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Lichtenstein posted:Somebody stop me before I ruin this man's life. I am an old married dude with easily a hundred board games in a giant walk in closet in my house, I'm way ahead of you. Hit me. e: I feel way dumb for not realizing what COIN stood for all the times they've come up in the board game thread
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Feb 24, 2017 19:57
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food court bailiff posted:I am an old married dude with easily a hundred board games in a giant walk in closet in my house, I'm way ahead of you. Hit me. I'm this thread's big champion* of Fields of Fire, an infamous PTSD simulator that is both a splendid, in-depth look at small unit tactics across WWII, Korean and Vietnam wars and a sanity-draining incomprehensible alien artifact from beyond time and space. As they say, there ain't no devil, there's just Ben Hull when he's drunk. It really seems like love at the first sight, you know? Four long, persistent, highly randomized and replayeble campaigns spanning three different conflicts. Staggering attention to detail and unmistakable authorial voice of an actual army vet sharing his experiences, frustrations and fears. Clever, immersive subsystems and uniquely fresh look at the genre - could you imagine a game that cares more about what radio model your sergeants are wearing, rather than whether their squads have BARs available? It's easy to get lost in its fever dream, carefully rationing precious equipment to your most trusted men and mourning each and every little cardboard veteran you've coddled from his first steps out of the academy, his fat stacks of experience replaced by yet another wide-eyed boy from Minnesota out here to save the american way. Yet, eventually you'll realize what you took as unconditional grognardy love is but a mere mania; you'll weep as the obsession turns into despair, while you spend countless hours on bgg and consimworld, frantically googling for answers to questions you thought would be dead simple. Your eyes will emptily glaze over the whirling, non-euclidean fractals of counters that once resembled the rugged hills of Heartbreak Ridge. Your heart will be torn apart by the sight of your company disintegrating within a single turn before your very eyes and your naive beliefs in humanity understanding this cold, uncaring universe will crumble, stricken by the infernal visage of sniper behavior rules and contradictory bgg rulings. And still, deep down, you'll find yourself unable to truly acknowledge it for the abusive monster it is, forever beholden to the light you jknow is underneath it all, to highs the likes of which you've never encountered in your life. Please do not mistake these warnings for comic exaggeration, or a challenge to your grognardy. Truly, a night spent with Fields of Fire makes a hard man humble and even my sincere love for the greatness embedded in this box has to be tempered by the incessant wailing of all the innocent souls it devoured that haunt my broken shell of existence. It's solitaire only, though the heavy command & control focus makes it piss easy to multiplayer-ify, by simply sharing particular officers among the players, not that you would be able to inflict this game on another human being and look them in the eyes. It's basically a wargame equivalent of a hatefuck. * In the Chosen of Tzeentch sense. PS. If you still wish to witness its dark glory despite your better judgement, if there's my aborted LP somewhere in the archives of the LP subforum. Or, alternatively, if you check post histories of, uh, Cool Corn and Fat Samurai in this thread, you'll find a few illustrated turns and a lot of teeth-gnashing. PPS. Enemy Action: Ardennes is a game with two solo modules (one for each side) and a two-player option, but I can't vouch for its gameplay. Though really, just grab any hex game without cards nor blocks and go train your dissociative identity disorder. Bonus points if back of the box contains the phrase "chit-pull". Conflict of Heroes is a decent WWII tactical that recently got a solo expansion printed. PPPS. Some sane and good solo wargames (really, just buy a multiplayer one and a solo one and you'll be way better off not playing either of them anyway) are the D-Day at Somewhere series, Hornet Leader, Comancheria/Navajo Wars.
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Feb 24, 2017 22:04
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poo poo, I need a drink. This woke memories.
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Feb 24, 2017 22:08
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Lichtenstein posted:poo poo, I need a drink. This woke memories. I'm the guy who has bought FoF 3 times now.
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Feb 24, 2017 22:18
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Fields of Fire looks practically like an arcade game compared to OCS or ASL, right? Why is it so life-consuming? e: OK, I'm looking at the ops you can do each turn and it's pretty freakin' involved. Looks like fun! Vivian Darkbloom fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Feb 24, 2017 |
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Feb 24, 2017 22:22
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Yesss.... It's not so daunting... I've survived worse, haven't I?.. Perhaps it'll do no harm to check it out on Vassal... It's only a game, after all... What could go wrong?..
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Feb 24, 2017 22:29
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As I understand it the issue mostly how the rules are vauge, bizzare, and contradictory; not the volume of them per se
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Feb 24, 2017 22:30
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Yeah FoF doesn't look that bad in theory, but in practice you just constantly run into situations where you have no idea how the rules are supposed to work and the rulebook is a loving worthless piece of trash
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Feb 24, 2017 22:33
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:Fields of Fire looks practically like an arcade game compared to OCS or ASL, right? Why is it so life-consuming? FoF has just a massive amount of chrome and there are a lot of rules where it was obvious that the designer knew what he wanted to do but wasn't clear on how to actually write it down. Also the game is extremely time consuming and takes ages to play because although the start of a scenario is relatively smooth, once you start battle, it becomes extremely difficult to control your people. As well as that, the way that the enemy is automated/pops up is incredibly difficult because of the way that the battlefield changes and I think it's impossible to actually play the scenarios 100% by rules.
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Feb 24, 2017 22:33
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Lichtenstein posted:I'm this thread's big champion* of Fields of Fire, an infamous PTSD simulator that is both a splendid, in-depth look at small unit tactics across WWII, Korean and Vietnam wars and a sanity-draining incomprehensible alien artifact from beyond time and space. As they say, there ain't no devil, there's just Ben Hull when he's drunk.  Kidding. I'll have to try to dig out that LP. Also thanks for the other solo recommendations. COOL CORN posted:Well one of us is going to, and I'm about to hit this man in the head with some ASL, so I'll let you have first dibs. Like I said, reading up a little on ASL after seeing pics in the PYF thread is what drew me here. It's mp-only, isn't it? Otherwise the fact that there's progressively more complex starter boxes to kind of ease you into the game seems ideal, really. Plus it has all those counters and modules 
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Feb 24, 2017 22:36
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food court bailiff posted:I'm here from the ASL derail in PYF. I'm feeling lonely and groggy, what's a good heavy wargame that supports solo play well? I'm only a few pages into this thread so sorry if that comes up often. Lock 'n Load will fit your requirements completely once their solo component is released in March. 1) buy one of the dozen or so scenarios/eras that interests you 2) if you want a random battle generator, buy the one designed for the scenario you picked out in #1 3) if you want to play solo, buy the solo expansion set when it comes out in March. The solo rules will apply to ALL scenarios, so you will only have to buy this once! https://store.lnlpublishing.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=66_67 AARP LARPer fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Feb 24, 2017 |
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Feb 24, 2017 22:38
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It's on P500! 
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Feb 24, 2017 22:39
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Caedar posted:There's relatively little dice rolling in Pendragon, equal to or less than Liberty or Death. The dice rolls are mostly to determine whether you use the terrain to gain an advantage. Pretty much everything else is deterministic. I've been reading the game example on BGG and from the looks of it there is a lot of dice-rolling for the Saxon and Scotti. First to check the size of their raiding parties and next to determine the terrain advantage and the terrain advantage is a fairly big deal because it determines whether you get smashed by the Dux cavalry or ride away with your cash. However, other than that Pendragon looks really cool and I wish it was coming sooner so I could play it.
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Feb 24, 2017 22:45
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Wasn't there a Conflict of Heroes solo deck that worked for like all war games? Anybody have experience with that?
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Feb 24, 2017 22:46
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:Fields of Fire looks practically like an arcade game compared to OCS or ASL, right? Why is it so life-consuming? OCS is pretty easy to grok. Most of it makes sense, and it has gone through about 20 years of refining.
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Feb 24, 2017 23:03
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Lord Frisk posted:Wasn't there a Conflict of Heroes solo deck that worked for like all war games? Anybody have experience with that? It works great for Conflict of Heroes! I'm surprised Lock'n'Load got mentioned first since the CoH solo expansion is already in print. I can see how it would be pretty easy to adapt for other tactical games, but I've never tried that.
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Feb 24, 2017 23:31
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Ithle01 posted:I've been reading the game example on BGG and from the looks of it there is a lot of dice-rolling for the Saxon and Scotti. First to check the size of their raiding parties and next to determine the terrain advantage and the terrain advantage is a fairly big deal because it determines whether you get smashed by the Dux cavalry or ride away with your cash. However, other than that Pendragon looks really cool and I wish it was coming sooner so I could play it. Ah yeah, I was just thinking about combat. Terrain advantage is definitely an important thing, though it's counterbalanced by the Dux can't take huge risks since they can permanently lose pieces, while the raiders can't.
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Feb 24, 2017 23:53
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Holy poo poo, the latest GMT update is online now and they're proudly displaying a photo of Viktor Orbán (aka Hungary's Trump/Le Pen) playing one of their games, which features a photo of him back before he turned hard to the right.
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Feb 25, 2017 00:19
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Caedar posted:Ah yeah, I was just thinking about combat. Terrain advantage is definitely an important thing, though it's counterbalanced by the Dux can't take huge risks since they can permanently lose pieces, while the raiders can't. The thing about terrain advantage is that it also applies to the raiders on the offensive as well as the defensive when Dux can lose pieces to getting surprised by raiders. The reason I dislike dice-rolling in situations like this is because of scenarios where I lose the game because Scotti won't stop rolling 6's. Compared to something like Falling Sky where I've lost due to bad card luck, but at the very least I roughly know the cards in the deck and the chances of a Winter popping up. I've lost FS due to bad Winter cards twice before, but I can't say that it wasn't partially my fault because I knew I was taking chances both times and I choose not to knock the Belgae into the dirt so I could cripple Arverni or take Germanic Horse capability. And in my head I know that card luck and dice luck aren't very far apart, but I still don't really like dice luck - although I think CRTs are a perfectly acceptable compromise solution. edit: there's also some really obnoxious dice luck in one of the era-cards where the Dux have a choice to send away armies and then you roll dice to see if you get anything from it. Ithle01 fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Feb 25, 2017 |
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Feb 25, 2017 00:36
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Ithle01 posted:The thing about terrain advantage is that it also applies to the raiders on the offensive as well as the defensive when Dux can lose pieces to getting surprised by raiders. The reason I dislike dice-rolling in situations like this is because of scenarios where I lose the game because Scotti won't stop rolling 6's. Compared to something like Falling Sky where I've lost due to bad card luck, but at the very least I roughly know the cards in the deck and the chances of a Winter popping up. I've lost FS due to bad Winter cards twice before, but I can't say that it wasn't partially my fault because I knew I was taking chances both times and I choose not to knock the Belgae into the dirt so I could cripple Arverni or take Germanic Horse capability. And in my head I know that card luck and dice luck aren't very far apart, but I still don't really like dice luck - although I think CRTs are a perfectly acceptable compromise solution. Yeah, the era cards are probably what stick in my craw the most. There's some serious screwage possible.
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Feb 25, 2017 06:30
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food court bailiff posted:I'm here from the ASL derail in PYF. I'm feeling lonely and groggy, what's a good heavy wargame that supports solo play well? I'm only a few pages into this thread so sorry if that comes up often. On the fantasy/sci-fi you could look into: OGRE (or GEV) - 2-player tactical dicefest, has some solitaire scenarios on BGG or Steve Jackson sites Space Empires 4X - 4X / wargame with hidden movement and lots of bluffing, plays great solo or teams, can be slow until players gain experience. Currently out of print but hopefully reprinted soon, and I think copies aren't impossible to find. One of my favourite games.
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Feb 25, 2017 07:24
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If you want modular, ww2, solo + multiplayer whether online or not, its hard to go wrong with ASL. The Starter Kits are pretty cheap (certainly should be under 80$) and have enough for quite a few scenarios. There are a lot of rules, but a lot are for special conditions, or once you delve into "Full ASL", as the starter kits shave off a lot of the extra, less important stuff. And you get crazy stuff like  *not a starter kit scenario, but an online game in a custom map for a test campaign*
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Feb 25, 2017 18:33
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I think I'll definitely break into ASL eventually. In the meantime I found a fairly pristine used copy of Prussia's Glory II for $15 at a used bookstore, and despite not really knowing anything about the period of history it looked interesting enough to grab.
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Feb 25, 2017 21:50
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I bought my first SCS title. SCS is easy enough on it's own, but this is a WW1 land title, so it's going to be one of the easier rulesets out there with no navy or appreciable air power to deal with. I sure as heck didn't buy it because of the box cover -- what a mess!
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Feb 26, 2017 20:57
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You guys have me thinking about buying Fields of Fire.
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Feb 26, 2017 21:07
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CommonShore posted:You guys have me thinking about buying Fields of Fire. I P500'd it! C'mon and join the cult.
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Feb 26, 2017 21:22
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WAR DOGS OF SOCHI posted:I P500'd it! C'mon and join the cult. Might as well P500 volume 1 & 2 with me, maybe we can have a race to see who's copy gets dusty first.
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Feb 26, 2017 23:57
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I'll think about it! It'll be a while before that p500 ends and they ship. If it's still on my mind I will. I finished my solo game of Cuba Libre. Syndicate won on final scoring because DR hosed me. 
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Feb 27, 2017 05:13
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CommonShore posted:I finished my solo game of Cuba Libre. CommonShore posted:Syndicate won on final scoring *A tale as old as time*
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Feb 27, 2017 11:53
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So erm I picked up Devil's Cauldron. My life is complete. I have Devil's Cauldron. In my house. With WED. I can get fired and just play TDC/WED all day long now.
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Feb 28, 2017 02:41
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tomdidiot posted:So erm Can you please set up all the maps and take a picture If you do that I'll set up GBII and EATG and take a picture (I don't have case blue)
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Feb 28, 2017 03:12
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COOL CORN posted:Can you please set up all the maps and take a picture I once set up all the maps in WED. It covered most of the biggest room in my house. I don't think I can actually set up all the maps from TDC as well.... I might just have to compromise by blu-taccing the Valeknswaard map to the wall or something.
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Feb 28, 2017 03:18
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tomdidiot posted:So erm You and COOL CORN should get married or something, you're clearly meant for each other.
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Feb 28, 2017 03:19
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Do I head wedding bells? Klaxons?
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Feb 28, 2017 03:41
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SavageMessiah posted:You and COOL CORN should get married or something, you're clearly meant for each other. Except I think anything smaller-scale than Company-scale is an abomination. quote:Do I hear wedding bells? Klaxons
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Feb 28, 2017 04:39
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If tomdidiot sets up his maps and Cool Corn sets up his, I'll lay out War in Europe and take a picture.
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Feb 28, 2017 05:00
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I won solo Cuba Libre as 26 July!
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Feb 28, 2017 06:38
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SavageMessiah posted:You and COOL CORN should get married or something, you're clearly meant for each other. They might even get to play the games they own!
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Feb 28, 2017 07:19
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Jobbo_Fett posted:They might even get to play the games they own! For this sort of relationship, a community property jurisdiction would be better.
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Feb 28, 2017 07:33
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Jobbo_Fett posted:They might even get to play the games they own! I'll have you know that I've played most of the wargames I own (or at least, I play with Tek's copy of the games I own). The oddballs are GBoH and GTS, because Tek hates ancients, and I'm trying to introduce the latter.... If you look at my BGG profile, I've played 82 of the 111 games I own. So there. tomdidiot fucked around with this message at 10:12 on Feb 28, 2017 |
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Feb 28, 2017 10:06
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