We Are Coming, Nineveh

We Are Coming, Nineveh (2023) Combat Rations Series – Nuts! Publishing

A modern warfare operational/tactical-level Iraqi wargame.

I love contemporary (and historical) area block games, so I had to check this out. Simple rules and a quick playtime made it appealing, but the theme is heavy. It’s one game where you feel you shouldn’t enjoy it. War is always about suffering and destruction, but with conflicts that happened long ago, it’s easier to detach. Mosul, though, is still fresh.

The game focuses on the battle for Mosul in 2017, where Iraqi forces fought Daesh in one of the largest urban battles since WWII. The operation ended in victory for Iraq but at a tremendous cost—massive casualties on both sides, along with immense civilian suffering.

The game won the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Tactical Wargame of 2023.

This post is a review and an after-action report, as part of my attempt to complete the 2025 10 Wargame Challenge.

The Game

We Are Coming is an asymmetric, event-driven, area-movement block game. Let’s break that down:

Asymmetry

The Iraqi forces have regular infantry, armour, police, and counter-terrorism units supported by coalition assets like artillery, A-10s, and drones. Daesh relies on the militia, child soldiers (Ashbal), technicals, mortars, IEDs, and hidden infrastructure like IED factories, arms caches, and media centres to sustain the fight. The game highlights the challenges of urban warfare and counter-insurgency.

Events

Players draw an event card Whenever they roll a natural 1 or 6 in combat. These often make life harder for the Iraqis by increasing collateral damage, representing the toll of urban warfare. Some events provide bonuses, but most escalate the conflict’s chaos.

Area Movement

Mosul is divided into areas, with key locations surrounding the Old City, where Daesh made its last stand. Units move area by area or along roads until they meet resistance.

Play Sequence

The Iraqi forces move and attack first. If combat isn’t decisive, they must retreat. Entering an area may trigger IEDs. Then Daesh moves and fights. Before each round, both sides check Supply and activate special capabilities like drones, IED factories, and artillery. Blocks and Fog of War Units are represented by wooden blocks, keeping their identities hidden from the opponent. Daesh also has “rumours” to disguise its true strength. Blocks track unit health by rotating to show different combat strengths.

Winning and Losing

Only the Iraqi side is scored based on: Time: How long it takes to eliminate the Daesh. Collateral Damage: How much of Mosul is destroyed. Casualties: How many Iraqi troops are lost. The challenge is balancing aggression with restraint—clearing the city fast while minimizing casualties and destruction. It’s not easy!

Conclusion

We Are Coming is easy to learn but has some quirks in the rulebook. Once you get past the first play, it moves quickly. Managing the victory conditions is tricky. Much of the collateral damage comes from event cards, and there’s no real way to avoid it—other than using less firepower. But you must attack to clear out Daesh, so it’s all about calculated risks. That said, gameplay can feel repetitive. Every round follows the same cycle: Use assets → Move into contact → Fight → Daesh retreats Daesh does the same.

It wasn’t as dynamic as expected, though this was our first playthrough. Still, there’s potential here! It was fun, we learned a lot, and I’m looking forward to another go.

The First Game

Since this was our first playthrough, we kept things simple and used the historical setup for capabilities and available units. The Iraqi forces started at the edge of the map in three zones, while Daesh was spread throughout the city. Our battlefield looked like this:

We are Coming, Setup

Lessons Learned

Playing as the Iraqis, I quickly realized how troop deployment should have been handled. Mixing counter-terrorism units with regular forces would have allowed for two rounds of combat, which would have been a big advantage. Keeping the armour on the west flank is also the better approach. You learn as you go.

The Push Toward the Old City

The advance was slow but steady. As expected, the gameplay loop was repetitive—move, attack, Daesh retreats, repeat. Daesh rarely stood their ground longer than necessary, always forcing the Iraqis to chase them down. They also made good use of IEDs, which caused constant trouble. I relied heavily on coalition capabilities, which added collateral damage. Rolling a lot of 1s and 6s didn’t help, as it kept triggering more event cards, further increasing civilian casualties. The collateral damage was mounting alarmingly while my troops were closing in on the Old City.

Push towards the Old City

The Final Push

Cutting off the Old City’s supply lines with armour was the beginning of the end for Daesh. But it felt too late—time was running out. By the time the last Daesh units fell, we had passed the historical time limit, and the collateral damage track had maxed out. Mosul and its people had paid an even higher price than in reality. It didn’t feel like a victory at all.

Encirclement

Final Thoughts

We played over two evenings but could have finished in one. The official 90-minute playtime feels tight. It was an interesting game with plenty of learning moments. We’d be much less reliant on the rulebook for a second playthrough. Choosing starting units and available capabilities adds a lot of depth. There’s plenty to explore, allowing you to customize your forces to match your playstyle, which should improve replayability. Looking forward to the next game.

Push towards the Old City