Paths of Glory: Player's Guide (2001)

Overview

The Player's Guide contains articles that describe tips, tactics, strategies, and variants available for Paths of Glory. In addition to the 48-page magazine, the Player's Guide includes 20 new cards and a 1/4 sheet of additional counters.

Recent deluxe editions of the base game (6th edition 2018 and later) already contain the "optional counters first released in the POG Player’s Guide in 2002" and the "20 Optional Cards from the POG Player’s Guide".

(from GMT Games's website:)

Features The Paths of Glory Player's Guide is designed as an expansion kit for your enjoyment of this wonderful game, with exciting and informative articles featuring strategies for you to employ, new scenarios and variants, new playing cards, in-depth analysis of key features in the game, and so much more. Executive Editor Wray Ferrell has put together an excellent team of authors and Managing Editor Stuart K. Tucker's handsome layout design makes reading and utilizing the Player's Guide a pleasure.

Contents and Authors

Strategy

The Opening Guns (Peter P. Perla) - Learn the Giuco Sedano, Warsaw Waltz and Tarnopol Tango in this article that covers a myriad of the many ways to experience August 1914 in Paths of Glory. Goin' Mobile (Kris Weinschneker) - Play of the Mobilization deck involves some critical choices about War Status and Reinforcements. Limited War Cards (Kris Weinschneker) - Continuing his discussion of the card decks, Kris offers his suggestions on getting from "Limited" to "Total" war quickly. Total War Cards (Kris Weinschneker) - Wrapping up his review of the cards, Kris offers some endgame card play suggestions.

New Scenarios and Cards

New Scenarios (Ted Raicer) - The game's designer provides the official starting setups, including card dispositions, for games begun in 1915, 1916, or 1917. Adding More Paths to Your Deck (Ted Raicer) - Twenty new cards are included as an insert to this magazine. Here are their historical bases.

Analysis

PoG Supply (Ananda Gupta) - The disruption of supply lines can cause the collapse of a front. Each theater has a number of key locations in the defense of those vital supply lines. Parade of Fools: The Italian Front (Ananda Gupta) - The Italian front offers both promise and danger to both sides, as they attempt to overcome the foibles of their "weak sister" armies. Optional Rules: Assessing the Balance (Ananda Gupta) - How effective are the mainstream optional rules at establishing a balanced game?

Cybergaming

PBEM Primer (Kris Weinschneker) - A primer on playing Paths of Glory via Play By Email.

Variants

Variant Cards (Tod Reiser) - More card ideas to consider adding to your deck. Pre-War Options (Ted Raicer) - For those wanting to vary the starting force setup, here are some ideas for each major nation. Strategic Options (Rick D. Stuart) - Rick provides us with more options to alter game play - some affecting the setup, some used later in the game. Historical Variants (Brad Martin) - For those seeking to experiment with history and game balance, here are more variant rule ideas.