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Also SK takes out a fair number of rules. There's a reason it has a 15 page rulebook instead of a 400 page rulebook. That said, MMP does reprint them every year or two.
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Aug 28, 2018 19:32
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Beyond Valor is also out of stock.
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Aug 28, 2018 19:41
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food court bailiff posted:Beyond Valor is also out of stock. Welcome to the Wargames Thread - You chose this hobby
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Aug 28, 2018 19:48
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Anyone have any opinions about Mark Simmonitch games? I've been eyeing Ukraine '43.
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Aug 28, 2018 21:16
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cenotaph posted:Anyone have any opinions about Mark Simmonitch games? I've been eyeing Ukraine '43. The only one I own is The U.S. Civil War. I rate it a 7 on BGG. PROS: 1. Beautiful map and components 2. Simple, intuitive combat and movement with an emphasis on logistics 3. Good leadership is important, but the game doesn't fall into the myth of Confederate supergenius generals vs. Union lucky fools 4. Plays smoothly and quickly for a grand strategy game 5. *Very active living rules updates for both clarity and balance show he keeps caring about the game. CONS: 1. No political aspect, which seems pretty important for that particular war 2. As a purely military exercise, the CSA can't possibly win, so their victory condition is basically "don't get slaughtered too badly". 3. The "Advanced Rules" are entirely naval rules, and they're a real doozy. Can't imagine anyone expects the most complex, detailed part of a USCW game being the naval rules. 4. *Very active living rules updates for both clarity and balance. Some of the changes have been significant, and he keeps getting even more in the weeds with the naval stuff.
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Aug 28, 2018 21:48
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cenotaph posted:Anyone have any opinions about Mark Simmonitch games? I've been eyeing Ukraine '43. The WW2 'year games are pretty solid, basic operational games. I do think Holland '44 is kinda linear in its play but Stalingrad '42 looks really good.
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Aug 28, 2018 21:49
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I kind of like USCW but I didn't get very deep into it. Making strat-scale ACW games is hard. I don't think For the People quite fits the bill.
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Aug 28, 2018 22:08
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food court bailiff posted:Are the ASL SKs ever going to be reprinted? Or should I be scouring craigslist and eBay for cheap listings? All of the SKs and BV will be out in the next month or so. Also, don't get the pocket edition if you're just getting started. It doesn't have the chapter dividers which contain the charts you need to play.
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Aug 28, 2018 23:37
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What do I need to learn ASL, can I buy just the rule book and learn on VASSAL? (Playing against myself) Not having to have a board would be nice to setup. I was planning on buying the starter kits when they come back in stock anyway.
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Aug 29, 2018 03:27
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blugu64 posted:What do I need to learn ASL, can I buy just the rule book and learn on VASSAL? (Playing against myself) Not having to have a board would be nice to setup. Theoretically yes. The rule book has no scenarios, but there are some free ones on MMP's website (the "Classic ASL" pack includes I think 10 scenarios adapted from the old Squad Leader system, including the most played scenario in history: "ASL A - The Guards Counterattack") Starter Kit and Full ASL are best thought of as different games. SK has its own rulebook and only comes with a fraction of the full system counters. But yes, I don't even own any physical ASL stuff anymore and just play via VASSAL. I scanned all my scenarios when I actually owned them, so I just stick to VASSAL now. ...and I have over 2,600 scenarios 
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Aug 29, 2018 08:34
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I'm an outsider looking in at the US but maybe someone should make a COIN about the US civil war starting with the war's end and going up until the present day/beyond because lately it feels like the Confederacy wasn't really properly defeated and has actually been running the world's longest insurgency
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Aug 29, 2018 08:39
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COOL CORN posted:But yes, I don't even own any physical ASL stuff anymore and just play via VASSAL. I scanned all my scenarios when I actually owned them, so I just stick to VASSAL now. TRAITOR!
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Aug 29, 2018 12:18
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BattleMaster posted:I'm an outsider looking in at the US but maybe someone should make a COIN about the US civil war starting with the war's end and going up until the present day/beyond because lately it feels like the Confederacy wasn't really properly defeated and has actually been running the world's longest insurgency Around the 1950s you can start building monuments to fallen heroes when the mandatory event comes up
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Aug 29, 2018 12:48
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blugu64 posted:What do I need to learn ASL, can I buy just the rule book and learn on VASSAL? (Playing against myself) Not having to have a board would be nice to setup. Like Cool Corn said, all you need is the full rulebook, VASSAL, and some scenarios. Feel free to hit me up if you'd like some. I do think it's very difficult/almost impossible to learn to play just from the rulebook though. I'd really recommend Jim Stahler's "Eight Steps to ASL" article from the old General magazine. It directs you to read only the relevant sections for a few small scenarios and will ease you into the game. It is written with Squad Leader players in mind, but it should still work. Plus, the scenarios it uses are the ones Cool Corn mentioned that are available on the MMP website. http://texas-asl.com/download/Stahler_ASL_Tutorials.zip
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Aug 29, 2018 16:18
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Anarchy Stocking posted:Like Cool Corn said, all you need is the full rulebook, VASSAL, and some scenarios. Feel free to hit me up if you'd like some. This is more or less what I did. I also used the enhanced sequence of play (or whatever it's called) that has the phases along with almost EVERYTHING that you need to check/do in each phase in the order they should be done. That actually helped a lot, too.
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Aug 29, 2018 16:40
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BattleMaster posted:I'm an outsider looking in at the US but maybe someone should make a COIN about the US civil war starting with the war's end and going up until the present day/beyond because lately it feels like the Confederacy wasn't really properly defeated and has actually been running the world's longest insurgency a COIN but about class struggle over several centuries.
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Aug 29, 2018 17:18
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Impermanent posted:a COIN but about class struggle over several centuries. you... you want... the wargame industry to handle this?? 
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Aug 29, 2018 17:21
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Finster Dexter posted:you... you want... the wargame industry to handle this?? right now the only guy doing it is phil ecklund so yeah it would be a (very marginal) step up.
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Aug 29, 2018 17:22
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cenotaph posted:Anyone have any opinions about Mark Simmonitch games? I've been eyeing Ukraine '43. I really like everything I have played from him which has been Normandy '44, Holland '44, and US Civil War. Most wargamers I have spoken to really enjoy his designs. His upcoming game Stalingrad '42 is pretty highly anticipated. I can't vouch for Ukraine '43 specifically though as I have not played it nor have I spoken to anyone about it.
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Aug 29, 2018 18:03
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Anyone play the BCS games? I bought Baptism by Fire a while back and I've picked up and then put down the rulebook numerous times. The system really intrigues me but it's very different from what I'm used to. There's lots of new concepts. I'm not sure I like the way the rulebook v1.1 is organized. I'm not a fan of the glossary-style concepts explanations at the beginning of the book. It's like it throws everything at you at once then expects you to see how it all fits. Not trying to come off whiney, I'll hack my way through it eventually, but I hope they do some rulebook redesign for Brazen Chariots.
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Aug 29, 2018 18:13
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Huskalator posted:Anyone play the BCS games? Haha at the idea of a Dean Essig series moving away from a legalese rulebook structure (see also, OCS, SCS, LOB, CWB, RSS, or any other game system by The Gamers) It's a really innovative system, and I really respect what it's doing, but ultimately I cancelled my Brazen Chariots preorder. I played Last Blitzkrieg and Baptism by Fire, but neither of them really clicked for me. BUT, I know guys who absolutely love it! So that's just personal preference. I know there's YouTube videos where some guy goes through activation or combat or something.
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Aug 29, 2018 18:23
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I was recently looking at BCS and I had an inclination that there would be some fuzziness from the designer's notes. Got to the part in the rules about eyeballing if your blobs overlapped for logistical stuff and noped the gently caress out immediately. I stopped playing minis because of ambiguity and I'm not going to play a boardgame with a rulebook that tells players not to argue about a fuzzy rule.
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Aug 29, 2018 18:48
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cenotaph posted:I was recently looking at BCS and I had an inclination that there would be some fuzziness from the designer's notes. Got to the part in the rules about eyeballing if your blobs overlapped for logistical stuff and noped the gently caress out immediately. I stopped playing minis because of ambiguity and I'm not going to play a boardgame with a rulebook that tells players not to argue about a fuzzy rule. I think BCS is a good system, but Essig is so desperate to try to get written orders in there and come up with a bunch of kludges to make people do it his way. You can see him as he includes variants like "if you ever move a unit into a space, you can't take it back unless you use MPs to reverse because people in real ww2 got lost"
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Aug 29, 2018 19:05
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I'm the guy who absolutely loves BCS and I think the best way to deal with the rules is to set up the game and start pushing counters as soon as possible. Lot of the stuff that feels complicated when reading the rules becomes much clearer when you are actually doing it. Most formation activations are actually really simple stuff where you just walk your dudes up to the enemy dudes and roll on combat table. Two things that I found complicated at first: -Read the stack activation rule(3.3, I think) carefully, it's fairly important to everything else that follows -Check out the Unit Capabilities Chart from the charts, it answered several of my questions regarding support units Also the blob rule is pretty much always unambiguous in practice. Either your formations are mixed or they aren't. The original 1.0 rules were more explicit about how to figure it out but it's kinda messy and more prone to exploiting, I think, but you can easily just use that rule instead.
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Aug 29, 2018 19:07
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I'm sure it's unambiguous 99% of the time but it bothers me on a fundamental design level. The designer's notes really gave me the vibe that it wasn't for me.
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Aug 29, 2018 19:56
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You're not alone in your anger of The Gamers ambiguity. If you ever want a laugh, go to the OCS forum on CSW and just mention terrain nubs, and then watch the CSW servers grind to a halt under the weight of people coming to argue about it. "Why is there a sliver of forest in this hex if the whole hex isn't meant to be forest" 
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Aug 29, 2018 20:16
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One thing I really appreciated about MMP's approach to the GTS seris is how they literally just went gently caress it and put a dot in the middle of every hex, which determines what type of terrain that hex is. they can draw maps as messy as they want now. I'm trying BCS with Tek in September. (Baptism). I'll get back to you on what our thoughts are on it.
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Aug 29, 2018 20:49
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tomdidiot posted:One thing I really appreciated about MMP's approach to the GTS seris is how they literally just went gently caress it and put a dot in the middle of every hex, which determines what type of terrain that hex is. they can draw maps as messy as they want now. I'm curious about the future of GTS. The designer jumped ship over to Compass and continued his work via the CSS system. I guess they'll just sort of fork in different directions. Then again I think there's a Utah Beach game being playtested right now. What is with GTS/CSS being nothing but drat landings (okay like 2/3 landings games)
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Aug 29, 2018 20:51
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quote:The list below is in approximate order of priority, but do not drive yourself nuts …it’s just a Retreat. quote:Retreats, 7.5. Oddly, I wouldn’t even list this here except some players put a lot of importance on how retreats are conducted (As Rod said: “Really? You've been retreating units in games your whole life...just retreat it!”) Rather than forever try to thwart the player scamming the system (but just barely, so it is still technically legal), the new Retreat process allows players to act like adults... quote:Design Note: This Blob concept should be a simple observation by eyeball. The Formations are either using the same area or not. Don't overthink it, just look at what is going on. Yes, To my mind this is literally worse than 40k roll-a-die level BS. The section I bolded is the ultimate  , and the idea that you should rely on prior experience for determining the validity of a retreat path is just bad design. We all haven't been pushing counters since the 70s. Write a rule or don't. It's a shame because the rest of the system looks pretty sweet, which I guess is why it bothers me so much.
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Aug 29, 2018 21:04
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COOL CORN posted:I'm curious about the future of GTS. The designer jumped ship over to Compass and continued his work via the CSS system. I guess they'll just sort of fork in different directions. I think the problem is they don't want to make huge scale scenarios and generally in ww2 the best context for more geographically sane scenarios is airborne/amphibious ops.
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Aug 29, 2018 21:06
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What's going to happen to VPG now that they are being gobbled up by tabletop tycoon? Also, has there been any updates on stellar horizons from Compass? I really want a cool space program sim game if I can't get high frontier.
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Aug 29, 2018 21:09
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cenotaph posted:To my mind this is literally worse than 40k roll-a-die level BS. The section I bolded is the ultimate For the record, both of those are rules that changed between 1.0 and 1.1 rules. Originally, 1.0 had more complicated and supposedly complete rules for both cases, but I think people kept asking about weird edge cases so much that those rules were changed to the current form. And yeah, I agree completely that rules should always be clear and unambiguous.
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Aug 29, 2018 21:27
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Panzeh posted:I think the problem is they don't want to make huge scale scenarios and generally in ww2 the best context for more geographically sane scenarios is airborne/amphibious ops. If current GTS games are supposed to be sane, I'd hate to see what a huge GTS game looks like. Doesn't Greatest Day have 10 maps or something like that?
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Aug 29, 2018 21:31
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Are there any wargames out there that do division or smaller scale combined ops? And by that I mean air/land/sea I would love like a game set around Guadalcanal where you build bases, have fleets and naval combat, air combat, and land combat. Any game that is operational in scale like this? I know of games like A World At War and World in Flames (I prefer WiF) but they are too big in scope
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Aug 29, 2018 21:45
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Obfuscation posted:For the record, both of those are rules that changed between 1.0 and 1.1 rules. Originally, 1.0 had more complicated and supposedly complete rules for both cases, but I think people kept asking about weird edge cases so much that those rules were changed to the current form. And yeah, I agree completely that rules should always be clear and unambiguous. That's interesting to know, thanks.
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Aug 29, 2018 21:55
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Obfuscation posted:If current GTS games are supposed to be sane, I'd hate to see what a huge GTS game looks like. Doesn't Greatest Day have 10 maps or something like that? Well, four, and there's a lot of overlap. But still, it's very big.
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Aug 29, 2018 22:54
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Phi230 posted:Are there any wargames out there that do division or smaller scale combined ops? Black Sea/Black Death by peoples War-games does that. The Red Army flanks a strong defensive line anchored at Novorrosysk with a landing that turns into Anzio writ small for a while. At one point they landed SMG-armed paratroopers on the docks from torpedo boats. They also did a combat drop. Units are mostly battalion strength, a whole divisions runs about 20 counters. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5752/black-sea-black-death
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Aug 29, 2018 23:07
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Obfuscation posted:If current GTS games are supposed to be sane, I'd hate to see what a huge GTS game looks like. Doesn't Greatest Day have 10 maps or something like that? To put it in perspective, GTS Operation Queen/Hurtgen would have a massive, massive number of counters on the map, and that's something close to a normal operation.
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Aug 29, 2018 23:31
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Anarchy Stocking posted:All of the SKs and BV will be out in the next month or so.  time to do a bunch of reading and watch a bunch of videos and maybe log some VASSAL time to see if I want to take the dive for real, then.quote:Also, don't get the pocket edition if you're just getting started. It doesn't have the chapter dividers which contain the charts you need to play. Whoa, good to know.
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Aug 30, 2018 00:00
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Panzeh posted:To put it in perspective, GTS Operation Queen/Hurtgen would have a massive, massive number of counters on the map, and that's something close to a normal operation. I'm not even sure Hurtgen would be that dense. It'd definitely be denser than Market Garden, but I reckon it'd be similar to Normandy with 5-10km frontages for divisions. quote:Then again I think there's a Utah Beach game being playtested right now. What is with GTS/CSS being nothing but drat landings (okay like 2/3 landings games) I think GTS have mostly picked the most "popular" bits of the war to cover because when they pick unpopular bits, their sales suffer (e.g. Bir Hakiem) - and the popular bits are Normandy, Market Garden and the Bulge.... Starkweather wanted to do the Pacific for CSS, and you're going to have a hard time doing a non-CBI a pacific game that isn't about island hopping. Montelimar is definitely post-landing and more meeting-engagement style anyway.
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Aug 30, 2018 10:40
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