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 The Eagle's Last Triumph by Andrew Uffindel  Many times, the Battle of Waterloo has been written about as tho...

The Eagles Last Triumph by Andrew Uffindel The Eagles Last Triumph by Andrew Uffindel

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!


by





 Many times, the Battle of Waterloo has been written about as though it had occurred in a vacuum. The battles that took place two days before, Quatre Bras and Ligny, are maybe slightly mentioned. In actuality, the battle of Waterloo can only be understood if one looks at Napoleon's and the Allies' strategy and plans, and the battles that took place earlier. The twin battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny , fought on June 16, 1815, are the catalysts for the end of the first empire at Waterloo. Of these two battles, Ligny is by far the one that held greater promise for Napoleon. If Napoleon had won a great victory and crushed the Prussians, they would not have been able to help Wellington on June 18th. It is possible that with a rout of the Prussians, Wellington would have had to retreat further without the promise of Prussian help. On the field of Ligny and the Prussian defeat were sown the seeds of the Allies' victory at Waterloo.

 'The Eagle's Last Triumph' by Andrew Uffindell is one of the rare books written about the battle of Ligny. It was originally published in 1994, and the hard cover copy from then is not easy to find. Casemate publishers has put out a paperback edition, and it is well supplied with maps and sixteen pages of black and white photos. The book even goes into the battle of Quatre Bras, and the end of the campaign. Part two of the book has an analysis of the battle, and a breakdown of the losses both sides suffered. It also has a guide to the battlefield today for anyone who might be interested in taking in the actual battlefield's scenery.

 The battle of Ligny, when it is mentioned, is usually written off with a paragraph or two. The traipsing of D'Erlon's corps is most often dissected down to the minute. D'Erlon's summer hike from battlefield to battlefield without influencing either is truly one of history's enigmas. If he had pitched into the Prussian right flank, as the emperor ordered him to do, the battle of Ligny would have turned into a rout for the Prussians. As a consequence, the Prussians  would have had to retreat east instead of north, and still parallel with Wellington's army.

 The large and consequential battle of Ligny was not a foregone conclusion. As the book shows, it was a titanic struggle between the French and Prussians, and every bit as horrific and glory filled as any other Napoleonic battlefield.

 This was the last time that the Imperial Guard would march forward to seal a victory. The grenadiers of the Guard were told by their second-in-command, Lieutenant-General Francois Roguet, "the first man who brings me a Prussian prisoner will be shot".  This is much like Blucher's supposed  statement at Waterloo "no pity, no prisoners; I will shoot any man I see with pity in him". It might just be a quote from a movie, but it echoes his and his soldiers thought about the battle of Ligny. This terrible hatred between German and Frenchman would only be quenched a hundred and thirty years later in 1945.


 Robert


Publisher: Casemate
Review Date: 10/26/2016

                        Scourge of War Waterloo DLC Ligny    Ligny is lost in the shadow of Waterloo, which was fought two days lat...

Scourge of War Waterloo DLC Ligny Scourge of War Waterloo DLC Ligny

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

                       

Scourge of War Waterloo DLC Ligny



 

 Ligny is lost in the shadow of Waterloo, which was fought two days later. This is upsetting for two reasons: 1) It was the last battle Napoleon won. 2) If events transpired the way Napoleon wanted them, he probably would have won at Waterloo. Ligny was fought by the Prussians under Blucher and the French under Napoleon. The battle was ripe with might haves. Count D'Erlon was ordered to bring his I corps and crush the Prussian right wing and turn a won battle into a Prussian rout. Marshal Ney, fighting at Quatre Bras, ordered D'Erlon to march to help him. D'Erlon's incredible blunder in not following Napoleon's order cost the emperor his throne. The Prussians survived to fight another day and their corps led by Von Bulow interceded on the field of Waterloo. Napoleon had "humbugged" both Blucher and Wellington by striking hard and fast between them. Napoleon's plan was for Ney to keep the English away, therefore being unable to help the Prussians while he gave battle to them at Ligny. Once the Prussians were defeated and seen off to the east, Napoleon could then turn on Wellington. 






 NorbsoftDev has continued their Waterloo game to now include a DLC of the battle of Ligny. They had already released another DLC covering the battle of Quatre Bras, fought on the same day as Ligny. The DLC has five different scenarios you can play:

2:30PM -  Leading a Prussian Corps
8:00PM - Leading a French division
2:30PM - Leading the Prussian army
3:00PM  - Leading a French corps
2:30PM  - Leading the French army






  The Scourge of War games also have a few modes in which a player can choose to use:

 Waterloo Battles
 Sandbox Campaign
 Sandbox
 User Scenarios
 Tutorial




  
 Thanks to NorbSoftDev, with the addition of the Ligny battle we are almost at the point where we can play out the entire battles of the Waterloo campaign. Each release of the the game engine brings refinement and tweaks and more fine tuning of an already excellent engine. The next release is going to be that of Wavre. Wavre is much like Ligny in that had things gone the French way it might have been Grouchy appearing on Wellington's left instead of the Prussians.





 With the start of the series in the American Civil war battles to the Napoleonic, this is one of my favorite series of games. Command and control from a general's perspective is what drew me to computer wargames in the 1980s. The ability to form a plan in your head and then to be able to use competent, if not deadly, AI subordinates always draws me back to this series of games. The only possible knock on the series is the same that can be said of any Napoleonic battle game. Because of the small sales that would be seen in releasing some battles against others more well known ones, we are not likely to see an official release of Eylau or Friedland, to name just two.









 For the multiplayer crowd, these games have always been a big draw. The sandbox mode can be used to represent pretty much any sort of engagement of the battlefields of the released games. There is also a large community of modders that are on the NorbSoftDev web site. 





  Please, take a look at my review of the base game 'Scourge of War Waterloo', also my other SOWW DLC 'Quatre Bras'.




 Robert




Game: Scourge of War Waterloo DLC Ligny
Developer: NorbSoftDev
Publisher: Slitherine/Matrix
Date of Review: 10/29/2016

                                       

Warbirds: Canvas Falcons AAR No Parachute! By Albert Campisto Mas

Warbirds AAR! Warbirds AAR!

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!


Warbirds: Canvas Falcons AAR

No Parachute!

By Albert Campisto Mas




Wings Over Flanders Fields Ultimate Edition Review  WOFF background Wings Over Flanders Field started off as a WWI modificat...

Wings Over Flanders Fields UE Review Wings Over Flanders Fields UE Review

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Wings Over Flanders Fields Ultimate Edition Review 





WOFF background

Wings Over Flanders Field started off as a WWI modification called Over Flanders Field for Microsoft CFS3. Over the years, work hasn't stopped and at several stages a new, improved version was sold, which, until recently, took us to WOFF Version 3. Version 3 also had some expansions - DLC yet again adding new planes and features to an already superb sim. Now, what is to be considered  the ultimate version of WOFF has been released. WOFF 3 and its expansions have been brought all into one package, as well as the addition of  a host of new features and improvements. Wings Over Flanders Field Ultimate Edition is the climax of over ten years of development, and boy does it shine because of it. Come, take to the skies above the Western Front during the Great War. WOFF UE, not just the ultimate version of WOFF, but the ultimate single player flight sim, period!


WOFF UE



Please, stick with me

Those who know me, or if you've been a regular reader of the blog (I thank you) will know I'm a WWI obsessive. Though, for reasons I can't put my finger on, the Eastern Front in WWI doesn't appeal, yet in regards to WWII it's my main area of interest. However, as WOFF UE is only concerned with the Western Front then it's of no consequence. The War has really grabbed me to the point where I devour book after book, mainly memoirs, of those who experienced it from all sides, both on land as well as in the air. WW2 seems more real, tangible, a time that is more easy to relate too. A War that was horrific and actually killed more than WWI yet for some reason WWI is the go to war when you think about the horrors, misery and futility of warfare. Yet,  WWI only ended two decades before WWII started and it seems like a different world. Maybe it's the staccato black and white footage which makes it seem more unreal. Then add the horror of new and more deadly ways of killing, coupled with old tactics, then years of living a primitive, underground existence with death a constant companion. Even the wounds you were liable to get caused more brutal, horrific damage to your flesh and bone. A reason for this being the shells in WWI  broke up into large, jagged pieces of shrapnel which could cause horrific injuries, whereas in WWII, they fragmented into much smaller pieces, just as lethal, but they wouldn't cause the awful visual damage the larger shrapnel did. Even the ground itself became deadly, with even minor wounds killing the poor chap, with gas gangrene, another horrific way to die, and a cruel one.  You think you have what the British called a "Blighty", a minor wound that would get you home for awhile, yet ten or so days later you're dying a horrific, painful death, as gas gangrene takes its course.





Honestly, from here on in it's all relevant


 Then we have the aircraft flown during the War. The ones from WWII are not that dissimilar to prop powered planes of today. With WWI, however, the technical marvel of flying, and the flimsy, lethal looking wood, canvas and wire contraptions used to take man into the skies were all very new. So, at the start of WWI the aeroplanes looked frighteningly primitive, just like all the other aspects of the War, primitive. Yet again, this all adds to the War's otherworldliness.




 Over the War's four plus years, aircraft technology moved forward rapidly, unlike the actual fighting on the ground. Also, at different periods during the War, one side or the other would have the upper hand, either through technological advance like during the so-called Fokker scourge, when in 1915 the Central Powers invented a mechanism that synchronised the firing of the MG and the propeller. The pilots flying the Fokker aircraft equipped with this new bit of kit soon reaped a deadly harvest and the first Aces of the War were born. Or it was just a case of one side managing to bring faster and more manoeuvrable aircraft out before the other.  So, until the other side caught up or even overtook them in this tech race, the side not in the  ascendency would find their machines getting knocked out the sky at an alarming rate, obviously adding to the ever growing casualty lists. Over the Western front the British decided to always be on the offensive in the air, crossing over into enemy lines to take on the enemy. Since the War, many have questioned this, as it meant British casualties were a lot higher than the Germans'. The RFC policy of no parachutes (as it was deemed the pilot may jump when he could have got the plane home) also meant the RFC casualty rate was higher than need be. It condemned many pilots to a horrific death, being burnt alive as their plane fell out the sky, adding another barbaric and primitive aspect to the War. The Germans had taken on a defensive policy, waiting to swoop on the enemy as they crossed over into their air space. Flying in their brightly coloured planes, the Germans flew in large numbers called Jastas. If you were an Entente pilot during '17 up until April '18 and you spotted a bright red plane leading the enemy Jasta [signalling the presence of the Red Baron, Manfred Von Richthofen], fear would overwhelm you, praying you wont become the next victim of who would be the Wars overall leading ace. The Germans did carry out bombing campaigns through out the War, using aircraft like the huge Gotha bombers or Zeppelins, even regularly bombing the UK.









 By the War's end both sides had some very good, reliable, fast and deadly planes. The Germans with the Fokker DVIIF and the Allies the SE5a or Airco DH5. For a good part of the War though, you were more likely to die in training, from either an error you made or from mechanical failure or a combination of both, than you were in actual combat.




I expect your wondering why you've just read the above, when this is supposed to be a review for WOFF UE? 

Well it's because pretty much everything I mentioned above you'll experience in WOFF UE. From the first planes of the War scrapping it out in the Skies of '15 until the end of the War; it's all here. Choose to enlist for either the British (87 squadrons), German (205 squadrons), French (139 squadrons) or American (23 squadrons). Fly in a Recon or Bomber squadron, each flight praying you aren't about to be prey whilst doggedly sticking to your task. Or join a fighter squadron, to take the enemy on in a duel in the sky. Over 80, yes that's right 80 aircraft you can take to the skies in.

The AI is also another excellent feat the OBD team have managed to pull off. With each iteration it has got better and better, until we have what is easily the best flight sim AI out there. No fight to the death AI here, each pilot has his own skill level, plus moral and fatigue are monitored, which all effects how he flies and can result in him breaking for home when risk outweighs reward. The AI also sticks within the limits of his plane's flight model, and, talking about the flight models, each plane has been researched and tested and I haven't seen any complaints about any of WOFF UE's many flight models in the forums. This has to be a very good sign. WOFF UE, in my opinion, is by far the greatest single-player, combat flight sim that has been released on the PC, finally taking over that top spot for WWI flight sims from The Red Baron, and personally, it takes the top spot for any combat flight sim covering any era. 




Nothing can come close to the dramatic scenes this sim produces, as you fly across the tortured landscape of No Man's Land. It manages to convey the immensity of the sky, and creates clouds like no other sim. I can't find the words to explain it, but I honestly haven't played a flight sim that manages to make you and your plane feel so small and fragile, so insignificant, as you fly among such huge, dark, foreboding clouds. The atmosphere the sim creates is second to none. I've ready many pilot memoirs and when they wax lyrical about flying and the sorts of vista they see up in the heavens when playing WOFF UE you can understand what they mean.  Each season has its own high definition terrain set. No Man's Land will move in-line with how it did historically. Now, with the free skin pack, all Squadrons and Jastas have historically accurate paint jobs, as well as the planes of every Ace on all sides having their own, unique, historically accurate paint work. We are talking thousands of skins here.

This is another visual treat WOFF UE has to offer.  It also enhances the sort of realism OBD is trying to achieve, with great success in my opinion. Another massive improvement that WOFF has recently acquired is that the high definition planes' skins will now show bullet hole damage etc. which they didn't do. Previously, you had a choice between hi def skins or bullet holes, now you can have both.

As I'm talking about damage, the damage model and the visual effects have yet again been improved for the many aircraft, creating more varied looking and realistic plane damage. For the first time now pilots and observers will slump in their seats if killed. I always breathe a sigh of relief, if I shoot a plane down in flames and notice the pilot is already dead.  That's the kind of effect the game has on you, drawing you in to the point of worrying about an AI pilot's death! Previously, before the "slump", you never knew if the pilot was dead or not as he and his plane fell to earth like some sort of grisly comet.

Weather is also modelled.  So, as you take off, you could be flying through a snow storm, yet once above the cloud layer, bingo you're bathed in sunshine,  with blue sky all around. So as you can tell by now visually it's one hell of a treat. Day and night is modelled is also modelled. Fly as a pilot in a Gotha desperately trying to stay out of the search lights, as they sweep the night sky above London. Or, as the sun has just gone down towards the end of your patrol, you come into land at your airfield in France being guided by the flames lit along either side of the run way.




I can imagine some being worried about it using the old CFS 3 engine. Honestly, you really would never know they had
anything at all in common. It really is something you only have to consider when installing, or, if you don't own it, when tracking it down.




Now onto the dynamic campaign.  For a single player sim, this is the meat on the bones. This means WOFF UE has the body of a Greek God! So much work has gone into creating an experience that draws you in, and soon you find yourself fully immersed as a pilot during WWI flying high above the Western front.  You can, if you want to, choose exactly which squadron and what date you enlist and start your campaign. Or you can choose a date, and start in training, learning how to fly well behind the lines. Once you successfully complete your training then you could be assigned anywhere in any type of plane! Just like it was for those trainee pilots, but without the high possibility of death before your training was completed, saying that your in-game pilot can still die at this point, if you have a terrible crash.

OBD have done a tremendous amount of research on each squadron, including its aces and at which airfield they were at through out the war.  As you can imagine, with the number of squadrons I mentioned earlier, how much work that must have entailed! The squadrons are also rated as either on defence or offence aswell as how good it is, which can change during the War depending on the squadrons circumstances at that particular time. Also, the morale of the squadron as a whole is considered. You can if you wish request a transfer, as well as request leave.

Historically accurate Medals are awarded both to yourself and to your squadron members. Also, just like the War, you have to fill in a claim form when you think you've shot down one of the enemy. On the harder difficulty levels this can be denied, just like it was for the pilots back then. As for options regarding both difficulty and visually the game has plenty to choose from, so you can customise the experience to suit both how you want to play and what sort of rig you have. So the dynamic campaign is fantastic and surpasses all previous WWI flight sims. Play dead is dead difficulty and see how many hours you can do over the Western Front!




One final thing I want to mention about the game is that you can check on what aces are around at the particular time of the current campaign. You'll find that many even have their biography written, and when you see how many have a written biography it dawns on you just how much work has gone into this Sim. Along side any biography you'll find the Aces kills upto the particular date of your campaign, and as you continue forward the kills will be updated keeping inline with the pilots historical tally. The kill can even state who the unfortunate pilot and in a two seater observer were! The amount of research here, at your finger tips , could easily be published as a book in its own right. My hat goes of to you OBD. Stunning work!


Oh little tip when you get the game. Click "Credits". A little treat is waiting for you there.

Go check out the excellent WOFF forum at Sim HQ. Also like to thank the forum members if I've used one of their screenshots. 

WOFF webpage.


What you get with UE and New Feature List

 WOFF UE incorporates

Wings Over Flanders Fields 1
Wings Over Flanders Fields Expansion 2
Wings Over Flanders Fields Expansion 3
Add On Fokker Scourge
Add On Balance of Power
Add On Motley Crew

Plus all the updates, in an easy to install package.

Some of the new Features for UE

Two new two seater planes Bregeut 14 A.2 and the Caudon G.4
Enhanced Direct X Shaders
Huge performance increase
Revised Damage Models for all planes
Revised and improved lighting systems
Fully revised French Squadrons
New Winter Trees
Revised Flak

and many more features and improvements

Note: Also the Skin pack add on is now free for everybody:)

Nearly forgot to mention a major highlight!!

Last but not least is Matt Milne's outstanding musical score! What would WOFF be without it? Missing one of its vital elements for sure. The music could easily sell in the classical music section of a music store. In fact, I'm pretty certain it could get into the classical charts. Honestly, it's absolutely first class and adds so much to the atmosphere. So you can see, from its music to its campaigns and on to its visuals WOFF UE won't let you down. It's my favourite ever flight sim and all flight simmers should own it!

PLANET RUSH Designed by Reiner Knizia Published by Victory Point Games The basic premise is that you are one of five corpora...

PLANET RUSH PLANET RUSH

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

PLANET RUSH



Designed by Reiner Knizia

Published by Victory Point Games


The basic premise is that you are one of five corporations vying to build structures on the planet, Zenobia.  The one who contributes most will gain ownership of the planet.  If that brief description rings faint bells or stirs vague memories, don't be surprised.  Planet Rush is essentially a simpler remake of Reiner Knizia's Tower of Babel.  Indeed, Alan Emrich has already labeled it the Designer's Cut, as it seems that the briefer rule set that we get in Planet Rush was the original preferred design.

So, definitely a light Euro made even lighter, but, I have to say, not a Euro quality production.  The rules booklet is a bare 8 pages made out of two sheets of slightly smaller than A4 size paper, folded in half and stapled down the middle.  This really looks more like a DTP package.  It is full colour [though mainly blue] and semi-glossy, but the outer spine of the rulebook was already starting to look slightly cracked when I opened the package.  The "board" is made up by laying out the eight, very thin cards that represent the potential structures to be built and each player receives  a larger mat of equally thin card on which to record his/her score and a set of small wooden cubes in the player's designated colour.  Each player also gets an individual Faction Negotiation card.


The game set out for the maximum 5 players.



The cards that represent the four different types of material with which to build these planetary structures are clear, bold and of standard size, but they too will need the benefit of sleeving to make them durable for repeated play sessions.  Surprisingly the solidest pieces are the bonus markers and the rather nice launch pad and rocket that mark the Active player. 

Though the artwork is good and conveys the S/F theme appropriately, that is the only way in which the theme is represented in the game.  The rules and gameplay add nothing at all to the theme.   Seeing that the artwork on the player mats shows that the so-called corporations are owned by five different galactic races, I'd hoped that at least there might be some minor special rule for each ... but alas, no.



One of the 5 player mats - essentially a personal score board



That the game already exists in a slightly more complex form does tend to spell out that the background is fairly immaterial.  In its first incarnation, players were trying to construct the 7 Wonders of The World [with a potential eighth Wonder - the Tower of Babel - hence the original game title].  As stated in my opening paragraph, here we are trying to build planetary structures.  It could just as easily be five car manufactures aiming to contribute most to the design of eight cars or five railroad companies working to lay the tracks for eight new railroads in the Wild West.  Many Euros do tend to have bolt-on themes, but this does seem an extreme example. 

Game play is very straightforward.  In the Build Phase,  the current Active Player, receives the Launch pad and Rocket and has the choice of one of two actions.  Either the Active Player draws a Resource card or nominates one section of a building to be built by placing the Rocket on the corresponding section of the building card and announcing how many Resources are needed and what type they are.


Here are the four Resources:

Materials, Research, Power and Robotics.


This latter choice of Action is really the heart and key interest of the game and I'll shortly examine that in some depth.  Should all the sections of a structure be completed in the Build Phase, then that building is scored.

The second phase of each turn is the Resources Phase when each player draws one Resource card.

The game continues until all the sections of 7 out of the 8 possible structures have been completed and a final bonus scoring is then conducted.

So, back to a detailed look at the only [slightly]complex part of the game : THE BUILD PHASE and the choice to offer a section of building  for construction.

The Active Player chooses and places the Rocket on the section to be potentially completed.  He/she announces the number of Resources needed, depending on how many circles there are on that section and the type of Resource, which is also marked on the card.






And here is the dinky space Rocket sitting on its Launch Pad, ready to blast off

to mark the next section potentially to be built!


For example, the Power Station is made up of two sections: one needs 6 Green Research cards and the other section needs 4 blue Power cards to build.


The next step is that all the other players [but not the Active player] secretly choose how many cards of that Resource they want to bid.  A player can include Resource cards different from the one nominated, but I can see no point whatsoever in doing so, as such a bid has to be automatically rejected.  The only other card that can be usefully included in a bid is a player's Faction Negotiation card. 

The Active player then decides which of the bids to accept.  In choosing which bids, there are some restrictions.  Most important is that the number of cards must be exactly the number needed. So, if 7 are needed, a bid of 5 and a bid of 4 could not be accepted as there would be 2 cards more than was needed.  Whereas, a bid of 5 and a bid of 2 would work fine as a choice. 

However, the Active player can always include cards from his/her own hand. So, using the same example. If 7 cards were needed and the bids were 5 and 4, the Active player could accept the 5 bid and add two cards of the correct Resource type from their hand or accept the 4 bid and add three cards of the correct Resource type from their hand.  [Always assuming the Active player has the necessary number of appropriate Resource cards in their current hand.]

Of course, even if there were appropriate bids that add up to the right number of cards, the Active player can always choose to reject one or more bids and use their own cards instead.   

The other restriction is that if several of the players have included their Faction Negotiation card in their bid, the Active player can never accept more than one such bid.

Having decided which to accept, what happens next? 

Well, first of all, for a bid without a Faction Negotiation card included, the Bidding player puts one cube of his/her colour for each Resource bid on the building section. 

However, if a bid with a Faction Negotiation card included is accepted, then the Active player must put the corresponding number of his/her own cubes on the building section and the Bidding player is awarded the Bonus marker from the relevant building section. 


Finally, if the Active player didn't accept any bids that contain a Faction Negotiation card, then the Active player gets to claim the Bonus marker.

During the game, there are only two ways to score Victory Points:

[1] There are three types of Bonus marker that can be acquired in the way that I've described above and players score different numbers of Victory Points according to the type and number that they collect, as the game progresses.

[2] When all the sections of a building have been completed, that building is scored.  This is done by flipping the building card over to the back where there are five circles containing VP numbers.  The player with most cubes on the building places one of them in the highest scoring circle on the back of the card and so on down. 

A neat idea is that the fourth and fifth circles don't score you any VP points, but if there is a fourth or fifth player who has placed cubes on that building you still need to place one of their cubes in the circles that score zero points.  This is because they will count in the final scoring at the end of the game.  All other cubes on the structure are now returned to each player they belong to.


In total, to build all of the 7 structures, 22 cards of each colour will need to be played.  There is also an 8th structure called The Alien Ruins, which consists of a single section of eight circles.  This can only be built using a type of Resource that is no longer needed to build a section of any of the other seven structures. e.g. if all the sections that needed the red Robotics resource have been built, then the current Active player could nominate the Alien Ruins to be built with 8 red Robotics resources.

When seven of the eight structures have been built the game ends and the Final Scoring takes place.  If a player has a cube on all seven structures he/she scores 15 Victory pts, on six structures 10 Victory pts and on five structures 5 Victory pts.  If you've built on only four or fewer structures - tough - you score nothing!

So, folks that's it.  I have gone through the crucial bidding mechanic in depth, because virtually the whole game centres on that one major element.  It does work well.  There is interesting interplay between what cards you hold, what sections have so far been built, what players have scored so far, whose bids to accept or not [beware the payback from not accepting someone's bid, when they reject yours.], which building and which section to put up for construction.

But, it is very much a one mechanic game and very much a light filler.  It is quick to play and quick and easy to pick up the few rules.  For me, it's the type of game that gets played at the club while people wait to see how many turn up before moving on to heavier fare or else serves as a light family game - 'cept that I can see certain family members' personalities affecting which bids get accepted!!

My other concern is the very insubstantial nature of most of the components.  At the moment I haven't been able to find it sold outside the States, though I assume that will happen.  But for the moment, $32.99 plus the not inconsiderable postage/import costs is a high price for what you're getting.  VPG make many excellent games [see my review of Espana 20 vol 2], among them many solo games, but Planet Rush is not one I'd "move in a rapid fashion" to get. [There, I managed - sort of -  to avoid the awful pun!]




Demolishing the Myth by  Valeriy Zamulin translated by Stuart Britton  Kursk it brings to mind nebelwerfers and Stalin&#...

Demolishing the Myth by Valeriy Zamulin and translated by Stuart Britton Demolishing the Myth by Valeriy Zamulin and translated by Stuart Britton

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Demolishing the Myth


by 


translated by

Stuart Britton




 Kursk it brings to mind nebelwerfers and Stalin's organs screaming, but most of all the oily pall of burning tanks. That one sentence sent to Koba, "the tigers are burning", was supposed to have summed it up. The only question is, did it really happen? Was the Panzerwaffen destroyed on July 12th 1943 at Prokhorovka, or are the earlier histories all wrong, and the true history is very different. 'Demolishing the Myth' looks to answer that question.




 Kursk is probably the second most written about battle following Waterloo. The tank battle at Prokhorovka has been stated many times to be the largest tank battle in history. Unfortunately, due to Soviet propaganda and other untruths, it has been very hard for historians to peel back the layers and find the truth about Kursk. The actual battle of Prokhorovka has been wrapped even tighter in an impenetrable fog than the rest of the Kursk battle. Long known as the 'death ride' of the panzers, Prokhorovka was really much smaller in scale than was imagined. Only in some Soviet dreams was the ground littered with burned out panzers. That is not to say that the fighting was not bitter and to the death, as was all the fighting in the Kursk salient. I want to stress that point. Just because we now know that Dubno in 1941 saw the greatest amount of tanks in one battle, with approximately 5,000 Soviet and 1,000 German tanks, it does not mean that the battle of Prokhorovka was any less important or earth shattering in its consequences or the lives of its veterans.




 "Demolishing the Myth' is a book that was first released in Russian and written by Valeriy Zamulin. It was translated into English by Stuart Britton. Zamulin was a staff member of the Prokhorovka state museum, and has immersed himself deeply in the battle of July 12th. This is a book about that day, and the tremendous conflict that took place there. The book shows more light on the Soviet side, but is sweeping enough to keep you informed about what was happening on both sides of the war. There is some background given on the Soviet main force in the battle, the 5th Guards tank army, and its leader Pavel Rotmistrov. The reason for the battle of Kursk, the German plan, and the days from July 5th to the 11th are gone into, is to give the reader a good foundation of the facts leading to the clash on July 12th. The book itself is over six hundred pages long, and is well supplied with photos from the war. It also has a set of color photos taken to show how the battlefield looks today. The author has also liberally supplied the reader with tactical maps of the engagement. The book continues with an overview of the end of the battle of Kursk. One of the book's greatest assets is the numerous Soviet after battle assessments, and their conclusions on why the 5th Guards tank army was given a bloody nose by the SS panzer grenadier divisions. The hour by hour description of the battle is top notch. The book also comes with a complete Soviet and German order of battle and copious notes. The author brings up the fact, but does not belabor the point, that it is possible that an attack by the 5th Guards tank army should have happened at another site, and not straight into the SS panzer grenadiers. The possibility of using this large force in a flank attack would have brought the German attack to a stand still without the commiserate loss of vehicles and soldiers.





 The author also uses personal accounts to try and put the reader into the contestants' shoes. All in all, the book gives all the whys, and not just the facts of what happened. 



 There have been numerous books written about the battle of Kursk. There are some with a Soviet slant and others that have a German one. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the ability of authors to view the official and non-official reports of the battle, we are now much better informed as to what really did take place. Helion and Company is to be heartily thanked and congratulated on this book. The information alone is worth the price, let alone the top notch physical components of the book. There are so many books on the market about Kursk that one cannot at this time say "this is the one book you need to understand Kursk", however I can state categorically that 'Demolishing the Myth' deserves a spot on your shelf.


 Robert


Author: Valeriy Zamulin
Translator: Stuart Britton
Publisher: Helion and Company
Distributor: Casemate Publishing
Date of Review: 10/23/2016

                                

The White Sniper Simo Häyhä by Tapio A.M. Sarelinen   " I did what I was told to do, as well as I could. There would be no...

The White Sniper Simo Häyhä by Tapio A.M. Saarelinen The White Sniper Simo Häyhä by Tapio A.M. Saarelinen

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

The White Sniper Simo Häyhä

by
Tapio A.M. Sarelinen





  " I did what I was told to do, as well as I could. There would be no Finland unless everyone else had done the same" Simo Häyhä.


  We have had a number of books and movies recently about the exploits of snipers. None of the others even come close to Simo Häyhä. His record of 542 confirmed kills is head and shoulders above the rest, mainly because he used his own M28-30 rifle with only iron sites. If given a fifty caliber sniper rifle and a state of the art scope, he might have been able to shoot out Stalin's left eye from the Finnish border. The other fact that makes his kill record unbelievable is the fact that he was only in action ninety-eight days during the Russo-Finnish or Winter war. His daily average of kills was an astonishing 5.53. All of these facts are simply amazing. As the book points out, an American study found that 7,000 rifle shots were needed in WWI to achieve a combat kill. During the Vietnam War, this had risen to 25,000. Compare this to a professionally trained sniper who needs just 1.3 shots for a kill.



 Finland is one of those European countries that we take for granted.  Oh sure, we know where it is on a map, but the country's history, and especially its military history, is a blank page to many. Finland, much like Switzerland, is a country that no one thinks of when military ardor is thought of. The truth is the Swiss were the greatest mercenaries for a few hundred years of European history. Finland's martial history, while not as far reaching as the Swiss, is just as decorated either fighting for or against Swedish kings or Russian czars. The Winter War was Stalin's attempt to emulate Hitler. Stalin wanted to take some land from Finland, and he made sure the Finns understood "it was an offer they couldn't refuse". Much to Stalin's delight the Finns did refuse. So now Uncle Joe could show the world what the Red Army could do. The Russian bear attacked Finland assuming that after some fighting and a little objection from the free world, the Finns would roll over and play dead. Well, Finland showed what the Red Army could do; it could bleed, and profusely at that. Finland's heroic fight against its titanic neighbor was the center of the worlds attention in the winter of 1939. The British government was actually considering attacking the Soviet Union over the aggression. Imagine how different WWII could have been if that happened. All eyes were glued on plucky little Finland. In the end Russia won, of course, but the Red Army's dismal performance was one of the reasons that Hitler turned his rapacious eyes to the east.




 So now that we have some background information  we turn back to second lieutenant Häyhä. He was born on December 17, 1905. Unfortunately, he did not make it to one hundred years, dying on April 1, 2002 (if you weren't aware the Finns are a long lived race). He was conscripted into the Finnish Army in late 1925 and served fifteen months in different bicycle battalions. He then served a few weeks in the summer of 1938 and underwent sniper training. He was in Finland's civil Guard when his marksmanship came to his superiors' attention. He won numerous awards and championships with both a rifle and a machine gun. He was a hunter and trapper from childhood in Finland's vast forests. This he put to good use in the war. The Russians tried to kill him several times and even put a price on his head. Häyhä's luck ran out on March 6, 1940. He was hit in the face and head with an exploding bullet. The Winter War would have been over in just a few more days. He had to undergo twenty-six operations through his life due to the wound; the left side of his jaw was missing. He did go onto live a long and productive life as a farmer and continued his hunting for many years. 



 The book's author is a career officer in the Finnish Army. His expertise is in sniping and he has taught the skill for two decades to the new breed of Finnish warriors. The first part of the book is devoted to the life of Simo Häyhä, before and after the war. The second half goes into the secrets of Häyhä's success, his rifle, and using his techniques. The appendices are four in number and include a list of the top snipers in the world from 1939 to 2005.

 The book is what we have come to expect from Casemate. It is well made and is liberally supplied with photos, maps, and some diagrams.

 A question to the readers, what is a Molotov cocktail?


 Robert

Book: The White Sniper Simo Häyhä
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Review Date: 10/23/2016

  Expeditions Vikings Preview         Logic Artists, who brought us Expeditions Conquistador (soon to be reviewed on the blog) in 2...

Expeditions Vikings preview Expeditions Vikings preview

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

  Expeditions Vikings Preview


      


 Logic Artists, who brought us Expeditions Conquistador (soon to be reviewed on the blog) in 2013, now heads north to Scandinavia. It is a turn based RPG driven by a story line. Your father has just died in a raid to the west. He went 'a viking' to find treasure and fame in new lands. This game has much more of an RPG element than I expected. Not that I am not used to turn based RPGs, it's just that I wasn't expecting it to go down to the level of an inventory where you would have to equip yourself with arms and armor. The games are trying to catch both RPG players and strategy players in their base.



  It starts out with your typical character creation screen. You can play with your character's beard for a few hours until it is just right, or go the path of pre-selected character, as I did. There are skill trees for you to flesh out your character. You can choose to have a human tank of warrior muscle or a rogue like archer who has good leadership qualities, or a combination of both.



        

                               



 The first part of the game is to clear up any other challengers to you taking your father's place as head of the clan. You start at his arval, your father's funeral feast. You have your mother, brother, and certain other clan leaders to talk to, or warriors vying with you for the clan. The story line and actual dialogue is right out of a Viking novel. Your position and the trials you have to undergo are all very believable for the time and setting. 


  The first trial you have to face is a holmgang, literally " to go to a small island". This is a stylized duel between two persons over a slight or as in this case over leadership. You can start right away to be sneaky and use snares, etc. or to choose to do a stand up fight. Contrary to popular belief the Norse loved trickery and sneakiness. A leader who was not versed in their arts would not have gone far. One Viking chieftain, believing he had found Rome and wanted to capture it, was actually at a city on Italy's coast decided on this gambit. He had his followers tell the people in the town that their leader had died, but that he had turned Christian before passing and wanted to have a mass for the dead and a burial in holy ground. The city people agreed and let all of the Vikings in with the casket of their 'dead' leader. They were quite surprised to see the coffin open and be presented with an armed mass of raiders in their midst. Viking tales are full of such trickery. Vikings also loved puns. It is probably from them where we get the idea to nickname large men 'tiny' etc. 





 Battle takes place on the map with a superimposed hexes. You have the typical mechanic of each member of your force having points to use for either movement or attacking, or a combination of both. The battle is won when one side or the other is completely destroyed. 

 This is a very fun game. the battles are nail biters, and they also have some additions that you do not normally find. Some terrain is block-able to arrows, while other hexes have the chance to ensnare or trip up your warrior during movement. The game really does have a Viking vibe to it. You do believe you are leading your character in the 8th century Scandinavia. It does not have a cookie cutter feel, where you could just as well have a tank or AA battery in one of the hexes instead of one of your followers. Fans of strategy and RPGs should be looking forward to its release in the future.


 Robert


Game: Expeditions Vikings
Publisher: Logic Artists
Preview: 10/23/2016
 

Children of a Dead Earth By Q Switched productions   Time to put your thinking caps on, children; this game will have those ...

Children of a Dead Earth Review Children of a Dead Earth Review

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Children of a Dead Earth


By

Q Switched productions




  Time to put your thinking caps on, children; this game will have those neurons and synapses popping. This game puts the 'sim' back into simulation. It is hardcore and you will fail missions, but just like any good 'bad habit' it will have you coming back for more and more. To explain a little, the game does not make space a flat two dimensional map. You are not able to click on a dot in space and right click and move your spaceship there. You have to match trajectories and speed of other ships in orbit, etc. You also have to do this with three dimensional thinking. This is a hard game, and it is a blast. It will take time to learn and more time to master. That is not to say that the tutorials are bad, they are actually very good. It is the amount of information and the breadth of it that is a bit daunting. 

  The different start up options are: Campaign, Sandbox, Options, Ship Design, Info Links.

  The Info Links are like the rest of the game. As you proceed through the campaign, more and more of the the different parts of the game are able to be used by the player. Most of the Info Links are locked, as are some ship types and even some options in Sandbox.




   This is an early shot of the campaign game. I was having a bit of a problem in the beginning wrapping my head around the different ways to move your spaceship. For those of you like me, press on and give this sim more of your time. It will definitely be worth it in the end.




   Sandbox mode has a ton of different options for your space battles and ships, etc. 

  The different things that you can use in sandbox are: Level Presets, Celestial Bodies, Enemy Behavior Balanced to Ranged with ten possibilities in all, Allied Craft, Enemy Craft, Weapons in use, Payloads in use.

                                    

   Ship design is where you can play to your heart's content. The different weapon systems etc. are a micro-managers dream. Ships look like what real spaceships will probably look like. Do not look for tie fighters or star destroyers here. They all look somewhat alike and are very utilitarian looking.

  You get the help of the 'tactical officer' once your ship enters combat, if you need it that is.




 The game is about the earth going dead from man and other reasons. Humans have then turned to populating the universe to continue the species. In the campaign game you are playing on the side of the 'Republic of Free People', and the enemy is the 'United Sol Trade Alliance'.



   By hovering the mouse over your ship, you can see all of the interior of your new creations. You have to turn broadsides sometimes to get shots at your enemies, much like in naval battles. You can also target different systems on your opponent's ship. You can kill his propulsion and leave him floating, or target his weapons for your safety and leave him at your mercy or not.




  The game itself is well worth the effort someone like me will have to put into it. This game will test your mettle and IQ, but when you finally get it right and see your enemy destroyed it is all worth it. This is the ultimate playground for hard core simmers who are in need of a spaceship fix. 




 My apologies to the developers and to you, the readers. I meant to add a screen shot of how you move your spaceship and then forgot. You steer it using the three colored dots, moving them back and forth with your mouse after clicking on them. Radial movement is the green dot, tangential movement is the red dot, and out of plane is the blue dot.


 Robert 


Game: Children of a Dead Earth 
Developer: Q Switched Productions, LLC
Steam Release Date: 9/23/2016
Review Date: 10/22/2016




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