7: The Defense Of Lwów

Overview

7 is a simple war game for two players based on the mechanics used in the boardgames 111: Alarm dla Warszawy and 303. The game takes us back in time to the Polish-Soviet war in 1920. One of the players is the commander of the 7th Fighter Escadrille „Tadeusz Ko?ciuszko” (combined mostly by American pilots) defending Lwow during the Battle of Lvov in the middle of August 1920. Polish player has access to three Ansaldos A-1 „Balilla” fighters trying to push back waves of Soviet cavalry. He uses special dice to attack soviet units and bombs that he can refill in three airbases. Every time the cavalry is hit the unit spreads and loses turn. Soviet player is the commander of 1st Cavalry Army, he uses ten cavalry units to reach his goal of taking Lvov and spreading the communism throughout Poland and then as the next step whole Europe. The cavalry has limited options of attacking aircraft although by using on movement he can defend during the attack and fire one shot at attacking Polish fighters, with a little bit of luck he can even destroy it. Polish Air Forces mission is to defend Lvov by delaying the attacks of cavalry till the end of 18th August when the Soviet Army decides to withdraw and continue their attack towards Warsaw. The game ends when the Soviets are out of time or they managed to capture Lvov. The name of the game “7” evokes one of the escadrilles, which pilots where mostly American airmen, lead by Merian C. Cooper—the man who later created the iconic "King Kong" movie—volunteering to serve and protect Poland during the Soviet war. This makes “7” the prequel of 111 and 303, showing the beginning of Polish Air Forces. The game includes two variants: basic game and additional rules for intermediate and advanced players, allowing tallying of points and comparing scores.