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Joe Bisio's files for Paths of Glory

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Pete Karsanow (site author)
Joe Bisio (rules author)		   Last Updated: 2005-10-14

 

Paths of Glory:
The Great War 1914–18

And finally, Prussia-Germany can no longer fight any war but a world war; and a world war of hitherto unknown dimensions and ferocity. Eight to ten million soldiers will strangle each other and in the process decimate Europe as no swarm of locusts ever did. The ravages of the Thirty Years War telescoped into three or four years and extended to an entire Continent: famine, pestilence, and the general barbarization of both armies and peoples… ending in general bankruptcy; the collapse of the old state and traditional statecraft… to such an extent that dozens of crowns will roll in the streets and no one will want to pick them up.

Friedrich Engels, 1887

"Paths of Glory", or POG, is a 2-player World War I (WWI) wargame from GMT Games. A recent release that has received very good reviews, there's a good chance it is out of stock at stores and out of print, but may be reprinted due to popular demand (check the website above). POG uses an area movement map rather than a hexagonal grid, and employs cards to provide the presence of historical events and technological developments during the course of the game. As I haven't played the game myself, just read the rules (available to download at the GMT Games site), I'll just point you to some other web sites for the game: [external links nearby]

While POG is currently (and actively) supported by the designer Ted Raicer, there were typos on the first edition map and in the rules (although usually not in the FAQ), that might have been fixed in the recent reprint. But just in case, to maintain consistency the files provided below use what's on the game's original map (I'm actually working from a PBEM map and Joe Bisio's confirmations by email of his "real" map) rather than the correct spelling. These are:

Again, the following files use the above "wrong" names just as shown on the map to refer to map locations/space/locales, only for consistency. So don't hassle me about those particular typos in the documents provided below.

Mr. Joseph Bisio, who doesn't have his own web site going yet, is a long-time wargame player with some design experience (Legend of Robin Hood). More recently, he had a featured article (edited by John Loth) in the April 2001 issue of the BOARDGAMER magazine dealing with the card changes and revisions in game mechanics to play an Advanced version of Paths Of Glory. His interests interesected with mine (Pete Karsanow) in the area of the Draka, which has a bunch of pages starting here on my site. Joe has created a family of scenarios for POG, basically starting at every year from 1914 to 1919, auxiliary rules files to augment the original game and those "year" scenarios, and a family of "Draka" scenarios. He's also interested in a "Eurasian War" (WWII equivalent for the Draka) scenario for the wargame "End of the Iron Dream."
Me, Pete Karsanow, I'm just providing web space and did some editing on the files provided by Joe. Lots of formatting changes, but only a few tweaks to the content.
So here they are:

Out of Africa:
An Alternate History Great War

In 1782 the Loyalists fled the American Revolution; whole regiments with their families and slaves set sail from the ports of Savannah and Charleston. In South Africa they found a new home, and built a new nation — the Domination of the Draka, an empire of cruelty and beauty, a warrior people possessed by a wolfish will to power.

1914: The Great War blazes across Europe as two mighty alliances tear apart the old world order of kings and empires, ushering in a violent modern age. Imperial Germany invades Belgium and marches on Paris. The armies of the Tsar mass on the borders of East Prussia and Austria-Hungary. In America, Theodore Roosevelt serves as President of a United States that stretches over all North America from the Arctic to Panama. And to the south, the Dominion of Draka is a giant forge, serf-manned factories pouring out artillery, dirigible airships, and armored steam cars as the Janissary Legions gather to overrun the Near East and grind the Ottoman Empire into history's dustbin. The warrior citizenry of the Draka are preparing to grab their "place in the sun" as an independent Great Power, a stepping stone to their final triumph, and ultimate revenge.

 

Anthem For Doomed Youth

What passing bells for those who die as cattle?
—Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
  Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them: no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, —
The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

from the poetry of Wilfred Owen, written Sept. 1917

Owen was killed in action Nov. 4th 1918 in a morning assault on the Oise–Sambre canal. News of his death did not reach his hometown, Shrewsbury, England, until about an hour after the 11 A.M. armistice that ended the Great War on Nov. 11th 1918.

 

thumbnail for PathsOfGlory.jpg (554x422; 99869 bytes) "Paths of Glory" by CRW Nevinson
"Paths of Glory" by CRW Nevinson was scanned from a brochure for the exhibit "Anthem for Doomed Youth: Twelve Soldier Poets of the First World War" at the Imperial War Museum in London, 31 October 2002 – 27 April 2003.

 

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 The Draka characters and situations are copyright © S.M. Stirling and may not be used or reproduced commercially without permission. No profit is being made from the stories/documents/files found on this website.
The background image is modified (lightened so it doesn't block the page text) from an image of the "US steam-powered tank, the 'America'" found at the Photos of the Great War site. Images found there are available for use if the end user provides credit to the source, as has just been done. The image is credited to History of the World War: An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War March, Francis A; United Publishers of the United States and Canada, 1919.
By Peter Karsanow with content from Joe Bisio.
See the Home page for overall site and copyright information.

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