which to impose other ideas. For example, I could have done an insurgency game by allowing the “local” player to hide their units inside buildings (but off board) and force the western player to go door to door. I could have had the game focus on a caravan escort with one side ambushing as they drove through town.

Oh, oh! I could add in low level vehicles like pickup trucks (I’d have to make a custom stat card) and experiment with the increased mobility.

 

I’m not going to sit here and say it’s the best game, but I had a great time and I will continue to experiment with it. I think if I work the rules a bit, I can even do four player event games on a 6×4 with an interesting scenario. There’s not a lot to teach the players, and it should play out reasonably smooth with some playtesting.

 

My match itself went well. My opponent played three squads of Tier 2 Commandos and I played a set of Tier 3 Locals with a unit of Advisors. We tied after a very tense end game conflict over the western objective (from my perspective in the photos). I managed to land the exact right grenade and win a competing shooting roll that allowed me to take the objective after having been pinned down repeatedly by his LMG fire throughout much of the game.

Playing a Tier 3 force proved an interesting challenge. I had more bodies, but he recovered injured models more often and I missed more shots. The 10% difference in skill (6+ for Tier 2, 7+ for Tier 3 on a D10) really added up across the various rolls. Not to mention I spent most of the game pinned because my forces kept failing the check when they lost a model. This delayed my action repeatedly in a way that caused me to play more cautiously.

Again, I’m not saying this will hold up to scrutiny or belongs in my club’s pantheon of games, but I have a friend who likes it and I anticipate getting more matches in and maybe doing an event sized game for the club at some point. We may try a 3×3 next time, but I like the 4×4 as it makes weapons with 32” ranges more sensible and useful. It also allows a period where you could, in theory, out-range your opponent.

Anyway, here’s the remaining photos of the game. I am quite pleased with being able to fill out a 4×4 with my desert set—I think the board looks great and I’m reasonably proud of how the match actually looks in practice.