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Speaking of The War of 1812, I just received 1812!: War on the Great Lakes Frontier from Compass Games. It looks gorgeous, I'll have to dig into the rules and see how they look. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/340281/1812-war-great-lakes-frontier
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Mar 5, 2023 21:04
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 01:19 |
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Panzeh posted:The West has a lot of strategic options and has more interaction with the naval aspects of the game, but both players play on both fronts, so it's not like it's an alternative. The Soviets have a shitload of units and no real complications involved in applying them to face and have it fairly simple on stacking (all soviet units are limited to 3 pips so they slot very nicely into the 2-unit 6-pip stacking limit). This does mean they have limitations in combat but overall they do pretty well. I missed that response from last week. I was a little worried that the game would turn into an Eastern Front game with the West as a sideshow compared to the apocalyptic battles on the other side of the board. Glad to hear there's some interesting strategy decisions going on in the West with the naval aspects.
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Mar 12, 2023 23:15
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Hello fellow wargoons, I'm looking for playtesters for a fantasy 30-Years-War Hex-CDG for 2 players as inspired by Empire of the Sun. VASSAL Module and rules can be found here. Any takers? Its a bit rough and I don't really know how to make the unit counter show up bigger in the stack overview but other than that I....certainly hope it has everything it needs to be playable.
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Mar 18, 2023 23:17
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Are there any games built around the history of labor disputes? I just read about this one, for example, and it seems like you could create something pretty interesting around less familiar conflicts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
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Mar 22, 2023 17:45
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A Strange Aeon posted:Are there any games built around the history of labor disputes? https://screentop.gg/@MildaMatilda/Hell-Raisers
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Mar 22, 2023 19:36
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SelenicMartian posted:Milda Matilda Games (of Turncoats fame) is currently testing Hell-Raisers in Kanawha County That's cool as hell and exactly what I was thinking of!
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Mar 22, 2023 21:18
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 Why does Compass keep doing this poo poo? 
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Mar 24, 2023 14:51
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Tekopo posted:
Separating the MAGA crowd from their money is an honest grift.
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Mar 24, 2023 15:00
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"Other uniquely American features include truck stops as information networks…" I need to see that rulebook.
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Mar 24, 2023 15:03
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How is that not a Ty Bomba design?
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Mar 24, 2023 15:07
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^^ They're not alone https://www.ossgames.com/store/millennium-wars-america https://www.ossgames.com/store/america-falling-the-coming-civil-war-absent-superpower-series-1 It turns up every so often. An actual study or something could be an interesting look but thats not the point of a lot of these games. IIRC Brian Train has made a few tries at it
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Mar 24, 2023 15:10
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Sometimes Compass picks up games declined by GMT and it's a good thing. Sometimes Compass picks up games declined by GMT and it's a bad thing. Sometimes Compass picks up games with outright Nazi-glorifying names. Compass Games is a land of contrasts.
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Mar 24, 2023 15:11
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 I suppose i should post my shelf of shame.
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Mar 31, 2023 12:13
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I told myself I could limit things to a 2x4 Kallax but I was lying to myself
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Apr 4, 2023 21:05
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Why are GMT games so hard to find and expensive in the UK? I wanna try a groggy solitaire but everything is >£75 on Second Chance games
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May 8, 2023 19:10
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Southern Heel posted:Why are GMT games so hard to find and expensive in the UK? I wanna try a groggy solitaire but everything is >£75 on Second Chance games If you just want to try them out I think several of them have tabletop simulator versions
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May 8, 2023 19:30
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Gandhi's TTS even comes with solo, unusually.
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May 8, 2023 19:32
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Southern Heel posted:Why are GMT games so hard to find and expensive in the UK? I wanna try a groggy solitaire but everything is >£75 on Second Chance games Depends what you're after. Second Chance are the fulfillment partners for GMT here so get their stock before everyone else and rarely price below RRP. They're also more likely to have stock left when everyone else has sold out because they get more copies and are less competitive. Nearly all GMT stuff does get a proper release through Asmodee UK, though - so they'll usually turn up at the discount retailers like Chaos Cards or Zatu a few weeks after it first gets released at Second Chance. You just need to jump on it fast because when it's gone it's usually gone.
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May 9, 2023 07:29
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Annoyingly I just lost my long post - I will have a think about TTS but it's not my cup of tea really. Honestly, the conversation which goes down the route involving computers inevitably leads me to the conclusion I'd just be better off playing a computer game. Anyway, speaking of buying and selling - does anyone want my copy of The War of 1812? I bought it to prep my wife for playing Richard III and she's sufficiently ready, I think! Call it £17 plus shipping? 
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May 9, 2023 09:53
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Southern Heel posted:Annoyingly I just lost my long post - I will have a think about TTS but it's not my cup of tea really. Honestly, the conversation which goes down the route involving computers inevitably leads me to the conclusion I'd just be better off playing a computer game. Oh I agree, it was just a suggestion in case you want to try them out before buying them since they're so expensive. Someone in the boardgame group also just posted this website which has digital implementations of some GMT games: https://www.rally-the-troops.com/
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May 9, 2023 14:31
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My main interest to-date has been war gaming with miniatures but i'm getting increasingly disillusioned with making it work and playing both sides when I have neither the time, space or inclination to paint lots of miniatures. As such I have been spending more and more time with 2mm figures (essentially block/chit wargames) or Naval/Space simulations with very few models and more complex interactions. I'm starting to consider whether solitaire board wargames are just a better choice overall and so I've had a poke around and there are a few games which interest me. I have the opportunity to pick up Field Commander: Napoleon for £97 or The Hunters for the usual £80ish. Any strong feelings on either of these? Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 12:12 on May 10, 2023 |
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May 10, 2023 11:48
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Southern Heel posted:My main interest to-date has been war gaming with miniatures but i'm getting increasingly disillusioned with making it work and playing both sides when I have neither the time, space or inclination to paint lots of miniatures. As such I have been spending more and more time with 2mm figures (essentially block/chit wargames) or Naval/Space simulations with very few models and more complex interactions. I would skip FC Napoleon, you solve one scenario youve solved them all. No experience with The Hunters. I would say that i enjoy two handing good old hex and counter games more than I do any of the made for solo ones. Some arent suitable (hidden movement, hands of cards etc) but lots are.
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May 10, 2023 12:24
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Sleekly posted:I would skip FC Napoleon, you solve one scenario youve solved them all. No experience with The Hunters. Thank you for the FCN tip. Re: solo vs two-handing - that's a very interesting perspective - I pointedly didn't want to two-hand since I can do that fairly well with my existing miniature-based wargames - indeed, with the 2mm Napoleonics I've got enough in the way of rulesets and scenarios to last me a lifetime. I had also considered a lower-scope game like Warfighter or one of the Leader series too for that reason. In the board wargame space I had considered Men of Iron Tri-Pack (Men of Iron, Infidel, Blood & Roses) but shied away because it was 2 player.
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May 10, 2023 12:48
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Southern Heel posted:Thank you for the FCN tip. Re: solo vs two-handing - that's a very interesting perspective - I pointedly didn't want to two-hand since I can do that fairly well with my existing miniature-based wargames - indeed, with the 2mm Napoleonics I've got enough in the way of rulesets and scenarios to last me a lifetime. I had also considered a lower-scope game like Warfighter or one of the Leader series too for that reason. Have you looked at the Mike Lambo solitaire wargame books? They're a lot lighter but cheap and easy to set up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndxn6YFOvNk
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May 10, 2023 12:53
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Played my first campaign of the Hunters on TTS yesterday. I don't have enough experience to tell if it's good but I had fun with it. I was looking for Beneath the Med, the Italian sequel, but there wasn't a TTS module, sadly Commanded the U-69, a VIIB for 10 patrols, sinking 10 ships for a total tonnage of 73400. Boat was scuttled in September '41 after sinking the CVE Avenger and tangling with its escorts. The very first encounter in the campaign was torpedoing but not sinking the Royal Oak.
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May 10, 2023 13:06
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Crashbee posted:Have you looked at the Mike Lambo solitaire wargame books? They're a lot lighter but cheap and easy to set up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndxn6YFOvNk Somsone is selling the Worthington "Bismark" and "Waterloo" solo campaign book(let)s on eBay for a fairly notional price, you reckon that's a better shout?
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May 10, 2023 14:29
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Southern Heel posted:Somsone is selling the Worthington "Bismark" and "Waterloo" solo campaign book(let)s on eBay for a fairly notional price, you reckon that's a better shout? Sure, I've only played Bismarck a couple of times but it has some depth while being pretty simple - you're only rolling two dice against a chart, but you also have to make decisions about things like battle tactics and whether you want to split your two ships up. I think there's also a black-and-white redux version with some extra missions now too.
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May 10, 2023 15:02
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Southern Heel posted:Why are GMT games so hard to find and expensive in the UK? I wanna try a groggy solitaire but everything is >£75 on Second Chance games Hexasim is usually the cheapest place to get rarer wargames in the UK, though they are based in France.
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May 16, 2023 21:50
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I have, in my weird psycho phase now acquired six different Vietnam War strategic level games and hope to at some point do a comparison of them by playing out Ia Drang in each. Some would be about two sentences of description, some would be a multi-post effort.
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May 19, 2023 11:05
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Panzeh posted:I have, in my weird psycho phase now acquired six different Vietnam War strategic level games and hope to at some point do a comparison of them by playing out Ia Drang in each. Some would be about two sentences of description, some would be a multi-post effort. Legit impressed you found a copy of Victory in Vietnam II (unless there was a reprint?). I remember that one being sought after and hard to find. Hearts & Minds seems an interesting take. And we all have our psychosis here friend  This is a safe space. I had an ancients kick that led me to hunting PRESTAGS modules and extant copies of The General Magazine.
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May 19, 2023 18:23
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Erghh posted:Legit impressed you found a copy of Victory in Vietnam II (unless there was a reprint?). I remember that one being sought after and hard to find. Hearts & Minds seems an interesting take. It took me a looong time to snag it and i way overpaid for it when it showed up at Noble Knight. It's probably never going to be printed again. ViV II is hilarious, because it's the only Vietnam game that actually has as a possibility global thermonuclear war (most of the time, the US wins in this case, but if the Communists initiate they have a 1 in 10 chance to win). Hearts and Minds is an interesting cat- it was originally going to be a 1960-esque game about the War in Vietnam in US domestic opinion, hence the VPs being referred to as "Hawks" and "Doves", but it morphed into a more traditional Vietnam game, but as a CDG. Unfortunately, I kinda feel like, as a strategic experience, it's fairly pigeonholed- you mostly end up kinda running through the motions. US Forces build up in this fixed way, Vietnamization happens at this fixed time, the US withdaws at this fixed time, etc.
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May 19, 2023 19:24
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H&M was one of those games that came out of the post-PoG rush if I remember correctly. There was a lot of crap that came out at that time.
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May 19, 2023 19:29
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Tekopo posted:H&M was one of those games that came out of the post-PoG rush if I remember correctly. There was a lot of crap that came out at that time. It popped up near the end, i think the first one was published in 2010. I'd say it's unconventional compared to the others, but almost none of these Vietnam games are actually mechanically conventional in terms of wargames. Pretty much all the complex games use differential combat systems, response moves, to try to capture the flow of combat.
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May 19, 2023 19:34
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Panzeh posted:It took me a looong time to snag it and i way overpaid for it when it showed up at Noble Knight. It's probably never going to be printed again. ViV II is hilarious, because it's the only Vietnam game that actually has as a possibility global thermonuclear war (most of the time, the US wins in this case, but if the Communists initiate they have a 1 in 10 chance to win). I don't doubt the price being up there. It was one of the most recommended games on the topic for awhile. Also RIP Bruce Costello. He managed to get alot done in his designs. So H&M sounds like might make a good teaching tool? There are games out there that...idk, try ride two horses at once in trying to balance history with player choice/action and it doesn't always quite mesh. I guess that gets into the essence of "what is wargame" though. (Obligatory ASL reference for naturally solving all these problems and more)
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May 19, 2023 21:54
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Erghh posted:I don't doubt the price being up there. It was one of the most recommended games on the topic for awhile. Also RIP Bruce Costello. He managed to get alot done in his designs. Yeah. I don't think H&M is a bad game overall, but a lot of the 'game' aspect of it is very tactical details, maximizing getting vets, getting your ablative armor of ARVN rookies out there, etc. I kinda understand why they structure the game the way they do, because they don't want, say, the Morale vs Commitment tracker of VG/GMT's Vietnam '65-'75 and all the tables and rules associated with that- there's a reason the guy who designed it ended up working in Wall Street. That being said, it's fairly typical. Bruce's game actually lets the US player not use their troops, and they lose VPs for deploying them, but it's a fairly simple system. No Trumpets, No Drums allows the US player the option to do a lower-footprint approach with an option called "Full Vietnamization" in 1966 that drastically limits their footprint in Vietnam in exchange for some benefits, but NTND is also a game that lets the US player shove the Royal Lao army in against the Ho Chi Minh trail and the North Vietnamese are heavily penalized if they launch any kind of attack on the blocking force. The other game that allows the US to vary its commitment is Fire in the Lake, but in that game, it's a very simple system, and generally the US player's victory will involve pulling out, since having troops in the available box is a significant part of his victory condition, so the idea is to set up a good situation, survive a coup round, and win the game.
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May 20, 2023 01:16
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what are we using for photo hosting these days? i've got a copy of the ugliest vietnam game-box in existenence.
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May 20, 2023 01:49
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What is the thread view on the Undaunted games? I can pick up Stalingrad for 90 roobucks which seems good value. I know it’s a deck builder not hex and counter but how does it feel as a war game? Cheers
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May 20, 2023 08:45
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You will get some shitters going "it's not a real wargame" out in the wider wargaming community, but Undaunted games are pretty good, extremely playable, and I would recommend them.
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May 20, 2023 09:05
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Beffer posted:What is the thread view on the Undaunted games? I can pick up Stalingrad for 90 roobucks which seems good value. I know it’s a deck builder not hex and counter but how does it feel as a war game? Pretty much every war gamer I've seen on YouTube adores it, it's good squad level stuff with a surprising emotional element as you get attached to named individuals.
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May 20, 2023 12:50
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 01:19 |
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Anyway. Hello thread. I am looking for some clarity on war games and what my options are. I play a lot of miniatures and board games of varying complexity and as part of that I've really enjoyed light stuff like Cousin's War and March of Progress. I've been meaning to pick up Sekigahara for ages, too. I've been meaning to look into more wargames for either solo or duel (or even co-op if that's a thing!) and am familiar with the existence of COIN games as something that might work for me. But the level of complexity and difficulty of these games is sometimes difficult to work out. Is there anywhere - even a list or category on BGG - where popular war games are accurately summarised in terms of their complexity and play length? For example, ASL is obviously an insane game that I fully understand the appeal of but would never play. Combat Commander seems like a much lighter version of that and closer to what I'd consider, but is still probably a bit too grognardy. Command and Colors (well okay, Battlelore) I hated and is possibly too simplistic. So I'm trying to find a middle ground that appeals to me, be it block game, COIN, or full on hex and counters. It's so hard to tell at first glance where certain games fit - ASL and CC:E are essentially the same game if you're totally new to this stuff - and the best way for me to work out what games I want to try is to be able to rank them in simplicity as well as quality. Does that make sense? I know COIN is probably a good example of this, there's some that are quite straightforward but thematically awesome, and some that are incredibly detailed. Knowing rough groupings of these games would be fantastic. Is this just a case of me not using BGG correctly?
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May 20, 2023 13:00
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