Guts and Doom, a new historical miniature wargame by Baraka Wargames. And its free

FROM SPLENDID LITTLE WARS TO OBSCURE CONFLICTS AND WORLD WARS, IN GUTS AND DOOM YOUR INFANTRY PLATOON, LED BY AN OFFICER, DECIDES THE FATE OF NATIONS ON THE HILLS OF CUBA OR MEXICO, THE TRENCHES OF VERDUN, THE RIF MOUNTAINS, LIBYA, ABYSSINIA, THE STREETS OF MADRID, WARSAW OR SHANGHAI.

Little did the Mahdists besieging Khartoum in 1884 know that the Maxim automatic machine gun prototype, capable of firing 600 rounds per minute, was being shown in London at that same time. The year 1898, Kitchener´s British army was armed with Maxim machine-guns, that cut the Mahdist army into pieces in the battle of Omdurman. Far from Sudan, in Cuba that same year 1898, the U.S. Army was pinned down at the approach to San Juan Hill by the Spanish artillery equipped with Krupp 1895 mountain rapid-fire guns, until Teddy Roosevelt´s Rough Riders managed to deploy their M1895 Colt “Potato Digger” machine guns and capture Kettle Hill. Also in 1898, the French army adopted the Cannon de 75 Modèle 1897, also known as the French 75, capable of firing 15 shells per minute.

The developments of late 19th century marked a new era of warfare. The imperialist appetite for war was fueled by these new developments and successes, and war spread all around the globe with Splendid Little Wars, colonial wars, revolutions and growing tensions between empires that led to World War I. As an appetizer to the Great War, the new century found the French Foreign Legion and Spaniards entering Morocco, Canadians in South Africa, U.S. Marines in China, the Russo-Japanese war, the Mexican revolution, the Italo-Turkish war or the Balkan wars, among many other conflicts around the globe. New even more deadly weapons kept arriving, and the battlefields of the Great War made the perfect scenario for the use of submachine guns, mortars, flamethrowers, armored cars, tanks and aircraft.

The damage done was so great the treaty of Versailles brought no peace, but sorrow. Even before, in 1917, Red October had shocked the world, and the following Roaring Twenties saw the birth of fascism. But also, the Third Anglo-Afghan war, the Greco-Turkish war, the Polish-Soviet War, the Rif War, and others. The Great Crash of 1929 grew social tensions, made kings and regimes collapse, brought Hitler to power in Germany and helped Stalin to promote the Communist International. The Thirties saw Italy invade Abyssinia, Japan spreading war throughout Asia, and Hitler and Stalin rearming both Germany and the USSR respectively at full pace, while the Western allies remained eyes-blind with non-interventionist policies. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was the ultimate laboratory at the verge of World War II.

The Spanish Republic, abandoned by the Western democracies, was aided by the USSR, while the Nationalists, were supported by Hitler and Mussolini. The German Kondor Legion, the Italian Corpo di Truppe Volontarie and Aviazione Legionaria, the Irish and Portuguese Legions, and Moroccan Troops for the Nationalists or the International Brigades for the Spanish Republic fought along the Spaniards some of the fiercest battles in history like the battles for Madrid, Bilbao, Teruel, Belchite or River Ebro. Spain saw German International Brigades defend Madrid along with the French to the shout of They Shall Not Pass, British counter- attack singing the Internationale in a Great Rally, Americans of the Lincoln Battalion assault Suicide Hill in a valley in Spain called Jarama, George Orwell join the revolution, German and Soviet tank assaults or Italians charge in a mountain pass with flamethrowers. By September 1939, the German Blitzkrieg marked the start of another era of mechanized warfare. G&D covers the era of infantry combat (1898-1939).

Guts and Doom, the infantry combat wargame (1898-1939)

Guts and Doom allows you to play epic conflicts around the world in which the ever suffering and loyal infantry plays the leading role, from the end of the 19th century and throughout the first half of the 20th century, in historical colonial settings, revolutions, civil wars, and even world wars. From Splendid Little Wars to obscure conflicts and world wars, in G&D your infantry platoon, led by an officer, decides the fate of nations on the hills of Cuba or Mexico, the trenches of Verdun, the Rif Mountains, Libya, Abyssinia, the streets of Madrid, Warsaw or Shanghai, and in almost anywhere else on the planet. When your men charge out of the trenches at the sound of the officer’s whistle, there will be no escape. They will try to overcome fate with Guts or succumb to Doom, under the fire of terrible support weapons such as machine guns, rapid-fire guns, mortars, or even flamethrowers, armored cars, tanks and aircraft.

Guts and Doom is an action and reaction game that will immerse you in the battle. Each unit, whether a team or a support team, generates Activation Chits, while officers, in turn, generate Order Chits. During each Pulse and according to the flow of initiative, the players manage their chits to activate units so that they can perform actions or reactions such as move, ride, dismount, charge, aim, fire, go to ground/ get up, rally, fix bayonets/draw or sheath sabers or to follow orders from their officers, such as regroup, advance, combined arms, show them the bayonet or don´t chicken out.