What War or Boardgame are you playing?

[stevemitchell]

Another battle from GMT's Infidel: Harran, ending in a Crusader victory. It was close, though--the Turks smashed the Crusader left, while the Crusaders crushed the Turkish left and center. And RIP, Bohemund of Taranto.

[Parzival]

Ran the Battle of Five Armies again at Nashcon. Played Aerodrone 2.0 (WWII light aerial combat miniatures game) and Space Hulk at the con as well. Genestealers for the win! (Munch, munch, munch…)

[makofan]

From the SPI Blue and Grey quad, played Chickamauga, and Shiloh, as the Condeferates. Chickamauga was a rout as my opponent didn't realize he was doing a delaying action, and tried an offensive. Shiloh played pretty historically, the South got close to Pittsburgh Landing, but then stalled. I lost by 11 VP - close, but no cigar

[jeffb]

Picked this up at the red bullseye in anticipation of needing something to play during the world's ending (you should have seen the madness up here on Saturday) Henri didn't do jack but dump a lot of rain and get the media in a doom and gloom frenzy. Winds were a mild breeze.

Anyhoo- Anyone checked this out before?

[Parzival]

Aug 23, 2021 16:43:31 GMT -6 jeffb said:

Picked this up at the red bullseye in anticipation of needing something to play during the world's ending (you should have seen the madness up here on Saturday) Henri didn't do jack but dump a lot of rain and get the media in a doom and gloom frenzy. Winds were a mild breeze. 

Anyhoo- Anyone checked this out before?

Recently played that with some friends; I knew nothing of the game, but they were veterans of it.
It’s an odd duck to me— essentially a cooperative version of Clue, with a cooperative Game Master (“the Ghost”).
The Ghost is trying to help a group of psychics (the players) solve the Ghost’s own murder in classic Clue style— murderer, weapon, location. But instead of investigation, the game is all about interpreting art. A series of detailed illustrated “clue” cards depicting suspects, locations, and weapons are on the table for all to see. The Ghost then selects from a collection of surreal “dream” cards to give to the players, who have to decide which clue cards best match the imagery (including shapes and colors) of the dream cards. If the players interpret correctly, they advanced to the next set of clues, and gain points to aid in the final revelation. The game is on a clock— from dusk to dawn, essentially— and everyone is working together to solve the murder before the clock runs out.

Mysterium is not so much about logic as knowing how the Ghost player thinks (and for the Ghost, how the players think) and thus being able to interpret what she means by the dream cards she hands you. Good friends will probably work this out quickly; players who are less familiar with each other may wind up in a bind.

The art is well done and very evocative, but there are no clear “this means that” elements on the dream cards— it’s all about vague resemblances: colors, shapes, concepts, what’s there, what’s not, etc.. In essence there are no concrete clues involved whatsoever, and there is no logical process of elimination or deduction. The Ghost is thinking “This looks more like that”, and the players are thinking, “I think that could possibly stand for this,”— which means that different people may well see things very differently.

As I understand it the game comes with a TON of cards, and the Ghost doesn’t always have the same selection of dream cards to show, which should cut out on the inevitable “shorthand” clue solving: “Oh, Bob always plays the dream card with the snowman to indicate the Magician with the pale face.”

In the end, it wasn’t to my taste— I tend to overthink things and get caught up in details, looking for a way to analyze the information rather than going with vague impressions. But everyone else had a blast, and I was the newbie, which might make a difference if I played it again. And it is challenging to try to guess how your friend thinks about art and imagery and potential connections between two completely dissimilar paintings.

With the right group who’s willing to get into the atmosphere of the game and who know each other well, it should be fun. More analytical thinkers or casual acquaintances will probably struggle with it. YMMV, of course!

[jeffb]

Thank you Parzival for the detailed report!

I bought this to play with my wife and 10yo daughter. knowing them both as I do, I'm wondering now if this was a good choice. I think they would need more "structured clues" and less "imaginative/interpretive clues". I'll have to ponder on this a bit. Luckily it's still in shrinkwrap!

[stevemitchell]

I played South China Sea from Compass Games. This covers potential land-air-sea clashes in the disputed South China Sea area. There are several scenarios, and several possibilities for alliances. My game pitted China and Malaysia against the United States, Vietnam, and The Philippines. It ended in a total victory for the US coalition.

[Parzival]

Been playing Horrified on a regular basis. It’s a fairly simple cooperative game which teams the players up as heroes (small h) trying to stop the classic Universal movie monsters from terrorizing a village. The possible villains are Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Frankenstein Monster and his Bride, the Invisible Man, the Mummy, and the Wolfman. Typically the players face two or three monsters at the same time. Each monster has a task (or tasks) which the heroes must successfully complete before the monster can be defeated. To make things trickier, the necessary resources the players need will overlap for the monsters— so completing one monster’s task may mean delays in completing another monster’s task. Meanwhile the monsters are moving around the village, stalking villagers and the heroes, and gradually increasing the “Terror Clock.” It’s a nicely thematic game, especially for the Halloween season, and enjoyable by gamers and non-gamers alike. There’s an expansion on the way featuring North American legendary monsters like Mothman, Bigfoot, Springheel Jack, Chupacabra, etc..

[stevemitchell]

Antietam 1862 from Worthington Publishing.

This is part of Worthington’s Civil War Brigade Battle Series (not to be confused with the Civil War Brigade Series from MMP/The Gamers—ask for them by brand name only!) Almost all infantry and cavalry units are brigades, with appropriate corps or division artillery support pieces. Turns are 1 hour each, ground scale is 250 yards per hex. Combat is by step reduction, with each step representing 100 infantry or cavalry, or 2 guns. Combat results include hits, retreats, and morale checks, so your guys can, say, lose 3 SPs, retreat, and then fail a morale check, and rout some more! (But you can try to rally them each turn.) Units reduced to about half-strength can still defend, but will not voluntarily move next to an enemy unit.

The McClellan command problem at Antietam is handled fairly simply—the Union starts the game with the ability to activate two corps for movement and battle. But, if the Union manages to move forward and capture some key objectives, they can “unlock” more corps (Little Mac gets more confident).

In my game, the Union started off attacking against the Confederate left, with Hooker pushing up against the Rebs around the Cornfield; then more forces came up and eventually captured the Dunker Church (unlocking a third corps) and hammering against the Sunken Lane. In retrospect, the Rebs may have given up the Sunken Lane a little too early, although they were concerned about encirclement; this gave the Union a fourth corps to activate.

The focus of the Union attacks continued on across the center of the Rebel line and eventually reached the Rebel right flank. Curiously enough, by the end of the battle, the Rebs were counterattacking against Hooker’s battle-worn corps and were pushing it back quite a ways.

But, the Union still won, with 201 victory points to 185 for the Confederates. The Confederates actually inflicted slightly higher casualties on the Union, but the points for the Union geographic captures gave them the edge.

[stevemitchell]

Storm Over Stalingrad from Multi-Man Publishing. This adapts (and streamlines) the old Storm Over Arnhem system from Avalon-Hill, and depicts the battle of Stalingrad with an area-type map. Quick playing (only six turns), but very hard for the Germans to win, as in real life. They didn't win this time, either.

[Parzival]

I’m playing the new Hasbro edition of HeroQuest: parzivalsplace.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-return-of-heroquest.html
Plus, the Companion App just dropped, so I can play it solo vs. my iPad before being Zargon for others.

[rustic313]

I am currently playing my own kid friendly WW2 naval miniatures rules, tentatively called "Tin Cans and Battlewagons Jr" (DW burst out laughing at the name "Pocket Battleships" :-P).

Loosely based on Axis and Allies War at Sea, but with significantly more "accurate" combat resolution and stats that can be easily reversed engineered from real world vessel capabilities. Play is still quite fast and my young kids can play/follow along. The focus is on surface warfare with a scale of one hex = 5 NM and one turn = 20 minutes.

We started with DIY minis: 2" craft sticks (DD), 3" popsicle sticks (CA), and jumbo 4.5" battleship sticks (BB). Throw a little stain on them and you have fleets! We are moving to nice XP Forge printed minis which at 1:2400 scale are happily about the same size as the sticks.

The full version of the rules (not the simpler "jr" rules) will incorporate ASW and air combat as well.

[stevemitchell]

Revolution Games has a series of regimental-level American Civil War battle games (the Blind Sword series). Two new titles have recently appeared: The Day Was Ours, on First Bull Run, and Thunder at Dawn, on Wilson's Creek. I played both, ending with Confederate victories each time--a very narrow win for the Rebs at First Bull Run, but a total blow-out at Wilson's Creek.

[stevemitchell]

Followed by No Retreat: North Africa from GMT Games. This covers the World War II desert campaign from late 1940 to early 1943. Contrary to history, Rommel captured Tobruk in November 41 and held it till August 42, when the UK forces finally forced him to retreat to El Agheila. The game ended with a UK victory, but it didn't come easily.

[Parzival]

Have been getting in both solo and full-player games of the new HeroQuest from Hasbro. A review on my blog: parzivalsplace.blogspot.com/2021/11/kickin-orcs-old-school-return-of.html

[stevemitchell]

A blast from the past--I played Elric from Chaosium (the board game, not the RPG). The game ended in a victory for the Agrimiliar-Purple Towns-Kelmain Horde faction, which controlled Elric.

[rsdean]

I hadn’t realized, but November was apparently a rough month. I haven’t pushed a miniature around since the club Stargrave campaign on 30 October. At least the next session is scheduled for Saturday the 11th, less than a week off. I got a lot of painting done, and we pulled out Travel Carcassone over the Thanksgiving break, but it’s been slow.

[Parzival]

I’ve been using Hasbro’s HeroQuest Companion app to solo play the new set. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good. You do have to own the board game to really use it— though you could get away with just having the Treasure and Spell decks and still play it.

Here’s my full review of the app: parzivalsplace.blogspot.com/2021/12/appy-adventuring-return-of-heroquest.html

[stevemitchell]

Last wargames of 2021 and first wargame of 2022. From 2021: two scenarios from Heroes of the Soviet Union from Avalanche Press. This was an early game in the PanzerGrenadier tactical series, mostly focused on the fighting in Operation Mars, the Soviet offensive west of Moscow in late 1942. The Germans won both scenarios--a narrow win in the first, and an easy win in the second. From 2022: on to (or back to) Voelkerwanderung!, a new title from Companion War Games. This covers the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century, with the Alemanni winning in my game. This is really closer to a Eurogame than a wargame, but it was fun to play.

[stevemitchell]

Imperial Tide is a new title from Compass Games, covering World War I at a strategic level and using a system similar to that used in Compass's earlier games Pacific Tide and Ostkrieg. The Allies won, but it was pretty close. Then it was back to the Ardennes for 1944: Battle of the Bulge from Worthington Publishing. This covers the first 10 days of the German Ardennes offensive at a divisional level, using a version of Worthington's "Hold Fast" series rules, but with counters, rather than blocks. Despite a strong German opening (they captured Bastogne on the second day), the Allies still prevailed.

[stevemitchell]

I played Autumn for Barbarossa from MMP, a game in their Standard Combat Series. Summer 1941, with the Wehrmacht driving on Smolensk, but running into increasing Soviet resistance--and then Hitler takes the panzers away and sends them south to assist the encirclement battles at Kiev. The game ended with a minor Soviet victory. Followed by: Struggle for Europe from Worthington Games. This is a high-level strategic game on World War II in Europe and North Africa. The Axis won--they were being pushed back on all fronts, but they held out longer, and better, than they did in history.

[soundchaser]

Currently Valiant Defense stuff. Played the simple level of Soldiers in Postmen’s Uniforms, two Polish wins, but the second was close call. Going to do few Undaunted Scenarios this evening.

[Starbeard]

Feb 14, 2022 18:21:21 GMT -6 soundchaser said:

Currently Valiant Defense stuff. Played the simple level of Soldiers in Postmen’s Uniforms, two Polish wins, but the second was close call. Going to do few Undaunted Scenarios this evening.

Nice avatar & username, by the way!

Currently, my only gaming comes from playing occasional board games with my nephews (6th-11th grade) while visiting with the kids. We've played a bit of Heroquest, a bit of Talisman, a lot of Captain Sonar (great game!), a bit of Melee & Wizard, and a bit of the current Battletech Beginner Box.

The BT box is a great value, and the rulebook is laid out really well. The only issue is that it includes ZERO energy & heating rules, so there's very little tactical plany involved: just jump and shoot everything, every turn. We ended up coming up with our own overheating rules on the spot, which we add to a bit each time we play.

[Parzival]

Recently played Risk: Star Wars, the Original Trilogy Edition with my local gaming buddies. It’s one of the best variant Risk games out there, undeservedly out of print. The designers successfully captured the theme of the first three movies, while creating a nice mixture of conflicting goals instead of just “conquering the galaxy.” Great game, and a lot of fun.

[Starbeard]

Feb 20, 2022 20:24:49 GMT -6 Parzival said:

Recently played Risk: Star Wars, the Original Trilogy Edition with my local gaming buddies. It’s one of the best variant Risk games out there, undeservedly out of print. The designers successfully captured the theme of the first three movies, while creating a nice mixture of conflicting goals instead of just “conquering the galaxy.” Great game, and a lot of fun.

Is this the one with a sort of oval map of the galaxy, with Rebels, Empire and Neutral Crimelords as the three factions? That one was a great variant.

[Parzival]

Feb 20, 2022 20:38:35 GMT -6 Starbeard said:

Feb 20, 2022 20:24:49 GMT -6 Parzival said:

Recently played Risk: Star Wars, the Original Trilogy Edition with my local gaming buddies. It’s one of the best variant Risk games out there, undeservedly out of print. The designers successfully captured the theme of the first three movies, while creating a nice mixture of conflicting goals instead of just “conquering the galaxy.” Great game, and a lot of fun.

Is this the one with a sort of oval map of the galaxy, with Rebels, Empire and Neutral Crimelords as the three factions? That one was a great variant.

The very same. The different “special directive” cards for each faction also add to the game as well, with each faction out for different goals and able to do things the others are not— which means you have to plan your strategies very carefully.
And of course, it has the Death Star— nothing quite messes with strategy like having the Death Star turn a planet into an asteroid field!

[skars]

Playing Arctic War by Frank Chadwick out of the Third World War deluxe edition quad put out by Compass Games.

[owlorbs]

My regular wargaming pal and I played a Morschauser style 1” gridded game.

For the playing field I used a 38” by 76” gridded mat (mondo mat). The theme was a Bath style Hyborian battle in 20mm scale “Battle on the Stygian Plains.”

I used various ancient Egyptians for the Stygians and various ancient German and Gallic warriors to represent the northern barbarians (Vanaheim, Asgard and Cimmeria). This was a quick and dirty game so I mounted the unpainted plastic figs to colored railroad board using blue tak. We each fielded 40 figures.

We used a blend of rules taken from Morschauser ’62 (and some later articles), Bath ’62 (DF’s War Games) and Bob Cordery’s Portable Ancients. For general army composition I consulted the Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age book from FGU. I also intended to use some commander, hero and magic ideas from that book - but for our first game we decided to skip it and get the basics ironed out.

Result: The northern barbarians broke first and were mostly mopped up by Stygian royal guard. A small unit of northern archers refused to die, though it was essentially a Stygian victory.

Casualties: 4 pints of beer.

[rsdean]

I like Morschauser; it’s morphed quite a bit, but my friend and I have been using a homebrew pike and shot system for the past twenty years which started as Morschauser…

[rsdean]

Mar 14, 2022 4:43:58 GMT -6 rsdean said:

I like Morschauser; it’s morphed quite a bit, but my friend and I have been using a homebrew pike and shot system for the past twenty years which started as Morschauser…

Current version here:

gameofmonth.blogspot.com/p/a-list-of-links-to-various-rule-sets.html?m=1